Z

I was hacking away at over grown vines and sticker bushes as I followed behind Shane. We were out hunting; something we’ve been doing lately together.

He was creating a path for us, as I followed behind to clear out more space. I rustle of leaves caught my attention just as Shane found a clearing in the woods. “Shane,” I whispered, slowly grabbing my gun from its holster and cocking it. “Shane, I hear something.”

“What?” He turned to look at me. The rustling of leaves caught my ears once more.

A squeal shrieked from the bushes before a large boar came running full speed towards Shane. He had jumped out of the way just in time, but the boar stopped and turned away, running back towards him. I pulled the trigger right as the boar was in my line of sight, anticipating its movements. The boar fell limp at Shane’s feet, leaving him wide eyed and looking between me and the boar.

“Damn, girl!” He shouted impressed. “You’re a natural!”

I could feel my cheeks getting hot in his praise, and I put the gun back in the holster. “Thanks. I was the only girl in my family growing up.”

“I taught Andrea how to shoot, and she’s pretty good now. But you…” He trailed off shaking his head; a large smile on his face. I admired his handsomeness in the sunlight, the way his smile brightened up his features and didn’t make him look so intimidating. I found myself smiling too, and I cleared my throat to shake the growing thoughts. “Look at me,”

I didn’t realize he had been looking at me, and when I brought my gaze up to me his, my breath hitched in my throat.
“You have the prettiest eyes,” He mumbled, causing me to blush heavily. “So blue…”

“Thank you, Shane.” I tucked some loose hair behind my ear. I never could take compliments properly, and felt awkward returning them so I quickly changed the subject. “Looks like we’ll be eating good tonight!” I motioned at the dead animal. He laughed before bending down. He hoisted the pig into his arms, huffing and puffing until he got a sturdy grip and started walking back towards the farm.

“We’ll take this back to the farm and let the girls get it ready for dinner. If you want to come back out later, we can.”

“Sure,” I smiled. I couldn’t wait until I told Rose about this. I felt bad for leaving her back at the farm, but her ankle was still a little weak and she seemed to be busy with helping out around the farm.

A month passed by pretty quickly around here with so much to do. We decided it was best for us to take up Rick’s offer and stay with them instead of venturing out on own. I wanted to tell Rick about the safe haven down in Pensacola, Florida, but Rose thought better of it. I trusted her judgment. Rose could be pretty guarded most of the time and I knew to be the same, but there was a sense of trust within this group, and they deemed Rick to be the unspoken leader of this group. They trusted him to keep them safe and I couldn’t help but let my guard down a little.

As soon as the farm came into view, everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and focused on the boar in Shane’s muscular arms. They looked like a bunch of kids on Christmas.



Everyone sat around the table with a full helping of pork on their plates. Idle chit-chat was the only noise between us besides our chewing, and everyone seemed to be in high spirits, other than Daryl. He slouched grumpily over his plate, picking at the meat. I watched him curiously before he sighed and stood up; flipping his chair backwards with the sudden movement and pushing his plate farther onto the table.

“This is bullshit,” He cussed. "Sittin' here having a happy ass dinner while that little girl is missin'," before stomping away with Carol not far behind. I looked over to Rose to see her eyebrows high on her forehead in surprise.

After the initial shock of Daryl’s outburst wore off, tension filled the room.

“Thank for dinner Shane,” Lori broke the silence between us. I raised an eyebrow. “Nice aim,”

“Don’t thank me,” he shot a quick look at me, his lips curled in a smirk. “Thank Beth here. She’s the one that shot it. Save me, actually.” He laughed, which others joined in to help break the tension that seemed to be growing instead of dying.

Everyone’s surprised looks were casted towards me, and I shrunk down in my seat a little. “Thank Beth,” Rick smiled politely. I could see Lori’s face falling slightly at the news, almost like she was disappointed.

“Are you feeling okay, Lori?” I furrowed my brows in concern; I didn’t want her to get sick. If it was from the boar, we have a chance of getting it too.

“I’m fine,” She snapped, before excusing herself from the table, but less dramatically than Daryl did. I looked over at Rose to see her shrug in reply. Shane caught my eye and it was then that I noticed how close we were.

“Thanks Beth,” Glenn spoke, getting up with his empty plate and putting it in the sink. I noticed the exchanged glances between him and Maggie and smiled to myself.

“No problem, I’m happy to help out in whatever way I can.” I watched as he left and not five minutes later, Maggie excused herself as well. I knew what they were doing, it didn’t take a genius to know, and besides the fact that Rose and I had caught them already.

Andrea and T-Dog claimed they would help clean up, and I was happy for the help. It was only when they shooed me from the kitchen did I realize that they weren’t planning on letting me help anymore. I met up with Rose and walked with her outside.

“Good job on the boar hunt, Bee.” She smiled and patted my shoulder. Rick and Shane were walking off in another direction, most likely going after Daryl. I saw Carol sitting by the RV miserably and sighed.

“I wonder what’s-“ I watched as Glenn came walking quickly from the barn, looking paler than usual. Maggie wasn’t far behind, running after him. “I wonder what’s going on,” I pointed in the direction of Glenn and Maggie and Rose shrugged.

“Beats me,” She sighed, kicking some rocks with her shoe. “I wonder if something is going on between Daryl and Carol,”

I bit my tongue, but didn’t stop the smug smile forming at my lips. “You care about him,”

“No I don’t,” She argued. “I just get that he wants to find her; but he's out there for hours killing himself chasin' a ghost." she sighed. "Anyways, you handled that nicely with Lori, by the way.”

"I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

“Mhm,” She unbuttoned a few buttons of her flannel, trying to cool herself off from the humid summer's night. I pulled my hair up from off of my neck. “Daryl’s just been weirder than usual. He'll ignore me for days, then every time I turn around he's there; just being quiet and observing.”

“And you’d only know that if you were studyin’ him - which you do.” I stuck my tongue out at her teasingly. "Don't think I don't notice you watching him. I notice everything,"

She punched my arm and I laughed. I couldn’t remember a time I felt so happy and worry-free. For a moment I forgot the dead had come back to life and we had to fight to survive; doing things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing. But this farm had given us way more than just a place to sleep at night. It was a place where we could actually start becoming people again, and to start building back the life we use to know.