HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

004: ripped stitches

"You coming, kid?" Daryl asked, sneaking up on Rio. He'd been talking with Rick earlier. Everyone had been gathered around the van again, deciding where they should each go. Rio hadn't bothered to go and listen this time, he assumed he'd be told he couldn't search for his brother again.

"I'm allowed?" Rio asked, raising an eyebrow at the man as he fell into step with him.

Daryl was a hesitant in replying, scraping his temple. "Yeah."

Rio wasn't convinced, but he wasn't going to not accept the offer. He ran to grab his bag before meeting back up with Daryl.

He thought for a moment, should he be going? Probably not. Daryl knew what he was doing, he'd said so himself. Rio replayed that in his head as he wandered with the man.

"Come with me, we'll go get a horse." Daryl instructed, walking towards the stable.

"We can't take your motorcycle?" Rio asked, trying to mask his disappointment.

He let out a scoff and turned to Rio. "No."

"Why not?" The boy complained.

"Too loud."

"Oh."

"Wait here." Daryl said. It gave Rio time to think about how much he was dreading the ride.

***

They rode on the back of the horse in silence. Rio clung onto the back of Daryl's shirt, hoping the other man wouldn't notice that he was totally shitting himself. It wasn't as bad as the first time, they weren't going as fast.

"Can you shoot a gun?" Daryl asked.

"Kinda." Rio mumbled, he wasn't even being modest. His aim depended on the day, sometimes it was good sometimes it was shit. It was just luck.

The answer was obviously not good enough for the older man because he then asked: "What about a bow?"

"Never tried one."

"Crossbow?" He sounded disappointed and Rio bit down on his lip. He was going to be no use on this trip.

"No."

"I'll have to teach you."

"Cool." Rio replied. He wanted to learn, he really really did. He wanted to be as much help as he could.

"You're not much of a talker are you?"

"I've been told I'm a better listener." Rio joked.

"Hilarious." "Are they on?"

"Yeah." He replied. "They don't really have like an 'off switch'. I just have to remove the battery if I wanna turn them off."

"Good," Daryl answered, ignoring Rio's rambling. "You'll need them today."

They continued to ride in silence until Rio caught sight of a squirrel running up a tree. He tapped Daryl's shoulder, putting a finger to his own lips and using the other hand to point at the animal.

"Watch your head." The man whispered. He slung his crossbow off of his back and aimed at the squirrel. In a quick second he fired. Rio heard the sound of the twang and followed the arrow with his eyes.

"Mmm. Lunch." Rio tried for a joke.

"Don't tell me your a veggie." Daryl directed the horse over to the tree and pulled the arrow out from the bark, squirrel still attached. He placed it in his bag as Rio grimaced.

"I'm considering it."

"You pointed the damn thing out."

"Because we need to eat?" Rio retorted, slinging his arms about. "But it's still kinda gross, okay."