Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

I-Spy

The game was over pretty quickly, Asher having won. Once that was finished they decided to play I-spy instead. They sat on the ridge of the quarry and looked out over the giant dip of expanse.

"I spy something blue." Asher looked over to Carl as he spoke before both her and Sophia scoured the horizon for their guess.

"The sky?" He shook his head no at Sophia's guess.

"The water?" He shook his head no again and smiled. The girls looked around some more for anything blue. Asher spotted the soft blue of some of the clothes drying in the wind.

"I give up, Carl I don't see anything that's blue." Sophia said as she wedged her grimy Raggedy-Anne toy between her arm and torso. The Grimes boy looked over at Asher to see if she had given up as well.

"I think it's your mom's shirt. The one on the drying line over there." Carl smirked and shook his head no again. "I'm out of guesses."

"It's your eyes, Asher. They're the bluest things I've seen in my life." Asher smiled and flushed a soft red at his compliment.

"Well thanks, Carl, that's very sweet of you to say." Their happy moment was ruined by the return of Ed and his disdain for her. He came out of nowhere and yanked Asher up to her feet by her upper arm.

"Time to pay me back for those clothes ya little shit." She glared up at the red faced man, her free hand slipping out the switch blade that Daryl had given her for her trip down to the quarry for her bath.

"Let me go, right now." Ed sneered at the girl before he yanked on her arm to force her to follow after him. She slid her blade free and pressed the sharp blade against the man's privates. Everyone froze, the girl glaring up at the prone man with a smirk only someone who's spent ample time with the Dixon brothers could muster up.

"If you ever think about touching me or anyone else like this ever again, I will kill you. And if you don't let my arm go this instant, I will cut your dick off and shove if so far down your throat it'll make pornstars jealous. Then I'm telling Daryl and Merle all about your little hobbies." Ed let her arm go with a small curse and a huff of disdain before stomping off. An older man shambled her way, a soft smile on his face.

"You seem pretty handy with that blade, kiddo." Asher eyes him warily for a second, mostly the great big rifle hanging around his chest. "Think you can be any good with a gun?"

"I don't do guns. If you have any bows I'm down to take that and it's arrows but not guns." Dale looked to the sky for a second before waving for her to follow him. He lead her to the big RV and around to the back to a long and short hatch that he opened up to reveal a long metal recurve bow and a leather quiver stuffed with long thin metal hunting arrows.

"This is beautiful, why don't anyone else have this?" He shrugged and slid the metal bow out and handed the bow to her and slipped the quiver over her shoulders.

"Nobody thinks this'll be any good. Why choose a bow over a gun?" Asher shrugged and moved to sit underneath the lone trees behind the vehicle, her fingers fiddling with the fletchings absentmindedly.

"You worried about them, aren't you?" She glanced up at the person talking, Carl's mom shuffling through the grass.

"Aren't you? You lose your husband and then you get him back just for him to leave again." She stabbed at the grass with the end of her arrow. The woman closed her mouth and made a twisted pout.

"He always comes back to me." Asher softly snorted and stabbed the arrow deep to make it jut up towards the sky.

"I'm sure you believe that." The sun started to race for the horizon and she looked over the quarry towards the city. "But they should've been back by now. If your husband has done anything to hurt my family, you'll wish we never met. So no, I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about him." Lori swallowed hard and shuffled away, the fear she already felt growing into terror.

Asher sat under the trees until the sun dipped below the horizon and the fires were started. She noticed that Ed wasn't part of their circles- probably because he was embarrassed by what she had done to his manhood and Shane had done to his face down at the quarry. She decided to let herself sleep until Daryl returned, but her sleep was ruined by shrieks and snarls. Her eyes snapped open to see a walker stumbling through camp right at her. Snatching up her new bow and an arrow, she drew back the drawstring and took aim at its head. Releasing the arrow, she smirked her bullseye between the eyes. As the walker dropped to the ground she ran forward and ripped the arrow free of its skull.

"Sophia! Carl!" She ran through camp looking for the two kids, stabbing and shooting at walkers as she went. She found the two huddled up with Lori and a few other women. Jumping over a walker body, she found the closest tree above them and raced her way up to get a good vantage point. They moved toward the middle of the field and she shot down walkers as they got close. A new arrow joined hers and she knew that Daryl and the others had returned. It wasn't long before the camp was cleared up, but she refused to leave her perch in the trees. Not until she had eyes on Daryl.

"What happened?!" Rick's voice ripped through the camp, shutting off the commotions and screams.

"They just came out of nowhere-"

"Where's Asher?" Daryl's voice broke the group's rambling and eased the terror in her stomach and voice. "I said, where's Asher?!" She scrambled down the tree and dropped to the ground with a small roll to keep the bones from breaking. She quickly gathered up her arrows and shoved them back in the quiver before running towards camp to find the man she wanted to see most.

"Asher!" She ran around a small tent and stopped short when she saw those slate grey wings on his back.

"Dixie!" She breathed out her nickname for the man, and he whipped around at her voice. His rigid shoulders dropped in relaxation and he took off running through the terrified huddles of people. Asher slid her bow to sit behind her back and she watched him run for her. A few feet away, he threw down his crossbow and scooped up the small girl.

"You're okay! Oh thank fuck you're okay. I didn't see you with the kids and I thought for a second..."

"I climbed the trees. Used them as higher ground. I did what you said, I looked after them." Daryl knelt down and nodded as she spoke.

"Damn smart. That's my girl."