Thanks to those who read, favourite, followed, reviewed these past three chapters. It means a lot:) Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I'll try harder to post more regularly.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original story or characters or anything you may recognise from the show.
Chapter 4.
Lilly got even more annoyed when Daryl turned around and grunted at her. "God, what have I done now?"
"Nothin'," Daryl shrugged. "Just don't like to be so close to people."
Lilly took a step back and sighed. "That makes two of us."
Lilly found herself falling to the back of the line, behind Shane. There was no one she could talk to. Daryl clearly wasn't comfortable socializing and the group were all busy looking round the forest. How they could see anything was a mystery to Lilly. She should have probably been searching too but what was the point? She couldn't make out a single thing. Young Carl smiled at her and she responded with a warm grin. Lilly started to take a liking to Carl, he was sweet and he spent time with Jess.
"Hey!" Lilly looked to her right and there was the boy himself, beaming.
"Hi, Carl," Lilly said, eyeing his flick knife. "Be careful with that."
"It's so cool, isn't it?" he said, a little too enthusiastically, showing it to her.
Shane turned around and frowned. "Carl!" he whispered, with an edge to his voice. "Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia!"
Carl's shoulders drooped and he looked down at the floor. "I must have done something to make him annoyed at me."
Lilly nudged Carl to make him look back up at her. Once Shane's back was turned, she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Carl smirked and joined in and the two carried on like this for a while until the group suddenly stopped. There was a worn out yellow tent further ahead that Rick and Daryl went to inspect. Carol slowly followed and called out Sophia's name to which there was no reply. Daryl went inside and came back out a few minutes later, saying there was some guy who opted out.
Carol turned around and Lilly felt sympathy for the older woman. Lilly joined her in following the rest of the group and gave her a weak smile. "We'll find her."
Carol looked at her, pain showing all over her face, like it was written in big black letters. "I hope to God that's true. I just keep thinking about-"
She was interrupted by the sound of bells. Church bells. Someone could be ringing them, signalling that they'd found Sophia or maybe it was Sophia herself. These were the things the group discussed before they took off running in what they guessed was the right direction. Lilly was a good sprinter, better than anybody in this group and she quickly made her way to the front. She decided not to overtake Rick thought, considering he was the leader. They pushed through the trees until they entered a large area of grass and saw a white church with no sign of any bells. Lilly sighed - another bit of hope crushed in such little time.
"That can't be it," she pointed out.
"She's right," Shane added. "It ain't got no bells. No steeple."
But Rick ran off anyway, with Shane calling out after him. This guy, Lilly thought. Trying to keep hold of any hope out there. Everybody ran after Rick up the church steps to the double doors, with Rick putting a finger to his lips. The group fell silent. Daryl and Rick pushed the doors open to reveal three rotten corpses, sat on separate pews. Rick and Daryl set off to kick the closest two and Shane prepared for the middle walker, when Lilly stopped him.
"Let me," Lilly volunteered. Shane nodded and rejected any offers on weapons. She walked down the middle aisle, while the group behind her waited for her to produce a weapon. Lilly slipped the knife out of her boot when she was inches away from the walker. It lunged at her but she ducked and kicked it down from behind, so it lay on the floor. It started to get back up again but before it could attack, Lilly thrust her knife in the back of the walker's head. The walker fell down again and Lilly repeatedly stabbed it, making sure it wasn't going to attempt to get back up again. Ever.
Lilly stood up, panting as Rick shouted for Sophia. Suddenly, the sound of bell rang in everybody's ears and they headed outside. A speaker rang from the side of the building, attracting all sorts of things. Mostly walkers. Lilly and Glenn rushed over to shut it off as the sound blared out.
"Timer. It's on a timer," Daryl informed the rest of the group.
"I'm gonna' go back in for a bit," Carol said, her voice filled with sadness and disappointment, as she walked back into the church to pray for her daughter.
Lilly thought at that moment, everybody felt the same great disappointment.
"I'm not asking you to go steady, Shane. I'm asking for a ride."
Lilly was sat against a tree, cleaning her knife. There was blood all over it from her walker kill earlier. She would know that annoying voice anywhere but this particular conversation piqued her interest. Andrea seemed to be asking a favour of Shane and it started to get quite desperate on Andrea's side, which Lilly scoffed at.
"You observed this group lately? I have. I see two people who don't belong. " Lilly rolled her eyes at this. Did Andrea think she was something special?
"We're the odd men out. Between the two of us, we make a great third wheel," Andrea continued.
"So what?" Shane spoke, in his deep voice. "Say we do run off. What's in it for me? Except an extra ass I gotta' cover."
Lilly wanted to laugh at that point. Andrea was a pain and Lilly was sure that Shane would be the one who would be doing all the heavy lifting. Andrea would be a ridiculously big inconvenience when it came to the part about getting your hands dirty, and protecting somebody else.
"The chance to do something for somebody else," Andrea was saying. Yeah, right! Lilly thought. Maybe back when everything was normal and the majority of people would hold a door open for somebody or help a woman carry her baby stroller up a flight of stairs - just because somebody else needed the help. But now, it was basically every man for themselves.
Andrea decided to change her reason. "The door swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand, I'll cover your ass too."
Shane scoffed, and Lilly shook her head in disbelief. Was this girl for real?
As the group started to pile out of the church, Andrea told Shane to think it over. Lilly heard him sighed and then he spoke to Rick. She could lay there forever as far as she was concerned. She was peaceful there. Until somebody had to interrupt her peace. It was Lori - again. God, couldn't Lori just give her a break?
"The guys are discussing what to do about this search. Rick wants to carry on, Shane wants to head back," Lori explained.
"So? What do you expect me to do about that?"
"Your opinion counts, Lilly. You might wanna' go over there and let 'em know what you think."
Lori didn't really give her a choice. Lilly supposed she would have to go over there now and involve herself in the situation. She pushed herself up and followed Lori to where the group were talking about the search.
"Y'all gonna' follow the creek bed back. Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick are gonna' hang back, search this area for another hour or so, be thorough," Shane said.
"You're splittin' us up?" Daryl asked. "You sure?"
"Yeah. We'll catch up."
Carl stepped forward. "I wanna' stay too. I'm Sophia's friend."
The group looked to Rick for an answer but they didn't get one. Instead, Lori cupped Carl's face in her hands and told him to be careful. Then, she looked at Lilly who sighed and looked towards Rick. "You need an extra hand?"
"That'd be great, but ain't you got a daughter to-"
Lilly could have kicked herself for forgetting about poor little Jess. "Niece. And yeah, I have. So, I won't be coming with you, sorry."
Carol looked over at Lilly and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about her. I'll look after her when we get back. It's the least I could do, if y'all going out there looking for my little girl."
Damn. Why did Carol have to be so nice? Lilly did want to help, and did want to find Carol's daughter but right now, she just wanted to get back to Jess. It had been a seriously long day and Lilly almost regretted offering to help in the first place.
But she sighed and looked over at the two guys.
"Alright, alright. Count me in."
They had been walking for about ten minutes when Rick threw his hand up and made them all stop in their tracks. He must have heard something the rest of them didn't hear. Lilly was behind Carl and Shane was at the back of the line. He pointed in the direction of rustling leaves and Rick, Lilly and Shane eased their guns out and held them in their position. Rick stood in front of Carl protectively.
The first thing Lilly saw was the antlers of a buck. Almost immediately, her and Rick lowered their guns, but Shane kept his shotgun straight, aiming at the deer. The first live thing any of their had seen in a long, long time. It was beautiful, and Lilly smiled as it twitched its little black nose. How Shane could kill a beautiful creature was beyond her, even though she agreed that they needed the food. Well, their group did. Lilly wasn't sure if she was staying for definite yet.
"Shane," Rick whispered, signalling for him to lower his shotgun. Little Carl was edging towards the deer, memorised by its beauty, as was Lilly. He crept closer and closer to the buck and it didn't even flinch. The buck stared at Carl as he hand reached out to stroke it. He looked back at Rick, Lilly and Shane. Lilly gave him a thumbs-up and a smile.
Everything was quiet as the space between the buck and Carl got shorter and shorter. Then, unexpectedly, the sound of a gunshot rang in everybody's ears. Lilly looked over at Shane, who was the only one with his gun still out, but he looked as surprised as Lilly. Then the sound of a something slumping to the floor made Lilly's heart stop. She looked over to where the buck had fallen, shortly followed by the younger boy.
"No," Rick breathed.
Lilly looked over at him, her mouth falling open.
"No, no, no!" Rick shouted. All three ran over to Carl. The blood from spreading out from the gun shot wound, in his stomach. Red blood stained his camouflage shirt, and his face turned ghostly pale.
A large man emerged from the forest, wearing a cap and carrying a gun. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the body lying on the floor with three people fussing over it. Shane stood up and grabbed the man by his shirt. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm...Otis."
"You shot my boy!" Rick shouted, tearfully.
"I...I'm sorry. It was an accident," Otis stuttered, then he looked up. "I know how to help. There's a farm, couple miles down the road. I'm staying there with my wife. We have a doctor - he can help your boy."
Immediately, Rick scooped Carl up from the ground and ran in the direction Otis pointed. Shane pushed Otis harshly after them with Lilly following quickly behind. They all ran, or in Otis' case pushed, until they broke out onto a field. By this time, Carl's shirt was soaked in blood and Rick was panting, heaving Carl up.
"How far?" Lilly shouted at Otis.
"Half a mile. Talk to Hershel. He'll help your friend's boy," Otis panted.
Lilly ran ahead, keeping pace with Rick. She caught up with him and ran at the same speed. "Come on, Rick. Half a mile. Ask for Hershel. Keep running, I'm running with you."
Lilly ran with Rick until they saw the farm, where they could see a girl on watch in the distance. They continued to run, Lilly holding the gate open for Rick so he wouldn't have to. Lilly and Rick reached the front door of the farm, where five people were standing waiting for them.
"Was he bit?" an elder man asked.
"Shot," Rick told him.
"By your man!" Lilly snapped.
As the doctor took care of Carl, setting him on the bed inside the house, Lilly looked around at the people living there. She recognised someone, they had a familiar face.
"Hold up a second," she said as the familiar person turned around. "I know you."
Author's Note: So who does Lilly know? Will it be Hershel, Beth, Maggie, Patricia or Jimmy that she recognises? What do you think? Let me know if you liked this chapter, please leave a review! :)
