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Mia Grimes woke up early the next morning, feeling the same as every other morning she'd woken up. Bored. She missed texting, going to the beach with her friends, getting drunk, even the hangovers. She missed it all. And then she suddenly remembered that her dad found them yesterday. She sat up right away at the thought to make sure that she hadn't dreamt it and when she saw her dad asleep next to her mom, she felt a smile creep onto her face.
Mia rummaged through her rucksack and pulled out a red long-sleeved shirt and jeans to wear for the day and she quickly threw them on herself before anyone could wake. She then tied up her sneakers, removed the knots from her hair and tied it back into a fish-braid.
She opened the flap of the tent and walked out. Today was a bright day. Mia wandered around on her own and watched as Carl played in the dirt with Sophia, Eliza and Louis. It was so boring around camp but it was either stay here and be bored or go out there and die. Glenn hopped out of the RV and sent Mia an awkward smile as he passed. Dale had, in fact, invited her up onto the RV when he caught her alone, wandering around aimlessly.
Dale smiled at the girl and asked carefully, "I never really got the chance to ask you, but, how was life for you before . . . well, all of this? What did you do for a living, exactly?"
Mia smiled at the memories and the things she had done before the dead took over. "I, uh -" she looked down in embarrassment. "I wanted to be an actress, and at the time I was working in a cafe. I was about to move into my own place but I never got the chance to. My career choice sounds really stupid and unlikely, I know, but it was fun."
"That's the best part," Dale smiled, clearly catching onto the fact that Mia thought she sounded stupid. "The fun. The use of it too, in your case."
"Do you -- sorry if I'm being too personal here, you can call me nosy as well if it helps, but did you have grandchildren?" she asked curiously.
Dale laughed softly but there was no humor behind it. "I wish I had grandchildren. My wife and I, we tried having a baby but she miscarried. We didn't try for children after that. And then she . . . passed away of cancer."
Mia felt really bad for Dale. She thought he would have made a great father and grandfather. He was a good man and it was a natural vibe that everyone in the camp got from him.
"I'm so sorry," Mia exclaimed softly.
"What do you miss the most?" he changed the topic. "I miss my wife. And my house."
Mia smiled stupidly as she replied with, "I miss my friends, and I miss texting. But most of all, I miss the horrible pancakes my mom used to make every Sunday."
After a long talk with Dale, Mia left the roof of the RV and actually helped Lori do laundry. It shocked her, that her daughter actually wanted to help with work the women did, but Mia thought if she started helping with little things such as that, her mom would be more lenient towards greater things.
"Water's here, y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use," Shane called out after he pulled in with his truck full of water.
Amy and Andrea left the clothing line to get their share of water, but Mia continued to peg clothing up on the line. That was until she heard screams coming from Carl and Sophia near the woods. She dismissed the laundry and instantly took off into the direction of their screams, following her mom and dad. Carl literally crushed himself into Lori's arms and Mia could see his body shaking with fear.
Mia neared a bush where the guys ran off to, but stayed behind with Amy and Andrea, watching them beat into a geek. She'd never seen one so close before and she watched as the dry and wrecked looking body began to tear, until Dale finally smashed an ax through it's neck, detaching it's head. Mia saw the arrows in the deer before they'd attacked it, and knew that Daryl Dixon was going to be so pissed off when he found the deer with a bite in it.
Dale was the only one to stare down at the walker with disbelief and say, "That's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain."
"They aren't limited to location," Mia said slowly. A mountain wasn't going to stop them from coming up it.
"They're running out of food in the city," Jim said in a low voice, staring darkly at the geek.
The trees rustled and footsteps were heard crunching into the forest floor. The men raised their weapons, preparing themselves for whatever was going to round the corner and come into view. Which had been, in fact, Daryl Dixon. They lowered their weapons and Mia heard Shane sigh with relief.
"Son of a bitch," Daryl spat in disappointment when he saw the dead geek and the bite in his deer. "Tha's my deer! Look at it all gnawed on by this filthy -- disease bearing -- motherless -- proxy -- bastard," he added through kicks.
"Calm down, son, that's not helping," Dale said calmly.
Daryl stomped angrily up to Dale. "What do you know about it, old man?" His eyes flicked up to Dale's hat. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond." He glanced around at everyone for a second and then sighed sadly when he walked back over to his dead, uneatable deer. "I've been trackin' this deer for miles. Was gon' drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. You think we can cut around this chewed up part right 'ere?" he asked with hope flickering in his eyes when he pointed to the bite.
"I would not risk that," Shane warned him.
"Tha's a damn shame," Daryl sighed, staring down at the deer as if his mother had just told him to put a toy back. "Well, I got us some squirrel. 'Bout a dozen or so. That'll have to do."
The head of the walker snapped it's jaw and opened it's eyes, returning to life. Andrea and Amy left the scene instantly after scrunching their faces with disgust. Daryl pointed his crossbow at the walkers head. "Come on, people, what the hell?" the arrow left his crossbow and went straight through the skull. "Don't y'all know nothin'? It's gotta be the brain."
Daryl walked past Mia, slightly bumping his shoulder carelessly into hers, and headed back up to camp. "Merle! Merle! Get yer ugly ass out 'ere. Got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."
"Daryl, hold up!" Mia called out to him. In return he looked shocked because she'd never actually addressed him before, but a plain expression took over once he recovered. "Slow down. There's um -- something you need to know."
"What?" he asked.
"It's about Merle," Shane took over, which Mia gladly stepped back from. "There was a uh -- problem in Atlanta."
Daryl looked around at everyone and he was evidently trying to keep a straight face. He blinked and stared at Shane's feet. "He dead?"
"Not sure," Shane answered truthfully.
"He either is or he ain't!"
Daryl had a point but Mia left the scene immediately, not wanting to witness him throwing his Dixon tantrum. She went into the RV. The homey smell was always comforting.
Mia knew what her dad would do next without having to be outside to hear him say it.
