Daryl was hunting, food was drying up quick in camp and it was left to him to find the meat that would hopefully be their dinner that night. He preferred being alone, especially whilst hunting, the others were loud, heavy footed, didn't check where they were stepping. Ended up chasing any possible food away and attracting any unwanted attention, which Daryl could do without.

Slowly he crept through the forest, he was tracking something, he just wasn't quite sure what it was. One thing was for sure, it was big, not like the squirrels he'd had to make do with recently. He'd been following whatever it was for hours, something was slowing it down, it'd only be a matter of time now.

All of a sudden the track vanished at the base of a large tree, he crouched down reaching out to the small splattering of blood signaling the end of the trail.

"Hmm..." he scratched his head "Somethin' ain't righ' here"

He stood back up, his eyes searching the area for any signs of the animal he'd lost.

"Damn it" he growled

He heard a slight gasp coming from right above him, slowly he looked up. Perched in the branches, slouching against the trunk of the tree, was a woman. Her face contorted in pain gripping her ribs, covered in blood that didn't seem to be her own.

"Please" she groaned "Don't kill me" Her eyes turned towards him, as his hand reached for his knife.

"Looks like gettin' up that tree was pretty hard, 'ow you plannin' on getting yourself down?"

"Well, maybe an attractive man would be kind enough to catch me" She grinned. Daryl's expression stayed neutral, his eyes glaring at her. "Guess not" she whispered, shifting slightly causing her to groan. "I heard you y'know? Following me."

Daryl scoffed "Yeah right."

"If not why'd you reckon I forced myself up in this tree? You can see I'm injured right?"

"This don't matter, maybe I'll just leave you up there" He turned away from her, signalling his intent to leave.

"Wait... please... I'm sorry, my sense of humour is out of whack I guess, along with my ribs."

Daryl stopped, turning back, his instincts told him to leave her there, she'd be trouble but he never was a guy who could say no to a woman who needs his help.

"Right" He placed his cross-bow on the ground and reached up, grabbing the closest branch and pulled himself up. Carefully he climbed the tree until he was on the same level as the woman. "Where are you injured?"

"My ribs and my left arm" she whispered, her eyes trained on his, her breath hitched as his fingers lightly traced her injured arm.

"What happened?" he lowered his voice to match hers

"Too much"

He knew he wouldn't be told the story easily so he gave up, some one else could find that out. He had to help her out of this tree first. He carefully lowered himself down, watching her gently let her legs hang off the branch she was sat on and guiding them to the branch below. They began their descent, the woman wincing now and then with soft encouragement from Daryl, telling her where to place her feet. Finally their feet reached the solid ground.

"Thank you" The woman took Daryl's hand and stared in to his eyes, her face stained with blood, long red hair matted and full of leaves. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?" Daryl asked, he wasn't about to get drawn in by some woman he'd just met.

"Rebecca, my name's Rebecca." Her smile was bright, too bright for Daryl, it hurt to see it. He'd almost forgotten what a proper smile could look like, but that just put him more on edge, a woman covered in blood when the worlds gone to shit who's smiling like she's just won the lotto? That's fucked up.