You woke up to a faint noise, as if something was beating irregularly but continuously at the windows. You were still sitting on the floor, resting your head on Daryl’s shoulder, which in turn leaned against you. You held hands as if to protect each other in this world. You pulled away a bit and he woke up with a grimace. Sleeping with the ass on the floor is also not exactly comfortable… He released his grip and ran his hand over his face. “Hey.”, he said.

“Someone is knocking on the windows.”, you said, standing up. “We should control how many there are.”

Even Daryl got up and went to join you. “Ugly assholes.” he commented. “How many do ya’ see?”, he asked, yawning.

“About ten.”

“And what do ya’ think?”

The sadness that you felt last night spread through your veins and turned into rage. Now you were angry and the unconscious beat you. “I think I want to tear them apart, ever single one of them.” You went to the door, but the man grabbed your arm.

“Wait.”, he said. “I check the area, there could be more.”

“Look around if you want, I’ll go out.”

“Y/N, no!”, Daryl tried to block you, but you were already at the door.

You went to the porch, down the steps and found yourself in the garden again. The Walkers attacked the window of the room in an unconvincing way when you drew their attention to you with a whistle. “Hey you bastards, I’m here!”

The Walkers slowly turned to you, almost all at the same time. “Come and get me, you son of a bitch!”

They began to hobble toward you as you pulled the pair of daggers from the belt of your pants, aimed them to the next two stray Walkers and rammed it into the center of their rotten faces in front of you. Soon after, you killed two more of them that you crossed at the base of your back. Then you took out your machete and waited for the Walkers that stopped in front of you. When these were close enough, you beheaded both in just one movement, then two more. Finally, the last Walker was nailed to the wall of the house and the blade rammed into the middle of the eyes. You looked around and hoped to find others, but you were disappointed. The thirst for blood had not subsided. After you cleaned the blades, you put them back in their cases. Then you returned to the house and went to Daryl, who quietly watched the scene from the window.

“Ya’ could’ve died!”, he berated you.

You shrugged with your shoulders. “But I’m alive, shall we have breakfast?”

»Do you want to come with us?«, Rick asked one morning. He is a very attractive man, with two exaggerated blue eyes and dark hair. »In another life, in another situation, I would say yes without thinking for a second.«, you replied, realizing that you were a little too obvious. He smiled, but didn’t lose sight of the target. »Let’s look for supplies, if you want to ask Glenn…«

»No, okay… I want to come along, I have to learn to survive alone.«

»Then we agree, get ready, I’ll wait for you in the car.« You decided to plunder a number of single-family homes near the prison. The area seemed safe so you left the car on the side of the road to be able to leave in an emergency. »The plan is the following: In front of the entrance we will make noises to expose all Walkers in the house to the outdoors. As soon as we are inside we look for food, medicines and weapons. We first check the upper floor.« You nodded convinced. The next second you two got out of the car. The first house was empty. You entered and Rick immediately went through the rooms. You went into the kitchen and emptied all the furniture: canned food, water, sweet and salty snacks. You threw everything in your bag, content with your first plunder. You went back into the living room to see that you had left nothing behind when your eyes saw it. You went to the sofa to better reach the object of your desire on the wall: a machete. You took it and when you came down again you started to examine it: the blade, black and sharp; The handle in red leather was soft and clean. Nobody had ever used this miracle. »Can you handle it?«, Rick’s voice startled me. He stood at the bottom of the stairs with a box of objects in his hands. »Not really, but I could learn.«

»Good idea, someone in the prison can help you.« You came back in the afternoon. Rick stopped you before he got out of the car. »Someone left the machete, for some reason and I thought I should keep it.«, you said and suddenly Rick handed me daggers all at once. »I can not accept that…«

»See it as my welcome gift, only a few days late.«

»But I can’t use them…«, you tried to explain. »You will learn, you have said it: You must learn to fight and to survive.«

“His name was Travis.”, you said one evening. You were still in the house. You searched the area within six kilometers without stopping for a moment. You did not find anyone and the moral has dropped to the basement. There wasn’t much time left to look for the others in your group, and even if none of you wanted to admit it, it scares you a little bit to haven’t found them.

“Who?”, Daryl asked.

“The person I killed.”

At first he didn’t seem to remember because of his disoriented look. “Don’t want to know.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause I no longer doubt ya’ did it, I believe ya’ now.”

“You have every reason not to trust me, but I’m glad you changed your mind.”

“Who tells ya’ that I did it?”

“You wouldn’t sleep unarmed otherwise, the fact is that you either trust me or you are very stupid and to be honest, you are definitely not stupid.”

“Don’t underestimate how uncomfortable it ’s to sleep with a crossbow on yer damn balls!”

“Touché.”, you commented and burst out laughing. Even Daryl smiled. For a moment you forgot all the rest. Then Daryl stood up and wanted to leave the sofa for you because of the night watch, but you stopped him. “Stay, this time it’s my turn.”

“Ya’ sure?”

You nodded and loosened the belt with the knives.

“I don’t insist, but now yer sleepin’ Y/N. Tomorrow’s 'nother damn new day.”

“We have a few days left to look for the others or to find them.”

“Ya’ know, the longer the days pass, the more likely we will not find anyone.”

You recognized that and it made you feel a pang in your heart. Will you not see them again? Your eyes filled with tears, but you did everything you could to keep them back. “I know…”, you swallowed.

“Would be easier if we find a car.”, he said, looking for a more comfortable position on the sofa.

“We would be faster. That’s true.”, you answered.

“It’s decided: Tomorrow we’ll pack our things 'nd leave.”

❝Mid-September:

You have no idea how much I miss you, Rick, it’s so hard to survive on my own… Sometimes I forget what I’m fighting for and taking on the melancholy. In search, I tell myself that not everything is lost and I know that you think about it before falling asleep… Actually, we were fine: We became a team, me and Mr. Dixon. Only he would probably mock me if he found out that I write down my thoughts. I do not want him to see me weak. Now he’s on his way to check if the area is clean before we leave. I hope to see you all again soon from our group and if it does not come to that, the living dead will have caught me and Daryl will have given me the last honor…

PS: We are still looking for you. If you read this message, you know that we are moving towards the Appalachians.

Until next time.

Y/N and Daryl❞

You left the letter on the table and closed the door behind you. You reached Daryl in the garden and found him kneeling beside the graves. When he got up again, you saw what he was doing: a small cross was added to the others. You approached and recognized a “J” carved into it…

“Let’s go.”, he said. “We have to find a car.”

»Killing a Walker is basically very simple, you just have to destroy their head, not the heart, not the belly, it’s the brain, I’ll show it to you.« Rick had a Walker in front of him, so close that if he had stretched out his arms, he would probably be able to touch him. Even so, the fence that separated them made the Walkers harmless. The prison yard was the best place to practice. Rick held a knife in his right hand, which he rested on the forehead of a middle-aged Walker, who looked at him blankly at that moment, not understanding what would happen to him in a few moments. He hissed and excitedly stretched his jaw. With a steady punch, Rick sank the blade into the Walker’s skull, whose groan died as if he had pressed a switch. He pulled out his knife and shook off the organic matter left on the blade. »And now try it yourself.« As Rick talked to you, another Walker approached on the other side of the fence. He gave you a blind but angry look. He struck the fence, made you wince, and let the dagger slip out of your hand. »Shit!«, you blurted out. »It is normal. I also hesitated the first time.«

»Seriously?«, you asked. »You look so confident.« Rick smiled. »You had to see me that day, I had lost everything, and suddenly I found a creature that, although it had no body from the waist down, tried hard to grab me, I hesitated after I saw that, believe me.« You clenched your fists and picked up the knife, determined to do it. »Do you see the weapon you hold?«, Rick asked. »It’s a dagger that penetrates perfectly into the bone, but if your attacker is too close and prevents you from moving, killing can be a problem, so you have to reach the brain by pervading it thinner, as on the temples, or through the soft tissues, like the eyes, as well as under the jaw, but be careful: you have to reach the brain if you have a knife that is too short, you risk getting stuck in the skull without killing him, so that you get stuck without a gun in the end.« The Walker stood in front of you and waited. The dagger in your hand demanded blood. You just wanted to learn to survive. So you took a deep breath and aimed the blade at the eye. Then you did it. The eye exploded, bloodied, and the blade came in effortlessly until it reached the cerebrum and finally extinguished the rotten body in front of you. The Walker fell to the ground with a dull thud as you pulled back the knife and at the same time the stench pushed you away from Rick so as not to puke out your breakfast in the prison yard. When you turned back, the Sheriff approached and put a hand on your shoulder. »You will get used to it.«

»Killing people, you mean?« Rick shook his head. »They aren’t humans, Y/N, not anymore.« You returned to prison with the feeling of being watched. Daryl sat on a table in the prison yard, carving arrows. He followed you with a grim look until you disappeared with Rick in the building…

You woke up to a faint noise, as if something was beating irregularly but continuously at the windows. You were still sitting on the floor, resting your head on Daryl’s shoulder, which in turn leaned against you. You held hands as if to protect each other in this world. You pulled away a bit and he woke up with a grimace. Sleeping with the ass on the floor is also not exactly comfortable… He released his grip and ran his hand over his face. “Hey.”, he said.

“Someone is knocking on the windows.”, you said, standing up. “We should control how many there are.”

Even Daryl got up and went to join you. “Ugly assholes.” he commented. “How many do ya’ see?”, he asked, yawning.

“About ten.”

“And what do ya’ think?”

The sadness that you felt last night spread through your veins and turned into rage. Now you were angry and the unconscious beat you. “I think I want to tear them apart, ever single one of them.” You went to the door, but the man grabbed your arm.

“Wait.”, he said. “I check the area, there could be more.”

“Look around if you want, I’ll go out.”

“Y/N, no!”, Daryl tried to block you, but you were already at the door.

You went to the porch, down the steps and found yourself in the garden again. The Walkers attacked the window of the room in an unconvincing way when you drew their attention to you with a whistle. “Hey you bastards, I’m here!”

The Walkers slowly turned to you, almost all at the same time. “Come and get me, you son of a bitch!”

They began to hobble toward you as you pulled the pair of daggers from the belt of your pants, aimed them to the next two stray Walkers and rammed it into the center of their rotten faces in front of you. Soon after, you killed two more of them that you crossed at the base of your back. Then you took out your machete and waited for the Walkers that stopped in front of you. When these were close enough, you beheaded both in just one movement, then two more. Finally, the last Walker was nailed to the wall of the house and the blade rammed into the middle of the eyes. You looked around and hoped to find others, but you were disappointed. The thirst for blood had not subsided. After you cleaned the blades, you put them back in their cases. Then you returned to the house and went to Daryl, who quietly watched the scene from the window.

“Ya’ could’ve died!”, he berated you.

You shrugged with your shoulders. “But I’m alive, shall we have breakfast?”

»Do you want to come with us?«, Rick asked one morning. He is a very attractive man, with two exaggerated blue eyes and dark hair. »In another life, in another situation, I would say yes without thinking for a second.«, you replied, realizing that you were a little too obvious. He smiled, but didn’t lose sight of the target. »Let’s look for supplies, if you want to ask Glenn…«

»No, okay… I want to come along, I have to learn to survive alone.«

»Then we agree, get ready, I’ll wait for you in the car.« You decided to plunder a number of single-family homes near the prison. The area seemed safe so you left the car on the side of the road to be able to leave in an emergency. »The plan is the following: In front of the entrance we will make noises to expose all Walkers in the house to the outdoors. As soon as we are inside we look for food, medicines and weapons. We first check the upper floor.« You nodded convinced. The next second you two got out of the car. The first house was empty. You entered and Rick immediately went through the rooms. You went into the kitchen and emptied all the furniture: canned food, water, sweet and salty snacks. You threw everything in your bag, content with your first plunder. You went back into the living room to see that you had left nothing behind when your eyes saw it. You went to the sofa to better reach the object of your desire on the wall: a machete. You took it and when you came down again you started to examine it: the blade, black and sharp; The handle in red leather was soft and clean. Nobody had ever used this miracle. »Can you handle it?«, Rick’s voice startled me. He stood at the bottom of the stairs with a box of objects in his hands. »Not really, but I could learn.«

»Good idea, someone in the prison can help you.« You came back in the afternoon. Rick stopped you before he got out of the car. »Someone left the machete, for some reason and I thought I should keep it.«, you said and suddenly Rick handed me daggers all at once. »I can not accept that…«

»See it as my welcome gift, only a few days late.«

»But I can’t use them…«, you tried to explain. »You will learn, you have said it: You must learn to fight and to survive.«

“His name was Travis.”, you said one evening. You were still in the house. You searched the area within six kilometers without stopping for a moment. You did not find anyone and the moral has dropped to the basement. There wasn’t much time left to look for the others in your group, and even if none of you wanted to admit it, it scares you a little bit to haven’t found them.

“Who?”, Daryl asked.

“The person I killed.”

At first he didn’t seem to remember because of his disoriented look. “Don’t want to know.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause I no longer doubt ya’ did it, I believe ya’ now.”

“You have every reason not to trust me, but I’m glad you changed your mind.”

“Who tells ya’ that I did it?”

“You wouldn’t sleep unarmed otherwise, the fact is that you either trust me or you are very stupid and to be honest, you are definitely not stupid.”

“Don’t underestimate how uncomfortable it ’s to sleep with a crossbow on yer damn balls!”

“Touché.”, you commented and burst out laughing. Even Daryl smiled. For a moment you forgot all the rest. Then Daryl stood up and wanted to leave the sofa for you because of the night watch, but you stopped him. “Stay, this time it’s my turn.”

“Ya’ sure?”

You nodded and loosened the belt with the knives.

“I don’t insist, but now yer sleepin’ Y/N. Tomorrow’s 'nother damn new day.”

“We have a few days left to look for the others or to find them.”

“Ya’ know, the longer the days pass, the more likely we will not find anyone.”

You recognized that and it made you feel a pang in your heart. Will you not see them again? Your eyes filled with tears, but you did everything you could to keep them back. “I know…”, you swallowed.

“Would be easier if we find a car.”, he said, looking for a more comfortable position on the sofa.

“We would be faster. That’s true.”, you answered.

“It’s decided: Tomorrow we’ll pack our things 'nd leave.”

❝Mid-September:

You have no idea how much I miss you, Rick, it’s so hard to survive on my own… Sometimes I forget what I’m fighting for and taking on the melancholy. In search, I tell myself that not everything is lost and I know that you think about it before falling asleep… Actually, we were fine: We became a team, me and Mr. Dixon. Only he would probably mock me if he found out that I write down my thoughts. I do not want him to see me weak. Now he’s on his way to check if the area is clean before we leave. I hope to see you all again soon from our group and if it does not come to that, the living dead will have caught me and Daryl will have given me the last honor…

PS: We are still looking for you. If you read this message, you know that we are moving towards the Appalachians.

Until next time.

Y/N and Daryl❞

You left the letter on the table and closed the door behind you. You reached Daryl in the garden and found him kneeling beside the graves. When he got up again, you saw what he was doing: a small cross was added to the others. You approached and recognized a “J” carved into it…

“Let’s go.”, he said. “We have to find a car.”

»Killing a Walker is basically very simple, you just have to destroy their head, not the heart, not the belly, it’s the brain, I’ll show it to you.« Rick had a Walker in front of him, so close that if he had stretched out his arms, he would probably be able to touch him. Even so, the fence that separated them made the Walkers harmless. The prison yard was the best place to practice. Rick held a knife in his right hand, which he rested on the forehead of a middle-aged Walker, who looked at him blankly at that moment, not understanding what would happen to him in a few moments. He hissed and excitedly stretched his jaw. With a steady punch, Rick sank the blade into the Walker’s skull, whose groan died as if he had pressed a switch. He pulled out his knife and shook off the organic matter left on the blade. »And now try it yourself.« As Rick talked to you, another Walker approached on the other side of the fence. He gave you a blind but angry look. He struck the fence, made you wince, and let the dagger slip out of your hand. »Shit!«, you blurted out. »It is normal. I also hesitated the first time.«

»Seriously?«, you asked. »You look so confident.« Rick smiled. »You had to see me that day, I had lost everything, and suddenly I found a creature that, although it had no body from the waist down, tried hard to grab me, I hesitated after I saw that, believe me.« You clenched your fists and picked up the knife, determined to do it. »Do you see the weapon you hold?«, Rick asked. »It’s a dagger that penetrates perfectly into the bone, but if your attacker is too close and prevents you from moving, killing can be a problem, so you have to reach the brain by pervading it thinner, as on the temples, or through the soft tissues, like the eyes, as well as under the jaw, but be careful: you have to reach the brain if you have a knife that is too short, you risk getting stuck in the skull without killing him, so that you get stuck without a gun in the end.« The Walker stood in front of you and waited. The dagger in your hand demanded blood. You just wanted to learn to survive. So you took a deep breath and aimed the blade at the eye. Then you did it. The eye exploded, bloodied, and the blade came in effortlessly until it reached the cerebrum and finally extinguished the rotten body in front of you. The Walker fell to the ground with a dull thud as you pulled back the knife and at the same time the stench pushed you away from Rick so as not to puke out your breakfast in the prison yard. When you turned back, the Sheriff approached and put a hand on your shoulder. »You will get used to it.«

»Killing people, you mean?« Rick shook his head. »They aren’t humans, Y/N, not anymore.« You returned to prison with the feeling of being watched. Daryl sat on a table in the prison yard, carving arrows. He followed you with a grim look until you disappeared with Rick in the building…