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RICK PLACED a finger on the map, "take him out to senoia- hour there, hour back, give or take. we may lose the light, but we'll be halfway home by then." he explained.
"this little pain in the ass will be a distant memory." daryl murmured, standing up, "good riddance."
rosaline rolled her eyes at him, "yeah cause you won't have to watch him."
"exactly," he replied to her, a smirk twitching its way onto his lips.
"carol's putting together some provisions for him," rick said, "enough to last a few days."
the rumbling of a car upon gravel caught their attention, shane was driving up the drive with the boot open. rosaline shot daryl a look before the former sheriff continued speaking to daryl, glancing at her momentarily too, "that thing you did last night-"
daryl dropped his stare, "ain't no reason you should do all the heavy lifting."
the girl sat down next to him, their shoulders brushing slightly, "you did the right thing." she whispered.
he nodded at her solemnly.
"so are you two good with all of this?" rick queried, trying to make sure the two got the plan so that there would be no confusion when they set out.
"yeah." rosaline said.
daryl spoke up, "i don't either of us trading haymakers on the side of the road. nobody'd win that fight."
the car door closed and shane paced up the grass, locking eyes with rick.
"i'm gonna take a piss." daryl informed, not wanting to be around for the conversation with shane. he placed the map under the former sheriff before leaving.
rosaline threw her head back, "too much information."
"what you wanna join? go together?" he asked playfully.
rosaline laughed, "i'll pass."
he disappeared around the corner leaving them with the bald man below. shane raised his head, "hey, you two seen carl lately?"
"he's inside with his mother." rick replied placing a hand on his waistband.
rosaline quirked an eyebrow as he continued, "look, he came to me. okay, i wasn't supposed to say anything, but he was out in the swamps yesterday."
immediately the green-eyed girl whipped around, "by himself?"
shane nodded at both of them, "he came across a walker stuck in the mud. he got scared, ran off."
"the same walker that killed dale?" rick assumed.
"that's the one..." he muttered.
rosaline put her hand on her forehead, sighing. that kid was out looking for trouble constantly now. how come no one was watching him? should she have been doing that?
rick looked the other way for a moment, clenching his jaw, "i'll have lori talk to him."
"look, i think... i think he wants to talk to his father." shane corrected him.
rick jerked his chin to the side, "well i need this randall thing done already."
shane gave him a side-eye, "man, that needs to wait, okay?"
"it's my call." rick lowered his voice, to reiterate what he meant.
"how about i ride out with daryl and rosaline? be good for us to spend a little time together."
that rang alarm bells in rosaline's mind. she would not let shane and daryl in the same car. rosaline opened her mouth to speak but rick seemed to read her mind, "nah, i need you here."
"don't think i'll handle it right, huh?" shane asked.
"didn't say that." rick shook his head.
"what you say? you know, your son." he started to shuffle through his pocket, fishing out a gun, "he gave me this." the bald man glanced to rosaline, "you should get that back to daryl, huh?"
she shot him a look before putting the gun in her waistband, "i'll hold onto it."
shane scoffed before turning the conversation back to his friend, "freeing that prisoner... more important to you than carl."
"shane i don't think you seem to understand. days are getting shorter, he needs to be dealt with now. carl can be spoken to any day, by rick or even lori." rosaline stepped up for her the man, she now saw rick as a father figure and would defend him despite what anyone else thought. he was more of a father than her real one ever was, "rick has important things to do. carl is going through what you and i know as teenage hormones. let it be."
"see rosaline, those teenage hormones you're talking about are going to get that boy killed. he needs to know better. that time should be now." shane retorted, swaggering away.
rick didn't say a word to him as he stormed away. rosaline shook her head as the sheriff laid eyes on her.
rosaline wanted to reassure him, "you're doing the best you can. like i said before, he's just bitter."
he ran his hand across his mouth gently, "no i think he might be right. i'll go have a conversation with him. you still have that gun? you mind if i take it?"
"rhaegar." rosaline shook her head passing him the gun, before calling into the house having the dog hare down the stairs, "find carl." she instructed before smiling gently at rick, "follow him he'll get him to you."
the game that carl had been practicing with him had been coming to use, he was slowly mastering tracking people down by scent. there was no doubt that this was going to come in useful and rosaline couldn't be prouder of her four-legged friend.
"thanks, rose." rick waved to her before setting off.
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jimmy decided to ask rosaline for some help with boarding up the house for the winter against any potential threats. she had agreed to the task before daryl had called her over to the car with t-dog.
"what's up?"
"just packin' up, want you to get ready," he said passing her the bow. she'd forgot to pick it up off the porch, "and don't forget about this."
"i don't have a strap like you." she pouted slightly.
daryl raised a brow, mockingly, "the bow's big enough and yer small enough. put the string over you like a strap."
she followed his instructions, "this just looks stupid."
"you prefer lookin' smart or it being convenient?"
"alright!" she raised her hands defensively.
t-dog approached handing them both a gun each, "here since you two will only have so many arrows."
"thanks t," she nodded, putting the gun in her waistband.
daryl examined his, "is that dale's gun?"
"yeah." t-dog replied, somewhat sadly.
daryl clicked the gun's safety on and stuck it into his gun holster, "wish i knew where the hell mine is."
"about that..." rosaline looked to him, "carl took it from your pack. rick decided to give it to him - for self dense. he went out to the swamps by himself yesterday. a walker almost got him." she spared the details about how the walker was the same one who killed dale - it wouldn't do them any good.
"seriously?" the marksman scoffed, shaking his head, "ought to keep that kid on a leash nowadays. your dog is doing a better job of keeping its cool."
she threw him an impish look, before seeing rick approach, "ready?" he asked.
"yeah." rosaline said to him.
"i'll get the package." t-dog said before walking off.
rick thanked him letting rosaline get in the middle seat of the truck. she was squashed between the two men but she had to make do, she offered to come along. baying could be heard as rhaegar hopped on the hood of the car.
the former sheriff glanced at the girl beside him, "he thinking he's coming along?"
"roll down the window." rosaline instructed, rick followed what she said, "rhaegar. you stay, go find carl and guard him."
the german shepherd persisted, staying on the hood for a moment. rosaline sighed turning to daryl, "what was that you said about my dog keeping its cool?"
daryl shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his face.
deep down rosaline knew there was a reason for the dog's actions, she hopped out of the car just as t-dog raced over, panting, "randall is gone."
"what?" rosaline yelped out, "for fuck's sake."
the group rushed over to the shed where they were keeping randall trying to study how he may have gotten out, everyone knew about his disappearance, rosaline took her bow out of the truck coming back, rhaegar pacing beside her, "you know i can get him to find him but he may be quite far."
"that's the best bet we have."
"rick! rick!" shane's voice roared from across the field as he hurried over briskly. his mouth was all bloody around the nose area. it looked like he had gotten into a fight. rosaline's eyes widened. could that kid have possibly got the jump on shane? how?
lori ran over, "what happened?!"
"he's armed! he's got my gun!"
carl came over, seemingly afraid for him, "are you okay?"
"i'm fine! little bastard just snuck up on me." shane told him, "he clocked me in the face."
"all right, hershel, t-dog. get everybody back in the house," rick demanded before looking at the girl standing next to daryl, "rosaline, get your dog. glenn, daryl, come with us."
shane pointed to t-dog, "t, i'm gonna need that gun."
"just let him go." carol urged for randall, "that was the plan, wasn't it? just to let him go?"
"the plan was to cut him loose, far away from here, not on our front step with a gun." rick snapped back, impatiently, the stress beginning to seep in for him.
carol looked at them in shock, "don't go out there! y'all know what can happen."
rick ignored her, "get everybody back in the house. lock all the doors, stay put!"
"let's go, back in the house." andrea instructed, guiding carol's back with her hand.
rosaline paced beside the men, her eyes lifting to the sky. they were going to lose light and be looking for this kid in the dark. she was hoping that he wasn't far. clapping her hands together, she grabbed rhaegar by the scruff, "rhaegar go find. find the boy."
rhaegar bounded over into the woods, nose on the ground.
"i saw him head up through the trees that way before i blacked out." shane described, "i'm not sure how long."
rosaline let out an inward sigh as she gripped her bow tightly, "let's not hope for long. rhaegar might find him."
"he couldn't have gotten far." rick said, "he's hobbled, exhausted."
"and armed." glenn reminded.
"so are we." rick attempted to reassure him, "can you help the dog?"
daryl shook his head, "i can't smell like he can."
shane put his hands up, "hey, look there ain't no use in tracking him, okay? you're just wasting that dog's energy." he pointed to a different direction, "he went that way, we should pair up."
rosaline scrunched her eyebrows, "but he could do it? he could find him."
"i doubt that rosaline."
why was he so desperate to get them separated?
"kid weighs a buck twenty five, soaking wet. you trying to tell us he got the jump on you?" daryl questioned suspiciously, not wanting to believe the story shane was selling.
daryl wasn't stupid. he knew that this was another one of shane's tricks.
"i say a rock pretty much evens those odds, wouldn't you?"
rick got between the pair, "all right, knock it off. daryl and glenn start heading up the right flank. rosaline you go with them, i don't want you out there alone. daryl can work with the dog by heading up the right flank. i'll go with shane on the left." he planned, "remember randall isn't the only threat out there. keep an eye out for each other."
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wow, so randall is gone and shane is acting strange. daryl isn't stupid, he seems to know what shane has done yet he follows rick's lead anyway.
don't forget to vote and comment! it helps the story grow. :)
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