"Give me the damn location, Grimes!" Merle yelled at Rick. Brooks stood by Merle's side, Carl was hugging his father's side, refusing to let go. Everyone else was secretly watching from various places around the main area of camp.
"You can't go by yourself-" Rick started.
"Well, someone can't be a fuckin' pussy and go after him-" Merle interrupted.
Rick cut him off. "I'm going back tomorrow-"
"Not good enough-"
"It'll have to be-"
"It's not-"
Both men argued back and forth, yelling and talking over each other. Brooks looked up at Rick with a clenched jaw. She didn't understand why he wouldn't just give Merle the location. "Why are you looking at my dad like that, River? He hasn't done anything wrong." Carl said, letting go of Rick and standing in front of Brooks. Neither Merle nor Rick were aware of the interaction, too caught up in their own argument.
"It's not his place to keep the location. If Merle wants to go get my dad then that's his right." She responded. "And stop callin' me River, you idiot."
"Or what? You gonna attack me like you attacked Chris?" Carl raised his eyebrows.
Brooks scoffed. "He came outta that fight a lot better than I did."
"You started the fight, he just finished it." Carl pointed out.
Brooks took a step towards the Grimes boy. "I'll finish you too if you don't watch it."
"My dad's a cop, you can't threaten me." Carl crossed his arms over his chest.
Brooks didn't get a chance to respond as Glenn stepped in over the yelling. "Fine, Merle, I'll draw you a map! If you want to get yourself killed tonight then that's your choice! Rick and probably me are going in tomorrow, but we're not coming after you, we're going after Will. If you're not with him, or you're dead, that's on you!"
Everyone stared at Glenn, shocked at the outburst of the usually sweet kid.
Merle scoffed. "Well, start drawin' the damn map, man! I'll be back with my dad before y'all even get off your asses tomorrow!"
"I wanna come." Brooks volunteered.
"Hell, no." Merle denied, barging past Rick to follow after Glenn.
Brooks clenched her jaw as Carl smiled. "Looks like all of your family has left you. Wonder why that is."
Brooks' fists balled at her sides, but Cam was quick to catch it. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, let's go sit ready for dinner." He said to her, quickly leading her away from Carl before she did something he would regret. She wouldn't feel bad about it, but Carl wouldn't like having a bloody nose.
/----------\
Brooks was starting up the fire when Merle walked over to her. "Bambi." He squatted next to her. "I'm goin' after dad now, I'll be back in the mornin'. Make sure they give you enough food. If they don't start yellin' or some shit."
"Alrigh'. Be safe though, kay? I can't be assed to deal with a mopey ass Daryl if you both die." She responded, humour in her tone.
Merle chuckled. "You wouldn't mope?"
"I'd be glad to see the back of ya. Ya smell too damn bad." She joked, looking up at her brother with a smile.
He ruffled her hair. "See ya in the mornin, kid."
"Night." Brooks responded, watching her brother walk away.
/----------\
Brooks sat between Cam and T-dog. Shane, Rick, Lori, Carl, Andrea, Amy, Glenn, T-dog, Cam, Dale and Brooks all sat around one fire. Sophia, Carol, Ed and Christopher were by another fire nearby. Everyone else were scattered else where, there were several fires around camp. All of them just embers so that they couldn't be spotted from far away. The sun had set, and the heat of the day had faded. Brooks sat in a lawn chair with Cam's blanket wrapped around her tightly.
Brooks hadn't been listening to the conversation. It was mostly Rick talking about waking up in Atlanta and bla bla bla. Brooks didn't like Rick, because he was related to Carl, and yelled at her brother. She hadn't given him a chance yet, but she had already made up her mind. However, time would prove her wrong.
"Hey, Ed, wanna rethink that log?" Shane called over to Ed when he added one to many logs to the Peletier fire.
"It's cold, man." Ed responded, enjoying the heat with his son. Carol and Sophia looked uncomfortable, knowing that it was their family who was causing the problem. Nobody blamed those two though, everybody knew that Ed was the problem.
"The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane asked. "Keep our fires low, just embers, so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"
"I said it's cold." Ed spat.
Brooks rolled her eyes. Cam could see she was about to say something, so he put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't say what I think you're about to say." He quietly told her.
She looked up to him. "Why?"
"Because you don't raise your voice at men like Ed Peletier. Not until you know you can fight back." Cam told her.
"My dad taught me to fight." Brooks pointed out, watching Shane get up and walk over to the Peletiers.
Cam smiled. "Maybe fight people your age, but it looks like you need a little practise at that too."
Brooks scoffed. "Ain't you meant to be nice to me?"
"I'm meant to be honest, kiddo." Cam shrugged. "Your dad didn't teach you to fight back against grown men, because he doesn't want you fighting back against him."
"Do you know how to fight?" Brooks asked.
Cam smiled, nodding. "I do."
"Will you teach me? How to do it properly?" Brooks questioned.
"I'll teach you how to fight, if you work with me in controlling that anger of yours." Cam offered.
The young Dixon smiled. "Deal."
Shane sat back down in his seat, letting out a heavy sigh. Dale glanced to Brooks, he saw the smile on her face while talking to Cam, so he decided it safe to speak. "Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" This caught Brooks' attention as she looked towards the elderly man. Dale felt Brooks' eyes on him, so he turned to her, quickly adding. "I'm just saying he won't be happy to hear his father was left behind. Especially if Merle isn't back with him yet."
"I'll tell him. I dropped the key, it's on me." T-dog said, looking to young Brooks. "I'm sorry."
Brooks shook her head. "I see the blood on your shirt, I know why you did it. I get it."
T-dog sighed. "It was an accident."
Brooks looked to Cam who nodded, so she smiled a little. "Even if it wasn't, I'd still get it."
"I cuffed him. It makes the fault mine anyways." Rick added, also looking at Brooks, she just rolled her eyes and looked away from him.
"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn said. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."
Brooks furrowed her eyebrows. "Daryl ain't racist. My dad and sometimes Merle are, sure, but not Daryl. He's different."
"Either way." T-dog shook his head. "I did what I did, like hell am I gonna hide from him."
"Will was out of control." Andrea said. "Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She turned to Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary. And, if Will got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Will's."
"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked.
Brooks scoffed. "You're all actin' as if he's a damn wild fuckin' animal, he'll get it. You're all the crazy ones."
"Okay, lesson one is working on that language." Cam whispered to her.
"I'm goin' to bed. I don't need to listen to any of this crap." Brooks said, chucking the blanket back at Cam before she stormed off to her tent. At this point, she was angry, they were all acting as if Daryl was a bad guy. Even though Brooks didn't like any of her family all that much, and spent most of her life avoiding them, she still loved them. They were still her family. She still wanted them all together, she wanted them to accept her as one of them, treat her as an equal. How could she do that while they were droppin' like flies?
/----------\
The next morning, Brooks was taking a walk alone in the woods next to camp to clear her head. She liked these woods, they were peaceful. The trees were colourful and full of pretty leaves and singing birds, the trees weren't too close together and weren't too spread out. There were a few little clearings. It was isolated, but yet not too far away from the people at the camp. It was perfect. Cam was busy down by the quarry, and nobody else would really approach her. They could all tell she was pissed and scared. Merle wasn't back with their father like he said he would be. He went into a walker filled city in the dark, what an idiot!
She was walking between the trees when suddenly she heard a yell behind her. "Hey, bitch!"
Brooks turned just in time to see Chris' fist fly at her face. She took a couple steps back at the force, as she looked at him in shock. "What the hell is your problem?" It didn't hurt at all, it was just a shock.
He laughed. "It's just me and you now, four eyes! Come on, hit me."
"I'm not gonna hit you, Chris. This is done. We're done, okay? I don't wanna talk to you, or frankly even see you. So, back the hell up." Brooks warned. She was angry, and wanted to punch him in the face, but she knew Cam was right. She wasn't a good enough fighter to take him just yet.
He took another step towards her, attempting to hit her. However, Brooks dodged and continued backing up. Chris followed her. "Stop being a baby and fight me!"
"No!"
Chris laughed. "Oh, you're scared."
"Am not!" Brooks defended, while still backing away.
"Then why are you backing away? Huh?" Chris raised his eyebrows.
"Because, frankly, Christopher, you're not worth my time." Brooks shrugged.
Chris' eyes focused on something behind her. All the colour drained from his face as he let out a loud scream. "Mom!" He yelled, turning on his heal and running away. "Mommy!"
Brooks laughed, before she turned to see what scared him. That's when she saw one of the dead ones. It had stood up from a deer it was eating and making its way towards her. It was a man, maybe about 5'10/5'11. His blue shirt was brown with mud and blood, his grey shorts allowed Brooks to see the bites all over his pale legs. His arms were out, trying to grab her, his mouth was snapping and groaning at her. Its mouth, chin and neck was also covered in fresh blood from the deer it had been eating before Brooks and Chris distracted it. Brooks' smile faded as she started walking backwards. She didn't have any weapons on her, she had no way to defend herself.
She couldn't run, she was too scared.
She couldn't scream, she was too scared.
Her foot got caught on a tree root and she tripped backwards onto her butt. She looked up at the approaching creature, too scared to move as it got closer and closer.
'So, this is how I die.' Brooks thought as an awful, terrified cry escaped her mouth. No tears accompanied the sound.
Suddenly, two hands went under her arms and picked her up. Rick hid the young girl's face in his neck as her whole body clung to him. He could feel that she was shaking in his grip, so he just held her as close as he could. Rick had heard all of the rumours about Brooks, but he didn't care, he just felt sorry for her. He promised himself that if Will Dixon did come back, that he would never lay another hand on her. He didn't know her, but he promised himself that he'd protect her. That's just the type of man Rick Grimes is.
Shane, Jim, Glenn, Mr Morales and Dale all had what were essentially large sticks and brooms to fight the walker with. They all beat it over, and over, and over. No hit affected its body, of course it wouldn't. However, the men weren't experienced enough to know that yet. Finally, Dale hit its neck with an axe which decapitated the corpse. Since the body stopped moving, none of them noticed the head was still alive, opening its mouth into the dirt.
"This is the first one we've had up here." Dale announced.
"Are you okay?" Rick whispered to Brooks who was still paralysed with fear. The girl's self confidence had been boosted the last few days, pretty much everyone avoided her and to the young girl that translated too 'I'm big and tough, nobody will mess with me'. It was a harsh reality to find out she isn't all that tough just yet. "Brooke?"
"It's Brooks." She whispered, pulling her head away from his neck with hesitation. She nodded, not able to say any other words.
Rick was concerned at the paleness of her face, as well as her cut lip, black eye, bruised cheek and the small bruise on her forehead. However, all he said was. "Sorry, Brooks." He'd keep his opinions to himself and would actually try to help her instead of just voicing his concerns. "So, they never come this far up the mountain?" Rick asked the group as Brooks rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't make a move to put her down, he could tell she needed the comfort.
"Well, they're running out of food in the city is what." Jim pointed out, noticing Rick's face of distaste at the language used in front of the young girl.
That's when they heard leaves and sticks cracking from further in the woods. Brooks' whole body tensed at the thought of another walker. She wasn't this scared when she was with her family in the woods by her house, but now her family was scattered. Although, not for long because what came out of the treeline wasn't a walker. It was Daryl Dixon.