Daryl Dixon was never one for emotions. He didn't let people get close, so he wouldn't be hurt when they eventually left. But as much as he hated to admit it, he was scared shitless as his bike roared up the driveway to a nice farmhouse. He had really grown to care for Carl over the past few weeks, and he was terrified at the possibility of losing him, especially with Sophia now missing.
He drove up to a quaint farmhouse, following the directions the young woman had given yesterday, and came face to face with Glenn and T-dog who stood on the porch. Dale was the first one out of the RV followed by Tank, who came bounding out of the RV and immediately began sniffing around. Andrea and Carol followed them out. Rick and Lori emerged from the house. Daryl's bike came to a halt and he switched off the engine, leaving them in silence. No one was quite sure what to say.
"How is he?" Dale finally asked.
"He'll pull through." Lori said, choking up a bit. "Thanks to Hershel and his people."
"And Shane." Rick said. "We'd have lost Carl if it weren't for him." The group let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Thank God." Carol said, walking up and hugging Lori. "We were so worried."
"How'd it happen?"
"Hunting accident." Rick explained. "That's all it was... a stupid accident."
Daryl looked around at the reunion in front of him. He saw a few new faces, an older man who he assumed was Hershel stood on the porch along with some young women Daryl assumed were his daughters. A weight seemed to have been lifted off of the group as they shared embraces. But one face was missing.
"Lauren?" Daryl asked.
"With Carl." Glenn said, seemingly being the only person who heard him. "She was up half the night helping with the procedure. She's inside if you wanna go see her."
"Nah, I uh-" Daryl mumbled. "Jus thought she might wanna know he's good." Daryl shrugged looking at Tank who was still sniffing around the property.
Glenn gave a small smile and nodded to the house. "First door on the left."
"Watch the dog." Daryl grunted, brushing past Glenn and ignoring the funny look he was giving him. Following Glenns directions, Daryl opened the first door on the left and sure enough he found both Lauren and Carl. Carl was in a large bed hooked up to an IV bag and looking unusually pale. Lauren was on a chair beside him, slumped forward against the bed and using her folded arms as a pillow.
Daryl stopped in the doorway, taking in the scene. Back at their first camp, Lauren refused to sleep when Merle was on watch so that just left Daryl's watch time for her to get some rest. Needless to say, he had seen her asleep quite a few times. But something about this seemed different. Back at camp, she was always on edge, even in her sleep. With furrowed brows and a clenched jaw, she would often wake from nightmares. But the woman in front of him now had none of that. She looked almost... peaceful.
Lauren began to stir and Daryl shifted nervously. He cleared his throat and "Daryl?" Lauren looked up, rubbing her eyes. "Hey."
Daryl grunted. "Dogs outside." He nodded towards the door before turning and walking out himself.
---
A makeshift funeral was held for a man they called Otis, who had shot Carl. Apparently he and Shane had gone to the old highschool a few miles out to get the supplies they needed to save Carl's life. Otis didn't make it out.
Hershel, the older man and owner of the farm, recited a bit of scripture before asking Shane to speak for Otis.
Shane shook his head. "I aint good at it. Sorry."
"Please." Otis's wife, Patricia, pleaded. "You shared his last moments. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."
Shane was obviously uncomfortable but he gave in. He told the whole story, how they had gotten the supplies and were almost out when Shane sprained his ankle. Otis had shoved Shane ahead and declared that they had to save the boy before sacrificing himself. It was a good story. But that's just what it was, a story.
Maybe some of it was true, but something about the way he spoke made Daryl feel uneasy; it was too theatrical. That, paired with the fact that he had apparently decided spontaniously shave his head the previous night didn't sit right. And Daryl hadn't missed the fact that Shane had returned with Otis's gun.
Afterwards, the group stood around the hood of the pickup with Hershel and his eldest daughter, Maggie. Maggie had produced a map of the area showing terrain and elevation.
"This is perfect." Rick said, running his finger across the map. "We'll grid the whole area and start searching in teams."
"Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood yesterday." Hershel said to Rick, stopping him short. "You'd be hiking not five minutes in this heat without passing out. No use to anybody."
Hershel then pointed to Shane. "And you need to stay off that ankle. Go out today and you'll be bedridden for a month."
"Looks like it's just me." Daryl shouldered his crossbow. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."
"Uhm, hello?" Lauren said, waving her arm at him. "I'm fine, I'm going out too."
Hershel shook his head. "Oh No. You may have only given one unit, but you were up all night helping with the procedure. You'll be no use out here with that little rest."
"Aight. Like I said; just me." Daryl confirmed. "Mind if I take the dog?"
Lauren sighed and looked down at Tank who was happily sniffing the ground below her. "Yeah, sure, alright."
Shane, still wanting to be useful, offered to drive back up to the interstate in case Sophia had found her way back.
"Alright. Tomorrow then." Rick nodded. "We'll start doing this right."
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane pointed out. "We need that gun training we've been promising."
Lauren agreed. She knew how to use guns, despite her original dislike of them. But that's about all she could do. She knew how they worked, and she knew how to fire them. She was an okay shot, but she could definitely benefit from some shooting practice.
"I'd prefer if you didn't carry guns on my property." Hershel said. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."
" Okay but for how much longer?" Lauren thought to herself. This guy couldn't possibly think he could just go through the world now without firing a shot.
Shane, seemingly reading Lauren's thoughts, spoke up "All due respect, You get a crowd of those thing wandrin in here-"
"We're guests here." Rick stopped him, turning to their host. "This is your property and we will respect that." Rick took out his revolver and placed it down on the hood of the truck. He looked at the group, waiting for them to do the same. Shane sighed and placed his weapon down as well before looking at Lauren. Begrudgingly, she did the same.
"Sucks having your gun taken away. Doesn't it?" Andrea quipped under her breath. Lauren rolled her eyes at the comment, too exhausted to come up with a witty response.
Rick continued. "First things first; set up camp, find Sophia."
"Look I hate to be the one to ask this but somebody's got to." Shane spoke up once again. "What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."
It grew quiet. Everyone knew what would have to happen if that were the case, but clearly no one wanted to say it out loud.
"You- you do what has to be done." Rick said after a moment.
Maggie looked horrified at this statement. "And her mother? What do you tell her?"
Lauren's brows furrowed in confusion at the girl's question. "The truth." It was a heartbreaking thought, but Carol knew what had to be done with walkers. What else were they supposed to say?
"I'll gather all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying until we're at a practice range offsite." Shane said, changing the topic back. "I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience."
"It would make our people feel safer," Rick reasoned, looking at Hershel who seemed unconvinced. "less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel thought for a moment and finally nodded. "Thank you."
The group began to disperse, Daryl and Shane leaving first followed by Andrea. Lauren stayed back with her brother and the Greene's.
"That stuff you brought, got anymore? Antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asked.
Lauren shook her head. "Brought everything we had last night. Sorry."
Maggie nodded before turning to her father. "We're running short already. I should make a run into town."
"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked, obviously concerned about anyone going back there.
"No." She reassured him. "There's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before."
"See our man there in the baseball cap?" Rick said, nodding towards Glenn who was helping the others set up tents nearby. "That's Glenn, he's our go to town expert." Lauren gave her brother a look. Why was he talking like Glenn was the only one that ever went into the city? Like Lauren hadn't been on every single run with him? "I'd ask him along just to be safe."
"I can go." Lauren offered, wanting to do something useful.
Rick brushed her off, barely sparing her a glance. "No Hershels right, you need to rest."
Lauren scoffed. "Unbelievable." She muttered before heading towards the house. What was his problem? It's like ever since Rick had shown up he had been determined on keeping her from going on any sort of runs.
She approached the farmhouse just in time to see Daryl rounding the corner with Tank, crossbow slung over his shoulder and heading for the woods.
"Hey wait up!" She called, jogging up beside him. "I'm coming too."
"Nah." Daryl grunted as he continued walking. "Heard the old man. Ya need ta rest."
"I'm fine." Lauren mumbled. "Sick of everyone in this damn camp telling me what to do."
Daryl shook his head. "You'll just slow me down."
Lauren paused at the comment. Daryl continued walking, not looking back. "Fine. I'll go on my own." Lauren shrugged trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"Dammit woman would you just listen for once!" Daryl whipped around. "It ain't gonna kill ya ta sit on your ass for one day. Why you gotta be so damn stubborn."
Lauren stood there for a moment and looked at him, her eyes narrow. "Fuck you, Dixon." She spat out, whipping around and storming back towards the house. Tank seemed conflicted, looking between Daryl and Lauren, unsure who to follow. Lauren stopped when she heard her brother's voice.
"Daryl." Rick rounded the corner of the house, clearly not having witnessed the argument. "You sure you'll be alright on your own?"
Daryl stopped briefly. "M' better on my own." He said simply before starting towards the woods again. "Don't worry, I'll be back before dark."
"Hey." Rick called out again. Lauren lingered on the farmhouse porch a few feet behind her brother who had yet to notice her. Daryl sighed and turned around, clearly annoyed. "We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now."
"You got a point or are we jus' chattin?" Daryl quipped, fed up with the delays.
"My point is that it lets you off the hook." Rick told the man. "You don't owe us anything."
Daryl paused, his eyes drifted behind Rick and locked with Laurens before he quickly turned his focus back to her brother. He scoffed and turned around, whistling for Tank to follow as he started walking again. "My other plans fell through."
Rick turned around and finally noticed his sister on the porch. He gave a small smile, looking like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Smart choice. Lauren really wasn't interested in hearing anything he had to say at the moment. Rick walked past her into the house, presumably to go check on Carl. Lauren huffed and headed away from the house. She had no idea where she was going, she was basically wandering around aimlessly with nothing to do.
She approached the small tent village the others had assembled and spotted Lori and Glenn talking quietly. The conversation seemed to come to an end as Lauren approached. Lori gave Lauren a tight smile and walked back towards her and Rick's tent.
"What was that about?" Lauren asked Glenn once Lori was out of earshot.
"Oh Lori was just giving me the list of stuff to get. You know chapstick, deodorant, tampons. Just the usual. Nothing more." Glenn said quickly.
"Okay..." Lauren gave Glenn a funny look. Why was he being so apprehensive?
"Did you need me to get you anything?" Glenn asked, trying to change the subject.
Lauren shook her head. "No, no, I'm good. I will say I'm a little bit jealous that I'm being replaced as your run buddy though." She smirked, nudging Glenn in the arm.
Glenn laughed. "Oh don't even. You know you're my number one partner." He looked over at Maggie who was approaching with two horses.
"You're riding into town...on a horse?" Lauren looked at him in amusement. "Oh my god, we've been here one day and you've already gone full cowboy on me."
Glenn laughed a bit. T-dog suddenly came jogging towards them, a worried look on his face.
"What's up T?"
"We've got a problem." T-dog said, a bit out of breath.
Maggie rode up on her horse, with what was presumably Glenns horse in tow. "What happened?"
T-dog shook his head. "Your water is tainted."
T-dog led Maggie, Glenn, Lauren, and Lori to a well just past the fence of the farm. Dale was waiting when they arrived, hunched over looking into the hole.
"What do you make of this?" Dale gestured to the well. Lauren hurried over to him, anxious to see what all the fuss was about. She leaned over the opening. She couldn't make out anything at first, all she could see was darkness. Then the smell hit. She gagged, covering her nose as the others crowded around as well. Once her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she saw it.
"Holy shit." She muttered. In the water below was a bloated corpse.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a swimmer." Dale said, shining his flashlight down onto the walker. The light illuminated its swollen purple skin. Lauren didn't think walkers could look more disturbing than they already did, but apparently she was wrong.
"I'll get Shane." Lauren said, stepping away from the well and heading back towards camp.
She found Shane and Andrea just outside the RV, cleaning the confiscated guns. She ran up, pointing back towards where she came from. "You gotta see this."
"How long do you think it's been in there?" Glenn asked, looking into the well for the hundredth time.
"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea muttered.
Lori shook her head in disgust, taking a step back. "We've gotta get it out of there. God knows what it's doing to the water."
"We gotta get it out." Shane agreed.
"Easy. Put a bullet in its head" T-dog said simply. "I'll get a rope."
"Woah woah, guys." Maggie, who had been standing by the horses and keeping her distance from the well, shook her head. "No."
Glenn looked at her. "Why not? It's a good plan."
"It's a stupid plan." Andrea said harshly. "If that thing hasn't contaminated the water already, blowing its brains out will finish the job."
"'Hasn't contaminated it yet?'" Lauren looked at Andrea then back at the walker in disbelief. "Look at that thing! If it's been in there long enough to get that bloated and nasty I'm not going anywhere near that water."
"No, Andrea is right." Shane said. "We can't risk it."
T-dog sighed. "So it has to come out alive?"
Shane nodded. "So to speak."
"How the hell do we do that?"
---
"I can't believe we're wasting our food for this shit." Lauren muttered as they lowered the hunk of meat down into the well. They had decided that the best course of action would be to bait the walker into a sort of snare trap. Once it was caught in the rope, the plan was to pull it out in one piece.
"He's not going for it." Dale said, watching the walker completely ignore the meat.
"Maybe 'cause a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it". T-dog muttered. They watched a few seconds longer. Everyone, including Maggie, was crowded around the well.
"He's right." Lori sighed. "There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards."
"Great. So let's just shoot the damn thing and call it a day." Lauren said.
"No." Andrea shook her head, still looking at the bloated corpse. "We need live bait."
Of course all eyes turned to Glenn. Glenn kept looking at the well, oblivious to everyone staring at him until he finally looked up and noticed. He let out a sigh. "Ah man."
"Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut?" Glenn, who was sitting on the edge of the well, laughed nervously as Shane harnessed him into the ropes. "You have a nice shaped head."
"Don't worry about it, bud. We're gonna get you outta here in one piece." Shane reassured him, clapping him on the back.
" Living piece. The living part is important."
Lauren crouched down beside Glenn. "This is a stupid fucking idea. You know that, right?"
"We've done stupider."
"Yeah, together . We've done stupider ones together. " Lauren reasoned. "And our stupid plans don't usually involve one of us getting lowered into a literal death trap by a piece of rope."
"It'll be fine."Shane said, handing him the flashlight. "Now c'mon, help us out."
Lauren shook her head but obliged, standing behind Lori and taking hold of the rope.
"Oh, you people are crazy." Maggie said, shaking her head at the whole situation.
"Can't disagree there." Lauren muttered.
Shane shot Lauren a look before turning to the farm girl. "You wanna get it outta your well or not?"
"Give us an eye there, Maggie?" Dale asked.
Maggie sighed but crouched down beside the well. Glenn glanced back at the group one last time before taking a deep breath and heading down.
"Doin okay?" Maggie asked after a moment.
Glenn's voice echoed back. "Oh yeah, doin great. Living the dream."
It seemed to be going alright. After a few minutes though, Lauren heard a small groan come from the well pump that the rope was wrapped around.
"Uh guys, are we sure this is gonna hold?" She asked quietly, not wanting to alarm Glenn.
"Yeah yeah, it'll be fine." Andrea assured her. A moment later, another noise came from the metal.
Lauren continued to hold the rope, glancing nervously at the old pump. "Okay I seriously think we should pull him u-"
As she was saying this, the old pipe gave way, coming almost fully out of the ground. The overlapping yelling began as they quickly began pulling Glenn back up. As they were pulling, the rest of the pump ripped itself from the dirt. Shane, who was closest to the well, was yanked forward with the rope. Glenns panicked yelling could be heard from inside the chamber.
"Get me out of here! Oh my god! Get me out of here!"
It took the entire group's strength, but eventually, they managed to haul him up enough to hoist himself out. He clambered out of the well and joined the rest of the group in collapsing on the ground. He locked eyes with Lauren and through shallow breaths she gave him an 'I told you so' look.
"Back to the drawing board." Dale said after a moment.
Glenn gave a satisfied smile as he got to his feet, handing Dale the rope. "Says you."
Confused, the group looked down to see the walker trapped. Somehow, in all the chaos, Glenn had managed to get it looped into the rope.
Lauren couldn't help but laugh. She couldn't tell if it was a laugh of disbelief, exhaustion, or relief. Maybe all three? Nevertheless, she staggered over to her friend and pulled him into a tight hug. "You fucking idiot."
Glenn laughed. "Like I said; we've done stupider."