Chapter 7
My feet dragged as I forced myself to walk through the trees. It took me a while, but I finally found the place I was looking for. The forest floor was stained a cruel brownish-reddish color in the place that David took his last breath. Daryl was wrong about me. David never dumped me. But he was right when he said that David hadn't known about the other guys. And when I told him that I loved him, I meant it.
I never really understood the whole cheating thing. That is, until I was the cheater. I used to think that cheaters were weak, senseless cowards. Maybe that's exactly what I was. But was it wrong of me to want something exciting, some kind of adventure? With David it was always the same. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. David was familiar, he felt like home. I knew every curve on his body, every freckle and bump on his skin like the back of my hand. His smile intoxicated me and his aroma engulfed my very being. When I was with him, it was like we were the only two people left on earth. Every time he kissed me it was like time stopped and I would do anything to feel his presence close to me. I wiped away the tears from my face when I realized that they had been running down my face for quite some time as I stood there alone in the silence of my own misery.
There was no way Daryl was right about me. He had it all wrong. So he had gotten some things about me right, so what? He didn't know me and he definitely didn't know anything about David and I.
My fingers traced over one of the leaves of a nearby plant, but when I turned my hand over there was nothing. The blood had already dried. That fact hit me harder than I thought it would. I knew it had been several days since the incident. I knew the blood would be dry by now. I guess if it had been fresh it would have been a sign that some of him was still here somehow. But it wasn't fresh. It had become part of the plant, part of the forest floor. And unfortunately, he wasn't a part of me anymore. There was a rustling in the trees and I flinched automatically and grabbed for the gun that was in the waist of my pants. I had finally figured out how to use the damned thing about an hour earlier. I wasn't sure if I could actually hit what I was aiming for as I didn't want to use more ammo than necessary for target practice. But I was hoping I could figure it out before the part where I died.
I raised the gun in the direction of the rustling, and restrained myself from pulling the trigger when a man emerged from the trees. He was middle-aged and about as rugged as they come. His face was dirty, hair greasy and matted to his head. He had a scar on his cheek that almost stretched to his ear when he shot a smile my way.
"Well shit." He laughed. His voice was raspy and matched his appearance. "I was expectin' one of those dead ass holes. Instead I got a perdy piece o' ass." I narrowed my eyes, making sure he wasn't going to try anything and keeping my gun pointed towards him. He lowered his in return and put it back in his belt loop, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Easy baby girl." He chuckled. "I'm on your side."
"What are you doin' out here?" I asked. My gun was still pointed at his face.
"These are my woods darlin'." He laughed. "Just tryin' to rustle up some dinner. Is that a crime?"
"No." I said. I was still hesitant about this guy. He gave off a different aura than anyone I had ever met before. Maybe because he wasn't apart of my "princess" life style. What was I doing? Why had I let that Daryl guy get in my head so easily? Why should I give a damn what he thinks about me? I shook the thoughts from my head and focused at the task at hand.
"You ever taste squir'l 'fore?" He asked. He took another step towards me.
"Why would I?" I scoffed. He eyed the hat on my head and gave me a smug grin.
"College girl." He smiled and walked towards me again. "Wanna show me what you've learned?" He winked.
"Don't come any closer." I warned as I raised the gun higher and rested my finger on the trigger.
"Ay you don't gotta be like that." He shook his head. "I just wanna talk to you. We've got a camp about a mile from here, seein' how you're on your own you prob'ly should join us 'fore more of those things come and make you dinner."
"Who's we?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Me, my brother, and some other people we met 'long the way. I'm try'n to help you out Blondie, and you ain't lettin' me." His words somehow comforted me. Maybe it was how he used the pet name I had earned earlier that day. Maybe somehow, in a weird way, he reminded me of my Dad. Or maybe I was just craving the feeling of having a father-figure around.
"What's your name?" I asked. I lowered the gun slightly, forcing my eyes to meet his.
"Merle." He smiled. There was a moment of silence. We both knew I was contemplating going with him. For whatever reason I felt like I could trust him. "Do I get to know your name, or are you gonna put a bullet in my 'ed?"
"Sam." I nodded.
