They had been walking for days since losing the little cottage on the lakefront that that they had been settled in for the last two months. Her brother and husband would go on ahead and scout if things were safe, then the rest of their family would bring up the rear behind them. Sometimes they had to wait wait a long while before Jim and Tyronne came back so they would take cover often in an abandoned building. It was her job to find a good hidden vantage point and watch the surrounding area to ensure everything was secure.
It was on one of these times waiting that she first saw the man with the crossbow. He had been obviously trying to hunt down something to eat, walking stealthily through the woods. Even though she was quite far above him she knew by the way he was walking that there was no way she would be able to hear his footsteps even if he was right beside her. There was a gracefulness about him that was invigorating to see and attractive to her.
The arrow flew from the crossbow in his hands hitting the target dead on. She hadn't even seen the rabbit before he hit it. A small smile crossed the man's features as he picked up the rabbit and pulled the arrow from it.
She heard the Biters coming a few seconds after he did. Her heart pounded as she watched the man swing around, quickly reloading his weapon. There were two of them stumbling into the little clearing and they had noticed the man moving. In fact, he seemed to be trying to attract them to him with his suddenly loud motions and footsteps. One of the biters had paused a moment and seemed to be looking up, sniffing like a dog.
"Hey!" the man shouted and as they Biter turned toward the sound it was rewarded with an arrow directly in the brain. She breathed out a huff of relief for the man, but tensed again as the other Biter was coming closer. That one he took down swiftly with a knife to the head, so efficiently in fact that she could see that he hadn't even gotten his hands dirty doing it. He kicked at the twice dead corpses for a moment to make sure they were no longer a danger.
Then suddenly he looked up and whistled loudly-two short notes and one long one. He walked over to a tree that reached into the edge of the clearing.
She gasped as two pink running shoes attached to chubby little legs suddenly swung down from a branch in the tree. The man swung his crossbow over his shoulder and reached up to the little blonde girl who's pony tail bobbed in the sunshine. She giggled at him as he heaved her up above his head playfully. "There's my firefly" he grinned as he kissed the little girl's belly as he lowered her down into his arms.
"Did I do good Daddy?" the little girl looked up as she held his cheeks in her two tiny hands.
Her daddy nuzzled his nose against hers "You did perfect. Your Mama will be proud of you too and we can show her we got her dinner."
"And can I give baby Hershel some of the rabbit too?" Her daddy had set her down on the ground "Now that I'm gonna be 4 Mama said I can help with the baby."
He looked down at the sincere little face "Your brother's too little for that still, Firefly, that's why Mama has to stay with him at home, because she is the only one who can feed him right now."
"But you always call him "big man". How come you do that when he's not big?"
"That's just a name I like to call him, because I love him. Just like I call you my firefly—you aren't really a firefly are you?" he teased, pulling on the pony tail.
The girl's face scrunched at this for a moment in thought. "Does that mean Mama's not really a princess?"
They began to walk hand in hand out of the clearing and out of her range of hearing. "Your mama will always be my princess, my Princess Beth."
They disappeared into the trees. The woman in the house watched them go, a smile on her face, suddenly very hopeful for the first time in a long time.