That Valley Girl || Daryl Dixon

[ 015 ] The Barn

I stood next to Dale as Lori scolded Carl. Earlier, I had been helping Dale clean up the R.V., Carl came in and said that Rick sent him to get a walkie. Turns out, he stole a gun.

"How the hell did this happen?" Lori asked as she took the gun from Carl, putting it in the waistband of her pants.

"It's my fault. I let him into the R.V. He said he wanted a walkie, that you sent him for one." Dale took the blame.

"So on top of everything else, he lied."

"He want's to learn how to shoot. He asked me to teach him." Shane spoke up. "Now it's none of my business, but I'm happy to do it. It's your call."

"I'm not comfortable with it." Lori said. "Don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here. Rick?" She turned to her husband.

I was starting to feel a little awkward, the only reason I'm here is because I was in the R.V. with Dale when Carl got the gun.

"I know. I have my concerns too, but--" Rick started.

"There's no but. He was just shot. He's just back on his feet and he wants a gun?" Lori argued.

"Better than him being afraid of 'em." Rick countered. "There are guns in camp for a reason. He should learn to handle them safely."

"I don't want my kid walking around with a gun."

"But how can you defend that? You can't let him go around without protection."

Lori and Rick kept going back and forth. Carl insisted that he knew the gun wasn't a toy, Rick suggested that Shane teaches him. Lori finally agreed.

"Rick?" I called out from behind him. He turned around, giving me his full attention.

"Can I uh-- come to the gun training?" I bit the inside of my cheek. I want to learn how to use a gun, so I can protect myself and the camp, just like Carl said.

I don't know if I would be able to do it or if I was ready, but I wanted to try.

"Yeah." He said, nodding his head and motioning for me to follow him.

I followed him to the cars as everyone got ready. I'm gonna take this gun training seriously, and I'm not gonna be like how I was back in Atlanta. I have to learn to adapt.

-

Gunshots rang through the air as everyone hit their targets. I watched the glass bottles on the fence shatter one by one. It seemed like everyone was getting the hang of using their gun.

Me though? I couldn't fire the bullet anywhere near the bottle.

This was a really humbling experience. I didn't expect to be amazing my first try, but I wasn't expecting this. This was so embarrassing, everyone else was doing good while I was struggling to even keep the gun steady.

Andrea was the best out of all of us, she'd fired three bullets into the O of a sign that said 'no trespassing'. She'd even got to use a heavier gun, and she hit another target with it.

I huffed, lowering my gun. I had ran out of bullets and the green glass bottle still stood on the fence, unscathed.

"Not doing so well?" Shane approached me.

"No." I sighed, handing the gun over to him.

"Maybe you're just not ready. We'll find something else for you, yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." I said, my tone laced with disappointment.

-