TRIGGER WARNING! ANIMAL SKINNING IN SLIGHT DETAIL!
"June! Wake up!" I opened my eyes just in time for Ace to attack me with slobbery kisses all over my face.
"Ace!" I giggled and sat up to get him to stop licking my face. He backed off, and I wiped the slobber from my face. Sofia was sat beside me with a big smile at Ace's antics.
"Good morning!" She chirped.
"Morning, how are you doing?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to bring anything up that she wasn't comfortable talking about yet.
"I'm good. Thank you for letting Ace stay over," She said, petting Ace as we spoke.
"He can stay with you anytime," I reassured her.
"Thank you," She replied.
"Let's go get breakfast," I said, slipping on my socks and boots. She nodded, took my hand once my shoes were on, and brought me out of the tent. I made sure to grab my hair tie before we left. I pulled up my hair as I walked with Ace in between Sofia and I. Good morning greetings were exchanged and we had breakfast as a group. I sat with Jacqui and Carol behind Sofia and I.
Ed sat across from us, on the other side of the campfire, glaring at Ace, Carol, Sofia, and I. I glared back, calling ace to come closer to me. I knew he'd go after Ed again the second Ed made any aggressive or violent movements to anyone. Especially Sofia. Sofia kept her eyes down, seeming scared of her own father.
Carol also looked terrified of Ed the entire time we ate breakfast. Her eyes darted up to Ed every few minutes then back down to her food or her feet. They didn't even want to look at him in fear of upsetting him. I [felt angry for them, but I also didn't say anything because Glenn asked me not to. He wouldn't ask me not to for no reason.
"There isn't a lot to do today, but we need to stay as productive as possible today," Shane spoke to the entire group.
"I'd like to take the kids out to forage, but only with the parents' permission," Shane said, looking around at the parents for their permission. Glenn nodded for me, as well as Lori for Carl. Carol looked a little hesitant but agreed as well. Miranda (Morales Wife) also agreed.
"Alright kids, get yourselves a bucket of a bag and follow me. Make sure to stay close," Shane said, as he brought us over to the U-Haul. I grabbed a bucket and called Ace to follow me. Sofia linked arms with me with a plastic Walmart bag in her other hand.
"Okay kids, buddy up!" Shane called behind him, checking to see if we were doing so. Sofia and I were already together, and Carl and Louis buddied up.
"Alright Eliza, you're with me," Shane said. Eliza stuck with Shane as we walked through the woods away from camp. We walked for about five minutes before Shane spotted some mushrooms on the ground.
"Would you look at this? We must have some luck on our side today," Shane said showing us the golden mushrooms. He picked a few, handing them to Eliza to put into her bucket.
"These are Golden Chanterelle mushrooms, now you have to be careful with these. There's a very deadly look-a-like called Jack O'Lantern mushrooms. Now, there are a few big differences between the two. As you can see these mushrooms are white inside," Shane ripped open a mushroom, showing us the white insides.
"Another thing to remember is that Jack O'Lantern mushrooms glow in the dark and have dark brown insides," Shane taught us. We nodded, taking in the information, and moving on once we had enough mushrooms. We found a small patch of wild blackberries as well, filling a lot of our bags up. We continued on, as Shane rambled on about pine needle tea and what berries grew around them.
" Oh, look!" Shane said, we all looked up, seeing a buzzing beehive. Bees were flying around the hive, and you could hear the gentle hum of the bees above us. The hive was within a hole in the tree.
"Are those wasps?" Louis asked hesitantly, shrinking behind Carl slightly.
"That is a beehive. Wasps live on the side of trees or walls and have a football-like shape. Beehives are usually in natural holes in nature. Like this in the tree. They'll live in old bunny burrows and even in houses. These aren't going to hurt us as long as we leave them alone," Shane said, moving along. We made our way back to camp with our loot, giving it to Lori and Carol. Ed was a little too close to Carol for my comfort, but Shane and Glenn wouldn't let him hurt them. Neither would Ace.
I went over to the tent, taking out Ace's bowl and pouring him some food. The bag was less than half full now. I left him to eat and went to see how Dale was doing. He was on top of the RV. I climbed up, sitting beside him, watching him futz around with the wires.
"What's up?" I asked, curious about what he was doing.
"The RV's AC system isn't working," He said.
"So? We don't all have air conditioning," I retorted.
"If the AC goes out the water won't work and the RV will overheat,"
"Oh, how do we fix it?" I asked.
"I need a new control board. Water must have leaked in and short-circuited," He explained, pulling out the control board. It had rained at some point last night.
"Shane!" Dale called as he climbed down the ladder. I climbed down after him, following him over to Shane.
"Yeah?" Shane replied.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we need a new control board for the AC,"
"Y'all can't live without air conditioning?" Shane questioned.
"That's not the problem. When the AC is out, the water won't work the way it needs to, and it can overheat the engine. It'll cook whoever is inside it as well, literally," Dale explained.
"Where would we find one?" Shane asked, more than likely knowing the answer.
"The best guess is the city," Dale said. Shane looked so conflicted about going to the city.
"I'll go myself," Dale said.
"No, no. Just give me a bit to think,"
"Shane," I started, knowing that I'd probably be shot down, but wanted to ask anyway.
"Yes," He sighed.
"I know you won't like this idea, but I know the city. I know how to navigate around herds and I know where we can find a ton of food," I offered.
"You're right. I don't like that idea," Shane said going to walk off.
"Just, think about it, please," I pleaded. He nodded, leaving us to talk to Lori.
"Come on, June," Dale said, guiding me to the campfire. I stared at the fire and looked up into the sky. The sun was right in the middle of the sky.
"What time is it?" I asked Dale. He checked the watch on his wrist before replying.
"It's 12:30," Dale replied. Just as I went to speak again, we heard a voice in the woods.
"Merle this is the way back!" I recognized the voice as Daryl.
"Well then where is it?!" I heard Merle yell back.
"Over here!" I yelled, walking closer to the tree line where I heard them.
"See?!" I heard Daryl yell back at Merle and the rustling in the woods became louder. Daryl came out of the treeline first, Merle arrived shortly after. I saw Daryl was carrying at least six rabbits and a LOT of squirrels. Merle wasn't carrying anything, but I assumed he also caught some of the animals that Daryl had.
"Hey, you're back!" Shane greeted. A few of the group greeted them and gave them some food. Daryl handed me the stringed-up rabbits and squirrel, going to eat after their three-day hunting trip. I placed them over beside the campfire on a log seat that I sat on.
"Seems like the trip went well," Dale said.
"Yeah, seems like we did all that work just for there to be more mouths to feed," Daryl grumbled.
"We have more than enough food. We've been scavenging through the cars on the highway. You'd be surprised what people leave behind," Dale said, motioning to the pile of food and supplies we had.
"Better be," Merle grumbled. Daryl finished his food quickly, scarfing it down. He grabbed the deceased animals beside me and found a large rock a few feet away from the campfire. I followed him over, watching as he untied a rabbit. He took a knife out but stopped when he noticed me observing.
"You don't want to see this, kid," Daryl said, shooing me away.
"I used to watch my Papa skin rabbits and deer," I replied. He went to continue to set the rabbit on the rock. He sliced the knife down the chest and belly of the rabbit, pulling out its guts, and draining the blood out.
"Go get me that bucket," Daryl said with guts in his hand. I did as he asked, bringing the bucket over for him. He threw the guts into the bucket, cutting them off the body. Ace was very interested in the rabbit and slowly came up to us. Daryl noticed, tossing a piece of the rabbit to Ace. Ace ate the meat happily, eager for more. He laid in front of Daryl, waiting for another piece. I watched as Daryl continued to skin the rabbit and set the good meat aside. Dale brought out a big bowl from his RV for the good meat. I wanted to learn for myself, even though I understood the idea.
"Can you teach me?" I asked hesitantly.
"Teach what?" He asked. He had a naturally gruff voice, but he seemed nice enough.
"How to skin a rabbit. Please?" I asked, pulling out my best puppy-dog eyes.
"Fine, come here," He said. I sat in front of him, shooing Ace away. He walked off to Sofia and Carl and stuck with them. Daryl continued to show me how to Skin the rabbit after he finished the first one. His hands were covered in blood.
"You're gonna learn like I did," He handed me the knife, bloodied all the way to the handle. I took the knife carefully, and he turned the rabbit to me.
"You need to cut from here to here," He showed me with his finger the line I needed to cut. I took the knife and slowly made a semi-straight line from the neck to the stomach as he did before.
"June! What are you doing?" Glenn asked walking over. I had blood on my hands.
"I'm learning how to skin a rabbit," I stated matter of factly. My hands were covered in blood.
"Why?" Glenn asked, seeming quite concerned.
"I wanted to. My Papa used to do this for me after we went hunting," I explained.
"I- alright- Just be careful with that knife," He said walking off but I saw him still looking over to check on me every few seconds.
"What's next?" I asked.
"Pull the rabbit open, and drain the blood," He said. I did as he said.
"Now pull out the heart and intestines," He pointed at the organs. I pulled them out, cutting them off as he did before.
"Cut a line down each leg." Daryl directed. I did so.
"Now rip the skin and fur. You have to rip pretty hard," I started to what he asked, but it was really hard. I struggled for a minute to get it off, but I succeeded.
"Last part is cutting the tendons apart," He said, He showed me the tendons that held the muscles together. I cut them and placed the meat into the bowl.
"Do it again," Daryl stated, slapping another rabbit on the rock. He watched as I repeated the steps, making sure I didn't mess up when Merle showed up.
"Well, well, well, seems like Daryl's playing daddy for the little orphan girl," Merle taunted.
"I'm not 'playing daddy'," Daryl retorted.
"Whatever you say… Little brother," Merle sneered, strolling along past us.
"Keep going," Daryl said as Merle left. I nodded, finishing another rabbit.
"You take the rabbits. I'm doing the squirrels," He said, taking the squirrels to set one on the rock a few feet away from the one I was using. We finished the rabbits and squirrels by the early evening, and Lori and Carol began cooking up the meat.
The rest of the night flew by after dinner, and everyone went into their tents to sleep. I was exhausted, per usual, and Glenn tucked me in. Ace stayed with me for the night this time, but I truly had a fun time today. I hope I get to go to the city soon.