𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥《 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 》

o n e// N E W H O R I Z O N S

Seven months.
Seven horrible months. 
It had been seven months of sleepless nights, of cold, freezing days. Struggling months, but summer was coming around, finally. Smith used to like fall, winter too. The cold and the snow but the survival world had changed her mind about the seasons.
One good thing, Smith and Daryl had grown closer through the seven months of struggle. He'd ask for her company for hunting, even though he knew she didn't know a thing about hunting or tracking, but she was a good observer. Her senses were very well developed, so it was an additional help to have her listen to things and see movements he sometimes couldn't. None of them had much sleep. They'd always keep watch together and talk through the night, sometimes sharing stuff but none of them was really a fan of sharing stuff, so it'd be a brief moment, but it was meaningful. There were no more fights and middle school-like arguments. They were actually considered friends or some kind of partners in crime.
That was really the only positive side of the seven months, because, things were not so great.
Lori was about to give birth and they still hadn't found a place to hold up. As for her and her husband... hmm. Things were hanging from a string, holding on for dear life. Carl was getting bigger each day and he wanted to a part of things, he wanted to help his dad protect the group. But they wouldn't let him, they'd tell him some condescending stuff like 'No, you'll stay here with Mom.' or 'You're too young for this. Stay put'. 
Carol had slightly changed her mind about Rick, she was coming around. She could see the things Rick risked and did for them.
Rick was on another level of stressful. We could say he was losing it, but he just had too much on his mind and deeply struggled to deal with it.

The group had been nomad for the whole winter, going from house to house, any shelter possible, even storage units, once.
And, now, they were precisely on another house. They'd killed two walkers who were right by the front door and searched the house for any other possible threats. After checking every room, Rick called out silently for the more 'vulnerable people' to bring their stuff in, thinking they could hold up there for a while. That meant, Hershel, Beth and Lori. For a change, Rick had let his son clear a house with the rest of the group. He'd learned to trust him more and give him some responsibility. Carl had become a pretty good shot, after all. It'd be wasting a skill for the sake of reducing him to 'just a kid'.
The group sat on the living room of the abandoned house. Some on the couch, others on the floor. Daryl kept himself busy with an owl he'd hunted down. At this point, he had already giving up offering the animals he'd hunted down that weren't exactly considered meals, because the people would just give him looks thinking they'd preserve their humanity if they didn't eat a bird, so an owl was definitely out of question.
Rick stood by the door, with a stern look set on his face, looking around, making sure everyone was well and safe.
Carl came through with two cans of food. At first, they thought it was an applaudable find but as they looked closely, the group noticed the cans were labelled as dog food.
It was the silence that said the most.
No one said anything, no one imposed themselves. They were bad off but not that much. Not to the point of submitting to eat dog food or trash... yet.
Rick stepped heavily on the hardwood floor, picked up one of the cans as Carl opened the other, took a second and snatched it into the dead fireplace, producing a huge noise that made Daryl flinch and give him a weird look.
After some look exchanges at Rick's reaction, T-Dog whistled, kicking his head to the window once he noticed he'd captured everyone's attention. Walkers. 
The group immediatly started moving, collecting their things and knives before running outside to the cars. 
Smith was the last one to come out of the house, earning the unfortune of having to kill a walker as soon as she stepped out. Daryl revived the engine of his motorbike and looked behind as Maggie and Glenn slammed the car doors. She was the only one left.
"Smith!" He called out.
As the walker fell to the ground with a stab on its forehead, Smith looked up to the caller and ran to sit behind him on his bike.