Skin Deep

Daryl was right: there was shelter in the long expansion of rocks. It took us a minute to ride there from the road, and another minute to reach the cave Merle had found when he’d gone ahead. After the brothers checked it for any unwanted beasts, we all collapsed in the shade and took a much-needed drink.

“We gotta get more water,” Merle remarked as he held his bottle upside down. Not a drop came out of it. Mine was getting low too, which was a concern. The thing that kept me alive in this desert was more so water than anything else.

“Could follow the road, find a shop. Hopefully there’ll be some there,” Daryl suggested. Merle eyed up his little brother, staring at his injured arm.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Daryl sighed. I could tell he wasn’t too pleased about what had happened. Whether it was because it was Merle’s fault or because he was hurt, I didn’t know, but I didn’t blame him either way. We sat for a while in silence, and I started to feel uncomfortable.

“How ‘bout you two unpack, and I’ll go out hunting and find some wood to light a fire with?” Merle suggested as he stood, seemingly feeling as edgy and awkward as I was.

“Sure,” I agreed, Daryl just nodding.

“I’m taking your crossbow!” Merle called from outside the cave.

“Not my crossbow! Merle! Merle!” Daryl shouted, but his brother was clearly ignoring him as he walked away.

“Is he always like that?” I wondered.

“In a way. If you ask me he’s just trying to show off at the moment,” Daryl answered with a small shrug.

“Show off?”

“Yeah. Thought I just told ya you’re the first woman he’s seen for ages,” he repeated with a slight smirk. The image of Merle harassing me crossed my mind. I knew he was strong; I wouldn’t be able to fight back.

“Should I be worried?” I forced myself to ask Daryl.

“Na. He’s my brother, I know what he’s like, so I told him to leave you alone or else…” he trailed off, diverting his eyes to the ground.

“Or else what?”

“Don’t matter. He ain’t gonna touch you unless you want him to,” Daryl told me and I relaxed my unknowingly tense muscles. Merle had been a slight concern in the back of my mind, but I trusted Daryl would keep his word and control his brother.

“And what about you? Should I be concerned about you?” I questioned in a quieter voice. We met eyes and his blue eyes stared right through me.

“I respect women.” That simple answer was all I needed, so I nodded and looked away from him. I was curious as to how two brothers could be so different, have such different morals, but I decided not to pry. Instead I stood and brought in our bags, unpacking a few blankets for us to sit on so the ground was a bit softer.

“Do I get that extra can of food now?” I asked after I brought Daryl his last backpack. I still hadn’t spotted my bag of cans, and I couldn’t tell if it was stored inside one of his.

“Later,” he grunted. I wondered if he’d stay true to his word or not. Judging from his tone he wasn’t keen on talking, so I sat back down and massaged my sore ankle, staring outside the cave and wishing we were on the move again. I hated the silence. Here I was with company, and we were ignoring each other. Weeks since I’d last interacted with alive humans, and now…

“What’d you do before the outbreak?” I spoke up with the most amount of confidence I could muster. There was a pause and I glanced over at Daryl. He was watching me, perhaps considering if he should answer.

“I hunted. Sold my kills to the local butcher. You?” he answered with little protest. I smiled, glad we were socialising again.

“Receptionist,” I said quickly. “Front desk at a big corporate company’s headquarters.” They had liked how I looked younger than I was. If only they could see me now: smelly, sunburnt, and covered with dust.

“Paid well?”

“Yeah. I had a nice place,” I shrugged. “What about Merle?” I wanted to get the attention off the nice things that used to be in my life.

“A bum,” Daryl smirked. I chuckled, not surprised but not entirely sure I believed him.

“You’re both good at hunting?”

“Yeah. Can track anything. It’s come in handy this past year. Would’ve been dead many times if we couldn’t find our own food,” he answered as he stared ahead at the wall of the cave, noticeably lost in recollection.

“So Merle should bring something back?”

“Should,” Daryl laughed. We continued conversing, sharing only bare minimum details yet becoming more comfortable around each other. As my stomach started to churn with hunger, the thought of searching his gear and finding my bag of canned food crossed my mind. Maybe if I stabbed him or punched his injured arm a few times he’d stay back and let me take off with the food. My hunger turned into nausea. How could I even consider doing that to a nice human being? I was already disappointed that I’d let this apocalypse turn me into someone who I wasn’t, but this idea was ridiculous. It didn’t take much convincing to stay put. Merle was out hunting for me. Even him, the one who didn’t seem to care about me and who was concerned about my presence, was risking his life looking for some fresh meat. Perhaps I was wrong about both of them.

Merle returned with a bobcat that he’d already skinned and gutted away from the cave to help avoid scavengers from finding us. Tucked under his arm were some large sticks that Daryl used to make a fire with. Before I knew it we were eating the cooked flesh and making small talk as the sun started to dip towards the horizon. I felt less apprehensive about the brothers, but I could tell Merle was still wary of me. As I watched him set up sticks of fire near the entrance of the cave to deter night animals, Daryl nudged me. I turned and saw he was holding out a can of soup.

“Your extra can,” he said simply. I glanced up at him, the flames reflecting in his blue eyes and giving his weathered skin a warm glow.

“You know what, it’s okay. Save it for another day,” I replied. Daryl’s smile was all the thanks I needed. It was a good call to reject the extra food after a meal, and I just knew it was a good choice to stay with them for longer.