AN: Okay…so I feel terrible about how long it has been since I last updated which was much worse than last time. It has been hard for me lately to find a balance between this, cross country, and school. I still have to figure out a schedule, but I will let you know when the regular updates will be coming. Don't give up on me; I'm nowhere close to being done with this story! And now onto the reviews!
mrskaz453: I'm always so happy to see how much you have to say about each of my updates. Thank you so much! And about Angela starting the kiss…that took some courage haha.
Jasmine: Thank you! I'm so happy you liked it! Glad to know I will always have at least one person reading :)
TheMosh4321: I love your writing so much so the fact that you said this…thank you so much.
shika93: I can't believe you took the time to review every one of my chapters. That means so much to me, thank you!
Now here's the long awaited chapter 13!
So far our search hasn't really gotten us anywhere and my patience is wearing thin. Earlier we had thought we found something, but it was just a tent with a rotting corpse of someone who had "opted out". I have felt Daryl's gaze drift to me more than once, but I ignore him, still not wanting to be bothered by anyone and he will only be a distraction from the task at hand.
"Hey sis," Val says lowly from beside me.
I quirk an eyebrow at her, "What do you want, sis?"
"You just look so down," she comments.
"Oh, I'm sorry, should I be jumping for joy?" I reply sarcastically with a hint of acidity in my tone.
She holds her hands up in surrender. "Easy there killer, I just wanted to know if you felt like talking."
"All I want is to find Sophia and Drew to shut up about me and Daryl. I don't even want to know what he would do if he found out Daryl and I kissed." As soon as the words leave my lips, I slap a hand over my mouth.
Val's eyes grow to the size of the moon and her mouth hangs open. "When did this happen?" she asks, surprisingly calm.
"Uhm, last night after Daryl and I went looking for Sophia?" I say it as a question rather than a statement.
This earns me a hard smack to the back of my head.
"Ow! What the hell, Val?"
"You didn't think to tell me?!" she struggles to keep her voice low.
"You have a big mouth! Jesus, you aren't two! You can't hit people when you are mad," I scold.
"I'm not mad, I-" she stops abruptly to wrap her arms around me in a tight hug. Not only is my head throbbing, but the air is also being squeezed from my lungs.
"Val. I. can't. You. Have to. Let go," I wheeze.
"I'm just so happy you finally found someone. Especially at the end of the world. I have always been scared about what would happen to you if I wasn't here anymore." She pulls back to look at me with tear-filled eyes. "I mean I know you have Drew and Shawn, but-"
I cut her off by placing my hand over her mouth. "It was just a kiss. It doesn't necessarily mean anything," I shrug nonchalantly. The truth is, I know how Daryl is and he doesn't exactly strike me as the relationship type and I can't help but think that this little bit of drama is ridiculous, especially when our primary goal should be surviving.
Just as Val opens her mouth once more, the ringing of church bells catches everyone's attention. Without a word, we all simultaneously head toward the noise piercing the soft drone of the bugs in the background.
"What direction?" Shane mutters to Rick.
"That direction, I'm pretty sure," he replies pointing far off to the right.
"Dang it's hard to tell out here," Shane grumbles.
I stand still, not making any movement, trying to pinpoint where the sound is coming from exactly.
"What do ya hear blondie?" a gruff voice mumbles next to me. I squint, trying to focus.
"I can't really tell when you are talking," I point out.
"-She could be ringin' them herself," Rick says hopefully. I just catch the end of a conversation the group is finishing when I think I have finally gotten the location of the church right.
"This way!" I encourage and everyone follows my lead, hurrying through the crunching leaves and snapping twigs.
When a small, white building comes into view, I can't stop the skipping of my heartbeat in hope that Sophia is in there. I push my legs to sprint faster, trying to reawaken my cross country and track roots.
The red, paint chipped door is thrown open to reveal three walkers sitting in the pews. Is this some sort of sick joke? I have to hold back the urge to whip my knife into the wood flooring in frustration.
I turn to stalk out of the building as Rick, Daryl, and Shane eliminate the threat inside.
"Sophia!" I hear Daryl shout rather loudly and I flinch slightly. "Hey J.C, got any requests?" I hear his snarky comment. I can't help but smile grimly, no matter how messed up this situation is.
"Hey," I hear a voice softly call out. I turn to see Drew approaching me with concern written on his face.
"I just thought she was in there," I sigh heavily. He reaches out to put a hand on my shoulder but thinks better of it and just drops his hand to his side.
"Look, about what I said earlier…" he starts, but I hold up my hand to stop him.
"It's whatever. I didn't mean to sound that harsh. Let's just drop it, okay?" I ask and he nods with a slight, but hopeful smile on his face.
I look over his shoulder to see Shawn approaching us. I nod to him.
"Hey, dude," I say lightly causing Shawn to crack a grin.
"Yo," he imitates me and I poke the dimple in his cheek playfully.
"Watch it," he swats my hand away and Drew laughs.
"What's going on over here?" Val demands attention, as usual, while launching herself onto Shawn's back who blushes slightly. I give him a curious look before answering my sister.
"Talking about how irritating a certain red head in this group is. The usual," I shrug.
"Do you annoy people as a hobby or is that just your personality?" Val asks with a fake smile and flashes me a rude gesture.
"How old are you?" I ask her, putting my hands on my hips.
"Let's not even go there," Shawn chuckles earning him a cuff upside the head.
"Don't even," Val warns, slipping off his back and tossing her flame-colored hair behind her shoulder.
It is then that I spot Daryl storming out of the church. I jog over to him, leaving the other three arguing over stupid things.
"Hey," I call out softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder gently.
Daryl whips around, blue eyes blazing. I take a step back to give him some space.
"What is it, blondie?" he snaps.
Yikes.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," I murmur.
"Just fuckin' peachy," he growls, shouldering his crossbow.
"We will find her," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
He sighs then, eyes softening slightly. "I know," he agrees.
"Look, I realize this isn't the time, but about last night…" I trail off uncertainly.
Daryl shifts uncomfortably and his eyes dart away, looking anywhere but at my face. My heart sinks.
"Oh, uh," he clears his throat awkwardly. "It wasn't no big deal. I guess we can jus' pretend it never happened."
Daryl isn't a relationship guy, I remind myself fiercely. No matter how true that statement is, it still hurts to hear him brush it off like it was nothing.
I don't know what possesses me to keep talking, but I manage a quiet, "So it didn't mean anything to you?"
"Why would it?" Daryl asks sharply.
This is what I get for pressing him further on this touchy subject.
Whatever.
I put on an indifferent expression and shrug. "Just making sure," I retort before turning to stalk back to Val, Shawn, and Drew who are sitting under a tree, just talking, but still keeping an open eye for any danger.
As I am walking back over to them, fuming over Daryl's bipolar personality, I catch a snippet of conversation between two people. I recognize one voice as Shane's and the other as Andrea's. Their exchange makes me freeze in my tracks.
"All I care about is getting out of here. As far away as I can," I hear Andrea say to Shane. "Like you."
My eyes narrow and my attention is zeroed in on them.
"We gonna sail off into the sunset together?" he laughs sarcastically. "We gonna hold hands? I got a girl, Andrea. I'm taking Val with me."
My mouth falls open at his words and a wave of panic sweeps through me so strong, I feel weak in the knees.
"I'm not asking you to go steady, Shane, I'm asking for a ride," Andrea sounds equally as exasperated. "A chance to start over, somewhere else. Have you observed this group lately? I have. I see two people who don't belong. We're the odd men out. Between the two of us, we make a great third wheel."
"So what?" Shane asks. "Say we just run off, see then I have an extra ass I got to cover, including Val's. What does that do for me?"
My jaw tightens at how he speaks of my sister. It is taking everything in me not to storm over there and chew him out. Not yet anyway.
"A chance to do something for someone else," Andrea says, sounding all noble. "And a door that swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand and I'll cover your ass too. And Val's," she adds as an afterthought.
Shane scoffs at the idea.
Balling my fists at my sides, I emerge from behind a tree with Shane's back to me. Andrea's eyes widen as she spots me and mumbles something to him before hurrying off. That's right, she better back off.
Shane tosses his gun into his other hand before turning suddenly, but stopping in surprise when he sees me. Then an idea comes to me. Maybe I will appear more intimidating if I act all calm.
Relaxing my hands from their tight ball, I let my hands hang from my sides while casually resting my weight on my left leg.
"Planning a road trip, Shane?" I ask, keeping my tone neutral. The color drains from his face.
"You heard-"
"I heard what? That you are planning on leaving the group? Okay, great. You decide this just after we had a discussion about you and Val's relationship-"
This time he cuts me off before I can finish, angrily growling, "You wouldn't understand."
"It's one thing to run off and ditch us, but it's another to take my sister with you!" my voice squeaks as I try to keep my voice low. So much for acting calm.
"You don't think that sounds selfish? What if she wants to come with me?" he hisses, taking a few steps toward me.
"So you have asked her?"
His silence is all the answer I need.
"You sounded pretty certain she was coming with you though," I growl. I take a few steps closer to him so I am in his face. I know Shane could easily swat me to the side, but I am betting on him not daring to touch a girl which is stupid, I know.
"What gives you the right to think you can take her away from her family? From safety in numbers? I think you, Shane Walsh, are the selfish one here. Leave Valerie out of this," I finish deadly quiet.
By now his face has turned an unhealthy shade of red and he backs up away from me. I watch him storm back to the group, but not before punching a tree.
I really can't stand him. Maybe I should talk to Val about him. Shane has always made me a little uneasy, even from the start. If I was a better sister, I would have warned her away from him.
I take a deep breath, tugging at the ends of my wavy hair. I am so stressed and on edge. This is totally ridiculous. I watch Daryl walk over to Rick and we are all called over to them.
We all wearily drag ourselves over to the tree that Val, Shawn, and Drew are seated at and listen to what Shane has to say.
"Alright," he begins, "Y'all are gonna follow the creek bed back. Alright Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick are just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so to be thorough."
"Ya sure?" Daryl asks.
"I wanna go too," Carl speaks up. "I wanna find my friend."
I smile at Carl's loyalty to Sophia and from there we all divide ourselves up.
When Rick offers Lori his gun, she refuses to leave him unarmed and that's when Daryl steps in. "Here, I've got a spare. Take it," he offers Lori.
Despite my hurt feelings over what Daryl said to me, I can't help but admire how good of a man he really is. He does little things that show he does care about people despite his tough guy facade. Or at least look out for the group because without everyone, on our own, we would all be dead.
Naturally, Andrea can't believe Lori gets a gun when she doesn't and right now, my patience toward Andrea is already wearing thin.
We all start to head back into the woods, me taking the lead. After a few minutes, I feel a presence by my side and turn to see Daryl walking beside me.
"Hey," he mumbles quietly.
I nod my head to acknowledge him.
"Why are ya so quiet? This is a first," he says while grinning.
Right. The kiss didn't mean anything to him. Everything is normal. But somehow I can't shake his words from earlier out of my head. Well I am.
He said that after I said I didn't think he was interested in me that way. I ignore those thoughts and answer him with what I was thinking about before he asked me that question.
"Just thinking," I reply truthfully.
"'Bout what?"
"College."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I was just thinking about how hard I worked in high school to get into my dream college," I whisper, feeling stupid to even be talking about this.
"Did ya get in?" Daryl asks, surprisingly sounding interested.
"No," I laugh. "But I got into my second choice. Vet school is competitive."
"Ya wanted to be a veterinarian? I hate ta break it ta ya blondie, but Bambi is dinner," he chuckles.
I nudge him with my elbow. "I was going for more of the whole dogs and cats' thing."
He scrunches his nose in distaste, "Can't stand cats."
"What do you have against them?"
"Jus' a dog person, I guess," he shrugs.
"Me too," I agree. "Did you ever have one?" I ask, now curious.
He nods. "His name was Hunter."
"How creative," I roll my eyes. "What kind?"
"What kind a what?"
"What kind of dog, Daryl," I sigh. Honestly what else would I be talking about?
"Oh, uh he was a yellow lab."
"No hunting dog?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Hounds are dumb as fuck," he replies. There goes that mouth of his.
We continue talking about non important things before the conversation dies out and we walk in comfortable silence.
"So this is it? This is the whole plan?" Carol's voice breaks the quiet.
"Guess the plan is whittlin' us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl says, leaning against a tree.
"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea butts in. "I see you have a gun," resentment clear in her face as she turns judgmental eyes on Lori.
"Give it a rest Andrea," I say with exasperation.
"Why, you want it?" Lori snaps. "Here, take it," she holds it out. "I'm sick of the looks you're givin' me. All of you."
Andrea looks taken aback, but grabs the gun from Lori. I narrow my eyes at the blonde. I notice Val's eyes are wide.
"Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it, but you've gotta stop blamin' Rick," Lori continues, taking a seat near Carol on a fallen tree. "It is in your face every time you look at him. Angela too," she points out and I cast my eyes to the ground, ashamed.
"And once Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did. Or make the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could have done it any differently," she stresses. "Anybody?" she challenges.
When she is met with silence she adds, "You all look to him and then you blame him, but he is not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead, nobody is stopping you."
Andrea steps forward to give Lori back her gun. "We should keep moving," she advices softly.
Daryl looks solemn and our group continues on our way.
Once again, we are engulfed in silence, but not for long before a gunshot echoes in the distance.
AN: Once again, I am so sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I will try to get these out faster; school has just been stressing me out. I will try to update at least once on the weekends, I still need to find a schedule as I said earlier. Please review and tell me what you thought of this one! I would love to hear your opinions!