Girl From Outside The Walls

Overwhelmed//Overprotected

"Ava! Get your ass out of bed, or I'm going to drag you out of bed." She woke up with a start, flipping herself out of the bed and landed on her feet. She was ready for a fight before she realized her surroundings. She was in the barracks at the H.Q. with the people who brought her with them to be around others. She dropped her hands to her sides as she straightened herself out. "S-sorry," she lowered her head in embarrassment. "It's alright, Ava. Let's go." Hunter told her the horses were waiting and she was a bit more chipper.

She jogged around the bed and stood next to him. "Alright, let's get to the horses!" He sighed at her excitement about the animals. If she wasn't careful, she'd scare them. She followed him to the stables humming to herself in no particular tune or rhythm. "What are you humming?" Hunter asked over his shoulder. "Nothing," she blinked. He then told her to shut up, "nobody wants to hear that." She swatted at the back of his head; she moved quick enough and followed his movements, smacking him with her palm lightly. "Just because you're designated as my caretaker does not mean that you can tell me what to do!"

"Being your caretaker makes me responsible for you, brat!" He brought his fist to her stomach, not actually intending damage. She hit his side with her forearm and just like that; the pair were practically sparring. She toppled into the floor of the stables, startling the stable boy, "What the–" Hunter laughed at her as he stood in the doorway. Ava swept her leg at him, unbalancing him. He countered her next kick to the back of his knee by catching her ankle. She pushed herself onto her hands and drove her free foot into his stomach.

Hunter fell onto his ass, letting her go and instead he was sitting there holding his stomach. A cough got their attention. She jumped to her feet and helped him up. "You two done now?" The stable boy looked from one to the other as they seemed to just stop fighting. Hunter spoke up, "yeah, we're done beating the shit out of each other for now. Are the horses ready?" The poor guy nodded. He'd just seen a seeming civilian girl just beat a soldier in hand-to-hand combat, so he just watched her. Hunter brought over the horses, handing her the reins for her new friend. The question left her lips before she actually thought it; "Do they have names?"

The guys looked at her like she just spoke in a foreign language. She tilted her head in confusion, "Did I say something wrong?" She asked. Hunter shook his head, "We just don't typically name the horses."

"Oh," she carefully approached the horses. She reached a hand out to one only for it to gently press its muzzle to her palm. She started carefully petting it as she spoke calmly. "Well, aren't you sweet?" The men behind her just let her be for a moment. She stood there with the horses and found herself with both nuzzling her gently. She eventually named them Carter and Zaine. She finally turned to look at Hunter and Carter trotted up to him. "I don't know if I like that you named my horse," he looked at her.

She jumped up onto Zaine, carefully grabbing the reins. "If you don't like it, change it," she responded. "God damn it, Ava." She smiled to herself as he hot onto his horse. She hadn't been on horseback before, but she figured it wouldn't be too difficult to learn. The stable boy– apparently named Mich– gave her a quick crash course in riding horses. "Now, he can get a little wild at times. So be careful with him." She nodded to his words; she wasn't worried though. She found comfort in the creature being with her. Mich then patted Zaine on the rear, and he began to walk forward.

She steered her horse to follow Hunter's and managed to coax him into a trot. Riding felt natural; she spread open her arms as though they were wings as the horses picked up speed. The wind danced around her, whipping her hair into a tangled mess behind her. She felt free and it was almost for a moment that she'd forgotten about who she was with. She was quick to pull herself back to Zaine's back, narrowly avoiding a low branch slapping across her face. She heard Hunter's voice yell at her over the wind to watch where she's going. "Yeah, I figured that out!" She glared at her human companion– her caretaker. Soon enough, the town was within sight and the pair started to slow down once more. She hesitated before hopping off Zaine's back after Hunter dismounted his horse. She'd borrowed some spare clothes that the Survey Corps had– which were parts of the uniform– and some of the others seemed bothered since she wasn't one of them.