Lenora stayed put in the chair, observing the groups mannerisms from afar. She didn't really know how she felt about them all. Of course, the kids seemed nice. Carl even invited her to go catch frogs in the lake with him and Shane, who she previously knew as the guy with the gun.
She politely declined, telling him she really didn't like frogs. The girl shuddered as she remembered when one of the class pets, which was also a frog, in second grade found its way inside of her desk and hopped onto her bare legs. She had cried for an hour in the principals office until her parents came to pick her up. From that day on, she'd always associated frogs with that memory and had hated them ever since.
Instead Lenora decided to wander around the camp. Eventually she found her stomach beginning to growl and she looked around the camp for 'the man in the stupid hat' as Daryl had put it.
"Hey Dale right?" She called up to the old man on top of the RV.
"Yes that's me, Lenora right?" He asked being courteous.
"Yeah," Lenora said hesitantly. "You can call me Lee if you'd like, I know Lenora is kind of long."
"Alrighty then, Lee it is." Dale said smiling kindly at the girl. "What can I do for ya?"
"I was wondering if you had anything to eat?" She asked awkwardly. She felt bad asking the man she had only just met for food. The girl knew there wasn't much left in the world these days. "I haven't ate since last night."
"Well I wish you would've said something earlier!" Dale chuckled. "Between you and me, I keep a stash of granola bars right by the drivers seat of the RV. Can't miss it. I believe Andrea and Amy said something about fishing also. And if you'd like something to do, there's plenty of books stowed away also, can't promise they're any good."
Lenora smiled widely at the kind man. From what she knew, kindness was pretty rare these days. But at the same time, she sure had experienced a lot of it lately. Beginning with Daryl saving her from the walker, and now Dale sharing his food with her.
"Thanks." Lenora said graciously as she went into the RV, finding the stash of granola bars where Dale had said they'd be. She took one, and unwrapped it. It didn't take long for the young girl to devour the entire thing.
When she was done, Lenora stayed in the RV looking at Dale's stash of books. Before the world seemed to have ended, she used to spend most of her time reading. It was one of the few things she actually found interesting and enjoyable seeing as her parents weren't in any rush to care for her.
She picked one that seemed interesting and sat at the table in the RV, hoping to escape the sun, even if only for a little while. Her pale skin was suffering from it and every inch of her body seemed to have a red tint to it from being sunburnt.
After reading about three chapters of the book, she deemed that it was indeed not interesting and put it back. When she went back outside to the group she realized she missed a lot. Not that it really mattered, no one would notice what she had and hadn't missed.
Jim, who was basically Dale's partner in crime when it came to the mechanics of the RV had spent the entire day digging holes that strongly resembled graves. He was now chained to a tree and Lenora frowned, feeling sorry for the man. Amy and Andrea, the two blondes who were sisters had come up from the lake with plenty of fish for us to feast on.
They were now in the process of skinning said fish as the sun went down. Carl and Sophia were working on schoolwork with their mothers. Lenora shook her head with a chuckle. In the middle of the apocalypse and kids were still doing schoolwork.
Lenora began walking towards the chair she'd been sitting in earlier. Once again, she sat and observed. She found people interesting, always had. She observed the strange glances between Shane and Lori. She also observed the timidness of Sophia and her mother.
She'd overheard Shane talking to Dale earlier. Apparently her husband had slapped her so he beat him senseless. Of course, Carol protested and immediately had gone to Ed's aid afterwards but, Lenora realized that succumbing to Ed was all she knew anymore.
Eventually, one of the men had started the fire and some other people of the group set up more chairs in a circle so that everyone could now eat dinner. She adjusted her seat so that she was further back than everybody else. Lenora didn't want to feel like she was intruding by any means.
Eventually the sun had set fully, and the camp was practically pitch black with the fire in the middle being the only source of light beside the moon shining down on them. Lenora sat quietly picking away at her fish as she ate.
She never was one to like fish all that much, but she ate it due to the lack of food she'd ate lately. For the end of the world, and lack of seasoning, the fish wasn't too bad. Somebody here, knew how to cook.
"Man o man, that's good." Shane said as if voicing her thoughts.
"I gotta ask you man, it's been driving me crazy." A man who had introduced himself as Morales spoke to Dale. "That watch,"
"What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked examining the thing on his wrist.
"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass." Morales stated and everyone began to agree laughing. Lenora crinkled her eyebrows in confusion, for she obviously hadn't been there long enough to pick up on the pattern.
"I'm missing the point." Dale said confused also. Lenora smiled, realizing she wasn't all that alone.
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end." A woman named Jacqui explained to him. "At least hit a speed bump for a good long while."
"But there's you, every day winding that stupid watch." Morales says pointing to the watch. Lenora tilted her head, examining the watch resting on Dale's wrist. It was just an average watch, why did everyone think Dale's accessories were stupid?
"Time, it's important to keep track isn't it?" Dale asked spewing some philosophical wisdom upon the group. "The day's at least, don't you think Andrea? Back me up here." Andrea only raised her eyebrows playfully with a chuckle and shook her head taking a sip of her beer. "I like what, a father said to son when he gave him a watch, that had been handed down through generations. He said 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine, or my father's before me; I give it to you, not that you remember time but that you forget it for a moment, now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."
"You are so weird." Amy spoke making the group laugh.
Lenora liked the dynamic of the group she decided. Despite only being there for less than 24 hours, she could tell that they were dead set on making the best out of the end of the world and they all cared for each other.
"It's not me, it's Faulkner." Dale protested. "William Faulkner, maybe my bad paraphrasing."
The group was silent once more until Amy got up to go to the bathroom. Her sister looked at her in confusion. "Where are you going?"
"I have to pee" Amy replied. "Gee, you try to be discreet around here."
Once more, the group began to laugh as Amy headed towards the RV. Lenora watched as they fell into conversation again. Enjoying each others company. She could only hope, that one day she'd be accepted as one of them and be able to laugh and converse with the rest of them.
"We're out of toilet paper? Seriously?" Amy said coming out of the RV. Lenora turned her head to look at the blonde teenager. At the very same time, Amy let out a scream as a walker took a bite out of her arm.
The campfire began to become chaos as bullets went flying. Screams sounded throughout the camp as people held their loved ones close. Lenora heard Shane's yells for everyone to work their way up to the RV.
She did the best she could but two walkers appeared in front of her, determined to make the 10 year old their next meal. Frightened she began to back up. Her back hit something hard and her ears rang as a gunshot went off near them, making one of the two walkers fall to the floor. Then, the next one fell as another gunshot rang out.
"Come on kid, lets get moving." Daryl's voice said from behind her before wrapping an arm around the young girls waist to pick her up and run her to the RV. When they got there, the men with guns formed a circle around the women and children as they took out the rest of the walkers. Lenora stood timidly behind Daryl as he took three more shots at walkers before there were none left. He turned to the young girl and looked her over, checking for injuries. "You okay?"
"Yeah I'm okay." Lenora gasped at the man. "Thank you for saving me, again."
"Why wasn't anybody with you?" He questioned and Lenora shrugged her shoulders as it seemed like the mans temper was going to get the best of him again.
"I don't know." Lenora said quietly looking down at her feet as if she were in trouble.
Before Daryl could interject, Jim's voice rang out amongst the sobbing and shock that had struck the camp quickly. "I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes."
Deciding to not go further with the subject, Daryl looked down at Lenora who was looking around the camp with shock written all over her face. Her mouth was slightly ajar.
"You tired?" Daryl asked the girl after a moment of silence. Hesitantly, she nodded. "If you want, you can sleep in my tent. There's an extra bag now, seeing as Merle no longer seems to need it."
It was at that moment that Lenora realized that his brother hadn't come back with him. She could tell he was distraught just by looking at his eyes, but his face didn't have a single expression suggesting he was upset.
"I'm sorry, about your brother Daryl." Lenora spoke truthfully. He only looked at her and nodded.
"Yeah, me too kid."
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Word Count: 1817
another chapter!!
kinda loving this so far and I hope you guys are too!!
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