I

—/<3/—

"She ain't coming with me, she'll scare away the game," Daryl refused, slinging the heavy crossbow over his back.

"She needs to gather... what were they again sweetheart?" Shane turned to her, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember what she'd told him less than ten minutes ago. It clicked in his head before she could even open her mouth to answer. "Ah, medicinal herbs. If we can't find any proper medicine, they're our next best option and Rory here studied them in college so she's the only one who knows what to grab. She's going with you whether you like it or not."

"So ya' want me to babysit her whilst she picks flowers?" Daryl sassed, holstering a knife at his hip and securing his supplies for the couple of days he'd be gone.

"Better she be with you than by herself." Shane crossed his arms over his chest, challenging him with an authoritative stare.

Daryl stared back unwaveringly for a few beats and Rory looked between them awkwardly. They'd carried the whole conversation as if she wasn't there. She hadn't even asked Shane to ask Daryl if she could tag along, but when she mentioned venturing into the woods to grab a few plants that would be helpful for the camp, he'd immediately refused to let her go alone and marched her over to Daryl.

She didn't necessarily want to go with him either. She didn't know him. The only time they'd spoken was on the day the Dixon brothers turned up at their settlement when quiet introductions were made and Merle tried to hit on her, only to immediately get shut down by Rory's brother, Archie. But she supposed going with Daryl was better than going alone so she allowed Shane to drag her over to the corner of the camp where Daryl was preparing for his hunting trip.

Aurora and Archer Sterling were miles from home when the outbreak happened, on their first nationwide tour with their band. Turns out something else was also on its first nationwide tour—a shiny new infection that caused the dead to walk and glutton themselves on the flesh of the living. The next stop on their tour was Atlanta, and that's where they were headed when the radio cut to emergency news detailing a deadly infection spread by the bite of the undead. They were at a standstill in traffic when they met a few of their current campmates.

Aurora, Rory, had gotten out of the car despite her brother ordering her not to, jogging over to an older woman in her concert getup. A leather miniskirt, leather coat, tight, cropped, sheer black t-shirt and 6-inch Naked Wolfe boots weren't exactly the best clothes to be wearing at the beginning of the end of the world, but she couldn't afford to worry about her clothing choices at that moment.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but do you know what's holding up the traffic?" Rory asked, hugging her jacket closer to her so she wouldn't reveal the bra that was visible through her shirt.

"We're assuming it's because they're checking for any infected before they grant them access to the city, it's supposed to be safe there...but we haven't moved at all in the last 45 minutes." The woman tugged at her lip with her teeth, running a hand through her short-cropped hair.

"They're probably dealing with a problem closer to the city, there's no other explanation for why we've been waiting here," another woman chimed as she approached, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Mommy I'm hungry." A young boy whined from the side of the car she'd left.

"I know Carl, we're all hungry, I promise we'll find you some food soon," the woman turned to her son with a sympathetic look. Aurora couldn't imagine how hard it would be to keep a child safe in such a fucked up situation.

"We've got a bunch of food in our car, I can give you something for your son if you want," the other woman offered, her husband's head snapped towards her angrily.

"Are you sure?" The woman with long hair asked, eyes wide with gratitude.

"Yeah! I have a daughter, I wouldn't want her to go hungry if the roles were reversed. I'm Carol by the way." The woman smiled.

"I'm Lori,"

Both women looked to Rory, who still stood silently beside them. "I'm Aurora, you can call me Rory." The women smiled and Carol rushed off to her car to grab the food she'd mentioned. Lori and Rory listened as her husband scolded her loudly for offering food to a stranger and told her to tell Lori that they couldn't give her anything. Carol returned moments later with teary eyes and an apologetic look.

"I've got some snacks in the car, it's not much but it should tide him over until you can find something proper," Rory said, hurrying back over to her brother's car and pulling open the passenger door.

"You find out what's going on?" Archie asked, his head resting on the driver's side window. Rory shook her head and opened the glove compartment, pulling out a bag of chips and a granola bar. She hurried off again before Archer could ask what she was doing, passing the snacks to Lori who thanked her endlessly and ran over to her son.

Archer walked over to them a moment later, bored and scared. His outfit wasn't any better than his sister's. He was also decked out in leather, his dark brown hair tousled and black guyliner making his green eyes pop.

"This your brother?" Carol asked. Rory nodded and Archer introduced himself, telling her to call him Archie. Rory gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought of her bandmates who were supposed to be waiting for them in the city. She ran her hands through her long dark brown locks nervously, eyes darting around as she tried to come to terms with what was happening.

This was the new world now, and she'd have to get used to it.

—/<3/—

"Fine, she can come," Daryl gave in. He turned to her for the first time since the conversation began. "Don't get in my way, ya' hear me?" His blue eyes clashed with her own, one green and one hazel, and she nodded.

"Loud and clear."

"Go get your shit, enough for two days. If you ain't back here in ten minutes I'm leavin' without ya."

Rory swivelled and walked to the tent she shared with Archie, shoving provisions and a change of clothes into a backpack. Aurora and Archer were lucky enough to have had suitcases full of their belongings in the back of Archie's car from their tour, so they could change out of their leather clothes and into ones much more suited for the apocalypse.

Rory looked down at the biker shorts and oversized white tee she stole from her brother, deciding to grab her leather coat just in case it got too cold at night before she was out of the tent again, running over to her brother to say goodbye.

"Woah, woah, woah," Archie chased after her as she jogged back over to where Daryl was waiting for her. "What do you mean you're going into the woods for a few days? Don't you think it's a bit short notice?"

"I'll be back Archie, just need to grab a few things," Rory replied.

"It's too dangerous!"

"We go on runs in the city all the time, that's more dangerous than wandering around the woods. It'll be fine, promise."

"If you die, I'll kill you."

"I'm not going to die, you're so dramatic." Rory rolled her eyes, stopping in front of Daryl who'd just finished zipping up his pack.

"Dramatic? Aurora, have you seen the state of the world? I'm being cautious."

"Bye Archie," Rory said, following after Daryl who'd started walking towards the woods without a word to either of the siblings.

"Bye..." Archer called after them, sounding disheartened.

—/<3/—

a/n: Daryl is younger in this fic!! around his early thirties rather than his forties.