Day three, and writing this one was a wild, wild ride...you'll see in a bit. The prompt for the day is "hunt," and I hope you enjoy!
The weight of the crossbow felt good in her hands, her finger steady on the trigger, her gaze trained down the sights. She breathed slow and quiet, even her heart rate dropping softly as she focused on the deer up ahead. A doe, grazing in the clearing, lifting her head from the grass every now and then to listen. Nearly a whole day of tracking her meandering path, and she'd finally stopped. The sun was sinking lower and lower on the horizon; it was now or never.
Another deep, silent breath, gauge the wind, wait to feel the shot...
One slight squeeze of the trigger, and the bolt flew soundlessly from the bow, striking the doe just behind the shoulder, piercing the lungs. The animal staggered, thin legs buckling and folding, and she crashed to the ground, twitching a moment before going still.
Beth lowered the bow, her arms tired from holding it aloft so long but feeling elated. She grinned and turned to Daryl, standing a few paces behind her and watching her every move. "Did you see that?" she asked excitedly. "I did it!"
He nodded slowly, smiling back. "'Bout time, too," he said. "Left it much longer, we'd'a lost her in the dark."
"Buzz kill," she chided. "That was a perfect shot, and you know it."
"We'll see about that. C'mon, Greene, got more work to do before we celebrate."
They stepped from the cover of the trees to the fallen deer. Maybe it wasn't a perfect shot, but it was damn close. Enough for a clean, humane kill, something Beth had hoped for but honestly didn't expect for her first. She'd been nervous and eager when Daryl told her she was taking point on this hunt, and she knew it wasn't a big deal if she had to fall back on him, but she was hell-bent on getting everything right on her own. And he was sparse with his praise, but he wasn't fooling her for a second. He was proud of her.
"Gotta dress it quick, while we still have light," he told her. "You got your knife ready?"
She nodded, handing him the bow back and kneeling at the deer's belly. She drew her knife, steadied her grip, and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"Right, now, turn it on its back..."
While Beth had grown up on a farm and seen her share of animals butchered for meat, she'd never actually done it herself. And while she had a strong stomach, field dressing the doe was hot, sticky, messy work. Daryl talked her through it patiently, offering advice when necessary and not commenting when she successfully removed the entrails but had to stop to be sick immediately after. Once she finished gutting it, he helped her hang it from a tree to let it drain and they paused only long enough to build a fire pit and get a blaze going before they got to work skinning the deer and harvesting the meat.
Beth was putting strips of meat close enough to the fire to dry in the heat when she felt Daryl tap her on the shoulder. She turned and looked up at him where he stood behind her, looking down at her with a thoughtful expression. "What?" she asked.
Wordlessly, he lifted a still-bloody hand to her face and ran his finger down the bridge of her nose. She almost drew away in surprise but he was serious enough that she held still, watching him. He traced lines over both of her eyes down onto her cheeks, and paused in consideration before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead.
She kept watching him after he stepped away, feeling the blood smears drying on her face, her curiosity piqued. "What was that?"
"Blood of your first kill," he told her. "You're a hunter now."
He said it with such solemnity, such pride, that for a moment she was at a loss for words. Her heart swelled with gratitude and joy and when she found her voice again, all she could say was, "Thank you for teaching me, Daryl."
He gave his usual one-shoulder shrug and said, "Wasn't nothing. The more you know, the easier for both of us."
"It's something."
It took him a second to meet her eyes again, but he nodded when he did. "You did real good, Beth. There's just one more thing..."
For a second she was too lost in his words of praise to register what he was doing until he held his hand out to her, offering her something wrapped in the rag he kept in his pocket. She took it carefully and almost dropped it in shock, making a noise of disgust.
It was the doe's heart.
"Eat up," he told her. "The whole thing."
She looked up at him, flabbergasted. "You're not serious," she said, hoping against hope he wasn't.
"You a hunter or not?"
She looked back and forth between him and the heart, hesitating. He watched her expectantly and she felt her stomach shift uncomfortably as she tried to gather up her courage, taking a deep breath and lifting the heart towards her mouth-
"Holy shit, Beth!" He started laughing, looking disbelieving and impressed, taking the heart back from her. "You were actually gonna do it!"
"Well, yeah," she said, feeling defensive and vastly relieved. "I mean, I've heard you have to do that when it's your first kill..."
"Everyone's heard it," he replied, "thing is, you don't have to do shit." He met her eyes again and chuckled. "Christ, the look on your face, girl..."
She couldn't help but laugh with him, trying to picture it. Covered in dirt and sweat, hair falling from her ponytail and blowing this way and that, up to her elbows in blood and streaks of it across her face, clutching a deer heart in her hand. It sounded like a witch in a Brothers Grimm story, if not for the utter shock she knew must have been all over her face. "A real warrior, right?" she asked ironically.
"Like some wild woman," he told her, and something in the way he said it got something warm stirring low in her belly. It had gotten that way with him a lot lately. He put the heart with the meat to be cooked right away and added, "Tradition or not, meat's meat. It eats the same as the rest." He dusted his hands off after a moment, saying, "That creek we passed earlier is still in earshot. I'm gonna go wash up, then it's your turn. Figured I could watch the fire, you wanted to take your time."
She nodded gratefully. It had been long enough since they bathed before carving up a deer, and she felt, well, gross.
He turned and headed off into the gloom and she gave a start. "Wait! You're not taking your bow?"
"That stays with you," he replied. "You're keeping watch, Greene. You need me, just holler."
She nodded and watched him disappear into the dark, glad for the chance to do so when he wasn't likely to catch her and that warmth in her belly getting more insistent than ever.
If someone had asked her a few weeks ago, she would have said she didn't dare have a crush on Daryl Dixon. He was intimidating and standoffish upon first meeting him, and that didn't change much the longer you were acquainted with him. Being out here with him since the prison fell, depending on each other for survival, had gone a long way toward changing her tune. Getting drunk on scavenged moonshine and burning down their shelter in the middle of the night had done the rest. He'd let down his walls that night and didn't bother putting them back up, and she grew to know him in a way she hadn't dreamed of back at the prison. There was trust and respect between them, forming the grounds of the friendship they had developed in such a short time. And being in such close proximity twenty-four seven, she had started to feel...other things.
She might have blamed it on biology, falling back on her more primal instincts while they were in survival mode. It might have been that they were interacting regularly now; who was to say it wouldn't have happened at the prison if they had more to do with each other? And then again, it might have been that she was finally getting a glimpse of the real Daryl. Either way, it added up to her watching him when he wasn't looking, thinking about him as more than part of the group, feeling instincts she'd only ever been half aware of blaze to life with an intensity that almost frightened her.
She might not have had a crush on him before, but she sure as hell was hot for him lately.
She sat by the fire with his bow, listening to the woods around her but her mind tumbling down a rabbit hole of daydreams and fantasies that left her breathless and fidgeting. It had been almost impossible to focus on the hunt with him standing so close and her imagination conjuring visions of him wrapping his arms around her, the crossbow falling from her hands, the two of them folding to the ground, tugging restlessly at clothes, searching frantically for skin...
His reappearance at the fire startled her, she'd been so lost in her fantasy, but she tried to hide it, turning her jolt of surprise into a stretch and a yawn. "Back already?" she asked, keeping her voice casual.
He took the bow from her and she looked him over. It was hard to tell in the firelight, but the dirt and blood was definitely gone. His clothes clung to him in a way that suggested he'd washed them with the intent of wearing them dry, and water still dripped from his dark hair. "You're up," he said. "Stay alert, keep your knife handy, and if something comes up on you, yell for me. Don't care if you're dressed or not, ain't got time for being shy if you're in any kind of trouble. 'Kay?"
She nodded, getting to her feet. "Same goes for you," she told him. "If you get in any trouble..."
He nodded back, and she was glad to see he was taking her seriously. "You'll be the first to know."
She set off into the trees, following the sound of flowing water. She had all but lost sight of their fire by the time she reached the creek, but she kept in mind what Daryl said about still being in earshot. She felt better knowing they could still get to each other if something came up.
The water was frigid, but it felt perfect in the hot weather. She stripped as quickly as she could, scrubbing her clothes in the dark and crouching down at the creek bank to wash her body. She had to scrub at the blood with handfuls of sand that left her skin feeling extra sensitive and took ages to rinse out of her clothes, but she was finally clean.
She reached for her clothes when she was done, then hesitated. The air felt heavy and humid and her clothes wouldn't help any once she put them on, given how damp they were, and did she have to rush back anyway? Daryl had considered she might want to linger and planned accordingly, so he probably didn't expect her in a hurry...the woods were quiet, no shuffling or growling to tell her there was anything out with her she should beware of... And besides, she'd spent the better part of the day hot, needy, and wet for the man now sitting at a reasonable distance to give her a little privacy.
Might need to do something about that.
She spread her clothes out on the ground in lieu of sitting on the grass, her heart already beating a little faster in excitement. It seemed the height of stupidity to sit naked in the dark touching herself when anyone and anything could come up on her and catch her unawares, but the idea was too much to resist. And she couldn't deny that having Daryl so close by while she did what she was thinking of doing wound her up even more. She'd have to be quiet, though. She didn't want her noise to draw walkers, and she definitely didn't want Daryl to know what she was doing.
She stretched out carefully, laying back on her clothes with her knees bent, legs angled apart. She relaxed into the ground as she reached down to her vagina, fingers dipping between her outer lips to the smooth, slippery folds behind. She was so wet and her clit so sensitive when she brushed across it that it wouldn't take long to finish. She could be done in a few short moments. But she thought about Daryl, seeing that look of pride in his eyes and feeling his hands over her face again, and she wanted to take her time.
She circled her clit slowly, imagining his hands where hers were. Those strong, capable fingers teasing and stroking while his free hand roamed her body...she moved her hand across her skin, feeling goosebumps arise and provoking a shiver...until he came to her breast, fitting it into his palm with a gentle squeeze...cupping a breast in her hand, she swept her thumb across the
swell before, feeling naughty, she pinched her nipple between her fingers.
The sensation rippled through her body straight to her clit and she gasped softly, pinching a little harder and circling a little faster. The Daryl in her mind was kissing her neck while his hands explored her body, taking in her warm skin before sliding his fingers inside her, still playing with her clit-
She bit her lip to hold back her moan at the feeling of her slim fingers reaching into her body, her inner muscles tense and swollen around them. If Daryl was out here with her, she'd let him do this, let him sink his thick fingers into her, pumping in and out and hitting that nerve inside her body while he stroked her clit, hitting both at once and driving her higher and higher. She rolled her hips upward, her body chasing the sensations, her imagination picturing that proud look again, him leaning down to her and murmuring in her ear You're doing real good, Beth...
A noise escaped her, coming out as a loud squeak past her efforts to stay quiet. There was a rustle in the distance, and the real Daryl called softly to her, "Hey, Beth, you finished yet?"
She almost burst out laughing, holding herself back at the last moment and restraining it to a wild giggle. "Almost," she replied, a giddy, wicked feeling stealing over her. Maybe...maybe he should hear her, if only a little, just enough to have him guessing...
The interruption had stalled her momentum but it didn't take long to get back on track, breathing a little heavier, sighing a little louder. She was lost in her mind, imagining him leaving the fire and coming down to where she lay, watching her, encouraging her, good girl, you're doing so good, keep going, and she whimpered softly as she started thrusting her fingers again, her body clamping down rhythmically while she worked her clit a bit more urgently. That's it, Beth, like that, you've got it...
Her back arched off the ground, and God, she was so close but not there yet...he was still watching her, still praising her, still touching her, his fingers hitting all the right spots...she was so wet her fingers made little squelching sounds as she moved them in and out, and fuck, it sounded so dirty...he could drink her if he wanted to, and what might that feel like, his mouth and tongue on her, lapping up how wet she was for him...
She let out a quiet moan, I wanna hear you, girl, wanna hear how good it feels, and goddamn, she wanted it, she wanted him, his cock buried in her, thrusting harder and faster, fucking her senseless right here in the middle of the woods, and she was just, oh my god Daryl, she was so close...
Come on, be a good girl, come on my fucking cock...
Something in her seemed to explode, ecstasy bursting through her in shock waves, and she couldn't have held in her moans and whimpers even if she wanted to, wondering how much he could hear, what he was thinking while he listened to her, if she was having the same effect on him that he was having on her.
She finally let up, hands going still and her body limp for a few minutes before she roused herself to move. She washed again before brushing the grass off her clothes, getting dressed and feeling content and satisfied and looking forward to seeing the look on his face when she got back to him. Though as she retraced her steps, she realized again just how far away she was. Maybe he didn't hear anything after all...
He was sitting by the fire, very tense and still, and it only took one look at him to know that yeah, he'd heard everything. He glanced up as she approached and quickly looked away again when their eyes met, and she was willing to bet he was blushing scarlet.
"I finished," she announced innocently.
He jolted visibly, shifting where he sat and clearing his throat. "Yeah, uh...yeah," he replied. "That's...that's great."
She tilted her head to the side, watching him. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, sure, it's all-it's fine," he replied hurriedly, still not looking at her. He shuffled around agitatedly, then shot to his feet, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. "I'm gonna have a look around, make sure there's no walkers or nothing out there."
"Sure thing," she replied as he stepped past her. "Take care of yourself out there."
He froze for a moment, then walked away without another word.
She listened to his footsteps fade away and smiled to herself, wondering how long he was going to take out there. Because he wasn't fooling her, not for one second. But that was okay.
It gave her something to imagine next time.
Leave me some love!