Hazel Dixon

"Get your guns out of my face." I said in an irritated, but calm voice. The man in front of me lowered his rifle, and nodded the others to do the same. 

"She's just a girl." Someone said, it was a woman with long, brown hair, a boy behind her back. This is just great, the quarry was full of people. A whole camp. I lowered my gun too, but didn't put it away yet. "You on your own?"

"Yeah. My old man and I used to camp here, the place has a lake, the forest is good for hunting so I thought of coming here. Guess it's not just my place any longer." 

"You can stay, if you want, I'm Shane Walsh. She is Lori." The guy with the rifle introduced himself, and the woman with the little boy. 

"Hazel." A put away my gun, and the boy came a little forward. 

"Hi, I'm Carl." I just nodded, and went after the others toward their camp. Soon more people come and introduce themself. The first was Dale, an older man with a hat, he seemed nice, then a young asian guy, Glenn, and a black man, named T-dog. I scoffed a little, what name is T-dog anyway? 

There was two blond girl, they were sisters, Andrea the older, and Amy the younger. She seemed to in my age, or close enough. She was who asked how old I am.

"Sixteen in this year. You?"

"Twenty-three. I thought you are older, carrying that gun and knives." She grinned, and I tapped my gun on my waist.

"It's a beauty, my dad gave it to me for my twelve birthday." For that, everyone went quiet. I looked around, raising my eyebrow. "What?"

"Your dad gave you a gun when you were twelve?" Lori asked, concern in her voice. 

"Well, it comes in handy nowadays, does it?" 

"You said you and your dad come here often to camp?" Dale asked while we all sat down around the campfire, the heat felt nice on my skin. A lifted my gaze from the fire toward Dale. 

"Yeah, we came here for hunting every now and then. We were separated when this shit happened, so I thought it was not a bad idea to come here, maybe run into my family. What about ya guys? Ya all came from Atlanta?"

"Most of us yes, or on the road when they bombed the city." Lori said, and I nodded. 

"I was in the forest, but I saw the bombing too. It scared away my game." I huffed, still annoyed with the memory. Some smiled at my statement, and my lip twitched upward a little too. 

"What about your mum?" Carl asked, and his mother hissed.

"Carl, it's rude to ask something like that."

"Nah, it's cool." I shrugged my shoulder. "My mom left me when I was born, my dad raised me. When I was older, I went to see her, but she had a husband and new kids, and says she doesn't want anything to do with me. My old man can be an asshole sometimes, but he has a soft spot for those he loves."

"So it was just the two of you?" Amy asked, and I smiled.

"My uncle helped my dad a lot, he's more like a brother to me." Amy leaned closer to Andrea, resting her head on her sister's shoulder, and I felt a pang of sadness. 

"I lost my dad too, he was a cop and get shot before this. So it's just my mum, me, and Sahne now." Carl must see the sadness on my face, and I hated to be this vulnerable. 

"My dad is alive, the toughest son of a bitch I know." Carl's smile faded a little, but I don't care. I needed the believe that my family is still alive. After that, everyone started talking about something else, and I left to do my tent. The others seemed nice, but I liked to be on my own, but still, having people to watch my back doesn't sound too bad. 

-

In the morning, I was up a little later than usual, maybe because I don't have to look behind my shoulders all the time for walkers. 

"Hey, you up? Wanna come with us to the lake? We doing laundry." Amy asked, nodding toward the other women in camp. I grimaced, patting my gun."

"Nah, I'm going hunting, see if I can catch something."

"All alone?" Lori asked, and I just smirked.

"Doing laundry it's not my thing, ladies." I laughed seeing their faces, and I went on my own, toward the forest. 

It was late afternoon when I came back, five squirrels on my shoulder, and three rabbits on the other. The others were around the fire, so I joined them, sitting down on a log which was a little further than the others. I started gutting and skinning the first rabbit.

"Well, she was not kidding, when she said she can hunt." Glenn said, and I looked up, a little smirk on my face.

"I was not bullshitting." I wiped the back of my hand on my jeans and keep continuing. The smell of grilled rabbit filled the air, and my stomach started to growl. "Man, I can't wait to eat something."

"We offered to you can eat some canned food, but you said you rather starve."

"It was worth the waiting, look at that, all fresh and tasty." Soon I was munching on my rabbit, the other two still roasting. I offered it to the others, Amy just grimaced, her loss, but Glenn and Dale have taken the opportunity to eat something that is not canned bean or god knows what else. 

"You know, there are another two hunters in the camp, they went hunting before you showed up." I looked up at Glenn curiously. 

"Yeah? Cool, it would be good to go hunting with someone else, not just myself."

"They are assholes. Two rednecks, always keeping their distance from us." My heart stopped for a moment when I looked at Shane. Could it be...?

"Oh yeah, you best keep away from them, the Dixons are assholes." T-Dog kept talking, but my mind was on his last words. Dixons... 

"You oke? You paled for a moment." Amy asked with a little concern, and I nodded. Jesus, Hazel, pull yourself together. 

"Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all. Good nigh'." I went into my tent, holding my hunting knife in my hand and tracing my finger on the monogram on the knife. H.D. Hazel Dixon. It has to be them. That night I fell asleep with my dad and uncle in my mind. 

-

Two more days went by, and I started to settle in the camp, but my eyes was always on the forest. 

"Hey, you are quieter than usual." It was Glenn, and I shrugged my shoulder.  

"I'm like be alone."

"Not always, you can be really loud, always telling some stories by the fire." I chuckled a little at Glenn's words. 

"Yeah, well, my dad never can shut up, guess I took after him a little." I wiped my hands on my jeans, it was already bloody, so who care. 

"You are different, I mean, you are close to Amy in age, but you're... tougher. You can hunt, you don't mind being dirty or bloody, like you were built for this new world."

"Maybe, maybe not. I just grow up like this, we were sometimes low on money, and well... my dad is not a saint. But we were there for each other, and maybe I don't grow up in some fancy house like Amy or Andrea, but I has a good childhood. And I can fend for myself, because my pa taught me how."

"I don't mean as an offense! It's cool, I mean, you are cool, Hazel." Glenn was sometimes so awkward and shy, but he was sweet, so I grinned, patting his shoulder.

"Take a breath, chinaman, I know what ya mean."

"I'm Korean, but you know this."

"Yup."

"You can be so annoying."

"I know." Glenn just shake his head, and I laughed. I loved messing with him, or with the others. Lori came over to me, so I looked at her waiting for what she wants.  

"You don't want to join the other kids? Jacqui and me teaching them."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I almost finished high school, 'm a little old for stuff like that, Lori." I said with an amused smile and Lori just sighed.

"I know, but you are always on your own, I'm just worried."

"I was on my own before, you don't need to worr..." We were interrupted by Shane.

"Great, the Dixons are back." He said sarcastically, and I needed to bit my lip before I say something I shouldn't. When I heard an all too familiar voice, I know it was him. He just get back, but he was already arguing with someone, I think with T-Dog.

My heart beat very fast and I closed my eyes for a moment, then open them and spun around. There it was, my dad and uncle, both of them carrying a deer on their own. 

"Dad!" I shouted, and everyone looked at me, including my dad. 

"Son of a bitch, Hazel?" My dad's eyes widened, and my uncle looked in my direction too. I started running, almost tipping my dad when I hugged him. He immediately hugged me back, stroking my hair.

"Dad...." A sob escaped my throat, and my chuckled.

"C'mon, baby girl, don't get all soft on me." I know he was not serious, he always said this to me when I was crying. He hugged me tighter, kissing my head, then I pulled back a little, and looked at my uncle.

"Daryl."

"C'mere." I let go of my dad, just to be hugged by Daryl. He hated hugging, but he never hated to hug me. "Jesus, we looked for ya everywhere, Haze!"

"I looked for you guys too." Daryl let go of me, then dad took my hands, eyeing the blood on them. 

"It's yer blood?" I shake my head. 

"Nah, I skinned a rabbit earlier." At that, my dad started grinning, ruffling my hair.  

"That's ma' girl."

"I missed ya and Daryl." I hugged him again, burying my face into his chest. I felt like a little girl, but I don't felt this safe in weeks, like right now with my dad.

"I missed ya too, Haze."

"You are a Dixon? No way." I glanced at Glenn, but I didn't pull away completely from my dad. The others were dumbfounded, and my pa was the first who spoke in a rather irritated tone. 

"She's ma' girl, Chinaman, ya have a problem with that?"

"No!" I started laughing. My dad can be rather intimidating, but also my uncle, or me if I have to be, or when I lost my shit. Maybe it's in the Dixon bloodline.   

"You not exactly a father type, Dixon." Andrea said, and I glared at her. That woman was annoying, so classy... pff. At least her sister Amy was more likable. I liked her, on my first day here she said she loved mermaids and stuff like that. I told her I love things like that too, especially dragons. My dad always mocked me about it, but he always brought dragon figures to me, or things like that when he found something. Even if we were low on money. 

"None of yer business, sugartits." I snorted hearing the nickname what my dad picked for Andrea. He turned back to me, still grinning seeing I was amused rather than upset. 

"C'mon, lil sister, ya can help us with the deers, and tell us what happened with ya."

"Yeah, we were looking for ya at the school, and our hunting spots, but you were nowhere."

"We started coming back from that stupid school trip earlier, but some kid was infected. It was a mess, but my knife was with me, so I managed to go back home, but nobody was there. The truck was gone, and yer bike too. That was how I knew you and Daryl were alive. I took some clothes, my gun, some ammo, and go further from the city. I saw the bombing, so I kept low, staying in the forest. A couple of days ago my old camping spot was overrun by a herd and I thought maybe the quarry was still oke, good place to stay a little. Guess I was not the only one." 

" 'm sorry, baby girl." Dad said, and Daryl put a hand on my shoulder, smirking. 

"Yer dad was a mess, almost crashed his bike trying to get to the school faster to find you." 

"Yeah? Who's getting soft now, dad?" I said while grinning, and he just scoffed. 

"Shut up ya two. I ain't gettin' soft."

"Of course not, I love ya to." He rolled his eyes, then he lift up one of the deer, and went toward their tent. Daryl and I followed him, and we started working on the deers they brought. We discussed what happened to us in the past few weeks. It was nice. A couple of hours later I started to take down my tent, I wanted the move it closer to my dad and uncle's tent. 

"Why are you taking down your tent?" I glanced at Lori.

"I'm moving it closer to my dad's tent."

"Everyone was shocked that Merle is your dad. You never said you are a Dixon too, and we said rude things about them..." I just shake my head.

"It's oke, Lori. I know how my dad can be sometimes. But he's not a bad father, so stop worrying. He's not Ed. My grandfather was a drunk bastard, beat his wife and sons." We all know that Carol's husband, Ed beat his wife, and I know it was easy to assume the same about my dad. I looked away. "My dad can be an asshole, but he never put a hand on a woman."

"I didn't know." Lori don't said anything else, and my dad showed up, and take my tent from me.

"I have this. Go and get your other stuff."

"Thanks. Hey, I didn't find my crossbow at home, ya take it with you?" 

"Yeah, I thought ya want it, so we brought it." He said with an amused grin, and a happy squeak left my mouth. I kissed his cheek.

"Thanks dad!" I saw the corner of my eyes Lori smiling, and went on her own business, leaving us alone. Dad helped to put up my tent again next to theirs, but I grabbed his wrist. "Hey, dad? Can I sleep with ya and Daryl tonight?"

"Yeah. I ain't going nowhere, baby girl."

"I know." And just like before when we were camping, dad started telling stories, and Daryl always corrected him, because dad liked to exaggerate. When he started to snore, we looked at each other at Daryl, and burst out laughing, trying to muffle our voices, but then his face went serious. 

"We missed ya, Haze. You make him a better man, a better brother."

"He's not a bad man, neither are you. We are a family, Dare, we need to stuck together, and keep an eye on each other." I glanced at my dad, and grinned." Well, maybe he needs a little more supervising than us."

"Oh, I wanna watch when ya say that to his face."

"Ya wish. Good nigh', Dare."

"Night', Haze."