— NATE DIDN'T GET AN INCH of sleep throughout the night, not whilst he was surrounded by men he wouldn't even trust with an article of his clothing; throughout the entirety of the night, he sat against a tree with his hands tightly on his crossbow, keeping his eyes peeled on the men sleeping around him, ready for in case any of them decided to pounce on him and his brother and try to kill them while they sleep. Daryl slept throughout the whole night, not knowing that Nate had stayed up too keep watch, but just because the older Dixon didn't believe that the group would kill them in their sleep, it didn't mean that Nate believed that, too. This group didn't work in the same way that their old group did, they didn't strike Nate as people whom cared about one another, and it was a dangerous business to be near. Hours felt like days as he sat up on guard to protect him and Daryl in case they attacked, and throughout the whole time in doing so, Zoe riddled his thoughts, Nate unable to rid her face — it was like torture, imagining the girl he loved, but being unable to even touch her. Because she wasn't there, and it was messing with his head.

It was only when the morning sky began to seep into the tree lines, did the girls face slowly begin to fade away, the younger Dixon nudging just older brother to indicate that it was finally time to get up and start hunting to get some breakfast; Daryl and peeled open his eyes slowly, forgetting for just a second where exactly they were and whom was around them, before he remembered, eventually sitting up and getting a good look at their surroundings. It wasn't the most ideal situation to be in, but it was better to have a group of them in case a group of walkers attacked them; Daryl slowly got up with his crossbow to make sure he didn't wake any of the guys up, and Nate followed suit, going to grab their bags, only for Daryl to shake his head at him. Nate didn't trust the group at all, especially not with their bags, but they couldn't argue right now, not without the risk of waking the rest of the group up.. The second the two brothers were out of earshot of the sleeping group, Daryl spoke up quietly. "Did you even sleep?" He asked, noticing the large bags under his younger brothers eyes from the lack of sleep.

"No." Nate answered, keeping his eyes peeled around at their surroundings, like they had been doing all night long. When he finally looked back at his brother, he saw the older man giving him a look, which Nate rolled his eyes at, "What do you want me to do, man? I don't trust these guys." He said, shaking his head at the man's look directed at him.

Daryl sighed at his brothers words, annoyed that he didn't get any sleep for today and the energy they needed; they didn't know what was going to happen today, and they both needed to be prepared for anything. "I don't trust them either, brother. But we don't have a choice, safety in numbers until we find our group. If they're even out there anymore." Daryl said, knowing now, that without Beth, he hardly had any hope it finding any of their family again.

"Don't say that, not now." Nate instantly told him, not wanting to get into mindset, especially since Beth had tried so hard to get his hope back, by giving him the ring. He couldn't let Daryl change it all again, since he was finally hopeful that they will be able to find their family again. For days, he had been lost with the feeling that he was never going to see Zoe again, and it was ripping him apart, but with Beth's words of wisdom, he really opened his eyes about the fact that he could see them all again one day, if he fought for it. "They're out there. They have to be." He added, when they finally came to a small clearing.

Daryl didn't say anything back to Nate, knowing that he would just upset him, and with his emotions everywhere at the moment, he could get angry and ruin the peace with the others — he lowered down to the ground as Nate sat with his back to the tree behind him, hoping to get some sleep in before the morning fully came. Daryl sighed as he watched his brother slowly drift off, feeling a lot safer away from the other men and just with him; he didn't know what to do about the whole situation, but he knew one thing, and that was that they were never going to see their family again.

Nate had successfully fallen asleep whilst Daryl sat and waited for any animals to come into view so he could catch it; occasionally, he would glance over at his brother as he slept, and notice how he had a frown on his face even in his sleep, and that sight alone, upset him greatly, as he was battling his own demons. So he focused on the hunt in front of him, and for a few hours, he let Nate sleep, before finally setting eyes on a rabbit walking a few feet away, having not yet noticed the two men behind it — he shot the bow perfectly after a few seconds, the arrow hitting the rabbit straight in the stomach, but seeing another arrow shoot through the rabbits neck just before his had even hit. Daryl shout up, turning around to see the man that neither he or Nate liked, smiling at him with a weird look on his face, "What the hell are you doing?" He asked, giving the man a glare as he stood up.

"Catching me some breakfast." The man revealed, Nate slowly stirring in his sleep at the voices and slowly peeling open his eyes to see the man he despised, standing to the side of them and staring down Daryl with a look he didn't like at all. He stood up instantly, gaining the attention from the man who merely smiled at him, knowing that Nate didn't like him, but not caring in the slightest, as he just wanted the rabbit that he claimed.

"That's ours." Daryl told him, waving his hand to dismiss the man, walking back over to the rabbit in order to take out his arrow and hand it to Nate, ready to be cooked for their breakfast.

"My arrow's the one that hit first." The man retorted, knowing the rules and knowing that he had claimed it, hitting it before Daryl even got the chance to. But Nate didn't like that, he glared the man down, having sensed something off with the man since he first set eyes on him, and he didn't appreciate the man trying to take their breakfast, when they had been out here for hours. "Cottontail belongs to me." He added, watching as Daryl bent down to pick up the rabbit, pulling out his arrow and throwing the man's arrow to the side, not caring about it.

"We've been out here since the sun came up. That shit ain't yours." Nate spoke up, feeling sleepy as he had just woken up from a few hours nap, but sticking up for his brother since he had been the one to sit up for hours and catch this rabbit whilst he had a small nap to get his energy back.

"I saw you sleeping when I first got 'ere. Nothin' is yours." The man retorted, looking like he was squaring up with Nate for opening his mouth where it don't belong. "You see, the rules of the hunt, don't mean jack out here. Now, that rabbit you're holding, is claimed, boy." He carried on speaking up, watching as Daryl held the rabbit in his hands, Nate standing in front of his brother to the side, glaring at the man trying to claim what is theirs. "Claimed, wether you two like it or not. So if I were you, I'd hand it over. Now, before you get to wishing you two ain't even got out of bed this morning." He said, as Daryl began walking closer with Nate by his side, never leaving it.

"It ain't yours." Daryl snapped, finally getting in his face, knowing that there was no way he could take both him and Nate on, that, and they were much larger than he was.

"You know, I'll bet this bitch got you all messed up, hmm?" The man directed at Nate, having noticed that the man had been more hostile than Daryl since the first moment they all met, and he didn't like him one bit. Even Daryl didn't like the man's words about a girl messing up Nate's head, and he knew that it wasn't going to end well for him, "Am I right? Got you walking around here like a dead man who just lost himself a piece of tail." The man carried on, as Daryl tried to push Nate away from him and back to camp to cook their rabbit, but Nate didn't want any part of it, he didn't like this man's words, and he didn't even like the fact that he was thinking of Zoe unintentionally. He would kill him and rip out his tongue just for mentioning a girl in his life. "Must have a good'un. Tell me something. Was it one of the little'uns?" He asked, when Nate stopped Daryl from moving him any further — unknowingly to the two of them, the man actually knew Zoe, having met her before, just a few days ago.. "Maybe with some blonde hair.. Tiny girl.. Bad luck, since they don't last too long out here." He said, smiling when he realised that he was getting on Nate's nerves, and angering him to no end.

Nate's hand was already on his knife in his belt when the man spoke those last words about the girl being blonde and small and not being able to survive out here alone; he didn't know if Zoe was alone, or with anyone else from their group, but the fact that he was even saying something like this, was getting under his skin. Within a few seconds, Nate pushed Daryl to the side and pulled out his knife, ready to plunge it in the man's neck and cut his tongue out, seeing nothing but red, when a hand reached out to grab his arm, "Easy, fellas, easy." The leader, Joe spoke up, having seen the encounter a few meters away and wanting to prevent a fight, because he knew for a fact that Nate would easily kill his friend. "Let's put our weapons down." He said, as Nate yanked his arm away, Daryl glaring at both of the men, having gotten ready to defend Nate in fighting this asshole.
Normally, Daryl was the one that was civil, never really truly wanting to start an argument; it had always been that way, even since they were younger, Nate and Merle had always been the angrier of the trio, and it still was that way.. But right now, Daryl was all for beating this man to a pulp for his words and trying to take their rabbit from them. "Let's see if we can figure out what's really the problem here, huh?" Joe carried on, noticing how Daryl was getting angry, now. Nate and Daryl had never claimed they were brothers to the rest of the group, but all of the men couldn't push aside the fact that they looked and acted very similarly, they just had to be related in some way..

When Joe asked if the man had claimed the rabbit, he instantly nodded, claiming that he had, when in reality, Daryl had been hunting the rabbit much longer than he had been. "You didn't claim shit. Daryl hunted it. It's his." Nate snapped at the so called 'leader'. In his eyes, Joe was far from a leader, he wasn't like Rick, and he wished he was.

"Len claimed it. The critter belongs to him." Joe said calmly, as the Dixon brothers still didn't give up the rabbit, glaring at the two men in front of them; they would have killed them both already, but if they did that, then they had the rest of the group after them, too.

"So let's have it." Len spoke up, acting all mighty now that he had Joe on his side, he knew that Daryl and Nate had no chance against the whole group.

"Looks like you two may be wanting an explanation." Joe spoke up again, when Daryl and Nate didn't make a move to hand over their rabbit, "See, going it alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fittest. That's a paradox right there. So I laid out some rules of the road to keep things from going Darwin every couple hours. Keep our merry band together and stress-free. All you got to do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey, your bed at night. One word, claimed." Joe explained the rules, Nate pulling a face at how stupid the whole thing sounded. He knew that none of these men truly care for each other, and the rules that Joe had just told them, proved that.

"We ain't claiming nothing." Daryl finally answered, answering for Nate, too, as he knew that his brother thought this whole thing was ridiculous, too.

This didn't sit well with Len, whom stepped forwards and closer to Nate, who squared up again, ready for an attack, "We're gonna teach them, right?" He asked Joe, knowing that he wanted nothing but to teach the newbies how things were run around here. "The rules say we got to teach them." Len added, not liking how Joe wasn't saying anything back to him.

"You can try." Nate snarled, his eye twitching in anger as he wished he and Daryl had never gotten involved in this group in the first place. With Daryl agreeing with Nate, Joe stepped in again, holding his hand up as he didn't want a fight to break out.

"Let's calm down, boys." Joe said, before looking back at Len, "It wouldn't be fair to punish them for violating a rule they never even knew existed." He said, as Len shook his head in disagreement, walking away slightly to try and calm himself down, even when Nate and Daryl knew he couldn't do anything.

"There ain't no rules no more." Daryl spoke up, one hundred percent agreeing with Nate that this whole thing was ridiculous..

"Oh, there are. You know that." Joe said, knowing that the two men knew that things couldn't run without some rules making sure everything went by smoothly. "That's why I didn't kill you both for that crossbow you have there, Daryl." He added, noticing how the two of them were focused on Len, too much that they hadn't noticed Joe reaching for the rabbit, Daryl trying to pull it away, but Joe claiming that he didn't want to take it. "Easy there, partner." He said, holding the rabbit up to the tree and cutting it in half with his axe, making it so the three men halved it; he threw the other half at Len, who didn't look happy in the slightest, along with Nate and Daryl, whom were frowning.
But Len knew that there was no point arguing, and he had just gotten half of a rabbit he didn't even hunt, so in the end, he won. "All you gotta say is claimed. That's it." Joe said, as Nate glared at Len walking away, wanting nothing but to turn his lights out. "Hey, ass end is still an end." Joe added, before finally leaving the Dixon's on their own, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

Nate turned to Daryl, "Still thinking that staying here is a good idea?" He asked, knowing that he had been right in the first place, this group was a bad idea, and he had called it from the beginning..



Back on the train tracks again, Nate was sticking to himself, away from Daryl and at the back of the group, not wanting to talk to anyone as he hated them all, and he was angry at Daryl for making them join these men when they could've made it on their own; trying to leave the group now, wasn't the best option, as they knew the men would all come after them for leaving — it was more dangerous than staying with them, and they had no choice. As they all walked onwards, he listened into Joe talking to Daryl about how he and Nate were apart of their group until they decided not to be, and that they had to follow the rules or they would get punished for it, it was as simple as that; Nate wasn't happy at all with the situation they had gotten themselves in, but in order to get to Zoe, he would do anything, and if staying with this messed up group was the way to go, then he was going to have to do it, with no questions asked.
Inside of an abandoned car lot, the rest of the group began claiming all types of cars and trucks to sleep in, yet Nate and Daryl didn't want to do that, so they kept quiet, making a small area in the corner of the room to sleep in; but Nate knew that he wasn't going to sleep knowing that they could easily attack whilst they slept.

He sat against the wall, looking around at the rest of the men with a glare, hating how he and Daryl were stuck in this situation, and hating how they couldn't get out of it without risking a huge fight breaking out; they were truly trapped in this group, and there was no way they could be able ti get out of here alive, even if they tried their hardest. As he was keeping his eye out, he saw Len stand up after opening up his bag and looking angry as hell, instantly looking over at him and his brother. "Daryl." Nate spoke up lowly, gaining his brothers attention as he motioned his head towards their enemy walking towards them both, ready for War. Now, Nate couldn't understand what this man wanted now, since he had won the argument with the rabbit, and there was nothing else he could possibly need from them.

Nate didn't waste any time in standing up to defend himself and his brother, watching as Len stormed over with an angry look on his face, "Give it here." Len said, holding his hand out as he waited for Nate and Daryl to hand over whatever he believed they had taken from him.

Nate was the first to step up, having waited for a reason to hit this asshole for the way he had acted towards them both, "You best stay away from us." He warned, hearing Daryl stand up behind him, ready to defend his brother and their dignity.

"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone." Len accused, Daryl now standing besides Nate, ready. Nate couldn't understand how Len could think that they took anything; there was one moment where the brothers had gone outside to piss, each of them keeping guard whilst doing so, to prevent being attacked during it, so Nate suspected that Len had done something whilst they left; meaning that he was right about not wanting to leave their bags unattended. "Now, ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you two. Ain't that right?" Len carried on, the rest of the group looking up at the three men that seemed to be squaring up for a fight.

"You're the only one still thinking about that crap." Daryl spoke up, waving his hand in annoyance that the guy won't give up with the stupid rabbit half he got, still bitter that he hadn't won the fight against them both.

"Empty your bag." Len warned, stepping towards to take Nate's bag, when the guy in question stepped forwards again, stopping him.

"I said, stay away." Nate snapped, taller and bigger built than this man, both of them knowing that Nate could win in a fight if it did happen; the only reason Nate hadn't done so already, was because he couldn't risk the rest of the group joining in, he wasn't that strong, and neither was Daryl. His older brother grabbed the bag and held it away from Len, knowing that he was setting them up.

Joe came over and snatched the bag away from Daryl, Nate still not taking his eyes off of Len, just wanting the opportunity to hit him, to let his anger out.. "Did you take his rabbit, Nate? Daryl?" Joe asked, knowing that he had to ask both parties about what was happening, and right now, Len wasn't looking so good. "Just tell me the truth." He said, as he just wanted to get this over and done with.

"We didn't take nothing." Daryl answered for them both, always being the spokesmen for him and his brother, whilst Nate was basically the muscle. As Joe began spilling out Nate's belongings from the bag, the guy never took his eyes off of Len, who was glaring right back at him, but when a half of a rabbit fell out of the bag, the exact rabbit that Len was talking about, Nate scoffed in disbelief, a smile forming on his face as he realised what Len had done here.

"You put that rabbit in there, didn't you?" Nate asked, pointing to the bag that was now on the floor, "When I went out to take a piss, you planted that in my bag." He accused, getting angrier by the second at the cowardice of this man.

"You're lying." Len said, stepping forwards into Nate's personal space. Nate didn't waste any time in shoving the man back, maybe too hard, as he stumbled away, having not yet realised the man's strength. "You lied. You stole." Len retorted, pressing his finger into Nate's chest as Daryl was next to shove hun away, not liking how he was so close to his brother. "We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?" He asked, turning to Joe when he realised that he couldn't take Nate and Daryl on with just himself.

Joe stood in between Len, Nate and Daryl, "Now, Nate and Daryl say they didn't take your half of the rabbit. Either they're lying, which is an actionable offence. Or.. You didn't plant it on them like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you?" He asked, laughing at how Len could be so stupid and ridiculous to try that against him and lie about it. "'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing." He said, not trusting Len in the slightest.

"It would." Len agreed, his words confirming to Joe that he was the one whom planted the rabbit in their bag, after all. "I didn't." He said.

"Mm-hmm." Joe hummed, nodding his head, making Len believe that he was winning, until he punched Len round the face, the man landing to the ground as Nate took a step back towards Daryl, watching the ordeal go down with a confused look on his face, not knowing why anyone would want to stay in this group. "Teach him a lesson gents." Joe told the other men of the group, whom he all been standing around and watching the whole thing go down. "He's a lying sack of shit. Been lying since his brother died, and I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way." He instructed, as the rest of the group instantly did what he ordered, beginning to beat Len to a pulp. "I saw him do it." Joe told Nate and Daryl, who had backed up a bit away from them all.

"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Daryl asked, not understanding why this man led the group the way he did.

"He wanted to play that out. I let him." Joe said, not caring how Daryl and Nate were looking down on him, because this is the way he did things around here, and it's the way they would have to get used to. "You two told the truth. He lied. You two understand the rules. He doesn't." He said, as Nate began to pack up his things — whilst he wanted to beat Len up, he didn't agree with the whole group going up against one man.. "Looks like you got the head, after all." Joe added, throwing the rabbit head Nate's way, the man catching it easily and shoving it into his bag, truly not even wanting it no more..

When he looked over at Daryl, they both knew that they were screwed, and they had to get out of this mess as soon as possible.