Like Brother - A Daryl Dixon/walking dead fanfic

Chapter 8

After Daryl, me, Andrea, Carol and Dale settled in and pitched our tent, we went to join the Greene family, Jimmy, Patricia and the group for Otis's funeral. Hershel scattered his grave with rocks that I had noticed Shane, T-Dog and Glenn collecting earlier when we arrived. He delivered his eulogy, saying that Otis was a good farmhand and a great friend of the family.

Then after he'd finished, he turned to Shane and asked him to offer his eulogy. 

"No, I don't want to impose-" Shane began to say but Patricia cut across him.

"Please. I need to know if his death had meaning. You were the only one of us who shared his final moments." She tearily begged him.

Then I noticed something strange. Shane's head was bald for some reason. Why? My suspisions were aroused but I had to put them aside for later as Shane grudgingly agreed and started his eulogy.

"Otis was a brave man. He sacrificed his life to save Carl's. He died heroically. The last thing he said to me was "Leave me. The boy's  life is more important. Tell Patricia that I love her so much and I'll see her soon." Shane finished solmenly.

Patricia thanked him tearily for the eulogy and we parted. Then Maggie came to us with a map of the county to help in coordinating the continuing search for Sophia. Daryl and I joined Hershel, Shane, Rick, Glenn and Jimmy to discuss who should go. When Rick started to say who was going, Hershel interrupted him.

"Sorry, Rick but you and Shane aren't fit to go anywhere. You've given three units of blood to your boy. You need to rest and Shane's ankle is in a bad way. You two need to stay here." He told them.

I bit my lip. Who was going to look for Sophia if Shane and Rick couldn't? Daryl spoke up.

"Me and Angel will go look for her." He said.

Rick looked at us. "You sure?" He asked us. I nodded and so did Daryl.

"We need to find her, Rick. Carol's so worried. We'll be fine." I replied.

Rick nodedd. "Ok, be careful." He told us.

Then Shane suggested teaching everyone to shoot. Hesrshel disagreed though. "I won't allow any guns on my property." He stated firmly. Daryl and Shane stiffened in anger but Rick agreed with Hershel.

"We're guests here. We'll respect your terms." Rick said. Hershel nodded and I agreed with Rick. At the end of the day, Hershel had done us a favour by letting us stay on his farm, we needed to respect his wishes. Daryl enquired about his crossbow and my bow. Hersel allowed us to keep them.

"Just don't use them on the farm." He told us. Daryl grudgingly agreed while Shane and Andrea handed over their guns reluctantly. Then we discussed about Dale serving as a lookout for us and Hershel agreed to him. Shane raised the fearful issue of if we found Sophia and she was bitten. 

"Then we do what needs to be done to protect the groub." Rick gravley said. We agreed and Daryl went to get my bow and his crossbow.

Maggie pointed out that we were running out of medical supplies and volunteered to take a trip to the local pharmacy, which was a mile down the road in town. 

Rick nodded and said, "Glenn will go with you. He's our go to town expert." Maggie and I chuckled quietly at the name that Rick had given him.

She caught my eye and smiled. I smiled back. "Hi, I didn't get to introduce myself. I'm Maggie Greene." She said and shook my hand.

I shook back. "Angel Dixon." I replied. 

"Great name." She said and smiled again.

"Thanks." I said and she went to find Glenn. I smiled. She seemed nice. In this world, allies were vital.