The Enemy

[14] Debt

The rain came to a halt sometime during the night, although it left behind ankle high mud that was impossible to be silent in. Each time I removed my boot from the mud, my ears were greeted by a horrible squelching noise.

"I can hear you," he called out, "why ya following me?" Daryl revealed himself from behind a tree and lent against it with his exposed muscular arms crossed.

"I'm in debt, and I'm here to repay you. Anything you want," I tried my best to act sexy and seductive, but failed as I tried to haul my foot out of the mud.

"I don't want anything from you," he said with a straight face, despite how ridiculous I looked. I removed my foot from the last of the mud and stepped dangerously close to him.

"You sure..?" I whispered closely to his face, my hand resting on his chest, moving rhythmically with his steady breathing. I pushed my lips against his, no longer driven by debt but by something else. My hands instinctively reached out and cupped his stubbly chin. His chiselled jaw line was made to fit my hands like a jigsaw puzzle. The rough hairs of his face was somehow comforting to me.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat behind me. Daryl wasted no time in pulling away and arming his crossbow. I could feel the heat crawling along my face as I was engulfed by embarrassment.

The person in front of me was unrecognisable. I would call him a man, but his boyish looks confused me. He had a short, flat haircut and hairless baby features. He adjusted the straps of his backpack before easing his hands into a surrender posture, to show us that he meant no harm.

"Erm, I'm Aaron," he hesitated under the aim of the crossbow.

"Don't care," Daryl murmured, muffled as he held the crossbow right to his face.

"I the one who left the water. I'm hoping to talk to your whole group–about a community."

+

I already knew that meeting Aaron wouldn't go over well with Rick. Every now and again he gave both me and Daryl daggers from across the room; angry with us for bringing Aaron here.
I stayed well in the shadows of the barn, watching as the group argued amongst themselves. Pieces of hay stuck to my boots with some sort of liquid that acted as a glue. Reaching down, I brushed the straw from my boot, and examined the liquid that covered my boot. Holding it extremely close to my face I could see a reddish tinge in the dim light; maybe closer to black than red. Blood. My face dropped in realisation. I'd seen enough of this to know what normally follows. Off to the side was the body of a slim girl, her skin held a greyish shade and the blood on my hand had come from the puddle of blood around her head.

"They found her in the barn. Maggie killed it," Tara announced.

"Couldn't they have taken it outside. Stinking the barn out," I held my nose and put as much space as I could between me and the walker.

"It's a community," Aaron was surprisingly alright considering he was tied up and forced onto his knees, "I think you all would make valuable additions," he paused, his thoughts taking over, "but that's not my call. My job is to convince you all to follow me back home," the room was engulfed with silence.

"Isn't this what we wanted? A community? A safe place?" I stepped forward and cast my eyes towards each one of the group, "I don't know about anyone else, but I know I'm fed up with living off dog meat and rainwater."