"How many walkers have you killed?"
"Must be a couple hundred at this point"
"How many people have you killed?"
"Just...two"
"Why?"
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These are the three questions Salem, a 15 year old girl surviving on her own in the a...
TW: Mentions of SA ⚠️ _____________________________
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"Hey, you alright?" Salem jumps slightly as she feels a hand on her shoulder. "Woah, there, it's just me," Carl removes his hand from her shoulder and puts his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Yeah-sorry," Salem turns to him and rubs her eyes with her fists, "think I'm just tired." "You're adorable, cmon let's get you to bed," Carl coos as he wraps on arm around her shoulders, leading her to her cell.
"Whatcha doing?" Carl raises an eyebrow as the girl enters his cell instead of her own. "Well, it...it smells like you," Salem looks up at him with big innocent doe eyes she knows he can't resist. "Is this going to become a common occurrence?" He smirks at her. "Maybe," she turns and plops down on his bed, lying down and curling up with a blanket. "Mm, g'night cowboy," she sighs out.
"It's noon," he laughs softly as he sits on the edge of the bed, looking down at her. "Which means it's nap time!" Salem opens her eyes and raises her eyebrows at him. "Lay with me," she requests, scooting over for him. "Alright, but just for a little bit, I actually have stuff I'm trying to get done today," Carl sits above her, Salem curling onto his chest with a sigh as he holds her. "Take it up with the warden," Salem groans, earning a laugh from Carl, which she feels in his chest.
She liked his heartbeat, it reminded her that he was alive. She needed that reminder sometimes.
She soon drifted off to sleep with Carl brushing his fingers across her cheeks. ______________________________
"Get up, it's go time kiddo" Daryl shakes Salems shoulder. Salem groans as she opens her eyes into a squint, feeling the cold lack of Carl beneath her. "What's going on?" She asks. "Congrats, you're in the gang now, which means you gotta come train like the rest of us. You're with me today, we're going hunting, hopefully we get a few rabbits, if we're really lucky we might pick up a buck so cmon get dressed. I'll meet you in the courtyard."
Salem sighs as she sits up and walks to her own cell, she'd acquired a few more outfits at this point. Sifting through her small pile of clothing, she finds a dark washed Sherpa jean jacket and dark denim jeans to match. She searches for a shirt, not finding anything she wanted to wear, so she innocently trots over to Carls cell, picking out a form fitting gray baseball tee with blue sleeves that hung onto her nicely, despite being a bit long. Once she gets dressed and ties her boots, she makes sure her holsters are secure before heading out to meet Daryl.
"Took you long enough kid. You going to a rodeo? What's with the getup?" Daryl gives a sarcastic smile seeing Salems outfit. "No! Are we gonna catch us some dinner or what Dixon?" Salem nudges Daryl, and the two begin to walk to the gate where Daryl's motorcycle is located.
"Let's roll," Daryl slides on his sunglasses and zooms off on the bike, leaving a dust trail behind them. "Alright so we have a few hunting 'zones' where the big ticket animals like to roam, we gotta be silent, you seem pretty good at that so that's why I wanted you with me today," Daryl shouts. "I got something special for you kid, think you're gonna like it!" Daryl smiles, making Salem raise her eyebrows. "What is it?" "I'll show you when we get there. We're going to zone 2."
