Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

Half - 003

Brooks was the first of her siblings to wake up. Maybe, it's because she never went to sleep. The conversation Daryl and Merle had haunted her most of the night, but also the fear of this strange place kept her up. Brooks was used to never getting a full night's rest, so it didn't bother her much when she pushed herself to sit up. She stretched out her arms and arched her back, what she needed after the cramped night was a good stretch.

She crawled down by her brothers' feet and opened up her backpack. She changed from her pink skirt to her purple skirt, her white top with ballet shoes to her white top with lavender flowers on it. She put on the only shoes she had, sneakers which were more cream than white now, they were over worn and basically falling apart at the seam.

The young girl started opening the tent when Daryl's groggy morning voice stopped her. "Hey." The older man said to the child. She stopped, rolling her brown eyes before turning to him. "Where you goin'?"

"Why'd you care?" She responded, judgement in her tone.

Daryl furrowed his eyebrows. "Screw you too, jeez, I was only askin' cause you're my sister an' all, ain't no need to be a damn bitch." Daryl's response was perhaps out of proportion to hers, but he was tired and therefore that clouded his judgement. When he fully woke up an hour or so later, he felt guilty.

"I'm not your sister, Daryl. I'm your half sister." Brooks responded, bitterly, before she finished unzipping the tent. The sulking girl stormed out and ran away. She didn't zip it back up, leaving Daryl and Merle on display, much to their dismay. Daryl laid there shocked at her response, but just shut his eyes and went back to sleep. It was too early for drama.

Brooks' eyes trailed around the camp in amazement. She hadn't been able to admire it the night before in the dark. There was a large open space, with an RV that had a deck chair on the top. Red, blue, green, yellow, orange tents all in different shapes and sizes littered the area. Brooks walked away from the tents, her eyes focusing on the trees around the outskirts, then on the view that went on for miles. She could see different people walking around, chatting and smiling, some of them even skinning fish.

"Hey, there." A man that Brooks didn't know smiled at her in passing, he only looked to be in his early thirties. If only Brooks had known the future her and the man with a metal arm would share, she would've said hi back, however, the stranger just kept on walking. Perhaps he would have said more to the young girl too, to make their first meeting more memorable. Though, they'd both experience plenty more memorable memories together that would outshine that one.

Brooks noticed her father talking to a man she didn't recognise, so she chose to walk up to them. Her father being the only awake person that she really knew. Glenn was nowhere in sight. "Mornin', dad."

Will groaned. "Now, why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep. Daryl and Merle are still sleepin' though."

"Did I ask?" Her father raised his eyebrows.

Brooks frowned. "Guess not."

"Uhm..." Shane nodded, looking between them. "I'm uh- I'm Shane Walsh. You must be Brooks, right? Yea, Glenn, told me 'bout you. He's down with the other kids by the quarry. Apart from Christopher, I think he's still asleep. You wanna go play with them?"

Will reached down and put his hand on Brooks' shoulder, his grip tight and firm. "I think I'd rather keep my family where I can see them." Will spoke. Shane licked his lips and nodded, he was well aware of Will's rough treatment to Brooks. Even if Glenn hadn't told him first thing that morning, the young girl's face was sporting a bruise on her left cheek.

Shane nodded, sniffing slightly in an attempt to hide his distaste towards the man. "Sure, that's understandable. Well, look, why don't y'all relax a little bit. Show yourselves around and Cam'll come by later on, tell you how you can help out here, Will. All the adults gotta earn their keep."