Dinner

[Decided to write a chapter]

Paul and Lori went to Dale to get Andrea's gun from him while Carl set up the range. 

"Come on, Dale, she's not going to shoot herself with it," Lori said while looking at Dale, who was looking at them with his usual suspicious glare. 

"What happens when the day comes and when you aren't there to protect her, Rick isn't there, she needs to know how to protect herself," Paul said

Dale thought in silence for a second before nodding and pulling out Andrea's gun from a black bag. 

"I think she's been a little better lately. I just didn't want her to hurt herself." Dale said while handing the gun over to Paul.

"If she wanted to, she could find a way; she wants to live, Dale, there's no need to worry." Paul took Andrea's gun and put it in his waistband. 

"Thanks, Dale," Lori said before they went and found Andrea still near the burning pile of walker bodies with Shane and T-Dog. 

"Andrea, I heard you want to learn to shoot." Paul came over to the blonde woman, who glanced over at him and nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't have my gun." 

Paul pulled out Andrea's gun, and he watched her eyebrows raise up.

"How did you manage to convince Dale?" 

"Just a little persuasion. So you in?" Paul asked, Andrea nodded, and took her gun with a smile.

"Let's go. Carl's gonna help teach Lori and you as well." Paul said before they all walked over to where Carl had set up some cans on a fence post. 

"Carl, how's it coming?" Paul walked over to where Carl had laid out some ammo boxes on a table.

"It's all ready. The cans are out there." Carl pointed to a fence post about fifteen to twenty yards away. 

Paul nodded and turned to Lori and Andrea. 

"Alright, let's get to it then. You ladies know the basics already, finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot, safety on, safety off, now Lori let me see your gun." 

Lori took her gun from her waistband and held it in her hands, allowing them all to get a look. 

"A Colt detective special, a solid gun, holds six rounds. Not bad for a side piece, but some time in the future you might want to get a main weapon with a holster and everything for a larger magazine capacity and faster reload." Paul said, and Lori nodded

"Carl, take your mom over and help her while I help Andrea," Paul said

"Come on, Mom!" Carl and Lori went over to the first shooting lane, and Carl began helping her.

"And I've seen your gun, a S&W 3913, holds seven rounds, not bad, but like I told Lori, you might want to upgrade to a bigger one," Paul said to Andrea who nodded before they walked over to the other gun lane and Paul watched Andrea shoot while giving her some tips.

He had to admit she was a pretty good shot. 

"Good shots." Paul nodded, and Andrea beamed at his compliment.

"So, why does a kid as young as you know how to shoot and survive by yourself anyway?" Andrea asked out of curiosity while loading her magazine with bullets. 

"I was just raised on it, it's what I learnt growing up." Paul shrugged. He didn't really know what to say.

"By your parents?" Andrea looked at him. 

"No, never knew them." Paul put a hand through his hair and saw some sadness in Andrea's eyes.

"Sorry." 

"Don't be. I am who I am today because of it." Paul said 

"Yeah, I guess so." Andrea nodded while putting her magazine into her gun.

"Anyway, hitting a nonmoving target while not moving shouldn't be a problem for anyone. It's hitting the target while it's moving, you're moving, and it's potentially shooting back, that's difficult." Paul said to get away from awkward subjects.

"So?" Andrea raised one eyebrow

"So follow me." Paul and her walked over to where Carl and Lori had been shooting.

"Carl, how's it going?" 

"She's really good! Ready for the advanced class." Carl smiled, and Lori laughed at her kid's antics. 

"Good, so is Andrea. Let's go." 

Carl led them over to a wooded area where they had tied a large wooden trunk to a rope and hung it from a tree. 

"Alright, Andrea, you're up first." Paul pushed the Trunk so that it started swinging before getting out of the line of fire. 

Andrea took a deep breath before she fired.

Bang!

Miss.

She took a second to adjust before shooting again.

Bang!

Miss. 

Bang! 

Miss

She continued to miss before looking over at Paul.

"I guess this is an I told you so moment." 

Paul chuckled before shaking his head. 

"Its just reality. People think they are hot shots until they are actually in the field, a moving target, under direct fire. Even point blank, I've seen trained professionals miss entire magazines off adrenaline alone." 

"The difference between life and death is right here." Paul pointed to his head. 

"The mind. Clear it of everything, your hatred, sadness, all the extra bullshit, even if its just for a second. 

Then, in that one second of calm, picture what you're trying to shoot in your mind's eye, and fire." Paul said before unholstering his pistol, almost instantly, and firing a shot into the trunk and hitting it directly. 

"You make it sound easy," Andrea said while shaking her head at his display.

"Once you get it, you understand it forever; it's understanding it that can be difficult." Paul nodded

"Try again." Paul swung the trunk before Andrea attempted it again.

They continued to shoot until the sun started going down, and by that time, both Andrea and Lori had gotten a little bit better, with them both managing to hit the trunk every few shots. 

He would say he was an S-tier shooter, with Rick, Shane, Carl, and Daryl being A Tier. He'd put Lori and Andrea around C, with Glenn and T-Dogg being at B. 

He would put Dale and Otis around C tier as they only used hunting rifles mostly. As for the others, they were unknown to him for right now, but he had plans to eventually get everyone at least gun-trained to basic standards. 

"All right, let's go eat dinner," Lori said as they packed everything up and headed back toward the house.

"Finally, I'm starving," Carl said while patting his stomach

"You're always starving." Paul teased Carl before they walked into the house and saw everyone already there.

Patricia and Maggie were laying out chicken, asparagus, and corn on people's plates while Carol helped fill people's glasses. 

"Shane." Paul nodded to Shane and took a seat next to him and Daryl while noticing Shane had shaved his head.

"How did the shooting go?" Shane asked 

"Good. They're good shots." Paul said while watching Carol fill his cup with some tea.

"Thank you, Carol. How is Sophia feeling?" Paul asked while looking at Carol, who was looking a lot different than the first time he had seen her. 

"She's doing a lot better, I think she might be able to get up soon." Carol smiled and put a hand on his shoulder before filling Shane's glass.

"So…Paul, Carl told us what happened back when he got lost on the highway, and not that we aren't all glad he's back, but I'm curious. Why was a young kid like yourself living in a secluded cabin in the middle of the woods, trained to use weapons at that?"

Dale's question made all the others stop talking as a quiet hush fell over the dinner table, the others all stealing glances between bites of food and sips of their drink.

Paul looked over at Dale's inquisitive eyes and noticed the others all interested as well. 

He had expected this, of course, who wouldn't? A random kid joins their group and turns out he had trained Carl into some kind of G.I. Joe within the span of a couple of months. 

Anyone would be suspicious of how and why he had that kind of skill set. 

"Dale." Andrea went to try and speak up, but Paul shook his head at her. 

He needed to give the group something, or they would always be suspicious of him. Lori, Shane, and Rick might have accepted him into the group, but that didn't mean they trusted him.

Paul spoke, his words coming out with an emotion that felt foreign to him; he never told anyone, except Carl his story.

"I never knew my parents, they died when I was young. I was trafficked and found myself trapped on some farm with a bunch of other young kids." 

The others at the table gasped while some held back their tears. Shane and Daryl looked livid with rage as Shane ran a hand over his smoothly cut head.

"To cut a long story short, they trained us on to use weapons, how to fight, how to kill." Paul stopped as he remembered all the people he had been forced to kill. Some innocent, some bad.

"Eventually, I escaped and secluded myself in that cabin, where Carl found me." Paul took a drink of his tea while feeling the gazes of the others on him.

Some with pity, some with anger, wishing no kid had to endure that.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Dale said sincerely. He was surprised at how dark this dinner had become. 

"It's all in the past." Paul brushed it off, though he knew it still haunted him sometimes to this day.

"Hey, you're with us now, kid." Daryl nodded at him, a respect only two people who grew up not living but surviving could understand.

"That's right. We got your back bud." Shane nodded, his face harsh and serious but reassuring. 

"If you ever want to talk, you can, but don't feel pressured," Lori said from across the table, her eyes glistening with tears unshed. 

"Thank you, guys." Paul gave them all a nod, back to his usual calm.

"Leave it to Dale to ruin the mood." Andrea joked, making the whole table break into a soft chuckle.

"It wasn't my intention, and I hate to have to do it again, but shouldn't the others be back by now?" Dale asked, making the others look nervous. 

They all glanced over to Shane, who held the most weight out of everyone at the table, though Paul received a few glances from Lori and Andrea as well as Dale. 

"They probably just got held up somewhere. If they aren't back in the morning, we'll send out the cavalry."Shane said, making sure the group didn't panic.

Paul agreed with the decision and gave Lori a nod before dinner was finally over and everyone called it a night. Paul fell asleep quickly; he had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a long day.