When Riley woke up all she could feel was pain. Her head felt like it would explode if she moved too quickly and her whole body felt sore. She gingerly rolled onto her side her muscles protesting the movement. She slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position her head throbbing painfully. A wave of nausea rolled over her and she immediately began heaving, nothing really coming up since she hadn't eaten since breakfast back at the CDC. As she looked around she noticed that it was almost sunset. She cursed, realizing that she had lost the whole day.

She crawled over to the tree and used it to steady herself so she could try to stand, but as soon as she did the world was spinning and she was stumbling back down. Sighing she settled against the base of the tree taking deep breaths to help push back the nausea. She gently rubbed her head wincing when her fingers grazed over a large cut on the right side. When she pulled her hand back she noticed the blood on her fingers from the cut.
"Can't catch a damn break," Riley mumbled to herself. She leaned her head back against the tree looking around, trying to figure out which way she had come from. Nothing looked familiar of course, it was pitch dark when she had made her way through this area. If she could remember which way she came from she might be able to find her way back to the highway, but it was hopeless. She hadn't spent a single day of her life in the woods before the end of the world, she was completely out of her element here. It would be a miracle if she survived through this.

Hearing a twig snap in the distance jerked her back to reality. The sun had almost set now and visibility was seriously limited, she had to get up and get moving. She had already been in this same damn spot all day and it was pure dumb luck that no walkers had come across her while she was unconscious. Bracing herself against the tree again she stood up slowly, taking care not to strain her injured leg.

Once she was up and the world had quit spinning she pulled out the pocket knife holding it at the ready just in case something tried to sneak up on her in the dark. As soon as she felt steady on her feet she started off in a random direction, hobbling slowly on her injured leg.

As she ambled along she heard another twig snap behind her. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she quickly stumbled over to the nearest tree, leaning against it for support. The familiar smell of death and sounds of moaning put her on high alert as she strained her eyes in the dark. She watched as the walker shuffled through the trees aimlessly, not realizing she was even there. Not taking any chances she waited for it to move past her then, as quietly as possible, she snuck behind it plunging the knife into the base of it's skull. The walker immediately fell to the ground in front of Riley as she sighed with relief. She grasped the handle of the knife to pull it out of the walkers skull, but it wouldn't budge. She pulled harder then the handle suddenly broke apart from the blade sending Riley falling backwards. She landed on her butt, surprised for a minute, before looking at the broken knife handle in her hand.
"You no good, sorry ass mother fucker!" she cursed the knife. "Been nothing but bad luck since I found you!" she tossed the broken handle at the dead walker in frustration.

Huffing she began crawling over to the nearest tree to repeat her process of standing up. She was still too unsteady on her feet to attempt standing up without holding onto something sturdy. Once she was on her feet she took a minute to figure out her next move. She was alone, injured, and hopelessly lost and now to top it off she had no weapon. She wanted to smack herself for forgetting her hatchet back on the highway. She swore to herself if she survived this, she would carry that damn hatchet everywhere with her from then on. Like how Daryl was with his crossbow, she thought.
She chuckled at herself. What she would give to have Daryl here with her right now, this was his area of expertise. He would have known the way back to the highway, no problem. She sighed quietly, this was no time to start zoning out. The truth of the matter was that Daryl wasn't there. She had gotten herself into this mess and now she would have to get herself out of it. There was no other option.

She took a few deep breaths and continued slowly making her way through the dark woods. She had no idea where she was going but if she kept walking in one direction she would come across something eventually right? That was the hope she was holding onto as she trudged her way through the woods surrounded by darkness.

Riley had been slowly making her way through the dense trees for a few hours when she took a step and panicked when her foot was met with open air. She grasped desperately for a nearby tree, clinging to it as she regained her balance. She looked down and realized there was a large drop off in front of her but she couldn't see what was at the bottom. She quickly backed up and headed in a different direction afraid of possibly falling down there. She already had a stab wound, probably a concussion, and was extremely dehydrated. She didn't really need to add falling off a cliff to her list of reasons she might die out here.
She thought of how hungry and thirsty she was but it had only managed to slow her down even more. Her stomach growled and her throat burned causing her to sigh with frustration. She had been wandering around in these God forsaken woods most of the night and she was exhausted. Deciding she needed a break she began searching around for a safe place to rest for a while.

She made her way through the trees a little farther coming to a small clearing. She was surprised to see an old farm house sitting there in front of her. She was about to make her way inside when she realized she didn't have any weapons. If there were any walkers inside she would be defenseless. Quickly knocking that idea, she decided instead to find a safe place near the farm house and continue in the morning. It would be good to have a landmark to help her remember which way she had come from. She made her way around the edge of the clearing looking for a good place to hide, ruling out anymore trees. She had moved around toward the back of the house when she came across a large patch of tall grass. It wasn't ideal but the grass came up above her knee so she could easily lie down in the middle and be hidden for a while. She quickly moved herself to the patch of grass and got comfortable falling asleep almost instantly.

"Sophia!"

Riley was suddenly pulled back to consciousness by the sound of someone yelling. She sat up quickly, instantly sending the world into a tailspin. She had a hard time trying to focus on anything, but she could tell it was already well into the day. She didn't know who yelled, she just knew she needed to get to the voice. Whoever it was had called out for Sophia so it had to be someone from her group. She pulled herself unsteadily to her feet, forcing her protesting body to stay upright. Her mind was clearing a little as she shuffled her way toward where the voice had come from. As she slowly moved around a tree she stopped in her tracks when she came face to face with the business end of a crossbow.
"Riley?" he sounded almost unsure.
"Daryl," she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he lowered his crossbow. Riley had never been so happy to see anyone before in her whole life.
"What the hell happened to ya? We been out here for days lookin for you and Sophia!" he said angrily.
"I'm not really sure what happened myself," she mumbled. "Do you have any water?" she asked hopefully thanking the heavens when he handed her a half full bottle. She leaned against the tree and sipped the water, not wanting to make herself sick, sighing when she felt the relief from her burning throat.
"Thank you," she said handing him what was left of the water.
"You ok to walk?" he asked quickly. "Need to get you looked at. You look like hell." Riley nodded amusedly at his comment and followed him as they began walking.

She was having trouble keeping up with his pace, her leg was stiff and sore and it was really slowing her down. She didn't complain though, she just wanted to make it back to the highway in one piece.
"How much further to the highway?" she huffed. She was losing her energy quickly trying to keep up with him.
"Ain't going back to the highway," he slowed a little, noticing how tired she was.
"What? Where are we going then?" she looked at him confused. He was about to answer when Riley's injured leg suddenly buckled under her weight and she yelped as she went face first into the ground.
"Ugh, ow," she mumbled as Daryl helped her back up.
"The hell happened to you anyway," he said supporting her weight as they continued walking, much slower this time.
"A cursed pocket knife," Riley muttered laughing slightly at how immaturely she acted toward the knife the night before.
"How much blood have you lost?" he asked confused.
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Found an old pocket knife back on the highway." She paused to take a breath. "Gave it to Sophia before we headed back to the highway, just in case," she sighed "I don't know what came over her, but half way back to the highway she stabs me in the leg and tears off into the woods all alone," she sighed.
"Somethin don't seem right about that," he muttered taking her by surprise. She stopped in her tracks yanking her arm away from him.
"You saying I stabbed myself?" she asked her guard instantly back up. Hadn't she already proved that she had no reason to lie.
"I never said that," he said forcefully.
"Then what are you saying?" she demanded.
"It just don't sit right that she'd do sumthin like that," he said.
"Haven't I already proven that I have no reason to lie to you people!? For God sakes, I spent three days lost in the woods looking for that girl!" she raised her voice at him in anger. "What reason would I have to do this to myself!?" she gestures to herself, her hair was matted and bloody, blood smeared down the side of her face, her shirt was torn, the torn piece binding the wound on her leg where a large blood stain worked its way down her pants leg.
"I never said you were lyin," he raised his voice back at her. "If you'd shut the hell up for a minute I coulda told ya that!"

Riley glared at him unsure if she wanted to be happy he wasn't calling her a liar or pissed because he'd just told her to shut the hell up.
"All I said was sumthin wasn't right about it," he clarified.
She sighed, not having the energy to continue fighting with him.
"Fine," she huffed and began limping ahead of him. She just wanted to get out of these damned woods already.
"So yer cursed knife cut yer head too?" he asked pulling her arm over his shoulders and snaking his arm around her waist to help her walk. If she hadn't been feeling like a total train wreck she might have blushed, but right now she was just thankful for the help.
"Nah, I fell out of a tree," she said plainly. "Though, if we're going with the cursed knife theory," she chuckled.
"So if we're not going back to the highway, where are we going?" she asked again.
"A farm. Not too far from here," he answered.
"Alright," she breathed, not feeling up to talking anymore.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way toward the farm.