"Oh, does that mean I actually have to do work now?" Alex moaned.
"I'm afraid so." Patricia laughed.
Helena wiped the final traces of food from her mouth as she ran up to Patricia for the day's medical lesson.
Alex threw himself in Helena's empty space next to me, smirking.
"Happy you've got your body back to normal now?" I asked, smiling at his infectious happiness.
"Yeah. I mean, I can't go crazy, but my wound is okay enough to get back to normal. Well, normal enough." He smiled, taking the bottle of water by my foot and taking a deep swig.
"Great. Then think about what I'm about to say tho the group. You could give me a hand." I said quietly, before winking at the him. Before he could reply, I had turned back to the group.
"I'm going to go out hunting today." I said loudly.
I expected everyone to be a little cautious but okay with it. Everyone pretty much was, aside from Lori and Alex.
"Oh for god's sake." Alex hissed. I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"That's Daryl's job." Lori argued, and I looked at her, stunned.
I then glanced at Daryl who seemed a little taken aback. I looked back to Lori felling a little annoyed. Whether I was annoyed for me or him, I wasn't sure.
"Did you ask him or just slip into a routine of expecting it?" I asked, my voice verging on spiteful. She didn't answer.
"I'm not an idiot. I can look after myself, and Otis taught me a few things before... I can do it." I said, trying to reassure them.
"Ya won't catch anythin'." Daryl mocked. The corner of my lips twitched a little.
"We'll see about that." I smirked. I looked briefly at Alex and rolled my eyes.
"Oh come off it Alex. I'm twenty-six, not twelve." I said, throwing an arm around his shoulder. There was a slight snort, but I couldn't tell who made it.
"I know. Just. Gah. Just be careful. Otis isn't here to watch you back now." Alex sighed.
I grinned, and pulled him towards me to kiss his cheek. He complained but flushed bright red as I let him go. There were a few chuckles around the group. My eyes met Dale's as he clocked on about the Otis thing.
Shane wasn't with the group. He was with Randall, and no one was going to interrupt him. We couldn't. Rick stood up, gave me a quick 'good luck' and marched down to the barn. I watched him go, seeing his tension in every stride.
I looked back round and caught Daryl's eyes. He seemed incredibly amused but slightly agitated. I had to try and bat away that stupid feeling that he was attractive again. He did look it though. Oh! It was ridiculous. I'm just surprised he's not grimacing or glaring at me. Yeah. Besides, he and Carol... Eugh. I sighed and pulled my eyes away.
I pushed myself up and walked to the tent grabbing my machete, rucksack and retrieved the Remington rifle from our truck. I pulled my short hair into a ponytail, running my hand down the length of the hair. I sighed. I missed my long hair. I walked back to the group and smiled.
"I'll be back before dark." I offered, hoisting my bag higher on my back.
"Stay safe." Alex sighed, reaching out his hand to grip mine. He gave me an 'I-mean-it' glare before releasing my hand.
I turned and walked away from the group, my eyes meeting Daryl's, who still seemed humoured. I felt a smirk grow on my face.
He doesn't think I can hunt. Well, he'll see. I won't come back empty handed. It's not like I can anyway - I don't know how many cans of food we have left.
I began my slow march across the field, feeling pretty out of place. The last time I went out, I was looking for Sophia. And the last time I went hunting, I had Otis with me. I shivered slightly as I pushed myself forward.
At least I didn't have to venture far out. a mile or so would be enough. And that meant that I shouldn't get as lost as I normally did.
I reached the fenced and nearly jumped over them, surprising myself. Maybe I was getting fitter!
I made it to the treeline and walked straight out for about ten minutes before I began to try and track. I couldn't fully concentrate though. My mind wandered, but somehow, thankfully, my body subconsciously worked.
It was the first time I've had nobody around me for a very long time.
There were so many things I wanted to think about, wanted to cry and shout and lash out about, but nothing would come forward. All I felt was empty. Like it was a sad fact, but I was used to it. What else could I do?
Sophia's death was hard. Is hard. Will always be hard, but any of us could be next. And instead of dwelling on the pain of the past, we've for to learn from it. I'll be damned if I let Alex or Helena be next. It won't happen.
I paused as I heard a slight tussle up ahead. Slowly, I crept forward, finding myself confronted with a raccoon. A well placed shot between it's eyes stopped the rustling and gave us some food.
I'm not even sure if we could eat some of this stuff, but we'll adapt. We'll have to. There's no renewable supply of canned goods anymore.
We'd have to start branching out further when we run the local places dry. We'd have to do day searches, and camp out over night if it got that bad. We'd have to do the same for petrol. That's if we can still stay with Hershel. He hasn't said anymore about kicking us off his land. But I think maybe the situation we ran into at the bar showed him that we're okay people. I hope it did. We aren't the insane criminals out there.
I pushed myself forward, eager to get away from the area. If anything gets drawn towards that relatively loud sound, I don't want to be around to greet it. Otis was right - the fact that this gun was regularly used once had made it a lot quieter than I expected.
I pushed forward, my mind then wandering back to Daryl.
Ever since Sophia was... Found, he'd been different. Even though he moved away from the group, I felt like I could get closer to him. I know Carol's there, but that didn't mean we couldn't be friends. And even though I didn't want to admit it, maybe we were kind of alike. Both can look after ourselves, don't take shit from anyone, committed. Maybe even morally similar.
I know that's not the point. You don't have to be someone to like them. But with Daryl, it feels like there should be some common ground. Some sort of thing that's shared. Although silence is nice sometimes. And now I've gotten to know him a bit more, he doesn't seem malicious. He just seems more and more like a lost child. A little boy that's seem too many battles. And that was pretty endearing. I wanted to help, in a way. Be there for him. But I knew that wasn't my place. I knew all too well by the stabbing feeling in my gut.
But he was acting differently. He didn't push me away like before. He was even mocking me about hunting. hopefully something can work between is, because we'd make a good team. The thought made me smile.
God, I sound like a schoolgirl! Analysing every little thing a guy does. Well... Whatever.
I looked down to hide the small blush. I don't know why as no one could see me, but I doing so I managed to trip over a fallen branch. I grunted as I tripped, managing to catch myself before I toppled over.
Smooth.
A raccoon, a few squirrels, a rabbit and a few hours later, I was heading back to camp.
I wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but I was immensely proud.
The squirrels were a pain to catch, and I didn't even know how I caught the rabbit, but I was beaming. And could you even eat raccoon? I'll let the others decide that. I'm just gathering. for today. Maybe I can do it in the future too. No, I will. I want to.
I broke the treeline and started my way accords the field. I could see from the distance that the group were all together. Good, this'll show them.
I tried to hide my almost smug expression as I jumped the fences and got closer to the group. Alex was the first one to see me, and immediately rushed over. He staggered downhill to me, his eyes continuously investigating me,
"You're okay." he stated, but it sounded more like a question.
"Completely fine." I beamed.
His eyes drifted over my face, and eventually his concern disappeared. His gaze then dropped to my hands, taking in how full my arms were. He took half of my catch and began walking me up to the camp fire, his arm slung over my shoulders.
"What a collection." Rick smiled.
"There would've been more, but I'm still clumsy. Tripping over random bits of ground isn't exactly stealthy." I shrugged, my smile still planted on my face.
"What ya got?" I heard from behind me.
I span to see Daryl walking towards the group. He came from the direction of the barn where Randall was. I wavered for a moment, slightly confused. Deciding I'd check to see what had happened while I was gone, and resorted back to my childish excitement. I couldn't wait to see his face drop when he realised I'm not totally useless. I can be sometimes, but not all the time!
"Not too bad, huh?" I grinned as Daryl looked over the catch. He was the hunter, after all. He knew what to look out for.
I watched as he examined my catch, hoping I could learn a thing or two. He took the animals off me and handed them to Alex when he finished examining them, one by one. He looked inside it's mouth, and looked at its eyes. My own eyes drifted to his face, and before I could help it, I was studying his face that was pulled into concentration.
His forehead was creased and his eyes sharp as he examined. His lips were pressed into a tight line and his hands were nimble and talented.
Oh my god, shut up Sam. I pulled my eyes off him and concentrated in the sway of the trees far off to my left.
"They're fine... Not bad, Sam." He said after a while.
I looked back at him and grinned. Praise from Daryl? I'll take it, thank you very much.
"That's it? No 'you got lucky' or 'beginners luck' or something?" I asked, eyebrow raised.
"Nah." He said, his eyebrows unfurring and softening his face at he looked at me. My grin grew.
"I gotta get Carol, she'll have an idea what to do. Daryl, do you think you could, you know... With the animals?" Alex chirped, holding out the the animals awkwardly.
He hesitated before taking the catch out of Alex's hands. Alex then trotted away to the rv. I watched as he went, a little spring in his his step. My grin transformed into a slight smirk. I was definitely going to talk to him about his whole new outlook now his arm's almost back to normal.
"How're you killing 'em?" Daryl asked.
"Remmington... Just like Otis'." I said, the satisfied smirk slipping from my face.
I looked away from him and down to the ground, ignoring the buzz of the group as they began cleaning the area to stark cooking. I felt almost guilty. He taught me all of this, and I was grinning and behaving like an idiot. And he would've told me that I was too loud. The thought that he wouldn't ever say that again stung a little.
I felt the slightest touch in the middle of my back. Confused at the fact that the feather like touch disappeared, I turned and I looked to see Daryl quickly withdrawing his arm. His eyes flicked briefly to meet mine before he grunted and stormed away.
I knew he was trying to comfort me. In his own way, I knew. And that really touched me. I just wish he didn't have to beat himself up for it. I was upset, he understood and tried reaching out to me. He was only being human, right?
Hey all!
I haven't had time to edit this properly, and I haven't been able to add more bits to it as I've got to rush out. I'll comme back to this when I've got some fee time! A gig and a dissertation won't do themselves. :)
As ever, thank you for favouriting, commenting, following and reading!
- Loré. X