Act One; Chapter Six

Word Count: 2468

[Season One, Episode Three]

"Coffee?"

Eve looked over her shoulder and saw Sawyer warmly smiling at her with two mugs, one purple and one pink. Eve then raised her brow and airily questioned, "I'm assuming the pink is for me?"

Sawyer made a face that Eve found rather humorous before replying, "Well, it was going to be, but I kind of, maybe, sort of put all your sugars in the purple by accident."

A laugh escaped Eve, shaking her head in amusement while she reached out to grab the purple mug from Sawyer. "Don't worry, I like purple as well."

"Not as much as pink, though, right?" Sawyer playfully asked as he handed Eve her mug of coffee, and she simply shrugged, taking it from his hand. "Eh, coffee is coffee, no matter what color of mug it's in."

"Wise words, Rhee," Sawyer commented, taking a seat next to Eve on the log she was on. Since Sophia and Carl were playing a couple feet away from the adults, they kept a close eye on them while they drank their morning coffee together.

Eve took a small break from her coffee so she could look around the camp for the children's parents, and when she couldn't find them, she asked Sawyer, "Where are Lori and Carol?"

"Uh, Lori's in Dale's RV, and Carol is washing Rick's uniform right now."

A genuine, surprised expression appeared on Eve's face. "I'm shocked you're not helping her."

The reason being that when camp was first established and chores were divided by Shane, he gave only the women the cleaning and cooking ones. Sawyer tried to tell his brother that wasn't fair, but he got rather aggressively told off by Shane. So Sawyer walked away with his tail in between his legs and decided to help the woman as much as he could with the chores, much to Shane's dislike because, to quote him exactly, "Cleaning and cooking are a woman's job, not a manly man's like you, Sawyer."

Sawyer sighed. "I tried, but she kept shooing me away, so I finally gave up and decided to make coffee for me and you instead."

"Ah, gotcha," Eve softly replied while getting ready to take another sip out of her mug.

After that, Carl and Sophia ran off into the woods, causing Sawyer and Eve to spring up to their feet and call out two different things at the same time.

"Hey, Don't go in there!"

"It isn't safe to go that far into the woods, guys!"

For some reason, the other people in camp didn't hear them, so Sawyer and Eve anxiously locked eyes, then accidentally simultaneously said, "I'll go after them."

Sawyer went slack jawed in surprise that they had been thinking the same thing since usually that only happened to Jules and Glenn, but he quickly shook it off so he could ask, "Uh, since it's not safe alone, wanna go together?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me."

After Eve's response, the two of them placed their mugs on the log, then hurriedly rushed after the two children. Meanwhile, the rest of the group, who were oblivious to the situation, were either stripping down the sports car Jules and Glenn got yesterday, cleaning, sleeping, going somewhere else, or watching said sports car get scrapped for parts. The people sadly watching the car get scrapped were Jules and Glenn.

"It should be illegal to ruin a car this beautiful," Jules murmured, and Glenn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, just watching this crime hurts my soul."

Rick, who had just woken up, overheard their words as he approached them, and he chuckled at their dramatics before joining their side.

Glenn noticed Rick first and said, "Look at 'em. Vultures." Then, following that, Jules angrily commented, "Yeah, go on, strip it clean, you piranhas."

A sigh escaped Dale before he explained to them why he was ruining the car. "Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. I've got no power without it." Despite the logical explanation, the duo kept staring at the vehicle with upset expressions, causing Dale to once again sigh. "Sorry, Glenn; sorry, Jules."

"Thought we'd get to drive it at least a few more days," Glenn pouted while childishly crossing his arms.

"I did too," Jules agreed as she unknowingly mimicked Glenn's mannerisms.

Rick breathlessly chuckled, then patted them both on the back. "Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday."

Jules looked over her shoulder. "I'll be keeping you to that dumbass cowboy." A playful smirk appearing on her lips.

All Rick did was laugh and shake his head in amusement, then, after saying goodbye, left the duo so he could talk to his wife. A few moments later, Shane came up the mountain with water, but no one really paid attention to him. What caught the group's full attention was child-like screams coming from the woods. The sound causing everyone to sprint towards the noise.

As Jules ran, she internally cursed herself out for not bringing her baseball bat, but it was too late to go back and get it now. However, thankfully, Jules didn't need it because, when she and the others arrived, Eve was shielding Sophia and Carl from any possible harm, and the walker that caused the children to scream had already been put down by Sawyer.

Meanwhile, when Lori arrived, she panickedly yelled out, "Carl! Baby!"

Carl turned around at the sound of his mother's voice, and when he saw her, rushed up to her for comfort. "Mom!"

"You're okay?" Rick asked with obvious worry.

"I've got him. I've got him." Lori muttered over and over again in an attempt to reassure herself that her baby boy was, in fact, alright.

After she managed to calm herself down enough, Lori pulled away from the hug to check on her son. "Nothing bit you? Nothing scratched you?"

Carl shook his head. "No, I'm okay. Uncle Sawyer and Eve came to me and Sophia's rescue before anything could happen to us."

Carol, who was now holding onto her daughter, looked up at Eve and smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"Oh, it was no trouble," Eve shyly replied.

"No, thank you; it's right you protected our babies," Lori countered, and once she made sure Carl was safe with his father, Lori hugged Eve so tightly she swore she saw stars. Not that Eve minded, though, because she knew if she were a mother she would have the same reaction, so she just breathlessly laughed as she returned the hug.

Once Lori was done hugging Eve, she went over to Sawyer, who was standing a couple feet away and near the now deceased walker. However, when she went to hug him, he held up his hand to stop her. Then, when a rightfully offended expression appeared on Lori's features, he quickly gestured to his shirt and explained, "I don't think you want to touch geek blood."

Lori nodded in agreement and patted his clean shoulder. "You're right." Following that, she and Sawyer shared a good-hearted laugh as they walked back towards Rick and Carl.

After the group had a clear view of the chewed-up deer and the now-dead walker. Dale sighed anxiously. "It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim chimed in with a shrug.

Jules chuckled bitterly. "Great, so they're migrating like birds now."

Suddenly, after Jules said that, the group heard branches snapping and upcoming footsteps coming from within the forest. Instinctively, everyone with weapons got ready to attack if it turned out to be another walker, which caused Jules to curse herself out again for not grabbing her bat.

However, when the person who was making the noise revealed themselves, Jules immediately wished it was a walker instead. For it was the infamous Daryl Dixion, whom Jules couldn't stand... Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration because sometimes he would say something so unexpected that it would make her genuinely laugh out loud, and whenever the rare occasion arose when he was away from his brother, he became mildly tolerable for Jules to hang out with.

"Oh, Jesus," Dale murmured at the appearance of Daryl, causing Jules to chuckle and mutter, "You could say that again."

"The son of a bitch. That's my deer!" Daryl loudly cursed in anger when he saw the dead deer's gaping chew marks caused by the walker.

Next Daryl yelled at the whole group, "Look at it!"

"We have-"

"Not right now." Glenn swiftly cut off Jules' upcoming sarcastic remark with a whisper. Then, when she looked at him incredulously, he shuffled awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Sorry... I just don't want you to get hurt." Jules' expression softened, then shrugged while pulling a face that said, 'Fair enough.'

Following that, Daryl continued his tantrum, "All gnawed on by this..."

Kick

"Filthy!"

Kick

"Disease-bearing!"

Kick

"Motherless, poxy bastard!"

"Well, that's productive," Jules sarcastically commented inwardly. Normally she would say it out loud, but Glenn had a point earlier, and Jules wasn't really in the mood to fight someone as hot-headed as Daryl Dixion unless absolutely necessary, which might be sooner rather than later.

However, Dale felt brave enough to say something to Daryl. "Calm down, son. That's not helping."

Daryl scoffed. "What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to the golden pond"?"

It took everything in Jules not to laugh at that comment, but miraculously she managed to do so. Meanwhile Daryl did something miraculous as well: he took a breath so he could semi-calmly continue, "I've been tracking this deer for miles. I was gonna drag it back to camp and cook us some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed-up part right here?"

Shane shook his head, then quickly and bluntly answered, "I would not risk that."

Daryl sighed in genuine disappointment before saying, "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel—about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

After that Daryl took one last glance at the walker to make sure it was in fact dead, and when he saw it was, he chuckled in disbelief and questioned, "Was it Jules or Sawyer?"

"What?" Shane asked right back in confusion.

Daryl rolled his eyes in annoyance and used his foot to point to the walker. "That killed the geek. They're the only smart ones in this camp besides me and Merle."

Jules raised her eyebrows in surprise as she thought to herself. "Damn, thanks, I guess."

"It was Sawyer," Shane answered with an unreadable tone of voice. Daryl just nodded and walked back to camp, causing everyone to look at one another anxiously.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I've got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

Shane cautiously walked towards the younger Dixion brother. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

A sigh escaped Shane as he thought over the proper words to say to Daryl. "About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta."

Sadness etched Daryl's face for a millisecond before it went back to normal as he bluntly asked, "Is he dead?"

Shane shuffled his feet whilst he once again thought over the proper words to say. "We're not sure."

Obvious shock and confusion took over Daryl's features. "He either is or he isn't!"

Rick, being the martyr he was, stepped forward and revealed himself. "There is no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl impatiently questioned the sheriff.

Without skipping a beat, the sheriff proudly answered, "Rick Grimes."

Daryl began to pace around the camp and yell louder with each passing word. "Rick Grimes, you've got something you want to tell me?"

"Dear Lord, this is going to go horrible," Jules mumbled, slowly facepalming. As predicted by Jules, everything went to actual shit after Rick admitted to cuffing Daryl's brother on a roof. The latter attacked Rick after the news and even tried to pull a knife on him, which resulted in Shane putting the redneck into a choke hold.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl grunted from underneath Shane's tight grasp.

Shane just clicked his tongue. "Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

In response, Daryl quipped, "Choke Hold's illegal asshole."

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

This interaction made Jules involuntarily snort, causing some camp residents to stare at her weirdly; however, the sound just made Glenn smile. Not that Jules noticed though, because throughout her life she tended to snort, so she had grown used to tuning out people's reactions.

Meanwhile, Rick crouched down so he could look Daryl in the eye as he spoke, "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?"

Shane tilted his head. "Hmm?"

In return, Daryl begrudgingly nodded. "Mmm. Yeah."

Following that rather wordless agreement, Shane let go of Daryl, and after he did so, Daryl pushed off Shane so he could make a good amount of space between them. The latter rolled his eyes but let it go because Rick began to speak to Daryl about the situation.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

Much to Jules dismay, T-Dog stepped forward just like Rick had done mere minutes ago. "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it."

"Dude!!" Jules accidentally blurted out in disbelief at her friend's choice to speak up.

Daryl simply ignored Jules outburst and instead chose to address T-Dog's sentence. "You couldn't pick it up?"

T-Dog shamefully looked down at the ground before picking his head back up and answering, "Well, I dropped it in a drain."

An incredulous look appeared on Daryl's face. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

After Daryl said that, T-Dog cautiously stepped a few inches closer to him while explaining, "Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof. So the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock. It's got to count for something."

Daryl threw his arms around in frustration. "Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

Lori, who was watching everything from the doorframe of Dale's RV, chimed in, "He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Directly looking at her husband.

Another snort escaped Jules as she sarcastically commented, "Yeah, right."

However, much to Jules' surprise, Rick nodded. "I'm going back."

"What!?"