EDIT; Thanks for pointing out I reposed chapter 89, lol. I had so much chocolate, I guess I just couldn't see straight. Sorry about that, and please enjoy!
Finally, boys and girl, an ACTION chapter. This takes place directly after Jamie nearly stabs the guy in the garage because he startles her. Basically, Daryl takes her hunting because he knows she needs a break from being inside the walls. I feel like the last chapter was absolute shit, and I really hope I wrote this better. It seems like all my writing is shitty nowadays... Anyways, please review and help me improve!
She was grateful for the silence as they hunted at first. The only sounds were the occasional chirps of birds, and the cicadas whirring at the sun.
"Well?" Daryl looked over at her as she bent to examine the tracks.
"That way." She nodded, and Daryl allowed a smile to grace his features. She hadn't lost her tracking skills- It'd been awhile since they'd gone on a hunt like this together, just for hunting's sake, instead of just killing whatever it was they could to eat on their way.
"How do you like the place?" Daryl asked quietly, and she shot him an annoyed glance.
"It's nice. People are fucking annoying, but the walls are cool."
Daryl nodded, and she wordlessly walked on.
Daryl gave her a few minutes of silence, as well. He knew she didn't really want to talk, but they had to.
"What'd they do?"
She shot a wary glance over at him. She didn't really want to talk about this. She hesitated for a moment before she spoke. "The teacher slammed a ruler on my desk. Scared me- I had an arrow, don't really know what I did, but the next thing I know the guy's on the ground and Carl is pulling me off him."
Daryl nodded, looking pensive. "At least you didn't stab anybody." He managed. She rolled her eyes- was that supposed to be reassuring?
"I'm never gonna fit in." she said quietly.
Daryl shrugged. "That's not a bad thing. Them people- they're fucking incompetent. They been lucky they got those walls to hide behind. You're different, Jamie- you've always been. Back at the prison- you was different from the people from Woodbury. And you're different from these people, too. They won't understand you- they'll probably be afraid of you, actually- because you ain't afraid to fuck shit up if you gotta. You don't have to go to school. You're better off outside the walls with me. Just… try to be friendly when they talk to you, okay?"
She nodded, still looking uncertain. She smiled as she found a pile of shit a little ways to the left, with summer flies buzzing around it. She wordlessly picked up a piece, sniffing it and wrinkling her nose before grinning up at him. "Fresh. Deer ain't that far from here."
Daryl nodded, smiling slightly, before he fell silent. They were getting close, and if it heard them speaking, it'd spook. Less than an hour later, they were watching a decent sized doe nibble on some wilted grass in a clearing.
Jamie wordlessly pulled back, taking aim and firing. She struck it just behind the foreleg, arrow hitting it in the vitals, a lung shot. The deer stumbled, alarmed. A moment later Daryl's own arrow found purchase in it's neck- the deer would've been dead within an hour, the way Jamie hit it, but still- it was best to down it here, so the dead didn't track it down before they did.
The knobby knees buckled, and a moment later it was laying on the leaves.
"It dead?" Daryl asked, making sure the area was clear as Jamie nodded. "S' wasted." She confirmed.
Daryl grinned slightly before looking up at the sky, frowning. They'd been following it all day, and it was beginning to get dark. They'd need to get it back to Alexandria by nightfall, or else the walkers would smell the dead and overwhelm them….
A walker moaned in the distance, reminding them of their strict timeline.
Daryl nodded to Jamie, strapping his crossbow to his back. "You keep the dead off me, and I'll handle it." He assured her.
She nodded, offing the walkers that'd happened to stumble upon them, while Daryl seized the deer by the hind legs, beginning to drag it across the forest floor, back towards Alexandria.
Rick found Deanna standing before the gate, arms crossed, as she watched the tree line anxiously.
Rick wordlessly stood beside her.
"Jamie and Daryl aren't back yet." Deanna said, sounding concerned.
Rick nodded. "They probably killed something big- it'll take them awhile to get it back."
"It's getting dark." Deanna eyed the sky, which was already growing dark.
Rick nodded. "It is. If they have to, they'll set up camp in the woods. They know how to survive outside the walls."
"You're aware Jamie nearly attacked someone today?" Deanna sounded concerned.
Rick nodded. "I am. From what Carl told me, the man startled her- nobody got hurt."
"This time." Deanna still sounded concerned.
Rick sighed. "Jamie is a different breed." He admitted. "She's been through a lot. She's not exactly… trusting… with people."
"She seems to trust you just fine."
"I've stood beside her and fought off the undead. We've all proved ourselves to each other- she's decided we're worthy of her trust. You're just people she's met. She doesn't know you from Adam- she'll be nervous around you. She doesn't like to be touched, and she doesn't like loud noises- if you startle her, you can expect her to react. There's a reason she's lasted this long."
"She hasn't talked to anyone." Deanna said calmly. "Not to anyone, outside of your group. It's… odd. People aren't sure what to think of her. They're a little… unnerved."
Rick chuckled. "How do you think Jamie feels, then?"
She dispatched another one, striding forward to pull her arrow from its head. She was slightly unnerved- less and less sunlight was getting through the trees to the forest, and this was the sixth walker they'd run into. She was more than capable of dispatching them, but they were coming with increasing frequency, and she was afraid they'd be overrun.
Daryl looked up from where he was dragging the deer, wiping the sweat from his eyes. The darkness was overwhelming them, fast. But they could see the lights of Alexandria in the distance, and it wasn't quite total blackness yet….
"We're almost there." Jamie assured him.
Daryl nodded, and crouched down to rest for a moment.
He looked up, and continued to drag the deer until they were hidden just inside the tree line.
Jamie crouched to survey the scene and swore quietly.
"What?" Daryl panted.
"Walkers. At least eight or so, all milling around by the gate…."
"Can you lead 'em off?" Daryl asked, looking at her seriously.
She considered it for a moment, nodding. "Yeah. I distract 'em, you get to the gate and drag the deer in, I make a break for it. Sound good?"
Daryl nodded, looking up at her seriously. "If things go to shit, just yell- I'll drop the deer and come for you."
"I won't need help. It's just a quick run around…."
"Yeah, well if you do, call. Promise?"
"Promise."
They locked eyes for a moment, the moon casting a silvery glow over everything.
"See you inside."
"You bet your ass you will." Jamie reassured him, grinning, before stepping out into the open.
"There she is." Rick nodded to Deanna, a triumphant smile on his face as Jamie stepped into the light.
All at once, Jamie raised her pistol into the air and fired off an unsilenced round. In an instant, she had the attention of every walker near the gate. She didn't move as they stumbled towards her, instead firing another round into the closest walker and stepping back, letting them all stumble closer for a moment before she began steadily back up….
"What's she doing!?" Deanna looked on, horrified.
"She's drawing them away from the gate so Daryl can get in. Glenn! Get your rifle. She might need cover." Rick called calmly, and Glenn nodded, dashing off towards the armory and returning with his assault rifle.
"This is insane!" Deanna shouted, looking horrified as Jamie continued to steadily back up down the road, the walkers all eagerly following her.
"Jamie's handled worse situations." Rick said calmly, moving to open the gate as Daryl emerged from the woods, dragging the deer behind him now that the coast was clear.
Aaron and several of the citizens had come by to anxiously watch, and Rick moved to help Daryl, grabbing the other back leg of the deer and helping him pull it into the gate.
"You're sacrificing a child!" Deanna yelled.
Jamie was growing smaller in the distance- she was around sixty feet from the gate, walkers still trailing her eagerly, like some sort of sadistic parade. She didn't seem the least bit panicked, and Daryl allowed Rick to drag the deer inside the confines of the gate, putting his hands to his lips and letting loose a bird call.
Jamie heard the signal and compensated for her change in plan- she intended to move to the side of the road, dodge out of the walker's reach through the drainage ditch and come up on the other side of them, and from there sprint for the gate.
Her plan was interrupted as four walkers stumbled from the woods on her right, talking out that avenue of escape. She froze for a split second, before making her decision, darting straight left into the woods, utilizing the cover of the trees. From here it was a straight shot through the trees back to the gate.
Deanna watched anxiously.
"She's alright." Rick said calmly, a slightly prideful smile gracing his lips. "Give her two minutes."
Jamie had broken into a sprint once she'd ducked into the trees- this was her territory, and with the walkers behind her, she was free to make a sprint for the home stretch. She ran like a wild thing, leaping over fallen logs, tearing through the trees, dodging left when a walker stumbled out in front of her, jumping over the body of one that'd broken legs and could only drag itself around….
She could smell everything. Dirt, blood, and the smell of dead- nothing could touch her. She was wild here.
A moment later she broke the tree line, grinning.
"That's our girl." Rick grinned.
Deanna gasped, however, as a walker stumbled out of the darkness to her right. Jamie calmly raised her gun and fired, and a moment later it was just another carcass.
She jogged towards Daryl, excited to see him, to see the proud smile on her face….
It was at that moment the slumped form of the walker she'd first shot earlier reached out and grabbed her ankle, and she went down.
Daryl's crossbow was raised in an instant, but she was already moving, lashing out brutally with her other leg as the walker moved up her torso, eager to bite….
Before it could do a thing her gun was raised, and she fired. The walker landed on top of her.
Deanna's hand was over her mouth, she was gasping, and Jamie easily threw the carcass off her, excepting Daryl's offered hand and Glenn's slap on the back.
"You good?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah- I got the fucker." Jamie said calmly.
There was a snarl from the right, a walker stumbled out of the woods to their left, and Glenn raised his rifle but stopped at Jamie's glare.
"'s Mine." She snarled, and Glenn smiled slightly at her usual bravado- he hadn't seen Jamie act like she normally was in a while, and he nodded, not lowering his gun. "It's all yours." He conceded.
She raised her pistol and pulled the trigger, and the walker hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Daryl smiled slightly before she turned, ducking inside the gate with Daryl, Glenn chaining the gate behind them.
"Fuck yes." Jamie grinned as she saw the dead deer had made it intact and was laying on the pavement.
She unsheathed her knife, about the slit the thing open, when she noticed everyone huddled around the gate.
"Rick?"
"They were waiting for you to get back." Rick said by way of explanation.
Jamie nodded, studying the people uncertainly.
Pete looked at her bloodstained shirt and stepped forward.
"I…are you hurt?"
Jamie looked confused. "No…. its walker blood. It spatters, when you shoot 'em…." They were all watching her, and it unnerved her. "You people are fucking weird." She said calmly, and Glenn snickered slightly.
Daryl slung an arm around her shoulder, walking her away. "You gonna help me gut this thing or what?" he asked, and Maggie smiled slightly.
"She's fine, Deanna." Maggie reassured her. "She's…different…than most kids."
Deanna nodded, mouth still set firmly, as though she was debating something internally.
Jamie ignored them both, drawing her knife and settled down beside Daryl, getting ready to help him gut the carcass.
Slowly, the crowd dispersed to watch from a distance, pretending they weren't staring as Daryl and Jamie went up to their elbows in gore, disassembling the deer in order to get at the meat.
Rick looked over at Deanna, nodding towards outside the gate. "That's the Jamie I know." He said calmly. "She's a different breed."
MAILBAG
Lizziekat15, Chapter 89
I really like your interesting way of showing a softer side of Daryl through a relationship with a kid...seems he relates more to kids than adults, probably because adults have been the reason for his unhappiness all his life, with kids he's in charge. Hope you add more soon.
Response; Glad you enjoy it! As for Daryl with Jamie- I think it's more of a mutual bond than a feeling of superiority. He knows Jamie will do what he asks, because she listens about him and just generally cares about what he thinks. But yes- I definitely think Daryl bonds more readily with kids, especially vulnerable ones, since he used to be a vulnerable kid hiding behind a rough attitude, and no adult really cared enough to help him.
As always, thanks a million guys- please review! I feel like I'm slipping, there's no walking dead, I'm kinda hesitant to leave the house, and I could really just use a pep talk right about now. Thanks again!