I held my rifle close to me as we sifted through the tall grass. The extra rifle I had was poking out of my backpack alongside with my wood chopping axe. I gave Sky the silver handgun for her protection. She was only around the age of seven or eight, so I wasn't too sure about it. After firing a few shots to get used to the ricochet, Sky seemed to get the hang out. The noise of the blunt of the blast didn't phase her.
Nothing did.
We were running low on gas for the red jeep and so I decided to siphon gas from cars in the Atlanta neighborhood. It wasn't as crowded with undead as downtown was. The only down side was that there weren't as many cars either. It had been about a month since I left the summer cabin with Sky. She still hadn't spoken a word or emitted even a facial expression since we left. The death of her mother was still a fresh wound to her.
Today was an unusually hot day with the sun baring down on our backs. I was used to the heat, having spent all my summers in my native country of Mexico. The heat was the closest place to hell. And I was wearing a green tank top and Capri jean shorts. The sweat made my hair matted.
I signaled Sky to stop. I noticed smoke rising in the air. A campfire? Or maybe a house burning down? I wasn't sure or whether to investigate or not, but I felt that it was worth a try. "Stay close to me, Sky," I warned her. "We don't know what lies ahead."
She merely stared at me. I was used to this being her form of acknowledgement. Me and Sky continued to slither through the tall green grass before reaching the trees. We tread carefully on the dirt and bark ground. I could hear talking and the laughter of children running around. I quickly hid behind a tree trunk as a young Hispanic child ran past me. I hid in a thicket bush with Sky beside me, examining the survivors. It was a small camp. Lots of smoke was rising in the air from a campfire. About ten people were surrounding it, laughing and joking around as they ate. They had an RV with an umbrella on it, I assumed for lookout. The other car was a dump of a looking pick-up truck with a Harley Davidson in the trailer. I looked with envy as the people ate meat. I hadn't eaten real meat since the outbreak, only shit in a can. I didn't want to barge in on them. I couldn't. They didn't seem like bandits or shitty assholes like the one's who murdered Sky's mother. They were just normal people. But, they still wouldn't trust a stranger like me. "We'll come back when it's dark." I whispered. "Maybe then we'll be able to get some food and supplies, let's go."
I turned around to leave. Sky followed closely behind. Now, we needed to get back to the jeep and wait. The darkness of the night would be on our side. Though that plan went to shit when I tripped over an uprooted tree root, sending me crashing into the ground, and accidentally firing a round from the rifle I held in my hand. The loud bang of the rifle echoed through the air. "Shit!" I cursed under my breath. Everyone had jumped to their feet at the noise.
"The fuck was that?"
"Daryl, come with me!" commanded an authoritative voice. "Shane, protect the others!"
Now we were fucked. Sky helped me to my feet. That was when we booked for it in the opposite direction as them. Something whizzed past me, scratching me across the cheek. An arrow landed against a tree trunk with a thud. I turned to see a man with a crossbow aimed at me. I quickly hid behind a tree trunk, clutching my cheek. A little bit of blood begin to surface. "You picked the wrong camp to mess with!" the husky voice hollered.
"I'm not here to mess with anyone!" I yelled back, reloading my rifle. The empty round fell onto the ground. I tossed my heavy backpack onto the ground, knowing that I was going to have to fight. I heard the man stalking through the grass. That was when I swung my rifle around, clubbing the man in the face. He was knocked backwards onto his butt. The crossbow was flung to the ground. I drew my father's hunting knife and tackled him. I tried plunging the knife into his chest, but even with all of my strength, I was easily overpowered. He was much stronger than I was. We rolled across the grass a few times struggling for control over the knife. He then sat directly on top of me, pinning arms against the ground with one knee and his hand. The other hand which held my knife was placed under my chin. The man wore an shirt with chopped off sleeves and green cargo pants. His medium brown hair was short and matted with dirt and sweat. He had dark blue eyes that gouged into my own. A drop of blood formed at his lips where I hit him with my rifle.
The handsome man glowered into my eyes. "Not here to mess with anyone huh?" he hissed.
There was a distinct chi-chink! noise as a handgun was pointed at his head. Sky held the gun intently in her small hands. I could see slight anger forming in her face. The man looked from Sky to me and snickered. "Enough!" hollered a man wearing a sheriff's uniform. "Daryl, get off of the girl. We don't want any bloodshed."
"She fired a shot at us and attacked me head on!"
"It was an accident!" I protested. "I tripped on a tree root and accidentally fired my rifle. I wasn't trying to shoot anyone!"
"Yeah right!" Daryl snorted. "You expect me to believe that after you just attacked me?"
"You were going to shoot me!"
"Damn right I was! You shot first!"
"I said it was an accident!"
The sheriff sighed once. "Daryl, I'm not going to ask again," he stated in a calm voice. "There's a little girl here. If we can resolve this peacefully, we must."
Sky poked Daryl in the head with her handgun as a reminder. Daryl spat once, before releasing my arms and getting off of me. He took the knife with him. A weight was released from my stomach. I sat up as Sky put away her handgun and threw her arms around my neck. I was surprised by what she did as Sky never showed emotion. I patted her once on the back. "You did good, Sky," I assured.
The sheriff stepped in front of me. "Are you going to come in peace? Because I won't hesitate to kill you if you won't."
Sky withdrew from hugging me. I looked up at the sheriff, before tossing the backpack with the rifle and axe. "I don't want to hurt anybody." I answered. "I saw smoke and wondered if there were other people out here."
The sheriff held out his hand. "My name is Rick Grimes and the hothead you just met is Daryl Dixon."
I heard Daryl scoff once as he picked up his crossbow from the ground. He wiped his bloody mouth. I grabbed Rick's extended hand. He pulled me to my feet. I pushed a loose strand of dark brown hair behind my ear. "I'm Anza Cruz, and this is Sky." I introduced myself.
Rick nodded once to Sky, smiling at her. "Hi there."
She gave him a blank look. Another man wearing a green shirt and camouflage cargo pants approached. He had short curly black hair. "What's going on?" the man demanded, his eyes on me.
"Situation under control. This is Anza Cruz, she accidentally fired off her rifle after tripping on a tree root."
"Clutz." Daryl snorted in a low voice, but loud enough for me to hear. I ignored him. I was relieved that Rick did too. He pointed to the man beside him. "This is Shane Walsh, my partner in crime."
I smiled once. "Hi. I'm Anza."
Shane bowed his head once before shaking my hand. "Is that your sister?"
I turned to Sky. We didn't look alike. She was a white girl with black hair and blue eyes. I was of Hispanic descent, though I had my mother's hazel eyes and lighter skin than most Mexicans. I was half Hispanic, half White. I didn't look like Sky.
"No," I admitted. "I just found this girl at the cabin I was staying at. Her mother is dead so I'm taking care of her."
"That's awfully nice of you." Rick stated.
I shrugged once. Shane knelt down and ruffled Sky's messy black hair. She wore an over sized blue grey jacket that reached her knees. "Don't worry, kiddo. You'll fit in just fine here. We have a couple of other kids you can play with too." he assured her. "At least Carl will be happy to have another play mate."
Sky ignored what he said and walked towards the campsite. She gathered around the fire, probably hungry for the food they were cooking. A woman with long black hair sat Sky down before serving her food. She comforted Sky with an arm around her shoulder as she ate the potato. Rick and Shane invited me to meet the others. Everyone greeted me warmly and with happy laughter. I couldn't help but smile too, for the first time in three months. I was afraid of being around people. But, now it felt good to be around them. I sat down beside an Asain kid, who looked more than happy to see me. He shook my hand. "I'm Glenn." he smiled.
"Anza."
"Anza? I've never heard of that name before, but it's beautiful." Glenn nudged me on the shoulder. "Just like you."
Daryl rolled his eyes before taking a sip of a beer.
"It's short for Esperanza," I answered.
"Ohhhh...right." Glenn nodded, of course not knowing that. He had short jet black hair, which was mostly hidden by the baseball cap he wore. Glenn seemed to be the energetic and the cheerful type. He was no doubt cute. I didn't mind that, I needed some of that in my life. "Was that you who fired the shot?" asked a thick voice. I turned to my left to see a bulky dark skinned man sit on a log around the campfire. "Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare any of you. I accidentally tripped." I admitted, sheepishly.
The group went around introducing themselves. I noticed two girls with blond hair and blue eyes sitting next to each other. One of them looked about ten years older than the other. The older one was Andrea, and the drastically younger one who looked around my age was Amy. The woman in her late forties with short grey hair was Carol, she looked timid and weak. The young redheaded girl next to her was her daughter Sophia. A beautiful woman with long black hair tied into a messy ponytail handed me a potato with gravy. She shook my hand. "I'm Lori Grimes, Rick's wife." she smiled at me.
I nodded with a smile. A young boy around the age of ten with trimmed black hair plopped himself beside me and Sky. "And I'm Carl!" he shouted with a smile. We all laughed around the campfire. A withered old man wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt approached me. He had a serious gaze, wearing a fishing hat. I noticed a rifle strapped to his back. "I'm Dale, pleased to meet you." he smiled. "I own the RV over there, if you need anything don't hesitate to come over."
I shook his calloused hand. Daryl sat underneath the RV awning with his feet kicked up against a plastic crate. He had his beer and arrows sitting beside him on a portable lunch table. He was cleaning his arrows while listening.
"So, where are you from?" asked Jacqui, who had dark skin the color of chocolate and her tangled hair in a bun. I thought about it for a few moments. This was not a story that needed to be told. I laughed awkwardly. "Ha ha, um, I don't exactly have the greatest life story."
"Aw, come on!" complained Carl, slapping my arm.
I lost the smile, staring deeply into the crackling campfire. All of my worst memories came to me in a flash. My mother's death, Carmen getting married and moving away, Dad still mourning the loss of my mother, being bullied at school, and joining a gang. How could I find happiness in that?
"I made some pretty bad choices when I was younger. Not something I'm proud of..." I began. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Daryl was staring at me. He must have forgotten that he was supposed to be cleaning down his arrows. I could see the interest on Daryl's face. "But, uh, I came from Atlanta, near the outskirts, which was a good thing when the outbreak happened. I wasn't in the city when it went to shit and got bombed." I continued. "I've been living at my summer cabin up by Albany these past three months. Along the way, I found Sky and have been taking care of her since."
Carl put on his father's sheriff hat. "What about you, Sky? Where are you from?"
Sky didn't say anything. She sat there with a blank expression on her face. The others waited for an answer but were disturbed by Sky's stillness, I could tell they knew something was wrong with this girl. I frowned with sadness, rubbing her back. "Sky doesn't talk. She...she saw things. I gave her the name Sky since I don't know her real name, she won't tell me," I explained. "All she ever does is look into the sky."
Then, the campfire was silent. I thought I saw tears form in Lori's eyes. This poor child. I didn't want to say what really happened, I didn't want to be a buzz kill or talk about her mother's murder at the dinner table. Sky placed her plate on the log and got up and left. "Stay close, Sky, okay?" I told her.
She looked back at me once, then stepped into the RV. The screen door slammed behind. Daryl shook his head before going back to cleaning his arrows.
