It was cold. At least cold for late September, cold enough to need a jacket. Kaitlyn's boots crunched in the falling leaves from the trees as she walked down the road, her breath was almost visible. It was odd for it to be so cold so early in the year. She had her hood pulled up over her dark brown hair which fell over her each of her shoulders. He dark brown eyes were made to look even darker in the shadow cast by her hood. She was walking back to her parent's house. She had taken a trip up to the local gas station to pick up some hamburger buns for dinner a few days earlier but a big storm had rolled through, trapping her and four other people in the gas station for three whole days. Though the storm only lasted for a few hours, a large tree had fallen in front of the only exit and they had to get themselves out. Kaitlyn was still curious as to why help never came, but at least they all made it out just fine. From what she could tell, no one's house had been damaged by the storm.

She turned down her parent' street and continued to walk. Kaitlyn was back home visiting from Georgia State. She felt the two packs of gum she had brought for her two younger siblings in one of her pockets, her other hand holding the pack of buns, letting it swing idly back and forth. She looked up into the sky. The sun was just setting and the sky was alight with beautiful purples and oranges and varrying shades of gold.

As she walked, the silver locket that hung from her neck bounced lightly off her chest. The locket was purchased by Kaitlyn's younger sister, Emily, at a yard sale for only five dollars. She had given it to Kaitlyn as a going away gift before she left for college; Emily was only eight at the time. Kaitlyn, after leaving, went to a local jewelry store and had the names of her siblings engraved into the front in age order;

Kaitlyn
Devin
Emily

Inside the locket was a picture of all three of them together. Emily was eight then and Devin 14. Their faces slightly burnt by the sun and their smiles wide but sad. The picture had been taken two years ago before Kaitlyn left for college. Even since then she hadn't chosen a major. She had so many options. She had considered teaching, then psychology, then engineering, but still nothing had set yet. The sun had finally disappeared behind the mountains and Kaitlyn had nothing to guide her but the street lights. She continued towards home, now lost in deep thought about her future. It was not until she heard the muffled moaning that she noticed the man slowly limping down the road away from her. One of his legs looked broken and he seemed barely conscious. Kaitlyn dropped the buns and hurried towards the man. "Sir. Sir, are you alright? Has there been an accident?" She questioned. The man stopped dead center in the light of one of the street lamps. Kaitlyn paused right at the edge of the light. Something about the man looked wrong, just off. Nervously, Kaitlyn took a step into the light. The man slowly began to turn, and Kaitlyn gasped in horror.

The man was missing a huge chunk from the left side of his face. His gums and teeth were jutting out and his gums were black with infection. Blood mixed with saliva dripped out of his exposed mouth and down onto his dirty shirt. His eyes were glazed over and unfocused, almost like he was dead. The bone of his lower left leg was jutting out and blood too, oozed from that. Kaitlyn turned and wretched in the street, righted herself, the doubled over and vomited again. She finally pulled herself together and addressed the man. "Sir, what happened? Look I'll get you some help, ok?" She took a step forward, extending her hand as she did so. The man cocked his head then took a tentative step towards her. She smiled reassuringly at the man. Then he charged.

He was on her in a matter of seconds. He reached and grabbed onto her shoulders, the force of the collision sending them both to the ground. She let out a loud shriek as she hit the ground and the breath was knocked out of her. He eyes became unfocused for a moment and her mind blurred. Then she was snapped back to reality by the crushing weight of the man now lying on top of her. His force was making it hard to breath and she stared up into his mutilated face, his blood dripping onto her cheek. The man began to bite at her face his teeth snapping barely and inch away. She pushed up on him with all her weight but he wouldn't budge. She then did the only thing she could think of. She screamed. She screamed so loud she hurt her own ears. 'Help! HELP!" She shrieked then started to scream again. She started to writhe under the mad, throwing him a little off balance, but in the end only bringing his snapping teeth that much closer to her face. She could feel his hot breath on her face. It stank of rotting flesh and blood. She had to fight the urge to vomit again. The man raised his head, opening his mouth wide, ready for the kill. She looked up into his eyes, her own widening with pure terror. Then he thrust his head down and just as his teeth were about to latch on to her face, something slammed through his head, spattering Kaitlyn with blood.

His sudden dead weight even more heavy than before, Kaitlyn began to gasp for breath. Suddenly the weight was off of her and someone had latched onto her right arm, right above her elbow. "C'mon!" a male voice shouted at her, pulling her to her feet. She saw him reach down and pull an arrow from the dead man's head before grabbing her elbow again and leading her off towards one of the nearby houses. He was gripping her elbow very strongly and pulling her along quickly, even though she was stumbling behind him. From what she could tell, he was probably five inches taller than her own five foot six. He had medium brown hair that was very untidy. Strapped over his shoulder was a crossbow, what he must have used to shoot that man. He was wearing a cutoff plaid shirt, a pair of jeans, and some work boots.

He hurried across the lawn and up to the door. It was unlocked and he shoved her in first before slamming the door behind them and locking it. Kaitlyn ran a hand through her hair nervously, her hood no fallen of her head. The man who had saved her was rushing around closing all of the curtains in the nearby dining room. After he had succeeded in that he lit a bright lantern that was sitting in the middle of the table. He seemed to know his way around the house, but Kaitlyn knew he didn't live there. No, this was the McLaren's house. Their little girl Mariah was Emily's best friend. But where were they?

Kaitlyn stepped carefully into the room, the realization that she was in a room with a man who had just killed someone else suddenly dawned on her. But if he didn't kill that man, then would she be standing there? They man was sitting in one of the four chairs, his face in his hands, looking very upset. Kaitlyn wondered if it was because of what he had just done, if the realization had dawned on him as well. She took another step forward toward him and the floor creaked under her careful foot. His head snapped up and he was glaring at Kaitlyn, his eyes full of anger. He jumped up, sending the chair crashing behind him. "You stupid bitch! What the hell were you doing out there alone, at night, without a weapon?" he demanded. Kaitlyn was a bit taken aback. "What, what do you mean. Why would I need a weapon?" She asked incredulously. He took a step towards her, anger still written across his face.

"Where've you been the past few days?" He asked.

"I-I was trapped in a gas station. When the storm came through, a tree blocked us in. I just got out recently." She explained quickly, but he still looked angry. "You killed that man back there." She said quietly, raising her eyes up to his, but, she was surprised to see not an ounce of remorse in his blue-grey eyes.

"That, that out there wasn't no man. At least not anymore. He was a walker." He told her angrily, as if he was mad that she did not realize this.

"A walker, what the hell is a walker?" She questioned, her own anger rising to meet his as she took another step towards him.

"A dead person that ain't so dead no more!" He yelled, stepping towards her. They were only a few inches apart, but Kaitlyn refused to back down. She stepped closer.

"What is that supposed to mean? A dead person is dead!" She lashed back.

He stepped forward until their noses were almost touching. "Not anymore, they started coming back, and they want to eat people. You saw that guy out there, he wanted to eat you! If I wouldn't have shot him you'd have been dead! Actually I probably should've just left your ass out there; all the noise you made is gonna draw in every one for miles around!"

"Then why didn't you? Leave me."

He stopped, staring into her scrutinizing brown eyes. "I. I don't know, but I think I regret it now." He stepped back and picked up the chair he had thrown down and sat back down in it. Kaitlyn sank down into the one across the table. The sudden truth of what he had said washed over her. "How. How are the dead people coming back?" She asked quietly, her voice barely audible.

"I don't know. It's some kind of disease or something. If they bite you, you become infected, and soon enough you turn into one of them." He told her, his own voice much quieter now. "The only way to kill 'em is to destroy the brain. The disease just came out of nowhere, you know. Just suddenly dead people were walking. People started to go crazy and started looting houses, killing living people and dead ones."

Kaitlyn looked up fear still fastened on her face. She couldn't make sense of it all, so she decided to move to something that did make sense. "So, what's your name?"

"Daryl, Daryl Dixon. You?"

"Kaitlyn Hurt." She extended her hand for a hand shake. He took it slowly. "And thank you Daryl, for saving my life."

"Yeah, whatever." He said, pulling his hand out of hers and placing it over the back of his chair.

She sat back, wrapping her arms around herself, holding her elbows lightly. Her right elbow was still very sore where Daryl had grabbed her, and felt as if it would probably be bruised come morning. She looked up to see Daryl with his head cocked to one side, looking at her curiously.

"Who the hell are you?" A different voice said. Both Kaitlyn and Daryl jumped. Standing in the entryway to the kitchen was a tall man with little to no hair who looked much older than Daryl. He had a hunting rifle in one hand and was looking with unmasked discontent at Daryl. "What is she doing here?"

"She got jumped by a walker and started yelling like crazy. I had to get her off the streets before she got the attention of every walker in the state." Daryl explained calmly, but the other man didn't look too convinced. "Look Merle, it's not like I planned on keeping her." He said quietly.

"Yeah, you better not've." Merle said. "Where's she supposed to sleep? Looters done got the couch here and there are only two beds here."

"I'll figure something out." Daryl told him calmly.

"Well good, 'cause she sure as hell ain't sleepin' with me." He said, leaving the dining room and heading up the stairs.

Kaitlyn was still sitting with her elbows in her hands, and she followed Merle with her eyes until he was out of sight. "So, uh. That was my brother Merle." Daryl said awkwardly. He then stood up and headed up the stairs. "Hey wait for me." Kaitlyn called, chasing after him.

She followed him up the stairs and down the hallway to the back room. He opened the door and Kaitlyn came in after him. She looked around and immediately knew that they were in Mariah's bedroom. The flowers and princess stickers gave it away as well as the light pink bed set. Daryl then turned to her and crossed his arms. "Look. There's one bed and two of us." He stated. Kaitlyn removed her now bloody jacket and sat it on one of Mariah's pink fluffy chairs by the door.

"Well, I don't want to sleep in the floor." She said. "I've been sleeping on a tile floor for three days now."

"Well, I don't want to sleep in the floor either." Daryl said.

"What do we do then, I guess were just both stuck in the bed."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Daryl took a step back and pulled his shirt over his head then threw it across the room. Kaitlyn's eyes were inadvertently drawn to his flat toned core. She managed to stop herself from staring and instead brought her eyes to his. There was something challenging in them. Kaitlyn knew what he was doing. He was trying to make her feel awkward so that maybe she would give up her spot on the bed. Kaitlyn also knew that there was no way that she would let him win. She smiled and acidly sweet smile and unbuttoned her pants before slipping them off, revealing her zebra-print boy-short panties. She nodded at him, urging him to take his turn. He raised his eyebrows but quickly shuffled out of his pants. So he stood there in a pair of teal boxers, staring her dead in the eye. Next Kaitlyn took off her Tee and laid down in nothing but a tank top and her panties. For a moment she thought she had won and smiled triumphantly, pulling the blanket up to her chin and cuddling into it happily. Then she felt the bed move as Daryl lay down next to her. "Don't hog the blankets, Ok?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, whatever." She replied. She felt the bed move again as Daryl turned his back to her. She could feel the heat coming off his skin and as she lay there, she began to regret taking her clothes off. She hadn't thought that with everything happening, the power was probably out. She tried her best not to shiver, but it was just so cold. Soon enough, she heard Daryl snoring next to her. "Great." She thought. "He snores." After a while Kaitlyn finally warmed up a bit. Her breath began to slow and her eyes began to get heavy. Just as sleep threatened to draw her in, Daryl flipped over and his arm stretched out lying flat across her waist. Her tank top and come up a bit and she could feel the heat of his arm. She swallowed hard. Now fully awake again, the cold washed back over her. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and sighed. If she wanted to sleep she needed warmth, and there was only one way to get it. Carefully she scooted herself backwards into Daryl's chest. She immediately felt his warmth on her back, and, finally, sleep overtook her.