Rick was driving Shane and Miri to the mall where they were going to meet up with Lori to just hang out and buy a dress. Their school was having homecoming, and since Miri was visiting, Lori told Rick to bring her along. Miri had just turned fifteen a while back while the others were seventeen/eighteen. "I'm glad you and Lori are getting along now." Rick parked in the parking lot of the mall and got out. "She's really glad to see you again."

Shane put his arm around Miri's shoulder. "Not as much as us."

"I'm glad about that too, she has a hell of an arm on her." She laughed. "She can bloody throw." She patted Shane's strong back. "Let's go meet up with Lori." They walked into the mall to see Lori waiting near the fountain. "Lori!" She called out to her.

Lori turned around and walked over to them with a huge smile on her face. "Finally, you guys made it!" she gave Rick a kiss and then gave Shane and Miri a hug. "Come on, before all the good dresses are gone!" She linked her arm with Miri. "Now, you guys go and get your tuxes while us girls go look for dresses!" Lori gave Rick a kiss goodbye and started to drag her away. "I saw this really pretty dress for you to try on."

"Dress?" Miri's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "But I'm not going to the dance, why should I get a dress?"

Lori laughed. "Well, I know a secret." She bent her head low so she could whisper into her ear. "Shane is planning on asking you to go with him."

Miri's eyes widen. "As mates right?"

Lori hit her arm playfully and gave her a look. "Oh! Here's the place." She pulled her into a store filled with dresses, shoes and jewelry. "So, where do we start?" Lori clapped her hands and pointed to an area with gowns in various shades of blue. She shifted through the rack and pulled out a pretty dark blue dress that was strapless. "This is the dress I was talking about, isn't it pretty?"

"I have to admit, it's really pretty, but I-" the dress was thrown into her arms and she was pushed into a changing room.

"Try it on!" Lori yelled from the other side of the curtain. "I'll go look for a dress for me."

Miri looked down at the dress. It was a pretty midnight blue, short, strapless and made of chiffon. The bodice was accented with sparkling beadwork and the gathered full short skirt added a playful flirty touch. The dress also had an open back. She put it on after she removed her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror.

"You put on the dress yet?" Lori asked from the room next to her.

"Yeah. Do I really have to get a dress?" Miri asked as she walked out of the changing room. "You picked one out yet?"

"I'm stuck between two." Lori came out in a pretty light purple gown that was one shouldered and looked to be made of the same material as Miri's dress. "I like this one because it compliments my figure and skin, and I love the color, but the length bothers me." She lifted the ends of the dress to show her feet. "I want to be able to walk around and not trip on my face."

"I like it on you." Miri told her as she spun around.

She saw Miri in the dress. "Oh, I knew that dress would be perfect for you! You have to get it." She went into the changing room again. "Let me show you the other one."

Miri went to her changing room and changed back to her normal clothes. She waited outside of Lori's changing room. "Lori? You finished?"

"Hold on. Finally got it!" Lori came out in a short red dress that was made of chiffon, had spaghetti straps with draped bodice and shirred above the knee length skirt. "What do you think?"

"I like this one the best." Miri smiled at Lori as she checked herself over. "Rick's jaw will hit the floor when he sees you."

Lori laughed and went back into the changing room.

"Hey, Miri?"

Miri turned around and saw Shane there, looking a bit uncomfortable to be surrounded by all the dresses and the girls nearly running people down to find dresses. "Hey Shane, aren't you supposed to be shopping for a tux?"

Shane chuckled and started to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, I just came by real quick to ask you with you wanted to come with me to homecoming."

"Uh… sure?" She gave him an unsure smile as she looked to see if Lori was finished.

Shane smiled. "Great! I better go, uh what color you gonna wear?"

"Dark blue, I guess." She shrugged as she rubbed her arm. She was getting uncomfortable with the situation. "Lori is wearing red."

Shane gave her a thumbs up and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "I'll go tell Rick. See ya Miri." He left the store.

"So he finally asked you?" Lori came out of the room with both dresses in her arms and a huge smile on her lips.

"You were listening?"

"Of course." She laughed as they walked over to the shoes. "So…" she paused as she scanned the shoes that would match her dress. "Do you like Shane?"

"As a friend." Miri picked up a pair of strappy silver heels. "Are these nice?"

Lori turned Miri around to look at her. "I thought you liked Shane."

She looked at her like she was crazy. "I do. He's a good friend."

Lori's frown deepened as she realized something. "Shit. I think he thinks you like him back." Miri groaned loudly. "We can fix this." Lori bit her nail. "You could tell him you only like him as a friend. Hopefully he understands." She shook her head. "Let's forget about that for now, let's finish shopping and meet the guys at the food court."

They got shoes and some jewelry to match their dresses, then met up with the guys to get a slice of pizza before going home. Miri spent the night at Lori's so they could help each other get ready for the homecoming tonight. Lori had her long hair curled beautiful down her back while Miri had her wavy hair curled and picked up elegantly in a French twist with some curls lose around her face to frame it. The sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house as they finished putting on a light amount of makeup on, not wanting to look like clowns as the night went on.

"Lori! Rick and Shane are here!" Lori's mother called up the stairs.

"Comin' momma!" she called down to her mother. "Ready, Miri?"

Miri nodded and they walked out to the stairs. Lori went down first, and the flash of a camera went off and Rick saying she looked beautiful.

"Miri, come on down!" Lori's mother called to the young blonde.

Miri turned the corner and saw Rick and Shane wearing ties with their dress colors and corsages.

"Wow." Shane and Rick gasped.

Miri smiled for a picture on the stairs with Lori.

Rick came over and gave her a hug. "You look beautiful, Miranda."

She laughed. "You look silly, Rick."

Rick pulled away with a laugh. "You know I look good." She patted his back as Lori's mom took another picture of the two of them.

"You look beautiful, Miri." Shane came over to her, placed the corsage on her wrist.

She gave an awkward smile. "Thanks, Shane, you look nice."

Shane didn't notice her awkward smile or the fact she was slightly tense around him. Lori did though, and she shot her a 'sorry' smile. Lori's mom took another picture of all four of them and they went to Rick's car so he could drive the group to the dance.

The dance was fun, though Miri was bothered when Shane nearly fought a guy when he asked her to dance. She had dragged Shane to the corner of the room where it was a lot less crowded. "I need to talk to you, Shane. Lori told me that you like me and I wanted to tell you-"

"Will you go out with me?" Shane asked as he stepped closer to her.

"Uh-" She panicked when Shane brought his head down to give her a kiss. She put her hands on his chest and moved him away. "I'm sorry, but I don't like you like that. You're mine and my brother's best mate, nothing more."

Shane looked at her with sad eyes. "But we would be perfect together and you accepted the date. That has to mean something."

"I thought we were only going as friends. That's why I accepted when you asked me."

Shane's face grew angry. "But we flirted, I know we did. I really though you liked me."

"I wasn't flirting. I'm sorry, Shane, but no." She shook her head. "I wanted you to understand, that I thought you were just being playful and friendly with me when you would be… Flirty." Shane's jaw tightened and walked away from her. She walked over to Rick and asked him if he could take her back to the house, saying she didn't feel comfortable. Rick brought her to the house and took Lori out to get something to eat.


Shane held a grudge against her since that day and would try to scare off guys she liked or boyfriends she bought over with her when she would come visit. Austin was the only one she didn't bring over since she was scared Shane would scare him off. Rick just thought Shane was being a good friend and helping him in scaring off the bad ones.

… Why did her head hurt so much?

She tried to open her eyes, but her vision was too blurry and her head pounded even more as soon as she opened her eyes.

She groaned. "Ow."

Small hands slowly placed a cold wet cloth on her forehead. "She's awake now, Hershel."

The sound of boots hitting wood floors moved towards her. "Ma'am, we need you to stay awake and try and open your eyes." The voice was male, Hershel she guessed.

"What happened?" she tried to blink her eyes so her vision can clear up and figure out where she was.

"One of my men found you at the bottom of a dirt cliff. He heard you fall and went over to check what it was." Her vision cleared and she saw an old man and a middle aged blonde woman hovering over her. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Miranda." The woman helped her sit up. "Thank you." She thanked the woman.

"May I ask what you were doing out there?" Hershel flashed a light in her eye as he asked.

"I… I don't really remember much… I remember someone following me, then that's it after that."

Hershel nodded and put the flashlight onto the night table. "Well Miranda, I think you have a concussion. You have a headache most likely," Miri confirmed this. "Loss of consciousness and memory of events before the injury." He listed off. "We need you to stay awake so you don't slip into a coma, just in case."

She slowly shook her head. "I can't stay, my little girl and family… They're still out there."

The woman held her back. "We can't let you do that, you have a concussion."

A knock came from the door and Hershel told the person to come in.

A woman that looked to be around Miri's age walked into the room with some clothes in her arms. She had short brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin and she was slim. "Daddy? Is the woman awake?" the woman asked Hershel. "I brought her clothes like you asked."

"Thank you, sweetheart." Hershel thanked her. He then turned to Miri. "As soon as you're feeling better, we can let you go."

"But my family is out there. They don't even know if I'm alive." Miri pleaded, keeping eye contact with him as best she could.

"You can't be able to even walk ten feet without help, young lady." Hershel stood up from his chair. "My daughter, Maggie, will help you to the bathroom to wash up." He and the older woman left the room.

"Hi, I'm Maggie." She stuck her hand out and Miri shook it.

"I'm Miranda, but you can call me Miri."

Maggie gave her a small smile and helped her up. "I'll show you to the bathroom." She walked slowly as the blonde held onto her and the wall as they walked to the bathroom. "We own a generator that runs on fuel and have wells that contain fresh water, so you can have a nice shower."

Miri grinned. "I really need it right now." she looked over herself and saw her clothes were caked in dry mud. Maggie gave her the clothes and left her to walk into the bathroom alone. She placed the clothes on top of the sink and looked into the mirror, wondering how everyone else is doing…


Daryl helped T-Dog to the RV so Dale could help with his arm when he saw everyone else standing by the railing, looking out to the forest. "What the hell is goin' on?"

"Rick and Miri went to chase after two walkers that went after Sophia." Lori answered as she tried to control Carol's crying. "They've been gone for twenty minutes now."

He noticed Aussie's little girl holding a slightly dirty giraffe doll to her chest as her eyes scanned the forest, playing with a bracelet absentmindedly.

A figure stepped through the bushes and everyone saw it was Rick. He climbed up the ditch, out of breath, wet, and slightly covered in black blood. He scanned the group. "Where's Miri and Sophia?"

Lori sucked in a breath. "They didn't come back, Rick…"

Rick's eyes widen. "No…" he went to turn back down the ditch when Shane grabbed him, holding him tight as he struggled against him. "Let me go! They're still back there!"

"But I'm not letting you go alone!" Shane's words caused Rick to stop struggling. "I'll go with you to help track them."

Glenn stepped forward. "I'll help too, for look out."

Daryl readied his crossbow. "Y'all need a tracker. If not, you'd never find them."

Shane glared. "No, you stay here and protect the group."

Rick calmed Shane. "He's right, Shane. He's a hunter, he knows how to track. We could use his help to find them."

Shane's jaw tightened as his closed his fist tightly. "Fine." He spat.

As they were getting the guns from the RV, Daryl noticed the little girl was now sitting against it in the shade, hugging the doll to her face. He walked over and bent down. "Hey," she looked up at him, her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks were red. "Stop that cryin', we're gonna find your momma. She's gonna be fine."

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and hugged the giraffe tighter. "Pinky promise?" Daryl rolled his eyes. She gave him a strong look as she stuck her pinky out. "Pinky promise." She repeated.

"Fine. Pinky promise." He wrapped his pinky around her small one then stood up. "Fucking pinky promises." He mumbled.

"You shouldn't say bad words." She looked up at him with a small smile.

He didn't say anything else as he stood up and went with the others to follow Rick to the creek where he said both he and Miri put Sophia into an abandoned beaver dam. He searched the area over. "You sure this is the spot?"

Rick nodded. "We left her right here. I drew one of the walkers off in that direction, up the creek, while Miri took the other one in that direction." He pointed to the opposite way of his direction.

"Without a paddle," Daryl said dryly as he looked around for signs of Miri, Sophia and walkers. "Seems where we've landed."

"She was gone by the time I got back here," Rick told the hunter. "I figured she just took off and ran back to the group, or that Miri found her and took her back." He pointed in the direction of the highway from the creek, sloshing in the water. "I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." He tapped his left shoulder.

"Hey, short round," Daryl barked at Glenn, who was standing up on the bank of the creek with Shane. "Why don't you step off to one side? You're muckin' up the trail!"

"Assumin' she knows her left from her right." Shane points out doubtfully to Rick.

"Shane, she understood me fine!" Rick says impatiently.

"Kid's tired and scared, man," Shane says grimly. "She had a close call with two walkers. Gotta wonder how much of what you and Miri said stuck."

Daryl pulled their attention back to looking for signs. "Got clear prints right here. She did like you said, headed back to the highway. We spread out, make our way back." He direct the group. He reached up and grab Shane's hand, hefting himself up out of the water and onto the bank.

"Let's go," says Shane, "They couldn't've gotten far." He helped Rick up the bank. "Hey, we're gonna find them. Sophia will be tuckered out hidin' in a bush somewhere, while Miri is probably on her way back."

They followed Daryl through the trees until he slowed down, staring firmly at the ground, and stop to kneel. "She was doin' just fine till right here," he muttered, perplexed. "All she had to do was keep goin'." He pointed off to the right. "Veered off that way."

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked uneasily.

"Maybe she saw somethin'," Shane suggests, looking to Daryl for confirmation. "Spooked her. Made her run off."

"Walker." Glenn says with quiet dread.

Daryl shook his head, unconvinced. "Don't see any other footprints, just hers."

"So what do we do?" asked Shane. "All of us press on?"

"No," Rick frowned. "Better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let 'em know we're on their trail doing everything we can, but most of all, keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars," Shane agrees, "Think up a few other chores. I can keep 'em occupied." He waves for Glenn to join him. "C'mon." They set off for the highway, leaving Rick with Daryl.

Daryl stood up and followed Sophia's trail in the new direction, Rick tailing close behind. Soon enough, the tracks started to get harder to follow.

"The tracks are gone." Rick said in dismay.

"Nah," Daryl assure him, "They're faint, they ain't gone." He pointed. "She came through here."

"How can you tell?" asked the sheriff. "I don't see anything. Dirt, grass…"

Daryl bit his cheek. "You want a lesson in tracking or you wanna find the girl and your sister, and get our asses off that interstate?" he tells him sternly. He had no time to play teacher with Rick. They pressed on.

The sound of heavy footsteps on leaves has them dropping to a crouch. They moved forward carefully, keeping low, as they found a walker in their sights.

Daryl silently instructed Rick to distract it so they had a better chance of taking it don without a hassle.

Rick darted away and whistled at the walker like he would a dog, grabbing the rotting corpse's attention. The walker turned to him, snarling until an arrow through its head from behind. They walked over together to its body.

Daryl yanked his arrow free and looked around at the forest. He sighed and called for Sophia and Miri while Rick kneeled by the corpse, donning a pair of work gloves as he picked up one of the walker's hands. "What're you lookin' for?" Daryl wondered as Rick looked over the hands.

"Skin under the fingernails."

Daryl stoop to look closer with him.

Rick turned the body over onto its back, observing its face. Fresh blood coated its mouth and teeth. "It fed recently," Rick said before he pried the walker's mouth open further and tried to pull something from its teeth. He looks away as he does it, disgusted. "There's flesh caught in its teeth." He tugs the flesh free and holds it up to look at it.

"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" Daryl ask, leaning closer for a better look at Rick's find.

Rick pauses and takes a moment to look thoroughly unhappy with what has to happen next. "Only one way to know for sure," He takes out his knife and rips the walker's shirt open.

Daryl touched his shoulder, stopping him. "Here, I'll do it." He rose to his feet and stood astride the body, pulling out his own knife and donning his own gloves. "How many kills you skinned and gutted in your life, anyway? Mine's sharper." He took a firm stance, gripping his knife in both hands and stabbed it deep into the walker's stomach.

Rick watched on, trying his hardest to keep an impassive expression as Daryl sawed down the abdomen; the sound of a blade ripping through dead, wet flesh was repulsive. He flinched as Daryl thrust his knife back in a second time, cutting deeper and yanking down harder and again a third time.

After the third strike, Daryl sat back a bit, taking a breath and glancing at Rick. "Here comes the bad part." He plunged his hands deep into the walker's abdomen, coating his gloves in thick, slick brown sludge. He rooted around inside determinedly and pull out—something. He tossed it aside.

Rick forced himself to watch, but had to look away nauseously and take a breath when Daryl pulled out something long and stringy, squishing it and throwing it down. He gagged as Daryl poked and prodded at the stomach, concentrating.

"Yeah," Daryl grunted, completely unconcerned with the wet squelches and the smell. "Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." He pulled the organ out whole and drop it in the leaves at Rick's knees. "Here's the gut bag."

"I got this," Rick said, feeling like he has to prove himself after trying to force himself not to throw up. He cut into the stomach with some difficulty, ripping it open and revealing the contents. He picked at the gunk inside with the tip of his knife and groans, revolted.

Daryl spotted something and hooked the tip of his knife into the skull of some animal and hold it up for the both of them to see. "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch," He determined as he stood up.

"At least we know." Rick admits.

Daryl agreed. "At least we know. Now show me where you said Aussie went."

Rick brought Daryl back to the creek and he went the way he said he saw Miri run in before losing sight of her.

Daryl followed two pairs of footprints. The footprints led him through some bushes where there was a dead walker body on the ground.

"What's that?" Rick walked over to the body and picked up a familiar knife. "This is Miri's."

Daryl followed her footprints around the tree, over to the walker and then the ledge, where he saw some claw marks in the dirt. "Rick." He called him over. He pointed to the claw marks and down the ledge where it looked like something slide down. "I think she must've fallen down, but I don't see her body at the bottom."

"Maybe she got up and is looking for a way back." Rick held the knife tightly.

"It's getting' dark. We have to head back." Daryl told Rick.

When they reached the highway, everyone ran over to meet them. The group's faces fell when they see Sophia and Miri aren't with them though.

"You didn't find them?" Carol says weakly, heartbroken.

"Their trail went cold and they weren't around each other when we found the footprints." Rick explained, stepping over the guardrail. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol protests tearfully, fidgeting restlessly before him.

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl tell them gently. "We'd just be trippin' over ourselves, more people get lost."

"But she's twelve, you can't leave her out there on her own!" Carol cried, her voice breaking in a panic. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard," Rick says, raising his hand to soothe her. "But I'm asking you not to panic. We know both she and Miri were out there."

"And we tracked her for a while," Daryl added, hoping to soothe her. "Both of them."

"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick tells the group. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Alice stared breathlessly at Daryl's pants and asks, "Is that blood?" He look down at his legs and then at Rick, anxious.

Rick bent down to Alice's level, "We took down a walker." Carol looked faint, repeating the word. "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."

"How can you know that?" Andrea asks.

Rick looked uncomfortable and turned to Daryl.

Daryl look earnestly at Carol and Alice. "We cut the sumbitch open," He assured them. "Made sure."

Carol eased herself unsteadily down to sit on the guardrail and Lori moved to her side. Carol looks up at Rick, her eyes brimming with tears. "How could you just...leave her out there to begin with?" Rick stepped back guiltily. "How could just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us," Rick said, desperate for Carol's understanding. "W-we had to draw 'em off, it was her best chance."

Shane came over to Rick's defense. Reasonably, he says, "Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol."

"How is she supposed to find her way back on her own?" Carol sobbed, rocking back and forth. Lori put her arm around her shoulders. "She's just a child, she's just a child…"

Rick crouched in front of her. "It—it—it was my only option, the only choice I could make."

"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane insisted.

"My little girl got left in the woods," Carol whimpered.

Another whimper comes from Alice. Carl went over and hugged her, letting her cry in his arms as he patted her back and spoke to her in whispers.

'Fuckin' Aussie. Getting herself lost and leaving her little girl here to cry.' Daryl thought as he saw Carl take her over to the RV.

Rick rubbed his lip as he stared at the knife in his hand.

Daryl looked over to Shane, remembering what he saw happen between Miri and Shane. They were really close to each other, and with how protective he was over Miri, Daryl wouldn't be surprised if they were dating. Shane noticed him looking at him and threw a glare his way. He's been doing that lately. Probably because of Miri. She's most likely trying to get him jealous by being around another guy, him.

Fuck the bitch.


Hey, real sorry these are taking forever but with two jobs, I'm running on near empty-not to mention my stress levels are through space.

But I hope you guys understand and enjoyed the chapter!