Dallas stayed quiet at first, the awkward silence not particularly bugging him. his eyes scanned the spaces in between the trees, looking for any movements.
he held his knife out, messing with the blade nonchalantly. he watched the man in front of him walk for a moment. his gaze was switching between the ground and the upcoming tree line. he was very focused, as if he was was trying to tell what happened in the area earlier.
Dallas took his gaze off of him again, and glanced to Carol. she was gripping her knife tightly, watching Daryl timidly. he started looking around once again for any movement. he noticed a roamer approaching, eyes fixated on the small group as it dragged itself in their direction. it's arms hung loosely at its side, and it's feet dragged as it walked. it was thinner than an average person, and was quite short. it seemed unbalanced on its own two feet.
he broke away from them, walking over to stab it. it finally moved its arms, reaching for him as he approached. he pushed past her arms, and didn't hesitate to push the knife into her skull. she dropped, and he turned back to join the two.
it had been around thirty minutes when Daryl motioned for the group to stop. he looked at the ground with a small frown. Lori looked at him with confusion.
"something happened here," he remarked, gesturing to the ground. looking closer, Dallas could sort of see a bunch of the leaves were shaken up and most out of place.
"what do you think happened?" T-Dog asked, trying to look closer at the ground. Daryl was silent for a moment, slowly circling the spot with his crossbow by his side. he looked at Carol momentarily before answering.
"looks like she ran. but she was running from something," Daryl said, and pointed a direction that led left. they both followed behind him as he continued to speak. "there ain't no blood though. that's probably a good thing."
"can you tell how long ago it happened?" Carol asked, backing close to Lori.
"at least a day ago," he replied. his facial expression tightened as they moved forward. he went silent after that, and it was another hour before anything happened other than the occasional walker.
there was a gunshot. all of their heads perked up, and frantically looked around. in a second, he looked back to Daryl to see what he wanted to do.
"maybe they took down a walker," T-Dog said aloud, glancing at Daryl. he shook his head, but Lori was the one to answer.
"no, Shane and Rick know how to take one down quietly," she refuted, crossed her arms and looked behind them all again. she had a worrisome look across her whole face.
"maybe it was Glenn and Andrea," Carol spoke, but Daryl shook his head once again.
"that was definitely Shane and Rick. Andrea and Glenn are in the other direction," he told her. "i don't get why it was just one shot though."
"shouldn't we go see what happened?" Carol asked. he took a moment to think.
"nah, we'd be chasing an echo for hours. we'll continue the same plan, hitting bushes for Sophia," he decided, and pointed down the path they were following. they all followed him, eyes still glancing around. Carol hung in the back, eyes down as she presumably worried about not only Rick and them, but her daughter.
around twenty minutes later, they could hear an unfamiliar sound. Daryl was the first to stop, head perked up and scanning the area. he held his crossbow up, and everyone raised their weapons. it sounded loud, like the sound of a horse's hooves slamming into the ground as it quickly tried to run to its destination. but why would a horse just be out in these woods?
Dallas didn't have to wonder long, as a woman on a horse appeared from the tree line. she saw the group, and directed her horse to them. everyone still had their weapons out, ready for a fight if this girl brought trouble.
"Lori?" she spoke, no hesitation when she reached them. "Lori Grimes?"
"I'm Lori," Lori spoke, stepping away from the group and up to the lady. she looked worried, and the moment Lori announced herself, she scooped up on the horse to make room.
"Rick sent me, you gotta come now," she spoke, grasping the reins on the horse to keep it still.
"what?" Lori questioned, eyes narrowing. the girl took a short breath, and continued to explain.
"there's been an accident," she started. Lori's eyes grew wide as she spoke. "Carl's been shot."
Dallas had never seen such fear on somebody's face before. she looked horrified for a moment, mouth in a silent gasp. Daryl, on the other hand, looked confused and eyed up the lady.
"he's still alive, but you gotta come now," she told her, attempting at some reassurance. Lori still didn't react further, just gripped her bag tightly. "Rick needs you. just come."
Dallas watched as Lori immediately started to walk to the horse. Daryl stepped up, not reaching to stop her.
"woah woah. we don't know this girl. you can't get on that horse," he stated, pointing at her as Lori reached for her hand.
"Rick said you have others on the highway? that big traffic stall?" she asked, ignoring Daryls comment.
"uh huh," T-Dog muttered, glancing between her and Daryl. he looked at her with disbelief, and glanced at Dallas. he shook his head, agreeing with Daryl.
she started to tell him the address, and how to get there. T-Dog just nodded, looking absolutely dumbfounded as she spoke. as soon as she told them the last name, Greene, and that they'd see it on the mailbox, she turned and rode away, with Lori glancing back as she held on.
they all stood there, confused, and looking at one another. they all turned as another roamer stumbled towards them, breaking the silence. Daryl raised his crossbow, and shot.
"shut up," he spoke towards it, walking forward and grabbing his arrow from its skull. he turned back to look at the small group. "well? what're you doing? guess we're going back."
he started walking back in the direction of the highway, no words spoken as they walked. turns out, Andrea and Glenn had heard the gunshot as well, and had went back to the highway. they met up with Daryls group, and Carol explained what happened to them as they hurriedly walked back.
Dale stood on the RV, only climbing down when he saw the group approaching. Carol explained what had just happened as she crawled over. Glenn followed behind her.
"shot? what do you mean, shot?" Dale practically demanded, a new look of worry crossing his face.
"i don't know, Dale. i wasn't there. all i know is that this chic rode in on a horse and took Lori," Glenn said, climbing over the small rail and back onto the highway.
"and you let her?" he seemed astonished, looking at Daryl as he spoke. he stopped for a moment.
"climb down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. she knew Lori's name. and Carl's," he spoke, setting down his crossbow as he walked towards the RV.
"and i heard screams. was that you?" Dale asked, turning to face Andrea. she just kept walking, giving him no response.
"she got attacked by a walker. close call," Glenn told him.
"Andrea? are you alright?" he fretted. Dallas figured that was her dad, by how worrisome he acted over her. he seemed like a sweet guy.
she turned around, and looked at him. she nodded her head, then slowly shook it. she turned back around, and walked into the RV. she shut the door behind her, indicating she didn't want anybody to follow. Dale watched with concern heavy on his face.
