oOo
Diana wiped her sweaty brow with the hem of her shirt and plopped down next to her equally as sweaty father and immaculate mother.
The self-defense thing had been particularly tough that morning, seeing as the weather seemed straight out of Hell itself with only a slight breeze now and again, not to mention they started working on their stamina and endurance as well and that was always a mess of overheated body parts and sweat pouring rivers down one's body.
She groaned at the creakiness of her movements as she stretched her arms over her head and bent forward to stretch her hamstrings. She was going to be so sore from this, she just knew it. Worse thing was, she still had archery with Daryl after lunch. She'd been very physically active nowadays, and she was starting to hate it. Sure, she would be grateful or whatever at some point, but at what cost?
"…and she told me they got out by the skin of their teeth, can you imagine?"
"C'um caralho, filho da puta. They don't fucking look like the type."
"I know! I was so shocked, I thanked God we didn't go through that. But you see? Her bitch of a sister-in-law, 'cause that's what she is or was-"
Diana steeled herself and interrupted their conversation, "Hey, mami, pai, I got a question." She gulped hard and looked up at the two pairs of eyes that turned to her and very carefully formulated her next sentence, "I heard Glenn's volunteered to go on an experimental supply run to the city tomorrow, since he knows it really well and all that, and he'll be off after dawn breaks. Can I go?"
Sam shrugged nonchalantly and teased. "Sure, wishing you boyfriend good luck?"
Diana raised her eyebrows in surprise at the easy compliance while ignoring his comment completely. "Really?" Who knew they'd let her go on a run without making a big deal of it.
Irene narrowed her eyes and elbowed Sam on the side as he mindlessly tried to scratch an unreachable spot on his back. "I think she's asking if she can go with him, not see him off," she told her husband.
Diana had to wince at the way her father doubled back and widened his eyes at his wife and then her. She started chewing on the inside of her cheek out of agitation.
"You fucking joking? There's no way in hell you're going anywhere near that damn city, at least not alone with chinaboy, no fucking way in hell, you hear me?!" Sam barked down at Diana, having stood from his foldable chair and using the extra height to further intimidate her. "Might just take your fucking pony out of the rain right now."
"Okay, sit down, Samuel, Jesus Christ, do you want the entire camp to hear you?" Irene tugged her husband down until his butt hit the cloth of the chair. "You don't have to yell at the girl like that, Santo Cielo." Then she turned on Diana. "But really, what was going on inside your head when you thought of that?
"You wanna go play Robin Hood? Wanna go around shooting at zombies just to prove you can, is that it? 'Cause if that's it, I will confiscate that thing from you, you hear me, I will take it away and only give it back when you run out of silly ideas and suicidal schemes. You've gotten your way too many times lately, and ignoring the fact that your way worked more or less, you gotta start acknowledging the people around you and how those ideas of yours affect them. And you gotta acknowledge that we are your parents and we are responsible for your safety and well-being.
"You wanna go off into the city with Glenn, yes? And what if something happens to you out there and you get hurt or worse. What if you die out there, and we have to live with the heartbreak of having our daughter dead before her time and the knowledge and the guilt that we were the ones who let you go on your little crusade, is that what you want? Is that it?"
Sam's lips popped open as he stared at his wife; she was on the edge of her seat, posture rigid and eyes so full of pain and rage that it hurt to look at.
Diana shrunk in her seat with guilt and looked at her with wide, unblinking eyes. "I just- you know, I thought I could go with him and swing by Godmother's place, see what's what."
Sam and Irene shared a look at that confession. Irene dragged in a shuddered breath, leaned back in her seat and faced Diana again. "It's been three weeks since we left that place," she said simply.
"And?" Diana asked, confused. What did that have to do with anything?
"And my sister's smart, but she's unpredictable. She could've very well barricaded herself at home or left the city like those whose cars are blocking the highway. Who knows where they could be by now?" Irene sighed with resignation. It seemed she'd given the situation more thought since they had last discussed it. She was basically admitting to having given up.
That didn't sit very well with Diana. She wanted to at least know if they were home, if they were, she could bring them back to the quarry and have at least one good thing happen.
And if they weren't there, well, there really was no knowing where they could be, dead or alive, and it would make no more of a difference than not going at all.
She swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay." She inhaled and exhaled deeply and changed the subject, knowing it would do them no good to linger on those lines of thought. "Pai, how's it looking with your meds?"
"Ah, yeah, about that. It's not bad-"
"Liar," Diana stated plain and simply, "I checked your things last time I updated my kit, just to make sure. You got less than a dozen tablets left, you've been rationing them out."
"Then why'd you ask?" Sam leaned back in his chair with crossed arms, clearly frustrated.
"'Cause I wanted to see if you'd lie about it." Diana shrugged and her brow furrowed. "Which you did. You gotta be honest with me about this, pai, this is important stuff. You're drinking a lot more water than usual and you get tired much easier, I notice these things, I was taught to. You think I wouldn't keep a keen eye on you? My patient número um?"
"But I'm not one of your damn patients, I'm your father, and you shouldn't have to worry about me, you got other things to worry about."
Diana scoffed. "At least I don't have to worry about you two smoking anymore." She grinned at their downtrodden expressions at the mention of their nicotine withdrawal. "But that's beside the point. You know, one of the reasons I also wanted to go with Glenn is so I can stock up on those things. Alice's also run out of anti-depressants, and if I went, I wouldn't have to burden Glenn with that, you know?"
"No." Irene's word was rock solid, as was her face. As if the lines of it had been carved on there.
Sam leaned towards Diana and rested a hand on her knee. "Just do what we tell you this one fucking time, okay?"
When Diana nodded, he squeezed her knee in that way he always did that made it feel like the patella was going to pop right off, and she jerked away from him with an embarrassing squeak.
"If you even think about going over our heads, I will tie your ass down in that tent, you do understand that, don't you?"
Diana huffed and gave him a lopsided smile. "You'd have to beat me first, old man."
"Oh yeah, well, this old man still got some moves left in him," Sam boasted and flexed one of his large biceps.
Diana flexed as well, using her other hand to push the muscle up so it was bigger. "Look at this, look at this."
Irene joined in on it by flexing her own arm, where a sizeable little ball of muscle took shape and she flashed it proudly.
Two seconds after, Felix appeared, droplets of water on his locs, dripping off with each step. He was clutching his abdomen and wore a twisted expression of pain and panic, eyebrows furrowed and a glint of tears in his eyes.
"Mãe," he called pitifully and kneeled by the woman's chair as soon as he was in reach.
Irene swept the boy's locs from his face and asked what was wrong.
Diana and Sam also scooted forward, worried.
"I was washing up and then- and then I got this pain here." He rubbed the center of his belly and brought another hand to the side of his back, under the shoulder blade. "And here, and it won't- it won't go away."
"It's probably nothing," Irene comforted and kissed his forehead while rubbing the spot on his belly.
Felix had always been scared of sudden pains and would freak out at every little bump or discoloration he'd find on himself. He was the type to type up his symptoms on the internet and start crying when the result was something as farfetched as cancer. Paranoid to a fault.
"You eaten anything since breakfast?" Diana pondered, bringing the boy's attention to her.
He shook his head.
"The pain, where is it? And what kind of pain?"
"It's right in the middle, here, and it's- it's- I don't know, dull and sometimes there's this worse pain and-"
"And your back? Uhh, does it hurt when you breathe?" A shake of the head. "Okay, umm, you were washing up, right? Did you lie down afterwards, like we did last time, to dry up?" A nod. "You're gonna die."
"Diana Letícia!" Irene slapped her arm.
She cowered away and stuck her tongue out. "Just kidding, I'm joking, you're just probably hungry, and some rock was probably digging into your back and you didn't notice."
"Yeah, I was lying more on this side and there was a something sharp there," Felix said sheepishly and nodded at her. "Thanks, I guess, fucking asshole."
"The gratitude on this guy."
Irene slapped his cheek lightly for his foul language. "Even so, sometimes people just get pains that don't really mean anything, you know that. You're not gonna die because your head hurts or something like that, 'kay?"
"I know that, I just like precaution," the boy defended and stood up.
"And where's your sister?" Sam asked as the boy was walking away.
Felix turned to point at Diana and smirked, recovered from his panic. "Right there." Sam gave him a dad look and the boy responded, "She was gonna ask Lori about the school thing, if she wanted any help today. I'm going there now."
"Tell her to come eat lunch."
Felix offered a thumbs up and jogged away, all traces of fear melted away.
Diana sighed, that boy could be such a drama queen. That and a hypochondriac.
She slapped her hands on her knees and stood. She considered whether or not to change from her NASA shirt into something clean, and after a quick sniff of her armpit, all uncertainty was eliminated; she smelled rank, and she'd washed up only the night before. Stupid hot weather, stupid sweating, stupid period hormones.
Diana left her parents to their resuming conversation and zipped the tent flap close behind her. She undressed, wiped herself down with the last of her baby wipes and changed into a tank top with the Wonder Woman logo stamped on the front and mid-thigh denim shorts; it was too damn hot for pants. Before she could forget, she shaved her armpits with her brother's razor and rolled some deodorant on.
It was hard to keep up with hygiene these days, even if it was frivolous stuff like shaving, but it felt normal, as if the world was still the same as before and nothing had changed. Except her legs, fuck her legs, she wasn't shaving that shit.
She stepped outside and dropped her sweaty clothes in the laundry bag by her parents' tent before undoing and redoing her ponytail.
Many times she'd wished she'd inherited her dad's African hair instead of the tight waves from her mom's side. She'd envied the versatility of Alice's and Felix's natural hair since their babyhood. She had learned from her dad how to do a myriad of styles, while the only thing she could do to her own hair was a ponytail and a simple braid. But, admittedly, it was harder to style your own hair than others'.
Diana bid those thoughts away and started helping with lunch. Not long after, Felix reappeared with Alice and they all ate together, talking loudly and laughing and managing to not start an argument, the sounds of the rest of the camp as their background noise.
oOo
Diana took the wildflowers in a delicate hold; they were looking a little droopy and damaged from being stuffed in her medkit, but still nice. She removed a daisy from it, its white petals had some indentations, but still looked presentable, and she wove the stem into her hair by the tie that held it together.
She put the rest on top of her medkit, which sat by the corner of her tent next to their luggage, and grabbed the bow propped against it. She was welcomed by a pleasant tingling that began at her fingertips and coursed all the way up her arm and ended at her chest, which felt warm and bright and made a small smile grow on her lips in delight.
She would never get used to that, but she didn't mind if it meant it would feel this nice every time.
Exiting the tent, she was met by the most comical, yet unamusing sight ever: Daryl standing by the edge of their camp, facing her mom and dad from the distance. Irene hid her disapproval better than her husband, that was clear, and Daryl looked so out of place and uncomfortable under the other man's glare that it was almost laughable.
"Am I interrupting something or what?" Diana asked Irene, who'd seen her first, and in response the woman slapped her husband on the arm and called him off.
"You know your dad," Irene whispered back and had to physically pull Sam away so he'd stop staring at the poor guy. "He just appeared outta nowhere and said something we didn't understand and your dad went straight to the defensive."
"The kids not around?" Diana gave the camp a once-over and confirmed their absence.
Sam threw one last look over his shoulder and went to sit on one of the foldable chairs by his and Irene's tent, breaking twigs with more force than necessary and throwing them into the fire pit as he tried his best to ignore the other man.
Irene glanced at her husband, shook her head and answered, "They took the baseball stuff with them and left. I guess Lori didn't need help after all."
Diana nodded and turned to Daryl. "I'll be right there," she told him and explained his presence to Irene and how they'd agree to meet there for the time being.
"I'll tell that to your dad." Irene nodded and patted Diana's face once. "And you, like I said, any funny business and you're outta there, get it?"
"So you don't trust me going with Glenn, but you sorta trust me going with Daryl, how's that work?"
"Don't get cheeky with me," Irene scolded and swatted playfully at Diana's butt, which she avoided by jumping away.
Diana winked and poked her tongue out and leaped away when Irene took her sandal in hand and made for her butt again.
"I won't take long, see ya later," Diana called to her parents, and to their amusement, gestured subtly at Daryl's back while it was turned and did some sloppy karate chops and kicks in the air.
She left with the image of her mom's eyeroll and her dad's smirk and thumbs up.
oOo
"Sorry about my dad," Diana began after a beat of silence. "He can be scary when he means to, but he's really nice."
Daryl looked at her and adjusted the strap of his cross. "He ain't scary."
Diana suppressed a grin and looked around; she had absolutely no idea where they were going, all forest looked the same to her and she didn't have the best sense of orientation to begin with. They were heading up, though, judging by the slight inclination of the earth. There was a flash of phantom sweaty hands touching her skin, making her nauseous and forcing her to look over her shoulder.
She suppressed it and flexed her right hand until it hurt, focusing on the now, on the facts. She didn't know what coping strategy she would use once her hand stopped hurting, but it sufficed for now.
She focused on the light breeze that felt fantastic on her flushed flesh and smelled of pine and green things. Ferns and wildflowers of many colors tickled her bare calves and knees. They were accompanied by the cracking of twigs and dried leaves under their feet and the rustle and whistle of the breeze on the canopy and the calls of cicadas and birds from all around.
The hum of the bow intensified and added to the atmosphere of peace, helping to forget her fears.
She belonged in this place.
Diana raised her arms to waist height and watched the pattern of light and shadow play on her golden brown skin. It raised a smile on her lips and she was startled when she walked into Daryl's outstretched arm.
She apologized quickly and looked at him in confusion when he crouched and pulled her down to his level, hiding amidst the greenery.
"What is it? Is it one of them?" she whispered. He'd pulled her so close she could see the chapped lines of his lips and the flecks of darker blue on his irises.
He glanced at her and then used his hand to turn her face to where he'd been looking; a young deer up ahead, all twitchy ears and white spots on reddish brown fur.
Diana gasped and clutched her chest; it was so fucking adorable that her heart could burst.
It bowed its head to chew on some foliage and then looked in their direction. Diana awed. Could it see them? It took some cautious steps and stopped, its cute pointed ears twitching again.
At her side, Daryl slowly and quietly removed his cross from his shoulder and readied a bolt. He raised the weapon and when Diana noticed the movement, she yelled out and slammed the cross down, almost tackling Daryl in the process.
Pointless to say that the commotion made the young animal realize the danger and leap away.
Diana stood and sighed and watched it leave. That had been almost magical, if she had been alone, she might've even tried to approach it.
"Look what you done. You know how much meat we coulda gotten outta that thing?" Daryl barked at her while standing up and dusting himself off. He gave her a half-hearted glare and put his cross away.
Diana gave him a sheepish smile and hugged the bow to herself defensively. "Sorry?" Her heart started beating fast in premonition of a scolding that never came.
Daryl stayed silent for a moment while regarding her, then heaved a small sigh and ran his hand through his short brown hair to scratch his head lightly. "Whatever, s'okay." When Diana didn't relax, he turned and continued the climb. "I ain't gonna yell at you," he said patiently and gestured at her from over his shoulder to follow him.
She jogged up the hill to his side, slightly winded, and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't- I know it'd be- I didn't wanna see it dead. Not because I'm bothered by it, it was just so young, you know?"
She didn't know why it would've felt so wrong to kill that animal, she never had any problem seeing her grandpa and grandma kill rabbits or chicken for their meals, she felt pity for them, sure, but she'd understood why. But a deer, a deer was different.
"Ain't no skin off my back," Daryl commented and shrugged, before reaching and plucking a yellow flower by the stem and sticking it between his lips.
Diana thought it looked pretty, but didn't dare to voice the thought, and smiled to herself instead while patting the daisy in her hair to check if it was still in place.
When they reached the top of the hill, Diana recognized the clearing as one she and the kids had found once after class with Sam while exploring the forest surrounding their training area. Which meant they were close to that area and had only taken a detour through the forest to get there.
She knew it was the same place because of the twin rocks on the edge to her right.
Daryl dropped his cross there and walked to the approximate middle of the glade. He gestured for her to go to him and she stepped from the relative coolness of the shade to the sun beating down on her.
She stood in front of him with bow grasped tightly in her hand, insides trembling like jelly from the nerves, as he frowned at her. "Ya didn't think to bring your arrows?"
"Oh uh, funny story," Diana felt her throat threatening to close up and her heart rate spike through the roof. Funny would be how she'd tell him what's what. "Remember how I said it was kind of uh, like special technology, state of the art, the kind of which has never been seen before, type of thing?"
"You talking a lot and not sayin' much, get to the point."
One hand fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Yeah, well it kinda doesn't really involve arrows?" She probably could've done better.
"Yeah, what does it involve then? You gonna be shootin' rocks and twigs? That your super-secret special shit? Thought you wanted to learn archery, seems I'm wasting my time with more bullshit."
Diana grabbed Daryl by the shoulder as he was turning away, annoyed by his unwillingness to just wait a fucking second. "Man, would you just chill? I'm tryna gather some courage to show you something that's gonna probably most likely blow your freaking mind. Gimme a second here, okay? Jesus, some people have no patience, I swear to God…"
Her hand went flying off of him as soon as his glare found her eyes. No manhandling next time, understood. "Sorry."
"You gonna blow my mind? Get to it." He crossed his arms and nodded at her to go ahead.
Diana cleared her dry throat and rotated her neck and shoulders until they cracked, more nervous ticks. "Okay, yeah, thanks, uhmm."
She seriously was way in over her head. The best way was just to go ahead and pull the bowstring without any further additions or flourishes, but that was so dry. She'd said she'd blow his mind, but that was basically the equivalent of a weak Spring breeze. She was going to disappoint and make a fool of herself.
Nothing she wasn't already used to.
"Okay, are you looking?" Of course he was looking, dummy, you made such a big deal out of it.
Diana raised the bow to eye level, glanced at Daryl from the corner of her eye to see him looking at her with a tilt of his head like he was wondering just what the fuck she was doing, and she pulled the string and released it in the space of a second, only giving time for an arrow to appear and shoot forward into a random tree.
"What the hell was that?" Daryl barked out, making Diana flinch, he strode over to her, eyes intent on the bow and then, following the line of fire, he stalked down to the tree with Diana on his tail.
His fingers rubbed over the orifice the arrow had left on the bark of the tree. Diana observed him, anxious and waiting, as his eyes glazed over while deep in thought.
"Daryl?"
If her calling out surprised him, he didn't let it be seen. He simply blinked hard and his eyes were on her. "Do it again," he instructed.
Dumbfounded for his lack of reaction, Diana simply nodded. They walked away from the tree line and she raised the bow once more. This time she decided to take her time with drawing the bowstring. It put a strain on her muscles to do it so agonizingly slow, but she wanted Daryl to get a good look at how the arrow materialized, smoke and light taking form.
A bead of sweat rolled from her neck down the middle of her back, making her shudder and accidentally release the arrow. "Merda," she whispered and turned to gauge his reaction now.
Diana almost felt the need to take the step back. His features were carved with so much intensity it was like he was about to explode. Was it curiosity? Suspicion? Jealousy? The pure need to scream into the void? Because if so, same.
"What the hell… is that?" his voice was measured as he repeated his initial question.
"Will you… teach me?" Diana asked, cautious of his slow approach, leaning slightly backwards when reached out to the bow with a questioning nod.
She let him inspect the bow while waiting for his answer. They'd made a deal after all; he would teach her and she would tell him what she knew about the bow… It was a terrible deal on Daryl's end, since she had no clue about the bow other than what she'd seen, but… he and Merle would be leaving after, so it wouldn't do any harm to stretch out the truth a bit, right?
"What's this here? What's it mean?" Daryl pointed at an engraving of symbols on the inner side of the bow, right above the grip.
Diana leaned back in, careful not to get too much up in each other's personal space, and ran her thumb over the etching. She shook her head as the contact with the bow made her skin tingle. "I don't know what it means." She looked up at Daryl, suddenly curious. "You wanna try it?"
The chances were slim going by the odds, but it could be that the bow would recognize a skilled archer and react to Daryl as it had her, although she was far, very far from a skilled archer.
Daryl looked at her as if asking permission and she nodded, taking a step back and giving him needed space. It was as if the forest around them fell silent to witness this moment. Damn, he looked good holding it; say whatever you want about the man but he had really nice arms.
Feeling poetic, Diana compared the golden glint from the bow to Daryl's hair as it was hit by sunlight.
Just the day before she had caught herself staring at Glenn's profile and internally admiring his features, making all sorts of poetic comparisons on the subject of his dark eyes. Marveling at unrecognized beauty in everyday moments.
Diana tilted her head and was startled back to the present by the muse himself as he cursed out loud and turned to her. Was it already over? Judging by looks of it, he'd been unsuccessful. Okay, so it wasn't an archer thing, apparently it was just a Diana thing. Now to find out why…
He joined her, giving back the bow. "How does it work?"
"We- we have a deal," Diana reminded, "You said it yourself; you teach me and I'll talk."
"But this ain't… Thought you were bullshitting me," Daryl admitted.
She lifted a shoulder. "Yeah, no. No bullshit, just 100% all bull." She frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Forget I said that."
"Who else knows? Does the chink know? Sheriff Asshat?"
"For real? You tryna fall into the stereotype of ignorant white-trash redneck? No, Glenn doesn't know, and he's Korean, not Chinese. And you really think I'd tell this to Mr. Sheriff? Thinking back on it, actually, it's probably not a bad if he knows… I mean, is it?"
"Fuck if I know, who else?"
Diana shrugged. "My family aside, well, you."
"Good. Sit on it."
"Wait, why?"
"Y'all been here a coupla days, you sure you trust these people with something like this?"
"Well, I- I trusted you. Was that wrong?"
Daryl contemplated her but said nothing. "Don't let Merle find out. Or anyone."
"But why? What if, hypothetically speaking, I do trust some of these individuals?" She had been dying to show it to Glenn, so she'd have an outside person share in on her secret, someone who wasn't tired of listening to her same conspiracy theories and could provide a fresh perspective on the subject. It's not like she could google it.
"The dead are walking, everyone's on edge, tip the scales and shit falls into fucking chaos. Bringing shit like this into it… I'm just sayin', mob mentality can be a pain in the ass, ya get it?"
Diana nodded. "Yeah, I get it." She'd mentioned something like that to her siblings a while back, but it had just been her talking out of her ass. Having someone else see it that way as well… it changed things, made it more feasible.
"Why ain't it workin' with me?" Daryl asked, changing the subject.
"You really wanna know?" A half-hearted nod from him. "Then teach me how to use it." Maybe I'll find it out myself until then.
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