5 Chapter 5

- Xenon -

The camp was composed of RVs, cars and erected tents. Its position made it a bit difficult for the walkers to reach it, but that's it. They were mainly reliant on luck to stay alive, something I didn't appreciate very much. And it shows that once they run out of luck, they don't stand a chance, if I remember the first season's events correctly.

Do you know what the main reasons for death in the beginning of an zombie world? Dumb teammates and… kids. That's right, they seem to completely disregard the fact that they might die any second once they are out of reach, And that's exactly what I found Carl doing. His mother was looking for him as he ventured a bit away in the woods to 'play'.

"You're coming, new guy?" Daryl asked me. "These squirrels ain't gonna skin themselves, and we don't need no freeloaders here."

"Sure thing." I rolled my eyes. "But you're gonna have to teach me."

"What, you can't even skin a squirrel?" Daryl asked me in 'shock'. "What do they teach you kids these days?"

"You know, normal everyday stuff." I shrugged. "Literature, maths and all the crap you don't need when shit hits the fan."

"Tough luck." Daryl said. "You got a knife on you?" I took out my bowie, earning some whistles from his brother. "That's too big, dumbass. You're gonna skin it, it needs more… finesse. Do you have any smaller one?"

"Yeah, I've got one in my backpack." It had a 4 inch blad, which should do the job just fine for my case. It looked extremely sharp, but I doubt I could use it against a walker, not without putting myself in danger.

"That should do, now take off your backpack and sit down. I don't like repeating myself." His brother chuckled at us.

"And here I thought I'd have children before you did, Daryl…" Merle chuckled at us.

I did pay attention to what he was teaching me, I might need the skill later on so I better learn it while I could. I doubt I'd be a master at it any time soon, but at least I wouldn't be completely clueless.

He started by lifting its tail and making a cut there. He said that normally you'd be done pretty quick with them when they're fresh, but since he's been holding on to them for a while, they've gone cold.

It was a combination of using our hands to separate the fur from the skin, and whenever you hit a block, you had to use the knife to un block it. Though whenever I used mine, I got yelled out: "That's meat you're wasting boy, pay attention! That shit was tough to catch." And rightfully so, I did waste a few chunks of meat, but to be fair they weren't big or anything, but apparently 'hunters' don't like you wasting their hard earned meat. Who knew.

He caught six squirrel in total, and he'd already began skinning the third one by the time I finished mine.

"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all…" He snorted, though I'm sure he only said that to accentuate on the 'kid' part. I think he knows it annoys the shit out of me. Though to be honest, I was quite happy at the moment. Not because he praised me, fuck him, but because of the notification I got.

< Skill Gained! >

[Proficiency: Skinning. (Passive)] LVL 1

Increase your speed and precision when skinning animals.

< +2 WIS Gained! >

< 5 EXP Gained ! >

<>

So learning new skills increase my WIS and EXP. At least, now I figured out a way to earn more WIS points. I also know what I have to do to get to the next level.

I've earned around 6 EXP from killing the zombie and learning the skill, and observing my Status…

< Status >

Name : Xenon

Level : 1 | Progress : 30%

Race : Human

Age : 16

-

Stamina (SP) : 185/200

-

STR : 12

DEX : 8

DEF : 7

CHA: 14

WIL : 2

INT : 20

WIS : 9

LUK : 8

<>

It means I need to kill another 14 zombies if I want to move on to the next level. Speaking of which, I am not sure what earning more levels would give me. I hope it gets me more stats, at least.

The next step was cooking them, but I didn't get a part in that. I did get to meet the rest of the group though. It wasn't a large group, but it had more than enough people. However, more doesn't necessarily mean better.

Lori and Carl were quite friendly, unlike what some fanfictions would have you believe. Jacqui and Theodore were both african-american, and Glenn was Asian… You must be wondering why I brought that up? Because of the looks Merle was giving them, which immediately had me lose all respect for him. Not that I respected him much before, I've seen him in the show, and even though I wanted to believe he wasn't necessarily a bad guy, but his addiction is a liability to all of us now. Add in racism and insufferable attitude, and it's a recipe for disaster.

I still was unsure about the dynamics of their group, but I can already make a few guesses, and right now, I need to fit in. I intend to survive a very long time, and I need allies if I am to do so.