❛ SURVIVOR'S HEART ! ❜
chapter five ―― that's my dear

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ AFTER FINISHING HER CHORES for the morning and making sure the kids are, Charlie grabbed her bow and the few arrows Daryl had left behind before she made her way out into the woods away from camp. Mason saw her walk off and decided to follow her, him having finished showing Josh around.

"What are you doing?" He asked and she continued, not bothering to face him.

"Guns are loud, they draw more walkers. Arrows, not so loud. I need to get better."

"Thought Daryl was teaching you."

"He is." She nodded as she came to a stop, loading her bow and aiming at a tree that had a red dot with a red circle around it – Daryl had painted it for the girl to use as a target. "Do you see him anywhere?" She let the arrow fly and it hit the edge of the red circle, making her groan as she dropped her arms. She was irritated that it had been taking her so long to get the hang of it, she usually picked up on things pretty quickly.

"At least you hit the tree this time." He offered and she narrowed her eyes at him but all he could do was laugh. She rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the tree and yanked the arrow free. Once she was a good distance away, she loaded her bow again and aimed at the tree before letting the arrow fly. Still, she hit the outer edge of the red circle. "I'm impressed." He mumbled sarcastically.

"Shut up." She grumbled, making her way towards the tree to pull the arrow from the bark. "One more word from you and I'll be using you for target practice."

He raised his hands in a form of surrender. "I'll keep my mouth closed." He pretended to zip his lips and then toss the key over his shoulder, making the girl laugh.

"Thank you." She hummed as she took her stance about ten feet from the tree, her eyes narrowed as she took a breath, she readied her bow but before she could release the arrow she heard a scream, both she and Mason jumped and ran towards the sound, she held her bow in front of her, keeping the arrow in place but she didn't have it pulled back.

"Mom!" Carl shouted and Charlie ran faster, she silently thanked her older brother for making her join track in high school. She reached the kids just as Rick and Lori ran over, Lori hugging the little boy once he was in reach but Charlie kept going until she came upon a walker munching on a deer's neck – the deer had three arrows sticking out of its side and she knew Daryl would be close by. She took the arrow off of her bow, her fist gripped around it as she took quick steps towards the walker, the sound of the leaves made it turn towards her, but she jammed the arrow into its head and before it could reach her or even get to its feet. It fell to the leaf covered ground as the others came to a stop, all gapping at the sight before them.

"Nice." Mason mused as she put her boot on the walker's head and yanked the arrow free, sending a few chunks of rotted flesh into the air with the action.

"The kids okay?" She asked as she turned towards them and Rick looked at her, slightly stunned by what she had just done. "Rick? The kids?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're good." He nodded. "You just. . ."

"I'm not a very good shot yet." She told him, holding her bow up slightly, the bloody arrow still hanging from her right hand.

"That's the first one we've had up here." Dale stated as he looked at the dead walker that was laying next to the dead deer at Charlie's feet. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim told him.

"You okay?" Shane asked, looking over at his sister, his gun in his hands but it aimed at the ground.

"Told you I can handle myself." The brunette smiled, leaning down to wipe off the arrow with the leaves and Josh looked at the dead walker, a baseball bat resting on his shoulder – it was clear that he and the other's had come well prepared to take on the walker. But her smile faded to the sound of a twig snapping and footsteps approaching and she stood up straight, raising her bow as she pulled back the string. Everyone readied their weapons, Morales raised his bat, Rick stepped forward and Shane raised his gun.

"Oh, Jesus." Shane mumbled and lowered his gun when he saw Daryl, another member of the group. Charlie slowly released the string and lowered it to her side as the man rounded a pile of rocks, he looked around at them, slightly confused until he spotted the deer he had shot, a chunk of its neck was missing.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer!" It was clear that he was angry. "Oh, look at it. All gnawed on by this-" he kicked the dead walker. "-filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard."

"Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale told him, trying to calm him down.

"What do you know about it, old man?" He huffed, marching his way towards the guy in the bucket hat. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?" Then he turned back to the deer and pulled his arrows from its side. "Been tracking this thing for miles. Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison."

"Yum." Charlie mumbled, though she really would eat just about anything, nothing having had nearly enough food since she had been sharing most of her meals with the kids to keep them fed.

"What do you think? Think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl looked up at Charlie who shrugged.

"I would not risk that." Shane told him.

"That's a damn shame." The man with the crossbow huffed. "I got some squirrel – about a dozen or so." He adjusted the rope where he had the dead animals strung up off his shoulder. "That'll have to do."

"Great, gonna eat some squirrel." Charlie muttered, her lips pulling into a pout as she looked up at Mason, the boy just laughed as they started back through the trees.

"And who offed this thing?" Daryl asked, kicking the dead walker.

"Charlie."

"Told you I could handle myself!" She called out, not bothering to look back at them as she and Mason made their way through the woods and back to camp, passing Josh on the way. But she didn't miss the small chuckle from Daryl as she went. "You coming, or what?" She asked looking over her shoulder at the boy and he followed after them, chuckling a little as Mason tried to reenact Charlie's run in with the walker. The girl simply shook her head as shoved the boy forwards.

"It was badass." Mason stated. "Wasn't it?" He asked, looking over at Josh who had let the bat hang by his side.

"I'd say so." He nodded and Charlie smiled over at him.

"Tell my brother that, will ya?"

The three had just reached the camp, the Mexican boy putting the bat in the back of Shane's jeep as they passed it while the girl put her bow over her shoulder, when Daryl walked over.

"Merle!" He shouted, looking for his brother. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel. Let's stew 'em up." Still he got no response so he turned to Charlie. "Hey, Robin Hood, you seen my brother?"

"Nope." She shook her head and walked away from him, not wanting to be too close when someone told him about his brother.

"Daryl, slow up a bit." Shane told him. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" He asked, turning to face him.

"About Merle."

"This seems like a good spot." Charlie mumbled as she stood at the back of the rv, while Mason climbed up the ladder to get to the roof – mostly because it was his turn on watch, but also because he wanted to see if Daryl kicked someone's ass after they told him about Merle.

"There was a – There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane told him, walking a little ways past him and Daryl looked around.

"He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl huffed, walking around Shane, then Rick walked towards them.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes. You got something you wanna tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all," Rick started. "So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." He told him as T-Dog neared the group with an arm full of firewood.

"Hold on. Let me process this." He took a few steps away from Rick, wiping his nose on his wrist. "You saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and left him there?"

"Yeah." Rick nodded then he ducked when Daryl threw the squirrels at him. He charged, anger clear on his features but Shane ran forward, stopping him before he got anywhere close to Rick. They tumbled to the ground and Daryl pulled out a knife as he pushed himself up.

"Watch the knife!" T-Dog called out, then Daryl pulled back and swung the blade towards Rick, who simply stepped back, grabbing his arm before he could do anything else. Then Shane walked up behind him and wrapped his arm around his shoulders, putting him in a headlock, as Rick pried the knife from his hand.

"You best let me go!"

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane told him, taking him to the ground.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl grunted and Charlie chuckled from her place at the back of the rv.

"File a complaint." Shane mumbled, still holding onto him, and Charlie laughed again, mostly to herself.

"Who is that again?" Josh asked, leaning towards the girl, his voice quiet.

"Right." She hummed, a small chuckle behind the word. "Let me fill you in." 

NOVA SPEAKS !

daryl dixon, the love of my life
that's it. that's all I have to say lol

also, starting this week I
will be updating this
book on Tuesdays
and Thursdays!!