VILLAINESS [TWD]

➴58

Daryl showed up the next morning. I avoided him.

Mom waited at the watch post like the others were about to show up. That would be worse.

"I'm thinking.." I tell Anna and Josh.

"What's that?" Josh asks.

"Thinking?" Anna teases her brother.

Josh rolls his eyes and I laugh at the duo.

"Mom wants to fight the Saviors. But, we can't exactly fight with just a few of us. Alexandria is out of the question. Hilltop.. they're farmers. Not fighters."

"So, you want to recruit?" Josh asks.

"No. We don't have the skill for that just yet."

"Then, what?" Anna wonders.

"Me and my mom were farmers before all this. My whole family. But.. we're fighters now. So, these people can make the same change."

"So.. recruit  people inside the walls," Josh clarifies.

"Exactly."

--

The three of us spent all day and night talking to people about the Saviors.

It wasn't hard. I now felt grief due to Negan and his actions. Others had been feeling it for months. 

The next morning, Anna and I were training with mom.

"Earl did good on that," mom notes.

"It's cool, right?" I grin, holding the weapon up. "Mr. Earl said it was like those clackers he used to play with growing up."

"Goodness.. Clackers," mom laughs. "That's as old school as I can remember. Daddy brought some from the store once. Bethy was still just a baby. You weren't even born yet."

I spin the weapon around and send mom a smile.

"Sean like to have broken his wrist playing with it. He didn't tell anyone but me. I kept checking on him throughout the night like a hurt hand was gonna kill him."

"Well, these sure can," I add, swooping the weapon around again.

"It'll take you some time to practice and get used to it. But, I think you can."

I spot Daryl walking past a trailer. He looked lost. Afraid.

"You should ask him to train you," mom catches on.

"No, I can do it myself," I shoot down at once.

"Daryl's good with a lot of weapons. He could teach you all the basics on technique and stances. Hand to hand combat, too."

"Will we need that?" Anna speaks up, pausing her actions of stabbing at the air. "Hand to hand combat?"

"As of now, it's just us in this. We have to be prepared for anything."

My lips purse. 

"I'm gonna go head up on watch. Kick my feet up for a bit. If you need anything, you know where to find me," mom decides.

"Watch is 'kicking you feet up'?" I ask.

"Eduardo is up there, too. I like the view. It's fine," mom lists of. 

As she walks away, she gives me a knowing look. She wants me to talk to Anna.

I sigh when she doesn't even go to the watch post. Instead, she walks to where Glenn is buried.

"So.. Daryl?"  Anna asks.

"No," I deny.

"I thought he was your friend?"