Title: Armored Love

A/N: Welcome to my very first story here on FanFiction. I know that there are many Daryl Dixon/OC stories out there, but I hope you'll give mine a try.

Info: This story starts around Season 2 of the show but I'll try to continue writing to reach where they're currently at, which means that there will be many chapters up ahead. I'll follow the main plot points of the show, but there will be a lot of my own twists and changes in it as well to create more unpredictability. Moreover, I'll make many adjustments regarding the dialogues of the characters and also of certain happenings etc. so you won't be re-reading everything that was said/done in the show. The chapters will become much longer as the story progresses.

Rating: M for language, violence and adult themes.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead, only my OC Riley.

Chapter One

Run! Keep running! Riley mentally screamed at herself as she was sprinting through the woods, clutching her bleeding side while her other hand was tightly holding on to a machete. That bastard had shot her good yesterday. Even though it had only been a flesh wound, it was still bleeding heavily, really weakening her.

She hid behind a big tree, trying to catch her breath. They had been on her tail for two days now; she couldn't seem to get rid of them. She looked at her left side, pulling up her blue tank top that was now soaked with blood. She winced when she looked at her wound, it hurt like hell. She carefully pulled down her top again before she took deep slow breaths, trying to calm herself down in order to listen for any sounds of the moaning undead.

God she was hungry. Her stomach rumbled as she tried to push back that thought, knowing that she didn't have any time to eat right now. She quickly pulled off her leather backpack from her back and rummaged through it, looking for the bottle of water that she'd filled at a river she'd luckily came across yesterday.

She flicked her braided hair away from her shoulder and quickly gulped down the last amount of water before she threw the empty bottle back in her backpack and looked at her surroundings. Fortunately she didn't hear any moaning of the undead around her so she was safe from them for now. She had to stab at least five of them when she was hiding behind either trees or bushes.

Riley looked at the big tree she was standing against and noticed that there were some thick branches sticking out near her head. She thought quickly and made her decision. She couldn't keep running, she felt herself becoming weaker by the minute and the fact that she hadn't eaten in a few days was also draining her body, slowing her down.

She turned around and braced herself against the tree, trying to pull herself up by using one of the thick branches. Her left side was screaming in protest and she winced again at the shot of pain she felt running through her body. Fortunately, after a few tries she was finally able to pull herself up.

She slowly climbed up the tree that was thankfully heavily covered with leaves, giving her hope that she wouldn't be spotted so easily. Sitting on a thick branch, she leaned her back against the tree. She started to get sleepy but knew that she needed to stay alert. If they would find her she would be dead for sure.

She sighed and was about to close her eyes for a bit before she suddenly heard a few voices coming from below and she instantly held her breath.

"I think she went this way." She heard a male's voice say.

"Are you sure? We've been walkin' for days now man and we only saw her once yesterday." Another man complained. "You hit her good though, I'm sure she is bleeding like a stuffed pig right now. Maybe those biters already got her?"

"I dunno.. Goddamn! Why the fuck didn't we see her in the first place?! She would've been a nice piece of ass instead of those dumbass teenage girls." The first man mentioned and Riley held back a shudder as she heard the man say that, vivid memories flashing by at the horrifying events she had witnessed two days ago.

After a moment she heard a moaning sound coming from beneath her and she saw two reanimated bodies slowly making their way towards the direction the voices were coming from.

"Urgh great, those bastards have been covering up all the tracks for hours now!" One man cursed before Riley heard a few gurgling sounds and something heavy fall down on the ground.

"Yeah, take that, you piece of shit!" Another man grumbled.

"C'mon, we need to get back. The others would wait for us for three days and shit man, I ain't doin' this for another day, searching for that dumb bitch."

"Yeah fuck it; I'm sure she'll be eaten for sure."

Riley heard them walk away and after listening for any sounds that fortunately didn't come, she finally dared herself to breath out a sigh of relief. They would finally leave her alone, she hoped. She slowly started to relax as the tension left her body which made her feel so tired. She tried to stay awake but her eyes were getting heavier by the minute before they slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep.

A while later Riley opened her eyes as she woke up, noticing that it was already getting dark. There was no way in hell that she was coming out of this tree any time soon, knowing that she couldn't see anything at night. The fact that her flashlight stopped working yesterday was just another evidence of her luck. Just another hour or so and it would be pitch-black outside, only the stars and moonlight would give her some comfort in the darkness. She knew that feeling all too well.

She was feeling hot, her clothes feeling extremely uncomfortable against her skin. Because of her blood loss she was also starting to feel a bit dizzy but she tried to keep her eyes open. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed, moving a little on the tick branch she was sitting on since her butt was getting numb. She accidently snapped a twig with her foot while doing so, and it fell on the ground with a soft thud.

"Who's there!?" She all of a sudden heard a gruff voice call out from below, making her freeze in her movements while she held her breath.

Shit! They found me! She thought in panic as she held still while she heard footsteps coming closer. Please don't find me, please don't find me! She prayed as she closed her eyes, tears falling down her face.

"Yo! I ain't askin' again. Ya get down from that tree!" The man on the ground demanded and Riley opened her eyes while facing reality; he had spotted her by some miracle.

"O-okay I.. I'm coming down. Please.. Please don't shoot." She shakily said and she winced again at the pain that was shooting through her body as she was getting up from the thick branch she had been sitting on. She dropped her backpack on the ground below and carefully climbed down the tree again. It took her several minutes before she finally reached the ground, standing a bit wobbly on her feet while clutching her left side which ached like crazy.

"Drop yer knife!" The man demanded since she was still clutching her machete in her right hand and she sighed before she dropped her only comfort in this dark world. "Turn around," he ordered and she slowly turned around, facing the man that had spotted her hiding place. Her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed that he wasn't one of the two men who had been following her for the last two days.

No, the man in front of her was holding a crossbow in his hands, pointing it straight at her. He wore a dark grey sleeveless shirt and some pair of faded jeans which clearly had been through a lot as she was seeing some skin through the big holes near his knees. She noticed a pair of dead squirrels hanging from a rope that was tied to his belt which got her thoughts running. Probably a hunter or something? She wondered while she unknowingly stared at the brown haired man. She could see the muscles of his arms were straining as he was holding the large weapon in his hands. That thing must weigh a ton.

"What the fuck were ya doin' up in that tree girl?!" He gruffly demanded to know while he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as she was staring at him.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him again. "I.. I was hiding from some people." She replied and the man frowned at her answer but didn't lower his crossbow.

"Are ya with a group?" He asked and Riley thought quickly on what she was going to say to him. Mentioning that she was alone probably might not be a good idea, but if he left her here she would most likely die. She knew that she wouldn't be able to make it on her own, especially with barely any food and water, not to mention that her body was bleeding out from her wound.

"No.. I'm alone," she answered truthfully after a moment and the man nodded, seemingly taking her at her word. Riley looked at his face again when he stayed quiet, seeing that he was thinking about something while he looked at her. She prayed to God he wouldn't harass her or anything in that direction since she knew that honest men were very hard to find nowadays. She'd been made brutally aware of that fact a few days ago.

Her legs were shaking from the lack of energy and her side was screaming in protest as she applied more pressure on it with her hand. The man looked at the movement, seeing her bleeding side.

"Ya been bit?" He asked her while she saw that he slowly lowered his crossbow. She shook her head as she leaned her back against the tree behind her for support.

"No, shot.. I got shot," she weakly replied and before she knew it, her legs suddenly gave out and she fell on the ground. She gasped in pain, breathing heavily as she had fallen on her injured side. She heard rapid footsteps nearing her and her eyes widened when she saw that the man was abruptly kneeling in front of her, grabbing her shoulders to help her sit up again. She flinched at the sudden close contact but didn't say anything as she saw him looking at her left side in concern.

"The bullet still in there?" He asked her, his blue eyes boring into her brown ones.

"No, it ju-" she started but he pulled away her hand to see her side more clearly for himself before she could even finish her sentence. She gasped out loud from the burning pain she felt at the movement. "It just grazed me but it's bleeding like hell." She barely got out.

The man lifted up her top a little to check her injured side, wincing at the sight of the wound while noticing that there was still blood oozing out from it. He felt her eyes on him and pulled away his hand from her side.

"I saw two walkers layin' there on the ground, did you do that?" He asked her with a frown on his face.

"What?" She said, being confused at what he meant with the word walkers.

"Walkers girl! Those livin' dead things!" He nearly snapped at her, the irritation clearly noticeable in his voice.

"No! No those two men that came after me did," she quickly replied with widened eyes since he startled her with his tone of voice and he frowned again before he grabbed the end of his shirt and swiftly tore off a piece of cloth. He quickly wrapped it around her waist and stood up again, looking around.

Shit, I can't leave her here, she will die for sure, he thought as he picked up his crossbow from the ground and settled it behind his back. He looked at the girl again and ran his hand through his hair, contemplating on what to do. Her dark brown hair was stuck to her face, and he realized she probably had a fever by the way she was sweating. He looked around again trying to come to a decision. He didn't know how the others would react if he would bring her back to camp.

He heard her breathing heavily behind him and he looked back, seeing that she was slowly closing her eyes. "Hey! Hey wake up girl!" He quickly said, catching her attention and she looked up at him again.

Shit! He thought while he quickly walked over to her. He made his decision right there and then, he was going to bring her back to the farm.

"Can ya walk?" He asked her while she was slowly closing her eyes yet again but she snapped them open as she heard his voice.

"I-I think so.." she slowly replied as her mind was feeling very foggy, she couldn't seem to think clearly anymore, she was so tired. He picked up the machete she had been holding in her hand, tying it to his belt with a small piece of rope. When he was done, he grabbed her bag that was sitting next to her and flung it over his shoulder. He carefully helped her up from the ground and pulled her arm around his neck while wrapping his arm around her, being cautious not to touch her wound. Her legs were shaking a little as she was leaning heavily against him. They were slowly moving forwards through the woods and Riley could tell the man was beginning to get frustrated by her lack of speed.

Fuck this! He thought and he swiftly pulled her up into his arms. Riley gasped out loud at the feeling of her burning side but kept her mouth shut since the man was in fact helping her. She knew that the last thing she should do right now was complain about her pain or he would surely just drop her on the ground and leave her here in the middle of the woods to fend for herself.

"What's yer name, girl?" He asked her out of the blue when he noticed that she was about to close her eyes again.

"Riley." She tiredly replied and he gave her a quick nod in reply, not saying anything else as he kept on walking.

Riley frowned at his silence, pursing her lips. "Yours?"

"Daryl."

"Where are you taking me, Daryl?" She asked, wondering what his intentions were.

"I'm takin' ya back to my group. We're camped at a farm where the owner is a veterinarian, he can take a look at yer wound for ya." He replied and she tiredly nodded. For some reason she could care less anymore about where he was taking her. She was exhausted from all the running, the lack of food and the burning pain in her side. Her head felt heavier and without thinking about it she slowly leaned against Daryl's shoulder. She was so drained from the blood loss and it was difficult to keep her eyes open. Before she knew it, her mind went blank and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Daryl had felt the movement and stared at the now unconscious girl in his arms before he shook his head. Just my fuckin' luck, he thought in frustration as he quickened his pace since panic was now setting in. If he didn't get the girl back to the farm soon, she wouldn't make it until dawn.

"He's been gone for far too long, Rick." Shane told the man standing beside him on the roof of the caravan, both of them keeping watch on the woods.

"If he's not back by tomorrow morning we are going to search for him." Rick said in concern and Shane nodded in reply.

"I know he wants to look for her Rick, but chances are slim he's ever gonna to find her. She's been gone for two weeks now."

"I know. But we can't give up hope, Shane." Rick replied and Shane rolled his eyes.

The girl is probably dead by now. No kid can survive in those woods all alone, he thought before he looked through his binoculars, not really seeing anything due to the darkness. His eyes suddenly widened however when he noticed a flash of light pointing at them from out of the woods.

"Wait! What's that!?" He called out and Rick frowned in confusion.

"What? A walker?" The man asked as he looked into the direction where Shane was pointing, suddenly seeing the same light.

"No man. No walker would've been carrying a flashlight." Shane mentioned.

"C'mon, let's go check it out." Rick said and Shane followed him off of the caravan to the light that was coming out of the woods.

As they came closer, shining their flashlights ahead of them, they saw a familiar person stepping out of the woods.

"It's Daryl! What in the hell is he carrying?" Shane asked while he and Rick were now running towards the hunter.

"Too big to be Sophia." Rick said as he had flashed his light straight at Daryl now.

"Shit! Don't flash that thing in my face man!" Daryl grumbled at him and Rick quickly turned his flashlight towards the ground.

"Where were you!?" Shane said in annoyance, making Daryl glare at him.

"I saw this girl sittin' in a tree. She's been shot and I've been carryin' her all the way back here, ya jackass!" He snapped at Shane who rolled his eyes.

Rick shined his flashlight at the girl in Daryl's arms, seeing that her face was flushed while she was sweating. He placed his hand on her forehead in concern, feeling the burning heat of her skin underneath his palm.

"She has a fever," he mentioned with a frown before he looked up at the hunter. "Take her back to a tent, Daryl. Don't wake up the group." He said and Daryl nodded in reply before he started to walk towards their camp with Riley still in his arms, followed by Shane and Rick.

After he had placed Riley in his tent on his sleeping bag, Rick told Shane to keep watch again before he entered the tent as well.

"How long have you been walking?" He asked the hunter while he crouched down next to the man who was now sitting beside the girl after putting down his crossbow in the corner of his tent.

"A few hours. She's been fallin' in and out of unconsciousness," Daryl replied with a clear frown on his face. "I tried to keep her awake but she was just mumblin' shit."

Rick touched the girl's forehead again and noticed that she felt slightly warmer than a moment before. "She's really burning up." He said in concern.

"I covered up her wound, it was bleedin' like crazy." Daryl mentioned as he carefully pulled off the now blooded piece of fabric he had wrapped around Riley's waist and Rick looked at the nasty bloody wound, realizing that this girl really needed to be treated. "She told me it was a flesh wound, but still.." the hunter trailed off.

"I'll get Hershel." Rick said but was stopped in his movements when Daryl grasped his shoulder.

"Are ya sure man? It's another person on his land." The hunter mentioned.

"I know, but if she doesn't get any help right now, she probably won't make the night." Rick replied and Daryl nodded, looking back at Riley. "I'll go get him." Rick added before he walked out of the tent.

Daryl rummaged through his bag that was laying next to his crossbow before he pulled out a bottle of water and a clean washcloth, soaking it in water. He folded up the cloth and brushed away Riley's bangs that were sticking against her forehead before he gently dapped her face with the wet cloth.

After a moment, Riley suddenly opened her eyes due to the coolness she felt on her face. "What.. Where I am?" She asked in confusion as her brown eyes darted towards Daryl. Her head was feeling like it was about to explode and she felt really warm.

"At the farm." Daryl replied while he pressed the wet cloth against her forehead, making Riley sigh in relief at the coolness since it felt really good. She was slowly starting to relax before she unexpectedly heard some male voices nearing the tent and her body immediately tensed. Without thinking she quickly grabbed Daryl's wrist as his hand was still gently pressing the wet cloth against her forehead. The hunter stiffened at her sudden touch, but didn't pull away.

"It's okay, they're gonna help ya," he said to her when she looked at him with fear in her eyes. "Ain't nothin' gonna happen to ya, you're safe here."

Riley saw the reassurance in his eyes and slowly released his wrist. She could no longer fight the drossiness she was feeling and the last thing she heard was Daryl's gruff voice telling her she would be okay.

~ TWD ~

Thanks for reading!