Theme Song: "Safe and Sound" - Taylor Swift

I opened my bleary, tear stained eyes and I had to work to get them to stay open. They were still heavy from crying and probably puffy. I stirred silently and lifted myself up on the seat sleepily and in doing so I also pulled my hand away from Daryl's knee.

He shifted silently and looked over at me, but when he saw my hand leaving his knee he quickly averted his gaze. The same moment he looked away I cleared my throat and swallowed thickly.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. I felt a hundred years old right now. My bones ached and I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Considering what we had been through, it wasn't too far from the truth.

"All clear?" I asked hoarsely and looked behind him out the window. He nodded silently and it was then I saw his weary expression. He was tired. He hadn't slept a wink and God knows what the hell he thought about all night.

"You need to sleep a little bit.." I pointed out and he shook his head stubbornly. "Daryl.." I warned, giving him a look. For the better part of five minutes, we argued about him getting some sleep. It was still right about dawn. He had time to doze for a bit.

I narrowed my brows at him and we had a stare off. That is, until Daryl huffed and shoved his bow at me. I took it into my hands with a sly grin and watched as he leaned against the window, "Ain't sleepin' long, Vicki."

I hummed in response and not twenty minutes after, Daryl was asleep. Well, somewhat asleep. I could tell he was dozing for a quick cat nap. It was not a deep sleep by any means.

I stole myself a moment to watch him and despite everything, I couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. When he slept, it was as if the world's troubles were off his shoulders and the evils that he ever endured were gone.

He was at peace and it was a rare thing to see Daryl like that.

My green eyes lingered for a moment too long and I decided to stare out the window instead. About an hour later, Daryl stirred and he popped up quickly, looking around for a brief moment as he came out of his cat nap.

"Let's get goin'." He murmured, wasting no time to get back to walking. I licked my chapped lips and handed him his bow back before grabbing our things and carefully stepping out of the truck.

I stretched for a minute, raising my leg on the tire and then feeling the muscles pull and stretch out. I did the same with the other leg and when I arched my back to pop my breast bone, my lower back popped as well.

Daryl gave me a quizzical look.

"What?" He looked away from my question and shouldered his bow, handing the backpack to me. I took it silently and then Daryl led the way.

I wanted to say something, but words failed me. He was in lone survivor mode and though we had shared a moment of letting our guards down, he was still closed off.

At this point, I just wanted to find someone..anyone from the group. I kept up hope, it was damn near all I had left.

I followed beside him for most of the morning in silence. He seemed to know where he was going and I didn't ask. He didn't seem like he was in the mood for chit chat. That is, until he put a hand out to my chest and stopped me abruptly.

I ran into his hand and furrowed my brow at him, "What the-" He gave me a look and quickly muttered, "Shush."

I quieted quickly and looked around before Daryl took his bow out and started to take a few steps towards a tree with a low laying branch.

My eyes widened as I saw the plump squirrel, who clearly looked startled. Daryl's bow sunk into it cleanly and he quickly went over to pick up what I imagined would be lunch. And I was right.

He had already started to prepare the squirrel and I brought together as many sticks as I could find in the area.

My mind was on autopilot, and anything regarding our group, like Hershel, and what happened was off of my mind.

Doing something helped..keeping busy helped.

We hadn't seen many walkers that morning, a stray here and there and that was good. I didn't know where that herd had gone, but I was thankful we hadn't seen any sight of it. They probably deviated and went into a different direction.

The squirrel was not something I was fond of, but I ate anyways. Daryl ate without a care in the world, but sometimes he would sneak a glance as I shoved pieces into my mouth and chewed quickly.

To be honest, I was the best partner to be with in a time like this. I was capable of adapting and I would do nothing short of whatever it took to survive; even if it meant eating little woodland creatures.

However, my mother always told me to give compliments to the chef, so I did. "It's good." He sniffed and rolled his eyes at me, "Don't lie."

My mouth turned up involuntarily and for a moment I felt bad for smiling, for feeling my heart swell at the thought of smiling and laughing again.

He looked away, but I swore I saw the smallest corner of his mouth turn up into a half smile. It was as if we didn't believe we were allowed to relax, smile and rejoice in survival.

It would make us both feel like shit and think back on the pain that not everyone had survived Juno. And Maggie...my heart started to hurt again, so I shut my mind off and didn't want to talk the rest of the afternoon.

If I could tell anyone how many sunsets I saw the next few days, I'd tell them after the first three..I lost count.

We carried on as we had been, walking, eating, minimal talking and both of us taking turns for watch while the other one slept.

Daryl slept the least out of the two of us, but I got tired of arguing with him about it and was just glad he slept at all.

Rinse, recycle, repeat.

Rinse, recycle, repeat.

That is exactly what happened over the course of the time we were alone together. I found myself adapting to this lifestyle and it was in my nature to do just that.

I had grown up in Texas, after all. I had countless camping trips and adventures in the woods with Henry.

He had been a very informative older brother and it ended up coming in handy once I was on my own after the break out.

One day with Daryl, I spotted and killed a snake for us to eat. Daryl had looked at me, clearly impressed. And before he could hide it, I saw the smallest swell of pride and respect in those deep blue pools of his.

There were other times, like at night, when I was curled in a ball trying to sleep, that I knew he was staring at me. Trying to figure out if I was still the same girl he once knew, if I was damaged.

There were times I wanted to tell him I was alright, but at the end of the day, he knew in his heart I was tough. I would endure, but his worry showed he still cared.

Still felt something..especially for me.

Sometimes, over the fire, I would catch him looking and I saw the regret in his eyes; the regret of not getting to me and Hershel soon enough.

It was not something that would go away anytime soon, regardless how much I had reminded him that it wasn't on him. Daryl carried burdens and this one would take some time to heal.

Speaking of time..time away from a decent shower or even freshening up was beginning to creep into my bones. I hadn't felt this disgusting since before meeting the group.

I was grimy and nasty, my hair was drab and dryer than ever. When I ran my hands through my hair these days I was met with tangles. I would fuss relentless to myself to untangle them.

Sometimes Daryl would look at me and we would share a moment where he smirked and I glared playfully.

Then, just as quick as it came, it was gone.

It was easy for us, in a sense, because the two of us had knowledge of the woods. Though we had gotten comfortable at the prison, the survival instinct came to us like second nature.

I took a few days longer to adjust and my feet were aching something fierce again. I didn't complain though, I forged on and it was only when Daryl would suggest they stop that I did. He seemed relieved that I had been such an easy going survival buddy.

One morning, Daryl was more huffy than usual. My brows arched and I pulled the elastic on my wrist and started to put my hair into a pony tail.

"What's wrong?" It was then I realized we hadn't seen hide or hair of those train tracks that we were supposed to be making our way to.

My eyes looked up after I was done and saw him flicking a knife open and close forcibly. He was grinding his teeth and his jaw was clenched in frustration. His eyes never once looked up to me, "Nuttin, don't worry 'bout it."

I scoffed and shook my head, "Typical man.." He glared at me now before standing up abruptly, his voice more shrill than I had expected, "We ain't nowhere near those tracks, Red. We're walkin' blind and I ain't got time to go on a wild goose chase for some safe place. We're more likely to run into a Chuppacabra than them tracks."

My eyes widened in surprise at his outburst like a deer in the headlights.

"So, we're lost, is what you're saying?" I dead panned and furrowed my brows at him.

"Tha' hell so important about goin' to that damn place? Huh? Chasin' a damn fantasty is what we're doin'."

My heart sunk the more he spoke and I looked around wildly as his voice got louder. I didn't want to attract more walkers. I bit my lip, watching as he paced around the spot in the woods we had chosen to rest up at.

My bottom lip threatened to tremble, but I stopped it before it could even start.

"Well, if you're so against it, why don't you just take off and I'll go my own way. Hm?" My voice was icy and I knew it was an empty threat. I wouldn't leave him and he wouldn't leave me.

Tensions were high though and we were beginning to grow weary of ever finding the train tracks. Or other people in our group.

"Ya ain't gonna' find it neither cuz' you ain't got a clue where the hell yer' at!" He closed his knife again and shoved it into his back pocket before securing his other hunting knife in the holster.

I chose to stay silent. My head was hurting from the stress of hearing him yell and it was never a sight I liked to see or hear. He didn't say a word as he grabbed his bow and started trudging on again without looking back at me.

I grabbed my backpack and jogged to keep up, but this time I hung back and followed solemnly behind him.

It was only after tracking for a few hours that Daryl stopped in the woods and Istopped a ways behind him. He hadn't once talked to me since his outburst, but he looked back now at me and then towards the way we had been walking.

"Ya' hear tha?" He asked and I slowly walked to him, closing the gap until mh shoulder brushed against his. I closed my eyes and listened for a minute or two until my heart beat started to thrum harder than normal.

"Is that.." I trailed off, but Daryl was already grabbing my wrist and pulling me along with him rather quickly. We came to a halt on the trail when we found a small incline that lead down to a creek.

It was only when I looked up that I saw a highway over part of the creek. I glanced over to Daryl, feeling relief seep into my bones.

"Water." He muttered, clearly dumbfounded we had found something we so desperately needed.

It was a place where they could rinse off and take a few minutes to get semi-cleaned up. Not like we had any soap, but we would make do. We always did.

He dropped my wrist since we were clearly still touching and I shifted awkwardly in my spot. The mood was slightly lifted though and I started the small descent down to the creek and Daryl followed.