Wild Roses ~Daryl Dixon Love Story~•

Thank You

Rose P.O.V
'Run, Run, Run..' The voice in my head chanted, I've been running for what seems to be an hour, but has probably only been 20 minutes. Running from the dead seems to be what I do now, but I'm used to it. I've done it a lot, even before the world went to shit. My name is Rose Assana. I am 26 years old, well, technically I'm 27 now since it is my birthday today. What a great way to spend your birthday, running from the dead. It's not my first birthday on the run, I've been running since I was 16. But this is defiantly my first running from the dead. My legs pumped hard against the forest floor, I had about 7 dead behind me, and I didn't have any arrows left, only my lucky bowie knife. Turning around, I stabbed one in the head and kept running. 1 down, 6 to go.. I did this 6 more times until all of the dead were gone. I was about to go back to see if I could scavenge my arrows back from the dead I had shot earlier, when I heard a sound that flooded relief through me. Running water. I tracked down where the water was coming from and started on my way. 'I can always make arrows later..' I thought to myself while smirking. I found a large waterfall, with a deep pool at the bottom. The water was crystal clear, and the whole place was surrounded by dense forest. I quickly stripped off my clothes, leaving me only in my garments before plunging in the ice cold refreshing water. It felt so nice on my slightly burnt tan skin. I took my time in washing my body with what soap I had left in my backpack, scrubbing every inch. I had an odd feeling someone was watching me, but figured it was just my imagination, I mean, we are in an apocalypse. There probably isn't anyone around for miles. I washed my hair until I had no soap left, noticing that my once shoulder length blonde hair was now just past my shoulder blades. I turned toward the shore to start to do my laundry, when I saw a bush rustle slightly to the right of me. I quickly grabbed my bowie knife and put on a fresh pair of clothes, keeping an eye out for any dead, or even worse, humans. I've come across many groups, most of them full of disgusting guys that acted like pigs, but one group I had was great, full of people who were caring and sweet. Me and my brother stayed with them, until another group came in and shot us up. I still haven't found my brother, or if he's even alive. I was now in hunting mode, all tenses sharp, ready to pounce and protect myself. I heard light footsteps, who ever was here, knew what they were doing. All of a sudden, a man about 5'10" and short, dirty brown hair, jumped from behind a large tree with a crossbow pointed right at my face. I was shocked, but didn't let any fear show as I was ready to throw my knife if needed. "Put down yer' weapon woman" a smooth southern accent laced through every word, he actually was handsome- 'No Rose your about to get killed don't think about that!' Clicking back into reality, she held her knife tighter. "Why don't ya' put down yours first hunter'" I responded half smirking. "Cause' my arrow can go a lot faster than yer' knife" he answered quickly, smirking at his own comment. I thought for a moment before answering. "What's your name?" He looked confused that I had asked such a question, but answered it anyway. "Daryl Dixon. what about you girl?" I smirked slightly, "If I tell ya' my name would ya' stop callin' me 'girl' or 'woman'?" I asked laughing a bit. "Why not" he said. "My names Rose Assana" I answered quite plainly. He looked at me for a minute, then glanced at the waterfall, and back at me. "Quite ironic isn't it?" I stated pointing to the waterfall with my knife quickly before turning back to face him. I may be blonde, But I ain't stupid. You never turn your back on someone who was armed, and was pointing a weapon on you. "Your last name means 'waterfall' in Irish, doesn't it?" He said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. I replied bleakly with a 'yea'. "So ya' gonna' put down yer' knife or am I gon' have to come over there an' take it from ya'?" He stated, getting rather stern. Not even 5 minutes of knowing this guy and I could already tell what kind of guy he was. Probably the same kind that stayed alone in the forest like me, but only meaner. "Why don't we put down our wea-" I was cut off by an arrow zipping right past my head and I heard a thump behind me. I whipped around to see a dead that I hadn't heard laying on the ground with an arrow in the eye. I turned to face Daryl to see him walking over to retrieve his arrow. Before he could, I pulled it out of the dead's eye and flung the blood off, before handing it to him. "Thanks" he said. "I'm the one who should be thankin' you" I stated. He turned towards me, and I could now clearly see his face and eyes. His blue eyes looked as if there was much more past the 'tough guy' image he played. "So you gotta group?" He asked, breaking the trance I had in his eyes. "Uh, no, I'm all alone. Why? Do you?" I started to get nervous, maybe he was one of those guys that would have a group of people like my step father, god I hope not. "Yeah, I do." He said blankly. "Oh, you must gotta get back there then, it was nice meetin' ya'" I said rather quickly, turning around to walk over to my bag. Before I could reach it, I felt a calloused hand gently grab my wrist to turn me around. Instinct kicked in and I flicked my wrist around to hold his, so that I could break his arm if needed, but not painful for him if it was only a friendly gesture. "Ow! What the hell woman?!" He yelled trying to pull his wrist from me. I quickly let go, "Sorry, not used to a friendly face, guess it was just instinct." I replied rubbing my wrist lightly "S'alright, I was jus' gonna say you don't look so healthy, did you need some food or somethin'? I could take ya' back," He said shyly. The thought of food made my mouth water.. Fresh venison... But what if the group is dangerous? I could stay for the night at least, maybe stock up a bit. I lost my gun in Atlanta after a big herd stopped feeding on a horse, but that was about a year ago anyway, if not more. "I guess so, Thanks, again." I decided to go, I could leave a trail and always come back here if things didn't go so well. "Well come on then Rose, we're losing daylight" And with that, he grabbed my backpack and started to walk away toward the forest. What had just happened?