How is this my life?

Farm Life

<Billy Mueller>

Life on a farm wasn't so bad for Billy Mueller, his new mom stayed at camp more often then the time they lived in the quarry. It still felt weird that he had a new family after the world ended. A new mother, new brother and sister, even aunt and uncles. Holding up the camera, he smiled when he saw Daryl stomping towards camp with a deer on his shoulders. The Dixon brothers were so cool.

"What're ya doin'?" Daryl asked once he was close enough, not even breathing heavily.

"Mom gave me a camera!" He waved it around excitedly, it even had a comfortable strap to go around his neck so he didn't lose it. He shoved the picture he took of the hunter in his bag hastily. Miss. Jaqi got really upset when he took her picture.

"Don' be takin' my picture." The hunter grumbled before looking around curiously. "Where is ya Momma?"

"Braden's cuttin' a tooth so he's been real cranky today." Billy pointed towards his home which was between the Brown's and the med bus. "Daisy is watching us but we can't go past the humvee or the med bus. Mom said I could take pictures to put into my own album!"

"That's good, kid." Daryl nodded, his eyes focused on his Mom while she rocked his whiny little brother. "Just don' go near the trees, aint want you gettin' lost."

"I'm not stupid." Billy grumbled kicking a clump of dirt. "We're not like the others, you know?"

"What'ya mean?" Daryl shifted the deer on his shoulders to look down at him with a frown.

"I remember runnin' with Jamie all the time." Billy looked towards his Mom and she waved at him with a smile, making him feel a little better. "I don't wanna be alone again or have Mom get eatin' so we can run away."

"Aint nothin' gonna happen to your Momma, hear me?" Daryl said it like a promise, and it sounded much better than his Dad's old promises to make up for lost time. "C'mon, gonna show you how ta' skin a buck."

It was really gross, way worse than when his Mom tried to skin rabbits with Daryl. They needed a bucket to catch everything and the hunter even tossed Max a still bloody organ. Billy tried not to squirm at all the blood he got on his hands but Daryl told him he was doing a good job.

"Well, you boys having fun?" Mom came over, Braden strapped to her chest. She didn't look upset at him helping Daryl but the man got anxious with his mother watching them. "You din't happen to give Max a snack, did you?"

"Gave 'im the heart." Daryl grunted, becoming super focused on pulling the skin away. "S'good for 'im."

"I know raw organ meat is good for dogs." Mom smiled, placing a hand on the hunter's arm so he would look at her. Billy noticed that he got really weird sometimes around his mom and red, really red. "But could you keep him over here while he eats it? He tried to crawl into Emma's lap and you can guess how that went."

"Ya." Daryl cleared his throat, staring at his mom and Braden for a long moment. "Heard he's gettin' teeth?"

"Oh yeah, his first molars." Mom smiled brightly. "Edwin is sure he's fourteen months old, so of course he has to prove Mary wrong. You know, there should be a picture of you and Billy, skinning a deer for the first time."

"When he takes down his first buck, he's gotta eat the heart." Daryl grinned at him when he gagged. "Thems the rules."

"It's true." Mom nodded along, holding up the camera with a straight face. "I read about it in school. Otherwise you'll never be a true hunter. No, Daryl get in there! We need a picture of Billy with our expert outdoors man!"