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hunted-moth · 6 months

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Just Like Him Chapter One: I Met Two Old Guys In The Woods

Word-count // 6k

Summary // When Y/n encounters two men in the woods who offer her a place to stay she’s skeptical but goes anyway. And there she meets new people who help her in all kinds of ways

Warning // Language, talks of death and hunting,

Special Thanks to @eugeneroehoe and my friend for editing/proofreading this for me, it would be a disaster if they didn't lol

OTHER STUFF// Sorry for the weird formatting, i write in google docs and transfer over to Tumblr, and it's so fucky lol. I know there are other campers but for my sake, im just gonna focus on the main group.

Also, fun fact my GF's name was Sophia but we don't call her that so it was weird typing ‘Sophia’ lol

A/N // the first official chapter woo hoo. Unpopular opinion? I really like Lori and I feel bad for her sometimes. Yes she's wrong sometimes yeah but that doesn't matter to me, we support women's rights and wrongs here.

***: Major time Skip/scene change

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“Well well well, what do we have here baby brother,” The old guy said with the meanest grin on his face. Your grip tightened on the bow as he spoke, but you didn't take your eyes off the other man with the crossbow and the squirrels on his rope. They had dirt and grime all over their faces and slightly tattered clothes.

“Just a kid.” The younger guy lowered his crossbow and straightened his posture. The older man noticed your bag on the ground and yanked it off the forest floor.

“What do we have here?” The old man began to riffle through your stuff.

“HEY! That's mine!” you barked at him lowering your bow. He just ignored you and continued looking through your bag.

"Hmp, all that's in here are picture books, clothes, 'n a can of bug spray." He dumped the bag out on the ground and picked up the bug spray. "'Least this is useful." He went to turn and walk away, but you rushed him and pulled on his shirt.

“Hey, it’s mine! Give it back, asshole!” You grunted as the old guy pushed you away and you fell on your ass.

You rushed forward to continue to fight back, but the younger man held you back by the collar of your shirt.

“What's your guys' problem?!” You thrashed and fought against his grip, instead, he only tightened his grip

“Will ya jus’ quit it, kid!” The old guy turned around and crouched down to your height, in a way that was patronizing.

“Well, aren't ya a feisty one, kid?” He attempted to poke your forehead but you slapped his hand away.

“don't touch me!” You yelled as the younger one yanked on your collar to shut you up.

“Quit yelling! Yer gonna attract the Geeks!” The younger one yelled.

You stopped a moment to think about what he said and gave him a weird look.

“You call ‘em geeks? That's kinda dumb.” The young guy rolled his eyes while the older one started to ask a question but was cut off by the sound of a snarl nearby.

The younger guy let go of you to quickly shoot a bolt through the rotter's head with precision.

“That's why yer quiet,” he spat at the ground, lowering the crossbow.

“I was, but it's kinda hard when two old men in the woods take my crap.” You side-eye the old guy. He raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother, silently telling him to give your stuff back.

“Naw, the kid tried to attack us when she first laid eyes on us,” The Old guy dismissed. “Sides’, she should thank us fer that Geek.” You wanted to kick him in the shin.

The younger guy huffed and rolled his eyes. “She's just a kid, give ‘er the can of bug spray, and let’s go.” The old guy stared at the other, then dropped the can at your feet with a smug look.

You snatched it up and stuffed it in your bag, giving him the stink eye like your life depended on it. It was silent momentarily before you moved to pick up your bow. You were about to head on your way before the young guy grabbed your shoulder.

“Hey, where are yer parents? Why’re ya alone out here?” Your shoulder went stiff, you knew where they were and why you were alone.

“They’re dead, and my brother is lost and probably long gone, so it jus’ me, I guess.” You looked at the ground. The two men were looking at you. The younger one had a semi-sympathetic look on his face, while the older one just looked irritated.

The younger guy turns you around so you face him. “You know how to hunt? Or are you just swingin’ that bow around?” you nod your head "Follow us." You give him a strange look.

"Where?" You asked.

He rolled his eyes at the question."We got a camp down by a quarry, you can come or not, don' matter ta me," the younger guy said. You guessed he was trying to be nice, but his face didn't show it. It looked like you pestered the answer out of him.

They began to walk away not waiting for an answer from you. You weighed the thought of following them to their camp. You thought of Jason, thinking about what he’d say if he were you.

“They just tried to take your shit and now they want you to follow ‘em? Hell no, they probably want to kill you and take it” imaginary Jason shouted in your ear, his argument was reasonable in your mind. But your ‘mother’ had her own argument.

“He did stick up for you, maybe he’s being kind. You are alone out out here bear, anyone with a heart would invite you to their shelter. They could have food and even more people to look after you and keep you safe” Her words were hopeful whereas Jason was cynical.

Your mom's words tried to help you use your heart but Jason fought that you should use your head.

You looked at the two men as they walked away, their bodies getting smaller and smaller by the second.

‘Could just go and check the place out, if it's legit I could stay but if it gets dodgy I’ll leave’ You thought it was a perfect middle ground for both arguments.

You picked up all of your stuff and began to jog towards them. You huffed and puffed when you caught up to them making the older one scoff when he noticed you and walked faster to get away from you.

~~~The Quarry Day One~~~

Your trek to the supposed quarry was tense. You almost feel the irritation radiate from the Old guy. You and the young guy just kept quiet, the only words he'd say to you was ‘keep up’ if you fell behind a bit.

But the old guy just had to open his mouth.

“Why are we even bringing another mouth ta feed anyway!” you rolled your eyes, but the comment made it seem like there were other people. Which was a good sign.

“Can it even do anything useful” You were pretty sure you were the ‘it’ in this scenario.

“I can hunt, and other stuff,” you said in a small but annoyed tone which pissed him off as he turned around and yelled at you.

“WAS I TALKIN’ TO YOU KID” he yelled, you stepped back a bit when he got in your face.

“Man shut up and keep walking, ‘fore Shane blows up on us” He pushed the old guy forward. But he never shut his mouth, he just went on and on about how much of a burden you'd be if you stayed. He kinda reminded you of your brother when he was pissed at you.

As you walked you noticed that you started distancing yourself from the old guy. You were at first in the middle of them but towards the end of your trek back, you found yourself on the other side of the younger guy.

After about an hour of walking, you heard voices other than the old guy. You could hear soft murmurs of people talking as you all got closer. The two men got in front of you and moved the brush aside. The three of you walk through the camp towards a man.

“Yo Shane” the young guy called out, and the man with puffy hair turned his head, his eyebrows crinkled in confusion when his eyes landed on you.

“What’s with tha kid?” He asked the old guy with a look of confusion.

“Some brat we picked up” The Old guy just spat at the ground, and the puffy-haired guy just rolled his eyes. He directed his attention to you, kneeling a bit lower.

“Hi, Im Deputy Shane Walsh, what's your name?” he had a smile on his face, one that looked fake but still comforting.

“Umm, Y/n, Y/n Myers” you looked down out of embarrassment.

“Ok Y/n,” he started “now mind tellin’ me why you're alone in the woods?” he tilted his head towards the woods.

“I- I got separated from my brother and momma” you lied, you knew where your mom was, dead somewhere probably eating some poor dude's face. But you guess the part about your brother was true.

“Well, that's not good, when did you lose them?” he tilted his head to the side now, by now the other guys were long gone so it was just you and the puffy-haired guy.

“A couple of weeks ago, I just kept movin’ to avoid the eaters” You fidgeted with your bow like a child who was caught stealing something.

He had a sad look on his face “Well that's not good, how about you stay here till we find your family huh? Where do you think they might've gone?” he got up and put his hands on his hips as he looked around for someone.

“Im not sure, maybe Atlanta? Momma talked about goin’ there” You fiddled with your bow some more, rubbing your hands over the handles, you weren't looking at his face too shy to even think about it.

You heard a ‘hmm’ coming from his mouth, you looked up to see he was looking around the camp till his eyes finally found what he was searching for.

“AYE LORI!” He shouted “Come ‘ere for a minute” A woman in her mid to late 30s came strolling over, she had long brown hair and a confused look on her face. When you look behind her you see a little boy, around your age, trudging along with the woman.

“Yeah, Shane?” Shane–you guess– put a hand on your shoulder “This is Y/n, her family’s missing, ya think you can keep an eye on ‘er?” The woman looked at you and smiled.

“Hi Y/n, Im Lori” she introduced herself with a kind smile. The boy behind her gave a small wave.

“And this here is my son Carl” She pushed the boy from out behind her and continued her conversation with Shane

“Sure Shane, you gonna help look for her family?” you looked him in the eyes before he directed his attention to Lori, he put an arm around her and led her away from you and the boy.

“I don't think her family’s alive” he whispered, but you heard him, “said she got separated from her mom and brother a few weeks back” he scratched his head, “said her momma wanted to go to Atlanta”.

Lori got a sad look on her face from that information, she turned to look back at you and you looked away.

Lori nodded her head and turned towards you again “Are you hungry Hun?” she asked in her sweetest voice, you just nodded your head, and she put her arm around you and the boys' back and started to walk away.

You walked over to a campfire that someone was trying to start. He was young had no hair and wore a cap backwards.

“Any luck there T-dog?” Lori asked him, he just shook his head with a dejected sigh.

“I should probably know this by now huh?” he retorted. You walked up to the fire pit, “you could probably do this” you suggested.

You grabbed a skinny piece of wood and a fatter one. Then you grabbed some dry grass and placed it on the wood. Then taking the stick you began to rub the stick on the grass rapidly till you saw smoke. You blew on the fire to keep it alive then placed it on the fire pit.

“That should do it, it’ll take a few minutes though” You shrugged as you got up. The T-Dog guy just looks at you in shock.

“Danm kid, been tryin’ to get a fire goin’ for a minute and here you come doin’ it like it nothin’” He smiled at you.

“How’d you know to do that?” A small voice spoke up, it was the boy from earlier, you shrugged,

“My brother thought me” You shrugged as Lori smiled.

“Well, he's a good teacher then” She walked to a trailer and walked out with two cans of food.

“Okay, we have canned carrots and canned corn, who wants what?” The boy shot his hand up.

“Can I have the corn?” He asked, and she nodded her head so you got the carrots. She waited till the fire got big before she started to heat them up.

“So Y/n,” she got up and took yours off the grill, “I was thinking, after you finish eating, how would you like to get washed up? Get all that dirt off ya” You nodded your head as you took the can and fork from her cans and began to eat.

You kinda missed the taste of mushy carrots, it reminded you of when Jaosn cooked dinner and he would use the canned stuff.

While you ate, you people-watched. By the old RV, you saw two men messing with the RV engines, one was older with a bucket hat and the other was a little younger with a baseball cap and overalls.

A little farther you saw two other women, they both had short hair but one had black hair and looked like a pixie cut, and the other had shaved with salt and pepper hair. They were doing what looked like laundry, and a little girl wasn't far away from them, she was blonde with a bob.

You took another bite of the carrots when you noticed a younger guy– could have been no older than 23– he was running around camp talking to people with a piece of paper.

You finished your can of carrots and handed it to Lori, “you done hun?” you nodded your head, and she smiled “You want to take a bath?” you nodded again and followed her to a tent.

She unzipped it and went inside and got a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, and some body wash.

“Oh you actually have soap” She looked back as she grabbed a bowl and a towel.

“Oh yeah, there isn’t much left, unfortunately, but it’s something Glenn will find more hopefully” She led you down a rocky path towards the quarry lake.

When you got done with your bath you and Lori walked back towards the camp, you dried your hair while Lori held your stuff for you. It was already dark by the time you were done. Lori led you to a tent unzipped it and ushered you inside, you saw Carl in his bed reading a comic book.

“Hmm” Lori looked around, “I think I have an extra sleeping bag around here” Eventually she pulled a tattered old sleeping bag out from somewhere “Here hun, im sorry it's not nicer,” She said apologetically.

You just smiled and took it “It’s ok, I've been sleeping in trees for weeks” You rolled it out “This will be like a king-sized bed” you joked.

She smiled down at you, “Okay guys, time for bed” She turned off the lamp in the tent and retreated to her bed.

Sleep took a while, you were so used to keeping an ear out just in case. But now you were surrounded by people who could keep an eye out for them.

You turned onto your side to see a small fire outside the tent. You looked around to see both Carl and Lori fast asleep. So very carefully you got up and unzipped the tent. Looking at the fire, you saw the young guy from earlier. He was sitting by himself, sharpening his knife.

You walked over and sat down, he side-eyed you but continued what he was doing.

It was quiet and stiff as you listened to the sound of the crackling fire and the shaving of metal. You gripped at your shorts and looked at him.

“Thank you,” You said in a quiet voice, “for bringing me here”

“Yea, don’ mention it,” He said gruffly, you curled up into yourself from the cold.

“Don't think I got your name” You glanced at him “My name’s Y/n” You introduced yourself to him, but he didn't look at you.

“Daryl” Was all he said, you looked over and saw him inspecting a hunting knife.

“Why are ya up so late?” You looked at the fire. You heard him stop sharpening his knife, glaring at you.

“Why are you asking so many damn questions?” He barked at you, you shrunk a bit at him raising his voice. He went back to messing with his knife.

“Sorry,” your voice was quiet and small. And out of embarrassment, you retreated back to Lori's tent. Once inside you laid down in your sleeping bag and just stared up at the tent ceiling, wishing you could see some kind of stars again.

~~~The Quarry Day Two~~~

You were shaken awake by Lori in the early morning. You looked around and saw that Carl was already up and tying his shoes.

“Hey, it's time to get up” You nodded your head, sat up and grabbed your shoes, and stood up, following Carl and Lori.

You walked out of the tent to see some people in a small circle. You saw two blonde women hugging, a family hugging a man. A few of them you recognized, such as the fire pit guy and the woman you saw at the clothesline, you also saw Merle standing around with his hunting rifle on his shoulder.

You saw Shane talking to another guy too, a super younge guy actually. He wore a cap and kinda looked like a kid you'd see in an old baseball movie. You remember seeing him running around yesterday.

“Hey Lori, why are they all in a circle?” You asked but she was busy getting you some food.

“They’re going on a supply run, into the city” You looked at them with a weird look. “With Merle?” You said with a grimace, you didn't know him very well but you could tell he didn't like people and people didn't like him.

Lori laughed a bit “Yeah I know, I don't know why he chose to go with them” She handed you some squirrel soup and you ate it with no protest meanwhile Carl looked a little grossed out while eating it.

“Hurry up and eat, we got school in twenty minutes” Scrunching your face in confusion you looked at Lori “Oh I guess I forgot to mention, me and Carol give school lessons, and you’re doing them too” You dropped your shoulders, the only good thing about the world ending was the no school part.

You all sat at a picnic table, the supply people had been gone for about an hour now. You were doing stuff you had learned about. The only good thing was that you got to know Carol and Sophia a little better, carol was the woman with the greying and shaved hair, and Sophia was her daughter.

They were nice, if not a bit quiet. You guess Lori could see your boredom “Have you learned this Y/n?”

“Umm, yeah, last year” You were a year older than Carl and Sophiea so already knew what they were learning.

“Hmm, well I guess you can go for now” You nodded and got up from the table and wandered around camp, till you stopped in front of the old RV. you debated on going inside it or not, but your thoughts were interrupted by a voice call down to you.

“Are you the Y/n I've been hearin’ so much about?” you looked up to see the old man with the bucket hat, he also had a rifle. And for some reason, he was on the roof of the RV.

You nodded your head “Why are ya up there?” he cracked an amused smile, he had an infectious smile.

“The View” He shouted back “Why don't you come and see for yourself” He looked friendly enough, so you decided to climb onto the RV and stand by the man.

“See, isn't it beautiful” He gestured out towards the quarry lake “My favorite view here” He looked down at you to see your reaction.

“It's pretty, the lake is really blue” You didn't really know what to say, you just figured he was being an old man, appreciating random things –kinda like your own grandpa.

“You know, I don’t think I ever introduced myself.” He turned towards you, sticking his hand out to you “I’m Dale, pleased to meet you.” You shook his hand, his eyes were kind.

“Nice to meet you too Dale” You sat down on the RV looking out to the quarry “Why are you up here Dale?” you asked, he had his hunting rifle and there was a deck chair up here, along with an umbrella.

“Oh im on lookout duty, we all take shifts to watch out for those, things.” He took a seat in the deck chair “Don't see much luckily, they all stay near the city” Hearing that just made you thankful you chose to come here.

“Does it ever get boring?” You asked, you figured you would be if you were up here all day. He only chuckled and picked up a ratty old book giving it to you,

“Sometimes, that's why I read this” The book was called ‘The Case of the Missing Man’. “It's a good book, you should read it sometime.” You flipped through the yellow-worn pages.

“What no pictures?” You joked “But it looks interesting I guess.” He just beamed down at you, laughing a bit at your dumb joke.

“Well why don't you take it, read it, and tell me what you think of it” You put it in your lap.

“So where you from anyway?” You were curious as to why an old man had an RV and not just a car.

“Ahh, well, im from eastern Georgia. And before all of this, I was going on a cross-country road trip” He explained with a sad look on his face.

“How did you end up here?”

“Well, I was in Atlanta when it got overrun by the dead and I tried to get out as fast as possible,” You couldn't imagine being in a big city where the dead had risen, “On my way out of the city I encounter two others, Amy and Andrea, actually Andrea is one of the people that is out on that run to Atlanta right now.”

“That was nice of you to help them out” You don't think your family would help others out, well your mom would try, but Jason was kinda the leader and he isn't the type to risk his chance of survival outside family.

“It was the right thing to do” Is all he said “What about you, why are you here?” You looked away at the question.

“I got lost from my Momma and brother,” You picked at your skin a bit “Don't have huge hope in finding them” Dale gave you a sad face.

“How do know they aren't trying their hardest to find you” You just shrugged your shoulders.

“Im getting kinda hungry, I think im gonna go eat something” You got up, taking the book Dale gave you “It was nice talking with you Dale, maybe I'll come back later” You began to climb down the ladder “and ill return your book later too” He just cracked a kind smile.

You were camped out in a tree reading the book Dale gave you, it was an okay book in your opinion, but you'd rather read your comic books. You got bored with a certain part of the book and closed it. You looked out to the camp, once again observing the people.

They were all doing something important, Lori, Carol, and who suspect was Amy preparing dinner, while men like Shane and Dale were on “guard” of Rotters. Some other men you didn't know were chopping wood up for the fire.

Watching them actually do stuff made you feel useless like you should be doing something. If you were out in the woods right now, you'd be hunting. And if you were at home you probably be cleaning up your mom's mess. But whenever you asked to help out you'd be turned away, told to go play or something and be a kid. You hated it.

After a while you climbed down and asked Lori when she thought dinner would be ready, you were thinking of going to bed early since it was already late.

“It should be done soon, we just need to finish cookin’ the meat, it’ll be done quick” She smiled and continued with what she was doing. With that news you went to sit on a log next to Carl, he always seemed to not be far away from his mom.

“How did lessons go?” You asked, he and Sophia must have been in seventh grade by now, you'd be in eighth grade.

“It was okay, all we did was math” He replied boredly “What did you do after you left?” He looked at you.

“Nothing much, just kinda wandered around camp, met Dale, he was nice. Gave me this book, it’s kinda borin’ though” You joked

“I like Dale, he’s nice” he agreed with you, he was pretty nice to talk to.

“He reminds me of my Grandpa Theo, he always had a smile on his face” You missed Grandpa Theo, he died when you were nine, it was one of the few days your momma was sober.

“Alright guys, dinners done, here ya go” Lori gave you guys your bowls and a spoon, squirrel soup again, Carl's favorite.

After you ate you retreated to Lori’s tent to sleep, but you never actually slept instead you just read the book again. The book itself was okay, it was about a detective retelling a case he was on. The case was about a man who suddenly went missing but whenever he investigated any leads people would say he never existed, and that the detective was going crazy. You got bored again and stopped reading halfway through.

You lay down and stared at the tent ceiling again, you just stared at it hoping it would make you sleepy. You heard the tent zip open and in came Lori and Carl, both of them going to their beds, they said their ‘I love yous’ to each other. It made you miss your family more and more.

You fell asleep about thirty minutes later, but you woke up when you heard something rustling in the tent. You cautiously turned your head to the noise and thankfully didn't see any eaters. Instead, you saw in the darkness what looked like another person in Loris's bed. Seeing that you promptly turn over and away from the noise.

~~~The Quarry Day Three~~~

You wanted to ask Lori about the noise last night but she was already out of bed, and so was Carl. Exiting the tent you find Lori sitting by the campfire.

You walked up and sat down by her “morin’ Lori”

“Moring hun, how did you sleep?” She was folding some clothes

“I slept okay I guess” You were tempted to ask about the noise but decided against it. “Is there anything I could do today?” you were getting bored as the days went on, hell it felt like a week since you’d been here, but it's only been three days.

“Now why would want to do anything kid?” Shane asked he was picking up an axe like he was about to do something “You're a kid enjoy it. Hell this is probably like a summer vacation”

You just shrugged your shoulders “I don’t know, just board is all” Lori rubbed your shoulders

“Why don't you play with Carl and Sophia? They say they want to be friends with you” She gave a soft smile at you “They’re just too shy to say anything”

“I guess I could” You looked around and saw Daryl with his crossbow heading out, you had the idea of going hunting instead, “actually I have another idea” You got up and jogged to Daryl

“Hey Daryl, are you going hunting?” You caught up to him “If so can I come with you? I really-” You were cut off by Daryl

“No, go away” With that he walked off leaving you behind. You hung your head and walked off somewhere. You found yourself at the tree you were in yesterday, you climbed it and sat there watching everyone be useful again.

Looking around you saw Lori and Coral talking to each other, coral nodded her head and called over Sophia with Lori doing the same with Carl. They seemed to also be nodding and started to look around for something.

They wandered around camp, stopping people and when the person shook their head they would walk away. It was like that for several minutes till Sophia shook Carl's shoulder and pointed in your direction, confused you looked around to see no one, you looked back to see Them running towards you.

Oh, I guess it was me you thought, you started to climb down the tree. When you were at the bottom Sophia and Carl were already there.

“Hi,” You said shyly.

“Hi,” They said back just as shy.

“Were you guys looking for me?” You asked, they nodded their heads, and Carl spoke up “Yeah, we were wondering where you were” You nodded your head in understanding

“Why were you in a tree?’ Sophia asked quietly, you just shrugged your shoulders

“I don't know, just bored I guess, there isn't much to do around here” You shoved your hands in your pocket “Wanted to go huntin’ with Daryl but he said no” When you said that Carl had the bright idea.

“Why don't you show us how to track and stuff, ya know how to survive in the woods and stuff” Sophia nodded her head “We just gotta ask our moms about it”

“Yeah, why not” So you all walked over to Lori and Carol, Lori was there but not Carol, so Sophia went to go find her.

You and Carl walked up to Lori when the radio in the camp went off

“HELLO, HELLO. CAN ANYBODY HEAR MY VOICE?”

The voice on the radio was distorted and hard to understand. A girl with long blond hair rushed to the radio and tried to radio back the unknown

“Hey, Hello?” – “CAN YOU HEAR MY VOICE” – “YES, your coming through, over” her voice sounded hopeful as Dale came over to try and help –“IF ANYBODY HEARS PLEASE RESPOND”– “Your crap radio must not be going through”

“BROADCASTING ON EMERGENCY CHANNEL WILL BE APPROACHING ATLANTA ON HIGHWAY 85 IF ANYBODY READS, PLEASE RESPOND”

The girl was desperately trying to get back to him “We're just outside the city” The radio started to crackle “damn it” She cursed the rain.

“He couldn't hear me, I couldn't warm him” The girl was frustrated but Dale tried to calm her down “Try to raise him again, maybe he’s still around” She tried again but Shane came walking over.

“Come on son you know best how to work this thing” Shane put his axe down and took the talkie from the girl.

“Hello, Hello, is the person who called still on the air?” The radio just crackled “This is Officer Shane Walsh, broadcasting to a person unknown, please respond” The radio continued to crack and the air was tense with everybody trying to listen for the unknown guy.

“He’s gone” Shane gave up on trying. Lori tried to lighten the mood “They’re other, not just us” Shane just retorted with an attitude.

“We knew there would be, right? Why we leave the C.B. on” Lori responded with her own.

“Lot of good it’s been doing” Lori continued “And I've been sayin’ for a week ought to put signs up on 85, warming people about the city” She seemed to glance at you for a second.

“Folks got no idea what they're getting into,” The blonde girl said, Shane just grunted and got up “Well we haven't had time” was Shane's excuse.

Lori wasn’t taking it though “Well I think we need to make time” Shane just rubbed the sweat off his face.

“Well that's a luxury we can't afford” You could tell he was getting impatient “We are surviving here, we are day to day” Dale looked conflicted “And who hell would you propose we send” That just seemed to piss Lori off a bit.

“I'll go, give me a car” she gritted her teeth, but Shane shot that down quickly “No, nobody goes anywhere alone, you know that” Lori walked away pissed, you and Carl attempt to follow her but Shane stopped you guys.

“Hey Hey Hey, Go on guys, take a seat. You’re alright, go on, you’re alright” He walked away following Lori. You and Carl just stood around, you noticed Sophia walking up with a bummed look on her face

“What did your mom say?” You asked “She said no, but she said it was ok if I “explored” the camp,” She said in air quotes “What about you guys?”

“Some guy came over on the radio so we didn't get a chance,” you said kicking a rock “Yeah, and she and Shane got into an argument so she’s kinda mad right now” Carl kicked the rock back to you “why don't we go ask her now?” you said, Carl nodded his head and both walked towards the tent

While walking up to the tent you noticed the door was open and what looked like Shane and Lori were inside. Their legs were closer than you thought normal

“Mom” Carl yelled and the two bodies broke apart, Shane came out of the tent.

“What's up, guys? She’s in there, go on” he rubbed Carl’s head and walked away, Lori walked out of the tent meeting you guys, she got down on one knee and met you guys.

“Hey, I don't you guys to worry,” she grabbed your guy's shoulder “im not going anywhere, Okay?” you guys nodded your head “Yeah, yeah” she smiled “Okay, was there anything you guys wanted?”

“Yeah, we were wondering if we could go out and explore the woods. I could show Carl how to survive in the woods and stuff” She thought about it for a second, “Right, but don't go too far, stay within shouting distance, Okay?” you nodded your heads. You rushed past Lori and got your bow and quiver.

You guys had been in the woods for about an hour, Sophia was with you for a little bit till her dad called her over. Right now you were teaching Carl how to track small animals.

“You see this one right here?” you pointed out a print to Carl “It's a rabbit’s footprint, can you see how the front is bigger and the hind are smaller?” he nodded “And how you can see both front and hind legs? Thats because a rabbit walks, kinda like a worm?” you didn't know to explain it

“So like, it moves its front legs first then it’ll move its back legs” Carl nodded his head “Now we probably won't see any rabbits during this time of day, they’re more active at dawn, and dusk”

You and Carl started to follow the trail of this random rabbit, it looked somewhat fresh, made maybe around morning. “They like to hide in shrubbery and bushes and stuff.” Carl nodded his head and kept his eyes on the bushes.

While you were tracking Carl shook your shoulder “Look” he whispered, and you looked to where he was pointing, your eyes made contact with a rabbit, and you and the rabbit held eye contact not blinking.

Well, you blinked when a bolt impaled it. Carl gasped in surprise and fell on his ass. And out came Daryl with his crossbow and other small game on his shoulders.

“The hell you two doin’ out here?” he asked you guy gruffly as he took the bolt from the rabbit and secured it on his animal rope.

“None of your business” you shot back “Come on Carl, let's get back to camp” You pulled Carl up from the ground and headed back to camp.

“Sorry you had to see that Carl” You put a hand on his shoulder “but I guess you also had to see it? I don't know, that's what huntin’ and surviving is” Carl shrugged his shoulders

“It's okay, I get it, too bad we couldn't take the rabbit though” he looked at you “Would’ve been nice to try rabbit” You chuckled a little bit.

***

When you guys got back you had dinner and told Shane about your adventures in the woods. Both Lori and Shane called Daryl an asshole for shooting the rabbit in front of you guys. When you guys were done you all went to bed. You and Carl stayed awake and talked to each other.

That’s how you learned that his dad was also gone, and how Shane rescued him and Lori. He said they were on their way to Atlanta but the roads stopped and not long after that he saw them bombing Atlanta. You guessed thats why Lori and Shane acted weird around you whenever Atlanta was brought up.

Not long after both you and Carl fell asleep, and you dreamed of the stars and your momma

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Next // Swimmin' With The Frogs

Previous // The Before Times

Taglist // @your-shifting-gurl, @underrated-jellygirl

// Masterlist //

#fanfic #twd #daryl dixon #x reader fanfiction #platonic reader #teen reader #i literally fell asleep while editing this lmao #i finished this at 12 in morning #im so sleep deprived

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