Here we are at chapter 2. If you like the story or think I could do something better please feel free to leave a review. I'd really appreciate it.
x.x.x
Ari stifled a yawn as she sat by the fire. Daryl caught her eye as he walked by. "Deryl!" she yelled jumping up.
"What do you want?" he asked looking at her.
"Where are you going? Can I come with you?" she replied.
"No I do things on my own," he said before walking away from her. Ari sighed before returning to the fire. He was clearly very upset about Merle being left in the city.
x.x.x
Dancer reared up as a Walker tried to attack him. Ari fired a quick shot that lodged itself right between its eyes. "Easy boy, I gotta get good shots," she whispered giving his neck a pat. Ari backed him up so his butt was against the RV. She dropped the reins and grabbed her other revolver. She shot at anything that got too close to her. All of a sudden the group that had gone to Atlanta seemed to appear from nowhere.
With their help the Walkers were cleared out of the camp and before long Ari slid off Dancer breathing a sigh of relief. Daryl walked over to her. "Are you ok?" he asked. She thought she saw a glimmer of concern in his eyes but wasn't going to question it.
"Yeah I'm ok," she whispered "We're both a little shaken that's all." She began stroking Dancer's neck attempting to sooth him.
"I'm glad you're ok," he muttered before moving off to check on the others. Ari looked on at the scene of complete chaos. So many dead. One member of the camp lay in a pool of blood nearby. Ari moved closer to the body putting a bullet in its head. She didn't want to risk another surprise attack.
x.x.x
"I know this is weird boy, just hang out here ok?" Ari said leaving Dancer in the Lobby of the CDC. She trusted he wouldn't go far, she could tell he was glad to feel safe.
Ari went to join the others after her blood had been tested. "Thank you so much for taking us in," she said looking to the doctor a smile on her face.
After eating she slipped into the bathroom to get a hot shower in. The water was an amazing feeling. She hadn't had a real shower for what seemed like forever. She soon shut off the shower, though unwilling, and toweled off.
Ari walked down the hallway almost bumping into Rick who had clearly had a little too much to drink. "Be careful," she called out after him chuckling. She turned forward once more and ran straight into Daryl.
"Hey watch where you're going," he muttered. Ari blushed slightly, "Sorry"
She moved to go around him but stopped when he asked, "Leave any hot water?"
"Of course I did," she replied placing her hands on her hips.
"Sure," he chuckled before moving toward the showers.
x.x.x
Ari raced toward the caravan praying she and Dancer would make it to the caravan in time. She pulled the horse trailer open so Dancer could load onto it then ducked behind it just as the CDC exploded. Dancer kicked at the trailer but the door held.
"Is everyone ok?" she called out worried that someone had been hurt. When everyone was confirmed ok they loaded into the caravan and drove away.
x.x.x
(There's going to be a large time skip here)
"Daryl want to help me feed the chickens?" Ari asked smiling at him hopefully.
"Not really," he sighed although he did take the bucket smirking at her. They still hadn't found Sophia but she was trying her best to keep her mind at ease by keeping herself busy.
Daryl tossed corn to the chickens as Ari collected the eggs. "Look!" she exclaimed, "Plenty of eggs for breakfast."
Daryl looked over clearly fighting a chuckle. "Well chickens do tend to lay eggs every day." Ari scowled at him giving his arm a playful slap. She led the way back to the farm house and deposited her collection of eggs in the kitchen.
"Breakfast is served," she joked as Maggie took the basket from Ari. Maggie smiled before helping with breakfast.
"Are you guys going out to search for Sophia again?" she asked turning to Daryl.
"Rick wants to." He replied looking out the window.
"I could help ya know," Ari muttered following his gaze where she saw Rick and his family walking toward the house.
"Never said you couldn't," he said smirking at her, "You can come with me today if you think you can handle it."
"I think I know how to search in the woods. Had to search for more than a handful of loose horses before this crap happened…" she trailed off as flashbacks clouded her vision from the night her family was wiped out. Tears welled up but she quickly wiped her face not wanting anyone to see them. But Daryl did, he didn't know why they showed up but he didn't ask.
x.x.x
Ari followed after Daryl her revolver in hand. "Do you really think there's any chance of finding her?" Ari asked. It had been quite some time and she knew as the days went by the chances of finding her were less and less.
"We have to find her," he said looking over his shoulder at Ari, "I don't think Carol could live with herself if she lost Sophia."
Ari stifled a sigh and continued looking for some sort of sign that the girl had been in the area.
A short while passed as the two walked in silence before Daryl broke it, "So what were the tears about in the kitchen this morning?"
"Just had thoughts of my family, that's all," she whispered avoiding eye contact with him.
"What happened?"
"Our ranch was pretty well fortified," she explained but eventually they created a weak spot in the fence and broke through. I was in the barn, getting ready to untack Dancer when I saw one walk by the window. So I left Dancer there, locked up the barn and ran to the house. I grabbed my guns and got back to the barn as soon as I could. I set all the horses free and Dancer and I ran off into the night."
"Hm, sorry to hear that," Daryl said. Ari heard a branch snap and turned in the sound's direction. There were three Walkers headed in their direction. She raised her gun but Daryl stopped her and instead he shot an arrow through one's skull before retrieving it and using it as a knife on the other two.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Of course I am, I could have handled them myself."
"Yeah, then your gunshot would have attracted more of these things."