Im on fire! This chapter is relatively uneventful, but introduces a problem muwahahaha! Please enjoy!
"Rick!" Jenna couldn't stop herself from crying.
Startled out of his morning stupor, Rick spun quickly to be face to face with the little sister he hadn't seen in almost 4 years, the little sister he had come to terms with might be dead.
"Jen." Rick croaked out, suddenly finding it very hard to speak. "You're-How did you-?"Nothing he said seemed to be the right thing. There she stood, the very sister that he thought he would see as once of these monsters one day.
"Aunt Jenna?" Carl asked from the other side of the tent, causing Jenna to let out another sob, and drop to her knees to wrap her arms around the small boy. From where she knelt, she looked up again to see Rick completely at a loss for words.
Standing back up, Jenna didn't give Rick a moment to protest before she launched herself at him and gripped the back of his shirt tight in her embrace. Its true things had been strained between them, but in all of the chaos of the dead rising, the one person she knew she had to try and find was her brother, he had always been her protector.
Stunned for a moment, Rick didn't know if he should hug her back, but after a moment of Jenna not letting go, Rick gave in and gripped his sister to him in a tight embrace, a range of emotions flooding through his whole body.
From the entrance of the tent Lori cleared her throat and caused the two siblings to break apart, forgetting she was even there. "Jen, you looked half starved, lets get you something clean to wear and a not quite decent but still better than nothing meal to eat. " She smiled, pulling Carl to her when he made to go outside.
"That sounds great." Jenna beamed, feeling the exhaustion starting to catch up to her. She grabbed Lori's hand and started to follow her outside of the tent, when she turned back to Rick with s smile on her face. "I did miss you Rick." It was a simple start at an apology.
Lori led Jenna over to the fire where they had a few pots cooking what appeared to all have beans in them. It was at that moment Jenna's stomach started to really growl proving how much the small girl was hungry.
"There'll be some meat also whenever the Dixon's decide to finish it." Lori looked annoyed when she mentioned the Dixon brothers who hadn't moved since Jenna had gone into the tent with Lori. Looking over at their small camp, Jenna noticed that she once again had the attention of the eldest Dixon while the younger was mumbling about something and skinning what appeared to be a small squirrel. When Merle noticed that he had caught Jenna's eye, he sent her his famous grin once again, and laughed to himself when all he got was an eye roll in response. Jenna noticed when he leaned over to say something to Daryl, but never broke eye contact with her. Whatever he said, it was enough to stop Daryl and make him look over to the two girls at the fire, and look at them curiously, like seeing them for the first time.
This enraged Jenna. Clearly Merle was telling Daryl something about either her or Lori, and Jenna did not appreciate being talked about behind her back, all though Merle made not move to keep it a secret that he was talking about them.
Starting to glare daggers in the direction of the Dixon's, Jenna was startled when she saw a pair of fingers snap in her face. Following the arm, she saw that Lori was looking at her waiting for an answer.
"Sorry, totally spaced." Jenna ducked her head sheepishly, and gave Lori her full attention.
"I said it looks like the food is still going to be a little bit, did you want to go lie down, and Ill get you when its ready. You and Rick can do some catching up or something." Lori laughed, chalking up Jenna's behavior to her lack of food and proper sleep. Since everything had happened, Lori couldn't blame Jenna for not being all there, somedays, even she felt completely disconnected fro the world, or what was left of it at least.
"Yea, Im kinda wiped, a nap sounds like pure bliss right now." Jenna laughed.
"Well you're more than welcome to borrow any of my clothes til we can get yours clean." Lori smiled at the girl as she got up and headed for their tent.
When Jenna reached the tent, she couldn't help but look back over to the Dixon's camp just a few yards away. Daryl was still playing gut the squirrel while Merle was making smart comments to him about "wasting the good parts". Huffing in annoyance, Jenna turned away from the tent entrance and started stalking over to where the two Dixon men sat beside each other.
"Well look who it is!" Merle cried when he saw Jenna storming up to their campsite away from everybody else. "Decide you wanna crash over here?"
"Oh please, Id rather sleep in the middle of a group of those dead creeps than anywhere near you!" Jenna spat with sarcasm. "I just came over here to tell you that if you've got something to say, say it to my face, and not to your brother." Jenna smiled triumphantly at the pair who stared up at her. Thinking that she had stunned them since she could guess that no one ever challenged them before, she turned to leave, her smile still firmly on her face.
"Alright then, you might wanna keep that pretty lil nose a yours clean." Merle called out after her, stopping her dead in her tracks. Jenna brought her small hand up to her nose, and wiped it real quick, looking at it, she didn't see that she had taken anything off.
Jenna turned around slowly; self consciously. "What are you talking about?" She feigned innocence.
Merle smiled at her from where he sat, knowing her had just caught the mouse in his little trap.
Not wanting to play anymore of his games, Jenna hightailed it back to Lori and Ricks tent. Just before entering, she wiped her nose again, and looked at her hand to see if she had wiped anything off this time, but again, it was clean. Thinking back on Merles words, made Jenna's blood run cold, and her hands became clammy. Shed have to keep an eye on those Dixon's, especially Merle.