The Walking Dead ( Private between myself and Traveler)

A cold nose touching her cheek brought Katherine Doyle out of her light sleep. Her pale grey eyes opened, focusing on her best friend and constant companion her German shepherd, Jasper. Her right hand lifted to pet the massive dog over the side of the bathtub that the young woman slept in. In her right hand she clutched a long hunting knife. Glancing down at herself, Kat took in her appearance. her 5'6" athletic frame was covered in a fine layer of dirt, she had on a snug black tank top that exposed her copper toned skin, a legacy of her mother's native american heritage. It also showed the cuts and bruises marring her arms. Beneath her shirt were bruises on her ribcage from being kicked a few times. Her legs were covered in a pair of worn jeans with a couple of tears in them. Her mahogany hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. Kat stretched carefully and winced, she was sore and her head throbbed possibly from a mild concussion. She'd ran into a trio of men two days ago, Jasper had been ahead when the men had come out of a building seeing Katherine.

They'd caught her, and she'd struggled, until she'd managed to get away. With the help of her dog who'd come running when he'd heard her shouts. Though it had taken the dog a while before he'd managed to get into the small building the men had dragged her into. Which had involved the big dog jumping through a glass window and cutting up his paws some, though he was mostly unhurt. They'd escaped and ran, finding there was to a small neighborhood and hiding in one of the upstairs bathrooms. Hopefully in another day or so she'd be healed enough to continue moving. It had been a couple days already since either of them had had food, She was definitely due for some, though her dog could potentially go several more days without food.

Her pale eyes widened hearing the sounds of someone downstairs. Jasper growled, but Kat gave a sharp order for silence and prayed whoever was downstairs would move on quickly and not feel the need to investigate the upstairs.

Fuck it. Fuck this shit all to hell.

He shut the house door and slid the lock into place, scanning the suburban house for any sign of walkers. So far there were none. Hell, it didn't even smell like anything had died in there aside from whatever was in the refrigerator, which was mercifully closed. His grey eyes took in everything; the fresh mud and dust on the carpet, the spots of blood following the small booted footprints up the stairs... a young boy or a woman had been here, with a dog. It was a big dog, judging from the size of the prints.

Daryl knelt to check the blood. His left hand reached down while he continued to look and listen for sounds of trouble. Calloused fingertips dug into the thick pile carpet and touched wetness at the base of the droplet. It wasn't 'today' fresh, but it was fresh enough. The blood was not more than two days old, three tops. Whoever had come in here with their dog had been there recently. They might still be there now.

He smirked at himself, thinking of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Someone's been sitting in my chair, and she's still here! Yeah... but who had time for fucking fairy tales?

Beth was dead.

He still had her blood on the left shoulder of his shirt. After they buried her he needed time to think. He needed time to be alone and to figure out what was going on in his head. Rick didn't want him to go, but Carol, bless her heart, she understood. She always did.

Daryl frowned to himself as he cased the bottom half of the house and found no signs of recent activity. That left upstairs to check out. As he carefully walked up the stairs, taking care to stay near the wall to avoid the squeakiest parts of wooden construction, he thought about Carol. She was his closest companion. She knew him like no other did, and she accepted him in his entirety. He loved her - he did. He just loved her like he would have a sister, and that was enough for her. After her husband she didn't want anyone, man or woman, to touch her, and that was okay with him. He understood abuse and torment. Hell, he was weaned on it.

At the top of the stairs was a typical suburban layout. At the end of the hall he saw an open door leading to a child's room. The curtains were open, and an out-of-place cheerful beam of sunshine streaked through the still air. To the left, a door stood partially ajar. Inside he could see the partial poster of some boy band that had long ago probably been turned into zombie fare. To the right was a closed door, probably to a bathroom.

He eased the partially open door all the way to the wall and looked inside. An unmade bed, some clothes in the hamper, and a dead houseplant were all that revealed that anyone had been there. Whoever had slept in the bed last had done it a long time ago. He could see a thin layer of undisturbed dust on the wrinkles. He'd ceased wondering about previous inhabitants a long time ago; whatever lives they had led did not exist any longer.

That left the bathroom door. Daryl turned his eyes to the bathroom. He heard a low growl coming from the door. It didn't sound like a walker. No - this had the fierce warning behind it that only a dog could give.

He'd always wanted a dog. Daryl wiped the back of his left hand across his face and stepped slowly to the side, to not be directly behind the door in case someone inside that tiny room was happy with the trigger.

"Hey kid - are you hurt? I saw blood." He knew damn well that it was the dog who was bleeding, but he figured most folk didn't know jack shit about tracking. "I'm not gonna hurt you. It's not safe to travel alone. I got people - good people - they'll take you in and keep you safe."

Kat lay in the tub, gripping her knife in her right hand so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Jasper stood between her and the door, determined to be the first of the pair to meet the intruder, should the bathroom door open. She barely breathed when she heard footsteps up the stairs and eventually stop near the bathroom. The voice made her shudder, of course it was a man. The voice had Jasper snarling, teeth bared as his muscles bunched preparing to lunge.

"Easy," She murmured, softly to the dog. The man hadn't just busted in here, maybe he wasn't all bad. And by the sound of it, he thought she was a kid. But the last thing she wanted was to be around a group right now. She shifted to sit up a little more in the tub, pushing the blankets off of her. She'd grabbed the blankets and pillows off the beds, to make the tub more comfy for the time she was there.

Her voice trembled as she spoke, "I don't need any help," She called and winced, the fear the clear in her voice. She had a bit of a western drawl to her voice. She'd lived in Montana her whole life, and as luck would have it, she'd been in Atlanta when the world had gone to hell. But she was thankful everyday that Jasper was with her. She kept her knife ready and wished for her gun. But she'd left that at her hotel room, when her and Jasper had gone out for lunch.

She hoped he'd just leave, but a tiny, tiny part of her asked if she really wanted to be alone again? If this man spoke the truth, then he had a good group, something she'd been without for months now. Mostly this pair had just bounced from group to group, never sticking to one for more than a few months. So as a result they'd been alone more often than not. And quite honestly, Kat was tired of being alone. But her recent run in with those men, meant that her already fragile trust of people was diminished even more. She took a slow shuddering breath, wincing in pain, her ribs hurt like hell and she wouldn't be surprised if they were fractured.

But she wasn't coughing up blood, and she was still alive, so she figured if they were fractured, they hadn't hit anything vital. Her eyes remain on the door, listening for any sounds of the man on the other side.

He leaned over and took a peak into the bedroom at the end of the hallway. It was empty and the bed had been stripped. Hmm.

When he heard the voice he knew that his hope that it was a kid, someone like Carl, was wrong. This was definitely not a kid's voice. No, her voice sounded enough like Beth's that it made him draw a surprised breath. Was he going fucking insane?

"Okay... well... you don't need any help. I guess you're just going to live in that bathroom until this all passes over?" He chuckled. "Well listen. I'm Daryl. I'm going to go downstairs and see if there's any food in this house, 'cause I haven't eaten in a couple of days. Now, I don't like the idea of being shot in the back, so before I go let's make a deal, okay? I don't shoot you, you don't shoot me. Tomorrow once the sun's up I'm going to cut out of here and see if I can find me a truck or something."

He leaned against the far wall, looking at the bottom of the door where a dog's nose had pressed against the opening and sniffed before growling again. "If you want to come with me, then that's great. You can come. But if you want to live in this bathroom with that dog of yours, that's fine too. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life."

He shook his head slightly to get the long dark bangs out of his eyes. "I sleep light, so don't try to sneak up on me. There's been too much killin' lately."

She frowns listening to him, then she nodded though he couldn't see her. "Okay," She could make that deal, since she didn't have anything to shoot him with. She waited until he left, remaining in the tub for nearly another hour before curiosity got the best of her. She carefully got out of the tub, wincing and groaning in pain a bit. She stood up, wrapping an arm around her ribcage as she looked at the dog. "Well, we mind as well go check him out."

Katherine opened the door, "Heel," She murmured, walking out of the bathroom and towards the stairs. She made her way carefully down the stairs, letting her dog walk just ahead, ready just in case. She kept her blade firmly in her right hand. She reached the bottom of the stairs, looking around carefully for the stranger. Kat still didn't think that she could trust him, but he had a point, would she really live in that bathroom for the rest of her life? No. She wanted someone to spend her time with, besides her loyal dog.

Her pale gaze looked around before looking down at her dog. "Seek." The soft command sent the dog forward, nose lifted. He moved through the house until he found the man, Kat followed him until they found the man.

Abandoned homes were interesting places. He found a stash of pot - very interesting, but not what he had in mind. Still, it might make for good bartering sometime. There were a few bottles of scotch and some cheap wine. He found a couple of cases of soda in the garage fridge, as well as the happy family moaning and groaning in the family's Honda Odyssey. It seemed that they were on their way out when one of them turned on the other. Now they pawed at the interior of the glass, their rotted flesh leaving streaks of putrescence on the surface.

He found a hatchet in the garage and a can of extra gas for the lawn mower. That might come in handy... after gleaning everything that he could use, he locked the door to the garage and wrote in big, Sharpie letters "DEAD INSIDE. DO NOT OPEN."

The master bedroom on the first floor gave up clean socks, clean underwear, and a pair of Carhardts that were decent. They had pockets and reinforced knees, which was good when you climbed through church floors and sewers to find a scrap of food or an escape route. On a whim he flipped a switch as he walked through the house and when a light came on, he froze.

What the fuck? Working lights? To clarify that it was really happening he flipped them off and on again. They came on. Daryl grinned. Was this one of those hippie-shit solar communities? Was there running water?

Fuck yeah... Running water meant a shower. A shower was one more step from the damn hunting cabin life he had suffered through with his dad and Meryl, and it meant refilling his drinking water and cleaning off his arrows and shit - even crapping in a toilet and flushing the damn thing without guilt.

He was using a manual can opener on a can of ravioli when the dog trotted into the kitchen. Daryl looked over at it but kept turning the handle as if it was no big deal. "We got canned pasta, beans, corn, and some kind of hash shit." Once the can top was released he poured the processed wheat squares and refined tomato sauce concoction into a large bowl. "But the best part," he announced as he popped open the microwave door and slid the bowl in, then pushed the minute button twice, "is that there's electricity here. Hot food... maybe a hot shower. There's a shower down here so don't worry about me infringing on your little fort upstairs."

The microwave roared to life. He gave the girl a smile, but then he shrugged and popped open a soda can. "Hungry?"

Katherine followed the big dog into the kitchen, murmuring to the animal to call him back, preventing him from confronting the man. She looked up at the lights, seeming to just stare at them for a minute. She'd been here two days and never bothered to try the lights, so it was a shock to her that they worked. Her head tilted as she listened to him, and couldn't help twitching her lips at your little fort. And as if on cue when he asked if she was hungry, her stomach grumbled and she nodded. "I haven't eaten for a couple of days," She murmurs as she leans against the door frame, simply watching the man.

It felt different, being around him. It didn't feel like it did around the other men. Like she was prey, being hunted. No, it felt very different being around this man. "I'm Katherine." She introduces herself, but doesn't offer to shake his hand. She wasn't sure she wanted the human contact just yet, and she still wasn't trusting enough to put herself within arms reach of him. Taking note of the calm atmosphere, Jasper laid his massive body down between the humans, at Kat's feet and seemed to be dozing, though he could wake in an instant, if he was needed.

The smells of the processed food filling the air as it cooked and though she knew the sound would come, she still jumped at the obnoxious beeping that came when the microwave finished. She noticed a pair of dog dishes in the corner of the room and tilted her head, if they had a dog, they had dog food. And that's one thing that people probably hadn't scavenged. Even the hungriest person was reluctant to eat dog kibble.

Pushing off the wall, she began searching through the closet, the pantry and some of the cabinets, until she came up with a medium sized back of kibble. She pulled it out of the ground level cabinet, it was a fifteen pound bag that had yet to be opened, beside it was a mostly empty bag, obviously they'd just bought this before the world ad seemingly ended.

With her body so sore, she couldn't lift it, so she settled for just dragging it out of the cabinet before cutting it open near the top, enough for her to stick her hand in and get some food out to put in the dish for her dog. She gave him the command to eat before shifting her attention back to the man.

He smiled at her rumbly tummy and placed an unopened soda on the kitchen counter nearest the girl. "That's for you, not your dog." He nodded when she told him her name, and some part of him wondered if he'd wind up witnessing her death too, like he had Beth's. It almost made him want to never get close to anyone again. It fucking hurt to lose someone who had become a friend.

His crossbow was laying on the kitchen table, two strides away. On his belt he still carried a large bowie styled fixed-blade, but he wasn't reaching for it or even acknowledging it in any way. In truth he was a little amused by this modern kitchen. He discovered that the fridge had stayed cold, and though most of the perishables had long perished, the freezer still worked. Hell... there was buffalo wings and steaks in there, and a few rolls of ground beef. It had been a long time since he had eaten a proper meal. If every home in this subdivision was hooked up to this solar shit then he could go from house to house and raid the kitchens, eating like a king until there was some serious reason to leave.

Daryl had used a microwave a few times, but not enough to have expected the beeping when the food was warm. He pulled out his dagger and whirled, searching for danger. Once he realized what it was he was embarrassed and glanced at the girl from the corner of his eyes as he slid the knife back into its sheath. He let out a slow breath and saw that she was pulling a big bag of dog food from the pantry.

He watched her scoop food out for the obviously hungry dog, then give him permission to eat before he dove in.

"Do you have to give him permission to piss too?" Daryl asked. "Or does he know how to do that on his own?" He'd never seen a hungry dog who waited to eat before. It wasn't anything like the hunting coon dogs he was used to.

He removed the ravioli from the microwave and poured half into a bowl, which he slid towards Katherine. "So. How long have you been on your own?" He lifted the bowl to his lips and took a long slurp, then wiped the sauce off onto the back of one sleeve before rummaging around for a spoon. He guessed that it wouldn't do to be too much of a redneck, especially since they had running water at this place. "That dog got a name?"

Kat smirked. "Yes, he can do it on his own. But yes, he does wait for permission as well." she says. Her dog wouldn't leave her side without her command, so she did have to tell him to go to the bathroom. She gratefully took the bowl of food and didn't bother to wait for a spoon, she simply did what he did, tipping the bowl up to her mouth, eagerly eating. She was neat about it, but still ate like a starving wolf, then drank the soda, which tasted funny, seeing as it had been so long since she'd had a sugary drink like that. Katherine shrugged, "Technically since the beginning, but we've joined a few groups before, but never felt like staying more than a month or two." She says honestly.

She looked up again when he asked about the dog. "His name is Jasper." At his name the big dog's head perked up, looking at his mistress before finishing off his food and returning to lay at her feet. She moved to sit at the table, since the pain in her body went from a dull ache to a throb. Easing herself down carefully before finishing the bowl of food. She tilted her head, looking at the man. "So, if you have a good group, why are you hear alone?" She asks curiously, she figured he was here alone. No one else had come looking for him, and she didn't hear sounds of anyone else in the neighborhood.

His head was bent over the bowl when she told him the dog's name. Daryl looked up through the dark strands of hair shading his eyes. "I wanted a little time. Alone."

He spooned the rest of the ravioli into his mouth and set the bowl and spoon in the sink. As he did so he began to wipe a hand across his chest, and then he saw Beth's blood on his shirt and he hit him. They had found her, they had gotten her back, and then in a split second she was dead. He stood there for a moment, his eyes riveted on her blood.

Shit.

"Listen," he turned back to the counter and began to put the food he had found into two equal piles. "I told you I'd leave tomorrow, and I'm gonna keep that promise. But tonight I'm going to have a shower and cook a steak. You and that dog of yours are welcome to join me. Tomorrow I'll find another house to hold up in until I'm ready to go back to my group." He was referring to having a steak, but it could as easily have sounded like he was inviting her to join him in the shower.

He glanced at her. "You move like you're hurt. We don't got a doctor, but we have a vet's daughter. Maggie. She's as good as one if you need any doctorin'. She'll patch you up." He waved a hand at her as if to indicate all of her. "They're at the old church last time I checked; the wooden one off of the highway by the mill. Tell them you're a friend of Daryl's - it'll be good enough for them."

He was satisfied with the supply division and began to walk around the counter to where he had set out some clothes. It looked like a shower was next on his agenda.

She watches him, shrugging. "I don't really mind how long you stay. It's not like I own this place. It was just a convenient place to hide out." KAt says as she finishes her food. She shook her head though, "I can't be with a group right now. People kinda freak my out at the moment." she says, "I ran into a couple of guys," She shrugged, "Weren't the friendliest." She didn't explain other than that, but she didn't really have to, her arms showed the cuts and bruises, she had a nasty purple bruise on her jaw. It was clear she'd been in a fight.

"But thanks for the offer." She smiles faintly. "And I think we might join you for a steak, Though, I don't think there'd be enough room in the shower for the three of us," She couldn't help but tease him gently, knowing he didn't really mean for them to share the shower. But at heart, Katherine was a very playful person, a part of her that didn't often get expressed anymore, it being the end of the world and all. "But, if ya want, We can cook up dinner while you clean up," She offered. Admittedly, it'd be kinda nice to make and share dinner with another human. Her and Jaz had been on their own a few months now, and she missed the human interaction.

He hesitated when she teased him about the shower. "Yeah... well I'm sure he'd prefer a bath anyhow." He ran a hand over his mouth, as if brushing off crumbs, and then picked up his clothes and the crossbow. "I prefer my steak rare. Burned on the outside, red in the middle." He looked at her as if deciding if she could properly cook steak, but hell - it was beef and it was going to be cooked. That was a lot more than he had had in a long time.

"Thanks."

It seemed like he wasn't as comfortable around new people as he might have seemed at first. He paused for a moment and then looked at the dog. "If he needs to go out wait for me. I'll cover you when I get back." Then he was gone, around the corner to the back hallway. A few moments later the sound of water moving through the pipes could be heard.

She smirked. "We'll see," She made no promises that she'd cook the steak how he wanted. In all honesty, she was a bad cook before all this started. Her husband had always jokingly complained that sometime she'd give them both food poisoning. But steaks were one thing she'd always cooked with relative ease. Then she nods, "He went out a few hours ago, so he should be good." She smiled. It was nice, to have someone to think of covering her when she needed to let the dog out.

Once she heard the water starting, she moved about to gather what she'd need to cook the steaks, checking on the oven and seeing if it had a broiler. Then she peered around for anything to have with the steaks. She'd seen a couple houses over had had a vegetable garden and figured some of it might still be producing, but she certainly wasn't up for venturing that far alone, not when she was still moving tenderly. Instead she focused on cooking the steaks and the can of green beans she found. They were limp, slightly soggy beans, but at this point who was really picky?

Kat tried to time it right so that by the time Daryl was finished with his shower the food was just about done.

The water felt good. It must have been one of those instant water heater things that he'd heard about. Sometimes hippies had good ideas. He washed his hair, using the soap and shampoo in the shower stall, and felt the tension flow off of him. When he looked down and saw the dirt and the blood trickling down the drain it really hit him hard. He leaned against the shower and let the sorrow pour out of him as silently as he could, his sorrow over all the loss he had suffered draining him until he had nothing left. Sophia, T-Dog, Andrea, Otis, Lorrie, Hershel... Beth. He couldn't remember all the names, let alone the faces of all the people he had seen die.

He'd probably seen more people die since this whole shit storm happened then he had ever seen before.

He turned off the water and dried off, then got into his mostly clean clothing. The others he'd wash, in a real fucking washing machine, and then pack away to take with him. Just because the world was fucked up didn't mean that he couldn't live like a decent human begin. He rinsed off someone's toothbrush and brushed his teeth, then stole some of the man's deodorant. It was spicy; a little bit soft, but he didn't care.

When he stepped out of the bathroom the smell of roasting meat almost made him light-headed. He walked to the kitchen, nodding at Jasper, and then eyed the oven. "It smells good enough to eat," he remarked as he set his crossbow down. He glanced out the window, peeking through the blinds. "If we stay here past tomorrow it would be good to block out the windows. At least give those walkers nothing to look at."

Kat continued making the food as she heard Daryl walk in, smiling she looked over. "It'll be done in jsut a few minutes." She says as she washed a couple of plates, and glasses. She smiled again, hearing him speak. Suddenly they'd become a 'we' and she had to admit, it sounded nice. "Yeah, that's a good idea. It'd be nice to stay here, as long as possible. I imagine some of the other houses are stocked as nicely as this one is." She muses, pulling the pan out of the oven.

She moved the steaks onto plates, cutting the fat off to toss to the dog. She poured water from the tap into the glasses, it was clean enough to drink, and it wasn't river water, a nice change. She turned, handing a plate to Daryl, on it was a steak, green beans, a fork and knife. She then grabbed her own plate, which had the same thing on it. She sat down at the table, even though they'd just had the ravioli not too long ago, her stomach was eager for more food. She ate slower this time, wanting to savor the taste of the steak, something she'd though she'd never have again.

"Wait! What the-" he watched in dismay as the dog wolfed down the thick pieces of fat and then looked at Kat incredulously. "That was the best part of the steak!" After a brief moment he scoffed and shook his head, then smiled. "You must be from the city or something. Next thing you know you'll be talking about kale and rice cakes."

He accepted the plate with a 'thanks' and set it on the table. "It's been a long time since I've had any store-bought meat. If the other houses on this block are set up with these solar panels they might have tons of frozen food still good in them. It'd be worth more than gold." After a moment he looked at the fridge. "You didn't see any Tabasco in there, did you?"

Once he had what he needed he dove in, relishing every bite as if it would be his last. After the initial few bites were downed he paused and looked over at her. He could see the bruises on her body and the scrapes where she had been attacked. "They did a number on you. You sure you're okay?"

She snickered, "I am not from the city, but I also don't eat the fat from my meat," Kat chuckled as she sat down, then shook her head, "No, I didn't see any Tabasco, but I didn't intentionally look for it either." She says, thinking about what he said. Yeah, it would be amazing it the other houses were set up like this. She hadn't investigated so she didn't know, but from what she'd seen at least the house next door to the right had the same solar set up, so, if they were lucky all the houses would. She ate slowly, trying to savor the taste, glancing up when she felt Daryl's eyes on her.

At his statement, she shivered, memories flashing back, remembering her fight to get free. She shrugged, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just gonna take a while to heal, and with luck they'll have forgotten about me, or at least won't come looking." She says. Kat prayed the men wouldn't come after her. It'd been a few days, so she figured they wouldn't, but she knew it couldn't sit well with them that a woman and her dog has escaped and evaded them. And Jasper had done a number on their leader, it could be they were just waiting for him to heal up some before coming after her.

"Hmm." He took another bite. "What did these people look like?" He took a drink of water. "How many were there? I just left Grady Memorial Hospital - if the guys who did this to you are from there you're probably safe now." He thought about the pseudo-cops at the hospital. They were just people with guns and badges that didn't mean anything. The whole concept of 'law' had died long ago.

He cut the last piece of meet into two pieces and ate the second to last one. The final piece he tossed over to Jasper. "You got the first and you got the last piece, Dog. Don't say I never gave you nothing."

With that he began to gather up his dishes. "I'm going to do a perimeter check and then take a nap. If you want to go out during the daylight let me know; it's safer to go in small groups then alone."

She shrugged, "There were three of them." She fixated on her food, pushing it around, "Probably late thirties, average height and weight. Two blondes and a black haired man. None wore uniforms or anything." She shrugged again, "I wasn't paying attention, walking down the street and they came out of a building, saw me, and decided they wanted me, i guess. Figured it was just opportunity." She said, watching him through the last piece to the dog, who thumped his tail. She murmured to the dog "Ami, Jaz," Finally cueing the dog that Daryl was a friend, using the French word for Friend.

She finished her own food and nodded. "Before you take a nap, Jasper should probably go out, then we're fine for the evening." she says, standing up with her own dishes and setting them in the sink to do later. "Do you want help with the perimeter check?" She asks, sure she was still sore and hurting but she could help out if he needed.

Daryl shook his head. "Nope. That could be anyone, but it's no one I know." He watched the damn dog wait for her to tell him it was okay before he ate the meat. Jasper was trained better than most people.

"You from Louisiana?" He guessed, wondering if the French was some kind of Creole or something. "Let's let that horse of yours go relieve himself, then yeah - I could use help with the perimeter." As he picked up his crossbow he looked her over. For a gal she seemed to be pretty confident; especially for a gal on her own, with no gun in sight. "You know how to shoot? We should look around for a better weapon for you, in case, you know --"

Of course she knew. No one survived this long without 'knowing'. He put a toothpick between his teeth just to have something to work on and nodded to her before moving towards the back door. He peeked out the curtains, scanning the yard for any signs of movement. The trees had a few birds in them, which looked unnaturally natural. Why was it the whole frickin' world could fall apart, and birds acted like it was just another day? Nothing fazed them. Wild things just went on being wild, not caring what the fuck humans were up to.

"Looks good. Go ahead and let him out."

She shakes her head, "No, I'm from Montana." She says with a smile as she stood up carefully, stretching out her sore body a bit to loosen it up. Kat chuckles softly, "Yeah I can shoot, and I'd very much like to have a gun again," She murmured, she'd felt very exposed not having her gun, even though they were going on two years now. She desperately wanted to have one again, for instances like the one she'd gotten into, it would have been over in seconds, if she'd had a gun. Even if she hadn't had to shoot, just having it might have been enough to warn the men off.

Kat followed him to the door, letting him check before he gave the okay. She opened the door further and murmured a soft word to the dog. Who for the first time hesitated, never had she given a command to leave her side when strangers were around. Quietly, firmly, she repeated the cue and this time the dog went, his big body sliding gracefully around the two people nad out the door. The dog learned to not dilly-dally and within a few minutes was back at the door, which Kat had left open. Jasper comes in, amber eyes focused on his mistress as he touches the palm of her hand that she offered to him. She rubbed his ears and praised him before looking over at Daryl, "Alright, what're we gonna do for the perimeter?" She asks curiously.

Once the dog went out, Daryl followed and checked the fence's integrity. It all looked good. He didn't see any signs of walkers in the neighboring yards, so that was a good thing. Thankfully the mutt peed quicker than a slug on snot, and they were both back inside in a few shakes of Jasper's tail.

"A perimeter check's just to make sure that the windows are locked and blocked, the doors are secure, and there's not anything that would alert our presence here to anyone out there." He nodded towards the front door. "Sometimes the living ones are more dangerous than the dead." His eyes roamed briefly down her body and back up again. "I'm guessin' you'd amen me on that."

As he led the way around the downstairs he took the time to search out different areas for possible hidey holes for guns. Any protruding clock or picture was a potential secret spot. He checked under tables and behind couches. Eventually they'd have to find something, right? This was Georgia after all; some of these people had to have guns.

"What do you like to shoot?" He finally asked, glancing back at her. "You like long guns or short ones?"

She nods, she could definitely agree with making themselves as unnoticed as possible, Kat wanted nothing to show off their presence here. Kat tilted her head at his question, "I like both, I'm pretty good as a sniper with a long gun, but I prefer handguns if possible." She says. She'd worked as a cop for a number of years until she'd switched to private security. "I had forgotten my gun at the hotel the day all this happened. Jaz and I'd gone out to lunch, didn't see a need for my gun," Kat chuckled as she helped him look for any hiding places.

She moved to the windows, checking the locks, and blocking off some of them, so that people couldn't see in, and any movement they made wouldn't attract any of the dead outside. The big dog trailed both humans around, even though he was a protective dog, he was very social, and he enjoyed having another person around aside from his human. Kat glanced at Daryl, "Do you have a preference on guns? Or do you just shoot that crossbow?" She asked curiously. Admittedly the cross bow was the idea weapon for this world, it never ran out of ammo or if it did you could make more.

He grinned at her when she said that she was a pretty good sniper with a long gun. "So... this gun of yours worth going back for?" He nodded at her description though he wondered how anyone would go out without some kind of weapon in the world they were living in. There search for hiding spots was coming up empty so far.

He helped her move a display case in front of a door, and made sure to point out the sign he put up on the garage door. "The family's in there," he told her, "holed up in their van. Looks like they were making a break for it."

She asked about his crossbow and he paused. "I like what works," he finally answered. "This here is quiet." He motioned towards the bow with one hand. "Good for hunting. I don't mind guns too, but they attract walkers. Sometimes a good knife or pickax works better." He wiped the back of his hand across his nose and took a look around. It seemed like they had all the windows on the lower level locked and blocked.

"So. No guns yet down here. Let's get the top floor checked out and then we can settle down for the night. Maybe tomorrow we can check out the nearby houses if it looks safe to do so... or we can wait until our supplies run out. Doesn't make a difference to me." He shrugged. "I know where my group's heading if I want to catch up."

She shakes her head "It was just your average sig sauer." Plus at this point, two years later she doubted the gun would still be there. Kat figured that someone had broken into the safe in her room, and even if they hadn't, she wasn't desperate enough to venture into Atlanta to find the hotel. She finished helping him block the windows and nods. "It's probably be a good idea to search the other houses, stash everything here." She mused as she headed for the stairs. The flight of stairs took Kat twice as long as they should've, her side was just aching by the time she reached the top.

Taking a shuddering breath she headed for the stairs to go upstairs. "I probably should get all the blankets out of the bathroom." She chuckled softly. Now that she wasn't alone, she wouldn't need to barricade herself in the bathroom for protection. Finally making it to the top of the second flight, by now she was pressing a hand into her side and had to stop at the top to catch her breath, broken ribs were no fun.

"There might be a weapon in the safe in the master bedroom. I haven't had a chance to get it open yet and see." She said, glancing back at Daryl.