A New Place To Stay
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( Rick POV )
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"Well," Hershel paused for a second before meeting my eyes, "How long had this girl be lost?"
He doesn't seem too optumistic about this.
I ran my hand across my face as I thought about the days before slowly answering him, "This'll be day three." We all waited by the car for Maggie to come up to us with a map after deciding we would get their help. This short conversation gave reminded them of a map they had of the entire area. It was old but still accurate as the area had never changed too much. It showed the entire outlay of the forest including the church we had been at not long ago. If we were ever gonna find Sophia, this was our ticket to her.
"This is the county service map...as you can see it goes on for miles. It shows terrain and elevation as well." Maggie laid out this information for us as she slowly opened up the map and laid it on top of the car for me, Andrea, Daryl, and Shane to see.
Daryl looked at the map before motioning over to a certain spot, "The girl was last seen right there." Everyones eyes went to the spot before looking at him in confusion. I raised an eyebrow at him so he'd explain further and he did," Y/N was found over here. She was the last to see the girl in this area before losing sight of her. Said last she spotted her running this way."
I expected Y/N to comment or even add onto anything after Daryl mentioned her. I was met with silence though. I looked at the group to find Y/N was missing. I swear I just saw her.. I looked behind our group huddled around the car only to see her not helping set up camp either. She was inside the house then...or....Only two people would know where she went, I looked up at Daryl, I'll have to ask him later. "This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized and we'll grid the whole area. We can start searching in teams. Y/N could head up to the spot she last saw Sophia...she might recognize the way Sophia headed before she disappeared and it'll give us a route to spread out and focus on."
I had already begun to hatch a course of action only to see Hershel turn to me with a shake of his head, "Not you." I looked into his tired eyes but he remained adamant about his statement, "Not today." I opened my mouth to speak but he stopped me, "You gave three units of blood Rick. Thanks to that your boy is fine but YOU are not fine right now. You wouldn't even be hiking three minutes in this heat before passing out."
This feels like I'm being scolded by my own old man. I still got no words in as my mind went blank and Hershel instantly looked up at Shane. He instantly pointed at Shane and spoke before Shane could argue, "And you. Keep pushing that ankle down and you'll be laid up a month. No good for anybody." Shane looked annoyed but had nothing to say as his leg hadn't gotten any better, "Both of you need to rest a bit."
"Guess it's just me then," said Daryl as he angled himself enough to see the map perfectly. "Hmm..Imma head back up to the creek then. I'll work my way from there."
I nodded at Daryl though I was upset our first day of search was basically down to only one. I guess better to have one than none. I complied to Hershels statement seeing as the second he told Lori she gave him a seriou nod. There is no way I'd be able to leave with Lori on watch. Shane on the other hand was upset but who knew if he'd sneak off. "I can still be useful," Shane directed at Hershel without meeting his eyes. "I'll drive up to the interstate and see if maybe Sophia wondered back for us."
No arguing with Shane right now and at the very least driving was better than out walking, I nodded at him for a brief second before addressing the rest of the group near us, "Alright. Tomorrow then, we start doing this right."
I turned back to the map thinking that was the end of the conversation. Until Shane's voice broke trough the silence, "That means we can't have our people out there with just knives though." I had been focused in on the map but quickly looked up at Shane. "They need the gun training we've been promising them. They need it now more than ever especially if we're gonna be searching those woods." He isn't wrong but...
Hershel shook his head almost timidly before looking to me with a slightly mad face but it was still as calm as he simply tended to be, "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."
I looked down at the map with my hands against the top of the car. I closed my eyes as I stayed silent thinking about what to do. I know Y/N would have guns on her with no one even knowing about it. Andrea has been defensuve about gettting to use guns and Shane is...I do not agree with him not in the slightest but without this man my son wouldn't be alive today and we wouldn't have a place to stay for the time being. We owe everything to this man, at least for right now,
"With all due respect," started Shane with no intent of shying away from his beliefs, "you get a crowd of those things wondering in here-"
I raised my hand across Shanes chest to stop him, I'm sorry Shane...but we have no control here. With having cut Shane off I already sensed a stare of annoyance from his end, "Look...we're guests here and this is your property." I looked over at Shane locking eyes with him, "And we will respect that." With this I pulled my gun out from my holster and I placed it onto the hood of the car. Shane refused to look at me as he removed his gun and not so gently tossed it on the hood as well, better than nothing. "Alright now first things first: Set Camp, Find Sophia."
Everyone nodded but Shane had one more thing to clue into the conversation and this one thing had left everyone without an opinion to share, "I hate to be the one to ask but somebody has got to. So I will." He leaned against the car facing away from the group well more like he refused to look at any of us. Finally he slowly spoke words none of us wanted to think about or acknowledge, "What if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that. We need to be clear now."
I stared at Shane my eyes not wavering. I don't want to even think thats whats happeed but.."You do what has to be done."
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie interjected angrily with her hand slamming down onto the hood of the car as she began to glare at how no one seemed against the idea of having to kill the child if she was bit.
"Simple," stated Andrea causing Maggie to focus on her in shock, "We tell her the truth. Her child is gone.."
(Glenn POV)
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There was basically a meeting going on behind me between Maggie, Hershel, Andrea, Shane and Daryl. But honestly I wasnt paying attention to it, not even a little bit. Why I wasn't you ask? Well...I sighed as I continued to help slowly set up camp while looking into the forest every few seconds. Y/N had asked me to cover her after saying she needed to be alone so she grabbed a different knife from her bag of stuff inside the RV and without warning disappeared into the woods.
"God I hope she's safe," I mumbled this under my breath without realizing that I was right next to Carol who at some point had come by also to help set up camp.
"Did Y/N go looking for Sophia on her own?"
I froze at her voice and kept my eyes on the floor, maybe she isnt talking to me? I glanced over to see her staring straight at me with a worried expression and a frown on her face, dammit she did hear me."I-I'm not sure...she didn't tell me em..exactly.."
Carol came closer, "But..she did go into the woods right? And by herself?"
I only nodded and she looked down seemingly disappointing that Y/N could have possibly gone into the forest. All by herself to search for Sophia, "Carol, shouldn't you be happy? Maybe Y/N has a clue to where Sophia really is."
Carol shook her head as she continued to look down in shame. She barely made any effort to move as she continued to help me set out the stuff for the tents, "I-I have been waiting for a chance to apologize to her."
I looked over at her, "Apologize?"
Carol held in tears as she noticed a fully black figure exiting the woods and slowly making their way back towards the rv. It was y/n of course and they were alone. "Risking her life because I yelled at her and I hit her. I regret it.." I forgot about that. "I was surprised when she didn't fight back. I was scared of what someone as strong as her could have done. She could have killed me where I stood but she did nothing but turn and walk away alone."
I noticed Y/N look up at us. Although she was really far away that she could have been a random geek making her way to the house. I saw her give a slight wave that I returned within a second. "When she gets back just ask to talk to her Carol. I'm sure she wont be mad."
We continued to slowly set up the tents but as Carol looked up at Y/N one last time she said something I hadn't really thought about, "I just wish I knew..why she never denied being at fault for Sophia's disappearance? It makes me wonder if she's pushing herself to find her no matter if it takes her life now."