Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

The Ugly Truth

"Kevin you better share that with Bacon." The once tiny piglets now weighed in at over 70 pounds and refused to listen to a word I said. Guess some things never changed. "Here you go Jimmy Dean."

"Are you feeding them granola bars?" I glanced over my shoulder at Rick, shrugging. "Pigs don't eat granola bars."

"They're gluten free."

"It's not the gluten..." he frowned, taking the wrapper and reading the labeling. "What is gluten anyway?"

"It's...." Damn I missed Google. "Like being vegan, but with gluten."

"Vegan?"

This one I knew, kinda.

"It's when you don't eat meat," I clarified.

"Isn't that a vegetarian?"

I cocked my head to the side thinking. "Well yeah, but you only eat nuts or bark or dirt."

That didn't sound right, but I was out of my depth. The only alternative diet I'd ever tried was the one where you lived off pizza and beer. I think it was called the college fraternity diet.

"That's a paleo diet." My head swiveled to him, eyebrows raised. "Lori," his voice broke and he coughed. I looked away to give him time to compose himself. "She got on a health kick a few years ago."

"How long did that last?"

He smiled wistfully, "A day and a half."

I laughed, "Sounds about right." I wouldn't have made it five minutes. "Jimmy Dean be careful! You just stepped on Violet!"

Rick propped a high heel on the bottom of the fence.

"You gotta stop naming them. They're not pets. They're food."

I gasped, "Don't say that stuff around them. They're sensitive." He didn't comment, but his head shake was comment enough. "And I only named three. Carl named Violet."

"Oh my god." He rubbed his hands up-and-down his face in exasperation, but he wisely changed the subject. "You going with Michonne?"

"Yeah."

He didn't say anything, but his eyes narrowed minutely. It'd been over a month since he handed over the reins of power to the council. He needed a break, time to come to terms with his "new normal" and process his loss. The occupants of the prison felt better with a more democratic approach to decision-making, especially after their experience with The Governor so it was a win-win.

All that being said he still struggled to accept their decisions. Things like sanctioning Deadpool's obsessive manhunt for the former leader of Woodbury was a prime example. Personally, I thought they made the smart choice. The woman was going to do what she wanted regardless of what they said so forbidding her from leaving the prison was futile. Plus, it had the added disadvantage of making them look weak. Better to pretend the choice was theirs.

I tossed the last piece of granola into the pen, ignoring Rick's chastising look before wiping my hands on my jeans and heading towards the cars. It was still early, but Deapool and I planned to leave soon in the hopes we could scout out the town she thought Crazy might be in and still make it home before nightfall.

"Hey lil' sister," Merle drawled, sauntering up with his usual swagger. Daryl was a few steps behind, shaking his head at his brother's antics, crossbow on his shoulder. "Where's my lovely Samurai headed today?"

"You realize no one will stop her from stabbing you, right?" I asked, unable to keep a smile off my face when he simply shrugged.

Merle and Deadpool had reached a truce of sorts, meaning she wasn't actively trying to kill him at the moment. Truth was the elder Dixon was constantly working on repairing most (all) of his relationships at the prison. He had "history" with almost everyone living here and those he didn't tended to steer clear of him on principle. People with knives strapped to their stub didn't scream friendship material.