đ“…“
Third Person POV
After RJ's breakdown, she simply acted as if nothing ever happened. It shocked Daryl. He wasn't so much surprised that she pretended like it didn't happen, more so that she could.
She had been crying pretty damn hard, but once again, he decided that he didn't care and they continued on with their hunt.
Sadly, her snares hadn't caught anything yet, so they decided to continue on through the forest.
Daryl, on the other hand, had caught four squirrels, and they had a lot of people to feed so they'd definitely need more.
RJ just hoped that maybe one of her snares would prove to be useful.
This time, they went a new direction rather than following the Dixon's old tracks.
They figured they'd have better look searching a new area.
Thankfully, they were able to catch a dozen squirrels, a rabbit (thanks to RJ's snare), and a big snake that was hiding in the hole of a tree.
She made sure it wasn't poisonous before wrapping it around her hand and carrying it back to camp.
Everything this girl did seemed to have slightly surprised Daryl.
He didn't expect her to actually kill the snake, let alone wrap its corpse around her hand, but he was just glad she was helping out instead of being dead weight.
When they all made it back to camp, RJ knew that no one else would want to eat the snake, and she didn't mind it so she figured she'd just eat it herself.
Carl being the little daredevil he was, she was sure he'd want a bite, so she made sure to save a spot next to her at the fire pit she usually shared with the Dixon's.
In her opinion, she'd rather just eat and go to bed. The others had a tendency to ask too many questions that weren't yes or no ones, and she didn't like that. She hated being in the spotlight, and they just loved putting her in it.
So she avoided dinner with them at all costs.
"Wow, thanks, guys," Shane said as the three sat down and began skinning the squirrels.
The sun would set in a few hours, which gave them plenty of time to skin and stew up the squirrels for the campers while RJ took it upon herself to claim the rabbit and snake for the hunters who did all the hard work.
Especially because she didn't want to hear either Dixon gripe about not eating the good meat even if they did all the heavy lifting.
"Whoa!" Carl's eyes widened as he neared his aunt.
She had already begun cutting into the furry animal. Her eyes gleamed as she glanced over to Carl, even if it was skinning an animal that put that curious and amazed look on his face, she didn't care. She just loved when he was interested in something she was doing, or something in general.
"Can you teach me?" He crouched beside the woman. The Dixon's glanced at the boy but continued on with their business.
"I would, but your mom would kill me." She stated as she smiled his way.
If there was anyone in the world who could get her to smile the most, it was her nephew.
"Oh, come on! Please!" RJ would've gladly taught him. She wanted to make sure that if—god forbid—anything were to ever happen and he were to be left on his own, he'd know how to survive, but Lori saw it a different way. She wanted her son to stay a kid, she didn't believe that Carl would be put in that situation, mainly because Lori knew that RJ would do anything to protect Carl, but that was exactly RJ's point. She would do anything to protect that little boy, even if it meant her own demise.
RJ paused. "Did you finish your schoolwork?" She knew the answer, and Carl knew that she knew. He let out an exasperated sigh as he stood up to his feet and trudged back over to where Sophia was trying to finish her school work for the day.
"Why don't ya just teach 'em? He's gon' need it sooner or later." Merle spoke with his attention now on his second squirrel.
He and Daryl were way more skilled and fast when it came to skinning animals compared to RJ, but she still knew how.
"I'm not his mom, I don't have a say in how he's raised." The soldier mumbled, her eyes staring at the squirrel while subconsciously biting her lip. It was an old habit that she'd done since she was a little girl. That, and playing with the skin on her lips, or biting her nails when she was anxious.
"He'll grow up to be a pussy if you don't." The older redneck wanted the woman to take initiative. He understood that Carl wasn't her child, but he also understood that he was still her kin, and since the boy's father was gone, RJ was the only one left to teach him the ways of survival.
"And pussy's don't survive in a world of coyotes."
Daryl watched the wheels in her head turn. Her eyebrows furrowed, her movements pausing momentarily. At first, she looked offended, but then his brother's words sank in, and he saw how the woman shook away whatever she was thinking about before turning to her second squirrel.
RJ had noticed how Daryl seemed to not like being in the group much. He liked it better when it was just him and his brother, and she understood because she was the same way with Rick, especially when they were younger. Wherever her big brother was, you didn't have to look far to find little RJ.
Once again she found herself brushing away the memories of the man who practically helped mold her into who she was. The good parts at least.
It was maybe another half hour before all of the meat was skinned and being cooked. The smell of cooking meat drifted over the camp, making their stomachs rumble.
RJ had been thinking about talking to Lori. Merle's words—although rude—were true. Carl wouldn't be a pussy, but he would be clueless, and knowledge was power. Especially in dire times like these.
She wanted Lori to be on the same page as her, she wanted Lori to see that having a backup plan was always essential.
Carol and Lori were cooking the squirrels, making some kind of stew while the Dixon's were making a rabbit stew, and RJ was making her lovely snake on a stick.
"Ya sure you don't want no stew?" Merle asked from across from RJ as she roasted the serpent. She nodded her head in reply, her eyes being captivated by the beautiful flames.
Merle could see how her mind was running nonstop. To the average person, she just looked like she was staring at the flames, but when it comes to the damaged, it takes one to know one.
He wasn't sure how to console her, or if she even wanted to be consoled. He just wanted her to stop looking so...upset. (As upset as a woman who seemed to be incapable of showing emotion could look.)
Small footsteps came running up, catching the attention of the three. Their heads all looked over to see Carl running over to RJ with a huge smile on his face. The little boy was simply happy to be near his aunt, being around her always made him happy.
RJ's eyes flashed behind him to see if anyone followed him before they focused back on her nephew. Almost immediately, the gloomy look that Merle saw on her face was gone.
"RJ, mom said you could teach me stuff!" He was grinning from ear to ear. His cheeks were flustered and his hair stuck to his head from sweat. RJ could only imagine how long he'd been running around with Sophia in the Morales kids before he came running to her.
"Stuff?" Her eyebrow raised, not realizing she was doing the cop brow. At that moment, Carl saw his dad, and his smile faltered for a moment before he shook it off and once again replaced it with a smile.
This definitely didn't pass RJ.
"Y-Yeah, you know. Like survival and stuff." He nodded eagerly, his blue eyes gleaming in the light from the fire.
RJ doubted that Lori actually gave permission for Carl to learn "survival stuff", hell, Lori didn't even want him going anywhere near a knife. But RJ would've rather had Lori angry at her, than for Carl to ever be unprepared for anything.
Unprepared meant you had limited options, and limited options usually made people do stupid things, and being stupid led to death. She wouldn't allow that.
"Really?" She questioned, turning her eyes away from the boy and towards the snake to examine to crisping flesh. She liked her meat crispy.
"Yeah!" The boy nodded, not realizing the other two sets of eyes watching him in what almost seemed to be amusement. He wasn't fooling anyone in the little camp of hunters and misfits.
RJ pushed the snake back into the flames before turning towards the bright blue-eyed, freckled boy. Her forest green eyes stared him in the eye, her lie detector going haywire as the little boy shifted from one foot to the other.
"Alright. We start tomorrow." A smile danced on her lips when Carl's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that his lie actually worked. He was so nervous that RJ would know—which of course she did—and tell his mom—which of course she did not.
She was about to tell him to go sit with his mom but he plopped down right beside her, right where she expected him to sit when he came.
Carl reminded RJ a lot of Rick. It was the little things he did and not only that but his eyes. They were so blue, just like her brothers.
Although neither of them had realized it, spending time together was how their souls were slowly starting to heal from the pain of losing one of the people you loved most in the world.
"Is that a snake?" He was so fascinated with the meat when RJ pulled it out, and when she gave him a confirming nod, he became more curious.
"Wanna try some?" She whispered to the little boy, receiving a frantic head nod.
The Dixon brothers were silently watching. Observing. This was the most they've seen RJ smile, and with how Lori was with Carl, you would've that Lori was his aunt. Although the smile was more of a half-smile that didn't reach her eyes, for RJ, this was a full-on cheese of a grin.
Carl had been watching the small camp recently. Confused as to why his aunt would pick the rednecks over him. He thought the other campers were fun, especially at night when they ate around the campfire, but he'd never noticed how different his aunt was. He had noticed, though, that every time he watched the little camp, it was always so quiet. It wasn't a bad quiet, more like...a content quiet.
Merle of course would say stupid things to make the other two laugh or shake their heads, and Carl could never hear it, but he knew it had to be really funny if RJ laughed.
So with the knowledge he had gathered over the past few days, he knew that if he wanted to stay, he'd just have to be like RJ. What he didn't know, was that RJ would've stuck by him and let him stay no matter what.
Apparently, the snake wasn't cooling down fast enough for RJ, because pretty soon she was moving it from side to side in her hands, hoping that the cool breeze would cool the food down faster.
"The hell ya doin'?" Daryl's eyebrows were furrowed as he stared at the woman like she'd been doing the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen. Then again, it may have been.
The woman's eyes moved from the waving meat to Daryl, before shrugging her shoulders and turning back to what Carl thought of as RJ's dancing snake.
Merle let out a chuckle. "Almost reminds me of your first hunt." He grinned as RJ immediately began shaking her head. She'd hoped that he'd forget that, but of course, he wouldn't, it was just too damn good to forget.
"What happened?" Carl asked the older man with a smile, eager to get a good story about his aunt.
"Oh no." RJ groaned as her forehead leaned against her palm in shame.
"Oh yeah." Merle cackled with a grin on his face. Her embarrassment proved to be amusing. "First day I took Mutey huntin—"
"Just shut up—please shut up." RJ groaned, hiding her face in her free hand. This just made Carl and Daryl more curious, while Merle laughed harder.
"We was both hungrier than a couple of ticks on a teddy bear," The older man laughed at the woman's discomfort. "Mutey though. She was whinin', stumblin', grumblin', tumblin'." he waved his hands around slightly to give emphasis.
"In my defense, we hadn't eaten in days." RJ glared with a playfully angry scowl.
"Days?" Merle sorted. "More like a day."
"Well, what happened?" Carl urged eagerly, giggling due to his aunt's embarrassment.
"Your lovely aunt here caught a big ol' rabbit with one a' her snares. Kinda like this one here that's cookin'." Merle pointed towards RJ, earning the middle finger from her.
"I think that was the fastest that girl ever skinned anything. As soon as it was done—"
"Oh god," RJ mumbled, stuffing her face back into her hands, Carl now holding the snake on a stick.
"Mutey—despite my warnin's mind you—put the rabbit right in her mouth." Merle began to full-on cackle at the memory of her reaction. It was like it was just yesterday. He could picture it almost perfectly.
"Her eyes got all wide, she dropped the damn rabbit, she was hootin' n' hollerin' all over the place."
It was hard for Carl to imagine his aunt doing something so reckless, but the little he could imagine made him giggle like a maniac.
RJ began to laugh at Carl's giggles. "Yeah, got second-degree burns from that."
"Ya never did it again though, did ya?" Daryl joked, almost catching RJ off guard.
"Nope, sure did not." She shook her head.
"My first military wound." She snorted at the embarrassment of her first military wound being burns from her idiocy and hunger.
"Wait...I thought your first military wound was when you got shot?" Carl piped in, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"No, Bud. That was my first battle wound." She clarified with a shake of her head.
"Oh.." Carl looked down to the snake on a snake, now a little scared to take a bite because of the rabbit story.
"Did it hurt?"
RJ looked down to Carl, simply nodding her head. She wasn't gonna act like some military badass and say that she didn't feel a thing. Truth was, it hurt like hell.
"Shot? When'd that happen?" Merle was genuinely curious. When they were both stationed in Georgia, RJ was just starting out in the Marines. Fresh out of basic training.
"After I left Georgia, they shipped me out to Brazil. Some asshole with bad aim missed my sergeant and barely missed my heart." The memory was rather traumatic, but even when she was given the option to go on leave, she still pushed through, and as soon as she healed she was back on the front lines.
The ex-soldier let out a whistle. "Brazil, huh?"
He'd heard of what they were fighting in Brazil. Mainly drug lords and higher-up gangsters.
They were ruthless though, and very unforgiving, especially to the U.S. military.
"Yeah, after that I was shipped back to the states, then I became Special Ops, and from there I was sent anywhere and everywhere they needed me."
"I thought you was trainin' to be a vet tech?" Their conversation surprisingly interested both Carl and Daryl. Carl had always wondered what his aunt was doing when she was moved around, and Daryl was just curious to know more about the mysteriously quiet woman.
"I was," RJ nodded as her eyes were once again staring into the fire.
"But once Sergeant Stevens saw how I was in combat, she started watching me and I didn't even know it. So they moved me where they wanted me."
It was upsetting but it happened. When signing up for the marine core, you are signing up to be a marine. RJ often regretted not choosing the army, but at the end of the day, she knew she couldn't dwell on it. Plus, she met a lot of good people in the marines, and she wouldn't have traded them for the world.
"Carl!" They heard Lori's voice call out to her son. All of their heads turned in the direction of the searching mother.
"I'm over here!" He called back before turning towards his aunt who was already looking at him.
"You gonna try some of this snake or what?"