Down by the water • TWD

Dig Deep.

Avery didn't stop squirming as she was being pulled away from the place she once stood at. Until she was dropped on the grass violently, she let out a low grunt of pain. That's when she saw her "kidnapper". 

Daryl.

"Shit, sorry kid didn't mean to drop ya so hard" He gave her an apologetic look but was immediately covered by a blank stare.

"Why the hell are you grabbing me?" Avery was mad, who did he think he was grabbing her like that? She wasn't doing anything wrong.

"You're sticking your nose where it shouldn't be." Avery scoffed as he said this.

"You're out here too so it ain't just me" Avery snapped back.

"I had to take a piss little girl" Daryl gave her a nasty look. Avery looked at him and sighed, She hated being called a little girl. It made her feel so weak, so fragile. Something she wasn't and never would be. "You shouldn't be listening to adults talk. specially' since you're new here and they don't trust you." Daryl tried to sound soft but his tone betrayed him. His words came out harsh and they hit Avery like a train.

They don't trust you.

She was done listening. She was done being treated like glass.

"No less than they trust you. Did you forget Andrea tried to shoot you?" Avery gave him a nasty glare. She wasn't trying to befriend him anytime soon.

"Get outta my face ya lil' brat" Daryl spat back. He walked over to the nearest tree and unzipped his fly. Avery made a disgusted face at him and started walking back to the house, forgetting her mission to Lori's. She just wanted to go to sleep. She learned a lot about the people from this camp today. Who to trust, who not to trust, the friendly ones, and the mean ones who smuggle you and then throw you on a patch of grass. 

"Avery!" She squinted, looking ahead to see Jackson signaling for her to come inside. She quickly picked up her pace as she was intrigued to see what he wanted. She walked up the steps to see Jackson and Carl playing a game of Uno. "Come play with us, playing with two isn't much fun" Jackson smiled and waved her over patting the open spot on the couch next to him. She smiled to herself and sat down. Carl dealt her 7 cards and flipped the starting card. Avery hadn't played Uno in at least a year. The last time she played was with her mom, right after a fight with her dad. No. Not her dad.

Luke.

He lost the privilege of being called dad.

Avery was winning, she only had two cards left. Carl wasn't far behind, he had three. Well, Jackson had a pretty huge stack of cards. He was getting frustrated because Carl kept playing his draw fours only on him. 

"Uno." Avery smirked and placed her second to last card on top of the deck. All she needed was for the color to stay green and she would win. Then rub it in their faces that she won, and they didn't. Jackson placed down a green. carl glanced back up at her hoping he wouldn't put down the color she had. He placed down a green card. "YES!" Avery slammed down her last green card and started gloating in their faces.

"Jax how did you not have some plus twos in that huge deck of yours" Carl laughed and gave him a little shove.

Jax.

That must be his nickname. Avery wanted a nickname.

"Guys since I won, can I ask you a question? You're probably gonna think it's stupid but I have to know" Avery wanted to get something out of her victory.

"Sure." They both shrugged in an I don't care fashion.

"Is Daryl always grumpy?" Truth is, Avery, has been thinking about their encounter the entire Uno game. She was wondering if he only acted that way towards her and if he had something against her. The two boys looked at each other before speaking.