"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick rolls out some sort of assortment of tools on the hood of a car.
"These aren't the sort of weapons we need." Andrea complains. "What about the guns?"
I stifle a groan. She doesn't even know how to use a gun.
"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane replies, leaning against the RV.
I have no complaint. I never want to fire a gun again.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea remarks under her breath.
Shane berates her, telling her of all the dangers that the sound of a gun creates. "You need to get over it." Shane eyes Andrea condescendingly.
Daryl shakes his head, getting between the two. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are, she'll be by the creek." He looks to Carol reassuringly. "It's her only landmark."
I glance between the two. Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure Sophia is out there. My grandfather always said to never chase ghosts. However, this was the task the group has decided to uptake, and I am in this group.
As much as I hate to think it, Daryl was never the person I thought would be most motivated in finding Sophia. Maybe he feels a connection to the lost little girl. Maybe he was a lost child himself.
"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane commands.
I cinch the green backpack I found in one of the cars up, adjusting my bow and following Shane and Daryl towards the trees.
We walk in a single file line through the forest, listening for any sign of the little girl.
I walk beside Lori and Carl, and Shane trails behind us.
My heart jumps when I don't see Carl anymore, but I sigh when I see him walking slowly after us. "Tired already?" I tease.
"No." He mopes. "I think Shane's mad at me."
I furrow my brows, keeping my eyes on the dense forest. "Why do you think that?"
"He's just been kind of mean lately."
I look back at Shane. Something is wrong with him, but I'm still not sure what. He always seems agitated. I turn back to Carl. "Maybe he's worried about Sophia." Lori says nothing, suspiciously, and I quietly try to figure out what connected Shane and Lori the remainder of the walk.
Hours of searching later, and all we've found is a dead man in a tent and an empty church.
Shane tells us to go back, something about him and Rick looking longer.
None of us want to leave, but I can tell Carol's energy is draining. Carl's face is flushed pink, and he hasn't spoken in awhile. I nod, tugging on Carl's sleeve. He pushes me aside. "I want to stay, too. I'm her friend." He steps forward, defiantly looking Rick and Shane in the eye.
I worry for Carl, but say nothing. He's not mine , I tell myself.
They hesitantly nod, and we split up, following Daryl back to the trees. I walk alongside him, watching the trail ahead.
"Guess the plan is whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl mutters, leaning against a tree as the other sit down on a fallen log.
"With pointy knives and sticks." Andrea remarks, turning to Lori with a sour look on her face. "I see you have a gun."
I scowl in her direction. I have always tried my best to be kind to Andrea, but she seems to be able to challenge every last ounce of patience.
Lori tears it from her waistband, handing to to Andrea. "Why, you want it? Take it." She thrusts it at her. "I'm tired of the looks you're giving me."
Andrea takes the gun, embarrassed.
The others bicker, but I ignore them, walking toward Daryl. "Hey." I greet him, looking in the direction he gazes in.
He glances up at me with a gentle ghost of a smile . "Hey."
For some reason, the way his intense eyes bore into mine makes my heart beat faster, and I find myself clamming up, crossing my arms and pretending to survey the area.
A gunshot rings out and all of us flinch.
"That was a gunshot." Lori states.
"We all heard it." Daryl remarks nonchalantly.
"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori demands, looking to the sound.
"Maybe they took a digo." I suggest weakly.
"Don't patronize me, they wouldn't use a gun to take out one walker." Lori snaps. I shrink back, looking at the ground.
"Nothin' we can do about it anyway." Daryl retorts, looking at me briefly. "Can't be runnin' around these woods chasing echoes."
"So what do we do?" Lori asks.
"Same as we've been." Daryl replies, turning back to the trail. "Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."
"I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't end up like Amy." Carol blubbers. I pat her arm softly.
"We're all hoping and praying with you." Andrea replies dryly. "For what it's worth."
Daryl scoffs. "I'll tell you what it's worth. Not a damn thing. A waste of time, all this hoping and praying." I give him a pleading look, but he goes on, looking into Carol's eyes with a strange intensity. "We're gonna locate that little girl and she's gonna be just fine." He glances around at the women. "Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord."
We stand around, shocked for a second. Lori and I give each other small smiles as we follow him back to the highway. I catch up to Daryl and walk next to him. "That was...Kind of nice of you." I praise, falling into step with him.
He looks at me out of the corner of his vision, blue eyes stormy. "Nice ain't got nothin' to do with it. It's the truth."
I smile. "You're not as mean as you act, you know."
He scoffs as he looks back at the trail, but smallest smile graces his lips.
"How much farther?" Lori asks.
I take in the landmarks, glancing around the trees. "Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies."
Daryl nods in agreement.
"Too bad we aren't crows." Andrea mutters.
Hearing a scuffle in the brush, I hush the others, looking at Daryl and drawing a line from my eyes to the bush on my left. He nods, and I silently stalk up on it, arrow notched.
Instead of Sophia, or even a walker, I find a rabbit, frozen in fear. Using this to my advantage, I efficiently pin it to the ground, slitting its throat.
I walk back into the clearing, holding it by the ears.
"Just a rabbit." I report, showing it to Daryl.
"Damn. He's big." Daryl nods approvingly, taking the rabbit and putting it in my backpack.
"It's like you have a sixth sense for detecting rabbits." Glenn eyes the dead animal with both awe and disgust.
Suddenly, Andrea's blood curdling scream echoes out behind us, and we scramble back, following her cries.
We spot her in a clearing down the hill, a digo pinning her to the ground.
"Can you make the shot?" I breathlessly ask Daryl, hurdling a tree root.
"Not moving." He grunts.
Just as I we reach the area, a woman on a horse soars past Andrea, knocking the walker to the ground with a baseball bat.
"Lori?" She asks. "Lori Grimes?"
"I'm Lori." Lori runs into the clearing.
"Rick sent me, you've got to come now. There's been an accident, Carl's been shot." I gape. Not Carl. The woman turns to a shaky Lori. "He's still alive, but you need to come now."
I barely keep my mouth shut. Carl? Shot? My mind races as I think about his odds of survival in a time like this.
In shock, Lori takes a seat on the back of the saddle.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know this girl! You can't get on that horse!" Daryl argues, pacing the clearing wildly.
"She could be anyone." I plead, tugging at the bottom of Lori's pants. She ignores me, trembling.
"Rick said you had others on the highway? That big traffic snarl?" The girl with the baseball bat asks. I nod. "Backtrack to Fairburne road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox, name's Greene. " With that, she whips the reins on the horse's back and the two gallop in the same direction from which she came.
I turn back to Daryl. "Should I follow?"
Glenn furrows his eyebrows. "Why?"
"What if she was lying?" I ask with suspicion, hiking up my backpack.
"No, Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name, and Carl's."
I shake my head. "Better to be safe than sorry." Daryl surprises me when he lightly grabs my arm, stopping me.
"It's gonna be dark. Don't need another little girl lost in the woods." He warns.
I scowl. "Fine, but we should head that way soon."
"Preachin' to the choir, Pocahontas."
•••
After informing Dale and T-Dog of the change of events, we decide to leave the highway the next morning, much to Carol's protest.
At dawn, we elect to leave behind the car with snacks and a sign for Sophia. I pull a bag of animal crackers from my backpack, laying it on the hood of the car. Carol squeezes my arm softly in thanks, an almost tragic smile crossing her face. Hesitantly, I pull her into a hug, walking her to the RV. "Thank you, Sonora." She squeaks, blinking away tears before turning back and climbing into the RV.
Daryl walks up behind me, giving me a head nod. "Guess you're with me."
"Alright, I'll drive." I deadpan, walking toward he motorcycle.
Daryl is stopped in his tracks, looking at me incredulously.
I shake my head, smiling . "I'm kidding. C'mon, don't have all day." I mock.
He scoffs and shakes his head, lashing his crossbow to the back of the bike before climbing on. I swing my leg over the seat and lightly wrap my arms around his torso, and find myself trying to touch him as little as possible, hoping he isn't uncomfortable.
Am I really nervous about touching Daryl? I question myself.
He doesn't start the engine for a minute, and I feel my face grow hot with embarrassment. "Sorry, is that ok? I can try and hold on--" Daryl cuts me off when he takes my hands into his own big, rough ones and plants them around his waist.
"Stop bein' so sorry, rabbit girl." He mutters, starting the bike and accelerating down the road.
I smile at his words, leaning against him less timidly and resting my cheek on his back.