Full Time Job

My eyes fluttered open the next morning and the melancholy sadness returned to my heart as I remembered that Sophia was no longer with us. I reached over to pull Vinny closer to me and sat abruptly out of bed when I realized he was not next to me. Panic took over as I looked around the RV. Dale and Carol weren’t there either.

I jumped out of bed and wrenched the RV door open, scanning the camp ahead of me, seeing nothing. It was dead quiet.

“Mornin’ sunshine.” I heard Daryl’s southern drawl to the left of me and turned to face him.
“Where’s Vinny?” I asked, immediately folding my arms in front of me. I hadn’t realized I was still in my pajamas, which was a black sports bra and loose sweatpants. His eyes were obviously focused on my exposed body.

“He’s with Carol, Lori and Carl… They went swimmin’ in the pond. Carol said she left you a note…” I relaxed a little and whirled around, stepping back into the camper, noticing a note left on the door. It was written in Carol’s gentle feminine penmanship.

Gia,

I took Vinny swimming with Dale, Glenn, Maggie, Lori, and Carl at the pond that I told you about. I didn’t want to wake you. We will be back later.

Carol

I walked back out of the camper and sat on the step, still holding the note in my hands. My breathing returned to normal but I was anxious to see my nephew. I wasn’t sure how I felt with him away from my side. I knew Carol would take good care of him and we hadn’t seen any walkers on the property in days. I sighed deeply and Daryl stood up from the chair he was sitting in near the RV. He walked slowly in front of me and I peered up at him.

“He’s goin’ to be fine… C’mon, you’re going to go huntin’ squirrel with me. I told ya last night, but sleeping beauty slept all morning…” I shook my head and stood up in front of him.

“I don’t think so, Daryl, I want to go check on Vinny.” I avoided his eye contact.

“Trust me,” he said. “Now, Lord knows I don’t mind if you walk around like that all day… but it’d probably be better if you gon’ inside and put a shirt on.” I blushed pink and turned and walked back into the RV. I dressed quickly and exited the camper, shutting the door behind me.

I walked silently with Daryl as we headed towards the tree line, always a few steps behind him as his stride was longer than mine. He chuckled and looked back at me over his shoulder.

“You sure do walk slow,” he grumbled, slowing his stride to match mine.

“Your legs are longer than mine,” I complained. We had walked into the woods and I looked around as trees started to surround us. The canopy of leaves over our heads made everything seem to glow green.

There was a steep hill ahead of us and I slowly crept ahead behind Daryl as we approached it. I took each step carefully and let out a light squeal as I felt my tennis shoe slip on a pile of wet leaves. I stumbled forward and felt Daryl’s rough grip on my arm and pull me upward.

“Easy, princess,” he said, grinning widely. “I thought you said you grew up runnin’ around the woods?”

We finally made it up the hill and I shrugged his hand off of my arm. “I said that I ran around on four-wheelers, not hiking... Ya know, I’m still not sure if I’m okay with this hunting thing...” Daryl ignored me. I followed him a few steps ahead and we stepped into a small clearing. We were high up on the hill and within the gaps of the trees, I could see miles and miles of a rolling tree line in the distance. Daryl stepped towards the edge of the clearing and beckoned me to come over to him.

I slowly walked over and he pointed down the hill. My gaze followed the direction his finger was pointing and saw the small pond way below us, a distance away. I squinted and saw Vinny, Lori, and Carl splashing in the water. I smiled to myself.

“There’s your boy, right down there, doin’ just fine, just like I told you… better now?” He asked, looking towards me. I nodded and followed him as he walked in to the center of the clearing. He took the crossbow down that was slung on his back and stepped directly behind me. I could feel my cheeks blushing as I felt the heat from his body as he stood behind me.

“Close your eyes,” he said quietly. I chuckled, smiled, and looked at him from over my shoulder.

“No!” I laughed and he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Gia, just close your damn eyes…” he ordered, and looked at me expectantly. I sighed, closed my eyes and turned to face forward again.

“Do you hear the rustling to the left of us?” he asked quietly, and I tried to focus on the sounds around us. I heard the chirping of birds, and the buzz of insects and the faint sound of the group below us that were playing in the water. I concentrated harder and heard leaves rustling above me, to the left, just as Daryl had described. I nodded. I felt him turning my shoulders and face that direction. I opened my eyes slowly and scanned the forest in front of me until I saw a squirrel scuttling along the tree branches ahead.

Daryl had lifted the crossbow in front of me; his arms were warm around mine. He grabbed one of my arms and placed my hand underneath the crossbow and placed his underneath it, supporting mine, and my other hand he placed on the trigger and I could feel his rough palm over my hand. He placed his trigger finger directly over mine but had not yet squeezed. He was dead quiet. The crossbow was heavier than I thought it would be. He lifted it up and pointed it towards the squirrel. I could feel his warm breath on my shoulder and I felt pressure on my finger as he squeezed his trigger finger slowly. I looked away from the squirrel.

“Oh, gross,” I giggled and the pressure he was pushing on the trigger relaxed. He lowered the crossbow and stepped away and I turned and looked at him apologetically as he sighed in frustration. The squirrel scampered off.

“You’re such a girl!” He complained angrily.

“I’m sorry! I told you how I felt about this…” I defended, and he shook his head, smirked, and moved to stand directly behind me again.

“Try harder this time…” I sighed, nodded, and closed my eyes again. After a few seconds I turned and peeked up at him, and his eyes were open and looking down at me expectantly.

“How ‘come you don’t have to close your eyes?” I asked, trying to stall before he made me murder a squirrel. He laughed, rolled his eyes and answered, “I know what I’m doin’, I don’t need to anymore...” He turned my shoulders and I closed my eyes again and sighed dramatically.

We listened quietly for a few minutes and I heard the same rustling sound from before, slightly to our right. I hesitantly turned to face the sound and felt his body follow directly behind me. I opened my eyes and he lifted the crossbow in front of us again, placing my hands in the same spots as before. He placed his hands directly on top of mine, and his close proximity made my heart skip a beat. My hands moved with his as I took aim at a different squirrel that was making his way up a tree trunk. It skidded to a sudden stop and I felt Daryl’s finger slowly squeeze pressure over mine that rested on the trigger. I closed my eyes tight when I saw the arrow begin to sling quickly from the end of the bow. I opened them as I heard the arrow stab into the tree bark and saw the squirrel scatter quickly back up the tree.

Daryl groaned in frustration behind me, released my hands, and took the crossbow. He pulled the bow back and loaded another arrow. “Not a bad aim, Ms. Target Shooter, but ya still missed…”

“Daryl, I’ve only shot at paper targets. They don’t move...” He scoffed sarcastically and moved to stand directly behind me again, trying to hide the smirk on his face.

“Ya gotta shoot him before it moves again!” He said in between chuckles.

“Shut up,” I said, annoyed, and he whirled his finger in front of me, motioning for me to turn around. He was still grinning.

“We don’t say shut up...” He laughed. “...try again.” I shook my head, annoyed, as I turned to face the opposite direction. The warmth of his body had returned behind me and I closed my eyes. I listened intently for a few minutes and honed my focus on the rustling behind us. I slowly turned with him as I faced the direction of the rustling. I opened my eyes and saw the same squirrel from earlier on the branch ahead of me. Daryl’s arms moved to hold the crossbow in front of me again and I took aim, focusing on the animal in front of me. I could feel his finger gently squeeze on top of mine and the crossbow released another arrow.
I opened my eyes and saw the arrow pierce the squirrel’s skull, and it fell quickly to the ground. My stomach lurched. I released my hold on the crossbow, and he lowered it in front of us. I felt like I was going to be sick. I always did have a weak stomach. Nausea turned to guilt when I had realized that I killed something. I wasn’t cut out for this.

“Yahtzee!” he said behind me, his arms still on either side of my body. I turned to face him, my stomach in knots, and buried my face into his shoulder.

“I hate this. I’m sorry. I’m no good at killing things.” I whined and felt him wrap one of his arms around my waist while the other rested the tip of the crossbow on the ground beside us. He was trying not to laugh, but failing miserably. He released me and moved to collect the dead squirrel and the arrow that was still sticking out of the tree trunk from the shot that I had missed earlier.

“Alright, fine,” he laughed, slinging the dead squirrel onto his pack. I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. “We can go back, princess…” he said, still chuckling at the disgusted look on my face. I followed him out of the clearing and slowly descended the steep hill. We walked quietly back to camp. He would snicker every once and again and I would shoot him a death glare.

As we approached our camp, I spotted that the group that was swimming with Vinny all had returned. When he saw me, he ran towards me and wrapped both arms around my legs. I picked him up and kissed him on the cheeks.

“Did you have fun with Miss Carol?” I asked and he nodded excitedly.

“Carl caught a turtle! And his mommy said that we could keep it in a box…” He rattled on excitedly. I nodded and he continued to chatter about his day. Daryl walked across camp and handed Dale my squirrel and walked off with him as they left to clean it.

I played with Vinny for a while before helping to cook dinner. Hershel’s group had given us goods from the farm to cook with and it seemed like camp had been in a state of hope as the drama in our lives had died down and we had entered a state that we all had believed could be normal. I was peeling potatoes and musing as I looked around camp.

My thoughts were directly contradicted as I saw Rick and Shane speeding towards us in the SUV Shane had claimed from the highway. Everyone in camp stared as they pulled a guy with dark hair, hogtied, from the hatch in the back. We looked around at each other, stunned. Rick had thrown him into the barn that the walkers were in; Shane followed and slammed the door behind him.

My focus then shifted on Daryl, who jogged towards and into the barn behind them. I shook my head, instantly regretting my feelings that we could possibly live a normal life during the zombie apocalypse.