Can you See me up here, in the Trees?

Chapter 4

It had been weeks since you had met Daryl, let him stay in your home, and him stealing your journal. You were still salty about the theft, but it wasn't like he had stolen your revenue book. Your revenue book kept tabs on your water consumption, use, and how much you would get out of a rain. This also was the book you kept inventory of where you found your food. How many potatoes you had collected. You told yourself to let it go, it wasn't as important as other journals, but it was harder than one thought.

It was one early morning, before the sun had even fully come into the sky, when you noticed it. On the edge of the forest where you had met Daryl was something different. One might think that knowing an entire forest was nearly impossible, but after years of living in said forest you had memorized almost everything.

You slowly got closer to the object, which was situated high enough up that no walkers could see or grab it, you watched it carefully. It was a cloth bag, practically nailed to the tree. You raised an eyebrow at it and finally got to where you could get a good look at it.

The bag wasn't moving, which was a good sign. You grabbed a nearby hook you had crafted to help get the larger game up to the roadways, and hooked it. You brought it up, ignoring the tear that had all but ruined the top of the bag.

Setting the tool down, you got your knife ready before opening the bag. You had expected some sort of sign of evil. A walker's head, anything but your journal and a note. But that's exactly what you got. The journal that Daryl had stolen was back in your possession.

You put the journal in your pack before opening the note. It had pencil scratches all over it, as if the person had argued with themself about what to write. You internally smiled at this, knowing the feeling.

Hello,

My name is Carl. I live in the community with Daryl. We would be interested in trade. If this is something you are okay with, write back on this note a time and place to meet. Leave the note here and we will find it.

"So simple and forward." You said to yourself. You caught yourself smiling and shook your head. You couldn't let yourself get the crazy idea of knowing people again. But trading with people had been a good deal before, and these guys weren't thieves.

Well yeah they were, but they did return the item. You wrote down instructions to meet at the forest's edge, where you had met Daryl, in a week's time before putting the note on your arrow and shooting it down to a nearby tree. After that you took everything back home to enjoy a night of flavorless deer meat, potatoes and a sip of water.

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Carl had wanted to go check the tree the day after they had left everything, but Daryl reminded him that it could take awhile before Kasa would even see it. Carl might be mature for his age, if you compared him to the kids before the apocalypse, but he was still young and impatient.

After a few days Daryl and him made the trek out to the tree to see the cloth bag gone. The two of them looked around to see anything as a reply and noticed the note skewed to the tree by an arrow. Daryl smiled as he hoisted Carl up to grab the note before they left the forest to get back to the settlement before dark.

Carl read the note aloud to everyone once they got there and were safe inside.

Edge of Forest, one week.

"How are we supposed to know how long that's been there?" Maggie said, taking the note from Carl.

"Simple." Daryl said. "Two days ago we had a rain storm but the note shows no rain damage. The only damage it does show is the amount of dust on it, and the arrow that went through the center of it."