Arrowbound

15. The Shed

When Astrid was told she wasn't allowed to go inside with the adults and listen to the adult conversation about the Randall guy, she decided to do things on her own. When Daryl finally went inside, leaving his daughter alone on the porch. She stood up, dusted off her shorts, and headed over to the shed where she knew Randall would be.

She tugged at the lock on the shed but by no surprise it wouldn't budge, Astrid walked around the shed, looking through the cracks in the walls to see what she could find out about Randall. She could see his leg was wrapped in bloodstained bandages, he looked all sweaty too. She gathered he was around 19-20 years old, he looked young but not as young as her or Carl.

Astrid decided when Randall would wake, she would go see him and talk to him.

After a day passed Astrid decided to go check on Randall and see if he was awake, she had been checking every few hours when she could sneak away- which was pretty easy since not many people gave much attention to the girl. She just wanted to ask him questions and know more about him, she hoped he would be a nice person.

She wandered over to the shed once she was confident no one was watching her, her dad was out again- most likely hunting, so she could sneak away very easy. When she reached the shed she looked closer for ways in and found a small window opening that she could squeeze her body through, she had to climb up the pole though to reach.

"Hi," Astrid whispered as she sat on the top part of the shed, crossing her legs.

"What- Who's there?" Randall's head snapped up in her direction, squinting his eyes to try and get a better view. He sounded nervous, his accent was similar to Maggie's just more subtle.

"I'm Astrid." she replied narrowing her eyes at the young boy, once he finally located where she was, a look of confusion crossed his eyes. Why was a small child in the barn talking to him? She uncrossed her legs and swayed them slightly over the edge, to be more comfortable.

"Oh, I'm Randall." He replied with a small smile, to try and gain the girls trust. Astrid being as gullible as any other child- she trusted him fast and smiled back. "Nice to meet you, Astrid." he added with a quick nod.

Silence fell over the shed, Astrid didn't really know what to ask, it seemed all the questions she had earlier had left her mind now. "H-how old are you?" Randall breathed, trying to gather all the information about the girl he could so he could convince her to let him go.

"Eight, how old are you?" She parroted back, digging her fingernails into some of the shed's rusty wood to see if it would hurt.

"I'm twenty, so, what are you doing over here?" He questioned.

Astrid ignored his question, she didn't need him getting her in trouble. "What happened to your leg?" She asked.

"Oh, I fell on a fence post. But you're- you're people fixed me up, Did you ever get an injury like that?" He replied, Astrid thought back to one time she stepped on a rusty nail, but she didn't say that, it seemed quite pathetic compared to his injury- no matter how much that nail hurt.

"Probably," She replied with no further explanation, she wanted to sound cool but couldn't think of a cool injury. She fiddled with her green crystal necklace, interlacing it with her fingers for something too do.

"I- I like your necklace." Randall added, he really didn't care for the jewellery, or the girl. He just needed to find a way out and figured she was the best advantage point he had right now. He tried to move forward to see her better but the pain that shot through his leg made him fall back into position, Astrid curled her lips up.

"You like animals?" Randal asked after the silence, trying to keep a conversation going.

Astrid nodded, she liked this question, "I like snakes." She replied, "they are my favourite animal."