(A/N – First, I do not own any of The Walking Dead, only my original ideas. Secondly, this has been a story I've been wanting to write for a little while, and I'm going to work on it when I am not working on my other two, Promise to a Little Girl and Before and After. Let me know what you think!)

Chapter one:

"This is it. This is when I die," she thought to herself as the men laughed. She had been minding her own business when they had come crashing through the trees and attacked her. She had been sitting there eating the last of her food when she heard them. When she looked up there were several men with wicked smiles on their faces until one man said, "Claimed."

Then she was on the ground, naked. The older man took his turn with her, cutting her clothes, sometimes cutting her skin with his hunting knife. She tried to scream, he slapped her and then covered her mouth. She tried to squirm, he brought his fist down to the side of her ribs and she swore something broke. When she realized she wasn't going to get away, that was when the man got up and another took his place. She had cried at first, but by the time the second man was done with her, she laid there, lifelessly.

They laughed and cheered each other on as they each took a turn and she focused on these purple flowers, flowers that her mother would have called weeds, which were growing a few feet from her. She watched them as her back scratched against the forest floor. She was getting black spots in her vision when she felt a weight lift off of her and heard a zipper close. She didn't dare look to see what they were doing. "What should we do wit' 'er?" she heard one man asked.

"Just leave her," a deeper voice said, "She'll be dead soon enough with all the freaks around." She listened to them laugh and as they left her there to die, and as they walked away she watched them trample her tiny purple flowers. She closed her eyes once, twice before she slowly turned her head to look up into the sky. The sun had past the middle and was now setting. "At least I don't have to run anymore," she thought to herself as one tear rolled out of the corner of her eyes. When she heard leaves crunch she closed her eyes and waited for the dead to rip into her flesh and take the last ounce of life she had. "Fuck," a man's voice made shivers run down her spine. She didn't remember this voice from before, but she didn't want to open her eyes in fear that they were back.

The crunch of leaves came closer until she swore she could hear his breath. She didn't flinch when a hand touched her neck. "Can ya hear me?" the voice said. She stayed quiet thinking that if she didn't respond he would let her die in peace. "Damn," she heard his voice next to her before the ground disappeared from under her. She felt something warm cover her naked body before she felt the warmth of his body to her right side. She felt his arms under her body and she bounced a little with every step he took. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. She shifted a little so her head wasn't on his shoulder and she could see him.

"Yer awake," he said, his step not faltering. When he looked down at her his eyes widened a little and his steps were uneven for a second before he recovered and continued walking normally without taking his eyes off of hers. He didn't comment, but she continued to watch him as he walked them through the forest. "I'm takin' ya back to ma camp to getcha checked out," he said looking back to the forest, "We're good people. Ya don't have to worry." She didn't move, but she could see him when he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes every now and then.

They weren't far away when he felt her head fall to his shoulder. He looked down at her and could tell by her shallow breathing that she was out cold. He hurried knowing that she might not wake back up if he didn't get her help. When he had found her there her one eye was almost swollen closed, her lip was split open and bleeding, she had dark circles under both eye and dried blood was around her nose, she had random bruises covering a majority of her body, and she was covered in dirt and blood and god knew what else. She was naked and hadn't even looked at him when he talked to her, on that note she hadn't said a word to him. She had looked dead, he had almost been sure that she was, but the moment he saw her eyes, he knew she was still alive. He just hoped that she would live long enough to heal both physically and mentally.

When she woke up the first thing she noticed was that she was lying on something soft, it almost felt like a bed. She listened for a moment, and when she didn't hear anyone around she opened her eyes. She winced when she did and found that she could only open one eye. She slowly sat up and found an IV in her right arm and she was in a bed. She ripped the blankets off of her and winced at the pain that radiated through her entire body. "Where am I?" she screamed in her head as she looked around. She tore the tape and gauze off of her arm and started pulling the IV out.

"Woah there," she heard an older man's voice call out to her from across the room. He was holding himself up with a crutch but held his hands up in a manner that showed her he meant no harm. "My name is Hershel and you're safe here," he said stepping closer to her. She ripped the IV out of her arm before grabbing a set of scissors that had been sitting by the bed side on a table of different medical supplies. "Calm down," he said halting his movements, "What's your name?" She watched him with wide eyes, as wide as her one eye could go anyway.

"Dad?" a woman walked by the door, "Oh my god!"

"Maggie what is it?" another man's voice called out before an Asian man stood in the door way, "Hershel!"

"It's alright," he said loudly holding up a hand to them while never taking his eyes off of her. Hey eyes on the other hand darted between the three new people. Her hands shook as she held the scissors tighter and the blood made her arm feel sticky and she just wanted to get away. "You're safe here," the older man said and she studied him until the Asian man started moving. She quickly looked at him and moved the scissors to get ready to attack if he came closer. "Glenn!" the man yelled and the woman grabbed the younger man, Glenn, and pulled him back. "Go get Rick," she whispered but it was still audible in the small, jail cell?

The man disappeared and her eyes darted between the old man and woman for a long time. "Just put those down and we can talk," the man, Hershel, tried to reason with her. She shook her head no and put on hand up to the wall to steady herself. "Easy," he said stepping closer but she held the scissors up again. "You're just dehydrated," he tried to explain, but he knew that there was no talking her down right now. Maggie stood four steps behind Hershel and she was biting her lips trying to think of something to say when four people showed up in the door way. The girl back up when she saw them and her legs hit the bed.

"It's ok," a man with dark colored hair and a beard stepped forward.

"Rick," Hershel said looking to the new man, "She's scared and weak. She needs to lie down but we need everyone out of here or she's never going to relax. She's going to end up hurting herself." She watched as Rick held his hands up and moved a little closer. She moved to the other side of the room to put more space between them. Rick stopped moving and she looked at the other people in the doorway who were watching her with wide eyes. There was a woman with short grey hair, the Asian boy, a younger boy with a sheriff's hat on, and a blonde girl that stood next to Maggie. "Get outa here," Rick said to everyone that stood watching. Slowly, they stepped out of sight, but stayed around the corner so that they could hear what was happening.

"Wha's goin' on?" a man asked and she faintly remembered the voice.

"The girl you brought it is freaking out," Glenn said.

"Wha' the fuck happened?" she heard before the man from earlier stepped around the corner and entered the room.

"Daryl," Rick said without turning around, "This is the man that found you." She looked at him and he watched her. To him, she looked like a wild animal that was cornered, he knew that if they kept going closer to her that she would strike out at anything and everything she could. "Get away from 'er," Daryl said and Hershel walked back to the door as Rick nodded to Daryl's words before slowly moving out also. The two men stood in the door while Daryl slowly walked towards the girl.

She was shaking even more than before and now she was leaning against the wall to try and keep herself upright. "Hey," he drawled out and she tried to hold the scissors up, "Yer gonna fall 'nd get hurt." She looked around to try to find a way out and away. "Ya ain't gonna make it far," he said getting closer, he wasn't in arms distance, but she still felt cornered. "Come on," he said taking another small step forward, "Let us help ya." When he came even closer she just looked at him. Slowly he moved his hand and grabbed onto the scissors. She looked at him and slowly let go of the make-shift weapon. The moment they were out of her hand black slowly engulfed her. Daryl caught her before she hit the floor and he moved her back to the bed.

"Is she ok?" Hershel asked as he came to her bed side and re-started another IV.

"Passed out," Daryl said looking at her face, "She tell ya 'er name?"

"No," Hershel said as Rick pulled out some zip ties, "She never said a word."

"The hell ya think yer doin?" Daryl asked as Rick picked up her arm.

"She's dangerous," Rick said.

"She was scared," Hershel countered.

"I'll stay here with her til she wakes up again," Daryl offered. Rick looked at him before nodding and exiting the room. "Did you see her eyes?" Carl asked, "What's wrong with her?"

"Carl," Maggie scolded him. Daryl didn't react to the people talking in the hallway as he watched Hershel move over the girl, checking her injuries and re-bandaging what needed it. "She gonna be ok?" he asked Hershel.

"Physically?" Hershel asked sitting back into his chair to get off of his foot, "Yes. She should be fine if she gets enough rest. But mentally? I don't even know that." Daryl nodded and got comfortable on the other chair on the other side of the room. He didn't normally stay with the people he brought back, but he felt responsible for her, and he didn't even know her name.

After a little while Hershel left the room and the sun was starting to set. It had been almost three days since Daryl had brought her back and this was the first time she had woken up. The bruises that covered her body were an ugly shade of purple and when Hershel had worked on her he noticed that her cuts were finally scabbing over, and while it didn't look like she was going to scar to badly, he knew that she was going to have some of those marks on her for the rest of her life.

As he sat there and watched her toss and turn in her bed he actually looked at her instead of her injuries. Her hair was a deep black and her skin, that wasn't covered in marks, looked sun kissed. She was small, maybe 5'4 and couldn't weigh more than 130 pounds. And her eyes. Daryl had never seen anything like it before and it intrigued him. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but Daryl felt terrible thinking that because he didn't even know her name.

When he tossing turned into thrashing that was loud enough to wake Daryl up, he ran to her bed side. He took hold of her arms and shook her gently trying to wake her. She woke with a blood curdling scream that had Rick running into the room moments later followed by Glenn and Carol. They stood in the door way shocked as this girl clung to the front of Daryl's shirt and cried. Daryl's hands awkwardly held her to him as he tried to calm her down. Rick waved everyone off and told them to go back to bed. Once everyone was gone, he waited for Daryl to nod at him reassuringly before heading back to bed himself.

Daryl ran one hand through her mid-back length hair and she sniffled as she tried to stop crying. He did this a few more times until she stopped sniffing. When she pulled back from him she just stared at him. "Ya alright?" he asked feeling stupid for even asking a question like that. He knew what had happened to her when he had found her. And if he couldn't tell from what he saw, Hershel agreed that she had the signs of rape.

Slowly, she nodded at him and Daryl stood back up. He was going to go back to his chair, but he suddenly felt a hand pull on his shirt. He turned and she was looking up at him with tear filled eyes. "I'm not goin' anywhere," he said, and when she didn't let go, he pulled the chair Hershel had used earlier closer to the bed and sat down in it. She laid back down and turned on her side watching him watch her. He tried to give her an awkward smiled, but she didn't return it. Instead, they just watched each other until she drifted off to sleep.

When he was sure she was asleep, Daryl carefully moved some hair out of her face and stilled when she let out a small sigh. When he was certain she wasn't waking up he quickly pulled his hand back to himself before getting comfortable in the chair. He watched her until he fell asleep hoping that she wouldn't wake up again that night.

(A/N – So there is the first chapter. I hope that you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think. Like I said, I've been wanting to write something like this for a while, but I'm not sure. So if this is something that you think that I should keep writing please let me know or I'll probably end up stopping and go back to my other stories. Thanks and lots of love!)