For the time being, Dad had set up Rick's group in our backyard until Carl was well enough to travel, which wouldn't be long at the rate he was recovering. He had already woken up, slipping in out, but it was more than we were expecting for today. For the moment we were going to help them look for the missing girl whose name was Sophia, Carol's daughter.
Dad and I stood by the bonnet of their Cherokee with Rick, Shane, Daryl and Andrea as Maggie had gone to find a map.
"How long has this girl been lost?" Dad asked.
"This'll be day three." Rick responded promptly just as Maggie had made it back.
"County survey map." She said, unrolling the large poster sized map. "Shows terrain and elevations."
"This is perfect." Shane stated as everyone looked over the page.
"We can finally get this thing organized." Rick added. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."
"Not you. Not today." Dad shook his head. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." Dad then turned to Shane. "And your ankle... pushing it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."
"Guess it's just me." Daryl spoke up. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."
"I can still be useful." Shane said. "I'll drive up the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."
"All right, tomorrow then." Rick nodded. "We'll start doing this right."
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them." What Shane said made sense, but I didn't like the idea of strangers shooting on our property.
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." My dad said, basically thinking what I was. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."
"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane said, trailing off.
"We're guests here." Rick cut in. "This is your property and we will respect that."
"Hang on." I chimed in and I felt my dad's stern gaze on me so I turned to face him as I began to speak. "Everyone who doesn't already know how to shoot should have training. Shane's right, if a heard or pack, crowd, whatever you want to call it," I nodded at Shane, "comes past the house, guns may be the only option, but for nothing less then that." I quickly added. "Small groups of them, at least less the ten should be handled with quietly, no gun shots anywhere near the house or it may draw a larger heard to us. If you want to train your people, that's your call." I nodded at Rick. "But not here, there's an empty field a few miles down the road." I pointed it out the on map. "The noise won't carry this far and it's well off our land." I turned to my dad. "But no firing here." I said looking at him waiting to see if he would approve and he soon nodded.
"Right." Rick nodded, pulling out his gun and placing it on the bonnet. "We hand in our guns. Keep them together and hand them back out again if we have to. Train anyone who wants to learn up by that clearing, but first things first. Set up camp, find Sophia."
"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to." Shane began. "What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."
"You do what has to be done." Rick stated.
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked, shocked.
"The truth." Andrea replied.
Maggie looked back at our dad, not liking the idea of someone shooting a little girl while he just shook his head back, silently telling her not to say anything. I turned my head back to the map, feeling guilty for believing in Rick's point of view instead of my father's, but... If she was bit she was dead. It was better to put her out of her misery... if that was even something the dead could register.
"I'll gather and secure the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at that clearing off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout." Shane added at the end. "Dale's got experience."
Everyone turned to face my dad, waiting for an answer. "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to a carry a gun." Rick argued and my dad slowly nodded. "Thank-you."
"No firing for small numbers." I insisted and Rick nodded.
"That stuff you brought..." Maggie spoke up, changing the topic, "got any more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" She asked, knowing we were running out fast.
"Just what you've seen." Andrea replied as Shane and Daryl began to walk away.
"We're running short already. I should make a run into town." She said to dad.
"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked.
"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. We've done it before." Maggie replied, nodding towards me.
"See our man there in the baseball cap?" Rick asked, turning around and pointing to Glenn in the distance. "That's Glenn... our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious." Rick offered, trying to help in anyway he could.
Dad gestured for Maggie to go and speak with him, saying she should take Glenn with her before turning to me. "You're going out there to look, aren't you?" Dad asked and I nodded sharply.
"You don't have to do that." Rick cut in.
"Kat's my eldest... she makes her own decisions and she doesn't do anything she's not willing to do." My dad replied for me. "And she knows the land better than anyone, even me."
"I don't mind, really." I insisted. "Besides, there's only a small window for this kind of thing. If Shane and yourself can't go out today, someone else needs too."
Rick nodded, "Thank-you. You should speak with Daryl, get a plan for the day." I nodded back and sent my dad a small smile before picking up my hat off of the bonnet of the car and placing it on my head, walking away to find Daryl.
He hadn't gone far and was standing by his motorbike, packing a few things away before he was to heading out.
I spoke first once he saw me approaching. "Rick told me to speak to you. I'm heading out, going to search the woods a bit."
Daryl's eyes flick over me quickly, from the heel of my tan cowgirl boots that had my dark, ripped skinny jeans tucked into them, to my grey singlet with my dark grey and white plaid shirt hanging unbuttoned over it, to the tip of my straw cowgirl hat. Not in a creepy way, more in a way that said he clearly thought I was made of the wrong material for the job.
"You'll slow me down and you have no weapon." His voice wasn't harsh, but I wouldn't call it friendly. It was also deep and husky which probably didn't help.
"I never said I was going to work with you, Sparky." I stated back sarcastically with the slightest hint of a smug smile causing him to narrow his eyes just the tiniest bit. "I just need to know where exactly you plan on searching so we don't double up."
"I'll start at the creek where we first lost her then follow it up, back track and go the other way and then do a wide search in the direction back to the farm, won't go any further than three miles out from the creek."
"Alright." I nodded and turned on my heels, taking a few steps before he spoke again.
"You still can't go out there unarmed."
I turned back around, continuing to walk backwards. "You let me worry about that, Tough Guy." I actually got an eye roll this time as I turned back around and began my way to the stables.
I saddled up Harley this time, a black mare, before swinging up effortlessly into the saddle. I rode her over to the house, meeting Jimmy there.
"Hey, Jim, can you run and grab Otis's shotgun for me? I'm going out to help with the search and dad has all his rifles under lock and key."
"Yeah, sure."
"Ask Trish first, yeah?" He nodded and sprinted inside. I did know how to shoot. I had been out hunting with Otis a couple of times and as a farmer's daughter it was kind of in the description. Maggie knew as well, but dad just wasn't a big fan of guns so we didn't carry. Beth hadn't been taught yet and I kind of hoped she would join the training group, Patricia as well and Jimmy.
"Here." Jimmy came back, holding it up for me to take. "Patricia said it's loaded, but here's a few extra rounds." He replied, holding up a few of the shotgun bullets. "I thought your dad didn't want guns around."
"He doesn't want strangers walking around with guns. I know what I'm doing, and it's just a precaution. Where's Beth?" I asked, expecting her to be with Jimmy.
"Inside with Patricia, she's staying close to her for the day, in case she needs anything." That sounded like Beth I thought with a smile as I flicked the safety on, on the gun and placed the strap over my shoulders, spinning it so it rested on my back.
"Alright, well I'll see you later, have a sandwich ready for me when I get back." I stated in a pleading tone.
"You got it." He responded with a smile before I turned Harley and cantered off in the direction of the woods to start searching.
I had watched enough late night cop show in my life to know that by now the chances of finding a missing child alive were slim and that was before the outbreak. I wasn't going to get my hopes too high, but that didn't mean I was going to give up, whether I had met this girl or not. Rick's group weren't going anywhere until they had their answer anyway.
I was scouring the woods for a few hours, searching in every hideout and clearing I knew of which was basically all of them before coming to the place I had been edging towards from the beginning. It was an old abandoned two-story house that had been empty for years.
As I approached the house, coming out of the trees, I saw a familiar figure heading towards it in front of me, crossbow ready in his hands. Harley stepped on a twig causing it to snap easily under her weight and Daryl Dixon spun around, quick as a snake, ready to shoot.
"Easy, Hotshot. What happened to the plan? Creeks that way." I pointed south-east.
He lowered his weapon as I gracefully swung my foot over the back of Harley and jumped down on the grass lightly. "I said I'd cover the ground three miles out from it." He stated stubbornly.
"You did." I nodded, "But you're about four and a half miles out."
"Three."
"I used to come here all the time when I went out riding with my sisters... It's four and half miles out." I continued just as stubbornly as him.
Daryl huffed, now completely dropping the crossbow to his side and letting it hang loosely in his hand. "Well, I'm here now." He responded before turning sharply and continuing to head for the house.
I led Harley behind him for a bit before looping the reigns back over her head and hooking them over the pummel of the saddle and leaving her standing there, knowing that she wouldn't go anywhere until I got back.
Daryl checked around every corner with his crossbow ready to face what his group called Walkers while I trod carefully behind him, Otis's shotgun in my hands. It wasn't the best of things to have with me. A rifle or handgun would have been preferred, but it was the best I could do.
"Psst." I heard Daryl grabbing my attention. When I turned to face him he nodded for me to come over to him. When I did he showed me what he had found; a freshly opened and eaten can of anchovies. And by fresh I mean in the last 12 hours maybe; the juice in the bottom of the can didn't smell to bad yet. Daryl nodded over to where a pantry door nearby was slightly opened as he raised his bow a little and quietly crept closer.
With his free hand he lightly swung the door open, revealing a few cans of food on the shelves that Maggie, Beth and I had placed there for when we came out here years ago. In the open space at the bottom, however, were a couple of blankets and a pillow that had clearly been slept in, but no Sophia.
"She couldn't have gone far if it was her. It wouldn't make any sense for her to leave."
Daryl nodded as an agreement before nodding over to the stairs. "You check upstairs, I'll go 'round outside. If we don't find anything else here, we'll head back, do a wide search." I nodded and started for the stairs, shot gun ready, but before I could take the first step up I felt a tap on my upper left arm and turned to see Daryl holding out a handgun for me. "It'll be easier and quicker than that." He explained, nodding to Otis's old shotgun. "More accurate as well."
"Thought Shane collected all of these." I stated, but still took it from his hands.
"He mentioned something about handing it once I got back." Daryl replied.
"Thanks." I responded politely and he walked out with another nod.
There was nothing upstairs, not so much as a moth so I headed back out once I heard Daryl yelling out Sophia's name as he did a perimeter sweep, but there was never any reply.
I came outside, lightly stepping down the concrete stairs just as Daryl appeared to be kneeling down in front of a plant and picking a flower.
"Rosa Laevigata?" I asked, taking a few steps towards him as he stood up, but still kept about five metres between us. He gave me a look of surprise over the fact that I even knew what it was. "I'm not much of a Botanist, but I know what grows on our land and around it." I shrugged, making it over to Harley and rubbing her nose as she nuzzled into my hand with a quiet whinny.
"I don't know what the hell you called it, but I've always known it as a Cherokee Rose."
"There's that to." I smiled.
"You know the story?" He asked. I looked over at him curiously and shook my head as I unhooked the reigns from the saddle and looped them back over Harley's head so I could lead her on the way back.
He didn't say anything as he began to walk away from the house so I decided to ask. "So what is it? The story."
Daryl kept the flower in his hand with the crossbow as he took the lead with Harley and me beside him. As we were walking, shortly after a brief silence, he decided to tell me the legend.
"The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation... A lot of them just disappeared."
He paused for a moment as I looked at him from the side before he turned to face me, but looked away almost instantly before continuing. "So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell."
"You think it's a sign?" I asked curiously as we walked, looking at the blooming flower in Daryl's hand and trying to avoid the smile that wanted to spread across my mouth. It was a sad story, but I wasn't expecting it from him and for some reason that made me want to smile.
"Maybe. It's something for Carol to hold on to at the very least." Now I actually did smile. Daryl saw for a brief moment, but didn't hold my gaze before breaking eye contact, yet again. "We should spread out." He changed the topic right away, still looking out to the side.
"Alright." I agreed, getting the distinct feeling that Daryl wasn't the type for sharing emotions or getting too sentimental and he'd apparently had his share for the day.
We split up, staying within each other's sight as we headed back to the house, but found nothing else. Once we had made it back I gave Daryl back his gun and left to wash down Harley.
When I finally got back to the house, I placed Otis's gun away in the cupboard where he had always kept it and went into the kitchen to find Beth and Jimmy waiting for me with a sandwich at the ready.
So what do you think so far?
Kat's outfit is in the media image. She is a country girl so i needed the boots and i think it's cute. :)
FYI, yes this is a Daryl fan fiction, obviously, but i won't be having them getting together and saying i love you right away, it's not in his or her nature.
Their relationship will be more about connection, silent mutual agreements and just knowing what the other feels without actually saying anything.