Based off of an idea that I had started, but now realize it might not work. I deleted the story from the website, but have it saved on my computer should I choose to try again with it in the future. This story is, technically, its own idea, not a sequel or prequel to anything. Yet? Who knows. Hope you enjoy it.

Warnings that will follow throughout story: PTSD, issues with touch, swearing, canon-typical violence, mentions of rape, some character deaths that will be mostly canon-typical.

Note: Eventual romance between Daryl and my OC. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

No Pain, No Gain

Everything happens for a reason. The universe has its own plan. The universe has its own sense of humor.

The universe can suck my metaphorical dick.

I think things through, I wouldn't be logical if I didn't. Everything had gone accordingly with the group…but not with me.

I pressed my back as far against the wall as I could. Even so, I still felt the occasional swipe of a walker nearly pulling my hair or tugging my clothes. They gnashed and yanked hungrily at the chain link for what felt like hours. They were getting so impatient that they started scraping their faces and bodies against the metal. I grimaced as rotting innards and teeth spilled at my feet.

Trying to block out everything – the groaning, snarling, nightmare-inducing situation – I gazed past them. My old, battered, but trusty backpack and longbow had been abandoned on the pavement. I'd had to. The pack was heavy with supplies and would've weighed me down, and the bow's string had been cut clean through. Next to those things was the handle of my knife, bloodstained and missing its blade after having been snapped off into a snarling skull.

I jumped when the metal of the gate groaned. The chain link was caving, the hinges were bending, and my corner I had been forced into was getting smaller and smaller.

Experimentally, I made a sharp chirping in the back of throat. It was a shrill, distinctive noise that I used to communicate over long distances with the group, specifically-

I groaned irately when the fence started smashing against my toes.

I made the chirping again, louder, but it was no good. More walkers kept on coming towards me, their hellish growls deafening out anything else and their lumbering bodies now blocking out the happy sun. Sweat trickled down my spine. But then, I sealed my mouth shut when I felt a chuckle bubble inside me.

I hated being backed into corners, hated feeling trapped. It made me feel helpless and out of control.

A walker surged forward, making some of the chain link slap my forehead. I snickered louder, glancing around at the walkers. How the hell could creepy undead monsters not scare me, but a simple human touch or closeness could? I barked out a full laugh...laughed again...and again and again.

I laughed and hollered until tears scathed my face. I had no reason to be scared. The group – my group – was alive and safe because of my current position. My plan worked perfectly to get them out of harm's way, it just didn't work for me.

At some point, my laughter died into a sigh and I let my head fall back against the brick biting at my back. Ah well. You can only do so much planning and dodging until your luck runs out. And mine had.

My group was far away from the carnage, as planned. There were hundreds of walkers, all crushed together, pressing me against the wall. I had no means of escape, no way of scaling the wall, nothing on me to distract the walkers away, no weapons… And no one was coming for me because they thought I was right behind them.

I faintly realized I was still crying, probably outright sobbing, but I couldn't hear myself over the walkers, and a loud, shrill-

I stopped breathing. It couldn't have been…Shouldn't have been…

I stood on my tiptoes, as if getting a better view could help me hear it better.

This time, I heard the sob wrench from my throat. In the distance, every other minute or so, I could hear a sharp whistle, a single note that was searching for something, getting closer. Searching for me. I continued crying, this time tears of utter elated joy.

My emotions were my greatest enemy. I should've known better.

My wide smile bordered on painful as I opened my mouth and made the most ear-piercing, obnoxious chirping noise that I could. Hoping beyond all hope-

I should've known better.

As soon as the walkers heard the chirp, they got even more riled, bent and shoved the fence off its hinges. God…

Oh, god, did it hurt. But I didn't scream. I wouldn't give the universe the satisfaction.

As the walkers ripped my flesh from my bones, as they devoured every bit of me, I refused to make a noise, to even shut my eyes. I was desperate, desperate for one last glimpse of that crossbow, those striking blue eyes. But damn my logical self, because I knew I would never see him again, any of them.

I didn't know I was to be wrong about that.

Well, you know what they say. No pain, no gain.

The universe has a sick sense of humor. And sometimes you just got to say to the universe…

Fuck off and mind your own damn business.