đ“…“
The Georgia sun was beating against RJ's face as she continued to attempt to wash out the blood from her favorite shirt. The more she scrubbed the angrier she got.
It'd been another few weeks since the world went into the shitter, and somehow her sadness about her brother's passing turned into anger.
When it came to anger, RJ was the worst at handling it. It was pretty rare for the woman to even get angry, so she didn't have much practice with it. So Ed's outbursts and seeing the bruises on not only Carol but Sophia too...it made her livid.
Not only was it wrong, but it brought back painful memories that she'd pushed far back into the depths of her mind.
Both Shane and Merle had been telling her to stay out of it, that she shouldn't interfere, but the night before when she saw Sophia's tear-stricken face and freshly made bruises...it made her see red.
Merle and Daryl both caught the woman before she could do anything to make the situation worse, and dragged her into the woods while she tried her best to fight against them.
She ended up accidentally cutting Daryl on a tree, and it was only then that she stopped when she heard the man's curses of pain. She had immediately gone into action, not thinking when she yanked off her shirt and began applying pressure to the deep wound on his upper arm. She was so worried that it would get infected that she hadn't even realized that she just yanked her top off in front of both Merle and Daryl.
Merle had yet to stop teasing her about it.
When the blood still wouldn't come out from the shirt, she let out a huff before picking it up and throwing it full force at a rock.
In all honesty not only was she angry about her brother's passing but she was also worried. They needed more supplies, more supplies than Glenn could carry on his own. So, they put together a group to head out for Atlanta today, and one of the people going to Atlanta was Merle.
She wasn't just worried for Merle's safety, but the others too. Merle could be reckless, and stupid, but when she tried to volunteer so she could be somewhat of his "chaperone", Shane was quick to turn her down.
Atlanta, once The City of Trees, was now The City of The Dead. It was crawling with geeks and RJ feared that the group would either come back missing a few or not come back at all.
She sat down on a rock, her hands threaded into her hair as she tried to think of a way to get her mind off of the suicide squad that'd be leaving soon.
The sound of footsteps approaching made RJ quickly compose herself. She'd been so focused on her bloody shirt that she hadn't even realized the pair of eyes that'd been watching her.
Her eyes met the last person she expected to come walking up out of nowhere. Daryl watched her, his grip slightly tightening on his crossbow as he worked up the courage to ask, "Ya good?"
It kind of surprised RJ. After her whole no-shirt fiasco, Daryl had been avoiding her like the plague, and if he wasn't avoiding her then he was just awkward. It was a little odd to RJ, especially because he was a grown man, and every time a grown man saw her shirtless, the last thing they did was avoid her. It wasn't like she wanted him to be a creep or anything, she just found it...different.
"Uh—yeah. Yeah, I'm good." She nodded her head quickly, trying to seem as un-awkward as possible.
To say that Daryl was annoyed with himself was an understatement, and Merle's teasing didn't make it any better. He knew that RJ was just trying to help, but when she took off her shirt, something inside him snapped and he knew that he'd have to distance himself.
Not only was that annoying, but he hated how different it felt without her. "For christ's sake, ya only known 'er for maybe a month!" he scolded himself when he found himself disappointed to see her not flipping Merle the bird this morning.
RJ had somehow become a part of The Dixon brother's routine. Merle was mysteriously able to squeeze her in without neither Daryl nor RJ noticing.
Daryl nodded before simply lifting up his crossbow and gesturing towards the woods. "Ya comin'?"
RJ's eyes flickered between him and the woods. "You're not gonna say goodbye to Merle?"
She didn't say it in a judging way, in fact, it didn't sound like she said it in any way. Her monotonous voice made it hard for Daryl to decipher, but he somehow knew that she didn't mean it in a rude or judgmental way.
"Nah, he'll be back." RJ understood how he could be so sure, but she made the mistake of believing her brother was invincible once too. She didn't say anything, simply nodded her head before standing up.
"Imma just go get my things." It wasn't until she mentioned it that Daryl had realized that she didn't even have her belt on. It was weird seeing her without it considering she almost always wore it.
He sent her a simple nod before they both began making their way back to camp. RJ had purposely left her shirt, hoping it'd dry on that rock so she could try again later.
When they got back to camp they saw the Atlanta group getting ready to leave, all of them packing up their bags into a van. They weren't full, only had the necessities that they might need in the—hopefully—short run.
RJ made her way to her tent, ducking inside while Daryl went off and did his own thing. Inside of her tent was a cot with a pillow and a blanket on top of it, her duffel bag that was full of her clothes, and her backpack that had gear inside that she usually took with her when she went on the occasional run with Glenn, but it was pretty rare that Shane would "allow" her to go.
The few times she went was kind of like a "fuck you" to Shane, because to her, she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions, but she also understood how worried Shane was for his best friend and his other best friends family.
She grabbed her belt that held her Beretta and her KA-BAR that was strapped onto it. She'd gotten both from when she was serving in the marine core, and had plenty more back at her apartment in Texas.
If she'd known about the zombie apocalypse, she would've just driven to Georgia with her big bag of guns, ammunition, and knives, but alas, she wasn't a psychic.
Thankfully, Glenn was able to find some wire the other day, and RJ was now able to make better snares than her string snares. The animals were less likely to get free from a wire snare, and RJ was actually pretty excited to give the wires a whirl.
With a huff, missing her babies, she stood up and left the tent with her belt strapped around her waist, and her wire tucked into her back pocket. She wasn't really surprised when she saw Merle standing there with his arms crossed and that annoying smirk he had plastered on his face.
"You and Darlina just weren't gonna say goodbye while y'all went on y'all's little romantic rendezvous?" He teased as the soldier zipped her tent up to keep out the critters, and hopefully the people.
"Killing and skinning animals, yeah, very romantic." RJ stood up at her full height of 5'5 as she stared at the man with full disinterest with the topic that he chose.
"Ohh, well that's just a lil redneck bonding right there." He sniggered as he patted her back with a playful grin.
RJ rolled her eyes before pulling him into a hug. She didn't normally like touching people, ever, but Atlanta was a death trap, and the thought of repeating history scared her. She didn't want to have another Rick situation.
"Don't do anything stupid." The woman mumbled before pulling away.
Merle was a little shocked by the hug but returned the gesture nonetheless. He may have disliked a large majority of the camp, but RJ wasn't just a camp member. She wasn't blood, but to him, she might as well've been.
"Me? Stupid?" Merle chuckled before waving her off jokingly and making his way towards the "suicide squad", as RJ kept referring to them.
"Aye, Jarhead, let's go!" RJ's head snapped over, her eyes glaring slightly as she let out a huff. Of course, out of all the nicknames that he could've chosen, he chose that one. The sound of Merle's teasing cackles echoed through the camp as RJ begrudgingly made her way towards Daryl.
They both shared a look as if telling the other that they were ready while simultaneously asking if the other was ready, before venturing off into the woods.
"Wait!" A small voice called out, causing both hunters to stop in their tracks.
Daryl let out an annoyed grunt when he saw the youngest Grimes booking it at full speed towards them. RJ sent him a glare before muttering, "Just hold your horses, Toots." and walking forward to meet the boy halfway.
"Don't call me that shit." It was payback for the Jarhead thing, but if he wasn't going to stop, then neither would RJ.
The little boy's cheeks were red and his hair was covered in sweat. Nowadays it seemed like he was almost always sweating. He ran around so much in the Georgia heat, and RJ wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"What's up, Bud?" The woman looked down to Carl, taking in his worried eyes.
"I'll be fine, you don't gotta worry about me." She promised as she ruffled his hair, but it didn't stop his anxious and scary thoughts.
"When are you gonna be back?" His blue eyes stared into her green ones, neither of them looking away.
"No later than tomorrow, I promise." She nodded, wiping a few sweat drops from his forehead. The boy sweated almost as much as his father, and that was a lot.
Carl nodded as his head looked downwards, still not sure how he felt about RJ going on the woods with no one but Daryl to protect her. He was still so traumatized by his dad's death, that he was scared to let anyone out of his grasp even for a little bit.
"Hey, look at me." The caring aunt wasn't going to allow her beautiful nephew to worry more than he needed.
"I will be fine. I've got Daryl with me, and I fought bad guys all the time. These dead people are a piece of cake."
Soon, Carl was walking back to his mom and Shane in hopes of maybe getting his mind off of his aunt. He knew that she was capable of protecting herself, but that didn't stop the worry, especially when he still remembered those fresh bruises and blood so vividly.
RJ And Daryl—or Jarhead and Toots—began heading east in hopes of finding something good, something other than squirrels. Of course, that didn't stop them from catching the little shits. RJ had set up a few snares in hopes of catching anything, while Daryl's eyes stayed on the lookout.
For some reason, Daryl refused to leave RJ's side, even when he looked like he'd rather be following whatever trail he was following. He told himself it was because he didn't want her having another breakdown, but deep down he knew it wasn't just that. Daryl being Daryl though, ignored it and basically gave that feeling the finger.
RJ was practically having a field day with the wire, but she was sure to only make a few snares, knowing that she didn't have a lot of recourses to spare.
She trailed quietly behind the hunter, both ducked down as their eyes watched their surroundings.
In an almost weird way, neither of them minded the fact that Merle was gone. They both enjoyed the silence, along with knowing that someone had their back. Not only that but neither of them was getting picked on...at least not out loud.
Something rustled the slightest bit in a bush, causing RJ's hand to shoot out and grab Daryl by the upper arm. The man jolted away, sending RJ a death glare, only to see the woman focused on something ahead of her.
The way the sun hit her face in its golden haze made her features pop, features that any man would describe as beautiful. For instance, the way her green eyes looked almost golden, the way her clear skin looked almost as smooth as marble, even the way her naturally red-tinted lips sat perfectly between her chin and nose.
Just as quickly as Daryl noticed these things, he pushed them away, cursing himself before turning to whatever the Jarhead was looking at.
For a moment, Daryl was confused. He hadn't noticed the slightest movement of the bush like RJ had. He was about to ask what the hell she was on about, but she quickly held up her hand before slowly pointing towards the bush.
Another shake came from the leaves, and Daryl immediately held up his crossbow, aiming it towards the bush.
Seconds later a bolt went sailing through the air when a small, brown, fast rodent went running out but didn't make it far. A bolt stuck out from the squirrel's side, the red fletching acting as a beacon to the hunting humans.
Truthfully, Daryl was a little impressed that the girl noticed the movement, but he'd never admit to it.
They both stood up and Daryl walked over to the–now–dead squirrel. He tore out his bolt before adding the little rodent to his collection of others on a string that rested on his shoulder.
He turned back towards RJ who was watching something in the distance. He turned to see what she'd been staring at, only to see her staring at a blue jay perched up on a tree, watching her as she watched it.
RJ's eyes didn't falter from the beautiful bird. Blue Jays had always been her mother's favorite bird, and it was partly the reason as to why her middle name was Jaden, so she could call her Blue Jay.
At that moment, RJ wanted so desperately to believe that her parents and brother were okay somewhere, watching over what was left of the Grimes family.
Her breath seemed to hitch when the bird flew to a branch much closer to her as if it were testing its limits, trying to get closer.
"Aye," RJ's head snapped over, and the bird flew off. "You good?"
The woman simply nodded her head, taking a quick glance towards the branch, wondering if that had actually happened before turning back East to continue onward with their so-called, "redneck bonding".
"You ever skinned a buck before?" The hunter asked as he crouched down to investigate something in the dirt. RJ crouched beside him, a curious glint in her eyes when she noticed the tracks.
"Nope." She replied as she leaned forward to get a better look at the tracks. The two hunters wordlessly decided that the tracks did indeed belong to a deer before beginning to follow them.
It seemed as though the deer was either plump, or it was walking lazily. The tracks were pretty damn visible, and just seeing the tracks made Daryl excited for the kill. Though, the complete silence was starting to get to him. It was never normally this quiet, and without Merle there to disturb the peace, both of the quiet individuals felt an odd sense of...displacement.
"Who taught you to hunt?" The redneck couldn't stop himself from asking, he just wanted a moment of something other than silence. Although it was comforting, it also felt unnatural for someone not to be annoying him.
"Merle and a few other soldiers." RJ could recall the guys finding out that she'd never hunted before, and upon hearing this, they immediately decided that she needed to learn.
Daryl almost stopped in his tracks. Merle hadn't taught anyone but him to hunt, and even then Daryl had learned from experience while hunting with their dad and uncle Jess. The man thought it was weird, and quite honestly almost didn't believe her.
They continued through the forest, blanketed by the silence like a warm cocoon. It'd been a few hours since they left, and dark clouds began to roll through. It gave them shade from the sun, and the breeze felt amazing on RJ's warm skin.
She tried to resist the urge to climb up a tree and enjoy the breeze, but she simply couldn't. The weather was so beautiful, and the way the world was, you truly had no idea which day would be your last, you had no idea if you'd ever get a chance to enjoy a breeze just as good as this one.
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed when he heard the sound of shoes scraping against the bark. He turned to see RJ climbing up a nearby tree, her boots pushing and her arms pulling her upwards.
"The hell ya doin'?" He glared, annoyed that she was climbing a tree when they had a deer to track. RJ simply ignore him, focused on climbing up to the decently thick branch without falling. "Hey!" His voice was angry and sharp. When he had said it felt weird not being annoyed, he forgot how being annoyed felt, and he took it back almost immediately upon seeing RJ sit on the branch.
"Just relax, Dixon." The woman said as she shut her eyes to enjoy the breeze.
He let out a scoff. "We got a damn trail to follow."
"You ever heard of being zen?" She mentally rolled her eyes, and folded her arms behind her head, laying her back against the tree trunk.
The redneck shifted angrily. The damn woman was taking a siesta in a tree when they had things to be doing. He glared up at her, seeing how calm and unbothered she seemed to be.
"Jus' hurry up. We got shit to do." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the tree trunk.
"You gotta enjoy the breeze every once in a while," His ears perked up curiously as to what nonsense she was spitting. "Never know which day will be your last, so just enjoy it." She snuggled up into the tree trunk, really getting comfortable this time.
"At the expense of dinner? You really want—" Before he could finish, RJ heard the unmistakable sound of something walking. Her eyes snapped open and her back straightened as she took a look around. Upon seeing her actions, Daryl stopped talking immediately, his eyes scanning the surrounding area.
Off in the distance, RJ saw a big brown figure, hunched over, eating something on the ground. She quickly hopped down from the tree, landing on her toes that only emitted the sound of a slight thump. It wasn't loud, and certainly wasn't loud enough to spook the deer, but considering Daryl was only focused on finding whatever the Jarhead had seen, it definitely spooked him. His head snapped over to the crouching woman with his bow aimed at her head but immediately retracted it as he realized it was the annoying brunette.
"The hell—" RJ silenced him by simply holding her pointer finger up to her lips before slowly pointing it in the direction of the deer.
As soon as his eyes caught onto what she was pointing at, he immediately lifted up his crossbow and took aim. RJ watched anxiously, hoping that Daryl wouldn't miss.
A bolt shot out from his crossbow, but he hadn't taken the wind into consideration. Right as the bolt was shot, a gust of wind blew, causing the bolt to shift slightly, and instead of landing in its head or in a major artery, it landed on its side.
The pain immediately caused the deer to run off, as did RJ and Daryl. All three took off, the two hunters on the deer's trail. Daryl was chasing in hopes of catching it, but RJ was chasing it longer and making noise, knowing that the deer would make extremely visible tracks, and they would be able to follow it even in the dark.
When Daryl slowed down, RJ did too. He cursed angrily at not only himself but RJ's wind.
"Some relaxing wind." He growled, sending a glare her way.
She only rolled her eyes, knowing that she enjoyed the wind and that they had a good chance of still finding the deer. It was hurt, and it could only get so far before needing to rest itself.
"We still have tracks, and they're more visible than before." The soldier pointed out as she eyed the deep footprints left behind by the wounded deer.
The redneck simply let out a grunt before looking down at the tracks and following each deeply impressed print.
Once again, he was impressed by what seemed to be RJ's heightened senses, but of course, he'd never admit it.
He continued to seem annoyed for another hour. The deer had officially given them the slip, and it had traveled farther than RJ speculated.
The sun was beginning to set, and while Daryl was looking for a place to camp out for the night, RJ still had her eyes on the tracks and ahead of them.
The sound of the crossbow firing shocked her a little bit, but from her...Special training, she was taught to never flinch. Flinching was a mistake, and mistakes get you killed.
Her head turned to see Daryl nearing a tree with a squirrel pinned to the tree with a bolt. She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding in, before waiting for Daryl to get back to the trail.
"Should set up camp." He grunted, removing the rodent from his bolt. RJ's eyebrows furrowed.
"But I thought you wanted to catch the deer." She gestured in the direction that the trail led with her arms. Confusion filled the woman, hadn't he just been pissed off because she wasn't searching for the damn deer?
"We'll be trippin' over ourselves in the dark. Won't do us no Good, huntin' while we're tired." His attention wasn't on the woman at all. He was focused on untying one of the squirrels. He figured they could each eat a squirrel before sleeping, just for some energy.
RJ let out a soft sigh before beginning to grab branches for a small fire. The nights had been very cold lately, but it was always warm again before noon.
Soon they were both sitting across from each other, both in front of the fire that Daryl had started with his lighter, both roasting a squirrel, both saying absolutely nothing.
The fire crackled and popped, the warmth soothing their chills. Although the fire was an entertaining sight, Daryl's curious mind got the better of him.
"Why're ya always so quiet?" His eyes were focused on the brunette with his eyebrows furrowed slightly in curiosity.
RJ's eyes moved from the cooking squirrel and over to Daryl. Their eyes met as she thought about what to say. She wouldn't dare say the truth, at least not sober.
"If there's no need, then why waste something as beautiful as silence with talking?" She shrugged, trying not to sound like a total idiot. She was extremely tired. Lately, her dreams had started coming back. It always happened when she felt safe somewhere, it was like they always came back just to haunt her when she's finally okay.
Daryl could practically smell the lie, and it was the first time he could actually tell from her. Her body language was off as she shifted uncomfortably, so he decided to drop it.
"How long were ya in the marines?" Honestly, as much as he liked the silence, sometimes too much of it was deafening. So he decided on getting to know the only other person around him.
RJ was kind of shocked that he wanted to know, but she answered regardless. "I joined when I was twenty-two, so.." She mumbled as she began to do the math. "Eight years." She nodded once, confirming to herself that her math was correct.
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed almost immediately. "You're thirty?"
The soldier's, eyes lit up amusingly. That was normally the reaction she got. She still looked so young, and she had only barely stopped getting carded before the world ended.
"Geez, Dixon. I know I'm old but you don't gotta say it." She joked as she began to shift her squirrel. Daryl scoffed, halfway not believing a word she just said. "Want my ID, officer?"
He shook his head, turning his attention back to the squirrel. "Jus' don't look it." He mumbled.
A small lopsided grin made its way onto RJ's face as she pulled her dinner from the fire. It was rather crispy, but it wasn't burnt. Out of habit, she began waving it from side to side at a slow, calm pace.
The movement caused Daryl to look up to see RJ's eyes following the meal as it waved. He snorted, remembering Merle's story. RJ rolled her eyes, knowing exactly why he let out the snort.
"I just...I just don't wanna burn my mouth." She mumbled in defense, seizing her movements.
Something in Daryl had decided a long time ago that RJ wasn't so bad. He liked that she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She did a lot of things for the camp, hell she even washed the Dixon's laundry the other day simply because she didn't like sitting on her ass.
RJ was the only woman he'd met that wasn't afraid to get down and dirty for the sake of survival. He was sure that the other women could do the same, but RJ made sure that they didn't have to, and had the chance to live somewhat normally. As normal as a life could get in the apocalypse anyway.
He often saw the hurt behind her eyes when Lori or Carl would bring up her brother, but she never let them see anything. Since her breakdown that was the most emotion he'd seen from her. There were laughs here and there, but the woman was usually quiet and reserved. He also thought it was odd how she got along with damn near everyone in camp, except Ed of course.
The hunter looked from his squirrel that was cooling off, to the healing cut on his arm. That tree really got him good, and he would've gotten mad at RJ had she not sprang into action so quickly, shutting him up when she took off her shirt. He was still a bit...spooked from that incident. RJ had thought that she hurt him worse than she did, which was why she didn't bother tearing a piece of the shirt off.
RJ saw Daryl eyeing his cut, and the heat rose to her cheeks. She still couldn't believe that she did that. Her hand began tearing off pieces of the squirrel, deciding that it was cool enough now.
The way she could stuff her face so quickly was kind of amusing to Daryl. She was always either really slow or really fast when it came to eating, there was oddly no in between.
"I'm sorry." This time it was RJ who was the first to speak, which was a pretty rare occurrence. Daryl furrowed his eyebrows in the woman's direction, feigning confusion, but he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Your cut I—...I didn't mean to hurt you."
He shrugged while biting into the squirrel. He paused for a second to chew before saying, "Wasn't watchin' where I was goin'." and then swallowing his bite.
RJ stopped for a beat. It was entirely her fault in her opinion. She felt like if she knew how to control her anger better, then he wouldn't have gotten hurt, and there would've never been a scene. Sophia had been crying when she came back, and she felt horrible for making the girl feel any sort of negative way.
Though the way Daryl saw it, he should've known there'd be a tree there. They were in the woods for Pete's sake. Not only that, but a part of him had wished that Merle hadn't stepped in. He knew that there was a chance for RJ to get hit a few times, but there was a larger chance for Ed to get knocked on his ass and have it served to him on a silver platter by the silent soldier.
RJ simply didn't have the energy to argue, so she didn't. She silently and reluctantly nodded her head before finishing up her food and tossing the stick along with the bones left on the stick to the side for the bugs.
"I'll—"
"Nah, I got it." Daryl interrupted. He saw the bags under her eyes, and if anyone understood lack of sleep it was him. He didn't know why she wasn't sleeping, nor did he really care, he just knew that she'd need her rest for tomorrow.
"Okay." She mumbled before turning her body to lay beside the fire. "Just wake me up when you get tired."
?
Daryl had finally begun to feel tired, and it'd been a good four or five hours that he'd been sitting in silence. There were a few times that he'd hear mumbles coming from RJ, or she'd twist and turn restlessly, but other than RJ and the hooting of an owl, it was pretty silent.
Deciding that it was his turn to sleep, he looked around before grabbing a large stick from the ground. It was long enough to poke her from where he sat, and that was exactly what he wanted.
He reached over with the stick to poke RJ—whose back was turned to him—but before the stick could even touch her, her hand shot out, gripping onto the stick. Just a second ago he could hear her soft snores, and the quick movement of her hand was shocking enough to make the hunter jump.
RJ sat up while rubbing her eyes. It had taken her a moment to realize that she was in the woods with Daryl, and not back in that god-forsaken apartment. She was a little embarrassed about what she'd done, but sleeping lightly and knowing when something was in your bubble was something she had implanted in her mind by both her profession and her trauma.
She refused to look Daryl in the eye as she got comfortable in a sitting position. Deciding to just ignore what had happened, Daryl laid himself back, getting ready to get some sleep.
Riley Jaden Grimes was a woman of many wonders, and with each passing day, Daryl Dixon was becoming dangerously more and more curious.
The quiet, headstrong, mysterious, annoying soldier had unknowingly caught his attention.