Hi everyone I'm back again for the second time this week as promised :). Not sure really what to say apart from thanks again to Fallen Angle Awakened for being my beta again and I will hopefully be back soon but College says otherwise xD.
Anyway onto the story enjoy and feel free to review as I enjoy reading peoples thoughts on it feel free to PM me if you have any ideas for how the story can progress :).
Rick and Daryl didn't really talk during their watch shift, except about Elliot. When Daryl brought it up, Rick was alright with Daryl teaching the teen as long as a close eye was kept on him at all times and as long as they were back by sundown. "Make sure you get back at any cost." Was the last condition Rick gave, to which Daryl nodded.
Once it was time for them to wake Carl and Michonne for their shift, the last thing Rick said to Daryl was, "Remember what I said." Daryl just nodded his head in response then went to sleep in the corner.
During their shift, Michonne randomly asked Carl, "What do you think of Elliot? It seems like he's very willing to open up to you, and seems to trust you."
Carl was caught off guard, and wasn't too sure how to respond but just said, "I'm still not sure about him. He seems alright I guess. My dad wanted to know what I think of him too, but I'm not some amazing judge of character who can just throw my opinions around."
Michonne corrected him and said, "That's where you're wrong. I do believe you were to one who told your dad is was part of this family."
Carl looked away from Michonne and shrugged his shoulders in response. Sure, Elliot seemed like a nice guy, but most things in the post-apocalyptic world were too good to be true a lesson Carl had learned the hard way and would never forget.
Meanwhile, Elliot wasn't asleep and was unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation between Carl and Michonne. He wasn't shocked by what he'd heard, considering the group had just met him that afternoon, and figured that since there were no negative things being said about him, he could try to get some rest.
When dawn came, Elliot was suddenly awoken by Daryl, and the first thing he heard the rough man say was, "Come on, kid. Get up. We got a long day ahead of us." Considering he had been on his own for so long and hadn't had to get up early unless there was an immediate threat in that time, Elliot's first thought was, "do I really have to get up?" But he then remembered Daryl was going to teach him to use a crossbow and was immediately on his feet. "Rick, if you guys need food I put most of it in the kitchen, but I put a small bag of supplies in every room in case I ever needed to leave in a hurry"
Rick nodded to the teen and said, "Thanks, Elliot."
Once Elliot had gotten ready and grabbed his crossbow, he met Daryl out on the porch. Rick said to them, "Be back by sundown, and be careful."
Elliot reached into his bag and produced a small black box. "Here's a walkie talkie so we can communicate. I only found two of them, and I think they're on a closed frequency, but I'm not sure on the range. They're battery powered, and I found plenty of spares, but I never tested them as I never had a reason to. I have some batteries here, and the spares are in the drawer of the bedside table in the master bedroom."
Elliot looked at Carl, smiled and passed him his katana, swapping it for a hunting knife he found in the house and said, "Look after this until I'm back. I don't need it to hunt. Please be careful with it." He said while hiding the walkie talkie on his hip underneath his shirt.
Carl just said. "Will do. It's safe with me." with that, the duo left so that Daryl could teach Elliot how to track, hunt and use his crossbow properly.
Daryl and Elliot were about an hour's walk from the house they were currently staying at when suddenly, they heard voices around them. Daryl signalled for Elliot to stop and hide until the area was clear. The two hunkered down in a thick bush, barely breathing, but were quickly found and pulled out of their hiding place by a group of men. The first thing that they heard was a man who seemed like the leader-while the rest of the group were pointing their weapons at duo, "Put your hands up, both of you." the leader noticed the crossbows and the bags that Daryl and Elliot were carrying and said "Look what we have hear boys! Two fellas that know how to use bows! What're your names boys? I'm Joe".
Daryl thought about anyway how to get out of the current situation but saw no way at the current time. He could see the fear in Elliot's eyes, so decided to let the men know who they were, but had thought of a way to make Elliot's disability seem worse so it would help, because looking at the current situation, he could tell if he couldn't pass them off as being related one of them could end up dead. So, he flatly said, hiding all emotions, "I'm Daryl", and quickly continued before Elliot could reveal his accent, "that's my son Elliot"
"Can't he talk for himself?" The leader said in a mock chastising tone.
"Nah, he's mute. Somethin' to do with oxygen during pregnancy. Caused the limp too." Daryl had no idea what he was talking about, so he tried to get the explanation done quickly and was slightly nervous when the group of men all started to laugh. One of the men-the fat bearded one-said, "How's a cripple been able to survive all this time? Tell you what", the man took a breath then loudly said in a threatening voice. "CLAIMED on the boy and all he owns".
Joe just looked at him with slight anger and told him, "Now now. Let's hold up a second here, Dan. These fellas look like they could be useful to us yet, after all look at the weapons they carry. They may fit in with us." Joe staring at Elliot just said, "You may be a handicap, but do you know how to hunt and track?"
In order to be able to keep up the illusion that may be the only thing that's keeping him and Daryl breathing, Elliot nodded as he could tell why he needed to keep quiet. He had encountered men like them before, and knew he would need to talk to Daryl about it in private when they get the chance to figure a way out of their predicament.
Joe looked back and Daryl sternly asking him, "So do you and your mute boy here want to join us or not?" Daryl looked around seeing that the hostile groups weapons were still trained on the pair of them. Seeing no other choice for them both to make it out alive and without getting hurt, Daryl just said to the group, "Sure got nowhere better to be."
Eliot just thought to himself, "I'm so glad that I left my katana with Carl. I'm just hoping they don't ever choose to randomly search us and find the batteries or my walkie talkie. I've got to find a way to communicate with Rick as soon as I can, but not being able to talk around these guys is going to make difficult and we're supposed to be back by sundown. Good thing I'm not one to back down from a challenge."