Our Life (Sequel to "Remnants")

Scavenging

(2 hours later)

-Riley-

Leaving Alexandria to embrace the danger of the remnants of an outside world was perhaps the most gut-wrenching part of my time in the community. It was practically throwing away your safety and security - everything you had worked hard to achieve - and welcoming back a world where survival is the only thing you can to think about, where one mistake will rip your life and those of your loved ones away from you.

In spite of Daryl and I's differences, however, there would be nobody in the zone I would be more relieved to have by my side in a life-threatening situation. Although I constantly feared for my life whenever he lifted his crossbow in my general direction, I was certain that he would keep me safe so long as I at least tried to return the favor.

Michonne, too, was accompanying us on the run. Aside from Carl, I had known Michonne for the longest, and whilst she was certainly fearsome at times, she was one of the more trusting members of the group.

However, at the moment she had branched off to take an alternate route, should we encounter large odds and a distraction be required, leaving Daryl and I walking along side each other in relative silence.

We took it in turns to haul a large back-pack along with us, and typically it had fell to me on the longest run of the week. The back-pack was very heavy, carrying several important items: a siphon pump and a multi-tool to scavenge from any surviving cars, as well as food and extra ammunition should we get stranded away from the camp.

It was a terrifying prospect to get left out here in the wilderness, but I took a small amount of comfort in knowing that we were as prepared and equipped as could be for such a scenario.

We walked down the verge of a dilapidated highway, strewn with the rusted bodies of vehicles, some serving as graves for their former owners. Trees bordered both sides of the road, their roots having mangled the concrete after several years of neglect and rendering the route a crumbled ruin, like a vast majority of today's world had become.

We were grateful for the open space, however, since it restricted the walkers' ability to approach unseen.

Rustling in the trees was often caused by nothing more than birds, but our paranoia would commonly get the better of us and we would find ourselves pointing our weapons at harmless wildlife.

"You wanna... start a conversation?" I inquired out of sheer boredom, already anticipating Daryl's response.

I anticipated correctly, and he replied with a blunt "nope."

I nodded expectantly as the adult hunter branched off to inspect a nearby vehicle, which did not appear as ruined as the others and was apparently used recently.

"Looks like they just ran outta fuel," Daryl noted, "didn't take out the battery, engine, nothin'. Guess they were either in a rush, or just plain dumb."

I nodded in agreement as I took off the heavy back-pack, enjoying a brief liberation from the weight as I unzipped it and withdrew the siphon pump and multi-tool.

I held my katana lightly, following the usual procedure as Daryl set about scavenging the car whilst I carefully observed the surroundings.

"Some sort o' wire going from the engine," he noted, tracing the wire to beneath the engine block, thinking nothing of it.

But having spent so much time alone, I had learnt how to survive the world of blood-thirsty, murderous scavengers, and unfortunately for us it looked like the owners of this car were such people.

"Get back!" I yelled in shock, as I realized what Daryl was observing, before I quickly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back from the car in a more forceful manner than I had intended.

Taken by surprise, the older hunter tripped over a protruding over-grown tree root, stumbling to the ground.

I raised my hand apologetically as Daryl recovered from my accidental shove, visibly angry.

"You pull another stunt like that, kid, and I'll get rid o' you 'fore you can -" he began to yell, presumably more embarrassed than angry.

"Take a look at the wire again," I interrupted him, silencing his rant as he shot me a look of intrigue, before obeying out of confusion. Brushing himself down and walking back over the car, Daryl peered beneath the bonnet once more. Properly examining the wire this time, the older hunter traced it from the top of the engine block, and finally noticed the small metal pin that the other end was tied to.

"Shit," Daryl mumbled to himself, slamming the bonnet shut firmly as he realized how close to death he had really been.

"Improvised car bomb," I explained, stealing the moment to sound professional, "when you try to take out the engine, that wire unhooks the pin and detonated the explosive. The blast won't be too big - just big enough to kill us. Then, some scavenger's just got themselves two fresh, well-armed corpses to loot later."

Not willing to stay in the proximity of this vicious booby-trap, we both agreed to continue our search, hastily walking away.

"There could be more," I reminded both Daryl and myself, now even more paranoid than we were before.

"Let's keep this up for another half hour or so, then we'll head back."