"Hold out your arm." A woman said as he sat at the mouth of the tube that would send him into the games.

"Why?"

"Just hold out your arm."

Daryl did as he was told, as he held it out a large needle was implanted into his forearm. What he didn't know was it was a tracker. He stepped into the tube and soon sunlight invaded his vision.

As the countdown grew closer to one, Daryl was still trying to decide between the cornucopia or just heading for the woods. He was looking for Cyndie as well, she was on the opposite end of the cornucopia and he badly just wanted to call for her. Tell her to run, he knew everyone was watching and waiting between the capital and the districts.

He wondered if his father had bet on him dying early on.

He could see a bow deep inside the cornucopia which he knew would be stupid to do, running inside and trapping himself. However there were a multitude of backpacks that he could run past pick up and go. If he was smart about it he could hide out till everyone scattered and then he could go inside it. He wanted to pick Andrea up some throwing knives and Cyndie a trident. He looked between the others, Andrea was looking towards the woods behind them and all he could do was sigh in thanks she didn't want to go straight for the cornucopia. There were plenty of weapons, but other people were faster than herself. Others were also better with their weapons.

At the siren that meant it was a go Daryl took off straight towards the middle, it was a fifty fifty shot between kids who took off in the opposite direction and others who entered into the cornucopia. Daryl looked up to see Shane had already grabbed a pack and found a weapon. He groaned as Shane spotted him and took off towards him. Daryl reacted quickly, he grabbed a pack and rolled as Shane made an attempt to throw the sword at his legs. He scrambled to his feet and grabbed a second pack and then took off towards the dense forest. Three cannons had gone off to allow the group to know that three were already dead. Daryl was just curious to see how had already managed to be killed off.

He kept racing through the dense woods, he could hear someone behind him and he was almost sure it was Shane. Daryl noticed a dip in the ground and planned to use it to his advantage. He dropped, as he hit the floor he scrambled behind a large rock and opened his packs as he heard whoever it was still chasing behind him. He pulled out a small knife and waited until the footsteps sounded closer. He popped up from behind the rock holding his knife up in defense only to see instead of Shane it was Lori, his district mate.

"You're not Shane." They both said at the same time.

Shane had taken off after Daryl but turned back to the cornucopia. Lori began to slowly back up as Daryl froze watching her from his spot. He cocked his head realizing she was empty handed. No weapon, no food, not even a pack.

"He is going to just drop you the moment he games start to get tough, you don't even have a weapon what the hell were you thinking."

"He told me he was going to grab me some." Lori replied, still slowly backing up. Daryl inched from behind the rock, his knife still up in defense if someone was coming out from the woods he couldn't see.

"Run," Daryl snapped as he raised the knife to throw, she looked at him and then began to run. Daryl didn't plan to hit her, but he needed to scare her. He chucked the knife and it embedded itself into a tree beside her head. She screamed and took off back towards the starting point. Daryl shook his head and raced off into the woods, he needed to find Cyndie and Andrea but if they took off into the woods they were in different locations.

Daryl examined the area before climbing up a tree to see if he could see back to the cornucopia. He wanted to go back, but he needed to make sure he wasn't walking into a slaughter.

Peering out from the tree branches he couldn't see anything so he slowly made his way back down the tree and headed towards their starting point once more.

Holding up the throwing knives with one pack stuffed in the other he slowly made his way through.

It was clear no one wanted to be in the middle at the moment, and he was glad he had the place to himself. He rushed to the large building, he sighed in thanks seeing his bow was still there. He dropped the packs and put on the bow and quiver making sure to grab each arrow he could see throughout the entire building. He then began to collect food and water bottles before spotting a trident.

He grabbed it and hooked it to his belt before collecting some knives and took off. As he walked through the center, he noticed the bodies laying on the floor. He gulped seeing their bodies crumpled, he was surprised they hadn't come to pick them up yet. It was the boy tribute from three Eugene, the girl from six Oliva, and then the girl from 9 Amy.

He shook his head as he raced off into the depths of the forest, he knew it wasn't going to be easy surviving this but he was determined to live through it and keep Cyndie and Andrea alive.

He held his bow in his hand and began to make his way towards a river, he knew that at least with Cyndie she would head towards water. His eyes widened at the realization of her possibly making it to the lake that Negan had warned him not to enter. He was still confused as to why but he didn't want to learn by finding Cyndie dead in it.

He continued to race forward to see if he could find a river that would lead to the lake. That was when he heard a scream, he looked towards the direction of it. He slowed and lowered himself to hide while nocking his bow just in case. Another scream rose, it was feminine, Daryl continued to hold his bow up as three people raced past him.

Sasha, the fourteen year old from district seven. Her brother Tyreese who was chasing behind the girl who was attempting to slash at Sasha. Daryl kept his bow up and took his shot. The arrow spun in the air as it grazed past Tyreese and struck the girl chasing Sasha in the back. She hit the ground with a thud, Daryl nocked his bow once again and walked towards the three of them. Tyreese pushed Sasha behind him as Daryl let the second arrow go hitting Jadis right in the skull. Daryl looked to Tyreese and Sasha before the two began to step back slowly.

Daryl quickly nocked another arrow and held it up as he stepped back. "Just don't kill her." Tyreese begged keeping the child behind him.

"If either of you die, it won't be my hand who did it." Daryl remarked as he continued to step back keeping his eyes on Tyreese. "She's just a child, you're jus' protecting your sister. I did you a favor killing Jadis now. I expect you to remember that when the time comes, if it comes."

Tyreese just nodded and took Sasha's hand before the two ran off. Daryl waited till they were no longer in his eyeline and took off to try and find Cyndie or Andrea before anything happened to them.

Everyone back in the districts were amazed to watch Daryl give up three possible kills in a day, he had let Lori go while he had thrown his knife at her many believe he missed on purpose. District seven was thankful Daryl had allowed Tyreese and Sasha to run, and that he had saved Sasha's life. He didn't have to do it, but he did and let them free.

Caesar was hyping his kill up, expressing how surprised he was that the bow kill was so smooth and fast, the viewers were also amazed to see he was so well decorated with weapons, food, and water. However there were questions as to why he had a trident, but soon everyone would come to find why he had taken so many supplies and weapons he clearly didn't need to use.