Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

Lucky

Silence.

That was all to be heard inside the RV now that Asher had been tended to and sleeping tucked against Daryl Dixon's chest. Merle had since gone outside to probably harass the others, but he didn't much care. The door opened and he was immediately on the defensive, a hand slid down the back rest of the booth to reach for his hunting knife on his waist. The flat nosed man stepped in and eyed them for a second before sliding into the other empty booth.

"Can I help you?" His hand was yet to leave the hilt of his knife.

"You can start with a name for the two of you. We've gotten to know your dickhead brother well enough already." He didn't say anything against calling his brother a dickhead, Merle never quite knew when to keep his big mouth shut.

"Daryl. This is Asher."

"I'm Shane, I'm basically the leader here. Is she yours?" Daryl skimmed his fingers through her hair, careful to avoid any tangles that could wake her.

"Not blood. Picked her up in Montgomery hours after the walkers tramped through." Shane nodded and left the trailer to deal with a fuss that Merle had made with a blonde they called Andrea. As Shane left, a mousy woman with buzzed hair skittered up the steps with a backwards glance to see if anyone was following her in. Daryl didn't hear her enter, and when he looked up he nearly jumped out of his skin at the woman. He still had his hand on his knife and he slipped it silently from his sheath in anticipation.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Heard that a little girl was shot and came to see how she was doing." Asher shifted wrong and softly whines in her sleep, making both adults freeze and watch her for more pain. Well, Daryl was expecting a nightmare but she seemed to be finally sleeping peacefully.

"She'll be fine in a few days." The woman shallowly nods and jumped when a man called out a name from outside.

"Carol!" She scrambled to make it out of the vehicle before he had to call her name another time. It was finally quiet, until the Asian and the African American man returned with wary eyes.

"Ain't seen a kid or somethin? We ain't a zoo or circus." The two shared looks with each other and turned back to Daryl and Asher.

"She yours?" The Dixon brother glared at them both as they spoke.

"Does it matter?" They loosely shrugged as an answer, the tension in the room growing thicker with each second.

"Kinda amazing that she didn't scream when you guys took that arrow out." Daryl could already guess where this was going, so he scooped her up and pushed to a stand to move outside. Just in case he needed to lay one of these guys out for what they say next.

"She's a tough kid." He shoved by them and out into the setting sunlight. Keeping fairly close to the RV, he kicked his and Merle's bags together to use as a pillow for Asher.

"I know I couldn't be that quiet, that's for sure." Their conversation drew in the others, almost everyone crowding close by to see what was going on. Daryl shrugged off his vest and draped it over her like he did in the house a few weeks back.

"You two looked like the pussy type." Daryl quickly turned back to look at the two accusers, his hands fisted at his sides. "Why don't ya just spit it out?" The darker man spoke up since his partner seemed a bit less certain and was nervously biting his lip.

"Look man, either that girl's got the pain tolerance of a god or she's regularly exposed to hurt like that." Before anyone could react, Daryl lunges forward and punches the man square in the jaw to send him stumbling back and crumpling to the dust.

"You better watch yer fuckin mouth. Next time you try to call me or my brother abusers, I'll cut that dumbass tongue from yer skull." Shane arrived at the sounds of screaming, moving people aside to get to the fight circle and shove Daryl away from the man.

"Hey! What's going on over here?!"

"He punched T-Dog!" This came from the blonde Andrea as the other moved to help the man up from the ground. Shane turned to the defensive Daryl standing over Asher like a guardian demon instead of an angel.

"Keep a muzzle on yer pets, next time I'll kill that son of a bitch." Merle shoved his way to his brother's side.

"What happened here, little brother?"

"That stupid fuck said we abuse Asher, so I punched him." The others were huddled up behind Shane, all eyes locked on the brothers and the girl.

"Lucky bastard." T-Dog spoke up angrily at Merle's comment.

"Lucky? Your insane brother punched me!" Both enraged brothers turned to the black man with a hand to his already swollen jaw.

"Lucky he didn't kill ya on the spot. And lucky I didn't hear ya because I wouldn't have hesitated to stick a knife in ya." Merle barked back, causing them all to flinch backwards.

"Then why didn't she make a sound during that entire operation? No kid could do that!" The entire group looked to the brothers for their answer.

"Her past is none of y'all's damn business." Daryl lowly growled, a hand on his knife again. As they bickered and argued, the sounds pulled Asher from sleep. Her back was facing Daryl's feet, and so when she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was a large group of people she didn't recognize and no Dixon brother in sight. Asher instinctively started to push back from the strangers, sky blue eyes frantically searching for someone she knew.

"Hey, she's awake!" One of the group shouted and everyone looked down at her intently. Someone crouched down behind her and she froze, waiting for any form of attack.

"Hey, it's just me. It's Daryl I'm right behind ya." Asher turned her head at his voice, her body relaxing naturally at the sight of him and Merle. "I gotcha, yer safe sweetheart I promise."

"Who are these people?" He glanced up at the watching group, gaze growing sharp as he spotted T-Dog still cradling his jaw.

"They're... helping you. They're letting us stay for a bit until yer okay to travel again."

"Are they nice? Will they hurt me?" He eyes the group again, watching their expressions and body language.

"No, they're nice. They're safe."