Keep us safe- a Daryl Dixon story

A/N / Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: As much as I wish I did, I do not own the walking dead, its plot, or any of its characters, I'm just writing this for fun.

Hi guys, its my first time writing a fic so I hope you like it! :)

Bold italic words indicate a characters thoughts.

"What the...? Rick!" Never lowering his trademark crossbow, Daryl Dixon glanced over his shoulder at the sheriff jogging his way before turning back to the pair tucked away in the tiny shed in front of him. Coming to a stop beside Daryl, Rick peered into the dark, dusty room at the two terrified faces in front of him. Sighing, he looked around at his group before he and Tyreese reached in and pulled the two survivors out, Ty being more gentle with the girl than Rick was with the man.

Keeping his crossbow trained in between the eyes of the man, perceiving him as the larger threat, Daryl stood between the two. "what's yer name?" he grunted out. The man only strengthened his stony expression and struggled to get out of Rick's grip. Growling, Daryl lunged at him, kicking his legs out from under him and sending him falling heavily to the dusty ground. In an instant, the girl had slipped Ty's grip, grabbed the concealed hunting knife from her black, worn out boot, and held it to Daryl's throat in one practiced movement.

A man in the back of the group called Shane chuckled at her. "Listen here little lady, you oughta be careful with that. Yer not in the kitchen now."

Glaring at him, she finally spoke: "I can kill you within seconds, and will because I have nothing to lose and nothing that you want. Leave us alone and move on." Tyreese laid his hand on the girls shoulder again, gently guiding her unwillingly away from Daryl. Shane sneered and gave her an obvious once-over. "I dunno about the rest 'a them, but you definitely got something I want." Smirking, he advanced toward her with an ugly gleam in his eye. "Shane, no! That ain't us brother, just leave the girl alone." Rick had a warning tone to his voice that gave Shane pause in his motion, trying to calm everyone down before things got too out of hand, especially since the strangers looked like they'd like nothing more than to gut him on the spot, and even a few members of his own group were starting to look like they were debating whether or not he was worth the noise and the bullet. Shane glanced around before raising his hands in surrender and backing off, muttering under his breath. Turning back to the rest of the group, Rick took his first good look at the pair under restraint. After taking a deep breath, he glanced around at the others before asking his three questions to determine whether they should be allowed into the band of survivors, much to the incredulity of the others. After both of them had given their answers to Rick's approval, Glenn pulled Rick aside. "What are you doing? We don't know these people! We can't just bring them in with us. What if something happens to Maggie? Or Carl or Judith? Do you really want to risk their safety?" He looked Rick in the eye and attempted to arrange his expression to be suitably pleading. However Rick looked over at the pair in question, and looking at their resigned expressions, the way they looked like they hadn't eaten in a week, and the defeat in their eyes made up his mind for him. "This world is brutal enough without our input. They're coming with us."

Glenn frowned but nodded, accepting Rick's decision before turning on his heel and walking away to inform the others of the result of their discussion. Carefully arranging the smile he used to use on victims of crimes in his police days onto his face, he too turned to the new (somewhat involuntary) initiates of the group.

"Ready to go to prison?"