Animal Gone Wild [DISCONTINUED]

37

SAFE, BUT UNEDUCATED

    The gates were opened and I dropped Daryl's hand as he held his crossbow defensively until the trashcan behind us made noise and Daryl shot the animal. I walked over and collected it as the gate was opened farther up. I turned and pulled out Daryl's bolt, wiping it on my pants before handing over the animal and bolt.
    "We brought dinner," Daryl commented.
    I covered my mouth to hold back a laugh as I grinned underneath my hand. I turned towards Daryl who smirked at me.
"You asshat."
    He just winked instead. I rolled my eyes.
    "It's okay," Aaron comforted, "come on in, guys."
    We all followed in, the gate closing behind us.
    "Before we take this any further," stated the curly man, "I need you all to turn over your weapons."
    I tensed tightly and grabbed my bat handle defensively, turning my face into a scowl.
    "Stay, you hand them over."
    "We don't know if we want to stay," Rick defended.
    "It's fine, Nicholas," Aaron comforted.
    "If we were gonna use them, we would have started already."
    "Let them talk to Deanna first."
    "Who's Deanna," Abraham called out.
    "She knows everything you'd want to know about this place. Rick, why don't you start?"
    I let out a whistle and Rick turned towards the gate as I continued to glare at Nicholas.
    "Sasha," Rick ordered.
    Sasha turned around and shot the walker, then the next gate started closing.
    "It's a good thing we're here."
    Rick started to move forward before stopping and turning towards me.
    "Kindly and stay."
    I nodded and flopped onto the ground, going from sitting to laying on the ground, staring up at the sun. Once Rick exited, Deanna called for me.
    "Juniper," called Deanna.
    I let out an involuntary growl at the name. Daryl stopped me shortly and I turned towards him.
    "Kindly," Daryl whispered, "you hear me Red?"
    I nodded before following Deanna in. I sat in the chair with a scowl.
    "Do you mind if I record this?"
    I turned my gaze from the table to her slowly. I thought for a moment before opening my mouth.
    "I mind."
    Deanna nodded and instead sat down.
    "Alright, we won't record it then. So, how did you meet everyone?"
    "Traveling."
    "What did you do before?"
    "Before comin' here?"
    "No, before this all started."
    Yells, orders, and children flashed through my mind before my family made a short appearance, dimming my mood.
    "Why does it matter?"
    "It helps with how you are in this world."
    "Shooting range manager, but that has nothing to do with my skills."
    "I don't mean to overstep, but I was told by Nicholas, Rick told you, and I quote; kindly and stay...now, would you like to tell me what that means?"
    I rolled my eyes. Of course Nicholas would say something.
    "They're key words. I actually have many of them. They each mean something different."
    "So what does kindly and stay mean?"
    "Stay was a dog command—something we decided to use. Kindly means to be nice, or as we like to say, play nice."
    "Now why would Rick tell you to do such a thing?"
    I moved forward in my chair, folding my hands and giving her a cold facial feature.
    "Because I don't do well with others. Also because I tend to get particularly protective of him, Carl, Judith, and Daryl more than anyone. Not only that, I got a certain amount of skills that are quite useful depending on the situation. In normal terms...I'm his guard dog."
    With that said, I got up and returned to the others, and I could feel her stare following me—her soon following me closely behind.

    "They're still your guns," Deanna explained, "you can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety."
    I handed over my throwing knives but that was it. They were not having my crossbow.
    "The crossbow's as well."
    I scowled and let a growl escape from my lips. Rick raised his hand at me and I cut myself off, turning towards him.
    "They keep them," Rick commented, "Daryl and June don't like being separated from their bows. They get antsy, and we don't like them antsy...either of them, much less one."
    Deanna nodded in understanding before the lady took our guns, cracking a dry humor joke.
    "I should've brought another bin."
    Aaron then forced Carl, Rick,and I to follow after him. I turned towards Rick as I walked backwards.
"You said something to her, what was it?"
    Rick chuckled slightly.
"Should've known you knew I said something. I wanted her to talk to you before anything was decided. I needed her to know that if anything was to fly, it'd have to be alright through you too. After all, you've given me some interesting perspective on things."
    I smirked, "any time Boss."
    Aaron looked back at us confused but shrugged it off as we continued the walk to two homes. I turned towards Rick with a cocked eyebrow. Aaron explained that they were both ours and my Grimes boys went to check one while I checked the other.