"June, June!" Glenn woke me up like usual, and I crawled out of my sleeping bag. I yawned as I tied up my hair. I walked to the campfire, eating like normal, listening for any interesting conversations. I spotted Merle and Ed together again. I didn't like that they were becoming friends. It just showed what type of people they were.
Once done with breakfast, I noticed Daryl watching to see if anyone was looking, before slipping into the woods unnoticed to everyone, except me. I did just as he did, slipping away into the woods without anyone noticing. I followed him quietly, but apparently not quiet enough.
"What are you doing here?" Daryl asked.
"I wanted to see where you were going," I stated.
"Go back," He demanded, waiting for me to do so.
"Why are you out here?" I inquired ignoring what he said.
"None of your business," He grumbled.
"Well, then where I'm going is none of yours," I said walking off into the woods. After a moment or two, I heard footsteps behind me. Daryl grumbled behind me about a 'stupid kid'. I smiled, knowing that he'd never hear the end of it from people in the group if he let me go off on my own.
"I thought you didn't want me around," I said looking back.
"I don't," He replied, passing me. He led me to a small stream, hopping over it easily. Although it was much bigger to me. I took a few steps back to get a headstart and leaped across the stream. I saw him check behind him subtly, making sure I made it across. We continued until we found a trail.
"So, where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"Nowhere," He responded.
"Nowhere?" I asked, confused. He didn't respond, so I knew he probably wouldn't reply even if I asked again. I walked with him, humming to myself. It was one of Papa's favorite songs, More Than A Feeling by Boston. I remember singing it in the car. Daryl and I walked for about twenty minutes, before finding an apple tree. He easily picked one and kept walking, but I couldn't reach it. I sighed, seeing him looking back at me.
I jumped up, grabbing a low branch. I hauled my legs up and around the branch, scooting up higher to grab an apple for myself. I hopped down, well, more so just fell. Daryl chuckled as he waited for me. I got up quickly, running over to him and we continued on our walk. Before I knew it, we had looped around back to camp. Glenn looked relieved when I showed up. All he had to do was sigh for me to know what was coming.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you left? We've been looking for you," Glenn said frustrated.
"She's going crazy just sitting at camp," Daryl said passing by as he munched on his apple.
"Just stay in Dale's sight, alright?" Glenn said, gesturing to where Dale sat on top of the RV. I nodded, feeling almost trapped at the camp, but at least I got a little exploring in. Plus, I got an apple. I bit into the sweet, red apple, then climbed up with Dale. He sat in a lawn chair on top of his RV with a pair of binoculars. I sat beside him, looking out to the view of the quarry. I hadn't noticed how pretty it looked from up here.
"Hey, where have you been?" Dale asked once he noticed me.
"I followed Daryl into the woods," I stated bluntly.
"May I ask why?" Dale asked.
"I just wanted to know where he was going and I'm getting really bored here," I answered truthfully.
"Ok, just tell someone next time, even if you don't want to," Dale said.
"I shouldn't have to," I retorted.
"You still should," Dale replied. I sighed, already getting bored, but just spaced out looking down at the water near the quarry. I could hear it from so far above. I loved the peaceful sound. My mind wandered to my mom, missing her stern demeanor. Honestly, Jacqui's personality reminded me of my mother's. Stern but sweet.
I miss her cooking too, not because Lori and Carol are bad cooks, just knowing Mom made it. Papa made the best sweet tea, and Uncle Dan made the best deer jerky. I can even taste it now. Can we make jerky again? I remember it lasted a long time back home. Maybe we should make jerky out of the rabbit if we even can.
"Hey Dale, have you ever made jerky?" I asked.
"No, I haven't," Dale said as he watched Carl, Sofia, Eliza, and Louis below.
"I'll be back," I told Dale as I went down the ladder.
"Stay in sight!" He called after me.
"Got it!" I replied. Who here would know how to make jerky? Maybe Daryl? Or Shane? I walked over to Daryl, who was leaning on a tree messing with his crossbow again.
"Daryl?" I said, grabbing his attention.
"Yes?" He said, already annoyed.
"Can you make jerky?"
"No, but Merle does," He replied. I made a disgusted face, looking over to Merle. He was also alone, but he was drinking a beer grinning.
"I get that he's an asshole, but I'm just as much of an asshole as him, so it won't be the answer that you want," Daryl stated.
"You're a tolerable asshole. Plus he would have just left me to walk off in the woods," I retorted.
"You're not wrong. You can ask him, but he's going to say no," Daryl said looking down at me. I sighed, knowing he was right, but went to try anyways. As I walked up, Merle noticed me.
"Daryl said you know how to make jerky?" I asked, hoping he'd get the hint himself.
"And?" Merle urged me to continue,
"Can you make jerky out of the rabbit we have?" I asked.
"Yeah?" He spoke.
"With the supplies we have?" I questioned.
"Yes?" He still didn't get the hint.
"You really need me to piece this together for you?" I asked in a sassy tone.
"You calling me stupid?" He accused
"I'm calling you ignorant. We need all the food we have to last as long as possible. You can make the rabbit last as long as possible. Are you willing to do it?" I stated.
"No," He stated, taking another swig of beer.
"Why not?" I asked, trying to pry at why he didn't like helping out.
"Because I said so," He told me.
"That's not a good enough reason," I replied. He hates the idea of helping out.
"Well it's going to have to be," He said.
"You really don't like helping out, do you?" I snapped.
"No reason to," He seemed so nonchalant with his lazy nature.
"Well then tell me how to do it," I stated, getting frustrated with him.
"No," He responded.
"Why not? It's not like you'd be the one doing it," I retorted.
"It takes time out of my day," He explained.
"You're literally sitting and sipping a beer. You could be doing that exact same thing right over by the campfire,"
"Yeah, but then I have to spend time with you,"
"You're already doing that," I argued, getting up. "And if that's the problem, go teach someone else. I bet Lori or Carol would love to learn."
"Nah, I think I'll keep it to myself," He said with a smug grin. He liked arguing like this. Maybe I can use that to my advantage…
"Alrighty then, be the selfish asshole everyone thinks you are," I said, leaving after that. I only heard him chuckle in response as I walked away. I rolled my eyes at his nature.
"He said no," Daryl said as I passed him.
"For now," I replied.
"You're just as stubborn as him," Daryl said, gazing over at Merle. I walked back to Dale, climbing up to talk to him about my conversation.
"You're talking to Merle again?" Dale stated, less of a question, more so a statement. I knew he saw me over by Merle.
"Yeah," I replied.
"You don't seem too happy about it," Dale observed.
"He won't help the group out," I said.
"Yeah, You and Merle have clashing personalities. You want to help with everything, and he doesn't help unless it benefits him," Dale explained.
"Yeah, I noticed," I grumpily said.
"What were you wanting from him?" Dale inquired.
"He knows how to make jerky. I wanted him to either make it himself or have him teach me so we could make the food last longer," I explained.
"Well, maybe Daryl knows," Dale suggested.
"Nope, I asked him first," I replied.
"That only leaves two options for you then," Dale started. "Fond someone else, or drop it altogether."
"Or tell everyone and have them pressure him to make it or teach us," I said.
"That's not a good idea, June," Dale warned.
"It is if he doesn't know I told everyone. I can just say I mentioned it to you and that Daryl was the one who told me," I spoke out a general plan.
"June that could start a fight between them. In my opinion, it's not worth the trouble it will cause," Dale said. I sighed, knowing he was right, but I didn't want to give up on this.
"I'll drop it for now," I told him, looking over to see Ed drinking a beer with Merle now. Part of me wanted to go over and stab them both, but Merle is useful. Ed isn't.
"He's also friendly with Ed which isn't good for us," I said.
"I know, but Merle either doesn't know or care and we can't change how he thinks. Only he can," Dale explained.
"Lunchtime!" I heard Lori yell up to us.
"You heard the woman, go on," Dale said, getting up from his seat. We both got down from the RV's roof and got ourselves some lunch. I stood while I ate, scarfing down the food before going off to find something else to entertain myself.
I walked down further into the quarry, Ace followed me down. He had stuck with Carl and Sofia for most of the day until now. I petted him as I sat by the water. I was quite frustrated with the developments of today. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It felt nice to sit by the water to have some time to myself. I watched in the water and saw a small fish. I was fascinated at how close it came up to me. I felt like if I got into the water, maybe I could catch it.
I took off my socks and boots, learning my lesson from last time when I had soggy boots for the day. I slowly walked into the water until it was at my hip and slowly put my hands into the water. Maybe if I wiggle them, the fish will think it's a worm? I tried it out and watched as the fish came up to me cautiously. I know fish don't have teeth, so if it bit my finger it wouldn't hurt. The fish came up to me, and I grabbed its tail quickly, ripping it from the water. It flipped out, flopping around to escape my grasp. I ran up to the group to show them, but only Dale was really beside the campfire with Shane. The others had already grouped off elsewhere.
"Dale, look what I caught!" I said, showing him the flopping fish.
"Oh, where did you get that?" Dale exclaimed.
"In the little pond down there," I pointed in the direction of the water.
"Do you mind if we use it as food?" Shane asked. I handed it to him, nodding.
"If there's fish down there, it may be good to try fishing down there. I have a few fishing poles in my storage compartments. I didn't even think of fishing down there until now," Dale suggested.
"Yeah, good job June," Shane said.
"Can I fish?" I asked Dale, following him and Shane to the storage compartment in his RV.
"Yeah, I think I have three," Dale replied, pulling out the fishing poles. Shane took them from him. Dale dug around for a moment, pulling out a bait box.
"June, you want to help?" Shane asked. I nodded, excited to do something.
"Here, take this," He handed me a small tupperware bowl. "GO did around and find as many worms as you can."
I ran off to do as he asked, digging into the ground near the tree line. I wasn't finding enough though, so I went over to a big rock, rolling it over to find at least five. I grabbed them quickly, digging deeper to find more. I flipped another rock like the last and after finding about ten, I was satisfied enough to take them to Shane.
"Is this enough?" I asked. He was tying on the hook to the lie of one of the fishing poles.
"It's a good start. We'll have you get more when we need more," He explained. Some of the group were gathering again.
"Here, you know how to fish, right?" I nodded, eagerly taking the pole he handed me, and the worms down to the water. Ace was feeding off of my excitement, getting the zoomies. He ran around the pond a few times before coming back to sit with me.
I placed a worm on the hook with my dirty hands, then cast out the line. I waited patiently until I felt a tug. I saw that Dale and Glenn came down with their poles to fish as well. Just as I wasn't paying attention, my line started going deeper. I immediately started to reel the fish in, having Dale come over to help get it out with a net. Once the fish was within eyesight, Dale scooped it out with the net.
"It's a Bluegill," He started as I finished reeling in my line.
"Oh, June, would you run up to the camp and grab a bucket for the fish. I forgot to grab one," Dale asked. I nodded, setting my pole against the bigger rocks. I did as he asked, running back down, excited to fish. I handed the bucket to Dale, who filled it with water from the pond, and set my Bluegill into the bucket.
I grabbed my pole, casting it out again. After a while, Dale, Glenn, and I had filled up the bucket. It was only about six fish though, so Glenn took them up to Shane, and found a big tote to use for the fish. Six wasn't enough for dinner tonight. After we ran out of worms, Dale put a fake worm on my hook as bait. I cast my line out again, waiting for a bite. I caught one again, but it felt much bigger than the rest. I pulled at my line, reeling it in. I struggled to reel it in, but eventually, I saw the fish. It was at least a foot long.
"It's a big one," Dale exclaimed, handing the net to Glenn. Glenn got the fish out, struggling to get it out. And plopped it onto the ground. He pulled out the hook, setting it into the tote. I smiled proudly at my fish, but we kept on fishing. Once it was time for dinner we had caught enough to feed everyone. Dinner went by quickly, per usual.
Since it was getting dark, a lot of us went back to our tents. A warm meal can put anyone to sleep. I followed Glenn into our tent, slipping off my boots. I crawled into my sleeping bag. My body felt heavy, and I was ready for bed. I yawned as I snuggled into my sleeping bag.
"Goodnight June," Glenn said, shuffling to get comfortable in his own bed.
"Good night," I replied, closing my eyes. I fell asleep easily and slept well.