Twisted Fairytale

Loud, piercing screams jolted Lennox out of her deep slumber. It didn’t take long for her mind to register that the screams were coming from children and within the blink of an eye, she was out of the tent and racing to wherever those kids were. Everyone else was hot on her heels, Lori and Carol calling for Carl and Sophia.

Len spotted them at the edge of the woods and a quick glance told her that they were okay. They ran to their mothers while Len went to investigate what had scared them. She gripped her gun in her hands and raised it halfway, preparing for anything. Then she saw it. The creature was hovering over a deer, taking chucks out of its neck. Len furrowed her eyebrows when she saw three arrows sticking out of the deer. Was there another person in the group? Or was this a completely different person?

The men gathered around, baffled by what they were seeing. It was clear that not everyone had been this close to one before. The thing finally took notice of everyone and stood to its feet, ready to lunge at anyone of them. Suddenly, everyone started taking turns beating it with the weapons they had until Dale finally stepped in and cut its head off.

Len sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She wasn’t even gonna bother wasting her breath, they’d figure out it had to be the head eventually.

”It’s the first time we’ve had one up here. They never come this far up the mountain.” Dale commented, thoroughly confused by the situation.

”Well, they’re runnin’ out of food in the city, that’s what.” Jim pointed out. Len wasn’t necessarily sure if that was really the case, but it was the best they could come up with. It wasn’t like you got an apocalypse survival guide when everything happened. Everyone just kinda had to make do with what they had. Suddenly, a twig snapped and Len jumped slightly, eyes fixated on where the sound came from. Shane raised his shotgun, ready to kill whatever showed up.

Len was expecting another monster, but that’s not what happened. Instead, it was a man. A man that she would recognize anywhere. Daryl. He had changed a little over the years, but not much. Thankfully, he hadn’t even noticed her yet. He was too upset over his deer.

”Son of a bitch. That’s my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!” He yelled as he kicked the creature with each word. Dale sighed and held out a hand.

”Calm down, son. That’s not helping.”

”What do you know about it, old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat and go back to ‘On Golden Pond’? I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” He asked, gesturing to the gaping hole in the deer’s neck.

Len wrinkled her nose in disgust and as if he read her mind, Shane spoke up.

”I would not risk that.”

”That’s a damn shame.” He sighed, then raised up a bundle of squirrels. “I got us some squirrel. About a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.” He spoke a little bit more softly this time. Then it happened. His eyes darted over and landed on Len. His eyes widened out of shock and disbelief, then turned hard and cold. Len swallowed the lump in her throat and turned away to walk back to camp. It was obvious she wasn’t wanted there and she wasn’t going to push it.



Len stood down in the quarry, the toes of her boots just barely being kissed by the blue water as the wind pushed ripples through it. Her mind was still reeling from earlier. She saw Daryl. He was alive and well and still just as abrasive as he used to be. He was still the Daryl that she knew.

She knew that her reaction to seeing him was what was to be expected, but at first she thought that it was a dream. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that he was right in front of her, so she just stood there as if nothing had happened. She wanted to walk up to him and hug him, she wanted to cry because she thought he was dead, but when he looked at her that way, she knew it was time to walk away.

After that, Len went down by the water and has been there since, too afraid to come up and face him. Scoffing to herself, she started making her way back to camp. She wasn’t going to let him run her off like that. It had been eleven years since they had seen each other, they needed to talk about what happened. Or at least Len did.

When she reached the camp, her eyebrows pushed together, one raised ever so slightly. Shane had Daryl in a choke hold while Rick was knelt down, talking directly into Daryl’s face in a low tone. It took everything in her not to go over there and pull both me off of him, but it wouldn’t do any good and it would be a little strange.

”What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.” Rick explained in that same low tone.

”It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key. I dropped it.” T-Dog admitted, his facial expression heavy with guilt.

”You couldn’t pick it up?” Daryl shot back angrily. He was clearly confused and hurt by whatever was going on. Len tucked her hands in the pockets of her jeans and walked closer to the rest of the group, her boots crunching against the dirt and rocks.

”Well, I dropped it in a drain.”

”If it’s supposed to make me feel better, it don’t.” Daryl stood up from the ground and paced a little bit more. His mind reeling from the news of his brother being purposefully left behind. Len knew what she had to do to get back on Daryl’s good graces. She wasn’t sure why she cared, but she did. She was going to fix the problem that she started eleven years ago.

”Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn’t get at him- with a padlock.” T-Dog explained, hoping that it might ease Daryl’s mind. Len saw that little flicker in his blue eyes. He felt a little better, but he wasn’t about to admit that.

”Hell with all y’all! Just tell me where he is so’s I can go get him.”

As soon as the words left Daryl’s mouth, his eyes were instantly on Len who stood a good distance away, watching the scene unfold. Despite how mad he was at her, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. The wind tousled her long brown hair, the sun shined right into those bright green eyes making them stand out even more. Shaking his head, he turned his attention away. She could rot in hell for all he cared.