"Now, your biggest problem will be infection," I tell T-dog as I carefully wrap a clean-ish shirt around his arm to keep more dirt and other elements out. Daryl stands up and opens the saddle bag of the motorcycle, bringing over a gallon sized zip lock bag, setting it on the hood of a car. I spring up and look over Daryl's shoulder.
"Got my brother's stash. Crystal, X—Don't need that." He said as he rummages through the bag. I other things that Daryl doesn't mention. Oxycontin, Lithium, Vallum.
"Got any H?" I say without thinking.
"No," Shane snaps. I swallow guiltily, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Nah, he used that all up already," Daryl says. "I got some kickass pain killers though." He then pulls out a smaller bottle, and passes it to me, "Doxycycline, and not the generic stuff neither." I stare at the bottle for a moment, before forcing myself to walk back over towards T-dog, the bottle feels like it weighs a hundred pounds. I open the bottle and pour two into my hand, and hand them to T-dog before quickly putting the cap back on and handing them out to Daryl.
The more I held them, the more likely it was for me to take a few, and I need to be clean for this shit whole. For T-dog, for Sofia, and for Carl, but even if I thought that, I still noted where Daryl put the drug bag.
Rick eventually came back, but without Sofia, he convinced Daryl, Glenn, and Shane to go back out and try and track her down, leaving Dale and I to worry about T-dog. Lori and Carl were in the RV comforting Carol and Andrea was messing with her gun at the table in there.
"How are you doing? That was a lot just then," Dale asks reminding me of a father looking after a child.
"It was intense, but when is anything not intense now?" I ask rhetorically while leaning back against the RV, looking up at the sky.
"True, true. You were a nurse before this?"
"Self-harm nurse for at risk teens essentially. I worked at a homeless shelter," I say, looking over to him, noting the softness in his eyes.
"Why'd you go into it?" He asked, and you could tell he was waiting for me to retaliate in some way, I didn't.
"I—My childhood was rough after Rick moved out of the house. Then depression started... and it spiraled from there..." I trailed off. He doesn't need to know everything yet.
"And then the heroin." It wasn't a question. I nodded shamefully, that was a long few years. "How long have you been clean?" He asked, there was no judgement in his words, or his eyes.
"About four years."
"Did it ever get easier?"
"No. It comes in waves. There have been quite a few times were I've almost reset that count down," I whisper, Dale wraps his arm around my shoulder in a side hug. I cleared my throat and stood up. "I've gotta loosen T-dog's tourniquet," I say quickly, and walk over to T-dog not looking at him in his eyes, and slowly loosen the tourniquet. "Only a few more times, T, and then I can take it off all the way," I reassure him, he nods tiredly.
Shane and Glenn came back after that, and said Rick and Daryl were staying out a little longer, and Shane starts ordering people around to get the RV turned around so as soon as we find Sofia, we can leave.
"Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?" Carol demands after watching the tree line for a while.
"We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map," Dale explained, and I walked over from where I was helping Lori sort through clothes.
"Goin' back's going to e easier than trying to get through this mess," Shane says after getting out of the car he used to push another.
"And gas efficient," I mention.
"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol state, there was no room for argument. Lori walks over and sets her hand on Carol's shoulder.
"Hey, that goes without saying," Lori reassures softly, and goes back to sorting clothes, I go to help her, glancing at T-dog who was curled up in a ball, I'll have to ask Daryl about those pain killers.
"Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay? Just a matter of time," Shane says fiddling with the shotgun he had in his hands.
"Can't be soon enough for me," Andrea says as she and Glenn walked over. "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it."
"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that," Glenn asked, his voice wavering slightly.
"A herd. That sounds about right. We've seen it, it's like the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer," Shane says, and for once I agree with him, a herd sounds about right.
When the sun starts to set, that's when Rick and Daryl come back, Rick covered in blood, but quickly reassuring everyone that it was Walker blood.
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods," Carol cried, hugging herself, she looked about ready to collapse.
"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost," Daryl defended their decision to come back and rest for the night.
"But she's twelve!" She cried. "She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" She pleads with both Daryl and Rick.
"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there," Rick said, ever the sheriff to make sure people don't panic.
"And we tracked her for a while," Daryl added, trying to help in any way that he could.
"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick said quickly, and then pointed towards Daryl who was still slightly behind him. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody, I've asked him to oversee this." I glanced over at Daryl, who was standing there uncomfortably, holding his cross bow over his shoulder.
"How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" Carol sobbed.
"It's not his fault, Carol," I mutter under my breath shaking my head.
"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance," Rick defended himself, bending down to try and catch Carols eyes.
"He didn't have a choice," I speak up this time, Her eyes turn to mine, and I pull her into an embrace, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and squeezing tightly, and she starts sobbing in earnest.
"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own?" She asks wetly. "She's just a child..." She repeats into my collar bone, I just hold her, swaying gently, running my hands up and down her back as I try to soothe her.
"It'll be okay. Tomorrow we are going to go out there, and we will find her, and she will be okay," I say even if I didn't know if we would actually ever find her, but we had to try.
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1259 Words
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His Everything
Horror"Stop lookin' at me like that," Daryl whispers, inches away from Abby's face. "Like what?" She asked running her hands through the hair at the nape of his neck. "Like- nevermind," Daryl whispered, and closed the distance between them. Meet Abb...
