I have no excuses for the delay in updates except that being an adult sucks lol. Hope you all are still with me and that you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think :)
Chapter 7
The hope that came with spotting the security camera slowly dissipated in Carol when she realized it wasn't from the bar but one for traffic. While she had no problem with authority she knew without a doubt that walking into a police station asking to see the footage off the camera would never happen. The parking lot was empty besides two other vehicles, one that got left because someone was too intoxicated and the other from the bartender who was still closing up.
Holding her cell phone tightly in her hand, ready to call Merle if the guy tried anything, she headed back into the bar. The televisions that hung around the room were turned off, the lights brighter than she remembered, and the whole place silent except whatever the bartender was doing in the back room. She cleared her throat, still unsure of what she was even going to say. "Excuse me?"
A few dishes clattered in the back room and she thought maybe he hadn't heard her. Just as she was about to try again he poked his head out, walking closer once he noticed her standing there. "Sorry we're closed."
"Yes and I'm sure you are more than ready to leave for the night but I was hoping…" she trailed off. This was ridiculous. What was he going to be able to do for her?
He dried his hands on a worn towel and threw it over his shoulder, seemingly waiting her out but when she never continued he sighed. "Listen, sweetheart, I can see that you aren't from around here but when we are closed we are closed. There's no handouts, even for pretty little things like you, and there's no taxis that come out this way so go on now. If you need some place to stay there's a motel a few miles down the road."
Carol's thumb ran over her phone. She wanted to scream. She needed to find Daryl as much as she needed to breathe but being barely eighteen no one was going to take her seriously. It would be too easy to call Merle, hand off the responsibility to him, because he wouldn't stop until Daryl was found and whoever took him was punished.
"Hey, you hear me?"
A fire blazed behind her eyes that would have melted the gates of hell, "Yes I heard you but I'm not leaving until you hear me out. I'm not here for your alcohol and before you think of doing anything out of Deliverance just know that I have a knife on me and I will stab you before you even know what hit you." If he saw through her bluff he didn't comment and she kept on before she lost the little bit of courage that was propelling her forward. "The guy I was in here with earlier has disappeared and I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers."
The man dropped his head for a moment, "Fuck, it happened again."
Now that she was actually getting somewhere some of the fury slipped from her voice, "What do you mean again? People normally go missing? Are they ever found?"
"No."
X-X-X
Daryl had been out in the woods since he was old enough to use a knife. He was taught to track, hunt, and live off the land. There wasn't anywhere else in the world that he felt more in his element but the tables had been turned. This time he was the one being hunted. He'd have to utilize every skill he had to escape these fuckers and get back to Carol but if it came down to it he'd kill if he had to.
He was on full alert, the handle of the knife swinging between his fingers ready to stab and slash his way through anything. It wasn't until the owl stopped signing its nightly song that his hackles raised. Slipping into the shadows, he listened to the two men that were attempting to track him. They weren't as inexperienced as Daryl expected them to be but they were overconfident and it hindered their stealth. One of them was so out of shape that he huffed with every step, nearly gasping for breath as he tried to keep up with the other man that started to whistle. It was an upbeat tune that disgusted Daryl and it tempted him to think about what they had planned for him before they intended on taking his life.
"Told ya this was goin' to be a fun one," one of the men laughed, twigs snapping and leaves crunching under every step like a beacon. "Last boy barely made it out the yard."
"Shut your mouth, Nate."
"I want to see the life leave his eyes. Think he will cry?"
"Think we gotta catch him first."
Idiots walked right passed him, creeping further into the woods. It would have been too easy to sneak up behind them, take them out as they would have tried to do to him, but it wasn't worth the fight. He had the chance to get out of there and he was going to take it. He had to find Carol. Just because she wasn't locked in some cage didn't mean she wasn't in harm's way. Once he knew they weren't doubling back he headed off in the other direction, his senses still on high alert as he pressed on in search of a landmark.
X-X-X
Carol hadn't realized just how many private drives weren't marked on the map the bartender had given her. Some were easy to rule out, the foliage so overgrown that it was clear no one had been through there in years, but others wound behind thick trees camouflaging whatever was behind them. He had tried to warn her not to go looking for trouble, that she was never going to find who was missing, and that if she didn't leave well enough alone she could end up worse than dead. It was all ignored. Clearly the man had no one that he cared about or he would have understood her need to find him. Maybe she hadn't thought this plan through as much as she should have. If these psychos were able to get the jump on Daryl then what was she going to be able to do? Was she supposed to go down every drive in hopes that she picked the right one and he would just be standing there waiting for her?
Naïve was what she was. She wasn't going to give up, not until she found Daryl, not until she had answers, but she also knew she was going to need help. Dialing Merle's number, she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder while she had the map in one hand and the wheel in the other. It rang twice her eyes trailing over the map before flashing back up to the road in time to see someone stumbling out of the woods. She dropped the phone and the map, gripping the steering wheel with both hands as she slammed on the breaks.
The truck finally stopped in the middle of the road, headlights blinding the man and Carol's heart about beating out of her chest. It took her a moment to notice the red rag Daryl always had tucked in his back pocket and relief flooded her as she bounded from the cab. By some miracle she had found…she stopped dead in her tracks as the man smiled, his blackened teeth and yellowed eyes making her skin crawl. She was sure that was Daryl's rag, she had seen that ratty old thing so many times she would be able to spot it anywhere, but when where was Daryl?
