Sweet Silence ~AWalkingDeadFanFiction~

4. Hunting

Ellie and Daryl walked for over three hours. Shooting squirrels and other animals. The conversation was kept to a minimum so they wouldn't scare off any unsuspecting creatures, or get the attention of any predators. Dead or alive.

"S'hardly any grub out here to catch," Daryl said finally.

Ellie shrugged, "or we just haven't found any yet."

They stopped walking around midday to cook up some squirrels by a small river. Ellie grabbed a protein bar that she had taken from their tents food supply. It wasn't much but she was satisfied afterwards.

"What you doin' with that?" Daryl scoffed. "Take a bite out o' this."

He offered her some squirrel meat. Reluctantly so peeled a little bit of and put it in her mouth. It wasn't that bad, she thought, had a weird texture but that's ok. Once she got used to the flavour she kind of liked it and the two of them cooked up about five squirrels, and decided to set up camp on some soft grass by the stream. It was going on dusk when they had finished picking away all the squirrel meat from its little bones. Daryl had only bought a blanket with him and Ellie didn't bring anything. Though their clothes were thick and they had a fire going, it was still cold.

"Here," he said as he gave her the blanket, "you go to sleep I'll stay up and keep a lookout."

She laid down next to him. Leaning her head gently on his leg.

"Where did you live before all this?" Daryl asked. It was strange, they had never talked about before the apocalypse started.

"Not too far from Atlanta." She said, looking up at him. "When it all went to hell, Shane came to our house and told us to grab our things and get in the car. That night I saw my first walker."

She sighed.

"It was a women I didn't know her, her arm was dangling off her body like spit. She growled at me. Then Shane put her down."

"Sorry," he muttered.

Ellie smiled, "that's not even the worst bit. My dad was shot a little while before it started and he was in a coma. While driving off I asked Shane to turn around so we could get him, Shane told us that he'd already been to the hospital to check on dad. But he was..."

She tried to hold back the tears, choking on them as they threatened to rise up out of her throat.

"The place was overrun." Was all she managed to say.

After a moment of consoling herself, she looked back up to Daryl.

"What about you?"

He exhaled,"didn't really have a great life anyway, not that this is any better."

Ellie fell asleep after a while. Not knowing how tired she was, she slept through the whole night. She was surprised to see that Daryl was awake still. Her head still leaning against his leg.

"Shit, Daryl, I'm sorry." She murmured.

"Don't worry 'bout it, wouldn't o' got any sleep anyway." He was watching the rushing water.

"Do you think the guys are back yet?" She asked to break the silence.

"Probably, they left yesterday mornin'."

"I hope they bring back some chocolate, I've been craving for some sugar lately." She smiled.

"What's with you girls and chocolate?" He smirked.

She looked up at the clear and grinned dreamily.

"Chocolate, for your information, Dixon, is the way to a girls heart."

"So what your saying is if I was covered in chocolate, I'd be irresistible to all women?"

She laughed sarcastically. "Very funny."

He was about to say something else but instead said, "holy shit!"

"What?" She yelped as she sat up quickly.

"Get up! Get up!" He whispered, "get your stuff and follow me!"

Ellie quickly grabbed her backpack and ran after Daryl, who was running over to a big tree. Before she reached him, she heard the familiar sound of the firing crossbow. Then again. Then again.

"Daryl, what the hell is going on?" She hissed at him.

He was gone again, around the big tree.

"Woohoo," he cried, "that's what I'm talkin' 'bout."

Curiously Ellie peered around the tree. Lying at Daryl's feet was a fair sized deer.

"Good job, Dixon!" She grinned.

"This will keep us feed for a while."

"Don't forget you have to drag it all the way back to camp," she smirked.

"What do you mean 'me'?"

"You catch it, you carry it," she told him.

He huffed and swore to himself. "We best get started then."

He tied a rope, that he had retrieved from his bag, around one of the deer's ankles. Then the two of them set off back to camp. Ellie carried the bow and shot at least six more squirrels and added them to the bunch they had collected.

"You know I could really use one if these," she referred to the bow, " besides, it would be better to have two instead of sharing one, plus we could catch more."

He chuckled, "if I find one I'll keep that in mind, El."

They were getting closer to the camp, already.

"Speaking of which," Ellie said examining an arrow,"you really need to clean these."

She saw a tiny creek. "You go ahead, I'll meet you there."

He looked at her, "ok, but chuck me the squirrels and take this knife."

She threw the squirrels over his shoulder and took the knife.

"Now don't take too long," he yelled back to her.

"Yes, mom." She muttered to herself.

Ellie bent down and started washing off the arrows in the small creek. That's when she heard a crack amongst the trees. Her hand went instantly to Daryl's knife. The moaning sound came from behind her and she spun around quickly. There it was. A walker. It looked hideous, as if he were falling apart like all walkers did. It was wearing clothes that looked like the tattered remains of what used to be a suit. When it charged at her she had the knife ready and stabbed the horrid thing right in the eye. But she didn't stop. She continued stabbing the walker in the eye until it was no more than a bloody pulp. Shaking she stood up and grabbed the washed arrows, before walking back to camp.

When she was just on the outskirts she noticed she wasn't the only one who had had a problem with a walker. There it lay decapitated next to the deer that had its neck partly eaten away.

"Son of a bitch," she murmured.

She could hear some commotion at camp so she straightened herself up and continued her walk.

When she finally reached the camp she was baffled by what she saw. Shane had Daryl in a headlock on the ground with another one crouched down in front of them with his back to her. She had never seen this man before, he wore a white shirt and some blue pants. Though she couldn't see his face.

"What the hell is going on?" She called out making everyone glance at her. She waited to see the new guy spin around and face her.

"Ellie?" He said. She recognised the voice straight away.

"Dad?" She replied. Then she ran to him.