Nine

I sat on the porch steps, the sun was setting and the air was still. Shane and Otis had gone for supplies to save Carl. Lori and Rick were inside with their son. It was so quiet. I worried about Daryl, Andrea, Carol and everyone else. Wondered if they found Sophia. Lori came out of the house and put her palms on her temples, "Anything different," I asked, still staring at the ground.

"If they don't get back soon, we're going to have to go ahead and do it without the supplies," she said, her voice shook a little. I stood up and gave her a hug; I wasn't sure what to say, so I remained quiet. Rick called Lori from inside and she gave me a short squeeze and then ran back in.

The next morning, I woke up on the porch swing I had fallen asleep on. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and walked inside, "Did anybody show up last night," I asked, Hershel. I was beginning to worry about Shane and Otis, this kind of thing was usually easy for Shane. He was good at it.

"No, they did not," he replied, pouring us both a cup of coffee, "If they don't arrive in the next few hours, we'll be in a pickle."

I nodded and walked back outside. It was a beautiful farm. The pastures were green grass or yellow wheat, standing tall and golden, baking in the sun. Horses in one pasture, cows in another and I could hear chickens clucking from a henhouse. I walked out to the horses and clicked at them to come. They raised their heads but, quickly continued munching on the grass, "They're spoiled rotten," Maggie, Hershel's daughter, said walking up to me. I jumped a little, not hearing her approach, "Won't come unless you have food for 'em."

I smiled but, said nothing otherwise. Maggie continued, "You know Rick and Lori?"

"Yes," I answered, "I'm a part of their group."

"How many others in your group?"

Before I could answer, we both heard the car speeding up the gravel driveway, "Shane!" I screamed and sprinted toward him. He was out of the car and handing the supplies off to Lori and Rick before I could reach him, "Shane!" I called again. He was bloody, tired and out of breath but I jumped on him anyway, hugging him, "I was so worried about you," I said as he hugged me back. He set me down after a moment, "Where's Otis," I asked, looking around.

"He didn't make it," Shane said, quietly.

I nodded, silently, "Go rest. I'll find you some dinner," I hugged him again and followed him inside.

Shane was sleeping like a rock on the porch swing with a gun on his lap. I was on the couch, unable to fall asleep. The surgery on Carl went well although; we wouldn't really know anything until he was awake. T-Dog and Glenn had arrived earlier and they were asleep on the floor, at least T-Dog was. Glenn sighed and I turned my head to look down at him, "Daryl is okay?"

"Yeah," Glenn said, "Him and Andrea went to look for Sophia some more. I don't think he could stand Carol's crying."

"He's sensitive like that," I said, shaking my head.

After a few minutes, it was quiet and Glenn was snoring quietly. The house was silent. It had been a long time since I was in a home. Let alone, slept on cushions. It was lovely. As the moon shown in the windows, I felt my eyes closing, "Goodnight Daryl."

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Shane's voice woke me up. He was sitting on the edge of the couch. He brushed my hair back, his fingers gently running from my hairline backwards.

"Let me sleep just a little longer," I begged, pulling the blanket up over my face.

"Well fine but, the Winnebago is coming down the street. There's a motorcycle, too," Shane said, jumping out of my way as I flung off the blanket and shot out the door, barefoot. I ran up to Daryl and hugged him, throwing my arms around his neck and holding him tight.

"I'm so glad you found us," I said into his neck, "I missed you," I said into his chest, he hugged me back; "Did you find Sophia?" I asked, looking up at him, I missed those blue eyes. Daryl shook his head and my shoulders sank, I thought for sure he would have been able to track her; he had shown me how to do it back when we camped near the city.

I greeted everyone else but, kept close to Daryl. We set up tents under a clump of trees away from the house a bit, but still protected by the fences and long driveway. I put my little green tent in between Shane's and Rick and Lori's. I'd be safest there, without Daryl around.

Daryl put his tent out away, "Wanna be able to know if something is coming before it gets all the way up here," Daryl said. I followed him out to his little black tent with a basket of his clothes, a few bottles of water and some snacks; although I'm sure he'd rather kill something and eat it. He held the flap open for me and I walked inside, it was tall enough for us both to stand straight up but, barely long enough for us to stretch out flat. We stood close together and I hugged him again, "You're like a little stick tight monkey," Daryl said, flopping down onto his little foam mattress and sleeping bag. He was tired and I could tell he hadn't been sleeping. I sat next to him and brushed the hair out of his face, "You should head back before it gets dark."

"I wanna stay with you," I said lying down on my stomach and putting my head on his chest, "I missed you."

"I'm gonna go out and look for Sophia in a bit," he said, putting his hands behind his head.

"I'll go with you," I replied quickly. It would be nice to get away from the group with just Daryl. He sighed and I got the hint, "You don't want me to come," I said, sitting back up, "You're still mad at me."

Daryl sat up too, "I'm not mad, Jo May," chewing on the side of his thumb, "I just don't want to have to worry about you out there, got it?"

"Sure," I said, standing up and stomping out of the tent. Daryl didn't follow me but, I heard him cursing and throwing things around inside his tent.

"Dammit," Daryl huffed, "Stupid women. Can't do anything right by em!" He was just looking out for her; he didn't want her to get hurt. And he didn't feel like being around her would release any tension. Walking around in those shorts and tank top would only make things harder. Daryl knew she didn't want what he did.

I huffed back to the campsite, "What's got your panties in a wad," Shane said, sitting in front of a little campfire, everyone else was sleeping. It had been a long three days.

"Leave me alone," I snapped, walking into my tent and sitting on the cot. Shane walked in a few moments later, "Didn't you get the memo?," I snapped again.

"Chill out, Miss Thing," Shane said sitting next to me and handed me a bottle of water. I took it, silently brewing.

"I worried for three damn days about him and he won't even let me tag along," I vented, "I kept up with you guys, didn't I? I can take care of myself, for the most part can't I?"

"I think you might be safer here," Shane took Daryl's side. Which made me even angrier, "You can take care of yourself but, Daryl might be more useful if he's not looking at you all the time."

I grinned a little, "He's looking at me, huh?"

"Every time you come around," Shane said, he rubbed his eyes, looking tired, "Trust me; I know it's easier to focus when you don't have distractions like you ladies around."

"You mean Lori," I said, picking at the edge of the blankets on my cot.

Shane looked at me for a second, "Yeah, I do. Is it that obvious?"

"I've known since I first met you," I said, picking at the frayed edge of my shorts, "The way you look at her. The way you look at Carl; it's obvious you care for them. Even the way you look at Rick."

Shane looked at me, his eyes were wide and he stood up, "You should get some sleep Jo May," he bent down, kissed the top of my head and walked out.

The men around here were so confusing.

Rick's voice sounding outside, towards the house; I stood up and walked outside. The air was cooler than in the tent, Shane gave me a pat on the back and I smiled at him. Dale watched us suspiciously. Shane and Dale hadn't been getting along; as a matter of fact, no one got along with Shane after Rick came around. Which was bittersweet, Shane was a good leader but, Rick had more of a conscience and that made him a better one.

Everyone gathered around Rick and Lori who stood on the deck, "Hershel has asked me that we don't carry guns around the farm," Rick said, staring at Shane; awaiting a reaction. I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Daryl, he didn't look at me but up at Rick.

"How we supposed to protect ourselves then, huh," Daryl asked, already ticked off at the idea.

Shane nodded his head, "That's bullshit, Rick. These guns are the only things we got to protect us."

Rick held up his hands, "It's Hershel's farm, his rules. We'll keep lookouts, have plenty of time to grab guns if we need to."

Shane shook his head, "This is ridiculous. Somebody gonna die cause of this," he stormed off, shaking his head and cursing under his breath.

Rick watched him go for a moment, "We'll keep the guns in the Winnebago, safe and sound. Nobody gets one unless the let me know first? Understand?"

We all nodded and went back to setting up camp. Daryl stayed around this time, we sat in front of my tent, Daryl worked on making some new arrows and I was sewing up holes in shirts and patches on pants for everyone, "Want you to stay close to me when I'm here and to Rick when I'm not," Daryl said quietly, eyeing Dale – who eyed him back.

"You men are all like little boys," I said, "Ya'll need to start getting along before I go nuts."

"It's not that I don't like em," Daryl said, "Don't trust 'em enough to protect the group."

That was true. We all looked up as Hershel came out of the house and stood on the porch, hands in his pockets. He inspected our little campsite. Daryl stared at him, eyes squinted at Hershel as he sliced away at the stick he was turning into an arrow, "Daryl," I whispered, keeping my eyes down on one of Dale's shirts, "Stop it."

Daryl gathered up his things and I stood up to walk back with him, he let me walk just out of the firelight and vision of our group, "You stay here, how many times I have to tell ya?"

"I was just going to say goodnight," I said, crossing my arms. I was starting to feel hurt with all of Daryl's snappiness. It not only was annoying but, it was uncalled for. If anyone was gonna be crabby, it was me. But, I held my tongue and walked away.

Daryl's had caught my arm, "Jo may, hey wait," he said quietly, I tensed up as me pulled me close to him and he loosened his grip on my arm, "I'm sorry I said that about you and Sophia, okay," I nodded at him, "I'll see you in the morning, a'ight? I'll say goodbye before I leave," I nodded again and he kissed me, "Stay here."

I said goodnight to everyone and slipped into my tent, smiling. I crawled in my cot and fell asleep; waiting for morning.