I do not own The Walking Dead and I am not gaining profit from this story. But I do own Rikki and MY plot.

Enjoy this chapter of Zombie Loving :D

P.S: This chapter might be kinda boring but it needs to be done to make the timeline longer.

(Glenn's POV)

It was after breakfast, the morning sun barely high in the sky when the group cambered around a large map. Rick pointed to an area and spoke with renewed spirit and authority that boosted up my spirits. He dropped a big utility set of weapons down onto the hood of a car next to us and looked around to make sure everyone was here and then spoke,

"Everyone takes a weapon." He ordered, and I made sure that I grabbed a cool looking one. Hey, I could hear Rikki say right now, looking good while killing zombies is Zombie Fashion 101.

"These aren't the types of weapons that we need." Andrea snapped, "What about the guns?" I rolled my eyes, we need to go find them, not worry about guns.

"We've been over that." Shane said next to me, "Daryl, Rick and I are carryin'. Can't have people poppin' off rounds everytime a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea countered.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment," Shane said, "Herd happens to be passin' by. See then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."

I could see the way that she bit back the urge to deck the guy and spoke up. "People could still benefit from havin' a piece with them," she continued, "Just in case. As a last resort."

"'Til we get proper training, I think Shane is right." She narrowed her eyes at Rick.

"The idea is we take the creek up," Daryl started, "'bout five miles. Then turn around come back down the other side. Chances are they'll be by the creek. It's their only landmark."

"Stay quiet, stay sharp," Rick said, "Keep space between you, but always stay in sight of each other."

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane barked.

"Good luck out there," Dale said as everyone got ready to leave and look for Rikki and Sophia. "Bring the girls back."

Rick nodded, "Can you keep an eye on Carl? While we're gone?"

"I'm going with you." Carl argued. Rick sighed and bit his lip as he thought about it. "You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible," Carl continued, making his argument.

Rick looked to Lori but she shook her head, "Your call, I can't always be the bad guy."

"Well he has all of you to look after him; I'd say he's in good hands." Dale offered.

Rick sighed, "Okay, okay. But always within our sight, no exceptions."

I rolled my eyes as I saw Andrea arguing with Dale and noticed everyone else stop what they were doing to watch them too as Andrea got upset and raised her voice.

"What do you think's gonna happen, I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger?" she asks. Dale is surprised she is so angry with him, having expected gratitude for saving her life back at the CDC.

"You took my choice away, Dale." She started to walk away and I put a hand on her back in comfort as she passed, walking with her. Everyone else started to follow and Dale and T-Dog stayed behind with the caravan.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

(Still Glenn's POV)

We kept walking on alongside the creek, keeping an eye out for anything that would indicate that the girls were still alive out here, somewhere. We'd lost the trail, well; Daryl lost the trail and were having issues finding it again.

After an hour or so of searching, we came across a little campsite and Daryl stopped the group.

Rick motioning for me to come forward and Shane whispered, "They could be in there."

"There could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl countered. Rick, Shane, Daryl and I slowly moved towards the tent, and Daryl and Shane split off to get closer, taking out their knives.

Rick called for Carol and she came hurrying over. "If they're in there, yours is the first voice Sophia should hear."

She nodded and moved forward a little. Daryl and Shane tensed and held our weapons at the ready at the door.

"Sophia? Are you in there? Sophia it's mommy. We're all here, baby,"

"Rikki Charwash!" I hissed, "You in there? Rikki?"

There was no answer. So either they were sleeping, or it wasn't them. We had to find out anyways. Daryl reached for the zip on the tent door and slowly opened it.

He leaned in the tent and I was close enough for the smell hit me and when it did, I started coughing before I could get used to it. I looked in behind Daryl and understood why. Some guy, sitting in a lawn chair. He had a bullet through his head. I coughed again at the thick rotting smell and left the tent.

I saw Carol tense as I exited the tent. "Daryl?"

He exited the tent, "It ain't them."

"What was in there?" Andrea asked, looking between us. I just shook my head and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, defeated. Where are you, Rikki?

"Some guy," Daryl said, "Did what Jenner said. Opted out." He looked at the trees, "Ain't that what he called it?"

Then out of nowhere, we heard church bells. At first, it was an annoying ringing but then we knew.

Everyone automatically went on high-alert and ran towards the sound. Shane paused for a second,

"What direction?"

"I think that way," Rick pointed, "I'm pretty sure."

"Dang it's hard to tell out here." Shane grumbled.

"If we hear them then maybe the girls do, too," Carol said hopefully.

"Yeah and so could a bunch of walkers," Daryl added, "So stay on your toes, people. We're not the only ones in the forest, remember?"

It didn't do much to comfort Carol or me, but Daryl got his stupid point across and people were a little more aware as we moved along.

"Someone's ringing those bells," I said, "Maybe calling others."

"Or signalling that they found them." Andrea agreed.

"They could be ringing them themselves," Rick said, "Come on."

We followed Rick down through the forest. The bells stopped but we kept moving, and came out across a large clearing where a graveyard sat quietly and a pristine white church sat in the far corner.

"That can't be it," Shane said. "Got no steeple, no bells."

Rick ignored him and we all bounded across the grass towards the building. We came around the side and up the steps to the main entrance, Rick, Shane, and Daryl leading the group. They exchanged their loud guns for axes and knives.

There were three zombies just sitting in the pews when they opened the doors. It seemed really strange and awkward since they were so out of place. One of them lunged at Rick and I saw him hesitate, not wanting to kill while he was standing in a church, I thought.

It grabbed for him but Rick shook my head and drove the knife into its head, hearing a sickening crack-and-slurp noise as he pulled it back out and repeated the process when it hit the ground.

Satisfied that it was dead - again - he sighed and looked up to see the other three men disposing of their respective zombies in a similar way.

I arched an eyebrow and tried to hold back a grin as Daryl made kissy-face noises to get the attention of his before driving his knife into its forehead. With the zombies down and the room safe, everyone else filled into the church.

"SOPHIA! RIKKI!" Rick screamed at the top of his lungs, frustrated. I frowned and heard Daryl walk up to the front of the church where a statue stood overlooking the room.

"Yo JC, you takin' requests?"

I sighed, "So what now? They're obviously not here."

"But what about the bells we heard?" Rick said.

Shane stepped forward, "I'm tellin' ya Rick, it's the wrong church. There's no steeple."

As if God was laughing at him, bells started chiming overhead. This time the sound was right on top of us. I shoved past the group to get out the front door and hopped down the steps to find the source of the noise. I reached the side of the building and stood in front of a box on the wall that was connected to a large speaker-looking-thing.

Pulling down a lever and making the bells stop, I said, "It's a timer. It's on a timer."

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

I found my way back inside just as everyone was getting ready to head back to the highway. No way was I giving up just yet. The sun wasn't even down.

"I'm staying out here to look for them. I'm not giving up. No way." I said as he shook his head and said that he was coming with me. Naturally, so did Shane.

We agreed that Daryl should take the rest of the group back in order to rest and get something to eat, while we'd scout out the forest again for any sign of the girls.

As we walked towards the group, I noticed Daryl kick a rock in frustration and it slammed into the side of a tree. I didn't understand why this was affecting him this hard.

"Y'all gotta follow the creek bed back," Shane was telling the group, "Daryl's in charge. Me, Rick, and Glenn are just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough."

"Splittin' us up," Daryl said, "You sure?"

Shane nodded, "We'll catch up to you."

"I wanna stay too." All eyes focused on Carl when he spoke up. " Sophia's my best friend and Rikki is part of our group. I wanna help."

Rick sighed and looked to Lori. She nodded and went to Carl, "You just be careful, okay?"

"I will." He promised. She smiled and pulled him into a hug.

"When did you start growin' up?"

I winked at Carl and he came over to me and Shane, grinning from ear to ear as his parents said goodbye to each other.

I cracked a smile at the look on Andrea's face when Daryl gave Lori a gun and she got jealous because Dale didn't think she should have one.

I gave a nod to Carol as a silent 'I'll find her,"and followed Rick and Shane back to the church, Carl on my heels. Rick disappeared into the church for a minute to himself and we all waited outside on the steps. Shane looked grumpy as ever and started tapping his fingers on the side of his shotgun in impatience. I rolled my eyes and leaned against the stair railing, Carl coming to stand beside me. We need to find them today. Please, just let me find her today. And Sophia.