bad to worse after the barn. Beth had gone into some sort of shock, Hershel was missing and the somewhat cheerful mood on the farm had flipped and turned into a sour one.

Addy pushed the stick into the ground, causing it to snap. She huffed, she was angry, sad, confused. She didn't know what to feel or think after losing Sophia, for good this time.

The girl only looked up when she heard approaching footsteps,

"Moving to the suburbs?" Lori.

The Dixon's were never good at being around other people, Daryl especially, so when he told his daughter he was setting up camp far away from the farmhouse she didn't complain.

"Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel."

Typical. Lori expected Daryl to do all the dirty work while she and the others sat back and relaxed.

"Yeah, so what?" Daryl didn't even look up and continued to sharpen his knife.

"So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back." She crouched down beside him.

Addy scoffed quietly as the woman's words confirmed her suspicions.

"Daryl."

The man looked at her for a moment before adverting his blue eyes back to his knife,

"Your bitch went window shopping. You want him, fetch him yourself. I got better things to do."

Addy almost smiled to herself even though she was expecting a similar answer from her father. He wasn't there just to play errand boy.

"What's the matter with you? Why would you be so selfish?"

Addy wanted to snap back at the woman, say something about her sleeping with her husband's partner, but her father beat he to it.

"Selfish? Listen to me, Olive Oyl, I was out there lookin' for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about me gettin' my hands dirty!" Daryl snapped, pointing his knife at the woman accusingly.

"You want those two idiots, have a nice ride. I'm done lookin' for people."

Daryl's words seemed to have an affect on the woman as she turned on her heel and left the Dixon's alone. Addy shook her head and scoffed,

"Bitch."

......................................................

The flames danced in the Dixon's campfire as Daryl prodded at it with a stick. It was darker and slightly colder, therefore Addy had draped her fathers jacket over her shoulders as they both sat at their camp. The girl was used to the dark from the many camping trips her father took her on, in fact, she liked it just as much as she did the day,

Leaves crunched behind the duo and Addy turned to look at who it was,

"We can't find Lori, and the others aren't back yet either." Carol. The girl didn't mind Carol and actually held a lot of sympathy for the woman, but she could easily get on her nerves just the same as the others.

Daryl scoffed, "Dumb bitch must've gone off lookin' for him."

"What?" Carol panted.

"Yeah, she asked me to go. I told her I was done bein' an errand boy." And for good reason.

"And you didn't say anything?"

Daryl stayed quiet, so Carol took that as her cue to leave. However, she stopped halfway and glanced at Addy,

"Don't do this, please. I've already lost my girl, and I don't want you to loose yours too." Daryl scoffed and stood up, Addy following obediently,

"Yeah, that wasn't my problem neither."

And with that, the two Dixon's walked off into the night.

........................................................

Rick, Glenn and Hershel had returned early the following morning. However, they weren't alone. They had brought a boy, no older than Maggie, back to the farm. The group had a discussion about what they would do with him, Dale being the only one who vouched for the boy.

Addy didn't know what to think. Dale was trying to get as many people as possible on his side but Addy didn't see the point, if his group was as bad as Rick and the others say it was, why keep him in their safe haven? Why keep him alive?

Shoving the negative thoughts into the back of her head, she decided to take her mind off things and talk to her best friend.

The leaves crunched underneath her black sneakers as she shivered and pulled her oversized cardigan closer to her body.

"Hi, Carl."

"Oh, hey Addy." His voice was small as the girl sat down next to him on the picnic bench. The kids sat in a semi-comfortable

silence for a few minutes before Carl broke it,

"We're going to be okay, Addy." This time, his voice was stronger and more confident. It reminded Addy of the boy's father.

Addy nodded. She wanted to believe him, but the things that had been happening recently made her stop and think twice about what to believe. This new world was getting tougher and tougher by the minute, and the walkers definitely weren't the only threat they had to conquer.

......................................................

Addy smiled as Lori passed her a hot cup of coffee. It wasn't a real smile though, more like a 'I still don't forgive you but I'm going to be nice otherwise my dad will be mad at me' smile.

"We're going to keep him here?" Glenn's voice wavered slightly, Addy couldn't blame him. With everything going on lately it was hard to be tough.

"We'll know soon enough." Was all Rick said. Addy noted he had a split lip, and Shane didn't look any better. The two men had gone out earlier that week to drop the boy - Randall - off somewhere far away from the farm, but neither of them had come back home unscathed. Before anything else could be said, leaves crunched and Addy's father made an appearance,

"Your boy there's got a gang - thirty men," Addy glanced at his bloody knuckles, "Got heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna - they're gonna with they were."

Addy felt sick at his words. The boy was exactly that - a boy, and yet he and his group was running around committing some of the worst acts possible? All it did was make Addy even more determine on getting rid of him, and as soon as possible.

"What did you do?" Carol's voice was shaky, almost if she didn't want to know the answer to the question she just asked.

"Had a little chat." Daryl glanced down at his bloody knuckles. Carol grimaced and looked away as Rick said,

"No one goes near this guy."

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked her husband quietly.

"We have no choice, he's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat." As much as Addy didn't like the idea of killing another human being, she didn't see there being another choice. Dale, however, did,

"You're just gonna kill him?"

"It's settled. We'll do it today." And with that Rick walked off, Dale in tow.

Addy's shoulder was nudged and she looked up, seeing her dad gesturing his head towards their makeshift campsite a little ways from the house.

"Where do you think my mom is?" The question had been lingering in the girl's mind for some time now, and she was dying for an answer.

Daryl scoffed and rubbed his chin, "She ain't your mom." That woman has never been around for Addy since she was born, and all Daryl could hope was that she got what she deserved.

"Yeah, but - never mind." Addy figured arguing with her dad was pointless, she had done it before and it was like arguing with a brick wall. Even though her question was avoided it still lingered in her mind like a bad smell, and all she wanted was for it to go away and never come back.

......................................................

The old shed's floorboard creaked underneath the weight of Addy's sneakers. She looked down at the guy. He was young, but that didn't mean he was innocent.

"Hey," He called out to her softly when he noticed her presence, "W-what's your name? I'm Randall." Addy knew better than to respond.

"The sheriff guy, that's your dad?" Again, the girl didn't reply, "I like him. Yeah, he's a good guy, I can tell."

No, the one who beat you up is my dad.

"Your momma out here, too?" Addy's mind flashed back to the conversation she had no longer than an hour ago with her dad, "You're - you're lucky you've still got your family. I lost mine. Hey - I, I don't know what people have been saying 'bout me, but I didn't do nothing, I swear! Your dad was goin' to let me go 'till his friend started fighting with him."

Addy stood up from her spot in the hayloft and started climbing down the ladder,

"It got pretty bad. I - I was kinda worried. My camp, we got lots of supplies. You help me, I'll take you and your folks back to my people. We'll take good care of you - keep you safe. Just gotta - just gotta help me get outta here, okay? Just - just help me pick these locks or - or find the key, okay? C'mon, please? Please?"

The girl knew what Randall was saying was garbage. He very well might have a big group with lots of supplies but that doesn't make it a safe place to be in.

"The one who beat you up - that's my dad." Addy's slight southern accent shone as she pronounced some of the words. Randall looked at her for a moment, mouth agape,

"Oh, h-him. Yeah - yeah I shoulda guessed, you look just like him! You got the same eyes, real - real pretty blue ones." Addy wasn't going to reply, but even if she was the she wouldn't know what to say. However, out of nowhere the shed door swung open,

"What the hell you doin' here? What'd you say to her? Man, what did you say, huh?" Shane rushed inside and pushed Addy behind him, but as he continued he pulled out his gun and wrapped his hand around Randall's throat.

"I didn't say anything!"

"I will shoot you where you stand -"

"Shane, not now!"

"- Open your mouth, huh? Open your mouth."

"Shane!"

"You like talkin', man? You like talkin'? You like talkin'!"

"Shane, back off!"

Just as Andrea told him that sternly, he did so. He glanced back at Addy and pulled her out the shed door, Andrea still pointing her weapon at the boy until she closed the door and holstered it.

"What the hell you doing?" Shane placed a hand on his belt,

"Please don't tell my dad!" The young girl knew that if Shane told her father, she would be in a world of torture and trouble that she wouldn't ever get out of.

"Addy, that ain't cool, girl. You coulda gotten hurt in there."

"I can handle myself!" Addy felt a surge of confidence as she told the man those words,

"Lemme tell something. You do not go near him again, do you hear me?" Shane pointed a finger in Addy's face and crouched down in front of her, making her feel very small all of a sudden.

"Damn it." The man muttered and stood up, rubbing his shaved head.

"You won't tell my dad, will you?"

"Addy - it's not about getting in trouble, okay? A guy like that, he will say anything to you. He'll - he'll try to make you feel sorry for him, he'll try to make you let your guard down. You let your guard down out here, people die. Now just do me a favour, Addy, go find your dad."

Addy didn't need to be told twice as she scurried off to go find her dad, and eventually she did. He was sharpening some sticks with his knife when he saw his daughter's flushed face run up to him.

"Ya okay?" It was a stupid question, Daryl could tell if his daughter was fine or not from a mile away, and she obviously wasn't

"Yeah." Addy replied out of breath as she placed her hands on her knees and tried to control her breathing.

"Nah, ya ain't," Daryl threw the sticks aside, his daughter now becoming his main priority. "Spill."

Addy shook her head, even more of her brown hair falling out of her ponytail from when she was running, "I'm fine, really."

Daryl crouched down in front of her, staring into her matching blue eyes with that look, and Addy knew the facade was up. She looked away to avoid his intimidating stare,

"Hey," He placed his hands on his daughter's upper arms, the tone in his voice changing into a concerned and protective one, "Was' wrong?"

The girl pressed her lips together and thought,

If she told him the truth he would be extremely mad, but if she lied? That might be a different story. Then again, he was bound to find out sooner or later from Shane or Andrea.

"I'm worried."

"Thas' all?" The man knew it definitely wasn't all. Addy hesitated,

"Promise you won't be mad."

Daryl narrowed his eyes, "Can't promise nothin.'"

"I went to see the boy in the shed." It slipped out before Addy could stop it, and she quickly cast her blue eyes downwards,

"You -," It took a moment to register in Daryl's brain, but when he did he hit her upside the head with somewhat a lot of force. Addy barely managed to mutter an 'ow' before her dad started shouting at her,

"'Hell ya do that for? You know how dangerous he is? What he coulda done to ya?" Addy let his words sink in and she cast her eyes downwards again, realising the possible severity of the situation if Shane hadn't of stepped in.

"I'm sorry," Her lip wobbled.

"Nah, sorry ain't gon' cut it this time, Addy. Ya know the things he told me 'bout his group - what they did?" Daryl shook her by her shoulders. He was still angry - very angry, but there was a lot more disappointment in his voice than anger.

Addy wiped her eyes as her dad stood up in front of her. She had never been scared of her dad before - she didn't want to be - but the girl had never seen him so angry.

"Addy," Daryl sighed, frustrated, "I ain't gon' hit ya, so quit that cryin'."

Addy did know he wasn't going to hit her, he never really had before (except for the occasional slap upside the head) and he wasn't going to start now.

"Listen," He softly grabbed her forearms, "Ya can't jus' do shit like that, thas' what gets ya killed."

"I know, I'm real sorry." Addy sniffed. Daryl knew she really was sorry, she had that look in her eye. The one her mother had when they first met.

"Addy, I forgive ya. Just don' ever do somethin' like that again, ya got it?" Daryl didn't completely forgive his daughter, but he would get there eventually.

"Yes, sir."