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JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME
You awaken to godawful static overlaying a female voice that's too monotone to be anything but a recording. The static makes it difficult to understand the warning, but it's clearly a warning if your surroundings tell you anything...
You're buckled into a sturdy seat bolted to the wall behind you. Around you, there are dozens of others like you, some awake and others still unconscious, but it seems most of the seats lining the walls are occupied. The lights are dim, likely auxiliary lighting, leaving you mostly in the dark. You smell smoke and hear the sizzling crackle of electrical systems popping and shorting out. Some of the seats were jarred off the wall, leaving the occupants either wounded or dead. Count yourself lucky all you have is a headache and various aches accounted to whiplash.
You appear to be in a drop ship or an escape vessel of some form but the pilot is dead and the hull bears a massive gash where it buckled under the impact and sheered off. Through the door-sized opening, you can see vegetation. The air that wafts in is heavy with a humid heat, but it's obviously breathable.
Once you make your way outside, you'll see greenery: Trees, grass, and shrubs tangled with vines that grow wildly and suffocate the trees they climb. In the distance, behind the ship, you can make out a sandy desert that seems to stretch on endlessly. Forward through the trees, however, you may see a crumbling wall, but more importantly, you'll see signs of civilisation. Buildings and other structures seem contained within those decrepit walls. Maybe the natives can fill you in on what's going on, because the last thing you remember isn't being in an escape shuttle. As a matter of fact, you don't remember much about your arrival or where you are. But it's going to be a bit of a hike, better get moving. Though you might want to grab the backpack of supplies under your seat before you go.
With that, the power dies, leaving the drop ship in the dark, crackling and groaning as the hull cools from its catastrophic re-entry.
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"Not his call to make," Daryl answered easily, grunting a little at the effort of pulling as she shifted her weight. "He ain't lived through this shit. Been isolated. He gets a say in people he knew from before getting dropped here. Anyone else, that's my choice."
Daryl was taking charge of the group he was making. Taking responsibility for them. It wasn't big, but it didn't have to be. Just as long as he could rely on them to watch his ass and keep him alive. Then they could rely on him to do the same. The group came first. And until they were big enough to need to delegate, really delegate, he was going to take a page from Rick's book.
"Ain't a democracy yet, girl," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Best remember that."
The 'yet' he left in because he did believe the council method worked better in a larger community. But as small as they were, with so much unknown, there needed to be a clear line of command. People needed rules. Something to give them a sense of structure when survival was so uncertain.
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"It's not an autocracy, either." Though that wasn't really what she wanted to be stubborn about. Terminology wasn't important when survival needed to be focused upon.
"I trust you to make the right choices, Daryl." Maybe that was what he needed to hear her say to realize she wasn't out to fight against what he wanted to do. All she wanted to do was prove herself to him, because he had quickly become someone that she admired in a way that someone often did when someone treated them with respect and care.
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"What kind of group were you with before?" Daryl asked, changing the subject. Wanted to get a sense of how much she knew. "The one you was recruiting for. Big? Small? Place you could defend and hold or more of a nomadic thing?"
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"Tomorrowland. I lived primarily in a location called Tomorrowland, but we'd travel to other locations on Earth to recruit new people. That was my job, seeking out the brightest minds and the strongest dreamers. The ones who refused to give up on moving forward. We didn't need to worry about defense there. It was safe." She smiled a little as she spoke, at least phrasing things like that made her feel better.
"The man I recruited for was named David Nix. He was my..." She hesitated, not sure what to think of him as any longer.
"He was like my father. Up until he threatened to tear me apart because I tried to change his mind about exiling someone I cared for very much. I ran away after that. Then I woke up here."
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It sounded like her group of survivors thought overly-well of themselves. Thought they were above the other groups. And worse yet, the man who'd adopted her had threatened her life for questioning him? No wonder she was so defensive of being allowed to make her own decisions.
"Ain't no one going to kill you for backtalking," he sighed. "Glad you had the smarts to get out of there when you did. Even if it was a safe place, it ain't worth putting up with that kind of shit just to be safe."
A lesson it had taken him until after the world went to shit to learn. Was still working through. She'd had the backbone to get out of her abuse. She was already stronger than he'd ever been.
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Her eyes began to sting, and she rubbed at them in irritation. It was when they started to leak that she thought she had a fault and needed to get help immediately. She recalled Frank crying on one of his first nights at the institute, when he said he missed his home and was homesick. She realized what she was doing was crying, and she tried to stop it from continuing. Adults always would think crying children were weak.
"I'm not sure if this place will be any better." She was still crying, her voice heavier as she tried to mask it. "But it must be, if our group will actually work together. "
She moved to sit back, the wind taken out of her sails for a moment. But she composed herself silently after that, wiping at her face and biting at her lip so she could refrain from embarrassing herself further.
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He stopped moving forward, shoulders dropping with his head. He took a deep breath, not wanting to call her out on the tears. She didn't seem like the kind to want that.
"What do you know about Athena? The woman you're named for."
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"Athena. She was the goddess of wisdom, strength, courage, inspiration, law and justice, and civilization. She was also supposedly very beautiful, and hard to provoke to anger. She would only fight for just causes, and she is who David Nix wanted me to be. I think he thought he was like Zeus, and I was supposed to be his favorite daughter."
There was a very clear snort as she stopped speaking. She clearly thought that was completely ridiculous and worth scoffing at.
"I want to be like Athena, someday. When I'm fully grown. I can't be a beautiful warrior that stands for strength and courage looking like this." Looking so young was a weakness, she knew. It was going to be an issue here, but with Daryl on her side, she stood a chance at making it.
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He didn't consider himself good at comforting the women in his life, but he tried all the same. Every time they needed it and his head wasn't in a bad place. He wandered back to where she was sitting and hopped up on the stack of boxes next to her, legs swinging a little.
"Takes courage to stand up to someone you care about and respect," he said softly, leaning his shoulder into hers for a brief moment. He didn't look at her, stared at his hands, which rested between his knees. "Takes strength to leave them and make your way on your own when they become bad for you. Don't let anyone tell you different. Not even yourself."
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"I won't," she whispered, as if she were making a solemn promise.
She found that for the first time, she wasn't sure what to do or say next. She usually always could come up with something to say. Even if it wasn't the right thing. She hadn't ever had someone give her a pep talk like this, though. It made her chest feel warm and full. She'd come to realize a few moments later those were defining characteristics of being happy.
"It's more important to focus on the here and now, rather than what happened in the past. I can't change what happened but I can make the future better."
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He slid off the boxes, reaching out to pat her on the back as he did so, "You keep that in mind, you'll be fine. Come on, now. You can help me pull if you want. We've wasted too much time yammering on already."
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"We'll get there before dark, if I pull as hard as I can."
He seemed to value productivity and efficiency as much as she did. That would make them a good team, as far as she was concerned.