TWD – The Hunter And The Fawn
Chapter 2
The next morning they woke, ate, and packed up camp. Daryl opted to leave the strung up cans and bottles, not wanting to carry trash with them. It was just something else to carry and there were plenty of towns with trash. Daryl had a map and they traveled to a lake where they hoped to wash up and refill their water. There was a town near the lake and they made a plan to head there, hoping for shelter. As they walked Daryl would occasionally see animal tracks and they would vear off to follow them. Fawn was very good at following him, matching his footsteps and keeping quiet. She really had hunted before but he figured her father did the animal killing. They reached the town before dark and found most Walkers had moved on. There were a few left that they took care of. Fawn was getting better at dealing with them. The town was pretty ransacked but it wouldn't be a bad place to hold up for a few days. There was a decent car sitting in the body shop and between the two of them they could get it going. There was a house next to a general store that they decided to take refuge in. it had a small high fenced backyard that would hide their fire that night. After checking the house they went next door to the general store. They found some canned veggies in the store room and they were grateful but Fawn seemed more excited about the shampoo she had found. With the lake so close she was dying to scrub down and wash her hair. Daryl thought she was silly but he admitted he needed a bath as well.
"We'll go down after we drop this stuff off." He said.
"Wait we?"
"Well yer not goin' alone! I aint gonna watch." He said and of course she trusted him but there were those awkward times when their different genders made it so.
It was nice down at the water. The water was clear and starting to get warm with the coming summer.
"You go first." Daryl said as he turned his back to her, holding his crossbow staring into the woods.
Fawn stared at the back of his head for a moment but then quickly undressed. She grabbed the shampoo and hurried into the water. She shrieked quietly at how could it was but sunk down into the water incase Daryl turned around. She looked at him but he was still looking into the woods. Fawn dunked herself all the way, scrubbing her hair and scalp with her fingers letting her long brown hair flow around her. She sat where she could kneel and nearly poured half the shampoo into her palm. She lathered and scrubbed her head generously. She completely forgot Daryl was there. As Daryl stood there he began to realize how stupid it was for them to take turns. If Walkers came up while he was bathing Fawn had one shot with his bow. Opting for the more efficient way of doing things he set his bow down and undressed. He then ran into the water a few feet to Fawn's right. Of course she had looked up in time to see his bare white ass run past and disappear into the water. She sunk lower in the water, covering her chest with her arm.
"What are you doing!?" She asked when he resurfaced.
"Didn't make sense to go separate since you cant use my bow. Just ignore me." He said as he waded in the water.
"Then stop looking!"
"I can't see anythin'! God relax! It's not like I haven't seen lady parts before." He pointed out.
"That's not the point. We are not together so yer not allowed to look." She said.
"Didn't take you for a prude." He said and Fawn glared.
"I am not. A girl's gotta have morals right?" She said.
"Fair enough. Hey, gimmie that stuff. You done with it?" He said indicating the shampoo floating next to her. She grabbed it and threw it. He turned around and started washing himself. Fawn went under to rinse her hair. She ran her fingers through it, getting all the knots out. When she was done she waited for Daryl to finish. Daryl finished and threw the shampoo bottle to shore. He got out and Fawn looked away. He put on his pants till the rest of him dried.
"Come out whenever you want I'm not looking." He said.
Fawn got out but kept her chest covered. She knew he was right about them having seen the others parts before but she wanted to hold onto a little decency for a little while. She feared she was already falling for Daryl but her brain kept telling her not to get attatched. You didn't get attatched to people in those days. Fawn used one of her shirts to towel off. She planned to wash their clothes the next day and she had a spare set at the house. Fawn couldn't help looking at Daryl with only his pants on, haning a bit low on his waist showing a little snail trail hair. He was toned from hard work and constant activity. The perfect kind of muscle. She blushed and looked away.
"I'm dressed." She said.
"Great let's go eat." He said as he slipped on his boots.
Back at the house Fawn changed her clothes and joined Daryl in the kitchen where he was cleaning a rabbit he had caught. He still wasn't dressed.
"Maybe we can wash clothes tomorrow." Fawn suggested and he hummed in agreement.
Fawn found a pot for the veggies and pulled the grate from the stove to have something to cook over the fire with. After they ate they sat by the fire enjoying the rare sense of calm for a change. Daryl watched Fawn as she struggled with a few knots in her long hair. She had a men's hair comb, which wasn't ideal for combing girl's hair.
"Wouldn't chopping it off be easier?" Daryl suggested.
"This epidemic stole everything from me. I'd like to keep this last piece of normalcy. If that's alright?" She asked sourly.
He felt bad for upsetting her and nodded.
"You could tie it up, like yer bracelets." He suggested.
"I don't know how to braid my own hair."
"What kinda girl don't know how to braid her hair?"
"A girl that was raised by her father." She said.
"Com'er, I'll do it."
"You know how to braid hair!?" She asked in astonishment.
"A knot's a knot. You want it done or not?" He asked and she scurried over to sit in front of him on the grass.
He made a grabby motion for the comb and she handed it to him. He combed back her hair, gathering it at the nape of her neck and combed the ends until they were free of knots again. He was surprisingly gentle though she could tell he'd never combed a girl's hair before. He separated her hair into three equal pieces and started braiding. Her hair was past the middle of her back and he stopped at about the middle, leaving a tuff at the end. Since she didn't have a hair tie he ripped off a piece of his flannel shirt that was already ripped. He tied the fabric tightly around the hair in a knot that would not come undone easily.
"Done." He said and she scooted away a little turning toward him.
She felt her fingers down the braid and was impressed.
"Thank you." She said and he grunted with a twitch of his mouth.
"We got a busy day tomorrow. Let's get some sleep." He said and she nodded.
They opted for sleeping on the couches in the living room. They felt too weird sleeping along in a strangers house and they weren't to the point of sharing a bed yet.
"I'm not gonna find you on the roof in the morning am I?" Daryl joked as they lay in the dark.
"Ha ha very funny." Fawn replied.
"Or ya know the kitchen cabinets have a space between the ceiling, bet you could fit." He added.
"Oh shut up." She said and he chuckled.
They slept through the night, awaking at first light. They hadn't slept that good in a while. The difference a simple roof over your head made was amazing. They ate a quick breakfast and got to work. They checked the car and it actually worked. They just had to siphon more gas. After that was done they searched some other houses, and found more canned food. It appeared the town had evacuated before much of an outbreak had occurred. The walkers they faced were roamers, just wandering ones. Next Fawn wanted to wash their clothes and Daryl wanted to hunt so he took the chance of leaving her by the water alone for a little bit.
"Hide in a tree if you don't feel safe." He said and she rolled her eyes but nodded.
Fawn washed their clothes quickly and hung them on some low tree branches and bushes. Of course, just to spite Daryl playfully she did in fact climb a tree near their clothes. She climbed as high as she could to see if there was anything to see but the trees were too thick, summer was approaching and it was going to be a hot one. She climbed back down a little and relaxed in the shade. She loved her braided hair, it no longer got in the way. After a little while she heard a noise and looked around to investigate. It was Daryl. He saw their clothes and immediately looked up into the tree. Fawn grinned and climbed down. He had caught two fat rabbits. They returned to the house where they used one rabbit and had another great meal. That night they lay on the grass by the fire looking up at the stars. They were having a hard time coming up with reasons to leave. Daryl saw many more animal tracks and almost zero signs of Walkers in the woods. There was a fishing store they hadn't checked and Fawn wondered if there was a pole worth salvaging. She wanted to try her hand at fishing; fish would be a nice change for a meal.
The next morning they decided to stay put for a while and got to looking into fortifying the house a bit more. They wanted to disassemble the shelves in the convenience store and barricade their backyard and front fence. There was plenty of shelving in surrounding stores to do so but they needed tools to do it. They scavenged the hardware store and found what they needed. If they were going to stay Daryl wanted Fawn to have a weapon. He couldn't keep loaning her his knife. They managed to find a good hatchet for her to use, he thought she might be able to learn to throw it. It was better than nothing. Fawn wouldn't be much help with the shelves so she convinced Daryl to let her check the fishing store across the street.
"Hey! Eyes everywhere!" He reminded her and she nodded.
Fawn made her way out. It was a beautiful day and very quiet until Fawn stepped outside… Fawn almost walked right into a group of survivors. Three men and two scared women. The instant look on one of the men's aces when he saw Fawn made her want to throw up. It was a twisted smirk with ulterior motives.
"Well well well would you look at that." He said.
Without a seconds hesitation Fawn bolted back into the hardware store to Daryl. Daryl was on alert instantly when she ran in, grabbing his crossbow.
"What?" He demanded.
"People! Survivors!" She replied.
Daryl stood in front of her pointing his crossbow at the door.
"Three men and two women. There was this look on one guy's face when he saw me…" Fawn said but couldn't finish her sentence.
Daryl made an angry noise.
"Guns?" He asked.
"Not that I saw." She said and one man entered with his hands up.
The man wasn't expecting Daryl.
"Whoa! Easy! I mean no harm. We weren't expecting survivors. Any more of you?" The man asked.
Daryl thought about lying but knew the man was smart enough to figure it out.
"No." Daryl said.
"You hold up somewhere?" He asked.
"Maybe. None of your damn business!" Daryl said angrily.
"Come on man we could all team up, pull our resources." The man offered.
"We don't do groups!" Daryl said forcefully.
The man tried to play the pity card.
"Come on man please, we have women with us." He said and Daryl walked forward, threatening the man to back up out of the door.
"That ain't our problem! Find a house and hold up in it then!" Daryl said as he motioned with his crossbow for the man to get out.
They all went out onto the street. Everyone out there held up their hands as soon as they saw Daryl.
"Town's pretty clear. Find yer own place. Pillage whatever you want. Just stay away from us or I will kill you!" Daryl threatened as his bow still pointed at the man, who was clearly their leader.
The men looked legitimately afraid of Daryl. Daryl was very intimidating when he wanted to be. It was the wild look in his eyes; a wild fearlessness from the upbringing he had had. He was preparing his whole life for moments like this. The man swallowed hard and nodded.
"Alright… alright sorry. We'll leave you alone." The man said and their group backed off.
As they walked away Daryl still had one hand aiming the crossbow at them. Daryl wrapped his right arm around Fawn's shoulders, pulling her close to him. He leaned close to her as if he were going to kiss the side of her head so their visitors thought that's what it was. Daryl kept an eye on them as they walked away. Fawn blushed deeply and held her arm around his back. Daryl whispered something into her ear.
"Do not leave my sight." He said and she nodded.
She knew Daryl didn't trust the visitors either. It scared her a little but would listen to anything Daryl said. When Daryl was satisfied with their visitors distance he took Fawn and they disappeared around a corner to their house. Daryl locked them up insde and fixed their rabbit meal in a hurry, using the light of day to keep the visitors from seeing their fire that Daryl kept at embers. As soon as the rabbit was done Daryl stomped the fire out and went inside. There would be no relaxing under the stars that night. Daryl brought the rabbit in and they ate quickly and quietly. Fawn could tell Daryl was tense about the visitors. She knew he wanted to protect her at all costs but he couldn't be everywhere. After Daryl was done eating he got up and pointed for Fawn to stay put on the couch she was sitting on. She nodded and he went into the back yard to clean his knife and make sure their fire was out so that no one could tell they were staying there. Just as he was about to go back inside he heard muffled voices. As he'd feared some of the their visitors were looking for them. Daryl ducked low in the shadows between the stairs and the fence. He was lucky it was now dark and that their visitors didn't have or want to use flashlights.
"I'm telling you no one is in this house either." One man said to the other.
"Then where the Hell are they!?" The other asked back in a hushed angry tone.
"They're probably long gone."
"Dammit! Did you see that girl!? Oh man! No way a redneck hick like him gets a girl like that."
"Just let it go man."
"Ugh I cant! I was hoping for some new tail, ours are getting spent."
"Well, you willing to risk it all for one girl? You think we could even take a guy like him? Did you even see the look he had in his eyes?"
"Three against one… we could take him. Come on, got a few more houses to check and keep yer voice down!" The man said and they moved on.
Daryl waited a minute before going back in. He had to collect himself. Men like them made him murderous. He'd seen it before. He may be a redneck from the sticks but he was more of a man than they'd ever be.
When Daryl entered the kitchen from the yard he noticed Fawn on top of the cabinets immediately. Even though they had every window and door locked and covered she wanted to take precautions. She climbed down and followed Daryl into the living room. Fawn already had their bag packed and ready to go, anticipating what Daryl wanted to do.
"We're gonna leave?" She asked.
"Tomorrow. They're still wandering around. Try to sleep." He said.
"I'm not tired yet." She said as she sat on the couch hugging her knees.
After a few minutes of silence she spoke again.
"Teach me to fight. You cant keep your eyes on me forever. You could get yourself killed trying. If you didn't have to worry about me as much it would be better. I'm fast and quiet." She said.
"Could you kill a man? That's what I'd be teachin' you. Cause you don't want to be caught by them."
"I know that. I'm not naive. They're looking for me. I saw the look on his face. And if I had to kill to prevent that then so be it. I know I'd have to take a man out in one shot. I know no matter how quick I am if any man caught me it'd be over. But the human body has weak spots I can exploit if you teach me." She said and he nodded.
They were silent for a while. Daryl could tell Fawn was tired, he'd already decided not to sleep that night.
"Sleep." He said again.
"I cant; I keep seeing his face." She said.
Daryl scooted over on his couch next to the arm rest, making a space for her to sit.
"Com'er." He said and she obeyed.
She sat down and he wrapped his arm around her, forcing her to lay her head on his chest and curl up beside him. She had no trouble falling asleep after that. He didn't know what possessed him to do what he did. By rights the men were right. She'd never be with him and yet there she was. He enjoyed her company and he was starting to care more and more for her.
