Firecracker ➝ Daryl Dixon

Chapter 15: Inevitable

The smell of cooked venison wafted through the prison.  A warm meal to comfort the growling stomach and cold soul.  Winter had never been Arden’s favorite time of year but winter in the zombie apocalypse was a million times worse than winter back in Colorado.  At least back in Colorado there was stuff to do in the winter, now all Arden could do was sit, sleep, eat and then repeat the process.  Rick had severely limited the supply runs because of the frigid weather.  He stated that the group had enough supplies to make it through with only one run every week rather than the almost daily runs they were making in the fall. 

Arden walked down the stairs, preparing herself for the inevitable.  Today, to the surprise of everyone, Arden decided not to go on the run.  Most smiled and beamed because they thought maybe Arden was moving on.  Maybe her obsession with finding Matt was dwindling but that wasn’t the case.  Arden couldn’t go on the run because this time, unlike the past two weeks, Daryl was going and being around Daryl nowadays was extraordinarily difficult.

Entering the makeshift kitchen and dining room Arden was already feeling uncomfortable.  She scanned the room and sure enough there he was, back to her standing next to Carol and engaging her in conversation.  Jealousy rose like a roaring monster and Arden couldn’t suppress the glare she sent at the back of Carol’s head.  “Arden!”  The calling of her name caused Daryl to turn around.  The simple action of him looking at her had Arden’s skin quivering and eyes averting.  She mentally cursed at herself because what was this?  Middle school?  Hell if Arden could survive the end of the world she figured she could survive a stupid little crush.  Her eyes glanced back up, catching Daryl’s and wow okay maybe surviving the apocalypse would be easier than dealing with the butterflies in her stomach.

“Firecracka’!”  Glenn shouted and Arden rolled her eyes.  Firecracker was already bad enough but trying to make it, as Glenn called it ‘gangsta’ by replacing the ‘er’ with an ‘a’ made the nickname a million times worse.

“Don’t call me that,” Arden said for the millionth time, but Glenn just chuckled and scooted closer to Maggie to make room for Arden at their table, or as Arden referred to it- The Greene Table.  The entirety of the Greene family sat at the round metal table with the addition of Glenn and Judith who happily cooed in Beth’s lap.

“Hey gorgeous,” Hank placed a hand on Arden’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, “How ya feelin?”

It was the same question Hank asked every time he saw Arden and every time the answer was the same.  “Fine.”  The response, although simple, made Hank chuckle and nod his head approvingly.

“Talia and I signed up to go on the next run, should we put yer name down too?”

Arden shrugged and sat down in between Beth and Glenn.  As soon as Arden was seated Beth handed over Judith who momentarily whined before accepting the change of hands.  “Who else is going?”  Arden looked down at the beautiful baby girl and then up to the girl’s father who was keeping a careful eye on them.  Rick still didn’t trust Arden with Judith even though Arden spent much of her free time with the precious baby girl and her blonde caretaker.

“Hey,” Talia sprinted up behind Hank, a plate in one hand and a piece of meat in the other, “Why didn’t you go on the run today?”

Arden swore that the whole room quieted down in anticipation for her answer.  She contemplated saying that she felt ill but then Rick would swoop in and snatch Judith from  her arms because god forbid Arden pass on an illness to the baby.  So instead Arden settled for a shrug and a change of subject.  “Hey Maggie, can you get me a plate?”

“Yeah sure,” the oldest Greene smiled and walked over towards where Carol and Daryl still stood cooking up meat and talking about who knows what.