HOMESICK - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥

𝟎𝟎𝟔 | CLOSING IN

Once Sophia had ran off, in search of Carol, Mya approached the small group that had cautiously grouped around the geek. They seemed to be getting more repulsive by the day, and the smell was as sickening as ever. It bit into the flesh of a deer that Mya could only pray had already been dead. Nobody deserved that fate, not even an animal.

The others closed in on the geek, weapons raised as they hit it repeatedly. No matter how fatal the blow, the geek still tried to get back up, which sent horrible shivers down Mya's spine. The final attack was from Dale, one that beheaded it thankfully.

Dale lowered his weapon, "That's the first one we've had up here." He acknowledged, a fact that everyone else was now painfully aware of, "They never come this far up the mountain."

"They're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim clarified in a voice that was all too calm. He was right though, which made the matter all the worse. They couldn't stay up here forever, that was obvious now.

Mya crossed her arms, a feeble attempt to stop her hands from shaking. "Then we may not be safe here much longer." She added on, which Jim seemed to agree with, nodding.

A rustle coming from the trees was the next threat at hand and once again, everyone's weapons were out. Although, Mya's was practically a butter knife in comparison to Dale's axe. Thankfully, neither weapons came into use when Daryl emerged from the trees. The relief was short-lived, however, Mya's mind immediately going to Merle.

He surveyed the scene before him, frowning at the dead deer, "Son of a bitch! That's my deer!" Daryl exclaimed, beginning to  obnoxiously kick the geek they'd already somewhat fought off. "Look at it all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" Each insult came with another swift kick to the corpse.

For a moment, the group was speechless, until Dale spoke up, "Calm down, son, that's not helping." He told Daryl, in a tone that appeared nice enough to everyone but Daryl, who seemed to take personal offence to his words.

"What do you know about it, old man?" He stepped towards Dale, clearly in an attempt to be intimidating. Dale wasn't fazed at all, more unamused than anything by the looks of it. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "On Golden Pond"?"

Mya furrowed her brows, even though she'd consider Daryl her friend - a trusted acquaintance when his brother was around - she didn't like him picking fights with people who didn't deserve it. "Leave him alone, it's not his fault." She told him, "There'll be more food."

Even a little to her own surprise, Daryl didn't push any further. "Been tracking this deer for miles, gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He looked up, gauging a reaction from the others as he continued, "Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

Mya shook her head, "I think I'd rather starve." 

"She's right, I wouldn't risk that." Shane agreed. The first interaction the two had shared all day, but Mya figured there were bigger issues to deal with and Shane wasn't one of them.

Daryl sighed, but overall, didn't seem too upset by the answer, "That's a damn shame." He commented, "I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

The silence that filled the forest was soon broken by the sound of quiet groaning, Mya's eyes trailed down towards the source. The geek was still alive, or at least it's head was. 

"Oh, God." Amy murmured, visibly disgusted as she fled the area with Andrea.

Fighting back the urge to vomit, as she assumed most people were, Mya's eyes widened. "How the Hell..." She remarked in confusion more than she did disgust.

The only person disinterested by the horrific sight before them was Daryl, who approached the head, slinging his crossbow off of his shoulder, aiming towards the very much alive geek head. "Come on, people. What the Hell?" He pressed down onto the trigger, the arrow finally silencing the geek. "It's gotta be the brain, don't y'all know nothing?"

Daryl walked off and it seemed a collective thought among the group that it was time to tell him about what had happened to Merle. Mya and Rick shared a glance. "I'll do it." She insisted with a nod. Maybe she was putting too much faith in Daryl not lashing out at her, but perhaps her bravado came from the reassurance of knowing she'd be accompanied by two police officers.

What didn't reassure her was the worry that registered on Rick's face, "I'll back you up in case."

Following after him, Daryl was already making his presence known to the camp, parading around with his most recent hunt. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!" He called out, others in the camp tensing up as they noticed his arrival. They all knew what had to be done.

"Hey, Daryl. Wait a sec." Mya called after him, managing to catch up to him after a few quick strides into camp. This didn't gain his attention though, "It's important."

This time, she got some sort of a response, "If you need me to kick your old man's ass, it's done." He answered, not even looking in her direction as he continued along camp. Just shouting after him wasn't going to be enough, she grabbed onto his shoulder, pulling him backwards.

He turned, shaking her hand off of his shoulder as he did. She had his attention now. "No, it's about Merle." Mya explained warily, letting out a quiet sigh. How do you tell someone you left their brother to die? "When we were in Atlanta, some stuff went down."

Daryl backed away a little, "He dead?"

No matter how much Mya wanted to explain the situation, the words didn't seem to form, as though each time she wanted to open her mouth, she was flooded with guilt. Nobody deserved to lose their family, even if that family was a terrible person.

"We're not sure." Rick eventually spoke up and Mya wasn't sure if she was relieved or annoyed, but it wasn't going to make the situation any easier to deal with.

Rick stepping in only served to annoy Daryl, "He either is or he ain't!" He shot back, raising his voice, which definitely wasn't a good sign as to how this would end.

Trying to stop the conversation from becoming heated, Mya finally found the words to speak up with, "Look, Daryl, it's complicated." She began. Although, her words didn't exactly help, something she inwardly cursed herself for. 

He turned his attention to Mya, "What happened to him?" He asked her, as though he trusted her to tell him the truth, something that made it all the worse. She'd really thought she could do this, that she could be the bearer of bad news, but it wasn't that easy.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Mya was more relieved than she was annoyed that Rick had stepped in this time. She couldn't do this at all, let alone on her own.

Daryl didn't seem all that appreciative of Rick's assistance, "Who are you?" He asked, the hostility in his voice painfully clear to anyone who may be listening.

Not that it faltered Rick, who only stepped forward calmly. Mya figured being the one to give people bad news was a big part of his job, which made her old nine to five job seem a lot less awful and tedious, "Rick Grimes." He introduced himself.

Mya's gaze switched between Daryl and Rick, the expressions on their face telling it all - more so Daryl's than Ricks. This wasn't going to end well.

//

ok I LIVED bitch

my excuse for disappearing off the face of the earth? i literally don't have one IMSOSORRY but HELLO!! i've missed writing this book sm and i've missed mya sm too! 

i did plan to write a lot during lockdown but my brain said no <3 and i played too much xbox for my own good BUT I'M HOPING I'LL ACTUALLY STICK AROUND THIS TIME (hoping is the key word i-)

since my inspo and love for this book is running at 100 mph rn, i'm probably gonna get to working on the next chapters once this is published!! 

and ofc THANK YOU SM for being so patient with me, ily <33