Scarlett Greene hadn't spoken since she was twelve. After her Daddy was arrested for abuse when she was seventeen, she is sent to live with her Uncle Hershel. Her life gets better, but the trauma is still there.
When the apocalypse begins, she take...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
turkey
SCARLETT WAS TRYING TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE THE NEXT MORNING AS EARLY AS SHE COULD GET UP. She tied her hair into a braid and made sure she had her gun and hunting knives. Walking passed Carl's door, she opened it slightly to see Rick awake and holding Carl's hand. Lori was nowhere to be found.
He looked up when he heard the squeak of the door. He gave her a tired smile.
She tilted her head at why he was so tired.
"Couldn't sleep," he muttered. "Only could think about what would happen to Sophia or Carl or Lori... just a lot of problems."
She nodded, stepping forward more into the light of the sunrise outside the window. He glanced at her gear.
"You going out?"
She held up her knife.
"Huntin'?"
She shrugged before pointing at the camp outside where his people were.
"Lookin' for Sophia? You don't have to do that," Rick protested. She smiled and ignored him as Carl began to stir. When Carl's eyes opened, he grinned. "Scarlett!" He groaned, his excitement causing him pain in his stomach.
She chuckled, sitting next to Rick but leaving a good bit of space. She reached out, caressing Carl's cheek.
"How are you?" she whispered, ignoring Rick's surprised face. He figured she would want to talk to him privately.
"My side hurts, and I'm hungry," he admitted. She stood and he looked worried. "Where you goin'?"
"You're hungry," she repeated his words as if it was common sense, leaving the room to get him a breakfast bar. When she returned Rick was whispering things to Carl. Carl turned to grin at her hands full of snacks and a cup of water.
"Thanks," he replied and took it. She did not respond, instead saluted him and was about to leave the room again. "Wait, why are you leavin' again?"
"Let her go, Carl. She's got stuff to do," Rick said with a hesitant smile. "Gonna bring Sophia back."
Carl smiled softly, laying his head back after drinking some water. "I hope so."
Scarlett tipped a fake hat toward the father-son duo with a cheeky grin before leaving the house. She was walking across the field, smiling as Carol was the first one up already boiling water and other things for breakfast. She saw a basket full of eggs, and she was glad Maggie had brought them some. They'd have a nice breakfast, then.
Scarlett hopped the fence just as Daryl stepped out of his tent. He noticed her going toward the woods and he called out, "Aye!" She turned, raising a brow. "Where you goin', Red?"
Scarlett gave a 'duh' look toward the woods. He scoffed, pulling his crossbow over his shoulder.
"Ain't yer group. Ya ain't have to look for Sophia," he said, reaching the fence. He leaned on it with a tilted head at her actions. "Ya don' owe us nothin'."
Scarlett smiled softly, gesturing with her head toward the woods again before turning and leaving. She heard him sigh before he hopped the fence as well to follow.
"Stubborn lass," he muttered, catching up to her. "They doin' that ceremony for Otis today. You don' want to miss that, M'sure."
She nodded, pointing at the watch on her wrist.
"Thought of everything, have ya?"
She nodded before they kept walking, taking longer routes to look for Sophia. They found two Walkers, which made her worry even more for the poor girl's safety. She did not know how well the little girl could handle herself.
Daryl sighed after a while. They had caught some squirrels, but nothing that great. Besides the Walkers, they found no trails or tracks of the girl. She could see Daryl getting uncertain about the search. She did not want them to lose hope. Sophia had to be out here.
Scarlett whistled softly when Daryl was a bit ways back. He had found a bush of berries, and he could tell they were all right. He packed a couple and looked up at her whistle to see what she had to say. Before she could gesture anything, they heard ruffling of a bush. She placed a finger on her lips to tell him to hush it when his loud boots made enough noise to attract a herd. She then crouched and moved toward the noise. She grinned seeing one of the neighbor's turkeys that got out. She could have sworn they would have all been dead. Snorting a laugh to herself, she remembered those stupid ass birds used to get out all the time. Hershel'd always bring 'em back the neighbors, but Scarlett wished he'd have just cooked them up.
"Holy shit. Is that a turkey?" Daryl said in awe, raising his crossbow. Scarlett turned to him with a smile, nodding for him to shoot. "Fuck, we're bringin' home the bacon for sure." And he let the arrow go, killing the bird instantly. She laughed at his bacon comment, not bothering to correct him—thought she felt the words rising in her throat... it made her confused.
Carl was different. He was a little kid who got shot by her partner. She felt she needed to make him feel better, and staring at him with no words would do no good. She spoke to him because he was a kid. Then, her brain remembered this morning when she spoke in front of Rick. And how she almost just spoke to Daryl. What was she doing? Trusting people... she would be beat if her Daddy heard her.
Shivering slightly at the thought of her Daddy, she focused on Daryl tying the large bird onto a rope and hanging it off his shoulders.
"Listen, this was a great find," he admitted. "Let's separate and look back up the creek a bit for Sophia and head back for the ceremony."
She nodded in agreement, turning toward the running water of the creek. Daryl led the way, and she let him while her thoughts ran of how easy her walls were breaking in this new world.
