The New World 4

Daryl and Sabrina had followed the dangerous group of men silently into the woods. When all of them came to a clearing as Joe looked it over.

"We'll stay here for the night. Pick your spots, we got a busy day tomorrow."

Sabrina looked up at Daryl with a 'he's got to be kidding me?' type look. They were going to sleep out in the open with walkers roaming around?! Hearing leaves crunch, Sabrina looked over to see Daryl sit on the ground before leaning back to lay down. She sighed and mocked Daryl's actions, Sabrina scooted closer to him to keep away from the others. Daryl turned to his side, wrapping his arm protectively around her, shielding her from the group, and pulled her close so they could share the body heat.

"Sorry I made ya feel 'nd think that way Sabrina. I never meant ta hurt ya, I love ya too much." Daryl whispered to only she could hear before planting a kiss right under her ear. "Le's ge' some sleep."

Sabrina turned to her side to face him and bury her head into his chest. Before she knew it, she was out like a light. Sabrina didn't know how many hours she was out but she woke up to Daryl gently shaking her and calling out to her lowly.

"What?"

"C'mon. Le's go find some food b'fore they wake up. 'Nd I don't want ya with them by yerself."

Sabrina had to agree, she didn't want to be within twenty miles of these guys. Getting up, she brushed the leaves out of her hair then followed Daryl farther into the woods. The two of them walked side by side in silence for a bit.

"Daryl. Why didn't we just run away from them? We should've brought our things and took off."

"'Cause we got ta earn their trust first b'fore doin' anythin' like tha'. They're capable of trackin' us back down in tha' short amount of time we'd have. Who knows what'll happen if they ever caught us."

Sabrina hadn't thought about that, Daryl's explanation made sense. Daryl stopped in his tracks and quietly told her to hush. Bringing up his crossbow, he aimed it at a bunny. Sabrina wanted to feel bad about smiling but rabbit meat sounded pretty good. Daryl hit the trigger and two arrows went through the furred creature. Sabrina blinked in confusion at the two arrows, Daryl could only shoot one at a time so where'd the other one come from?

"Wha' the hell are ya doin'?" Daryl turned around growling at the scrawny goateed guy.

"Catching me some breakfast."

" Well it's ours dumbass." Sabrina followed after Daryl.

"My arrow's the one that hit first. Cottontail belongs to me."

Daryl and Sabrina ignored the guy as her husband pulled the arrows out.

"Been ou' here since b'fore the sun came up."

"You see, the rules of the hunt don't mean jack out here. Now that rabbit you're holding is claimed, boy. Claimed whether you like it or not."

"Daryl, hand me his arrow."

Daryl handed it over to Sabrina and she smirked at the guy. She snapped the bolt in half before tossing it aside.

"Oops."

"Bitch."

"Don't be talkin' ta my wife. At all." Daryl said walking up to the guy.

"Whatever. So I's you, I'd hand it over. Now before you get to wishing you ain't never even got out of bed this morning."

"It ain't yers."

Sabrina rolled her eyes to the scrawny guy. "That's really the best threat you have? I've heard first graders come up with better threats then that."

"You know, I'll bet this bitch got you all messed up, hmm? Am I right?"

Sabrina narrowed her eyes and followed Daryl with her jaw clenched, she was close to pulling her knife out to slice the guy open.

"Got you walking around here like a dead man who just lost himself a piece of tail since your wife ain't giving you any. Must have been a good'un. Tell me something. Was it one of the little'uns? 'Cause they don't last too long out there."

Sabrina and Daryl stopped in their tracks, the two of them together were a ticking time bomb. She was getting ready to pull out her knife but Daryl pulled his out first but was stopped by Joe.

"Easy, fellas, easy." Joe's voice came. "Let's just put our weapons down. See if we can't figure out what's really the problem here, huh?"

"That scrawny dickhead is the problem." Sabrina shot at Joe.

"Boy, you have a temper on you." Joe said with amusement before looking to the gooateed guy. "Did you claim it?"

"Hell, yeah."

"Well, there you go. That critter belongs to Len."

"So let's have it."

"Bullshit. Daryl's arrow got it first and you..." Sabrina pointed a finger to Joe. "You never said that there was a claiming rule. So that's on you. This is our rabbit!"

"Settle down." Daryl said grabbing Sabrina's wrist gently.

Sabrina glared at Joe and Len as her jaw clenched more.

"Looks like you two may be wanting an explanation. See, going alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fittest. That's a paradox right there. So I laid out some rules of the road to keep things from going Darin every couple hours. Keep our merry band together and stress-free. All you got to do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey, your bed at night. One word, claimed."

"I ain't claimin' nothin'."

"We're gonna teach him, right? The rules say we got to teach him."

"It wouldn't be fair to punish you and your little lady for violating a rule you never even knew existed."

"There ain't no rules no more." Daryl countered.

"Oh, there are. You know that. That's why I didn't kill you for the crossbow. " Joe explained while Len and Daryl had a stare off.

"What are you doing?" Sabrina asked Joe with narrowed eyes.

Daryl got into defensive mode as Joe took the rabbit by the ears.

"Easy there partner." He said before slicing the bunny in half then throwing it to Len. "Claimed. That's all you got to say. Hey ass end is still an end." He then followed Len.

"This is complete utter bullshit." Sabrina finally sounded off her opinion as she kicked a tree. "And I know you know so too." She turned to Daryl.

"I know Shorty." Daryl sighed. "Le's get back there b'fore another one of 'em starts shit."

Sabrina nodded as she followed closely behind Daryl back to the clearing. When they got there Joe said it was time to pack up and move out. When their things were packed up, Sabrina slung the bag over her shoulder and followed Joe's gang with Daryl right beside her protectively. An hour or two of silence past between everyone until they hit the tracks.

"So what's the plan Daryl? Sabrina?" Joe asked, walking along side Daryl and Sabrina.

"How so?" Daryl's gruff voice came.

"You're with us now, but you ain't soon?"

"Yep."

"Exactly."

"So what's the plan?" Joe asked again.

Daryl thought cautiously for a moment before speaking. "Just lookin' for the righ' place is all."

"Same goes for you I'm guessing?" Sabrina nodded at Joe's question, keeping her eyes ahead. "Oh, we ain't good enough for you two, huh?"

You're not good at all! Sabrina's mind screamed.

"Some of ya ain't exactly friendly."

"You ain't so friendly yourself. You know you need a group out here."

"Maybe we don't." Daryl said keeping his eyes lowered.

"No, you do. You should be with us."

The three of them looked over to see a female walker coming their way.

"People don't got to be friendly. We don't have to be nice. We don't have to be brothers in arms. We just got to follow the rules. You claim. If you steal, you keel. I know that sounds a little funny but nobody laughs when something goes missing. And you don't lie. 'Cause that's a slippery slope indeed." Joe explained as the others took the walker down.

"What happens if someone breaks them?" Sabrina piped up.

"Oh, you catch a beatin'." He answered casually. "The severity of which depends upon the offense and the general attitude of the day. But that don't happen much 'cause when men or a woman like us follow rules and cooperate a little bit, well, the world becomes ours." Joe finished then whistled for the group to stop. "Right there. It's our abode for the evening."

"Hey." Daryl chimed, getting Joe's attention. "There ain't no us."

"You leaving right now?" Joe asked getting closer to Daryl and Sabrina. "No? Then it sure seems like there's an us." He walked away a bit then called out. "You a cat person Daryl? Sabrina? I am. Loved 'em since I was three years old. Vicious creatures." He took a drag off his cigarette.

Not if you know how to treat them right you piece of shit. Sabrina thought.

"Anyway I'll tell you and this is true, ain't nothing sadder then an outdoor cat that thinks he's an indoor cat." Joe finally walked away to his group.

"I'm hating him more and more. The sooner we get away from them the better Daryl." Sabrina mumbled to only where Daryl could hear.

"I know...bu' until we ge' some kind of lead on where Rick 'nd the others are, we need ta stick with them." He entwined their fingers together. "C'mon." The two of them walked slowly to the building as the others searched it.

When it was deemed as clear Sabrina and Daryl were the last ones in. Daryl let go of Sabrina's hand for a second to shut the door before taking her hand again. The two of them looked and walked around before stopping at a car to look over at the guy with a bandanna on his head.

"They ain't here. Nobody's been here for a while. Whoever was, they got all the gas."

"That don't matter. We're getting closer. I can feel it."

Sabrina tilted her head with curiosity then saw someone move hastily towards her and Daryl, she knew what he wanted.

"Claimed." She said with a smirk and challenging stance as she crossed her arms to the beanie hat guy.

"You can't do that bitch."

"Really? Last time I checked I was a part of the group. Doesn't matter if I'm a girl. Rules are rules."

The guy scowled at her before walking off. Sabrina caught a quick glance of Joe with an impressed look and smirk.

"Looks like we finally have a comfortable place to sleep." She said looking at Daryl with a smile.

He nodded with an irritated sigh as he opened the door, throwing their things into the car.

"Le's go get some fresh air. I think we need it." Sabrina nodded to Daryl's command.

The two of them walked out of the run down garage and sat on the ledge, letting their eyes wander in silence.

"Do you think they're still alive?" Sabrina spoke softly.

Daryl let out an acknowledged grunt. "I do Shorty. They're somewhere."

Sabrina nodded and didn't say anything else. The two of them spent a good thirty minutes out there before getting up and walking back inside. As the couple headed to the car they heard footsteps coming their way.

"Yo've got to be kidding me. Christ. Give it here." Len's voice reached their ears.

Sabrina looked at him like his was stupid as she opened the door. "Give what here?"

"Shut the hell up bitch." Len said lunging towards he but Daryl got in between them.

"You step back." Daryl said warningly with an underlined threat.

"My half was in the bag. Now it's gone. Now ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you. Ain't that right."

"You're the only one still thinkin' 'bout tha' crap."

"Empty your bag." Len said going for the black trashbag.

"I said step back." Daryl warned again grabbing the bag.

Sabrina leaned up against the car watching the scene. She knew Daryl didn't want her to be a part of the battle when he stepped in between her and Len the first time. Joe came over, snatching the bag quickly.

"Did you take his rabbit Daryl? Just tell me the truth."

Sabrina's eyebrow twitched while her jaw clenched. How the hell could Daryl have taken it? She was with Daryl the whole time. Hell, the two of them didn't even care about the other half of the rabbit.

"I didn't take nothin'."

"What do we got here? Come on." Joe said turning the bag upside down to let the contents spill to the floor. Sabrina blinked surprised when the second half fell out.

"Well, look at that." Len taunted.

"Ya put that there didn't ya? When my wife 'nd I went outside!"

"You lied."

"Didn't ya?" Daryl said, getting ready to swing.

"You lied. You stole. We gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?"

"The hell you are. You've been after us since day one." Sabrina said shoving herself off the car to stand next to Daryl. "You know you did it. So you're the one lying dipshit!"

"Whoa, whoa." Joe said coming up. "Now Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit. So we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offense, or...you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it would be disappointing."

"It would." Len agreed.

Sabrina stood in front of Daryl with her hands on his chest to keep some space between them and Len.

"I didn't."

"Good." Joe looked back the the couple. "Well..." then sucker punched Len. "...teach him a lesson, gents. He's a lying sack of shit. I'm sick of it. Teach him all the way."

The other group members started kicking, punching and throwing heavy objects at Len as Joe came up to the couple.

"I saw him do it."

"Why didn't ya try ta stop 'im?"

"He wanted to play that out. I let him. You two told the truth. He lied. You two understand the rules. He doesn't." Joe picked the rabbit up, tossing it to Daryl. "Looks like you get the head, too." He walked away.

Sabrina helped Daryl pick their things with a shake of her head. The two of them climbed into the car and locked the doors.

"Le's ge' some sleep Shorty. Hop in back, I'll take up here."

Sabrina nodded with a tired yawn as she climbed in the back. Daryl was in the passenger's seat trying to get comfortable.

"You know, you can put the seat back a bit. You won't crush my legs." Sabrina leaned up font to kiss him softly before laying down.

Daryl finally lifted the lever to put the seat back to try to get a bit more comfortable. Before the both of them knew it, they were out like a light.