Hope { A Daryl Dixon fanfiction }

Chapter 1

Danielle's P.o.v

Walking around the woods, alone, in fear, wasn't really how I planned on spending the rest of my life. In fact I had plans for my future, I wanted to have a big wedding, try sky diving or skiing. But since the apocalypse started and the world we knew went to shit, the only thing I've done is walk, for miles with no end.

My name is Danielle and I have survived out here for four years.. alone. All my family and friends are gone. I have brown hair and brown eyes. Unfortunately the only thing I can depend on are my skills so I at least have a fighting chance in this world. I have a knife that I mostly and frequently use, I also use a crossbow and a gun back at my camp with only three bullets for emergencies. I don't have much food, a couple rabbits, and my camp is by a river. I built this small water filter with a bucket, an empty water bottle, a piece of cloth, and some rocks. 

I'm guessing the time is getting to be around 6 o'clock and I haven't had any luck with finding food so I start to head back to my tent but realize that there was a bush that had berries on it. The berries looked like raspberries but they were black.. Black berries! I grabbed a bandanna and put as many berries in my little bandanna pouch as I could fit. Once I got my black berries I started heading back to my camp. 

It took me about an hour to have view on my tent, and I also noticed a walker, luckily he didn't have any friends. As I got closer I realized what he was doing.. eating my rabbits, my only food supply.
"Hey asshole!" I yelled as if it could understand and answer me back.

It just groaned and turned around before I jabbed it through the eye with my knife. Only a little bit of blood was on me but its not like it mattered.. Why would I just leave my only supply of food laying around? Especially when its so hard to come by these days. Oh well, i'll find more tomorrow.

It's so hard to try and get rest anymore, all this time I've had to sleep with one eye open. For four years I've tried to get as much rest as I could but my fear of being a midnight snack for a walker constantly haunts me.

***

I probably got about three hours of actual sleep last night. I woke up at probably around 7 o'clock to go look at my traps and get my water from my filter. I was pretty surprised to see that I caught a squirrel and really thankful actually. After I put the squirrel in my bag I went to the river and took the filtered water and put it into two other bottles then I had to reset the filter. I walked back to my camp and grabbed the berries out of my tent, and sat down on a log by my fire and ate breakfast. 

As I was eating my berries I heard rustling nearby and little sniffles, and once I heard the cries I knew it wasn't a walker. I turned around and just in case had my knife in hand but I realized it was only a little boy, who was crying. He had ruffled brown hair and bright green eyes. I walked closer to him and asked him what his name was.

"H-hello um, what's your name?" I asked trying to sound as considerate as possible.

"M-m-my name i-is joey." He said to me between sniffles. 

"Are you alone?"

"I am now." He started to cry harder.

" What do you mean?" I asked sympathetically.

"M-my d-ad just got bit!" He said falling to the ground in complete defeat. 

"I'm so sorry, if you'd like you can have some berries you are probably starving."
He simply nodded and took the berries I was holding out for him.
I let him have his privacy and went into the tent for awhile.

***

As I exited the tent Joey was still crying but not as hard as before. I thought a lot about him while I was in the tent, he's only a little boy and he doesn't have anyone to go to. I think I'm going to let him stay with me, he's harmless and I know that I need some company.

"Would you like to stay with me? I know what your going through, all my family was bit. Its hard to make it out here on your own, especially you being what nine? Ten?" I asked, trying to explain in an apologetic way.

"Yeah, I'd like to stay with you. Sorry if I'm kinda coming out of no where. Its so hard to face the fact that I lost him. And I'm twelve." he smirked wiping away his tears.

"Oh okay, well I know today's been hard for you so why don't you get some rest? You can just go lay down in the tent if you want. I'm Danielle by the way." I gave him a slightly awkward hug but I knew he needed it. He then went into the tent and tried to rest.

***

"Morning sunshine." I said with a slight giggle.

I had went on another walk this morning and managed to find a squirrel, so I came back and cooked it up for breakfast. 

"Good morning," He rubbed at his eyes and walked out of the tent yawning. 

"I caught a squirrel this morning so if you're hungry it's available," I smirked at him giving him pieces of the squirrel. 

"You know Danielle, one thing you're going to have to learn about me is that I'm always hungry." He laughed and started eating his meal.

We sat in silence for a little bit, just eating breakfast.

Until I came up with an idea.

"Joey, I think we should try and find somewhere a lot safer than what we've got going on right now."

"What do you mean?" He looked over at me and I could tell he was confused.

"Well I mean that we need to raid some places, kill some walkers, find some food, all important things. But most importantly we need to find better shelter."

"Sounds good, when were you planning on heading out?"

"I was thinking now."