Jodie started to feel like she was going crazy, these walls narrowed her down and she wanted to get out. Out into the woods, breathe in fresh air, train with her crossbow and see something else than cold walls. She wanted to see trees, shrubs, animals, just being free.

But Rick didn't let anyone go out, only the people who would doing tours, and this was one of the few jobs he denied her. She was too young to go out and face the danger of the walkers. Jodie knew it was for her own good, but she was starting to feel like she was choking inside.

She was going out of her mind.

And even though she knew that she was going to be in trouble, she started checking the fence for any weak spots so she could sneak out at a convenient time. Just for an hour or two.

And in fact, on one of the outer walls where the fence ended, there was actually a little spot where the fence hadn't been properly tightened. If she made herself tiny enough, maybe she could squeeze through.

Jodie was looking at the yard, and she knew it was dangerous and she was gonna get in trouble, but she needed it now. But she also had to make sure that no walker or anyone else came through the gap in the fence while she was gone. Otherwise, she'd put everyone in danger.

She went back to the pantry, found a strong, stable wire, and took her crossbow. She first pushed her crossbow, then her backpack, and then squeezed herself through it.

The fence scratched her skin and left slight scratches. When she managed to squeeze out, she pulled the wire out of her pocket and closed the gap with it. Then she ran out and disappeared in the woods as fast as she could. From Watchtower, you couldn't see her, because she'd been up there herself and checked. That one spot was not visible, which is why no one could see her slipping out from there.

When she ran about a hundred meters, she stopped. Breathing in the fresh forest air and closed her eyes for a moment. Finally. Freedom, fresh air. She smiled and saw a walker approaching from the side. He was slow, which is why Jodie briefly considered if she should try the crossbow on him, but then she'd rather take her knife. She couldn't waste arrows on the walker if she didn't know if she'd hit it well enough.

She rammed the blade into the forehead of the walker, and the latter sank immediately to the ground and his croaks stopped.

Jodie wiped her knife on his clothes and put it back on, then decided to practice a little. She first decided to use the next tree as a practice target. So she picked up a spot, put an arrow in it, stretched the crossbow, aimed, and shot. The arrow flew right past the tree. Jodie sighed and tried again, and she had taken enough arrows to practice. The next arrow missed the branch hole that Jodie was aiming at by a few inches, and she sighed again. It' gonna be a while for her to become a champion at this.

*************************************************

About an hour later, Jodie was satisfied with herself. She must have fired two dozen arrows and killed two or three biters who happened to run into her. But in the end, she managed to hit the exact target she intended four times in a row with the arrow. She smiled with pride, but then she noticed that the sun was already very low.

She had to go back to prison as soon as possible. They probably noticed that she was missing.

Hastily she collected her remaining arrows and also put a few sticks in her backpack to carve new arrows. By the time she reached the prison, it had already begun to become dark and she secretly opened the wire again and squeezed back in through the gap and then shut it again. Jodie was glad that no one couldn't see her from Watchtower, or she'd probably get in trouble right away.

Hopefully, no one noticed anything. She snuck back into her cell as inconspicuously as possible and dropped her crossbow there. The minute she started looking for new clothes to take a shower, Cole came in.

"Jodie! Where on earth were you? I've been looking for you for two hours and couldn't find you! Where have you been? ", he asked upset.

Jodie looked awkwardly at her shoes, and then, in the absence of a better explanation, she picked up a book, which she had only recently taken from the library.

"I was in the library, but I didn't see you there."

Jodie just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "Well, that not my fault."

"Okay, anyway, whatever you did, please don't do it again, tell me where to find you, okay?", he said.

Jodie nodded, but she secretly crossed her fingers behind her back. She didn't wanna lie to Cole, but she had to keep practicing.

"Okay, what are you going to so now? ", he asked her.

She held out her towel.

"Okay, when you're done taking a shower, come up to Watchtower. Sascha wants you to keep watch," he said, and Jodie nodded.

"Alright, see you then".

He ruffled through her long, reddish-brown hair.

Smiling, and also with a guilty conscience, Jodie looked after him. It wasn't fair to lie to Cole. But if one day she had to fight and use the crossbow, she should be prepared.

Jodie went into the shower, got undressed and turned on the water. She took the shower gel and shampoo that Cole had brought her from one of his tours and soaked in it.

She loved the shampoo because her hair always smelled like raspberries when she used it.

After washing all the dirt and sweat of her skin, she felt a lot better.

When she turned off the shower and dried off, she suddenly stopped, she was pretty sure she heard something. Like someone's whispering before the shower. Jodie was fishing for her clothes, dressing quietly, listening for any noises and hearing the voices again.

This time, she was pretty sure to hear a boy and a girl talking. While the voices were too quiet to understand, Jodie could hear them and when she was dressed, she came closer as quietly as possible.

"Do we really have to do this? She's not really doing anything," a girl said.

"Did you see how she handle the walkers? That's not normal anymore. With any luck, we will be next and she will kill us in our sleep," a boy's voice hisses.

Jodie knew this voice. Roderick.

"Yes, maybe she's crazy, but is this really necessary?" Another voice from a boy.

"If you all wanna be a fuckin' lightweight, I'll do it alone. But then don't complain later if she hurts you," Roderick said.

"Alright, alright, we're doing it".

Jodie had no idea what exactly was going to happen, but she was pretty sure it would be something humiliating again, and it was definitely connected to her. So, she decided to hide. She took her things, put them under her top in her waistband, and then sneaked into a cabin, put the water on, so it sounded like she was still in the shower and then rushed to the other side of the cabins.

She listened and heard footsteps approaching. Cautiously, she glanced around the corner and saw Roderick and two girls approach with broomsticks. Jodie was pretty sure what they were going to do with it, and she waited until they went to the cabins before she ran. Apparently, one of Roderick's friends was waiting for her outside and grabbed her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kept her from running.

"Roderick, I got her! She tried to run! "

A few seconds later, Roderick and the two girls stood in front of her. The broomsticks were firmly in their hands. Roderick showed a wide smile.

"I'll give you that, you seem smart and fast, but not smart and fast enough," he smiled.

He swung out the broomstick and hit Jodie in the stomach. Jodie bent over in the boy's arms and gasped for air. Roderick struck again and she bent again in pain. Roderick was smiling again and he seemed to enjoy torturing her.

But when Roderick struck out a third time, Jodie reacted. With a headbutt to the back, she got Roderick's buddy to let go of her and a kick to the front made Roderick drop the broom.

Jodie could have just run away right now, but she wouldn't let him get away with it without any consequences. She felt fear a moment ago, now it was just anger, and he should know what it felt like to be tormented.

She struck out her fist and punched him in the face.

Roderick stumbled back and held his bleeding nose, Jodie turned around and ran off with her things as fast as she could. Her stomach hurt, and she had trouble breathing normally, but that still didn't make her slow down. When she reached the guard tower and tore the door open, she bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch where you going! "Daryl growled when she hit his back.

Jodie took a step back and breathed hard.

"You okay? "Daryl asked when he noticed the girl's haunted look.

Jodie hesitated and then shook her head.

"What is going on? "he asked, but she just shook her head again, walked past him and sat on the pedestal of the watchtower.

Daryl skeptically knitted his eyebrows and sat down next to her with the rifle.

"What's wrong?" he asked again. Jodie turned her head away shamefully. She didn't wanna talk to him about it.

Her breathing slowly calmed, but her stomach still hurt from the beatings. She turned away a little from Daryl before she pulled up her top, put her things next to her and saw that the broomsticks had already left some bruising's. She would probably feel that for the next few days.

"What is that? "Daryl's voice made her twitch, and she immediately released the fabric of her top.

But Daryl, kneeling down in front of her, pushed the top straight up again and looked at the conspicuous bruises.

"Where did you get these? "He just asked and his voice was a dark growl. Jodie bit her lip.

She didn't want to tell.

"Girl, talk please! I just want to help you! And you can't choose who's helping you right now! ", Daryl growled at her as she didn't look him in the eyes.

Jodie looked at her feet.

Daryl sighed, he looked at her, and he knew this situation all too well. How many times had Child Services stood at his door? The officers had seen his and Merle's injuries and asked questions to which he had remained silent. Only she wasn't beaten up by her parents, she was probably beaten up by the other kids.

Daryl tentatively took her chin, lifted it up, forced her to look him in the eye.

"Was it the other children? " he just asked. Tried to make it easy for her.

Jodie hesitated and blinked for a second.

"Does blinking once mean yes and blinking twice no? "he asked.

Again, a blink. Daryl had to smile even though it was absurd.

"I'm glad we understand each other," he said, and put her top right.

But Jodie reached for his hands, held them firmly in her hands, and Daryl looked questioning, at their hands. His hands were big, rough and dirty. Hers were small and clean, but he also felt some rough spots on her palm. Her hands were all warm, holding Daryl's hands gently, like she's holding a small bird between her hands. Daryl looked at Jodie's face, her face wasn't unreadable, and her eyes reflected so much, fear, pain, longing. Longing for safety. Daryl squeezed her hands for a moment and Jodie returned the pressure, then she opened her hands again and released his hands. Daryl reluctantly pulled his hands back, and then sat down next to her. He didn't look at Jodie. The situation was too strange for him. Too unusual.

He decided to change the subject.

„Cole brought your guitar", he growled and found to his anger, that his voice sound rough. Almost fragile.

She nodded, smiled, and let him give it to her, and when Daryl leant over to her, he smelled something. She smelled good, like berries. Raspberries, the smell seemed to come from her hair, and now he noticed that they were still completely wet and glued to her head.

"Did you take a shower?", he asked.

She just nodded and started to pull easily at the guitar strings. Then she stopped and gave him a questioning look. Her eyes asked: May I?

He nodded and she started playing a melody that Daryl had never heard before, it was calm and at the same time stirring. It's like she's using the music to bring his inside out. And even though he didn't want it, Daryl closed his eyes for a moment and let the music take him away. It carried him to the woods, where he could be free and do what he wanted. She finally let the strings of the guitar end gently and Daryl opened his eyes. Jodie's eyes were fixed on the horizon while she was playing. And without ever talking about it, Daryl knew that she had also been there in the woods and felt free just like him. Maybe she'd even been there with him.

Jodie looked at him, and Daryl saw in her eyes that she was waiting for an judgement, whether he liked it or not.

„Not bad", he growled quietly and drew a smile from her.

Jodie put the guitar aside and reached for her rifle too. Without changing another word, they spent the rest of their shift quietly next to each other.

Happy new Year, everyone. It's nice to see, that some of you, found your way to this story, I hope you enjoy it so far. I love to see some commentary, so I know, that you guys like my story or not. By the way, it could be that the next two weeks, there will be no update, since I got my finals. Fingers crossed.

Live Liz;)