Chapter Seventeen: Ally
Ally: a person or organization that cooperates with or helps another in a particular activity.
Day 61
After some time meandering aimlessly around the camp, Daisy had ended up at Merle's camp once again; he seemed her strongest ally as of yet. She had a few pieces of coloured string in hand and was trying to demonstrate how a friendship bracelet was made. Merle being Merle, he quickly denounced the practice and set about teaching Daisy how to use string for more practical purposes, namely tying snares.
Two ruined traps later Daisy was smiling meekly at Merle, who was pacing back and forth, fuming.
"Never, in my entire life, have I met a more incapable…" Merle trailed off, "Just, sit down, don't make trouble." He pushed Daisy down to sit on the log and took the snare in hand, beginning to tie it himself, shaking his head. "Goddamn useless woman." Daisy scrunched up her nose in indignation as he muttered to himself. She deflated soon after, realising that there was never much point in arguing with Merle.
"So, don't you have a brother, Daryl?" Daisy asked him in an appeasing tone. He glanced at her with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah." Merle said shortly.
"Well…where is he?"
"Out huntin'. Ain't I told you this earlier? Girly, don't waste my time with dumbshit questions." Merle snapped at her, she raised her hands in peace.
"Man, I was just askin'…" She mumbled to herself. Merle opened his mouth to reply but they were interrupted by a shrill scream, the camp around the erupted with alertness.
"Shit, that's prob'ly Darylina now." Merle said disinterestedly, continuing to tie the string around itself with practiced skill. Daisy looked at him with incredulity and a bit of amusement at the nickname, then looked to where the screams had originated.
"Dad!" "Mommy!" "Help!" Daisy heard faint shouts from wheat were apparently some of the kids from camp.
"Uh, shouldn't we help?" She asked Merle with alarm, standing and peering over at the others.
"Psh, Officer Friendly and his pal got it all covered." Daisy sat back down with some trepidation, humming distractedly in assent. She sat quietly for some time, suddenly feeling very tired, her new group's apparent dislike and disinterest in her becoming very apparent with her now having to band up with Merle Dixon.
"What d'you think it was?" Daisy asked after a while.
"One'a them dead sum'bitches, they been comin' up the mountain more and more." Merle furrowed his brow in concentration as he tied a final knot in his project, he set it down. "Gonna have ta move real soon, 'fore the camp gets overrun with the walkers leavin' the city." Daisy gave him a wry smile at the prospect.
"'course, I find a supposedly safe place, it turns out to not be safe at all."
"We livin' in the apocalypse, Girly. Ain't nowhere safe anymore." Merle finished, Daisy bowed her head in disappointment, looking at her boots which wiggled in the dirt.
"Merle!" A shout came from the camp, both looked up. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." The man who shouted came upon then in Merle's camp, stopped when he saw Daisy sitting there with wide eyes.
"Th'fuck's this?" He asked Merle confusedly, turning around to rummage around in the bed of their truck.
"New girl." Merle said briefly, standing up with a groan and walking over to his brother, getting the aforementioned string of squirrels. Daryl looked back over towards their newcomer.
"Daisy." She told him, he just narrowed his eyes at her, then looked away and gave a slight nod. Daisy sat there a few minutes longer but, seeing that she had inadvertently been dismissed, she stood and wandered back to the main camp.
"Hey! Daisy!" Daisy stuttered in her steps as she heard her name be shouted, turning to see Carl and his friend Sophia rushing towards her.
"Carl, Soph? Was'sup?" She smiled widely at the two, both looked very enthusiastic; a stark contrast to herself, but she was grateful for the vicarious excitement.
"We were attacked by a walker." Carl said, eyes widening for emphasis. Daisy huffed a slightly terrified laugh at his dismissal of the danger, but prompted him to elaborate. "Yeah, it was eating this deer, but then it started coming at us like AGHH," Carl raised up his arms high into the air and made a grabbing motion with his hands clawed, "But we ran so quick, it didn't get us! Then Dad and Shane got it!"
"Oh, well…I'm glad you're not hurt." Daisy offered, thinking for a moment then continuing, "Have you learnt any lessons from this absolutely terrifying encounter?" She narrowed her eyes at the two, thinking it more important to prevent further attacks than encourage them. Carl deflated somewhat, then sighed.
"Don't go into the woods without someone big to protect you." He said monotonously, Daisy hummed in agreement, then changed her tune.
"Awesome, now tell me more about this walker fellow, did he look gross?" Daisy inquired, making Carl light up once more, along with Sophia beside him, then he continued to wax poetically about his and Sophia's near death experience. Daisy manoeuvred herself into the seat of a nearby park bench, the two kids sitting opposite her, and listened to them with diligence.
Daisy scratched at the cracked green paint of the wood, wincing at a small splinter that made its way into the side of her finger. As she picked it out carefully, there was a dull thud on the table and she jumped. Across from her, Carl and Sophia started to squeal and scrambled away from the table and hurried off to their mothers.
Daisy stared with wide eyes at the squirrel carcasses that had been slammed onto the table, then her head slowly turned to Merle, who stood beside her with a smug grin overtaking his face, his brother Daryl standing silently behind him.
"What the actual fuck, Merle…way to scar them for life." Daisy shook her head and glanced back at the squirrels, then continued exasperatedly, "And what am I supposed to do with these?"
"Skin 'em." Merle informed her shortly, then sat his skinning knife in front of her and left her in silence.
"Ah, man…" Daisy lamented, sighing as she picked up the knife. Grabbing the nearest squirrel, she placed it in front of her and gripped the knife with nervous fingers; still not entirely used to preparing animals for eating.
"I'll do 'em." She heard Daryl mumble from beside her, then he sat opposite her and grabbed a squirrel, promptly separating its head from its body. Daisy blinked at the abruptness, and looked up at him. She said nothing and after a few moments followed suit, doing the same to her squirrel, he glanced up at the thud of the knife landing in the wood of the table. "Merle told me that you did five rabbits earlier…already contributed more than most here." Daryl continued.
Daisy caught his eyes and gave him a quick smile, reassuring him, "It's fine, really…just complaining for the sake of complaining." She looked down at her decapitated squirrel. "I mean, it's pretty fucking gross, but I can deal. Nothin' else to do."
Daryl gave a short nod then they fell into silence once more, both continuing with their respective jobs. After Daisy had finished her squirrel and Daryl had finished three, he paused and looked somewhat brooding.
"Why you been hangin' around Merle?" Daryl said with trepidation, eyes narrowed at Daisy. She thought for a moment before replying.
"Honestly, he's been the only welcoming person here." Daisy smiled at Daryl's disbelieving look. "It's true! The others all kinda just leave me alone, he…put me to work, has me skinning animals. I mean, Jesus, I grew up in L.A., I haven't done anything even resembling hunting a day in my life." She paused, "It's just nice, I guess. Not being dismissed like I usually am, Merle taught me something real useful."
Daisy set her finished squirrel off to the side and picked up another, seeing that Daryl still looked suspicious, she looked off to the side thoughtfully, "I mean, when we were in Atlanta he was a total crazy person, 'cause of the drugs…but he seems alright now, if a bit vengeful."
"Vengeful?" Daryl repeated, Daisy looked at him with wide eyes.
"Uh, yeah. Rick, the guy I was with before now, he's a cop. So, he cuffed Merle to a pipe on the roof of this building. Merle thinks that if I hadn't gotten the key and uncuffed him, they would've left him there to die." She finished with an awkward smile and a shrug.
"Would they have?" Daryl asked seriously, brow furrowed. Daisy gave him a confused smile.
"'Course not." She huffed a small laugh, but Daryl still seemed doubtful.
"Hmm." He continued with his fourth squirrel.
"They wouldn't have." Daisy said with seriousness to match his, her head leaning forward to catch Daryl's eyes with hers. He glanced up and then down again, nodding his head dismissively. Daisy sat back with uneasiness, the surety of her own words not being entirely believed by herself either. Her brow furrowed and she tapped a finger on the fluffy tail in front of her, flinching as she remembered the state of the tail's owner; that is, quite dead.
"Daisy." Both Daisy and Daryl turned to see Rick approaching their bench.
"Hey, man! How goes it?" Daisy smiled wide at him, he gave her a quick smile back.
"Alright, 's good." He nodded distractedly. "Uh, me an' a few of the others're gonna go back into Atlanta, get that bag of guns." Daisy's eyes widened as she remembered the huge haul that she had dropped after they were attacked by walkers.
"Fuck." She muttered quietly, looking down at the table. "I'll come with, then." Daisy paused before looking up at Rick and continuing earnestly, "Shit, I'm so sorry."
"Hey, now, it was not your fault, Daisy. If I had the bag, I woulda dropped it too." Rick reassured her. "But I would welcome you to come, we're leavin' real soon." Daisy's smile grew back.
"Yeah." She said quietly, Rick gave her and Daryl a nod goodbye and left them, Daisy stood from the bench. "Hey, you gonna come?" Daisy asked Daryl with an expectant smile. He glanced up at her, still looking uneasy. "Saw that crossbow…it'd be great to have your help?" Daisy prompted him.
"Fine." Daryl said shortly, standing up with her. Daisy smiled to herself in triumph and gathered the remaining squirrels in her arms.
"Can give these to Merle, huh." Daisy proposed, "He could use some work." She joked, prodding Daryl lightly with an elbow as they started towards the Dixons' camp.
Daisy dropped the pile of squirrels onto the stump in the middle of their camp. While Daryl went to get his crossbow, Daisy nudged Merle with a foot, he startled where he was napping in a chair.
"Shit, Girl, what?" He said grumpily, blinking the tiredness from his eyes.
"Daryl and I are going with the group to get the bag of guns we dropped, you can skin the rest of the squirrels." Daisy said firmly, Merle scoffed at her.
"Who are you, my Ma?" Daisy remained steadfast and raised her brow at him. "Shit, fine…" Merle shook his head and took his proffered knife from Daisy, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. Daisy gave him a bright smile for his compliance, and bounded off to her own tent, where she rummaged amongst hers, Andrea and Amy's mess before finding her backpack and then her knife.
Daisy exited the tent then stood, almost immediately seeing Daryl waiting for her a few feet away, adjusting the crossbow's strap along his back. She strode over and past him, he followed her until they reached the truck where the others were gathered.
"Hey." Daisy greeted Rick, he glanced at her and then at the brooding man behind her. "Daryl's coming with." She informed him, then lifted herself up and into the back of the truck, she sat to the side with a sigh. The others began to enter the truck too, sitting along the sides as she did. Daryl sat across from her and she gave him a quick smile, his eye twitched and he looked away, making Daisy's smile wider.