Chapter 4

- Xenon -

It turns out Daryl was going back to their camp after a hunter trip. We made a little detour to grab some game he left. Squirels. He said he was looking for some rabbit or deer, but had no luck. I did spend the rest of the time annoying him with questions though. I knew he was a very good tracker from the show, and that's a skill I definitely want on my side. Hopefully I could unlock some tracking related skills.

Daryl is an alright dude, I'd say. He told me to be more careful in the future, because what it could've been someone else doing what he did, but he'd be a lot more serious about it, to which I was grateful. Overall, I'm glad nothing bad happen in that encounter, as it could go sideways faster than I could say Quidditch…

'Hm, speaking of Quidditch, maybe I'll eventually be able to go to the Harry Potter world!' I could clearly imagine my eyes shining as I was lost in thought about how great it would be… Daryl just shook his head when he noticed me daydreaming.

"Alright, we're here kid." Daryl said, dragging me away from my sweet dreams of magic filled life… monster.

"Oi… I have a name, you know." I said, annoying at his repeated use of 'kid'. "It's Xenon, or Xen for short."

"But you're a kid, aren't you?" The little bastard said, smirking at my annoyed face. I think it was a mistake to show him how annoyed it made me, as he'll just keep having fun at my expense.

"Perhaps." I schooled my expression, before continuing. "But that's only as far as age is concerned. And let's face it, that doesn't mean shit anymore. The walkers won't ask how old you are before chewing you."

"True that." He conceded. "I'll stop calling you kid when you prove to me you ain't one. Kid." I just rolled my eyes at how cliché it sounded. "Sure, sure… as if I had nothing better to do…" I added silently.

We had been walking for an hour since he met me, and I had been walking for two before that. Which made for a total of three hours of walking. Why is this relevant, you ask? Because I need a reference to be able to manage my stamina.

Stamina (SP) : 175/200

I lost a total of thirteen SP after three hours of walking. Say about 8.4 SP per hour, meaning 0.14 per minute. Yeah, I spent some time to get the mental calculations right, I'm glad I had been paying attention in math class.

I need to measure how long it would take me if I was running instead, as I would be most of the time when Walkers (or people for that matter) are involved. But looking at the first results, I can guess it would take me 23 hours before I ran out, if I'm walking. But that's assuming I won't stop for meals or sleep, which isn't possible. So basically, as long as I make the necessary stop, I can walk indefinitely during the day.

We were climbing a slope; they were smart enough to establish their temporary camp in high grounds, which gave them more vision of their surroundings, though the things that happened in the show are quite ridiculous honestly, but understandable. They were very new to this dark world, just like I am.

We could finally see the parked cars, especially an RV, on top of which was an old man in his fifties, holding a sniper rifle. Dale, if I remember correctly. He tensed when he noticed us and took his binoculars to check us out.

"MERLE!" Daryl started shouting as soon as he were within camp, I was a few steps behind. "Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some game, man!"

"I heard ya! Gimme a sec." The answer came back.

That's when the attention was turned to me. The old man standing watch came down from his RV, and headed to our direction, along with two other men.

"Who's the new face, Daryl?" asked one of them. A tall, rather bulky man, wearing a handgun to his belt. The other one was quite thin, bearded man, who seemed to look tired without meaning to. They were both in their thirties if I had to guess.

"Some kid I found alone in the woods." Came Daryl's nonchalant answer.

"And…?" he frowned, displeased by his lack of seriousness about the matter.

"And what?"

"And you just brought him here?" Shane asked, angrily. To be fair, it was a bit sketchy, I wouldn't trust just anyone I met too in these extraordinary times, but that didn't mean I was happy about the treatment I was receiving.

"Stop looking at me like I'm some kind of idiot. I know what I'm doing. He's clean." They seemed to have entered some kind of staring contest, while one of the other two intervened.

"Now Shane, he's just a kid. And Daryl vouched for him." Said the old man. Ah, Shane. Explains a lot.

"A kid armed to the teeth." Shane retorted. "Where'd you get the knife, kid?"

"The name is Xenon." I answered coldly, not that it had any effect, as he just scoffed at me.

"How old are you, son?" asked the old man this time.

"Sixteen." His eyes lit up in realization, before he turned to Shane as if to tell him something with his eyes.

"Yeah… Sorry about that, kid." Shane apologized, extending his arm for me to shake. "I'm Shane."

"A pleasure." After which Dale and Jim introduced themselves, before introducing me to the rest of the group.