Yes- this is the chapter where they meet Joe.
STOP STOP STOP RIGHT THERE! I know what you're thinking.
'Jamie's going to get raped'
Surprisingly, it doesn't play out this way. Mostly because the group runs into Daryl before they run into Jamie, and since Jamie has Daryl willing to give his life to ensure her safety, none of the men in Joe's group really wanna cross the two of them yet. Especially Daryl. I think the way this chapter pans out isn't only realistic, but well-paced. *pats self on back.
Also features a lot of concerned! Daryl because he's grown up with rough people and is afraid of what these guys may end up doing to Jamie.
Finally, I'm sad because I haven't been getting reviews. :,(
Review! Or I will be forced to take (pauses for dramatic effect) DRASTIC ACTION!
It was a long, lonely night. They'd first been running after the car, but slowed to jogging, and then stumbling, as the night wore on. Dawn finally came, where the road branched off into two sections. It was impossible for Daryl tel tell which way the car had gone.
It was then he gave up hope, just sitting down and giving up, cross-legged in the middle of the road.
Jamie looked down at him- she was no doubt as dejected as he was. Beth had been one of the few- no- THE bright spot in this cruel existence, and now she was gone. She blamed herself- if she hadn't been so harsh, hadn't screamed for Beth to go outside...
But she couldn't focus on that now. Daryl clearly wasn't going to move, he was still processing everything...
"I'll see if I can find some food." was all she said. Daryl nodded slightly, not even bothering to tell her to be careful. Beth normally would've been watching her back...
She gave Daryl one last, sad look, before disappearing into the brush. It was just Daryl and her, now, they'd have to watch out for one another...
She blamed herself, she though, as she numbly ventured through the woods in search of a squirrel or a rabbit. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with helping Daryl, if she'd run out with Beth, those assholes never would've gotten the chance to grab her. But she hadn't, and Beth was gone because if her failure.
She wandered aimlessly for who knew how long until she finally found a squriel and shot it, slinging it ovr her shoulder. Even the prospect of meat was less thrilling, now...
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Daryl barely looked up as the group of men came down the road, quietly encircling him. One man with a makeshift bow drew it back, pointing at him, and grinned. "I claim the vest."
The man who seemed to be their leader said nothing, quietly peaning down and reaching out towards Daryl's crossbow, which sat beside him, loaded, on the road...
As soon as the bastard's fingertips brushed it he moved, swinging and knocking the man back with a swift blow and seizing his crossbow, pointing it at the man's head and letting out a feral growl.
The man, for his part, touched his fingers to his now bloodied nose, surprised, before he chuckled...
Every man in the circle had their weapon trained on him, but Daryl didn't dare lower his crossbow. He just prayed Jamie had the good sense to stay in the woods...
The man who he'd clocked finished laughing and stood, grinning. "How about that. That's a nice weapon you got there. What is it, a Horton? What d'ya got, 150 draweight in that? Nice- real nice. I been lookin' to get myself a weapon like that for a long time. 'Course, I'd choose one without all the scuffs..."
There was a small bit of laughter from th group, but Daryl still said nothing. He was studying the man carefully, trying to figure out what this man's game was...
"Name's Joe, by the way. Should'a known, 'bout you. You're a bowman. I admire that- see some fella runnin' around with a rifle, he coulda been a soccer coach or a photographer back in the day. But a bowman- a bowman is a bowman, though and through." Joe looked at Daryl expectantly, but he still didn't lower his crossbow.
"You know my boys got enough ammo to drop you several times over. You sure you wanna pull that trigger? C'mon, man, suicide's stupid. Why kill yourself when other people'll do it for ya?"
Daryl saw the reasoning, then, saw that he seemed to be straight up- as straight up as these shifty folks of rowdy men could be, anyways. So he slowly lowered his crossbow. "Name's Daryl." was all he muttered.
As he'd lowered his own weapon, so had the men, but one of them noticed something, apparently, since he heard the startled exlaimation behind him. "Holy shit- he's got a kid."
Daryl's eyes snapped up anxiously, and he saw Jamie standing a good ten feet away, bow drawn back and aimed...
He felt his heart jump to his throat. He'd grown up with these kinds of people, rough people, he knew if Jamie made the wrong move they just might kill him and take advantage of finding a girl. Now wasn't the time for her to appear weak.
She stared, bow still drawn. "Who the fuck are these assholes?" she demanded, looking at Daryl in the center of them all.
Joe started to laugh, then. "She's got a mouth on her, too."
One man looked from Daryl back to Jamie, shocked. "I- she- how the fuck did you keep your KID alive through all this?"
Daryl shrugged non-commitally- Jamie, truthfully, could handle herself most of the time...
"Dad?" she still looked uncertain, having come closer, a mere five feet away now. Her bow was loaded, even if it was angled downwards, so she could pull up at a moment's notice and shoot if need be...
"Friendly, Jamie." he said quietly, and she nodded, scrutinizing the bunch before her pointedly for a moment.
Joe was eying her, he noted, and he made a note to watch the man like a hawk around her...
"How old is she, even?" someone asked.
"Old enough to fuck you up." Jamie said simply, and Daryl couldn't help but grin quietly.
Joe said nothing, looking from one archer to the next before nodding to his group. They quietly moved on down the road, Daryl and Jamie trailing behind.
They spent their day walking, Daryl shooting glances over at Jamie, concerned, throughout the day. She didn't seem afraid by their new, rough companions, and she kept her head up as they walked, listening for walkers as they made there way along...
She didn't know there was even more danger than walkers, now. They wrre in a group of men- seven men, to be exact, strangers, ROUGH men. Men who hadn't touched a female in months. That alone was enough to put him on edge.
Jamie didn't understand these people, couldn't read them like he could. They seemed alright, sure, but if they'd come across Jamie sitting in the road instead of him, he knew they wouldn't hesitate to have their way with her.
Thankfully, she'd let the men know where she stood when she walked up to them. 'Who the fuck are these assholes?' still echoed in his mind. She'd let them know she wasn't someone to mess with. She could probably kill one or two of them, if she'd needed to and had ample cover to hide behind. And having him with her, as her father, was in no small way a deterrant to raping her as well.
They hadn't said anything, hadn't touched her, so as to avoid a confrontation with them, because they probably looked like a force to be reckoned with. In the open, they weren't much, but if he'd been in trouble down there in their circle and Jamie had opened fire from the woods, he probably would've had a fighting chance of making it.
He shot another glance at Jamie, who was studying the treeline on the deserted road they were walking. Normally they'd be sticking to the woods, but since it was clear Beth was gone...
As dusk was coming, they settled in a clearing, stringing up a few cans by the trees around them to warn if any walkers got too close.
With various cuss words and mutterings, the men settled down for the night.
Daryl wordlessly set down his trashbag, placing his crossbow beside him and settling down, back against a tree trunk. Jamie silently settled beside him, and the cold night air whispered through the trees, causing her to pull her denim vest closer to herself and cross her arms, rubbing them and trying to warm them...
He watched her for a moment before, wordlessly, he opened his arms. Jamie looked at him uncertainly for a moment, before eagerly scrabbling through the carpet of dead leaves and pressing her small body against his chest for warmth, ending up sitting in his lap, head resting on his chest and arms around his neck... She fell asleep to the steady drumbeat of his heart.
Daryl just watched her quietly, brushing a stray chestnut lock of hair back into place before settling back, his arms around her as well. The wind wistled through the trees mournfully as he looked down at her- all he had left, now that he'd lost Beth. She was safe, though, and she was with him in this rowdy group of men. That was what mattered.
But he couldn't help but hear that nagging voice in the back of his head, wondering how long she'd stay that way.
FORESHADOWING!