𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑, rickyl

hunting the hunter

The time was ticking and the hope of finding Daryl was depleting with every passing moment. Though there was little to no hope left to find the redneck, Rick continued his search, he refused to leave Daryl out here all alone to fend for himself. All the herds of walkers that have been roaming around lately made it that much more dangerous to be out alone.

Rick knew that Daryl was resourceful, he was able to survive in the woods for long periods. However, it may be true Rick still worries about the redneck. After weeks of cooped up in a holding cell at the savior's base, he must have gotten weaker. Little food if any was given to prisoners to make up for all the hungry workers.

That is why he needed to find him before time ran out. Rick hurried through the thick forest brush. Not caring how much noise he made as his boots crunched the light brown leaves beneath his feet. The only lead he had was that Daryl might be heading back home to Alexandra, so he worked with that assumption and followed the path.

Steering clear of the main road he wandered through the forest in case of any rogue vehicles passing through. The forest was also a way to avoid getting chased by large groups of walkers. Sure some were still wandering about here and there, but they were no real threat as long as he kept moving forwards.

It was a long walk from the walls of Alexandra to the hilltop, so he hoped to find Daryl before he got that far. Leaving in such a rush put him at a disadvantage, he wasn't as skilled as Daryl when it came to survival skills. He didn't grab any spare materials to accompany him on his venture, only a few things he had been carrying were gonna have to do.

For all, he knew Daryl could already be halfway there not batting an eye back in the direction of the hilltop. It may take him a little less than a day to reach the walls of Alexandra, but that had to be a long walk even for someone like Daryl. He had to slow down sometime, and that's when Rick would catch up.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours. Rick was getting tired of the same gurgling noises and the same scenery of trees and bushes displayed in front of him. He began wondering if maybe he had been wrong, maybe Daryl didn't come this far into the forest. Maybe he did just go into the forest to hunt and cool down.

At least that was what Rick wanted to believe, his feet were aching and the sun was only a few minutes away from disappearing beyond the horizon. He had an operation that needed to be carried out by tomorrow and no later. But instead of preparing for an all out war, he was hiking through the wilderness in search of a hot headed redneck.

The sky lit up with a breathtakingly beautiful bright orange coloration as the ball of fire continued its descent downwards. Having no source of light to continue his search for Daryl, he had no choice but to stop and find shelter before nightfall. And there weren't many options to choose from, there was nothing but trees for as far as his eyes could see.

If he didn't want to risk stumbling into a mob of walkers, he had to figure something out fast. Maybe a cabin or run down shack, anywhere but out in the open. As he looked around his eyes went to the sky and that's when he saw it. The trail of grey smoke clouds led upwards towards the heavens. A fire.

It wasn't anything big like a forest fire, the smoke was content and controlled by a person. After seeing the smoke he wasted not a second more of the depleting daylight and made his way toward the smoke. Rick's guard was up, not knowing if this person was Daryl or someone else that has been hiding out in the woods.

Rick made sure to stay as quiet as possible, whoever it was, he wanted to have the element of surprise on his side. He stealthily crept up after hearing the crackling embers of the fire popping left and right, he knew he was getting close. He grabbed a small handgun from his back pocket.

He could smell the smoke as well as see the burning orange flames. As the sun vanished and darkness once again took over, Rick's chances of not getting spotted grew. He counted down from five before sticking his gun in front of him, ready for whatever he saw before him.

Seeing the campfire still well-lit with spare logs set around the fire pit he lowered his weapon. No one was there. He scanned the area, looking for any trace of who could have set the fire, and yet there was nothing. Not a single thing was left out in the open. Rick took a moment to toss another log onto the raging embers.

Rick gripped his gun tightly, something didn't feel right to him. His finger was glued to the trigger as his baby blue eyes glanced in all directions. A loud growling sound came from behind Rick, he was quick to face the threat before aiming his gun.

That was when he froze, never before was he unable to kill a walker till now. The creature that emerged from the forest bearing its rotting teeth and slurring its words was none other than the redneck himself, Daryl. Rick almost broke down right then, seeing his friend inching closer to him with sunken eyes and pale white skin.

Rick's heart stopped beating as he backed away, unable to take his gaze off the walker in front of him. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was heading and ended up tripping over a small fallen branch. Rick refused to believe that Daryl was dead, with the growling monster in front of him, he still wouldn't accept it.

Even with a loaded gun gripped in his hand, he couldn't pull the trigger. They had been with each other since the beginning, since the very start of this apocalypse, and couldn't bear the thought of putting a bullet between his eyes. The walker came down on top of him, ready to take a chunk of flesh from his bones.

Rick wasn't ready to give up just yet, his hands struggled to push the walker off him as it snapped at him with its crooked jaw. Tears flowed to his bottom eyelid seeing no other option than to end its suffering. Ending the life of his long-time friend and partner. He looked right into the sunken eyehole for the last time when he noticed something strange.

The eye color, instead of a majestic shade of ocean blue his eyes were brown. The moment he noticed the difference the illusion was broken. Rick began listing off things that were different between Daryl and this walker. They both had long dark brunette hair but that was basically the only similar feature they shared. This wasn't Daryl, he's still out there.

With that in mind, Rick used all his strength to push the walker off to the side, freeing his right hand. It growled one last time before a bullet was lodged deep in its cranium. Breathing heavily Rick lay back down, resting his head against the crunchy leaves.

Daryl was still out there somewhere, and Rick was determined to find him. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sat up. Brushing the leaves and twigs off his clothes and stood on his own two feet. Looking down at the walker he couldn't believe he had mistaken that thing for Daryl. There was a sound of a broken twig in the distance before a voice spoke up.

"Rick?"