I am just a man

He'd been gone a full twenty-four hours an managed to get wuite the haul. Canned food, bullets and some medication aside from the normal few packs of smokes and comics for the kids.

Placing the cigarette between his lips, he pulled the bow up when he heard the rustling. He heard the girl's voice, but she sounde like a kid. So when he swung the crossbow over his shoulder, he aimed and chuckled.

"Go git your shit ya want." He growled out and sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. He had to take the day off for this, and he knew his boss was going to chew his ass a good one come Monday.

Daryl left Merle to go do his thing as he went to get some beer and cigarettes. It was going to be one of those nights, he could tell. Merle'd finish off the beer and all of the hard liquor left in the house.

Someday that piece of shit woul get a place of his own -- and not a jail cell with his name on it.

He could hear Merle's voice like nails on a chalkboard and the voice of a woman firing one back at him. A small grin crossed his features. "Goddamn Merle, ya just got out'a jail. Wanna end up back in?"

"Rick shoulda never let that girl out'a his sight." He said as he pushed himself up off the ground. "Shoulda carried her if he had'a." His gruff tone was one he always had. But he nodded his head, "haven't checked there yet, good idea."

His lone job lately was teying to find Sophia, even though he knew some of them thiught it was a lost cause. The youngest Dixon knew he was still out there somewhere.

Sitting on the ground outside his tent which he made sure was far away from the others, he worked at sharpening some new bolts for his crossbow. Hearing the footsteps approaching, he didn't move much, even when he heard the girl speak.

Maggie seemed to be the only one on this farm who was of any use to anyone, not that he would actually admit that. When he heard her ask for his help, he opene his mouth to say 'no', but for some reason he change his mind.

"Yeah, tha's me." His voice rumbled in almost a growl-like tone. He knew some were afraid to talk to him, and it was how he liked it most of the time. He looke up at Maggie a bit before nodding. "Sure. What'cha need?"

Feeling his stomach contents, as light as they were, start to rise up in his mouth he tried to keep it down but failed miserably and used one of the empty buckets to catch it wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Don’t you start….” He said when Daryl teased him. “I ain’t had much to eat, been lettin’ Kail have my part lately and you tell her that you’ll have me aimin’ at ya instead of Andrea.” He knew damn well he’d never shoot Daryl but he had to at least tease him back. 

Listening to Daryl surprisingly answer his question about his well being Shane nodded finding it made sense. It wasn’t group therapy when everybody sat around the campfire at night. They weren’t there to open up about their feelings. Everybody was there to stay warm. Nights were getting cold. No wonder he never saw the man much. He started getting the third degree and he’d vanish too. Everybody hated him so he was lucky in that aspect. Nobody cared to ask. 

“Your decision to talk ‘bout it. Don’t let them or anybody else tell you different. Just don’t go off gettin’ yourself killed. Ain’t too high in buryin’ your ass.” He knew Kail did understand to an extent. She hadn’t been there when it happened. She didn’t hear him go on his tirade and bust open that barn. She hadn’t saw the dark side of him. She’d saw him angry but not like that. He was lucky to have her though.

He had some timing, and wgeb he looked up he saw Shane lose it into the bucket and he just cracked up laughing. Something that few actually got to see. "Sure you haven't, Shane. Most'a tha' is now in tha' bucket." Shaking his head, he held up his full hands. "I ain't gon'a be th'one t'tell that woman anythin' like tha'. She's got a mouth on'r, so you have nothin' t'worry about. Don't need her directed at me." Kailee had become almost like a sister to him, and he appreciated the fact that the girl kept him on his toes. He wouldn't admit this to anyone, but sometimes he needed a swift kick in the ass to get him going.

"I ain't gonna get m'self killed. I know what I'm doin. Been out in these woods longer than any of y'all." He snorted and shook his head before he crouched down over the deer once again and began to section off the meat into smaller portions. This would be enough to feed them for days if they rationed it off good enough. Game like this was harder to come by now that the damn walkers were eating animals.

"It's that damn girl of yours, man. She lectures me and uses the damn words like weapons. Don't you go tellin' her I'm usin'm. She'll make fun of me and we can't have tha'." He pointed the knife at Shane with a small laugh. Then the seriousness hit him and Daryl nodded. "Good. Glad someone could get through yer head. She's good for ya, man. I see it. It's jus' a shame some of the other women give'r a hard time still 'bout it. Glad I don't have tha' kind of shit t'deal with." 

When everything was done and all he had left was the head after he removed the antlers, he hacked it off from the rest of the body and held it up. "Could use it as bait if we need'a. Least in the next day or so." He tossed it to the side as took the skin and flopped it over his shoulder. He could dry it out in the sun and use it. They were in no position to waste anything.

Taking the pots with a smirk on his face listening to the two of them banter back and forth he watched her until she was out of his sight and saw Daryl shaking his head positioning the buck. “Ah, she ain’t too bad. Keeps me jumpin’, which is good. Too much time on your own out here ain’t good. She’s got a hell of a mouth on her though when she gets pissed.” He said stepping back when Daryl gave the word and he put his hands on his hips watching him.

Never much of the hunter watching it made his empty stomach a little on the queasy side but he’d never admit it. After seeing what all they’d seen out here with walkers one would think a little animal blood and guts wouldn’t be nothing. So when Daryl started to talk to him he welcomed the distraction. “I’m a’ight I guess. Havin’ Kail around helps. She keeps me and Rick separated on most days. Keeps the queen of Georgia outta my face.I just get so damn sick of this. We should be in Fort Bennin’ right now safe behind some walls, not hangin’ out on a farm in the middle of nowhere.” 

Looking at Daryl with a bit of surprise on his face when he heard him agree with what he’d done Shane honestly didn’t know what to say for a second. They’d had their moments of disagreement, fights, said a lot of shit that should’ve been left alone back in Atlanta but for the first time since they’d known each other they were on the same page. “Thanks man. I know you put a lot of time out there in those woods. Hell you almost died twice in one day no thanks to Andrea. Losin’  sound her was bad ‘nough but we can’t afford to lose anymore people. Don’t know why in the hell nobody can understand that.” Shifting a bit on his feet when he heard the wet, squishing sound of more innards hitting the bucket he looked off towards the RV. 

There was an undignified snort that sounded when Shane mentioned Lori by that title. "That woman is insufferable. Comes an' asks me to do the damndest things. Go do it ya damn self, woman." He shook his head and held his hand out for the bucket of water. When it was handed to him, he poured the water into the cavity and cleaned the blood out. "I hear her mumblin shit all the damn time about you and Kailee. And she wonders why people question her an' Rick. It's embarrassin'."

Daryl agreed with him, it wasn't the most secure places to hole up in, but it was decent for now. "You're right, but for right now... it's as good as we got. Winter's settlin' in and you know you don't want t'be on the road when it gets colder." 

Wiping the knife on his leg, he begins to skin the buck so he could get to the meat. Nodding his head to what was said. "Like I said, we wouldn't have found Sophia if it weren't for you." Hearing him mention being shot by Andrea, he snorted again. "She shoots me again, best make sure I'm dead, that's all I gotta say 'bout tha'. Damn woman, always wantin' t'be one of the guys." He was mumbling, and still not happy about what happened. 

Glancing up when he saw Shane look away, he chuckled half under her breath. "Somethin' wrong?" He actually teased the other man as he tossed chunks of meat into one of the empty buckets. "I figured you'd have a stronger stomach than tha'." 

Shrugging, "I'm doin'. Keepin' myself sane, can't stay in one place for too long. Makes me nervous, man. Been gettin' worse though. Now everyone comes up t'me and asks me if I'm okay. I'm not damn okay, but I don't want to fuckin' talk about it, either." Between Carol and Lori, he'd been asked enough questions for the rest of his life. "I stay out away from th'others so I don't have to play twenty questions with the women. 'Least you're lucky, Kail' understands you. She ain't like the rest of the chickens in this coup. Be damn lucky." He shook his head and stood up so he could take the bucket of internal organs away to dump. Though, he went through the bucket first and took out the liver and the heart. Tossing the liver into one of the smaller containers for the meat they were keeping, he grabbed the bucket and the heart and headed back for the well with the half-a-walker in it. Good a place as any to dump this.