When Daryl made clear his intent to return to the woods to look for Sophia, the others in his group surprised him. Rick, Andrea, Glenn, T-Dog and Carol all expressed concern and wanted him to take a partner with him. They seem genuinely worried that something might happen to him again and that idea made him very uncomfortable.
He found it much easier to deal with Dale's disapproval, Shane's rapid spiral toward total bug-nut crazy or Lori's disinterest (woman had enough shit on her plate, what with her ongoing baby-daddy drama and, frankly, he didn't want her up in his face).
But concerned eyes, worried glances and gentle words…he did not have the skill set to deal with that.
Eventually, he convinced them that he could move faster on his own and grudgingly promised to be careful. Maggie provided a horse, not Nellie, and told him not to fall off this one.
She was okay.
Unlike the others, he didn't focus on finding the nearest formerly populated areas in proximity to where he'd found Sophia's doll. Let them check every subdivision and hippie commune. He headed deeper into the woods.
City folk didn't usually think about the fact that people did live in the woods. Sure, the houses were fewer and far between, but they existed.
By 1 PM, he'd been searching for nearly 5 hours. The last two spent tracking a suspiciously small, shallow set of prints. Whoever had left them had been shambling, Walker-style, but moving at a quick, if erratic pace.
Seriously, he passed this fuckin' tree three times already.
With the disgruntled sigh, Daryl turned left, following the tracks over slight hill to where they vanished at the foot of another large tree.
Tipping his head back, he stared up at the dense foliage, leaves dancing in the warm breeze. Sunlight filtered down and patches and Daryl took a moment to breathe in the misleading peace.
"Sophia!" He bellowed, shattering the silence then waiting. How many times he called the girl's name and how many times had an echo been his only response? No matter what he said to offer Carol comfort, he knew the chances of finding Sophia alive were growing slimmer every day.
He wasn't stupid.
An educated, sure. Merle hadn't thought much of school, so Daryl had dropped out at a young age, but he liked to read. He'd even had, and used, a library card before the world went to hell.
Redneck was not synonymous with stupid and ignorant, fuck you very much.
For a moment, his voice rang off the trees and he resigned himself to yet another dead-end.
Then it happened.
A dirty face peered over the side of a massive branch, looking down at him through her snarl of mud streaked blond hair. "Mr. Daryl?"
He couldn't hold back his elated bark of laughter. "Girl, you had us runnin' in circles! You hurt? Get down here."
Galvanized by his words, Sophia scrambled out of the tree, nimble like a little monkey. She had a small knapsack slung over her shoulder, one he was sure she had been carrying when she fled into the woods.
"I tried to follow Rick's directions but I got lost," she said stopping on a branch within Daryl's reach. "I didn't get bit though. They can't climb trees!"
"Good to know," he replied and almost reached for her, intending to sling her onto the horse behind him. Then he thought about her sorry excuse for father and said, "Well, get on. Your momma's missin' you."
He extended a hand, but didn't touch her until she grabbed hold and let him swing her into place. Her little hands grabbed his shirt and she made a pleased noise as he spurred the horse and motion.
"I've never ridden a horse, she said and he was amused by the resilience of the child. Course, when even a kid horse ride would have been more of a novelty than wandering the woods for him too.
The trip back to the farm is pretty quiet, though he did get her to tell him about finding the abandoned house, sleeping in the cupboard for night and picking up her little bag of supplies.
Kid was more resourceful in any one given her credit for.
Sure, she freaked out and got lost, but she was 12 and 12-year-olds did dumb shit when they were scared.
It was late afternoon by the time they left the tree line and began to cross the field towards the farmhouse. On top of the RV, Daryl could see someone keeping watch and raise an arm to waive and catch their attention.
In response, Andrea (he could see her blonde hair) waived her hat in greeting.
"Wave, kid," he told Sophia and chuckled as she practically climbed of his back, clinging to his shoulder and flailing her free arm frantically.
Andrews reaction was instantaneous. She shot to her feet, clearly shouting down to the others.
As Sophia resettled herself, Daryl urge the horse into a trot and they passed the gate as the others in their group rushed out en masse to meet them.
They were happy shouts and people crying and Sophia all but dove into her mother's arms.
Shane look shocked, but Rick grinned and said patted Daryl on the back as he dismounted. "Excellent work," the former deputy commented and Daryl heard honest respect in his tone. "I knew you'd be the one who found her."
Shrugging, Daryl made a noncommittal noise and tried to edge away from the cheerful, chattering group.
He nearly succeeded, when Carol's arm shot out, snagging his bicep in a deceptively strong grip and drawing him into a hug. Seeing no way out, he returned the embrace with one arm, hoping she'd let him go, but Sophia's skinny arms hooked his waist… And Carl came out of nowhere on the other side.
With mingled disbelief and horror, Daryl stood there is the others crowded in, offering a strange group hug and pats on the back. Glenn joined the fray not long after Carl, and was quickly followed by Rick, Andrea and T-Dog. Dale had enough reserve to stay back, though he did reach in and pat Daryl on the shoulder.
The Greene family watched them like they thought they'd lost their minds.
Shane was still regarding them oddly, but Daryl didn't really want to know what was going on in that head. He'd had more than enough crazy to last him the rest of his life from Merle.
Lori was smiling and crying, but, from the way she was gripping her stomach, she'd probably been puking again, so he was doubly pleased she kept her distance.
Especially when someone in the group lost their balance, starting a domino effect that that everyone tumbling to the ground. The laughter assured that no one was hurt in the fall and the humor of the situation struck home.
He, Daryl Dixon, was lying in a pile of people, being touched by God knew how many of them, and fight or flight wasn't kicking in (well, not that much). It was the zombie-fucking-Apocalypse and he felt safe.
How fucked up was that?
As Daryl laughed, he didn't care about crazy Shane or weirdo Herschel with his whole cult vibe thing. He found Sophia, safe and sound and brought her back to her mother. He had the skills, use them and the others respected him for it.
Fuck whatever hallucination Merle said, Daryl actually believe these people like him.
Beside him, Rick was laughing and helping his son out of pile of bodies and Daryl shifted to let Sophia escape the longer limbs of the adults.
"Well," Herschel said, nodding down at them from his spot on the porch. "Looks like the little girl's been found."
He was insinuating that it was time for them to leave.
Daryl is okay with that.
Now if only they could leave behind the impending meltdown that was Shane when they left.
We're from North California and South Alabam and little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck and run a trotline
And a country boy can survive country folks can survive
A country boy can survive country folks can survive
Country Boys Can Survive ~ Hank Williams Jr.
Comments, pretty please?