Daryl POV
I lost Merle. I lost Vi. I lost Jamie. I lost Colt. I lost Beth. I lost everyone. I was alone. Truly alone. But then this group found me. Just by the look of 'em you could tell they were bad people. But... I just didn't want to be alone.
It was early morning when I woke up and decided to go hunting for some food. Just as I shot a rabbit another arrow flew past me and hit the same target.
"The hell you doin'?" I asked as I stood up.
"Catching me some breakfast." Len answered.
"That's mine." I replied before grabbing the rabbit.
"My arrow's the one to hit it first." Len argued. "Cottontail belongs to me."
"Been out here since before the sun came up." I responded as I took the arrows out and throwing his out into the woods.
"You see, the rules of the hunt don't mean jack out here. Now that rabbit you're holding is claimed, boy." Len said. "Claimed whether you like it or not. So I was you, I' hand it over. Now before you get to wishing you ain't never even got out of bed this morning."
"It ain't yours." I told him.
"You know, I'll bet this bitch got you all messed up, hmm? Am I right? Got you walking around here like a dead man who just lost himself a piece of tail." Len replied, "Must've been a good'un. Tell me something. Was it one of the little'uns?"
I started to unsheath my knife as he continued, "'Cause they don't last to long out here."
I went to turn and stab 'im but Joe stopped me, "Easy, fellas, easy. Let's just put our weapons down. See if we can figure out what's really the problem here, huh?"
"Did you claim it?" Joe asked Len.
"Hell yeah."
Joe turned to me, "Well, there you go. That critter belongs to Len."
"So let's have it." Len demanded and I didn't move.
"Looks like you may be wanting an explanation. See, going it alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fittest. That's a paradox right there. So I laid out some rules of the road to keep things from going Darwin every couple of hours. Keep our merry band together and stress free. All you got to do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey, your bed at night. One word, claimed." Joe explained.
"I ain't claiming nothin'." I replied.
"We're gonna teach him, right?" Len asked. "The rules say we got to teach him."
"It wouldn't be fair to punish you for violating a rule you never knew existed." Joe replied and Len looked upset.
"Ain't no more rules no more." I said.
"Oh, there are. You know that. That's why I didn't kill you for the crossbow." Joe responded before trying to grab my rabbit,
"Hey!"
"Easy there, partner." Joe said.
I still kept a hold of it and Joe chopped it in half and handed the half to Len, "Claimed. That's all you got to say. Hey, ass end is still an end."
We were soon on the road again. I didn't have time to clean my rabbit ass so I put it in my garbage bag and we headed off. I was walking behind them all on some train tracks until Joe came to me.
"So what's the plan Daryl?"
"How so?" I asked.
"You're with us now, but you ain't soon?" Joe questioned.
"Yep." I answered.
"So what's the plan?" Joe repeated before taking a smoke of his cig.
"Just looking for the right place is all." I said.
"Oh, we ain't good enough for you, huh?" Joe asked.
"Some of you ain't exactly friendly." I said.
"You ain't so friendly yourself." Joe replied. "You know you need a group out here."
"Maybe I don't."
"No, you do. You should be with us. People don't got to be friendly. We don't have to be nice. We don't have to be brothers in arms. We just got to follow the rules. You claim. If you steal, you keel. I know it sounds funny, but nobody laughs when something goes missing. And you don't lie. 'Cause that's a slippery slope indeed." Joe replied.
"What's happens if you break 'em?" I asked.
"You catch a beatin'. The severity of which depends upon the offense and the general attitude of the day. But that don't happen much. 'Cause when men like us follow rules cooperate a little bit, well, the world becomes ours." Joe answered before whistling and pointing to the old building beside us, "Right there. It's our abode for the evening."
"Hey." I called out to Joe, "There ain't no us."
"You leaving right now?" He asked and I didn't answer, "No? Then it sure seems like there's an us."
Joe started to walk away, but then he stopped, "You a cat person, Daryl? 'Cause I am. Loved them since I was three. Vicious creatures. And anyway, I'll tell ya, and this is true, ain't nothin' sadder than an outdoor cat that thinks he's an indoor cat."
We all surrounded the door and one of the guys pulled it open and we all entered one by one. I was the last so I had to shut the door behind me.
"They ain't here. Nobody's been here for a while." A guy announced as I took a cover off of a car, "Whoever was, they got all the gas."
"That don't matter." Joe replied. "We're getting closer. I can feel it."
"Claimed." A guy said as he kicked my bag away.
I sighed before grabbing my crossbow and people we saying claimed around me so I got the floor. I laid down on my garbage bag and covered my eyes with my arm.
"You've got to be kidding me. Christ." I sat up as he walked over to me, "Give it here."
"You step back." I replied.
"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone. Now ain't nobody here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you. Ain't that right?" Len said and I stood up.
"You're the only one still thinkin' about that crap." I responded.
"Empty your bag." Len ordered.
"I said step back." I repeated, grabbing my bag.
Joe came over and grabbed my bag from my hand, "Did you take his rabbit, Daryl? Just tell me the truth."
"I didn't take nothin'." I answered.
"What do we got here?" Joe asked before emptying my stuff onto the ground, including the head of the rabbit, "Well look at that."
"You put that there, didn't you?" I asked Len, "When I went out to take a piss."
"You lied." Len said calmly and I pushed him.
"Didn't you?"
"You lied. You stole. We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?" Len asked him.
"Whoa, whoa. Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offense, or..." Joe laughed and looked at Len, "you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing."
"It would." Len replied, "I didn't."
"Good. Well..." Joe spun and punched Len in the face, knocking him down, "Teach him a lesson, gents. He's a lying sack of shit. I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way."
Joe turned to me, "I saw him do it."
"Why didn't you try to stop him?" I asked.
"He wanted to play that out. I let him." He answered, "You told the truth. He lied. You understand the rules. He doesn't."
Joe bent down and grabbed exactly what I didn't want any of them to see, the only picture of Violet, Jamie, and Colt.
"Who's this?" Joe asked.
I hesitated for a moment, "My kids."
"And the girl?"
"Violet." I answered.
"Your wife?" Joe questioned.
I nodded, "Yeah. We got separated a while ago. Don't even know if she's alive. Or my kids."
"That's the reason you're not staying?"
"Pretty much."
The next morning I was woken up to the metal door opening. I looked back at where Len was beaten up last night and saw pools of blood, but no Len. We left a few minutes later, and I saw his body outside. I was gonna cover it up with a dirty sheet, but decided against it.
I was walking through a field with Joe next to me and he handed me some alcohol in a flask as we walked and spoke.
"Getting closer." One of the men said, looked at a sign beside the railroad track.
"You seen this before?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. I'll tell ya what it is. A lie. Ain't no sanctuary for all. Ain't gonna welcome guys like you and me with open arms." Joe answered before he continued walking.
I looked at it one more time, before noticing a small J on the corner of the paper written in crayon. It looked a lot like Jamie's writing.
"Is that where we're headed?" I asked Joe.
"So now you're asking?"
"That's right." I replied.
"We were in a house minding our own business and this walking piece of fecal matter was hiding in the home with a woman and a baby. Strangled our colleague Lou and left him to turn. Lou came at all of us. He lit out. We tracked them to these tracks, one of those signs, and thus we've got a destination in mind." Joe answered.
"You see their faces?" I asked, now very interested.
"Only Tony. That's enough for a reckoning." Joe replied.
Tony stopped in front of us and I saw what he saw. A strawberry, "Claimed." I said before grabbing it.
I just pray they ain't talking about my family.