Safe and sound, Carl Grimes

037. A RABBIT AMONGST WOLVES

Chapter thirty seven

"A rabbit amongst wolves."

They all had gone into the woods that night to sleep, where Daryl made sure they didn't know her name, that she stayed by him at all times, where he held his arms around her and his bow and kept his eyes on them all night, where the story that Randall had told him about the man and his two teenagers daughter's and what they did to them was playing over and over in his head, seeing as Joe already made it clear that they would beat him to death and do whatever they wanted with his daughter, his fear from that day had come true.

Where when he knew the sun would start to rise, he woke her up and the two headed away from them all to hunt for something to eat, as Katniss had an arrow notched, as Daryl stood behind her, a rabbit hopped out in front of them, as Katniss drew her bow, she shot it, but as she did, so did somebody else's arrow, as Daryl turned around seeing the one with the compound bow, Katniss walked over to the rabbit "what the hell you doing?" Daryl asked him "catching me some breakfast." the man told him, as Katniss picked the rabbit up, pulling the man's arrow out of it and tossing it to him.

"That's ours." Daryl told him "my arrows the one that hit first. The cottontail belongs to be." the man said "her's hit first. Your really gonna take a rabbit from a little girl?" Daryl asked, as the man smirked at her "I wouldn't imagine that. But that rabbit you're holding is claimed, little girl. Claimed whether you like it or not. So I was you, I'd hand it over. Now before you get to wishing you ain't even got out of bed this morning." the man shared, as Daryl put his arm in front of her "it ain't yours." he told him.

"You know, she ain't gonna last too long out here." the man shared, as Katniss saw Daryl reach for his knife, he pulled it out, but before he could do anything Joe arrived "easy, fellas, easy." he said, as the man laughed "let's just put our weapons down. And see if we can figure out what's really the problem here, huh?" Joe asked, looking to the man "you claim it?" he asked "hell, yeah." the man said, as Joe looked to Katniss and Daryl "well, there you go. The critter belongs to Len." he said "so let's have it." Len said, but Daryl didn't move to give it to him, letting Katniss keep it.

"Looks like you may be wanting an explanation. See, going it alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fidst. It's a paradox right there. So I laid out some rules of the road to keep things from going Darwin every couple hours. Keep our marry band together and stress free. All you've gotta do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, your prey, your bed at night. One word, claimed." Joe shared "my daughter shot it first." Daryl said, and when he did, Joe looked at her seeing the rabbit had her arrow in it, he turned to Len "the girl gets to keep the rabbit." he shared.

"What!" Len voiced, stepping toward's them "she's a kid! But also a girl! These rules are for men and I'm not gonna punish her dad for rules that he didn't know existed." Joe shared "there ain't no rules no more." Daryl said "oh, there are. You know that. That's why I didn't kill you for the crossbow." Joe shared, and as he did, Daryl put his arm around her "claimed." he said, as Joe nodded "exactly." he told him, as Len turned around walking off, Joe followed him, the two watched them go.

Where as they began moving camp, they were walking along the railroad tracks, as Joe was walking in the back next to Katniss and Daryl "so what's the plan, Daryl?" Joe asked "how so?" Daryl asked "you're with us now, but you ain't soon?" Joe asked "yep." Daryl told him "so what's the plan?" Joe asked "just looking for the right place is all." Daryl shared "oh, we ain't good enough for you, huh?" Joe asked "some of you ain't exactly friendly." Daryl shared "you ain't so friendly yourself." Joe shared, motioning to Katniss "especially you. You may not talk but I see it in your eyes." he told her, looking forward "you know you need a group out here." he added on.