Daryl was running through the woods with his trademark crossbow in his hands. He was on the hunt for something he thought was long gone, a deer.

He came to a stop and studied the ground, making sure he was still on the right track. He turn to his left slightly and dashed off at pace.

'come on, I need this' he thought as he made his way down a small hill and came to a small clearing surrounding by trees. From the edge of the clearing he could see two walkers eating the very thing he had been tracking.

"son of a bitch" he said, the walkers didn't hear him however seeing them eat the thing that he wanted to catch and eventually eat himself angered him. All he wanted was a little break but he should be used to the cruel world he lives in now.

He let is anger get the better of him and he approached the two walkers. When he got within a few feet he fired an arrow through one of their skulls, killing it instantly. The other one didn't seem to notice or care it just kept on with its meal.

Daryl then took out his knife and walked behind the walker still eating and plunged his knife into the walkers head. He pulled his knife from the now motionless walker and put it away.

He walked over to the half eaten deer and sigh 'such a waste' he thought then went over to the other walker he killed, he pulled the arrow out and wiped it on his trousers.

This was not turning out to be his day. All he had managed to hunt today was two squirrels. Looking down he decided it was time to call it a day but not before stepping on one of the walkers head as he left.

/

It was dark by the time Daryl got back to the cabin he was staying in. The cabin was in the woods but was a small thing, it was one room with only a bed, a chair and a fire place inside it but it had been the best Daryl could do based on the circumstances.

It had been five months since he had killed his zombified brother which was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. Killing the one and only constant family you loved nearly killed him inside.

Shortly after he had decided to leave the prison. It wasn't meant to be for this long. It was only meant to be for a few weeks while he sorted his head out but if he was honest he was glad to be back to the lone wolf lifestyle, only killing and cooking for himself, doing what he wanted too without having to worry about others but that didn't mean that he wasn't missing them.

After he skinned, cooked and ate the squirrels he caught he sat down on his bed and found himself once again thinking about the group back at the prison. He missed them all in a small way, hell he even missed Lil ass kickers crying. In fact she was the one he missed the most even though she wasn't even that old he had bonded with the small girl.

He ran a hand through his hair as he kicked off his boots and sighed "I wonder how they're doing" he muttered to himself. He found himself thinking about the group more and more each day.

He lay down on the bed and couldn't get the damn place out of his head. He rolled around trying to escape his mind but it wasn't working. He stared at the wooded roof of his cabin and decided that maybe his mind was trying to tell him something and right there and then he decided that he needed to go back.

/

Inside the prison walls a babies cry echoed through the empty halls. Beth who was on baby duty that night groaned as she sleepily swung her legs over the edge of her bed and got up. Judith now around six months old and had been updated from the box with Lil ass kicker written on it to a crib that Rick and Michonne had found on a run.

Beth stood up and crossed the room over to the crib and picked up the baby, resting her in her arms and started to gently rock her back and forth. Judith had stopped crying when she felt herself being lifted from the cot and was now trying to grab Beth's blonde hair.

"Seeing as your not sleepy you must be hungry" Beth sighed as she started making her way toward the kitchen where they kept all food and drink.

Making her way out of her cell and down the stairs she could feel the cold floor against her bare feet which made her shiver a little. The prison at night was creepy enough but making your way through the dark halls while holding a baby put Beth more on edge for some reason. She entered the common area where everyone gathered to have meals or meetings, as she entered she could see a figure sitting at a table.

"Hello?" Beth asked a little nervously

The figure jumped up and turned around to see the source of the voice "oh Beth its only you" came a soft voice which Beth recognised immediately

Beth let out a breath "Carol, what are you doing up?" she asked curiously as she walked over to the other women

"I couldn't sleep" Carol answered honestly. She then looked at Judith "want me to take her while you make her a bottle?" she asked

"yes please, thank you" Beth replied passing the baby to carol, then made her way to the kitchen area of the prison. She made the bottle and was waiting for it to cool down. As she waited she looked around the room, what they had wasn't much, only at most ten cans of food so she guessed they would be going on a run again soon.

Her eyes then came across a box filled with pots and pans on the floor that had Lil ass kicker on the side of it and immediately she thought of the man who had left them, Daryl. Since he had been gone she didn't feel the group was as strong and sometimes she didn't feel as safe as she did when he was there and she didn't fully understand why but she did miss him.

She walked back into the common room to see Carol now rocking Judith. She walked over to take Judith back but Carol politely insisted that she wanted to feed her so Beth could go get some more sleep but instead Beth sat down at the table while Carol fed the baby her bottle.

"Hey Carol, do you ever think about Daryl?" Beth asked. In truth she wanted to talk to someone about Daryl and she felt Carol was the best person to speak to seeing as she was the closest to Daryl.

Carol nodded "at least once a day, not much else to think about these days" she stated not taking her eyes away from the baby in her arms.

Beth was trying to think of the right question to ask now. She had a few in mind but she didn't want to come across too nosey. She bit her lip before muttering "do you think he is ok?" in the end she decided not to ask anything personal yet.

An amusing smile came across Carol's face "I may not know everything about Daryl Dixon but I am certain that if anyone can survive out there, its him" she answered honestly. She truly believed that Daryl was fine out there.

"Do you think he will ever come back?" Beth asked.

"I honestly cant answer that but I do hope he comes back soon" Carol answered this time she looked at Beth and smiled "been thinking about Daryl yourself have you?" Carol asked with a teasing smile.

Beth's gaze immediately fell to the floor as she could feel her cheeks going red "not a lot, but I was just curious because you two were so close" she lied the truth was she had been thinking about the red-neck hunter often but wasn't sure why.

Carol nodded and looked back towards Judith "we are close but its like when he left with his brother Merle, that was something he had to do and so is this" she looked at Beth and knew Beth had lied slightly. Over the last few weeks Beth had been distracted and now she was pretty sure that Carol now knew why, not that she was going to tell anyone.

"yeah, I know Daryl wouldn't leave for no good reason" Beth said while letting out a yawn "I just wish he was here"

"I know me too, now come on you get to bed, I will put Judith down for you" Carol said kindly but also in an added tone so Beth couldn't refuse.

Beth smiled at Carol, then got up and walked out of the room but not before saying and thank you to Carol.

When Beth left the room Carol looked down at Judith "I think someone has a little crush" she said in a baby voice that made Judith smile.

/

Like every morning Daryl was up before sun rise. The benefit of being up so early was that he had all day to do what ever needed to be done. He was still going to go back to the prison today but he was also close to a local small town that he had barley checked out so he had decided to do that before returning to the prison.

As he entered the town he noticed that there was little walkers around which normally meant that they either got caught in a herd and went with them or someone else had already been here. As he continued he came across a small shop that looked to be in good state.

He pulled up in one of the parking spots available, got off his bike and started to investigate. First he tapped the stores window with the edge of his arrow that was loaded in his crossbow and waited. After a few minutes with no response he presumed it was safe so entered the shop but still had his crossbow ready just in case.

The shop was in fact nearly empty "damn, guess someone else cleared this place out" he said to himself but still continued to look around in case something was missed. The shop ended up having nothing in it that was necessary.

He was about to leave the store when he heard tyres screech. Instinctively he ducked down out of site, then poked his head over his cover to see the situation.

An SUV had pulled up near the building next to the shop Daryl was in. Two men exited the SUV "are you sure they came this way?" the first one asked, he was a tall and well build man with short black hair. He held a machine gun in his hands.

The other man shrugged, he was smaller than the other man but still looked strong "according to one of our scouts the couple were hunting for should be around here" the second man said, he only had a handgun in his hand.

Daryl watched the scene with confusion 'why are they hunting a couple?' he thought to himself but by the look of them he knew that he should just let things play out and not draw attention to himself. It was a good thing that none of them took a second glance at his bike.

The two men started to look around the streets, they seemed to be hesitant to go too far from their SUV. For ten minutes they looked behind walls, checked ally ways before the first man gave out a yell of joy "I GOT ONE" he shouted as he made his way back to the SUV while dragging a women by her hair. He threw her to the ground by the SUV as the second man came over. Both men had an evil smile on their face, this was not going to be good.

The women was covered in cuts and bruises and was dirty, it was obvious that she had been running and hiding for awhile. She was now crying and screaming "why are you doing this?" she was truly scared for her life.

The two men didn't seem sympathetic at all in fact it looked like they were enjoying her fear. "you have given us real trouble you know, now tell us where is the other girl you were with" the tall man stated

The girl didn't reply she was still crying and cowering in a ball on the floor. Daryl's hands tightened around his crossbow, he was angry. He couldn't tolerate any violence to women but he knew if he got involved now he would surely be killed so he grit his teeth and watched the horrible scene.

The second man got tired of waiting and grabbed the girls hair dragging her up to their level "tell us now you bitch otherwise you know what will happen" he smirked as he finished his sentence and the girls eyes instantly showed more horror and fear, which Daryl thought that wasn't possible.

"I...i don't know where sh... she is" the girl stuttered, her thought felt numb from all the screaming and running from previous days.

"Too bad" the second man said then he put his gun to her head and pulled the trigger. The girls body fell to the floor and neither men seemed fazed "so were still on the hunt for one more" the tall man said as he cut off a lock of the girls hair.

"Indeed, she seemed to be telling the truth as well so lets head out of this area" the second man said getting into the passengers side of the SUV, the tall man pocketed the hair he cut off and got inside the drivers seat and drove off.

Daryl got up when he knew the SUV was gone. He went over to the body to make sure she wouldn't come back as a walker. Looking down at the girl he could still see the fear in her eyes. He knelt down and closed her eyes.

He decided that he needed to get out of here as soon as possible. From what he could work out these bastards were taking people and setting them free only to hunt them for sport. He got back to his bike and sped off away from the small town with only one thing going through his mind. How was he able to get in without being seen?.

I in NO way, shape or form own the walking dead.

As I said in the summary this is a Re-upload. I would love to hear feedback as to whether or not this is worth continuing.