Chapter Sixteen: Daybreak
Daybreak: the time in the morning when daylight first appears; dawn.
Day 61
Snuggled deep in her sleeping bag, Daisy snorted awake as she was jolted violently by a hand on her shoulder.
"Wh't'fk?" She managed, squinting eyes trying to make out who was crouching beside her just outside the tent opening.
"C'mon Curly…'n be quiet 'bout it." Daisy heard the unmistakeable hoarse voice of Merle, this time at a surprising low level, as he beckoned her out of the tent. Still half asleep, she managed to struggle out of the sleeping bag and into a large parka that she had pilfered some weeks previously.
She ambled out of the tent, quietly zipping it closed behind her so as to not disturb Andrea and Amy, who had allowed her to share their tent for the time being. Daisy saw Merle's vague figure ahead of her so she shuffled in that direction.
"W'sup?" Daisy asked around a yawn, through drooping eyes she saw Merle roll his own. He took her arm firmly and led her away from the camp and further into the forest land, Daisy managing not to trip too heavily on the sticks and rocks littering the floor. They came to a stop some way from camp and Merle clapped his heavy hands once in front of her face, Daisy jolted back and her eyes widened. "Do you mind?" She said defensively, more awake.
"Gotta check the traps." Merle said simply and continued his trek deep into the forest. Daisy stared and then quickly waddled after him.
"Ok, and I am here because…?" She asked confusedly.
"'Cause it's better ta have two people nowadays, and Daryl ain't here." Merle looked back and saw that Daisy was still confused, "And you're surprisingly the only one here who's likely to help me."
"Uh-huh." Daisy said sluggishly, bumping into Merle as he came to an abrupt stop, then into a tree beside her as she was propelled back. "Fucking…" Daisy muttered to herself as she landed against it, "It's too early for this." She said to Merle.
"Psh, almost sunrise." Merle said incredulously as he bent down to check a trap. Daisy's eyes widened as she made out that there was indeed an animal in the trap, an animal that was still moving and squealing. "Yeah! Got ourselves a rabbit…"
Daisy looked on horrified as Merle promptly snapped its neck and untied it from the snare. She felt a bit faint as he set it off to the side and set about retying the snare.
"Fuck me…" Daisy muttered as she plopped down onto her backside and sat against a tree, head falling back with a sigh. Merle looked back at her and scoffed.
"Here…" Merle threw back a small length of rope, "Tie up the rabbit…dead weight." He muttered the last two words to himself and Daisy scrunched up her nose in offense. After another deep breath she steeled herself, she had killed her fair share of walkers for God's sake, this should be a piece of cake.
Daisy got the rope from where it had fallen beside her and scuffled forward to where the rabbit laid dead on the ground near Merle.
"Circle of life…" She mumbled encouragingly to herself as she looped the end of the rope around the rabbit's foot, passing it to Merle and standing with him.
Six snares, five rabbits and two hours later, Daisy and Merle were sitting under the canopy of a large tree, splitting a piece of jerky between them that Merle had remembered to bring. Daisy sighed, catching her breath after the long walk around the camp, the sun had risen and the light was shining in her eyes, so she flipped her hood over them.
"There are…how many in the camp?" She queried, eyes narrowed and head tilted back to look at Merle, he gave her a side-eye and thought for a moment.
"'Bout twenty-five, thirty." Daisy picked up the end of the rope and jiggled the line of dead rabbits, a questioning look directed at him. "Psh, yeah…ain't gonna feed shit. Too many people, an on'y me 'n Daryl can hunt, an' trap." Daisy was quiet for a moment.
"Seems a bit ill-advised…how is everyone getting fed?" She asked, concerned.
"The Chinese kid been scavengin', they have some cans an' shit stored, but that ain't gonna be enough soon." Merle finished his piece of jerky, then spit off to the side causing Daisy to scrunch up her nose in disgust. He stood and adjusted the rabbit string over his shoulder, starting off back to camp. She stood and followed him, shaking her hood back and mussing up her bedhead.
"So, basically, we're fucked?" Daisy said hopelessly. Merle chuckled ahead of her.
"Fuck, yeah."
"Guess I picked a good time to join up…" She trailed off, hopping over a fallen log.
Twenty minutes later they emerged from the brush and re-joined civilisation. Walking with Merle, Daisy could see how one would feel unwelcome, with the majority of the group either not acknowledging their presence, or shooting a suspicious glance towards them. Merle through the line of rabbits onto a fallen log near his secluded camp site, Daisy sat next to them, careful for them not to touch her.
"Here." Merle abruptly handed Daisy a knife, sitting on a tree stump a few feet in front of her.
"And what am I s'posed to do with this?" She asked with hesitation, holding the weirdly fat knife awkwardly in front of her.
"You're gonna skin 'em." Merle said resolutely, kicking up his feet on the log beside her, one hand placing a cigarette between his lips, and the other flicking a lighter to light it. Daisy once again scrunched up her nose but didn't otherwise complain.
"I've never skinned an animal before…as a matter of fact I think I once attended a rally specifically against doing so…" Daisy said frankly, staring at Merle unamused.
"Fuck that, yer gonna have'ta learn sometime. It's a new world, Darlin'."
Daisy continued to stare at him, until reaching the conclusion that he did have a point—no time nowadays for humanitarian bullshit…the circle of life. She picked up the end of the rope and delicately untied the closest rabbit. Daisy looked around Merle's camp, then decided that she needed better working conditions, and looked back at the group's camp.
"C'mon, you can teach me on the picnic table over there." Daisy picked up the line, one rabbit and the skinning knife still in hand, and made her way over. Merle followed her grumbling and moaning for having to move, Daisy just rolled her eyes unsympathetically.
She laid the line on the table and set the loose rabbit in front of her, bringing the knife up above it then pausing.
"Now, what the fuck do I do?" Daisy looked up at Merle with wide eyes.
"Skin it." He said obviously.
"No shit, I mean how? In case you haven't noticed, I've never skinned a rabbit before." Merle sighed in exasperation and slid the rabbit over to himself, snatching the knife off her and promptly sliced the rabbit's head off.
"Fucking fuck." Daisy squealed as she leant away from where the now-headless rabbit was oozing blood onto the table.
"Calm down, pussy." Merle muttered, then gave the same treatment to the feet of the rabbit. Daisy paled further when he made a cut on its back and essentially slipped off the skin and fur.
"I don't know if I can…" Daisy mumbled faintly.
"Yes, you can, now deal with it…" Merle removed the insides, then set the rabbit back on the table. "Now all ya gotta do is rinse it off, and give it to the women to cook." He chuckled when he saw that Daisy looked close to fainting, then ruffled her wild hair with a large hand. "All done, Girly…jus' five more to go." He stalked off and left Daisy to stare wide-eyed at the remaining rabbits.
So, after much gagging and shivering, a total of six readied rabbits sat on the bench in front of her. Daisy smiled wide with her accomplishment, just so happening to catch the eye of a perplexed Andrea.
"Uh…" Daisy's smile dropped and she trailed off, Andrea just narrowed her eyes and stalked off towards her sister. "Woof, I am not getting off to a great start with that one…" She shrugged, nothing she could do about it, and gathered the rabbits in her hands, shuffling over to the middle of the camp where Carol stood folding laundry on an ironing board.
"Hey…uh, anywhere I can put these?" Daisy said with a sheepish smile and wide eyes, Carol looked up and gave her a small smile and a nod.
"Of course…" Carol looked around then recovered a large bucket from the fire pit behind her.
"They're all ready to…prepare and cook!" Daisy dropped them unceremoniously in, then wiped her dirty hands on her similarly dirty jeans. "I've never skinned a rabbit before, so…let me know if there are any troubles, or if you need help cookin' 'em…I mean, if you're okay with shit cooking." She shot Carol a wry smile, getting another small one in return.
"Morning." Carol said, looking to the side. Daisy turned to see Rick approaching.
"Morning." He replied.
"Hey, there…" Daisy smirked at him, "You're up late…get some good lovin'?" She wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, he sighed exasperatedly in return.
"Okay, Daisy…settle down." Daisy just widened her smirk to a smile.
"You're lucky, Merle woke me up at the ass crack o' dawn, took me into the middle of the woods and made me watch him snap the necks of Thumper's pals…then he dumped 'em on me, I had to skin them!" She gave a half-hearted scowl off towards the direction of where Merle was lounging in his camp. "Fucker." She mumbled to herself.
"They're still a little damp. Sun'll have 'em dry in no time." Carol said, patting Rick's pile of clothes.
"You washed my clothes?"
"Well, best we could. Scrubbin' on a washboard ain't half as good as my old Maytag back home."
"That's very kind."
"Thank you." With a quick pat to Daisy's head, Rick left Carol and Daisy to their devices.
"What is it about my hair that makes you people wanna pet me...am not a goddamn dog." Daisy stalked off after bidding Carol adieu, flipping her hood up again to detract any wayward head-patters. She walked towards Merle's camp and sat down with him on the log.
"You done, kid?" He asked, eyes narrowing in on her.
"Yes, mother…I'm done." Merle's eyes narrowed impossibly further.
"Don't call me mother, goddamn crazy person." Merle shook his head and shoved her to the side so she landed on the dirt.
"What the fuck?" She cried, jumping up and brushing the dirt off her ass.
"Oh, Lord, not the jeans!" Merle cried mockingly, lighting up a cigarette and nodded to the main camp, hinting that she leave him. Daisy did so, dragging her feet and sulking to herself.
"Ungrateful son of a dick-wiener…next time he can skin his own animals…so gross…why did I even—?"
"How ya doin' there, Daisy." She heard a voice interject from her right, Daisy jumped back and looked up to see Rick's friend Shane standing tall with crossed arms and a suspicious expression on his face.
"Uh, I'm good, thanks." Daisy smiled hopefully, wanting to not be on this end of that look.
"You been talkin' with Dixon?"
"Oh, yeah…he just took me with him to check out the traps, and taught me to skin the rabbits he caught." Daisy scratched an itch on her shoulder awkwardly.
"Don't know if that's such a good idea, Daisy." Shane said, stepping closer to her, which caused the already quite short Daisy to tilt her head back further.
"Uh, well, he seems alright…if a bit self-serving. But, I now know how to skin rabbits, so?" Daisy finished with a slight laugh and a reluctant smile. Shane gave her a warm but suspicious smile in return.
"Yeah, OK. You just look out for yourself with that one, huh?" He clapped her on the shoulder and stalked off. Daisy looked after him confusedly, thinking that perhaps she should take Shane's advice but in dealing with Shane himself rather than Merle, he already seemed pretty shifty to Daisy.