South Tree * TWD

2. Understood

"They're picture books.." Lillian mumbled quietly, her feelings hurt by the comments on the topic her mother brought up. Lillian's comment made Merle laugh harder and her mom only smiled as she watched. She really wished that maybe her mom would stick up for her or had not even brought up the topic in the first place.

"Merle, you ain't even learn how to read 'til you were 15." Daryl's voice sounded aggressive as he spoke. Lillian glanced over at Daryl who was turning the meat as it cooked.

"Calm down, little brother." Merle's laughing died down. "When's that damn squirrel gonna be ready? I'm hungry!" He emphasized on the hungry as he spoke.

"Maybe if your lazy ass wasn' sittin' over ere' gloatin' it would'a already been done." Daryl mumbled.

"What was that little brother!?" Merle raised his voice. His objective seemed to intimidate Daryl, but it only worked on Lillian as she took a couple of steps backwards, putting more space between her mom, Merle, and her but unknowingly getting closer to Daryl. Daryl grumbled in response, startling Lillian with how close she ended up being.

"Sit." Daryl mumbled at the girl, pointing at the small crate that was sat just a few feet away from his. Lillian sat down. She still wasn't sure about how to think of Daryl, but his comment about Merle made her feel a little better. She was only 10, but a lot of people thought she was younger because of how small she is. Some kids would pick on her in school, saying that she belongs back in preschool, or that she still has too many baby teeth to be in fourth grade. Her mama would always tell her to ignore them, but sometimes it was hard and she acted on physical methods to get her point across. That's when her daddy would get real made and punish her. She always came to understand why, even though it hurt her feelings a lot.

Daryl handed her a plate with the meat that he had just cooked on it. She looked over at her mom before grabbing the plate from him, getting a slight nod, she took the plate and held it in her lap.

"How old is little Lilli-an anyways?" Merle question, over pronouncing her name.

"She's 10." Her mom stated, taking a sip from a tin flask.

"Well damn me. What you been feeding the poor girl? Air. She looks to be 7!" Merle talked loudly with a playful tone again. Her mom just shrugged it off, looking over at Lillian, watching her take a bite of the squirrel she was handed. She looked over beside her to see Daryl, glancing over at the mom but quickly looking away when they caught each others glares. Her's mom began engaging in a different quiet conversation with Merle, which Lillian couldn't hear.

Lillian enjoyed the fresh meat, but couldn't help but think it was nothing like her daddy's cooking when he was still around. Unlike this meat, which was bland, his was very seasoned and had a lot of flavor. She looked over at Daryl, who had already put another squirrel meat stick on to cool. She looked beside him, noticing a really cool gun thing.

"Mister Daryl?" Lillian worked up the courage to ask. "What's that?" She pointed to the really cool gun thing.

"Crossbow. For huntin' and shootin' shit." Daryl replied lowly, glancing at what she was pointing at.

"Does it take bullets?"

"Nah, it takes bolts."

"Bolts?" Lillian furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to the side slightly before taking another bite.

"Yeah, like arrows." Daryl picked up his crossbow, taking off one of the bolts and showing it to her. She carefully reached out, to grab the bolt. "Best not break it." He mumbled, before dropping it in her hands. She examined it, not noticing a difference between what he said was a bolt and what looked like an arrow.