I jump out of my seat as I see the farm come into view, Carl was in there hurt and I had to get to him. I was at the door of the RV opening it before it even came to a full stop. I stumble out and run to Rick and Lori on the porch. "Is he alive? Is he ok? Where is he? Can I see him?" The questions come pouring out.
Rick stops me by giving me a reassuring hug. "He's alive, he's ok, he's asleep in one of the rooms. Yes, you can see him, I'll take you to him." He lets go of me and gestures for me to follow him.
Carl is pale, his body is limp as he lay in the bed, his bandages were a little bloody but I could see he was breathing. A sigh of relief escapes from me as I sit down beside him on the bed. I take his small hand in mine. The tears I've been holding back since last night silently fell now. He was alive, but he was hurt and there was nothing I could do about it.
"What happened, brother?" I ask Rick who put his hand on my shoulder.
"We came across a deer in the woods, Carl wanted to pet it but then there was a gunshot and he just fell. Otis was the one who did it, he didn't mean to he was hunting the deer and didn't see Carl behind it. The shot went straight through the deer and hit... hit Carl. We ran here where Hershel worked on Carl. Shane and Otis went to go get supplies that were needed for the surgery but Otis didn't make it back. They are having his funeral later." Rick tells the story then leaves me to be with Carl.
After almost the whole day with Carl, and missing Otis's funeral, I collect myself and thoughts to go meet the Greene family. I learned that the girl who came on horseback was Maggie, she had a little sister Beth. There was also Beth's boyfriend Jimmy. Then there was Patricia who was Otis's wife. I walk up to who I figure would be Hershel the last of the Greene family.
"I'm sorry to bug you, but you must be Hershel, am I correct?" I ask the old man.
"Why yes, I am. And you are?" He asks a smile on his face.
"Esme Grimes, Rick's younger sister, I wanted to thank you for helping my nephew Carl, please if there is anything I can do to help you or your family don't hesitate to ask of me." I smile at him.
"You are a very sweet girl Esme." Hershel smiles back at me. "If need be I'll call to your assistance."
Later we all gather around the truck. We were going to be looking for Sophia some more.
"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel inquires.
"This'll be day three," Rick answers. Maggie comes jogging up and squeezes between Hershel and Rick to lay out a map on the hood of the vehicle. "County survey map," She explains. "Shows terrain and elevations."
"Thank you." I say as I tried to understand the map I was now looking at. I'm sure Rick, Daryl, and Shane can read it, guess I'm just following one of them.
"This is perfect," Rick expresses. "We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."
"Not you," Hershel argues. "Not today. You've given three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He looks across the van at Shane. "And your ankle Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."
Daryl nodded his head. "Guess it's just me."
"I'm here to help too Daryl." I stated.
"Esme, no. It's too dangerous." Shane's disappointed voice comes.
"What would you have me do brother, sit here being useless? Hell no! I'm going whether you like it or not." I say angrily annoyed that he can't trust me to stay safe.
Daryl then clears his throat awkwardly to gain our attention. "We're gonna head back to the creek," He decides. "Work our way back from there."
"I can still be useful," Shane sighs. "I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."
Rick nods his head. "Alright, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right."
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives," Shane points out. "They need the gun training we've been promising them."
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property," Hershel jumps in. "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..."
"Look, we're guests here," Rick reminds Shane before turning his attention back to Hershel. "This is your property and we will respect that." He glances around between all of us before he pulls his Python out of his holster, placing it on the hood of the car. Shane rolls his eyes before doing the same. I follow suit, sadly placing Rick's old gun on the truck. "First things first: Set camp, find Sophia."
"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's gotta," Shane says. "What happens if we find her and she's bitten? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."
Rick hesitates, a guilty look on his face. He still blames himself for Sophia and as much as I try to convince him it wasn't his fault. He won't believe me. "You do what has to be done."
I look away from his sad face. As much as I knew it was the truth, I couldn't think of it, I couldn't bear the thought.
"And her mother?" Maggie asks. "What do you tell her?"
"The truth," Andrea replies. I nod in agreement.
"I'll gather and secure all the weapons, make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off-site," Shane offers. "I do request one rifleman on lookout." He expresses to Hershel. "Dale's got experience."
"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun," Rick adds in hopes to convince Hershel, he thinks for a moment before nods his consent.
"Thank you." Rick says.
Getting ready for the hunt I make sure I have my knife. I knew I could get my gun back only for the hunt, having to return it when I get back. I walk up to Shane as he is packing more guns.
"May I have Rick's old gun?" I ask.
"Why are you going? What are you trying to prove, Esme?" He looks at me upset.
"I'm not trying to prove anything other than I am capable. Besides, we all should be looking. This is a child, and I can't just not do anything. I have to help."
He shakes his head then nods. "Fine but you better be careful."
"Always, brother." I say as he hands me my gun.
I head to where Daryl is waiting. "Ready?" He grumbles and I nod.
Daryl and I walked in silence for about an hour before we find an old farmhouse. I stop just right outside the house as Daryl goes straight up to the doors and kicks them in, I shake my head at his antics. I follow him inside and scan through the first floor. I keep my eyes open for anything out of place. I grab my gun out of the holster as I scan the opposite room from Daryl. There isn't anything in sight that could let us know Sophia was near. Disappointed I go to where Daryl is in the kitchen.
"It's still fresh." He says as I look at the can of food in his hand.
"You think she can still be near?" I ask with hope.
"Could be let's check upstairs first." He says and makes his way up.
I follow but upstairs holds no sign of Sophia.
We searched the surrounding area for two more hours before heading back. It would be dark soon. We really hadn't come across any walkers thankfully.
When I get back we told the others what we found. Afterward, I gave Shane my gun with a satisfied smile. "Told you I would be fine."
He shakes his head but still smiles at me then looks at Daryl. "Nothing happened?"
"No, we didn't come across any walkers." He answers.
"That's not what I meant..." He says to back. I look at him confused as Daryl's face changes to shock then rage.
"ARE YOU IMPLIN' I'M A RAPIST?" He yells getting up in Shane's face. I now understood what Shane's question implied.
"SHANE!!!" I yell I pushing him away from Daryl. "WHAT THE HELL!"
"HEY! I'm just making sure your ok." He says to me. Daryl stomps off to his tent.
"Do I fucking look raped to you? What the hell, besides you know what would have happened if he tried anything!"
"Whoa, I was just...."
"Being an overprotective asshole. Yeah, I know." I say turning around to go to my own tent.
"Hey Esme, you in there?" Came Glenn's voice from outside my tent, I put my book down.
"Yeah, I'm here, you can come in." I answer. He unzips the tent and peaks his head in.
"I was actually hoping we could take a walk." He tells me nervously.
"Oh... Ok." I say getting up confused. What's up with him?
We walk far enough away that no one around and could hear us before Glenn says anything.
"So you know that run I went on with Maggie?" He asks, I just nod. "Well before I went I got the normal list from people of things they need or may want right like I always do." Again I just nod confused even more of where this was going. "Well, Lori asked me to get a pregnancy test...."
I laugh. I actually laugh. "What? Your joking right." I say between breaths, but the look on his face told me he wasn't and that sobers me up from my hysterics. "No.... No.... she can't be, not in this type of world.... Oh. My. Goddess! No..." I shake my head and look back to the campsite where she was hanging up laundry. Who's child? Shane's or Rick's? And in this world... Oh Lord and Lady please no! I just sigh and look at Glenn.
"Thank you for telling me."
"No problem though, uh, you didn't find out from me ok?" He says nervously.
"Right, of course not," I say as we make our way back to camp slowly. "So how did the run go anyway? Find anything useful?"
I look over at Glenn to see him blushing. What did I say?
"It went fine.... Umm oh.... I found you 2 more vails."
"Oh cool thank you! Hey, are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
"Glenn? What's wrong? You can tell me." I say nudging his arm.
"Umm.. well... ok... I slept with Maggie on the run..."
I laughed again. That's all? "And are you two?..."
"Oh umm, I don't know."
"Do you want to be?"
"I don't know. I think so."
"Well then ask her out." I say as we get back to my tent.
The next morning I'm helping Carol hang up the laundry when Lori comes out of her tent.
"I can't believe I slept in," Lori says as she joined us in hanging up the laundry.
"You must've needed it," Carol replies.
"Next time wake me, alright?" Lori requests. "Especially on laundry day."
"Oh, we were doing fine." Carol answers. I just nod. I didn't know what to say to her right now. Was the test positive? Why didn't she tell me? Will she tell me? Or hell Shane and Rick?
"Speaking of Hershel," Carol speaks up knocking me out of my thoughts. "I had an idea I wanted to run by you both."
"What's that?" Lori asked.
"That big kitchen of theirs got me thinking. I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again," She chuckles. "Maybe we all pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight, kind of looking for things to keep my mind occupied."
"After everything, they've done for us, seems like the least we could do," Lori agrees. I just nod again.
"Would either of you mind extending the invitation?" Carol wonders.
"Why?" I ask wondering why we had to do it.
"You're Rick's wife," She says as she nods towards Lori. "Kind of makes you our unofficial lady. And you, Esme well you his sister so that gives you rank as well."
"I didn't know I had rank, but sure I see no harm in asking." I say.
Later we gather around T-Dogs truck to continue the search.
"We got a lot of ground to cover," Rick announces. "Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today," Rick explains. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Esme found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."
"I'd like to help," Jimmy speaks up. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."
"And Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asks.
Jimmy nodded his head. "Yeah. He said I should ask you."
"Alright then, thanks." Rick says.
"Nothing about what Daryl and Esme found screams Sophia to me," Shane speaks up from where he was sitting in the passenger door frame. His ankle was still a problem, so he'd been trying to keep off of it as much as he could. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."
"Anyone includes Sophia, right?" Andrea says.
"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high," Daryl informed. He held out his hand to indicate a height just a little bit higher than his waist.
"Dary's right Shane and if we skip out looking in that area more we can miss her. It's a good lead." I say still annoyed at Shane for his outburst yesterday
"Maybe we will pick up her trail again." Rick says hopefully.
"No maybe about it," Daryl argues as Dale came up by his side with the duffle bag that contained the weapons. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here," He says as he points to the ridge indicated on the map. "Take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."
"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too," T-Dog jokes.
"Chupacabra?" Rick asks. I laugh remembering this story.
"You never heard this?" Dale asks as he pulls a gun out of the bag and gave it to Rick. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra."
Jimmy openly chuckles, causing Daryl to glare at him. "What're you braying' at, jackass?" he snaps.
"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Rick answers for him.
Jimmy tried to reach for the gun that Rick had placed on the hood, but Rick snatched it away before he could get a grip on it. "Hey, ever fire one before?"
"Well if I'm going out, I want one," Jimmy says.
"Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees," Daryl mutters sarcastically as he strapped his crossbow to his shoulder before he went off to start his grid. I laugh at his comment part of me actually wanted to go with him, as crazy as that sounds he wasn't that bad to be around when he wasn't being an ass.
"Why don't you come training tomorrow?" Shane suggests. "If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."
"For now he can come with us," Andrea offers.
"He's yours to babysit then." Shane shrugs.
Rick then explains the grids and the what the plan was. We searched almost all day to no avail. It was now almost sunset and I seemed to be the only one to realize that Daryl wasn't back yet.