Authors Note's: All right, to fully understand this story, you need to read my other TWD fic, Coming Undone, as this is a side fic to that. Otherwise, this will make little to no sense.

Disclaimer: I own Skyla, who is probably the best OC I've ever created. I'm quite proud of her actually and I hated to kill her off. Anyway, I don't own any characters that you recognize. I WISH I owned Daryl Dixon...sigh...

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or off stage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
Wild horses couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away

I know I've dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don't have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die
Cause wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses we'll ride them someday
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses we'll ride them someday
-The Rolling Stones

October 1985-

"DARYL!"

Daryl Dixon, six-years-old, heard his father's shout from halfway down the block. He didn't know what he'd done this time. Left his Matchbox cars out? Didn't put a dirty plate in the sink? Of course, it could've been something Merle had done and blamed on him. Merle was eleven and got in trouble for all kinds of stuff, but he tried to blame most of it on Daryl.

"Where you at, boy?"

Daryl wasn't sure where to go. He knew he needed to hide, unless he wanted his ass beat. If he could just find a place to hide until his Daddy passed out again…

"Daryl…hey." Skyla, the girl from next door, who he avoided unless forced to play with her, was whispering to him. She was sitting in the dirt beside the back of her trailer, playing with army men. "In here."

She held open a flap of her trailers underpinning. "Hurry up, stupid." She said. "Get in 'fore he finds you."

Daryl dropped to his knees and crawled under the trailer and Skyla put the underpinning back in place. Daryl held his breath; he could hear his father's footsteps coming around the side of the trailer.

"You there, girl!" He said. "You seen my boy, Daryl?"

"Oh, no sir." Skyla said in a sunny voice, lying smooth as butter. "I surely ain't, but if I do, I'll tell him you're lookin' for him, okay, Mr. Dixon?"

His father muttered something unintelligible and walked off. Skyla waited a few minutes to make sure he was gone before crawling under the trailer with Daryl.

"He's gone." She said. "What'd you do anyway, kid?"

He didn't like her calling him kid, just because she was two months older. "Dunno. Nothing probably. Merle probably did something and blamed it on me."

"Sounds about right." Skyla nodded. "You better lay low here for awhile anyway, though. You wanna play?" She held out a toy to him and he realized she was offering one of her army men.

"All right." He said and took some.

They spent the afternoon playing quietly under her trailer, waiting for him to be able to go home.