"Oh…My…God!" D's eyes widen, her mouth slackens and she sucks in a quick breath.

"Cool yourself, D." I murmur, as he gets closer. "Don't freak him out. You can do all your fan-squealing later."

She nods and does her best to keep everything under wraps. Though it's quiet, with no one around, it's still safer with a quick scan of the area and my crowbars hanging from the belt loops of my shorts. When we're a little closer, the three of us stand and take stock of each other. D's probably using this time to gawk.

"Hi." The Korean greets with a wide smile, bouncing from foot to foot. "Didn't think anyone else made it out of the city alive."

"Hey," I nod back, "it's pretty bad back there, but we survived."

"Oh my god! HI!" D beams, her words rushed together and eyes glowing.

"Oh brother." I sigh and face palm. "Ignore D, please, she's just happy to see someone else besides me and the dead things."

"Oh, yeah that's understandable." His head bobs. "So, you two have been on your own this whole time?"

"Yeah, we thought starting our overseas adventure in Atlanta was a great idea."

"Boy, were we wrong." D giggles.

"Where are you from?"

"New Zealand." Is my reply.

"Wow, you're a long way from home."

"I'm surprised you know what I'm talking about, aren't Americans supposed to be ignorant fu…"

"Loz!" D glares, jabbing me in the side with her elbow. I grimace, holding my side, frowning. "Ignore her, but yes, we are. Never to return." She cringes as she says it, lips trembling.

Throwing an arm around her shoulder my own eyes well with tears. It's hard enough to talk about it to each other, but to a complete stranger, it makes it that much more real. I don't know if we'll ever see our friends and family, and it's crushing. When ever I think about it too much an ache starts in my chest, my throat tightens and my vision blurs.

This time is no exception. It takes effort to force back, but I take a deep breath, blink a few times and change the subject. "So, how's it going for you?"

"Uh, well I'm surviving so, not so bad?" He rubs the back of his neck; "we've made a bit of a home for ourselves."

"We?" D tilts her head, and does a great job of pretending she doesn't already know that information.

He pauses, rubs the back of his neck again, not looking at us. "There's a group of us that, uh, set up camp, down at this quarry… not too far from here." He stutters over his words.

"Can we stay?" D blurts out.

I glance at her, eyebrow rising, she probably only wants to get to her Hunter so she can grope him…among other things. Not that I can blame her, Norman Reedus is a fine man. He isn't my type. I'm more into those with authority. Not that I'd blindly obey.

"Well, Shane did say that all survivors are welcomed."

"If it helps, we've got supplies we can share." I comment, shooting Daryl a fond, but exasperated look.

"Yeah?"

"Sure do." Daryl nods, leading him to the back of the van. She opens the doors with a flourish, grinning proudly at Glenn's appreciative whistle.

"Wow, this is good. You girls did all this?"

I roll my eye, "No, the scavenge fairies did."

"Loz." D chastises.

"So?" Ignoring the brunette, my gaze doesn't leave Glenn.

"Yeah! No problem, come on, I'll take you back. Just follow me." He grins as he returns to his van.

D and I glance at one another before slipping back into ours. She faces me shaking her head with her lips pinched together. "Really Loz? Did you have to be so mean?"

"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it. He made it too easy."

She rolls her eyes but laughs nonetheless, as we follow. Silence reigns for most of the journey, until we pass the second to last corner. The lake is clear and blue, the sun's light bouncing off the water and I have to shield my eyes. The stony shore in comparison is dark and grey, dotted with rocks large enough to sit on. Up the hill, tents and cars become distinguishable, with people milling about.

Putting the van into park, and turning off the ignition, we sit for a moment. D's smile widens and her eyes sparkle as she grabs my arm, holding it tightly. Glenn gets out; and D forces herself to let go, taking a couple of deep breaths, though there's still a gleam in her eyes.

"Let's do this!" She throws open the door and jumps out, making a bee line for Glenn, and the four people crowding him.

Sighing and cleaning my glasses, there's nothing to do but go after D and officially meet the people she's been obsessed with. I'm not sure if I'm all that excited to get involved anymore. The drama these people create is dizzying. But, it's this or alone and isolated.

D's got a happy little smile on her face, and it's great to see. After weeks of tears and fears, it does my heart good to see this. Adjusting to this new world hasn't been easy. We've taken turns taking the lead, and comforting the other; though I do admit that I've been making a lot of the decisions.

My stomach churns and my chest tightens. What if they don't take us in? What if we have to go back out there for the rest of our lives! We still don't know how or why we're here and to live alone in this place…my heartbeat picks up like it's going to explode, my hands shake and my legs feel ready to give out. I glance back to the van, and for a moment contemplate leaving, just running.

I keep silent and just watch as D greets and does the introductions to Shane, Lori, Dale and Andrea. My breathing's a little too heavy and I turn away, on pre tense of surveying the camp, but take deep calming breaths. Once I'm more composed, I shift back to face them with a little smile. Slightly forced.

Meeting them after three weeks of isolation is kind of overwhelming, especially with how cracked Shane gets. Andrea's not looking all that happy; her lips are pursed together, eyes narrowed and she's frowning at us. Lori and Dale are at least smiling welcomingly. I really hope D doesn't get hurt. It's one thing to imagine meeting them, to talk about it. But actually encountering them, hoping to be friends, then wanting nothing to do with her. I worry.

"So, have you two been on your own since this started?" Shane asks curiously.

Dale nods his head, smiling at the two of us. "That's mighty impressive."

Shrugging my shoulders, and shoving my hands in my pockets, my eyes stray to the ground. "We've been lucky."

"We have a whole bunch of stuff in the back of the van, we can add it to your piles for a place here in your camp." Daryl jumps in, taking the attention away from me.

"That's really generous of the two of you, thanks." Shane smiles, "We can find you a tent…"

"Wait." Andrea interrupts. "We can't just let them in, we have people of our own to look after. Our supplies are running out."

"Andrea." Dale chides.

"No, Glenn was going out to get more, now he's back without anything and two more mouths to feed."

"There's quite a lot in the back. We've done our own scavenging." D interjects, a frown marring her soft features.

"We have a lot of people to feed, I doubt it's enough."

"Andrea!" Shane growls.

"There's a helluva lot." Glenn comes to our rescue, "I mean, there's no point in me going now."

"Take a look." Crossing my arms and shifting so I'm not facing her, I keep my tone even. What a bitch. It's the end of the world and she wants to throw us out. If it was up to her, I doubt she'd look in the back.

They take me up on my offer, and while they do it's the perfect opportunity to actually get a better look at the camp. Most have stopped to see what's happening and even the Dixon's are looking our way. There are tents clustered together, with others a little more spaced out. There are three fire pits. The main one at the centre of the camp, the Dixon's have the second and the last at what I assumed is the Peletier's area.

Shane whistles and I turn back. They're walking back and from the looks of it, Dale and Shane are impressed, Lori seems relieved and, I smirk smugly at this, Andrea looks pissed.

"So, can we stay?" My tone is innocent, but the sneer to the angry blonde belies my intention.

"That's impressive. You girls are good." Shane comments. "Where'd you find all this stuff?"

"Oh, you know…around." Daryl replies.

We all get to work distributing the goods. Our food, water and medicine are added to theirs, the few pieces of entertainment are put away in the RV for the kids. The clothes, bags and all our weapons come with us. One of the nameless survivors has by then found us a tent. Shane and Dale get it set up so that D and I can ditch our things in it.

"Thanks for doing that." Lori smiles, walking passed us.

"Don't worry, glad to help." D grins, preening at the appreciation.

"Excuse me." Dale interrupts. "That van of yours, will you be needing it again?"

"Um, why?" Daryl blinks, but smiles politely.

"The RV is in need repairs, and the van will have what we need."

Daryl turns to me, and I glance at the van, biting my lip and frowning, it's been our home for the past three weeks. I've gotten attached to it, which makes no sense, and I don't want to lose it but what other choice is there? I nod my consent.

She turns back to Dale and smiles prettily at him. "Sure, I don't think we'll need it. If we do, I'm sure Loz can find another."

"Thank you." He pats the two of us on the shoulder, and heads off to the van with Jim.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Shane chuckles as he stands in front of us.

There's not much to say to that, so when facing the self proclaimed leader all I can do is shrug. Daryl on the other hand decides that's not good enough. "She's not much of a people person."

"The isolation must have been great."

My lips twitch with a suppressed smirk. "Best thing about this vacation." And it really wasn't all that bad. We didn't come across any hordes.

"Vacation?" A soft feminine voice repeats in bewilderment.

We turn around to see Amy, Glenn, Carl, Lori and Morale's kids, all looking curious. Amy's eyes narrow when they land on me. If my guess is right, she's going to take Andrea's side and snub me. How high school is that?

"Before we started the rest of our lives, Loz and I were going to take an overseas adventure." Daryl frowns and shrugs. "This isn't what we had in mind though."

"I don't think anyone had this in mind." Carl piped up from his mother's side.

"Oh, I don't know," I start, "I wouldn't be surprised if some angry bitter science man thought this up."

"Why's it always the scientist?" Carl pouts.

"Cause if it's not them it's the Government."

"How about we let the girls get settled," Shane interrupts, "then we can do introductions." He turns to Amy and Glenn, "Why don't you gather everyone around so we don't have to go tromping through the camp?"

D and I head back to our new tent to throw the weapons we're carrying on to our beds. We do keep one on us. Having gotten used to being armed at all times, that it's weird not to. By the time we get to the main fire pit the survivors are there, including the Dixon's.

Shane steps up behind us, "Everyone, this here is D and Lauren. So why doesn't everyone come up introduce yourselves?"

"Worst intro ever." I whisper to Daryl out the side of my mouth. She giggles.

Everyone's polite, but there's no point in remembering them. The ones that survive the unleashed Walkers I already know, and the ones who won't, well... I don't intend to get attached to people who are going to die. Andrea's still glaring, though she has warmed up to D, and Amy seems overjoyed to have another optimistic girl her age around.

"Why don't you girlies come over our way and we'll get really good and acquainted." Merle calls out.

It's fascinating the way everyone goes silent and tense. Amy and a few of the other women stiffen, the mother's pull their kids behind them and Glenn, poor Glenn, looks ready to flee. Facing the red neck, it's not hard to see why he's feared.

He's broad shouldered, and ruggedly built looking to be in his late 40's. His short grey hair, and slight stubble, added with the lines of age and harsh living that's he's obviously endured make for a striking picture.

D clutches at my arm, she knows all about him better than I do, and for that she's clearly on the same wavelength as everyone else. My gaze holds his. There's got to be more to him then his bad temper and racist/sexist slurs. There will be no judgement from me. Not until he proves one way or the other.

This could be a test, a way for him to learn about us. What if the reason he treats everyone so badly is because he finds them all unworthy? Then again, he could just be an ass. But, if my theory's right, then there's a chance that we could have an in with the Dixon's, and D's dream of being lip locked with the Hunter while they grope each other will be closer.

"Do you have milk and cookies?" I raise any eyebrow and press my lips together.

"I got your milk right here," Merle grabs his crotch.

"Charming," I drawl, "how can a girl resist that?"

"Merle!" Shane warns.

"Whatt'ya want, Walsh. I'm just getting ta know the girls like ya asked."

"There are kids around." Shane points to Carl and Morale's kids.

"Then why don't you girlies come over here an talk to Ol' Merle."

"We're not actually going to, are we?" D asks under her breath.

"If we don't he's going to group us with them, and do you really want that." I pull her to the Dixon's camp.

"What makes you say that?"

"I'm going out on a limb." I confess quietly.

When one says that they can 'feel' the weight of a stare, I never understood it. Now, it makes complete sense. It isn't just the knowledge of everyone looking; it really is like a weight. Taking a seat, ignoring the stares, there's a bit of an awkward silence.

"You girlies are gonna have lots of fun here." Merle grins lecherously, giving a smug smile to Shane.

"Merle." The Hunter warns his brother.

"Don't worry about your brother, I'll take care of the old man." I smirk at Daryl; "I mean he'll need a nap soon won't you?" I turn my gaze to the older Dixon.

Merle blinks for a moment and then laughs, a low, but obnoxious sound. "You got a mouth on you girlie." He snickers as he all but falls into one of the chairs.

"Yeah, well…" Yawning, it's surprising how tired I am. "So Merle, does that brother of yours have a name?" Glancing at the hunter and raising an eyebrow, it's better to get his name before we start using it.

"Daryl." Said man grunted.

"What a coincidence, so is hers." I nudge D's leg with my foot.

"Why'd you got a boys name?" Merle chortles, eyeing my darling friend.

"Why do you have an ugly face?" It's great fun poking at him.

"Bitch."

"Child."

"Cunt."

Does he have to use such a word? My lip curls and I wrinkle my nose, leaning back. "Dick."

"Cock Tease."

"Pussy Licker."

There's a snort from Daryl, the hunter, and suppressed giggles from the other one. I look from one to the other and then to a smirking Merle, who snorts as he leans back in his. "I ain't never licked no pussy."

"Well what do you know, neither have I. Who'd have thought we'd have so much in common." I smile bemusedly.

"You ever talk?" He asks D.

"It's probably an affliction all those named Daryl have." I comment on her behalf. It's not too hard to see, at least to me, that she's nervous about being in close proximity to her crush. "'Cause, apart from one grunted name, I've heard nothing from your brother."

"You think you're so clever?"

"Well, I passed high school and university." A mocking smile, "I'd like to think it means I've got a little going on upstairs."

"You educated bitches are all the same." He sneers.

What an ass, just because he couldn't even finish high school. I press my lips together and narrow my eyes. "You hear me boasting?"

"Ya just did." He snorts, obviously thinking I'm stupid or dense…or both.

"I was answering a question, old man. There's a difference." It's a slightly smug reply. He snorts, and his lips twitch. "Now, it's getting late, and my Mamma told me to never talk to strange men after dark."

"I ain't strange."

"Whatever you say old man." I roll my eyes, and smile reluctantly as D and I head out.