Spitfire

I woke up early, the sun just barely rising, it was something that I had been doing ever since Nate got to leave this fucked up world. I tossed the blankets off of me, staring down at my attire, I contemplated on changing. I wore a cut off tee that exposed my mid drift and a pair of black cotton shorts. But, I quickly remembered that I didn't give a shit about what these people thought. This was my house and I could parade in what I wanted too. I grabbed my bow and headed towards the balcony, jumping slightly at Daryl passed out where I had left him last night. I leaned forward, snapping my fingers in his face, "Daryl? You awake?"

He slowly opened his eyes, that hard expression washing over his face, "I was." He barked. He opened his eyes wider, trying to wake himself up. His eyes trailed over my body. "Damn, woman. Put some clothes on, you tryin' to give us heart attacks?"

I smirked slightly, I didn't quite peg him as the type of person to openly admit that he was attracted to my attire. Ignoring his statement, I asked, "Did you sleep out here all night?"

He looked around, stretching, "Yeah, I guess I did. Funny, ain't used to sleepin' in a house. Jus' outside."

I bit my lip, I knew he was exhausted, and sleeping out in that chair did him absolutely no justice. I set down my weapon, "Come on." I ushered him up, guiding him into the house, about to make my way towards their part of the house, I stopped short. Realizing that if they listened to a word what Doc said last night, their door should be locked tight. I sighed and led him towards my room, pushing open the door, I let him in.

He stumbled over towards my bed, "Ya sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I'm normally up by now." I went to walk away but not before I heard him call for my attention, "Yeah?"

"Put some damn clothes on! Ya can't be walkin' 'round like that." He rubbed his eyes, muttering a few words to himself. I only caught the part where it sounded something along the lines of 'driving a man crazy'.

I chuckled, leaning against the door frame, "Hm," I gave in at the look he gave me. Smirking, I walked over towards my closet, grabbing a regular tshirt, I tugged off mine and replaced it. I looked over my shoulder towards him, smirking again, I shimmied out of my shorts and pulled on the pair of jeans I had on the closet door. I turned back around, "Happy?"

He groaned, his eyes closed, "Good Lord."

I snickered, walking out of my room, I shut the door. Turning around I ran right into Doc, "What?
She shook her head, "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Doc frowned, motioning towards my door, she lowered her voice, "Anabel..."

I snorted, "Don't even, Doc." I walked away from her. Making my way back to the balcony, I grabbed my bow and walked back inside. Being in this house all the time, drove me stir crazy. Funny, you'd think with all those flesh eating diseased things would make me want to stay inside. I walked into the weapon's room we had made and strapped on a knife holster around my thigh. Grabbing my favorite blade, I shoved it in. I was going to check further out of the perimeter, it would only make sense at this point. They were running from em, so it was bound that I could encounter a few of the strays. Grabbing a pouch of homemade arrows, I slung it over my back and walked out into the living room, coming face to face with Rick. I averted my eyes, "Morning."

"Oh, good morning." He spoke up louder, "Where are you going?"

I stopped short, "Going to check into the woods."

"By yourself?" He sounded worried.

I groaned, swallowing hard, I tried to put my words in the nicest way possible. "I've done it time after time. I don't need you to worry about me." I walked towards my door and headed out, being stopped short again by Rick. I spun around, gritting my teeth, "Read my lips. I am capable of going out on my own."

"Whoa, what's going on?" My eyes flickered towards Shaun on the other side of the maze. He rose an eyebrow, "A lil' too early for you to be up, Rick."

He gave me another worried look, "Yeah, uh. I went to get a drink of water but noticed Anabel going out alone. Do you think that's safe?"

Shaun chuckled, he clearly knew I was more than fine on my own. "You don't have to worry about ole Anabel, Rick. She's done it more times than Mattie and myself have. She'll be fine. We all take risks and we all have to respect em."

I quickly made my way through the maze and watched Rick helplessly try to follow after me. I was getting angry, real angry. I darted down the hill, shooting the strays that got caught on the way up. I reached the bottom of the hill and looked up to see Rick at a dead stop on the top. I waved goodbye and disappeared into the woods.

It was normal for me to do this, it prevented more clean up for Mattie and Shaun if I took them out in here. Eventually, they all wanted to put up tall wire fencing at the edge of the woods. But, we all knew that wasn't going to happen. Although, now that we had more men to keep lookout, it didn't seem like a far fetched idea. I heard rustling behind me and I had my arrow ready, I gritted my teeth as I saw five rushing towards me. Hissing a bunch of profanities, I kept shooting. Nailing every single one of them in head. I shrieked a soft scream as one came up behind me, without even thinking, I ripped the knife from it's holster and stabbed it in the eye. Turning around I stabbed another one. I was confused and shocked at how many were appearing. It was as if a herd had dispersed throughout these woods.

I swallowed hard and slumped up against a tree, even if I was becoming more and more brave in venturing further into the woods, I was getting a bit more antsy at the inevitable. I often thought the what if's. What if I just walked out and accepted my fate, accepted the fact that I would soon turn into one of these things. I didn't even know what else to call them, they weren't even alive. I didn't even know how they even appeared to be alive. I could never take the easy way out, the idea of wasting a bullet or an arrow for my own selfishness was not on the agenda.

After hours of killing off the ones that came within my range, I headed back. I reached the top of the hill and walked past Shaun, Rick, and Daryl. I was just about to head into the maze but I should have known Shaun would have stopped me.

"Anabel, come here." I obeyed and angrily walked up to them, he looked me over, confusion washing over his face, "You look bloodier than normal, what's up?"

It was true, I had killed about twenty more than I normally would have. I shrugged, avoiding their eyes. "Just a lot of them out there today. Keep a sharp eye out." I went to walk away but not before hearing Daryl's mouth.

"She went alone? You crazy? I know ya killed some on this damn farm of yours. But, it dif'rent out there. She could have gotten killed." I finally met his eyes, his look hard and mean. "Your a crazy bitch, ya know that?"

"What's it to you." I spat.

He leaned forward, his hands crossed, "Not a damn thing. Jus givin' ya advice for tha long run, lil' girl. You'll die faster than ya be able to realize it." He snickered at my response. He really got under my skin, just last night I was thinking how I might have judged him wrong, nope. I judged correctly.

I threw down my bow and arrow, getting in his face, "Fuck off. I'd last longer out in those woods then you would. I don't care who they say you are." I could feel the anger emanating off of him, but I didn't care. "How old do you think I am, asshole? I'm not a lil' girl, you prick." I was being pulled back by Shaun and Rick, he was lucky too. I was inches away from swinging.

Daryl chuckled, rubbing his jaw, "Feisty." He gave me a stare down, his mouth twitching, "Ya look like a lil girl."

Shaun bit his lip, pushing me into the fence, "Go. Now."

I spat back, "Fuck you, Shaun." I stormed my way through the mess of fences and ripped open the door, receiving a variety of astonished and confused glances from everyone. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle, glaring at Tess who kept her eyes on me. "What."

Tess shook her head, "Nothin'. You hungry? Ya skipped on breakfast." I shook my head and ignored the plate of food she was offering me, I heard her sigh.

I pulled out a dining room chair and sat in it, I noticed the little kid staring at me in a peculiar way, I sighed, "What kid?"

He looked away, slowly looking back at me again, "Nothing, I was just wonderin' why you have all that blood on you."

I looked down, almost forgetting I probably looked ridiculously gross. I sighed again, "Just protecting this place, kid." I looked at my hands, disgust running throughout my body. I tried to rub it off, after no luck, I just gave up. I closed my eyes and leaned back, opening them back up when I heard the door close and footsteps following. I rolled my eyes.

Rick smiled as he entered, patting Carl's back, he began, "Okay, Shaun, Daryl and I have been talking. I think it's best that Daryl and I do the lookouts." He stopped short, flickering a look over towards the Asian kid, "That is if Glenn, you want to try it out?"

Glenn smiled, looking over at Maggie, "Y-yeah!"

Rick smiled again, "Good. It won't be much different than what we're used to. That includes walking around the farm, going into the woods every now and then, pick up walkers-"

I rose an eyebrow, "Walkers?"

Daryl flashed me an evil smirk, "It's what we call 'em, princess."

I gave him the finger and let Rick continue, "Pickin' up the walkers and burning them. Same old stuff. As for Carol, Beth and Maggie if you'd like to help with Tess and Doc do their things 'round the house-"

"-What about me, dad? What am I going to do?"

Rick sighed, but smiling shortly after, "Well, son. You're the lucky one, you get to do whatever-" He paused lifting a finger, "meaning, you can either stay inside or go along with Mattie or myself, if I allow it."

The next thing that left his mouth, surprised me. "What about Anabel? Can I go along with her too?"

I snorted, but quickly drawing back that notion, "Sorry kid. I tend to better on my own. Nothing personal."

Carl sighed, "I've heard that one before." Flickering a soft and hurt glance towards Daryl, funny. Even though we were strangers to one another, I would have figured Daryl to be soft on his group.

I bit my lip, "Although, if your dad lets you. I can teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow. We got one that's about your size, somewhere."

His eyes lit up, he turned to his dad. Rick smiled lightly, "Course son. I trust Anabel's an excellent teacher."

This time it was Daryl's turn to snort.

I narrowed my eyes, "Oh shut up."