Early the next morning, the whole group sat around the common area we had set up in the middle of camp, eating fresh scrambled eggs and toast thanks to Hershel and his chickens. Claire ate silently, picking at the eggs, which she had always hated. The rest of us savored every bite, thankful for something more than just cold beans from a can, fish from a creek, and stale crackers.
Rick walked over from the house where he and Lori had slept to be closer to Carl. He sat down next to Shane and nodded at us.
"So, Marc," Rick spoke up, "Daryl tells me you're a hunter." I lifted my head to look at Daryl, glaring at him. He gave me a look, rolling his eyes.
"Actually," Marc replied, "both Madison," he pointed to me, "and myself are hunters. She is actually a better tracker than I am; her daddy taught her everything she knows." He smiled at me.
Rick turned his striking blue eyes to me and said, "Oh, well that's good news. I don't know if you've heard, but we have a little girl that needs finding. We're going to have a meeting after breakfast, then break out into search groups. If you and Marc would like to help, we'd be grateful." Shane looked at me, intrigued.
"Sure," I said, immediately taking a liking to Rick. He was a plain spoken man, but authoritative, and I could tell that he must have been a great officer before the world went to hell. "We'll help." Daryl made a grunting noise and walked off in a huff.
"You'll have to forgive Daryl," Rick said, watching him walk away. "He's a little rough around the edges, but deep down, he's a good guy." He smiled at me as I scoffed.
Ten minutes later, we all gathered around a pickup truck as Rick produced a surface map he got from Maggie. Hershel made his way to the meeting as Rick started to speak. "We started off looking here, but if we expand our search area out here, working in three groups - "
"Rick, you gave a lot of blood in the past 24 hours," Hershel interrupted, "you wouldn't make it far 'fore passing out. And you," he pointed to Shane, "are certainly in no shape to go into the woods with that ankle." Shane looked pissed, while Rick quickly agreed.
"You're right, Hershel," Rick replied, looking back at the map.
Shane hobbled off with a very distinct limp. Hmmm...I thought to myself, I wonder how he got that.
Rick continued. "How about Marc and Andrea head back to the highway to see if Sophia came back, then take this area here that we didn't search, and Madison can head this way with Daryl - "
"No way," Daryl interjected. "I ain't babysittin' no little girl tha' thinks she can hunt - "
"Excuse me!" I said, feeling the anger starting to bubble over, "I am not a little girl and I'm probably a better hunter than you!"
Daryl scoffed and opened his mouth to reply. "Daryl, Madison," Rick said, holding up his hands, "you have to work together. I want you two to take this area, so that if you need so split up, you can both find your way back."
There is no way I'm working with that asshole, I thought to myself. First chance I get, I'm headed off on my own.
I looked at Rick's face and swallowed my pride for a moment, not wanting to disappoint him.
"I just need to know," I said to Rick as Daryl stormed off, "her height, weight, build, and what she looks like." Rick smiled and provided the information to me.
I returned to my tent to gather my backpack with some water, my handgun and ammo, some rations and my favorite hunting knife. I kissed Grace and Claire goodbye, waved to Marc, and went to meet Daryl at the edge of the woods.
As I was walking toward him, I could see the scowl on his face. "Okay, Princess," he spat, as I reached him, "Le's go. I ain't got all day."
I got right in his face, having to tilt my head just slightly to look up into his eyes. "Look here - I want to find this little girl for her mother's sake. I'm a damn good hunter, a great tracker, and an even better shot. This group needs me to help find her. So you can take that attitude and shove it up your redneck ass." I pushed past him and entered the woods. I heard him scoff as he walked behind me.
We walked in silence for about 10 minutes before he spoke. "Where ya from?" he asked.
I snorted. "Really? Now you're tryin' to talk to me?"
"I just ask't ya a question, Princess, damn!"
I kept my head up, looking around. "Madison, Georgia," I said softly, picking up on some tracks. I bent down to look, Daryl quickly rushing to my side. I picked up a piece of the dirt and crushed it in between my fingers. "This is about a day old," I said.
Daryl looked surprised, but tried quickly to disguise it. "Le'sgo, Princess...after ya..."
I rolled my eyes and continued on the path that Sophia took.
"Ya don' strike me as tha huntin' and trackin' type," Daryl said as we stepped around fallen branches. "I mean, ya look like a damn pageant girl..." I scoffed, undecided if he was trying to compliment or insult me.
"No, that's my sister, Claire. Besides, you know what they say about a book and it's cover," I replied. "Or maybe YOU don't." I gave him a sarcastic smile.
"Yeah, whatever, Princess. I ain't dumb."
"If you say so."
"Guess yer some college educated b-," he mumbled, cutting off the last word as I glared at him.
"Yeah, I am." I said, "I was a teacher before the world went crazy and people started eatin' each other."
He barked a laugh. "I could see that. I always hated my teachers..."
I rolled my eyes at him. Stupid redneck, I thought to myself. He gave me a sarcastic half-smile.
About a mile and a half silent walk later, we came to a clearing. I could see a wood cabin. Daryl picked up his pace and raised his crossbow, on alert for walkers. I followed quickly, my knife clutched in my fist.
When we entered the house, we heard a noise. He quickly put his arm up to block me then dropped it just as quickly when he saw the face I made. He pushed the door all the way open, his crossbow locked and loaded, ready to shoot. We made our way through, seeing that the house was abandoned. We heard another creaking noise coming from a closet. Daryl signaled to me, and he walked slowly up to the door, then flung it open. "Shit!" he yelled.
Looking inside, we saw a pillow and blanket with a marked impression of a small body. "She was here," I said. "Maybe she just left?" I reached down. Cold. I shook my head and stood up.
"DAMNIT!" He bellowed. He kicked the wall. Wow, I thought to myself, it really means something to him to find this girl. Maybe there's more to his relationship to her or Carol, I wondered.
He walked outside. I took one last look at the closet and followed. He walked toward some flowers growing outside of the house. As I followed, I noticed what had caught his attention and I stopped in my tracks, memories flooding back to me as my stomach clenched and my throat filled with dread.
"Cherokee Rose," I whispered. He turned and looked at me, surprised.
"Yeah..." he said, "how'd ya know?"
I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes as I stood frozen, lost in memories. Daryl walked up to me and broke the spell, looking into my eyes. For the first time, I really noticed the pretty blue color and how handsome he really was under that shaggy hair and rude attitude.
"Madison?" he asked, putting his hand on my arm. I recoiled, pulling my arm back and he dropped his hand.
"My..." I choked out. Flashes of my dad came back to me: him laughing at something I said...showing me how to hold a gun...our first hunting trip...teaching me how to track...teaching me about the land...reciting the story of Cherokee Rose...
"Ya okay?" he asked.
I snapped out of it again, shaking my head. "Yeah. I'm fine. Let's go." I turned away from him, not wanting him to see me cry.
Like hell was I going to open up to the likes of Daryl.
We made our way back to the farm silently and walking several yards apart with me leading the way. I knew he was behind me but I didn't give him the satisfaction of checking.
We got back to our camp and I walked to the RV, Glen and Dale on top for look out.
"Where's Carol?" I asked.
"Everything okay?" Dale asked, concern in his voice.
I cracked a sad smile. "We didn't find her but we did find some clues as to her whereabouts. She wasn't far from here." Glenn's head dropped and Dale nodded. "We'll pick up the search first thing tomorrow."
"Carol's in the RV," Dale replied.
I walked up the stairs and saw her sitting there. I sat down across from her, taking my backpack off. She smiled very sadly at me. "I'm sorry Carol. We found a small house where she was holed up but she was gone. We're going back out first thing tomorrow." She nodded, taking my hand across the table and squeezing it.
"Thank you, Madison. I'm glad you're here." I smiled. I heard someone coming up the stairs behind me and turned. Daryl came in and looked at Carol. "We'll find her."
She smiled warmly at him, again making me wonder what their relationship was even though it was none of my business, nor should I have cared.
Daryl produced a beer bottle from behind his back with a Cherokee Rose sticking out of the top. I sucked in a deep breath.
"What's that?" Carol asked.
"It's a Cherokee Rose. Tha story is tha' when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on tha Trail'a Tears, tha Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they was losin' their little ones along the way from exposure, disease and starvation. A lotta them just disappeared." I tuned out, closing my eyes and hearing my daddy's voice in my head..."So the elders said a prayer; asked God to uplift the mothers' spirits.. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell..." I felt a tear slide down my cheek. God, I miss my Daddy, I thought to myself.
"Madison, are you okay?" I heard Carol ask. I nodded and opened my eyes, wiping my tears. I jumped up and pushed past Daryl and left the RV.
"Madison!" I heard Daryl call behind me. I kept walking, quickening my pace. He caught up in no time and grabbed my wrist, turning me around to face him.
"Let GO of me, Daryl!" I spat at him, trying to pull my arm from his hand.
"No - not 'til ya tell me wha's wrong," he said, tightening his grip on my wrist.
"It's none of your damn business! I'm perfectly fine!" I jerked my arm away, but not before he saw the tattoo on the inside of my wrist.
"Is tha' - ?" he started.
"YES! Okay?!" I flipped my wrist over so he could see the Cherokee Rose tattooed on my wrist, along with my Daddy's initials, feeling my face turn bright red. "Cherokee Rose reminds me of my Daddy - he taught me everything about the woods, nature, and hunting. And I guess those skills came in handy when I had to KILL HIM because one of those damn BITERS got him. Are you happy now, you redneck asshole?! You got me near figured out! Now leave me the HELL alone!"
I turned and stormed away from him. I climbed in my tent, zipped it closed and shut out the world.
