Flip Side {Daryl Dixon}

{Ghost Hunting}

"Stay here, ghost." She crinkled her nose and fought down the smirk itching at her lips. He turned away and unsheathed his blade as he made his way to the tent to check for any walkers or even Sophia. He couldn't see inside so, so he motioned for Rick to bring Carol up.

"Carol. Carol!" The small woman skittered forward and stopped by the cop. As the woman started to call for her daughter, Eevee caught the snapping branches of someone or something moving not too far away.

Stay here, ghost.

She stepped away from her post as they moved inside the tent, she couldn't stay. Not if that noise could be Sophia Peletier. Slipping from tree to tree, she moved further from the group and closer to the noise. As she ghosted off, Daryl stepped out of the tent to shake his head to say it wasn't anyone they knew.

"Oi, where's the ghost?" Shane's voice shattered the silence, snapping heads around to find any trace of her.

"I told her to stay put!" Growls Daryl as his blue eyes scoured the trees looking for the woman. Church bells chimed, making everyone jump and whirl around to find the source.

"If Sophia heard those then she'd look for it thinking it was us." Everyone tromped through the woods looking for the church.

"Maybe it's Eevee and she found Sophia!" Glenn spoke as they ran through the trees.

"It could even be Sophia ringing them herself!" Rick growl as they hit the cemetery surrounding the church. "That ain't it. It's got no steeple. No bells." He sprinted across the grass to see for himself, everyone close on his heels. They reached the doors and paused before flinging them open to three figures sitting in the pews.

Rick moved to the left, Shane took the middle, and that left Daryl with the veiled woman on the right. He made his way up the isles and made stupidly loud kissing noises to catch her attention. She lurched forward and clawed for his flesh, only to earn a bolt in the head before he danced out of reach.

"I sure hope that's not how you'd greet your future wife." Everyone jerked around towards the doors with weapons drawn, stopping when they saw it was just Evenorra leaning against the door frame. Both Rick and Daryl stormed towards her, expressions angry and eyes blazing.

"Where have you been?!" Rick demands as the two stopped a few feet away.

"I told you to stay put!" Eevee limply nodded and gnawed on her bottom lip.

"Heard noises and figured it could be her, all I found was walkers." Liquid dripped on the wood by their feet and Daryl looked down to see a small puddle of blood growing from the slather of crimson on her hand.

"What happened to your arm? Were ya bit?"

"No, it's not from my arm. Not a bite. It's a laceration to my-" Her hazel eyes rolled and her knees gave out from beneath her. Daryl was closest and he caught her before she could hurt herself further.

"Lift her shirt." Rick motions for him to place her on the pew, stopping when the bells returned- extremely loud and right above their heads. Rick and Glenn raced outside and a few seconds later the bells whirred down to silence. Rick came rushing back in and the two hovered over the woman.

"You gonna lift her shirt or what?" Daryl gave Rick a look that said Are-You-Fucking-Stupid?

"I'm pretty sure she could kill us all in worse ways than a walker bite. If she came to, an' saw us hoverin over her with her shirt up over her head, which of us is doin the explaining?" Rick lightly shook his head and reached down to slide up the hem of her shirt so he could find the wound. Eevee has one large gash from stomach to almost her spine.

"Looks like she got lost a fight with some barbed wire somewhere. We can stitch it up back at the RV. But we gotta go now."

"You go, take the others with you. Finish scouring the creek if you can. I'll keep Shane and Carl with me. See what we can see." Daryl nodded and ripped off the sleeves of his shirt to act as a tourniquet until they could stitch and bind her wounds.

"How the fuck are we supposed to get her to the RV?" Andrea snaps as she throws her arms out to motion over the woman. "I'm not carrying her."

"So's you think we should just leave 'er here to bleed out an' die?" Daryl glared at the group around him. What was wrong with them? "She saved T-Dog, she saved us all, she'll probably save each and every one of ya by the time the week's out!" He bowed up to the pouting Andrea, half of his mouth curled in a snarl.

"If ya didn't care about us, then ya shoulda stayed behind and burned." He turned away and threw his crossbow behind him before scooping the small woman to his chest, forcing down a cringe when her head lolled limply into his collarbone. This won't be the end.

"Let's get goin." He marched the group off back towards the creek and the highway. They were making good pace too, until Carol and Lori started to fall behind from exhaustion.

"I see you have a gun." Andrea snaps, making Lori roll her eyes and shove it at her angrily.

"Why you want it? Take it! I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." She shoved the weapon into the blonde's hands before sitting angrily on a log. Daryl shuffled his feet in annoyance. They were losing time to get Eevee to the RV and save her life. Why did they have no sense of urgency?!

"Fuck it. You dipshits don't give a damn 'bout 'er so I will. Give me the needle, now!" He snatched the needle that Andrea had put in her pocket when Eevee saved T-Dog's life and turned it orange with his lighter. Ripping off the hem of his shirt, he threaded the eye as quick as he could and pushed up her shirt to start closing her wounds, grumbling under his breath the whole time. Lori completely ignored him and turned back to the others.

"Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. But you've got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody? Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you!" Daryl tied off the stitches and pulled Eevee's shirt back down before checking for a pulse. Her skin was pale and clammy to the touch, she had lost a lot of blood between her attack, the church, and now. But with her wound closed up, she should be on the mends from here. He pulled her back against himself as he stood to his full height, lightly hefting her up into a more comfortable position for them both.

"You finally done? We gotta get movin again."