Small World

Chapter 9 - I promised her

Daryl's P.O.V

I felt like I was just getting to know Sami when she died. I had my gun pressed to her head that night but I couldn't bring myself to do it, not her. Sometimes the guilt eats me alive knowing she's walking around as one of these dead things but I'm gone make it up to her by taking care of her brother. I understand how Zach feels, losing a sibling is hard. I'm not sure if Merle is actually dead but sometimes not knowing is harder than actually knowing.

"Hey get up." I shake Zach as he sleeps. His eyes slowly open and he lets out a big yawn. "We'll leave in five, okay?" He nods and I walk towards the dining area to give him time to wake up. Zach is a true city slicker and I don't think he's ever even shot a gun. Today I'm gonna teach him how to hunt using Sami's bow. We gotta save as much ammo as we can.

"I'm ready." Zach walks up to me. "I got my gun." He shows me.

"Nah, you're gonna use this." I hand him Sami's bow. "The whole point of hunting is being quiet."

"Okay." He nods putting the arrows on his back. "Are we hunting around here?"

"Yeah, I've seen some boar tracks about a hundred feet outside of the gates." I explain to him as we head outside.

"I'm sorry I've I'm really bad at this." He chuckles a bit as we walk down the gravel hill towards the fence opening.

"It's okay cause I'm really good at it." We both let out a soft chuckle. "Just listen to everything I say and do as I do, okay?" He nods and I lead him into the woods. I lead him over to where I saw the tracks and I throw down a couple of chopped apples I brought with us.

"Come sit here." I sit us down behind a bush. "This might take a while." I look over at him and see his eyes glued onto the apples.

"How did you learn to hunt?" He looks over at me.

"I grew up deep in the woods, my mom died when I was young, my dad was a drunk and my brother Merle was always gone. I had to learn how to fend for myself." I load an arrow into my crossbow so it is ready to shoot whenever we see game.

"I'm sorry about your mom." He sighs and I shrug. "Did you lose your brother also?" He looks over at me.

"Before we found Hershel's farm we were camped up in the mountains and one day a group of people went out on a run while I was hunting." I start to fiddle with my arrow head. "Merle went with them and when I got back from my hunt the group was back. They had found Rick but Merle wasn't there. I thought maybe he died in the city but I found out that they left him handcuffed to a roof so we went back to find him and all we found was his hand. He cut it off so he could escape but we never found him. I don't know if he's dead or alive."

"I'm sorry." He sighs. "That must be harder than knowing if he's actually dead."

"Yeah it ain't easy but he's a tough son of a gun so I'm sure he's okay." I look over at the feed. "Losing siblings are hard, especially older ones. I understand what you're going through." I look over at him.

"I wish you didn't." He looks at me and I nod. "Why did you choose me to go hunting with you? You know I was raised in a city right?"

"I promised." I look at the feed then back at him. "That night before Sami went to bed I promised her that I would keep you safe and in this world there's no guarantee I'll be around forever or Dean or Rick, or whoever so you have to learn to do these things for yourself." I usually have a hard time connecting with people but with Zach it feels easy, just like it did with Sami. Maybe it's because he reminds me of her, he's the only thing we have left of her.

"Thank you." He smiles a bit.

"There ain't much left in this world so a man's word is the most valuable thing. I ain't gonna let her down even if she's not here to see it." We both go silent as we hear something snap a branch. We peak over the bush and we see a mama boar with some babies walking up. I go to shoot them and he stops me.