meanstreak
rick grimes 𝘹 fem!𝘰𝘤
© WANDARYEN ──── 2024

"Well, look it here."

I didn't have the strength to lift my gaze and greet the new comers that quickly surrounded Daryl and I. My eyes lingered across the set of boots that stood around us and I could feel Daryl shifting around behind me — getting up on his feet.

I slowly lifted my chin and was immediately met with a pistol pointed at my face.

Daryl swung his crossbow around, hitting a different man in the face and knocking him on the ground.

I stood up a moment after, standing behind Daryl with our backs touching. "Damn it, hold up!" The man, who Daryl assaulted, climbed to his feet but I didn't peel my gaze away from the man in front of me.

"I'm claiming the vest. I like them wings." The man in front of me grinned, gesturing towards Daryl.

"A bowman." The man in front of Daryl chuckled. "I respect that. See, a man with a rifle, he could have been some kind of photographer or soccer coach back in the day. But a bowman's a bowman through and through." The grip on my rifle tightened — my knuckles turning pure white from the amount of pressure I was applying. "What you got there, 150-pound draw weight? I'll be donkey-licked if that doesn't fire at least 300 feet per second. I've been looking for a weapon like that. Of course, I'd want one with a bit more ammo and minus the oblongata stains."

The men around us laughed. "Get yourselves in some trouble, partner?" Daryl nor I spoke. "You pull that trigger, these boys are gonna drop you several times over. That what you want? Come on, guys — suicide is stupid. Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people?"

Daryl lowered his crossbow before nudging me with his elbow. I hesitated before lowering the rifle and pointed it at the ground, now turning to face the man before us.

"Name's Joe." He smiled at us.

"Daryl — Sienna." Daryl nodded over to me.

Joe's gaze flickered from his to mine. I watched carefully when his gaze drifted down towards the rifle in my grasp, a small chuckle leaving his lips. "Photographer or soccer coach?"

"Law degree," I muttered tiredly. "World went to shit before I could sadistic assholes in prison." I allowed my gaze to flicker back towards the man who originally stood in front of me on purpose. Something in my gut told me he was going to be a problem later on — all of them.

Joe bobbed his head in amusement. "Would've never of guessed — does that mean he's your bodyguard? You calling the shots?"

"We look after each other," I corrected.

"Good to know," the man in front of me chuckled and I immediately sent him a cold glare.

"Why don't you both walk with us for a while? Enjoy our company." Joe gestured around his group of men but the suggestion came out more like an order.

I turned my chin towards Daryl, wanting to hear his response and hoping it was to plead no — but he only gave me a single nod, which ultimately told me to trust him.

We followed the men around for the next couple of hours through the woods. They set up camp as half of them rested but Daryl and I were up hunting.

I didn't trust them — there wasn't a single thing they could say to make me believe they were good people. Their attitudes and ego's were the size of the Empire State Building. And the one from earlier who wouldn't stop looking at me insisted on pulling me into a conversation while we walked.

The only thing I remember him saying was that his name was Dan — I tuned everything else out for the sake of my sanity but remained as natural as possible.

Daryl had his sight set on a rabbit only a few inches ahead of us. When he released the trigger, another arrow hit the rabbit just like he did. Daryl stood up, turning to one of the men part of the group — I think his name was Len, or something stupid. But Len sounded about right.

"What the hell are you doing?" Daryl snapped, walking over to the rabbit.

"Catching me some breakfast." Len grinned.

"That's ours." Daryl pointed out while pulling out his own arrow. "We went out hunting for it – we get to eat it." He yanked out Len's arrow and tossed it to the side.

He narrowed his gaze centering on Daryl. "My arrow's the one that hit first. Cottontail belongs to me."

"We've been out here since before the goddamn sun came up."

I crossed my arms firmly over my chest, my rifle hanging over my back as I muttered under my breath. "Asshole deserves to starve." I turned my chin away to look in the opposite direction but Len heard my comment as he took a steady step forward. "What was that? You want to come over here and tell me that to my face?"

Daryl immediately shifted on his feet and blocked Len's path. "You stay away from her." I glanced over Daryl's shoulder, not lowering my glare from Len but narrowing my eyes further.

"You see, the rules of the hunt don't mean jack out here." The man spoke. "Now, that rabbit you're holding is claimed, boy. Claimed whether you like it or not. So if I was you, I'd hand it over. Now. Before you both get to wishing you ain't never even got out of bed this morning."

I clenched my jaw. "It's not yours, find another rabbit to claim."

Len looked at me and smiled, then turned to Daryl. "You know, I'll bet this bitch got you guys all messed up, hmm?" My body stiffened and the ringing in my ears returned — a wave of fresh emotions flooding my system at the mention of Beth.

"Am I right? Got you walking around here like a dead man who just lost himself a piece of tail. Must have been a good'un. Tell me something. Was it one of the little'uns? 'Cause they don't last too long out here."

The rubberband that kept me calm officially snapped and I yanked the knife from its sheath out of my pocket. Len laughed in a mocking manner at my reaction until I pushed him up against the tree with the blade against his throat.

"Easy, guys, easy!" Joe came up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Let's just put our weapons down."

"If you want to sleep tonight with your dick still intact, you better keep your mouth shut." I mutter dangerously under my breath but loud enough he could still hear.

"Hold on now, Sienna." Joe tapped my shoulder, giving it a single tug with enough strength to pull me backwards. "Weapons down – let's work this out, shall we?"

Daryl came up beside me, his fingers circling around my wrist and pulling me away from the older men — purposely putting me behind him once again.

My gaze burned a hole into Len's head and I hoped he could feel the heat radiating off of me from the amount of fury pumping through my body.

"Did you claim it?" Joe turned to the man while planting his hands on his waist.

"Hell yeah."

Joe nodded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Well, there you go. That critter belongs to Len. So let's have it."

Neither Daryl or I moved and if anything, I noticed Daryl's grip on the rabbit tighten.

Joe nodded. "Looks like you may be wanting an explanation." He wagged his finger around in a circle motion while he spoke. "See, going it alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fittest. That's a paradox right there. So I laid out some rules of the road to keep things from going Darwin every couple hours. Keep our merry band together and stress-free. All you gotta do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey, your bed at night. One word, claimed."

"I ain't claiming nothing." Daryl snarled.

"We're gonna teach him, right? The rules say we got to teach him." Len snapped.

"It wouldn't be fair to punish you for violating a rule you never even knew existed." Joe pointed out.

Daryl began to pace. "There ain't no rules no more." I crossed my arms firmly against my chest once again — trying to do anything to give myself comfort. This particular situation, let alone a group of men, made me want to call out for Rick and pray he would come running just like he always did.

"Oh, there are. You know that. That's why I didn't kill you for the crossbow." Joe spoke, reaching for the rabbit by its legs while Daryl still held onto its ears. "Easy there, partner." Joe spoke softly before pulling out a small axe and cutting the rabbit in half against a tree.

"Claimed." He spoke, tossing an end of the rabbit to Len. "That's all you got to say."

After the group of men packed up their camp, we headed out onto the road. I stayed close by Daryl as Joe and him spoke while his other men scouted ahead.

I remained quiet most of the time — only making small comments occasionally whenever Joe decided to acknowledge me.

"Right there. It's our abode for the evening." Joe spoke out, nodding towards an old broken down car shop on our left.

Daryl and I both stopped in our tracks. "Hey. There ain't no us." He pointed out, making Joe turn around to face us. "You leaving right now?" Daryl shook his head. "Then it sure seems like there's an us. You a cat person, Daryl?"

Daryl nodded, "I am."

"Loved 'em since I was three years old." Joe smiled, bringing a lit cigarette to his lips. "Vicious creatures. Anyway, I'll tell you, and this is true, ain't nothing sadder than an outdoor cat that thinks he's an indoor cat." Joe walked off towards his men while Daryl and I slowly trailed behind.

"What does that even mean?" I muttered with my gaze centered on the group of men ahead of us.

"Means we need to get the fuck out of here soon." Daryl grunted under his breath, his hand reaching out for my arm and tugging me closer.

Inside the car shop were a few cars which were quickly claimed by everyone in Joe's group, leaving Daryl and I to take the floor.

I didn't care honestly — maybe a little, because the idea of sleeping out in the open around these guys had my skin crawling. But all I could focus on was getting the hell away from these people.

"Hey little lady." Dan suddenly appeared at my side, a grin stretching across his lips and I visibly flinched with discomfort. "Why don't you join me in one of these cars? Get a good rest."

Daryl grabbed my arm and yanked me against his body. "Claimed." He growled, dropping his bag to the ground and taking a seat before I followed him after.

I pulled my knees to my chest and looked over at him. "Thanks," I spoke with a heavy exhale.

He placed his hand on my knee and gave me a nod. "I got your back."

"You've got to be kidding me." Len muttered. "Christ. Give it here." Len snapped, walking over to Daryl and I before Daryl quickly stood up in front of me. "You step back."

Len pointed towards his spot in the shop. "My half was in the bag. Now it's gone." His gaze flickered between Daryl and I. "Now ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you both. Ain't that right? You're the only one still thinking about that crap. Empty your bag." Len went to reach for the bag but I quickly stood up and pointed a finger at him. "Step the fuck back."

"Did you take his rabbit, Daryl?" Joe now came walking up, placing his hands on his hips. "Just tell me the truth."

Daryl stared at Len, his body shifting in front of mine as protection. "I didn't take nothing. Neither did she."

Joe nodded, bending down and grabbing a hold of Daryl's bag. "Lets have a look, shall we?" He opened it up, digging around inside before pulling out Len's half of the rabbit. "Well, look at that." Both mine and Daryl's face dropped immediately. "You put that there, didn't you?"

"When I went out to take a piss?" Daryl spoke. "And she was with me the entire time. She hasnt left my goddamn side!"

"We don't give a fuck about that rabbit," I gritted my teeth, shifting my gaze towards Joe.

"You lied. You stole." Len stood beside the leader, now pointing a finger towards us. "We gonna teach these fools or what, Joe?" As Len took a step forward, Joe extended his arm out to stop him. "Whoa, whoa. Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offense, or — " Joe trailed off, letting out a chuckle. "Or you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it'd be disappointing."

Len nodded, keeping his eyes fixed between Daryl and I. "It would, but I didn't."

Joe let out a sigh and nodded before kneeing Len in the groin, knocking him to the ground. "Well, teach him a lesson, gents. He's a lying sack of shit. I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way — I saw him do it."

Joe's group of men walked up, beginning to kick Len and punch him as Daryl and I took a step back together.

"Why didn't you try to stop him?" Daryl looked up at Joe while he tossed the rabbit back into the bag.

"He wanted to play that out. I let him. You told the truth. He lied. You understand the rules. He doesn't. Looks like you get the head, too." He then smiled, tossing the bag back at Daryl.