Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 58 (Claimed)

Daryl had been up for a couple of hours hunting when he finally came across a rabbit. He knelt down and raised his crossbow, following the animal's movements for a short moment before firing his arrow. As he pulled the trigger, another arrow flew right past his face and landed in the rabbit half a second before his did.

When Daryl turned his head, Len was stood a few feet behind him with his bow in his hands and a smug smile on his face.

"What the hell are you doin'?" Daryl asked as he stood up.

Len shrugged. "Catchin' me some breakfast."

"That's mine," Daryl grunted as he went to pick up the rabbit.

"Well, my arrow's the one that hit first," Len replied. "That cotton tail belongs to me."

"I've been out here since before the sun came up," Daryl pointed out as he took the arrows out of the animal's body.

"You see, the rules of the hunt. Don't mean jack out here," Len responded. "Now, that rabbit you holdin', is claimed, boy." Daryl flung Len's arrow away and Len glared at him. "Claimed. Whether you like it or not. So, if I was you, I'd hand it over. Now. Before you get to wishin' you never got outta' bed this mornin'."

"It ain't yours," Daryl said as he got closer to the man, clutching the rabbit in his hand. Len rolled his eyes with a dry laugh and looked right at Daryl as he spoke.

"You know, I bet... the necklace bitch, got you all messed up. Am I right?" Daryl glared at Len before going to walk away, doing his best to ignore the comment. "Got you walkin' around here like a dead man. Just lost yourself a piece a' tail. A shame you lost her. Haven't gotten my hands on a pretty lady for a while." He kept going on and Daryl stopped walking, reaching for his knife. "What was she, brunette? Blonde? Neither, huh? What about a redhead?"

Daryl grabbed the handle of his knife and spun on his heel to lunge at Len before Joe came over and grabbed his wrist. "Easy fellas, easy." He kept his grip on Daryl whilst Len laughed. "Let's just put our weapons down so we can figure out what's really the problem here, huh?" Joe moved to stand in between the two men. "You claim it?" he asked Len.

"Hell yeah."

"Well, there ya' go. That critter belongs to Len," Joe said to Daryl.

"So, let's have it." Len put his bow over his head and put his hands on his hips.

Daryl looked between the two men, not moving. He had no intention of giving up the rabbit, no matter what was said next. He was with these men so he wouldn't be by himself whilst he looked for his people. He wasn't interested in following their rules.

"You may be wantin' an explanation," Joe nodded to Daryl. His voice was calm as he spoke. That fake friendliness Daryl was first greeted with never laid up. "See, going it alone, that ain't an option nowadays. Still, it is survival of the fittest. That's a paradox right there. So, I laid out some rules for the road to keep things from going 'Darwin' every couple hours. Keep our merry band together and stress free. All you gotta do is claim. That's how you mark your territory, that's how you mark your bed at night."

"I ain't claimin' nothin'," Daryl said. Agreeing to live by their ways would mean agreeing to be one of them. And he wasn't about to do that.

"We gotta teach him, right?" Len growled angrily. "The rules say we gotta teach him."

"Now, it wouldn't be fair to punish you for a rule you didn't know existed," Joe held a hand up.

Daryl's glare never left Len, who started huffing and pacing around. "There ain't no rules anymore," he replied to Joe.