Chapter 22
The Hunter's Apprentice
The next day I began apprenticing with Aaron. There were some days when Dad would take me out himself but in retrospect, I think I preferred Aaron's company over his.

Dad, for all his good qualities, wasn't a very accomplished hunter. He kept getting side-tracked with walkers and all that. It was like some kind of OCD for him but any time he saw one, he immediately had to kill it. I mean, I knew they were dangerous and all for other people, but if it was unnecessary and if it hadn't seen either of us, then I say, just let it go about its merry way. When he was constantly getting up like this to go off those wandering bodies it tended to scare away edible game more than it would have otherwise.

And then there were his jokes—Oh my god, his jokes!

Every time it got to be too quiet for my dad, he figured it was the perfect opportunity to bust out with some twisted gag from out of nowhere.

"Hey Judy, how many tickles does it take to tickle an octopus?"

"Dad, please." I muttered rolling my eyes for the thousandth time.

"Ten tickles." Then he would pull this weird face I couldn't describe and lean towards me like it was the smartest moment of his life. "Ten tickles, Judy."

Even if they were corny, even if they were the worst puns I'd ever heard in my life, he always managed to make me snort with laughter, and it was that much more galling because it meant he won and despite my best efforts I still lost!

I think he kept some kind of secret book of over a thousand Dad Jokes stashed away somewhere so he'd have new ones every day we were out there. Even if it was a little ridiculous I endured his quips because they were rare moments when I could just bond with my parent.

Even so, for anyone who knows how to hunt, they know that it is a skill that requires patience, stealth, and silence. It's all for nothing if you are constantly rampaging around to kill other things. And with a dad who's eager to bust out with a corny gag every chance he's given it's a little difficult to keep a low profile for animals.

At least Dad was good with snares. Those were things he excelled enormously at and if it weren't for those, we'd probably be returning home empty-handed quite often.

Thankfully, there was a lot of work around town that required his attention most of the time, leaving me with Aaron.

With both our help we began hunting much larger game than I was used to and it was nice being able to haul more than I could typically carry back.

This was what I had missed when I used to go gathering with John. On my own, it just didn't feel like I could get very much done. I still missed my mentor and friend but Aaron was good company and still offered to teach plenty to me.

I showed him my favorite fishing spots and, with his help, I was able to haul back three times as much as I could carry on my own. In fact, we were even allowed a wagon and a horse. The amount of food we brought back was a smorgasbord I could only have daydreamt of and by the end of the first day with him I had to admit that having a capable partner really did make a difference, not to mention the perks of working with one of the town leaders.

It was so nice not having to keep my activities in the forest a secret anymore. While the discovery of my strange divertive power remained confidential between Enid and myself, there was a terrible feeling that the more freedom given to me, the more likely that secret would be discovered. So as time wore on I wondered more and more if I should just come out and tell Aaron.

There had already been quite a few close calls, and I had saved Aaron on a number of occasions with my knives and slingshot, but it seemed as though nothing immensely dangerous had happened to really warrant suspicion from him about me.

He was my hunting partner so perhaps it was time to extend some trust to him. He already trusted me with his life if he was willing to drag a kid along each and every time he left the walls for walker roaming grounds; wasn't it only fair? My luck was running low and I knew it. Eventually I would have to tell him or he would figure things out on his own. It was just trying to find a way to do it that was hard.

I considered this choice as the two of us gathered mushrooms and black berries. We filled seven whole gallon sized baskets of the sweet fruit, enough to give each family one quart of it. We even found more truffles but only enough to divide it up between the two of us and our families—oh and Negan, of course.

"The berries should make the rest of them happy. I think we deserve a bit of a bonus for all our hard work so we'll hang on to the truffles." Aaron announced, popping one of the purple fruit in his mouth. We lounged on the cart, taking a well-earned break to enjoy the day and eat some sandwiches. It was much nicer having a partner and I swung my legs back and forth in satisfaction.

"You know we could dig up some of those bushes and grow them in town." He suggested. "That'd make things a little safer, and we wouldn't have to come so far out to find them."

I pondered this. "Yeah… I guess that makes sense."

"You don't want to?" He asked, noting my tone.

"No. Of course I do." I said hastily, but he seemed to see through me and I had to amend my words. "Well… I guess I just like coming out here."

He chuckled as he looked at the bushes in thought. "You're made for this."

I glanced sideways towards him and thought this may have been as good a time as any to tell him the truth.

"Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I… want to tell you something."

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

"Well… I-I just wanted to tell you…" I studied him, considering how I was going to word this enormous secret when my heart suddenly lost its nerve. "I just wanted to say… I'm really happy I've got help now."

He snorted in agreement. "Yeah you can say that again. Help with this is always welcomed."

"Yeah… it sure is."

Inside I scorned myself endlessly.

Coward! I yelled. Spineless coward!

"Mrs. Byron? It's Judith. I've got your delivery today."

Mrs. Byron was one of our oldest citizens and one of the nicest, too. In a way, I viewed her a bit as a sort of grandmotherly figure and sometimes took care to reserve special goods for her that would help her with her aging body. I heard her coming to the door and stepped back as she swung the screen open.

"Well hello there, honey." She stepped aside and I walked in, setting the supplies down on the dining room table.

"Hello. I've got some things for you." I gestured to the crate. "A plucked pheasant, lemons, mushrooms, a full jar of honey, and some white willow tea to help with your joints." I paused as I picked up a concealed container, wrapped carefully in brown paper and tied off with a string. I'd been extremely cautious while preparing this one. I'd heard about the rising challenges her pain brought on and had consulted Vanessa about it. I didn't know a whole lot about glaucoma but she had instructed me on how to grow and prepare a treatment that might've helped.

"I also found this to help with the pain in your eyes."

When she glanced in the bag she squeaked in surprise at the sight of it. "Is this… don't tell me this is…" She couldn't seem to finish the idea, but I nodded in confirmation.

"I found a glade where they were growing wildly. I found some instructions on how to dry and prepare it."

"Judith, you haven't been—"

"No." I said, quickly waving the idea out of her mind before she could say what we were both thinking of. "No, I just heard it would help with what you're going through right now. If you don't want it I'll throw it out right now, but I just thought…"

She rested a hand on my cheek appreciatively, another sentence cut off before it was finished. "You went through all this trouble just for me?"

"Of course. It's what I'd want someone to do for me if I was under all that pain."

There were tears sparkling in her eyes just then and she turned towards her kitchen. "Oh, you're such a good girl, Judith. Let me give you something for all your hard work."

"That's alright, Mrs. Byron. You don't have to give me any—"

"Oh, pish tosh!" She declared, coming around the corner with something in her hands. "I was planning to give it to you anyways, but now I want to give it to you even more. Besides which, I can never freely give anything to whomever I want to these days. You already do so much to help everyone—and at your age, too. You should be playing rather than worrying about all of us."

I smiled, shaking my head at the thought. "Honestly, I like doing it. It's fun."

"Well you've definitely earned something sweet for yourself."

She put a tin container in my hands and I opened it to find creamy white cookies that looked like dollops of hardened frosting topped with purple syrup.

"I used those black berries you gave me." She said proudly.

"Oh, those were for you to enjoy." I responded with slight disappointment.

"I did enjoy them and this is the least I can do for all the help you've given me and everyone during these hard years."

"Really, I'm happy if everyone else is happy. Whatever I can do to contribute is all I want."

She held one of my hands, patting it affectionately. "You're so smart and brave. Everything you do is so brave, sweetheart."

I shook my head, feeling guilty for her kind words because there were so many things I was hiding from these people. If they knew the truth, would any of them ever trust me again?

I looked sadly at the gift in my hands. "I'm not. Really I'm not."

She only kept smiling warmly, before leaning forward and enveloping me in a hug. It was so warm and so sincere that it only made me feel worse. She shouldn't have been so kind to me. If she knew the truth she would never want to be kind to me again. No one would.

Just then Mari walked in.

I swallowed at the sight of her, my heart rushing in my chest. Today she wore a green top with yellow embroidered bees and yellow pants to match. Her hair was its natural curly brunette lochs and bounced whenever she moved.

Sometimes, I really couldn't believe how pretty she looked.

She smiled when she saw me and came forward, offering her most recently finished project up. It was a plaid long sleeved button up shirt for one of the men, maybe Aaron or Eric. It was well sewn and I knew it would look good on either of them.

I nodded my approval and she turned it to bring my attention to the back of the collar where a tag would have gone had it been made eleven years before now. It was sewn in the shape of a simplified butterfly—or a sort of personal logo embroidered in green thread. She had drawn the logo carefully with her initials to look like a butterfly.

"M.Y.R.?" I asked curiously.

"Mari Yolanda Reese."

Mrs. Byron smiled proudly to her apprentice and chanced a careful hand on the girl's shoulder. "I showed her the little embellishment I always put on my creations and had her make one for herself. She's very proud of it."

"I like it." I told her directly. "I think you're a lot like a butterfly, Mari. You're always so colorful and you had to accept a lot of change lately. I think it might be your spirit animal."

She smiled warmly and struggled with the thanks she had been learning from Eric. "Thank you… for your kind words." She still struggled with her accent, but it was coming along nicely.

"You're welcome."

Just then she pulled something else out and handed it to me. It was a macramé friendship bracelet with a green triangle pattern and wooden red beads. It was like the kind I'd seen in pictures from old preteen girl novels.

"A friendship bracelet." Mari explained.

"Oh, this is so nice. Did you make it as well?"

"She did." Mrs. Byron announced. "I watched her place every knot. She's very proud of that one."

"I'll wear it always." And I promptly tied it over my left wrist, holding it up where I could admire it. "I love it! It makes me want to give you something now."

She looked so happy when I accepted it and she demonstrated by tangled her fingers through mine so she could hold my hand. "Friends." She announced with my hand in hers.

I nodded, blushing from the contact. "Okay, yeah. Friends."

Yes. We were already good friends.

Author's notes: Two chapters today since the first one wasn't that long. We're one chapter away from the real good stuff you guys, from here on out it's going to start getting really interesting.

I love the Rick jokes you can find on pinterest and decided to work a few of those in here. If you guys haven't seen those yet, you should check them out, they're hilarious.

And for those of you wondering, even though she didn't exclusively say what it was I think most of you can work out what it was that Judith gave Mrs. Byron. I read that it can grow wildly but it's very rare. And then there's the whole Zombie Apocalypse so who can exactly predict what that might do to the ecosystem and what not? For all anyone knows it dropped from someone's pocket as they were running away or were zombified and it was on them while they were wandering around and conditions were well enough for a bush just sprouted right from the spot. Being a witch and herbalist I'm sure Vanessa knew a thing or two about how to prepare it medicinally and taught Judith a thing or two about it.

Thank you everyone for your amazing reviews. Keep them coming! :D