"I have a Jeep that you could all fit in when we get back to camp," Shane said seriously, scoping the three of us out. Merle opened his mouth to say something; I kicked him lightly in the shin to stop him.
"Another Jeep," Daryl muttered, ignoring the suspicious side glances from Shane.
"So, you're saying there are more survivors than just you?" I asked, feeling like a freaking genius compared to these two.
"Yeah," he shrugged, looking directly at me when he spoke. It put butterflies in my stomach.
"Let's get a move on," Shane said, nodding towards the setting sun, "before it gets dark."
Everyone around the campfire felt like an alien species, except for Merle and Daryl who sat on either side of me. Everyone was chatting happily while we munched on a freshly caught raccoon. Someone didn't know how to hunt; there was barely any meat leftover from someone's hunting skills. Daryl could have done much better.
"So, what did you guys do before the apocalypse?" The tall one with long dark brown hair, Lori, asked. I was too involved in sucking up the poorly cooked meat to realize that was what they'd been talking about the entire time. We three stayed silent until Daryl cleared his throat and set his plate down.
"Basically the same thing now, 'cept there's Walkers," Daryl said seriously, and even though I already knew about his past, it still never failed to shock me. I looked to Merle and raised my eyebrows, signaling he was next. He rolled his eyes.
"I don't have to tell you anything," Merle snorted, glancing at everyone before I nudged him.
"Jesus Merle, you're not being interrogated," I whispered. His nasty tone left the air awkwardly unhappy, everyone falling silent and looking to me as if I was responsible for Merle's actions. I rubbed my temples.
"What about you," the blonde one in her 30's, Andrea, asked, with what felt like a permanent scowl on her face. "What did you do?"
I took a deep breath as everyone still stared at me. I wasn't good with public speaking. Or, speaking at all.
"Refining my skills, you could say," I muttered deeply, but kept my cool. The past is not my thing.
"What kind of skills?" Morales' daughter asked, bringing the attention of the three other kids.
"Well, agility, flexibility, basic gun skills, the like," I explained proudly, earning a slight approving look from the tall, dark, and handsome one in the back, Shane. I didn't realize he fit the stereotypical criteria of a sexy man until then. But oh, did he fit it so well. Daryl caught on to my eyeing and bumped my shoulder, purposefully pulling my attention from Shane.
"Yes?" I asked forcefully, grinding my teeth as I slowly turned my head toward him.
"So what do you think about this?" he whispered, leaning closer to me and suspiciously looking around.
"Well, I think, and quote, 'we are absolutely never gonna join a group'. Remember who said that?"
"I've been thinking, there's safety in numbers, right?" he attempted to convince me. I wasn't buying it.
"There are also more mouths to feed, more to keep track of. I mean, there are fourteen of 'em. This isn't a group; it's practically a refugee camp."
Daryl shook his head as Merle caught the gist of the conversation.
"Don't think I've ever done this but imma have to agree with Ayden," he laughed and lovingly patted my shoulder. I stuck out my tongue.
"Fuck you but thank you," I quietly replied so the little ones didn't catch my language. Lori's kid, Carl's the name I believe, still watched intently.
"Come on, give 'em a chance," Daryl pleaded, raising the eyebrows of Merle.
"Oh, is this so? Darlena giving people chances?"
"Shut up," Daryl replied, loud enough to turn Andrea's younger sister Amy and the stout, short haired Carol that sat beside him.
"I'm pretty sure you are the newcomers, therefore we would be the ones giving chances," Carol laughed, sipping her warm tea out of the blue stoneware cup. It smelt delicious, like peppermints.
I laughed along with Amy, watching Merle scowl, Daryl roll his eyes and continue eating, and everyone else looking our way. Except Shane, who made his way over to this side of the campfire.
"Hey," he said, moving to a crouching position so he could get close to my ear. Merle attempted to lean to the side as much as he could before he nudged the older man, Dale, obviously trying to get away from him as if Shane got the disease.
"Uh, hello," I uneasily replied, leaning a bit away myself. He caught my drift and backed away.
"I heard bits and pieces of your earlier conversation," he started, looking at Daryl who was shooting daggers at the both of us, "Do you have any other... Useful skills?"
And with this, I couldn't help thinking naughty. Typical Ayden Arezzo for you, there.
I looked toward Daryl, who radiated of disapproval. A snicker escaped my mouth before I could reply.
"What's so funny?" Shane asked, not as seriously as I thought he was going to say it. He seemed like a real serious man.
"It's just that you're the second person to ask for a piece of my attributes," I mocked Merle and Daryl, getting confused looks from Shane.
"Let's take a walk," Shane said, standing and offering me his hand. I looked at Daryl before accepting his offer. He shook his head and waived his hand. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek before grabbing Shane's warm hand. Daryl quickly got up and came close to my ear before Shane could pull me away.
"Try to keep your hands off his abs, okay?"
"Hm," I answered, unwilling to promise that. Then I shot him a sly glance that asked how he knew, but before he could come up with a sly comment back, Shane cleared his throat impatiently.
"Gotta go," I giggled slightly, giving Merle a 'haha I get along with everyone better than you' look and continued to follow Shane toward the dark forest of pines and aspens.
Minutes went by without a word between us. If you'd look up awkward in the dictionary, there would be a picture of me and Shane in a forest. In fact, this whole day would be beside the definition, if that was even possible.
"So, are you and those guys related?" Shane asked after what felt like an eternity of crickets and rustling wind.
"Like, family? Hell no," I put bluntly and felt bad afterwards. I do love Merle like family. My emotions are everywhere on the subject of Daryl, though. Shane glanced at me weirdly, like I hated them or something. I took a deep breath and bent down to fix my combat boots.
"Nice kicks," he complemented, leaning against a tree. I couldn't help myself but to glance upwards at Shane's abs that formed his tight fitting shirt.
Damn, Daryl was right. That boy definitely had it going on. I wondered why Daryl noticed it before I did.
I finished retying an undone lace and stood up straight. Shane still leaned against the tree and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"So, let's talk business, yeah?" I said, not wanting to start yet another period of awkward silence. But by the way he was going, he wanted to start an awkward but yet so, so sexy staring contest.
"What do you mean?" he finally asked, levering himself off the tree and continued walking further into the forest. I hesitantly followed.
"That's why you drug me out into the forest, right? A trade for my help with the camp in exchange for a safe place to sleep at night? Trust me, I've been here before. I know how it works."
I think my knowledge shocked Shane into more silence, which was exactly what I wanted: more awkwardness. Jeez. I've been using that word a lot.
"We were probably going to let you guys stay anyway, there would be no negotiating or business proposition involved," he said very seriously, and maybe even a little angry. Before going into an idiosyncratic fit, he calmed down and sighed, stopping in his tracks before we made it any further in the forest.
"I didn't mean it like that, or whatever you took it for."
"Yeah, sorry. It's just those people over there," he nodded his head in the direction of the camp, "they want safety. They want their lives to go back to normal. They think that can happen again, just life to go back to normal." He laughed and shook his head, most of his seriousness now being directed toward whatever he thought of their way of thinking. I had a hunch he was going to pour it out now.
"Do you think so?" I innocently asked, backing up a few inches just in case I touched the wrong place. This guy definitely had some things to sort out in his mind.
"Fuck no! They think any day the Military is gonna come out of the sky and save their asses, they don't understand that everyone is gone. Everyone! The military, the navy, all that shit! It. Is. Gone!"
Shane punched a tree hard enough to make even me cringe. It caused it to rattle and a few bronze and golden yellow leaves fell around us. He grunted in pain and gripped his knuckles.
Yeah, I think I was right about him pouring his heart out. Something told me he never told anyone about this, ever.
"Shane, Shane," I said calmly, going into comfort mode, "calm down. Everything is going to be okay."
"No it's not," he sobbed, breaking down in front of me. My comfort mode nearly vanished and panic took over. Was he going insane? I asked myself, because I'm pretty sure this wasn't something that happened everyday.
I slowly crept toward him, wrapping my arms around his waist when I reached him. He sobbed a bit more and grasped me back.
"I don't know what to do anymore," he whispered when he caught his breath again. Tears still fell down heavily.
"Survive," I whispered back, leaning my head against his chest. His heart was racing fast. "Just keep going, it doesn't matter what they think."
"I've thought about leaving," he confessed, "but I can't leave the ones I actually have any hope for."
"Who would that be?" I asked curiously.
"Andrea, mostly. She knows how it is and how it never will be. Everyone else still has wet dreams about things going back to normal."
"They don't have the same views as her?"
"Andrea doesn't belong in this type of world. Her ideas are much more solid than the rest of the girls but less practical. She's been right on more than half of everyone else's shots."
I stood there on silence for a few minutes, soaking it all in.
After a few minutes, Shane lifted his head from my shoulder and looked into my eyes. The action made my heart beat just about as fast as his was.
"What do you think about this shit?" he asked.
I sighed before looking back up at him. "The worlds gone to shit. Don't stay in one place for too long. Get in and out of large towns quickly. I don't believe in the term safety in numbers, that's why I was alone for two years," I explained, feeling like Shane's eyes could see right through to my soul.
"Why did you start following Daryl and Merle around?"
"Because I fell in love," I finally admitted after taking a few seconds to decide if I should tell him or not.
"Daryl?" he asked, although it was obvious he knew. I nodded unsurely. "You can't tell me you fell in love with a guy you had just met."
"No, he saved my life before I actually decided to join them. Thought I'd never see 'em again."
Just then, he leaned down and softly kissed me. At first, I jolted back, shocked. He looked surprised himself.
"Sorry, I know we just met. Sorry," he pleaded. I smiled confidently and sent a soft kiss back.
"Don't be," I whispered, my eyes glazing over a bit as soon as the event soaked in.
He was a really good kisser. Really good. I found myself wanting more.
"Hey, are you okay?" we heard from the direction of the camp. I quickly scooted away from Shane and saw the one that had a handlebar mustache and always wore a trucker hat, Jim; emerge from the blanket of trees.
"We're fine," Shane said, wiping his nose on his arm. I nodded my head, agreeing.
"You been crying, man?" Jim asked, looking at me suspiciously.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "Let's head back to camp."