"First things first, 'though both our weapons use arrows, they're still two different objects with their own way to use'em. Lucky for you I just so happen to know how to use all kinds of weapons includin' " he gestures at the bow I'm holding "your shitty bow that's prolly' self-made, huh"

I blushed in embarrassment behind my mask but nodded nonetheless, which earned me a mocking smirk. 'Asshole' I thought but didn't I was offended. I knew that even though he was a dick, he was still my temporary teacher, so I'll need to suck it up if I wanna improve my skills.

"Show me how you use your bow, didn't get to see you usin' it properly on the road" I did as he said, and looked in the direction where we set up all the targets. There were wooden targets at different distances, the hardest ones were placed farther away on top of a tree. Awkwardly, I tried to ignore the gazes of the people on the porch who believe they were subtly watching us, and lifted up my bow, pulling back an arrow.

"No no no, stop- just stop" I stopped what I was doing, arms falling limp to my sides, and looked back at the man who was shaking his head.

"You gotta put some more space between your legs," he said while kicking my legs to separate them more, stopping till satisfied with the form "-and then you have'ta bring your bow and arrow closer to your cheek- or well, ya mask." He said while giving an example, pretending he was holding a bow and arrow himself. I watched the action raptly, immediately improving my stance to which he nods.

"Okay, now I wanna see you try and hit the one in the far back"

"The one next'ta the sunflower?"

"Yeah yeah"

" 'Kay"

The lesson continues like that, with him having to move one of my body parts whenever I break stance, and then him pointing towards which targets I have to hit. As the minutes pass, I start to forget that there were other people watching, my body relaxing somewhat whenever I succeed in hitting some of the harder targets. I haven't been able to hit any of the targets on the trees though, since it just so happens that I'm better when it comes to aiming at targets ahead or lower than me, but whenever I have to look up to aim, I suddenly have shit skills.

Daryl seems to find this amusing and tries to get under my skin every time I fail. 'He seems to really enjoy making fun of me' which I find to be understandable since he didn't want to teach me in the first place. The only reason he ended up agreeing was because of peer pressure from the others in his group. I would feel sympathy but...

"Ha, I've seen 10 year olds shoot better than that"

-yeah, I don't feel sympathy for him at all.

"Woah! Did you see that? I did it!" I cheered once I hit one of the targets on the tree. I don't notice the way that Daryl seems to blink in surprise at my sudden outburst, since throughout our lesson, the only noticeable reaction I've given him was a silent 'yes!' whenever I hit a target, or a quiet 'tsk' whenever I failed.

"Haha, not bad me, not bad at all" I smiled to myself, and then finally remembered the other figure at my side and tensed. 'Oops, uh..' pretending as if nothing happened, I continued to hit more targets, ignoring the calculating gaze set on me. Inside, I was berating myself for my childish reaction, my face flushed red in embarrassment. 'Became too comfortable there' I thought to myself, glad that Daryl didn't point out the out-of-character reaction on my part, continuing to give tips on my aim.

Once about 2 hours passed, Daryl decides then to wrap up for the day.

"Not bad kid, 'though we gotta get you a new bow. The one you got looks like it not gonna last another day. Seriously, how did you manage to kill anything with that thing"

I ignored the insult at the end, focusing on the subtle praise. I've learned over the 2 hours with the red-neck that something as small as 'not bad' is the closest thing to a compliment you can get from the man.

"Yeah, thanks for the lesson. Learned a lot today from you, you're a great teacher Mr. Dixon" I said to the man, which earned me an eye roll. I've taken to calling him that, which seems to earn a negative reaction every time. He hasn't told me to stop yet, so I continued to do so. Until now that is...

"Stop callin' me that. Sounds stupid, Daryl is fine"

"Ah, right. Mr. Daryl" he cringed at the new title. "Drop the Mr and then we're good" I paused and then nodded.

"Alright, Daryl," I said plainly, which earned me a satisfied nod before he made his way to go off to who knows where. I then looked back towards the porch which had the grimes family plus Sophia, who seems to be playing with the cats along with Carl. The married couple seems to be cuddled up on the couch, looking peaceful, although I catch the gaze of one Rick Grimes.

Walking towards the porch, my direction set on the ex-cop.

Once faced with him, along with the eyes of everybody else on the porch, he opens his mouth to talk.

"Is there something you need?" He asks, a bead of sweat on his cheek. I nod, ignoring the curious glances the kids on the other side are sending me.

"I need to talk about a few topics with everyone. I think they would be more comfortable with you approaching them, however. You seem like the person everybody seems to listen to" I say, my voice kept neutral to somewhat calm their nerves, although it doesn't seem to work as I watch the couple send each other grim faces.

"Oh, well, yeah! I can do that, just have one question though. The topic you want to talk about isn't anything bad right?" He smiles at me, although it seems forced and doesn't reach his eyes. His wife bites her lip nervously.

"Don't worry, it isn't anything really serious or anything... I guess. Although some may not like it, depends honestly" this doesn't seem to reassure the two. If anything, they seem to become more nervous.

"... Right. I'll go do just that. Should I tell everybody to gather here in the living room again?"

"Yeah, that would be great thank you." He nods and gets up from his seat, untangling his hand from around his wife's neck. As he makes his way to one of the other houses where some of the others are staying, I turn to make my way inside, before I'm stopped by a tug on my sleeve.

Looking towards what caused the tug, I find the girl, Sophia, standing on my right. Cocking my head, I say as non-threatening as I can to the meek kid "Yes?"

"Uhm, hi" She finally says. There's silence, and with a glance to my side, I see Lori watching us two with a curious face, although her hand twitches the longer the silence lasts.

"Hi." I reply since she seems to need encouragement to say whatever she needs to say.

"... thank you... for uhm, the food and help take care of me and the other's injuries" she says shyly, shuffling in place. "The food you made was very nice, and your home is very pretty... your cats too" she continues to say, fidgeting with her stuffed animal. I just continued to nod patiently.

I'm used to the shy types since my friend Zoe was very introverted. She always took longer than most of the other kids when it came to talking, which is probably why she was a better listener than a talker since it takes so long for her to just say one sentence. Compared to me who can say a shit ton in a minute, my mouth always finds topics to talk about in heavy detail.

"Yeah, your cats are cool! I haven't seen one in so long, but even before they would always just run away from me, Lily and Ace don't run from me though" Carl says from behind the other girl, popping up after she said her part. He was more confident, not taking nearly as long to say his part. Sophia just nods, not saying anything more.

"uh, I'm glad you liked their company." I nod to them, before making my way away to the door, not feeling up to talking to the other kids around my age. Don't want to slip up any more than I already have around the adults. Peering at the expression on the dark-haired woman's face, I can tell that she's more observant than people take her credit for.

Once I make it to my room, I finally let out a breath that I was holding in. I make sure my door is locked before grabbing my things and stuffing them in my bag. I pause once I pass by my desk which has a round mirror hanging above it.

I stare at myself, the mask still on. My hands travel toward the object attached to my face and make a move to take it off.

Staring back at me in the mirror is a young round face. Sharp dark brown eyes, wide and curious. Black curly bangs that frame her face from the sides, the rest of her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Pale brown skin, that's smooth up until you reach the left cheek which sports a ragged scar reaching down towards her neck. It's old, by years it seems.

I move my mouth to make an act of me talking, and the scar stretches uncomfortably against my skin. I wear a pondering look as my mind starts to think back to Sophia. Sophia with her short blond hair, brown innocent eyes, face littered with freckles, and standing at around 5'0. The two of us are practically opposites. The only thing we probably have in common is the fact that we both have shitty fathers. Other than that, you could never possibly imagine that we were around the same age.

I sigh before putting my mask back on, making sure it's attached properly. I then heft my bag over my shoulder and make my way to my door and downstairs.

'No point in comparing'

Once I made it to the living room, all eyes snapped towards my figure. 'They seem nervous' I quirked a brow but didn't say a word as I made my way to sit down.

"So, what didn't you want to talk about with us all Vi?" Rick decides to say as soon as I sit down. He and a few others sent a curious looks at the bag I carried but didn't bother to ask.

"I thought that it would be a good idea to take a good portion of you on a little trip out there. I just need to complete a few tasks and mapping out, then we can make our way back" this earned a series of looks from everyone.

"What kinda tasks are you talkin'?" Daryl asks skeptically.

"That's confidential"

" 'Course it is" he rolled his eyes causing Rick to send him a scolding look.

"Uhm, how long is this trip supposed to be exactly?" Glenn asks nervously.

"About a week or more"

After saying this, everybody reacts as one. "A week!?" "Come on, out there for that long?" "What do you mean or more?" "I don't know about this guys..."

Rick seems to try and get everyone to calm down and listen.

"Hey- hey everybody calms down now-"

"I don't want to go back out there!"

"Guys-" Rick seems to wear a stressed look the longer people ignore him. His wife is also sending him worried looks.

"Is this just suspicious to me?"

"Let's think rationally now-" He seems to be getting a little red.

"I think I wanna sit this one out-"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP" andddd, he snapped. I watched in amusement as everyone finally went silent. 'He seems like the leader-type, no surprise there to be honest.' The kids seem overwhelmed by the adults not paying much attention to them.

"Now, let's hear out our host, I'm sure they would have given us more details if you all didn't start talking over one another like heathens" this seems to get everybody to pay attention. Even Daryl decided to not snap back at the man with a retort.

"Rick's right, continue what you were saying Vi" Surprisingly it's Shane who says this. This earned confused glances from everyone else since just yesterday this man was the wariest of me of them all.

"I have a list of people I want to take with me. Them being, Shane," Shane doesn't seem surprised.

"Rick," Lori holds onto her husband's hand tightly at his name being called, Carl just looking back at his father with a nervous expression.

"Daryl" the said man only scowls but also doesn't seem much surprised.

"Glenn," the Asian man just sighs in defeat, hoping his name wouldn't be called.

"T. Dog" He seems resigned as well, although there doesn't seem to be many fights left in him.

"And finally, Andrea" She looks up in surprise, probably not expecting her name to be called. Her being called also seems too surprise everyone else. But Amy seems to be upset about this decision.

"Why does my sister have to go?" "Amy-" "No, Andrea I almost lost you when you went to Atlanta with the others, I don't want to risk that happening again." She looks back at me "If you need someone else, then take me!" her sister immediately goes to object. Before they could start arguing, I step in.

"Don't worry, your sister would be fine. I'm planning on leaving some walkie-talkies back here so you can check in every now and then. I have guns as well, so we'll be ready whenever we encounter any trouble. I'll also make sure to leave some back here for those who are staying, but I think that maybe I and the others that are experienced with guns and knives should give you all a crash course." Amy seems to still be against the idea of her elder sister going, but Andrea gives her a look, and the girl caves in.

"You don't mean everyone, as in the kids as well," Lori says skeptically. Both Sophia and Carl perk up at this, looking excited to be given weapons to use. Carol also seems to not like the idea of the kids using them.

"Yes, unless you would rather want them being left defenseless"

"We won't have to worry about that since they'll be staying by our sides the whole time" The dark-haired woman retorts. Rick seems to want to step in.

"No, I don't think you realize what kind of world we're in now" She narrows her eyes at this, "I know full well what kind of world we're in. I've seen it with my own two eyes"

I send her a plain look. "Really? Then let me tell you this. Just yesterday, I was about to go looting a town nearby, and what do I find? A group of people, mainly just men, armed with guns and planning on looting the same place I was about to enter" She seems to grow nervous at the look in my eyes but I continue.

"I then overheard one of the men joking with their mates, saying that they would love to find some women around to please them" this makes all the women in the room grimace. "What do you think would happen if they come along here and find any of you? There are no rules to stop them after all. No police force. As I said, they were armed, and there were multiple of them." I look her in the eyes.

"I'm not going to risk Sophia or Carl being held captive and not being able to get themselves out. So yes, I do believe they should also be involved in these lessons" She doesn't seem to have anything to say to that. Neither does anybody else. The kids just seem happy to be allowed to learn how to defend themselves, not really understanding just what I meant when I talked about the men looking for women to 'please' them.

"Ah, then can I maybe ask why you're planning on taking so many of of our manpower? If it happens that those men find us somehow, then what do we do?" Dale asks after the short silence.

"Don't worry about them, I saw them go the opposite direction of where we are. I just made them an example for the unlikely chance that they do happen to find this place. Plus, that's why I made sure that we had walkie-talkies here as well. I have a room where there are cameras that look over the area surrounding my property, so if you happen to spot anybody dangerous looking nearby on one of the cameras then immediately tell us and we'll come back as fast as we can." He seems to ponder over everything, and then just nods.

"That's fine with me, how about everyone else?" Dale asks, which earns him a series of nods, everybody seeming satisfied with what was said.

"When we leaving?" Daryl asks right after, which I smirk under my mask. Grabbing my bag, I look back at the man. "Today at 1:30 pm".

His face contorts into disbelief, while the others included in the trip rush their way to pack. Daryl just scowls before moving on as well to pack.

It's currently around 12 pm. I look towards the kids, approaching them who have both their mothers at their side. They all stare at me as I walk toward them.

"Might as well teach you guys as much as I can now. Go wait outside and I'll grab a few things for you all, won't take long" they nod and do as I say.

I then make my way to the basement, unlocking the locks with the key I keep on me, and make my way to where I keep all the guns I've collected. On the other side of the closet full of guns, there's a large chest where I also keep any daggers or knives I find. I grab an empty bag left in a corner and then start packing it full of different kinds of weapons.

'Aight, so I got about an hour and a half to make them at least a little decent.'

"First thing you gotta know how to use, is a knife. Or dagger. Whatever you wanna call them" I hand each person a knife, giving them the one that I deem suitable for their figure. I then hold my knife up, showing them how you should hold it.

"Make sure to hold it like this- no Carl, more like- right that's it," I say while moving his fingers to the right placement. I correct some of the other's way of holding it, before continuing to give them tips on how they should swing their knives.

"I thought we were gonna learn how to use a gun" Carl grumbles a bit, Sophia also looks disappointed. I sigh.

"Yeah, well it's best to learn how to use knives first since there's the chance that you might run out of bullets or you somehow drop your gun. We'll get to guns after I go down the basics on this" they both nod, and the rest of the lesson about knives goes smoothly. It seems that Carol and Lori learn faster compared to the others. Amy stumbles up a bit, she seems to just be naturally clumsy. Then there are the two kids who can't seem to focus much, and the old man who can't really move as naturally as the others because of his old age.

Once we move on to guns, the others finally arrive with their things ready. Me not feeling in the mood to continue teaching, hand over the job to both Rick and Shane, who both are professionally experienced in this since they're cops. Daryl could also help out, but he chooses not to. Glenn and T. Dog come in to give some tips, while Andrea who is also still new to guns starts to participate in the lessons by her little sister's side.

I try not to cringe when I notice the way Andrea starts to look at Shane, knowing I'm not the only one who notices with the way Amy seems to try and hide her giggles.

'Gross' I scrunch up my face.

Once it hits 1:30 pm, those who are staying go to stand where the vehicles are. Those who are leaving with me start to say their goodbyes, me just waiting in the RV. I watch out the window as some of them start to get teary-eyed, which I promptly rolled my eyes at.

When all the goodbyes are sent, they start to enter the vehicles they'll be traveling in. We've decided to only take the RV and Daryl's motorcycle.

Shane was driving the RV while Daryl took to his bike. I sat beside Shane, which Rick at first wanted to drive but Shane rejected the idea and I just shrugged. I need to be in the front seat so I can give direction on where I plan on taking us. Shane seems to wear a mostly neutral expression, while the others send nervous glances between us two. I ignore them.

Once we're all in our seats and making our way out the gate, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. In... and out. I open my eyes.

'Time to head out'