We walked outside to see the group all sitting around the fire. It was slowly starting to get cold and apparently I was the only one that noticed because everyone was still in t-shirts and shorts. I pulled my jacket around me tighter and sat down beside Carl while ruffling his hair.

He glared up at me and I stuck my tongue out of him. Daryl plopped down beside me. Everyone ate in silence. The food wasn't that much and it definitely wasn't hot or even warm. I sighed as I had the urge to lean my head on Daryl's shoulder but I stopped myself knowing he would be uncomfortable.

Everyone slowly finished their dinner and we all sat in silence listening to the sounds of nature around us. The fire crackling and gave off little heat and the smell of smoke filled the air. Carol and Lori stood up collecting everyone's dishes before throwing them in the wash bin.

The wind picked up a little and a very cool breeze chilled me to the bone. I shivered as I tried pulling the thin jacket around me more. We needed winter clothes and fast or we would die from freezing to death. "Ya need my jacket?" I looked up to see Daryl about to take it off.

I placed my hand on his shoulder to hold his jacket in my place. "I'm fine," I lied. Sure his blue jean jacket was warm. It was lined with soft fur and was plenty warm but I knew if he gave it to me he would only be left with his thin sleeveless flannel shirt and I couldn't do that to him.

"We need winter clothes," I said finally breaking the silence between in the group. I looked as everybody's eyes landed on me. They all nodded and I looked towards Rick. "I know a place that's about a 20 minute drive up the road. Some of us will go tomorrow," I said.

Rick nodded and looked around the group. "Does anyone volunteer to go?" Rick asked all of us. My hand automatically shot up seeing as I knew the way. I looked around the group. Daryl raised his hand beside me and Glenn raised his hand too. We were the only three volunteering to go.

I heard Daryl scoff and mumble something under his breath that sounded a lot like "pussies." "This will be good. In and out. We'll leave at first light," I said directing my attention to Daryl and Glenn. They both nodded and I got up. "Better get some sleep," I said.

I stood up and went to the tent. I quickly changed and laid down in my sleeping bag. I heard everyone shuffling around outside and figured they were about to head to bed. The cold was worse in the tent surprisingly. Which it was most likely because we were laying on the ground.

I sighed and snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag trying to stay warm. I gave up eventually and laid on my back with my hands behind my head. I heard the zipper and knew Daryl would be joining me in a minute. I sat up a little and watched Daryl pop into the tent quietly.

He didn't even notice that I was awake. He kicked off his boots and then turned around. "Sorry, I didn't wanna wake ya," he grumbled. I shrugged and smiled up at him. "I wasn't asleep. I was actually waiting on you," I said. Daryl smirked a little before lowering himself beside me.

"Ya know," he started while putting his arms around me." "It's kinda sexy when you're trying to be in control," he said while moving closer to me. I chuckled. "Trying to be? I'm always in control," I smirked at him. This time he chuckled and pulled me close. "Get some sleep. It's gonna be an early morning," he whispered before laying us down and pulling a blanket around us.

--

I woke up the next morning to the sun peeking through the tent. I sat up slowly and yawned looking around the tent. Daryl was nowhere to be found but his crossbow was still in the tent. That wasn't like him. I quickly changed and walked out of the tent.

I found Daryl sitting by the fire making more bolts for his crossbow. I sighed and plopped down beside him. We were the only two awake. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and nodded slightly and turned back to his bolt making. I looked around the camp seeing no one moving around in their tents and I was kind of happy.

It was silent. All I heard was the sound of Daryl's knife shaving the stick down. I sighed again and looked over at Daryl. He slowly stopped working on the stick and looked over at me. "What?" he questioned. I shook my head and looked down at the fire.

"In and out," Daryl whispered. I shook my head again. "Easy as walker guts," Daryl looked over at me. We held each other's gaze before he snorted. "You are so weird," he said. I chuckled and looked around. No one was still awake and I knew we had to get moving soon.

"We need to wake up Glenn. We need to get moving soon," I said. I stood up not waiting on Daryl to say anything. "Wait," I felt Daryl grab my hand and pull me back. I turned around and looked down at him. He stood up and wrapped an arm around me.

He kissed my forehead and then pushed me lightly away. What the hell was that? I slowly walked away to Glenn's tent. I threw a rock at his tent and I heard a grumble in response. "Glenn, we need to head out soon," I heard another grumble and walked away.

"Chinaman better get his chink ass moving," I rolled my eyes at Daryl's comment and walked back in the tent. I quickly packed my backpack and grabbed an extra duffel bag to put stuff in. I grabbed Daryl's crossbow and walked back out and walked back to the fire.

Daryl was checking a couple of his new bolts before he turned around. I handed him his crossbow quietly. He smirked a little before clicking the new bolts into his crossbow and throwing it over his back. Glenn walked out of his tent still rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Rick walked out of his tent at the same time. I went to Carol's Cherokee and grabbed a map out of the compartment. I walked back over to the men and waited to see if Rick was going to say anything. He just nodded his head and told us to be safe and come back. Then we were on our way.

The car ride was quiet between all of us. I ended up driving seeing as I knew where to go. Daryl rode shot gun looking at the map. After the 20 minute drive we finally arrived and I saw the small stores coming into view. I slowed to a stop in the middle of the road.

I pointed towards the stores. "The one on the left is a pharmacy, the one in the middle is a small grocery store, and the last one is a clothing store. I vote we split up to cover more ground. We'll clear each store together and then we'll each take a store," I said.

I watched as Daryl slowly nodded. I could tell he wasn't the most comfortable with it, but I wasn't going to argue with him today. I slowly eased the car towards the stores and parked. I sighed as I reached for my bag and my baseball bat. "I need to go to the pharmacy. You guys have no clue what you're looking for in there so that's my job," I said.

Both boys nodded and we all got out. I was surprised at how well they were listening. We quickly cleared out all three stores before heading back out to the parking lot. "Okay time to split up. Once you're done clearing your store as much as possible we need to help each other."

We all split up and I headed into the store quickly and quietly. I grabbed bandages, pills, ace wraps. I even threw in pregnancy tests and other things. I sighed as I noticed that my bag was basically full. I quickly threw the bag over my shoulder and went towards the door I came in.

I automatically regretted heading out the door. I quickly ducked behind one of the aisles and peeked out behind it. About 15 walkers were heading out of one of the storage rooms right towards me. I tried to calm my breathing. There was no way I was making it to the front door.

~~

*Daryl's POV (Wooo!)

I had quickly cleaned out as much as the food as possible. I walked out the front door and I threw the stuff in the car. I planned on going to help Emery. I knew Chinaman could handle himself. I went to walk towards the pharmacy when something caught my eye.

I quickly ducked behind the car. Walkers were walking through the store. Emery was in that store. I growled wanting to go in there and take everyone down but I knew I couldn't. I quickly darted towards the store that Chinaman was in and walked in the door.

I found him dumping a ton of shit into a shopping cart. I had to admit it was pretty damn smart. "Chink!" he turned around and glared at me. "We gotta go, now! Emery needs help," he quickly started taking the cart towards the door running beside me.

"What's going on?" he asked me. "Walkers," I stated bluntly before opening the car and throwing all the crap he got into it. "This is what you're gonna do. Drive the car to the front door and blare the horn it will distract them. I'm gonna sneak in the back and get Emery then we'll meet you in the back and get the fuck out of here," Glenn nodded and I quickly ran around the back. When I heard the horn go off I quickly opened the back door and made my way in the end.

~~

*Emery's POV*

I was trying to duck behind aisles as I around the store trying to find an exit. My hands were clutching my stomach. I shed off my jacket and wrapped it around my stomach trying to bind my wound. As I was running away I had managed to somehow cut my stomach up on a shelf.

Blood was coming out of my stomach and I knew it wasn't good because walkers could smell blood. I kept ducking behind aisles looking for a way out. I suddenly felt an arm around my waist and I went to scream because it was painful and I didn't know what was grabbing me but a hand went over my mouth.

"Shh, it's okay Em. It's just me," I relaxed a little as I heard the familiar southern drawl whisper in my ear. I quickly turned around and buried my head in his chest as he wrapped his other arm around me. "Ya okay?" I shook my head against his chest and pulled back a little.

I looked down at my stomach. You could see the blood soaking through my shirt. "Fuck," I heard Daryl whisper. He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards the back. "We need to get out of here," I heard him whisper. "Where's Glenn?" I whispered back.

I heard him grumble something. "He better be in the back with the car," he mumbled. I held my stomach with one hand and my other gripped Daryl's hand. We were moving quickly and quietly as possible. We stopped quickly behind an aisle as Daryl looked around to make the sure the coast way clear.

I did the most stupid thing ever. As we stopped I pulled my hand from stomach and placed that same bloody hand on the shelf. It was like every single walker smelled it and suddenly turned their attention to us. Daryl quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the left pushing me in front of him.

"Run for that door!" he said while pointing towards a door in the back. There was no reason to be quiet now. They were following us and they weren't going to stop until they took a bite out of us. I shoved through the door hoping that there was nothing in the room and luckily there wasn't.

There were tons of pallets and Daryl and I threw them to the ground hoping it would catch the walkers up and it did. I saw a sign that said exit and I quickly went that way. I heard Daryl's crossbow release and a sickening squishing sound soon followed.

They were getting too close for comfort. I shoved against the door and it didn't move. I knew we needed to do something and quick. "Em, you're gonna have to kick the door in. I'm the only one with a weapon," I nodded and started kicking the door with as much strength as I could.

"Kick it near the doorknob," I followed his instructions as I heard his crossbow release again. "I only got four arrows left," I heard him grumble. I knew I needed to get this door down faster but with the blood loss I was slowly growing weaker. I let out an aggravated sigh and the door flew open with my last kick.

I ran out the door. "Daryl, let's go!" I yelled at him running down the alleyway. Luckily it was small for us to run through and hopefully the walkers would get stuck trying to shove through it. I heard Daryl's heavy footsteps running behind me.

As I ran out of the alley I quickly slammed into the car with Glenn in the driver seat. I was more than relieved to see that car. Daryl opened the back door and shoved me in before getting in beside me. As he slammed the door a walker slammed against the door. "Get the fuck out of here, Chinaman!"

--

My heart was actually pounding a little writing this! And I knew what was going to happen! LOL! Norman Reedus in a week! Wooooooo! Comment, vote, fan, follow! xx