Heaven and Hell

“Are you looking at old pictures again Liv?” I turned around to face Carl who was standing at the entrance of our tent. I buried my head in my pillow and laughed. I shoved the picture I was looking at of my family under it.

“Of course not,” I lied. I sat up and crossed my legs and flashed a smile at Carl. “Why aren’t you with Sophia?”

“It’s dinner time,” Carl replied, “Well, can soup or cream of corn time.” He made a face which caused me to laugh. Carl walked in the tent and sat down next to me. He was about to open his mouth to say something when he was cut off by the tent flap opening revealing Shane.

“Everyone’s away eating. Are you in for a quick one?” Carl turned around to look at Shane while I stared at him with my eyes wide opened. “Oh, hey guys. Quick game of poker?” He rubbed the back of his neck staring intently at Carl.

Smooth. Real smooth.

“I don’t know about you Carl, but I’m starved,” I replied quickly as I stood up and walked out of the tent with Carl, my arm slung over his shoulders.

“This food you seem to complain about, you have to remember it’s better than tree bark,” I said. “Or leaves or…”

“Ok, fine,” Carl murmured. “I just wish you brought some candy or something.” I snorted as the two of us made our way to our makeshift dining area. Almost our entire camp was already sitting down. I sat next to Amy, who I became close with after Glenn left with the others. We were practically the same age and not to mention shared the same fear about something bad happening to Glenn and Andrea... And of course the others that left.

“I hope they come back soon,” Amy said as her left leg bounced up and down while she ate. “And they bring better food and clothes.” Dale glanced up at her with a small smile. “Sorry Dale. Food’s food, right?”

“You and Carl are basically the same person,” I said to Amy. “You haven’t embraced the…” I picked around at the cream of corn that was given to me “deliciousness of this…stuff.”

“Says the girl who would always complain to her mama about what was for dinner that night,” Shane said. He sat across from Liv and smirked.

“Maybe mom was just a horrible cook,” I replied. I averted my gaze and continued to pick at my dinner. I really didn’t want to eat this but it was food. I can’t be picky when life as we know it is in turmoil.

“Shane’s right,” Carl said. “You always used to argue with mom about food. Remember when you didn’t eat for three straight nights because you suddenly became a vegetarian?”

“No Carl.” I elbowed him hoping he would stop talking about the past and took a bite of the corn. I really hated corn but I literally had no choice. “Where’s Daryl?”

I noticed he was the only one not at the table. Whether it was the bad boy persona, his grungy look or his attitude, I secretly had a small crush on him. He was an asshole about 95% of the time, but ever since Merle left with the rest of the group the five percent niceness Daryl had was shown; usually just around me. He taught me how to use a bow and arrow to catch squirrels but of course I had epically failed at that. They were far too small for a beginner like me. He constantly made fun of me for that but I knew he wasn’t purposely trying to be a dick.

“He’s been looking for something bigger to eat then squirrels,” Carol piped up. “Hopefully he’s back already. Did anyone check his tent?”

“I’ll go see,” I said. I scooped up a bowl for Daryl and headed to go find him. I quickly made it to his tent and noticed he wasn’t inside. I promised Carl I wouldn’t wander too far from the camp without him but I walked a little into the wooded area. I made it about a few yards when I heard someone walking towards me. I froze and was about to reach around for my dad’s old gun when Daryl made his presence known.

“You planning on throwin’ that bowl at me or poppin’ me?” he questioned.

I pursed my lips and smiled at him, “No. I was trying to bring you some dinner. I see you found more squirrels.” Daryl hoisted a handful of squirrels which caused me to squirm. It was meat but squirrels were too cute to eat; cuter than cows which made it no problem for me to eat most of my life.

“I found a lake about half a mile out,” he replied as the two of us started walking back to the camp. “You up for some fishin’ tomorrow? Or is that too disgusting for you, princess?”

“I know how to fish.”

“Oh do you?” he asked sarcastically. “I’m shocked.”

“Don’t be a douche,” I replied. We made it back to his tent and he dropped the squirrels outside, taking the bowl from my hands we sat outside his tent. “My dad used to take us fishing every summer. So I do know my way around a fishing line.”

“No shit,” Daryl replied with a mouth full of corn. “You look more like the dainty princess that didn’t do shit with her daddy. You probably didn’t even put the bait on your line.” I scoffed loudly and smacked him on his leg.

“If you must know I did use bait,” I replied. “Live bait too.” I saw Daryl roll his eyes. “Fine, don’t believe me Dixon. I’ll just prove you wrong by catching more fish then you.”

“You can go digging in the dirt for worms then,” he said. He slurped down the rest of his dinner and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Unless you don’t want to ruin what’s left of that fancy ass manicure you have.”

I looked down at my fingers. They were no longer perfectly manicured. They were bitten short and no longer had any color on them. It had been a long time since I had even bothered to paint them. If I were anything like the person I was a year ago or even five months ago I would greatly despise what I’ve turned into.

Then again it wasn’t like I had a choice on how to live my everyday life. I hadn’t had a proper shower in my own bathroom in two months. I showered a few times in Dale’s RV and in a lake at the last place we were camped at but I wasn’t fully clean.

“If you want worms so much you can get them yourself,” I told Daryl with my eyebrow cocked.

“You can wash my bowl then,” he said holding his bowl out to me. I rolled my eyes and stood up. I flipped him off and walked back towards my tent. I walked in and went to lie down on my back. Once it started getting dark, Carl made his way into the tent.

“Are you asleep?” he asked. I heard him sit and take off his shoes. He slipped in to his sleeping bag next to me.

“Not yet.”

“Good. I love you Liv.”

I propped my head against my elbow so I can see Carl’s silhouette. “Love you too kid. Sleep tight, okay?” I leaned forward to kiss him on his forehead and went back lying on my back. After a while I started listening to Carl’s breathing. When I heard he was completely out I sat up and tiptoed my way out of the tent grabbing my flashlight on the way out.

I tried to silently make my way to the tent that was the furthest away from the camp. I zipped open the flap and turned off the flashlight as I crawled inside. I saw the figure lying in the middle of the tent as I zipped the flap shut again.

I straddled him at the waist and leaned forward, “You ever pull that shit again and I’ll rip your tongue out,” I whispered into his ear.

“Is that your way of talking dirty?” he whispered back. He sat up and massaged my back as he whispered into my ear this time, “Because you need to work on it. No ripping of body parts.”

I laughed into his ear as I pressed myself closer to him. “Shut up Shane. Just for that you have five minutes to reach your peak.”

Shane quickly lifted my arms up to remove my t-shirt. He then pressed his lips against mine and slowly leaned me back so my back was against the ground. Let’s just say that five minutes turned into an hour and an accidental overnight stay in Shane’s tent.