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Chapter Nine

The sun was high in the sky and the clouds were non-existent. Lila climbed out of her tent and stretched her arms up above her head. The camp was already bustling, with people wandering around doing whatever jobs they had to do.

Lila pulled her hair up into a pony tail as she rolled her hand over the back of her neck. She walked across to Daryl's tent, he was sat outside cleaning the gun he held in his hand, re-attaching pieces quickly and efficiently.

"Morning," Lila smiled as Daryl raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Ready?" He asked, standing up from where he had been seated, his form towered over Lila and she stepped back a little. Daryl just nodded, handing the gun he was holding to her, she stared down at it for a few moments before meeting Daryl's eyes.

"Go on, I ain't standin' here all day," He thrust the weapon towards her and she nervously took hold of it.

"I didn't think you'd just be throwing a gun my way like, immediately," Lila said, her voice sounded just as anxious as she looked.

"How you gunna learn to shoot without holdin' a gun?"

"I don't have an answer for that…" Lila stated, staring down at the gun.

Daryl walked passed her shaking his head, Lila turned around and followed him – having to jog to keep up with his pace.

"I'm sorry, I just…I don't know anything about guns, I'm nervous, I swear I'm not an idiot," She babbled senselessly, watching as Daryl continued towards the woods.

"Stop yammerin' and hurry the hell up," He called from in front of her, Lila quickened her pace and finally reached his side.

"Where we goin'?" She asked.

"We cant go shootin' so close to camp,"

"And shooting in the woods is so much safer?" She frowned, but Daryl ignored her. Lila had no choice but to follow him without argument, so she just stared down at the gun in her hands and let out a long sigh, what had she been thinking?

They reached a clearing in the woods and Daryl came to a halt, he held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight before he began to speak.

"This'll do," He stated, walking over to one of the trees, he pulled his knife out from its holder and marked a cross on the bark of a tree.

"That'll kill the tree you know," Lila said and Daryl turned to raise his eyebrow at her.

"You some kinda tree hugger?" He scoffed.

"No…just saying…" She mumbled, Daryl walked over to her and took the gun from her hands; she tried not to pay attention to how close he was to her. She hadn't really noticed how much bigger he was than her, she found herself staring up at him as if she were just two foot tall.

"It's loaded so be careful," He said as he moved behind her, "You wanna move your arms up until you think it's in line with the target, pull this catch here back and pull the trigger." Lila nodded nervously in reply as she raised her arms, trying to steady them as she pulled the catch back and squeezed her trigger finger a little.

"Harder, pull it like you're about to get bit." Daryl said sternly, with that Lila pressed as hard as she could. The noise rattled out amidst the trees and she flinched back, her shoulder bumping into Daryl's chest.

"Can you tell me one thing that was good about what you just did?" Daryl asked as Lila turned to look at him.

"Nothing," He added, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked towards the untouched mark on the tree.

"Here," He sighed, suddenly he was moving Lila around, placing her in line with the tree in front of her. His arms were around her arms, his hands held firmly around hers as he peered over her shoulder, she was momentarily distracted by the musky, intoxicating scent that filled her lungs, his rough, stubbly cheek was pressed against hers as he pointed the gun towards the cross on the tree. His hands held hers in place before his finger forced hers down on the trigger, the gunshot echoed out a second time, but this time Lila didn't flinch…she was too terrified that any movement she made would scare him away and she wasn't ready for him to move just yet. Something was comforting, the gentle nature of his grip on her was such a drastic change from anything she'd felt in the past few months. Her ears were ringing with the gunshot, but all she could concentrate on was the sound of Daryl's breath as it bushed past her ear.

"I suppose that's how you do it," Lila stated quietly.
"Sshh," Daryl hissed in reply.

Lila frowned, but followed his line of sight until the movement caught her eye, she flinched in an attempt to get free from Daryl and run away but he kept her locked in place, his arms tightened around her and she cursed the circumstances for ruining the sensation.

"There's just the one, it ain't noticed us yet," He whispered and Lila could feel her cheeks flushing pink.

"Aim just like I showed you," Daryl instructed as he assisted just slightly, his hands guiding hers until the walker was in the line of fire.

"What if I miss?" Lila asked, fear clear in her voice.

"If you were alone and this gun was the only thing standin' between you and ten walkers…there ain't no what if, you don't have that choice," His voice was still low and gruff in her ear and she was struggling to concentrate.

As he had instructed, she followed along the barrel of the gun, trying her best to aim as exact as she could, but it was a lot harder with a moving target. Her finger tensed against the trigger and the bullet grazed the walkers shoulder – it stumbled backwards but soon locked eyes with Lila. Fear filled her as she pulled away from Daryl, forcing the gun upon him.

"You have to do it, I'll get us killed!" She said, panicked.

Daryl however just stepped back, as calm as ever, "Just you and him, you cant miss," He stated but Lila didn't have time to argue, by the time she turned back to the walker it was already limping towards her, its legs were weak and frail looking, making its movements slow and unsteady. She pointed the gun at it and prayed that she hit it, the first time, the bullet once again merely grazed it…this time the walker barely flinched.

"Come on, you or him, choose!" Daryl called from behind her, Lila took a deep breath and shot again at the walker, she could hardly believe her eyes when its limp body fell to the floor.

"Good," Daryl said, sounding almost pleased. Lila watched as he walked across to the walker and dug his knife deep into the back of its head, she looked away, instead choosing to look at the gun in her hands.
"You could've gotten us killed," She said as Daryl walked back over to her.

"What? Don't you trust me?" His lip twisted up into a smirk for just a second before he fell back into his normal scowl.

Lila laughed apathetically, "Should I?"

Daryl's eyes met with Lila's as his hand reached for the gun in her hands, but Lila pulled back.
"Come on, give it," Daryl said, his hand held out in front of him.

"Not until you tell me why I should trust you," She smiled, finding the whole situation all too amusing.

Daryl wiped a hand back over his forehead and through his hair.

"Come on girl I ain't got time for this," He took a step closer to her but she once again stepped back.

"The world ended, you got all the time in the world," Lila replied, unable to keep her amusement from her tone.

Daryl stayed still for a minute, but then lunged towards her, she tried to dodge out of the way but he changed his tactic at the last minute and she came crashing into his chest. His hands wrapped around her arms, holding them behind her as he pulled the gun from her hands. Her body was pressed up against his, nothing but the sound of their feverish breathing in the extreme heat of the enclosed forest between them.