The Hunter & The Farmers Daughter.
He didn't put the pieces together when they went to the Greenes farm. It was only when he saw them that it clicked but one person was missing, the person he craved to see. Where was she? Would he ever find her again? DarylD/OC.
In this FF Daryl already knew Hershal, Maggie and Beth. You will understand more as the stories progresses. I think I made Daryl younger in my story than he is in the show but I don't give a specific age so I don't suppose it matters much.
Italics are flashbacks or memories.
Chapter Seven:
From A Friend.
"A prison.." Daryl said looking down at the fenced off field, guard towers and the numerous walkers walking around the lower field which all looked to be dressed in prison uniforms.
"This is it, this is what we were looking for. Let's go tell the others." Rick said.
"Hershel told me to tell you that the barn door needs fixing again." Nellie said as she approached Daryl. He was sweating for re-fencing one of the pens.
"Again?" He asked sighing.
She nodded. "Don't know why it keeps coming apart. Should probably just get a whole new door but you know what Hershel's like." She chucked.
He smirked. "Probably don't help with us leaning against it so much." He grinned making her blush.
She slapped him playfully on the arm. "Don't be telling anyone that." She giggled.
"Our secret." He grinned and winked at her.
The prison was indeed a brilliant find. High fences with barbed wire, guard towards to see across the entire field and outside of the prison, Hershel even thought they could grow crops and t-dog suggested getting water from the small pond. It all seemed to good to be true.
Clearing the lower field was fairly easy with a decent plan and now they were spending the night sat around a fire and resting up for clearing out the courtyard and inside the prison. In all honestly they had no idea what they would find. From the looks off it the prison fell pretty quickly into the apocalypse, that made them believe it could easily be full of all kinds of supplies from food to ammunition but it was also going to be a dangerous task getting through all the walkers.
Daryl hoped they would soon find Sophia and Nellie too. The prison wasn't the kind of place what most people dreamt about living in but during this time it was like a mansion. All he need now was Nellie and Sophia to find their way too them. It had been months since Rick and Hershel saw them last. They could be dead, they could be alive. But if they're alive they could very well be being tortured by Randell's group and if not them, then some other group. There were many bad people in the new world and it made Daryl sick to think those people could be abusing Sophia and Nellie.
"Nellie..." He gasped between pants as she kissed down his neck.
"Mmm?"
"Should..stop..." He groaned.
"Why?" She asked with a smirk before slipping her hand into his pants.
He was the only one that could touch Nellie now. She was already emotionally abused by one man, who she gave all she could to, he took it greedily and left her with far too much heartache, he refused to let it happen again.
He didn't want to be possessive but he definitely was. Nellie was his and no one else. He regretted all the times he refused to call them a couple, to let the world know she was his girl and no one else. He had only ever told one a person he had a girlfriend once.
"So how's your girl?" Merle asked as they sat in the local bar sipping on beers. Merle was leering at some women in the corner while sparking up a conversation with Daryl who didn't seen interested in being there.
"She ain't my girl." Daryl replied.
"So you're just banging her? I knew you had it in your brother." He smirked.
"Piss off." Daryl muttered glaring at him.
Merle just chuckled.
Two women approached the table Merle and Daryl were sat at.
"Can we join you?" They asked sweetly.
"Sure thing ladies." Merle said. A red headed busty women sat beside Merle and a blonde haired women beside Daryl.
"I'm Mel and this is Nikki." The girl beside Merle introduced.
Daryl nodded but said nothing as Merle chatted the girls up.
"So what do you do for a living?" Nikki asked Daryl.
"None of your damn business lady." Daryl said aggressively.
She looked at him surprised. "Well okay then. Wanna come back to my place. Those two seem to have hit it off." She said pointing to Merle who was making out with Mel his hand creeping under her shirt.
"I'm fine where I am thanks." Daryl replied taking a sip of his beer. All he could think of was Nellie.
"Well I ain't the kind of girl to fuck in an alley so are we going back to yours?" She asked.
He looked at her disgusted. "I have a girl and she's hotter than you. Even I I didn't I wouldn't come near a skank like you." He spat before getting up from the table and storming out of the bar.
He chuckled slightly at the memory.
He heard someone climbing onto the overturned bus. It was Carol with a plate of food.
"What's got you so amused?" She asked.
"Nothing."
She shook her head and smirked. "I brought you some food. I know you, unless it's brought to you, you ain't eating it."
He nodded. "True." He said before taking a bite of the meat on the plate.
"Do you think this could be home?" She asked looking over at the prison.
He thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Could be. It's safe, got high fences and shit. Walkers can't get in but we don't know what's inside, could be prisoners surviving in there. Could get messy." He said munching his food contently.
She nodded. "True. I hope we can find Sophia and bring her hear to live safely." She said.
He nodded. "You know if we do find her she could be a completely different kid?"
"How so?" She asked not understanding his meaning.
"It's been a long time Carol. If she is still with Nellie and they got away from Randell's group she will have had to make sure Sophia knew how to fight so she didn't die, I mean look what happened when she was with is. She had no idea how to fight and got scared of the walkers and I hate to say it but you heard what Randell's group did to women and kids, you've got to prepare yourself for the stories she may bring, the scars emotional ones and physical ones...if they come back at all." He said sadly. He wasn't one for giving emotional speeches but Carol needed to hear it, she needed to be prepared.
She nodded sadly. "I understand. I just want my baby home."
"I know. I want Nellie back too." He admitted shyly.
"They will find us or we will find them and we will have a home to bring them back too." Carol assured him.
He nodded once. "I should get back to watch." He said.
She nodded. "Goodnight Daryl." She said climbing down from the bus.
"Night." He mumbled.
"Oh Nellie where are you?" He asked out loud as he looked out into the darkness.
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A few hours earlier.
"Where are we going Nellie?" Sophia asked.
"I'm not sure but it's getting dark. We need to find shelter. I don't think my ass can stand being sitting up a tree all night again." She replied with a smirk which Sophia returned. "Don't let your guard down. I can smell smoke. There might be the living near by."
"Okay." Sophia replied her hand firmly gripping her machete in front of her.
They walked stealth fully through the woods until they began to see the flames of a camp fire.
"Get down." Nellie whispered. They crouched down at the edge of the woods and peered over to where the fire was they could only see the small outlines of bodies. It was beginning to get dark and they couldn't tell who they were.
"There's people." Sophia whispered.
"I know. Can't tell how many but they have guns. Someone's on that bus look." Nellie pointed. "This place is a prison. They could be survivors from there. We may not want to mess with them." She said quietly.
"I agree. Could be murders or anything in that group."
"Technically we are all murders now." Nellie smirked and Sophia frowned. "Too soon?" She asked.
Sophia just shook her head and chuckled.
"WHOS OUT THERE?" They heard a voice call a few moments later.
"Shit let's go. Run!" Nellie shouted.
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Rick and Daryl stood on top of the over turned bus. The sun was going down and they were stood in silence checking the edge of the woods.
"Did you hear that?" Rick asked.
"No." Daryl replied.
"Shush. Listen."
They heard a women's giggle.
"Someone's out there." Rick said.
"WHOS OUT THERE!" Daryl shouted.
"Shush. What you doing? You of all people should know not to just shout out like that." Rick hissed. "Your mind isn't in it today Dixon."
Daryl shrugged. "Whatever." He mumbled. "I'll check it out tomorrow. Piss off." He told Rick.
Rick sighed and walked away. "Keep you eyes and ears open Daryl. Don't let me down."
Daryl continued to scan the edge of the woods to see of there was any sign of the living but he saw nothing.
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The next day was a very successful one. They managed to clear out the courtyard, an entire cell block. They had planned to battle the food storage area and the infirmary but after the suspicious activity they saw the night before they held off while Daryl set off into the woods.
He was surprised when he was easily able to follow to sets of clear foot prints and found several deader than dead walkers.
The footprints led him to a small cabin a few miles from the prison. He could see from the footprints that whoever it was had ran there probably after being startled by him shouting.
He stalked over to the cabin and tried to peer through the window but curtains block his view.
On the small porch across the stairs were traps incase any walkers turned up to alert the occupants. It could mean they were still inside but there were a lot of walker tracks around so they could have already fled and a dead walker lay at the bottom of the porch steps with a wound to it's head and slightly tangled in the traps.
He tapped on the door frame and waited for the all too familiar sound of walkers but none came. He opened the door slowly and searched each room. It was only small with three rooms. The cabin was empty. He searched around and found a rucksack had been left behind clearly in their haste.
He opened it up to check inside. There was a handgun and ammunition and small first aid kit, half a bottle of water and a change of clothes. They looked children's sized. He took the shirt of the bag and instantly recognised it.
"Sophia." He whispered.
He quickly packed the bag back up. He needed to tell the group.
As he was about to leave the cabin a glimmer of silver caught his eye in the floor. He bent down to pick it up.
It was a necklace, more specific it was a Tinkabelle necklace, the exact same one he brought Nellie. What scared him was that it had blood on it. Fresh blood. He put it in his pocket and left the cabin with the bag in his hand and jogged back to the prison not even bothering with the passing walkers.
He darted into the common area where everyone was sat making a plan to tackle the food storage area and the infirmary.
"You alright Daryl? You look like you've seen a ghost." T-dog joked.
Daryl pulled the purple shirt from the bag and showed it the group.
"It's Sophia's isn't it?" He asked.
Carol gasped. "Yes, yes. Where did you find it?" She asked grabbing the shirt and looking over it.
"They were here last night, they ran to a cabin and stayed the night. The must have had to leave earlier because they left Sophia's bag and there were a lot of walker tracks about." Daryl explained emptying the bag on the table. He didn't mention the blood covered necklace.
"Should we keep looking?" Lori asked.
"They know where we are or at least where survivors are. They may come looking for us and we need to prepare." Rick said.
"Prepare for what?" Carol asked.
"They may not be the people we know anymore." Rick explained.
"What does that mean?" Carol asked tears streaking her face, she already knew what he was about to say but to hear him explain it needed to be done.
"How did they escape rapist and murderers? Do they have a group? If so will they kill to protect them? Kill us?" Rick said.
"My baby wouldn't kill anyone, not us!" Carol shouted. "She couldn't even kill a walker."
Rick held up the handgun. "Sophia's bag and she had a gun. She's survived this long she must have been killing walkers." Rick said.
"There were a lot of dead walkers on the way to the cabin. I could probably track them from that alone." Daryl said.
"We will get straightened up here. We will clear as much of the prison as we can tomorrow, gather supplies and then formulate a plan to find Sophia and Nellie. Okay?" He asked the group.
The nodded. "I hope they're okay." Hershel said more to himself although everyone heard.
"We all do. But this time last year I didn't think I would ever kill my best friend. We've got to prepare for the change in them." He said.
"You won't kick them out though will you?" Lori asked.
"Not if they're not a threat." He said before walking away. He knew it was the right decision. These past few months they had all changed, seen things they couldn't erase from their minds. There was no telling what Sophia and Nellies mental state will be like.
Daryl was pissed at the way Rick had put it. It was like he already believed they were crazy murders or something because they had escaped from Randell's group.
"Bastard." He muttered to himself as he walked past Ricks cell.
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Earlier that morning.
"Shit, Sophia a herd. We need to run. They're coming straight for us." Nellie said packing up her ruck sake.
"Oh no. " she cried.
"Shush it'll be okay. Just don't panic and no crying. Okay?" Nellie asked.
Sophia nodded.
"Weapons ready?" She asked.
Sophia nodded. "Ready."
"Let's go."
Nellie opened the door and a walkers rushed straight in grabbing her throat. She pushed it back but it was pulling at her necklace.
Sophia reached up and stabbed the walker threw the side of it's head allowing it to drop to the floor. Ellie kicked it out off the door and down the porch steps. It hit every trap and fell to a heap on the floor.
"Thanks kid." Nellie grinned.
Sophia smiled. "You're welcome."
They heardd the familiar groans of walkers and bolted from the cabin.
"Keep running, we will find a tree soon and climb it unless we find somewhere better. Then we can head back to that prison see what those people were really about." Nellie said.
"Okay." Sophia replied.
A few hours later they began heading towards the cabin.
"Do you think my stuff will still be there? I'm sorry I left it." Sophia said.
"Don't be we were heading back this way anyway and your stuff will more than likely still be there. I doubt anyone would take your bag with clothes. Maybe the gun but that's it." Nellie said.
Sophia nodded. "Do you think you will find your necklace to? The one Daryl gave you?"
"I hope so, I think that walker ripped it off when it grabbed me. IT SHOULd be there somewhere." Nellie said as they approached the cabin.
She stopped abruptly looking at the floor.
"What?" Sophia asked.
"Someone's been here. They're not our foot prints and they ain't walker prints. I will go first." She whispered.
Sophia nodded.
Nellie went the ought the cabin door which had been opened a notch. She checked all the rooms but found nothing.
"My bags not here." Sophia frowned.
"Can't see my necklace either. Who ever was hear must have took them or at least your bag. My necklace could be anywhere."
"Do you think it was the people at the prison?" She asked.
Nellie shrugged. "Maybe. I don't think we should stay here tonight. Let's find somewhere to stay before checking out the prison again. Good job I was carrying the BA with food and extra water." Nellie smirked.
Sophia grinned. "I'll say."
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So how did you like the Sophia and Nellie parts? I personally liked adding those to the story, let me know what you think.
Ricks being a brat because of preggo Lori and without the death of Sophia to toughen her up , Carol is pretty much the same.
I know I mixed up some of what really happened but I didn't go with my story so I changed it up.
Proof read but can't be sure I got all the mistakes. SORRY.
Thank you for reading.