Mickey brought her bag onto her lap for the sole purpose of having something to hold onto. She didn't know which one she feared the most, walkers, or almost being blown alive. She unknowingly gripped the bag a little tighter and was confused when she heard a soft crinkling sound. She opened the top enough to peek inside, Daryl was too focused on the road to pay attention. There wasn't enough light to make out the words on the thick creamy papers neatly rolled up inside her bag. Thats when it hit her. These were the documents of information that Jenner was working on for a cure. And she was somehow supposed to be a major key point to it.
Daryl glanced over at a very pale Mickey who was biting her lip, staring at nothing. Pure instinct made him shoot out his free arm and lightly stroke the hair out of her face before bringing it back to his side.
'You alrigh' Mick?'
'Huh? Oh yeah Im fine, jus a bit spooked I guess.' He nodded. 'We made it though, we're gunna be fine'
She shifted her gaze out the badly she wanted to tell him, but she wasn't sure if she was supposed to, she would have to talk to Rick about it.
'Jackie...Dr. J..' He sighed and scratched his temple.
'They made a decision, whether it was the right one I cant tell ya' Mickey's foot stepped on something. She bent down to pick it up to see it was some type of CD case. Daryl glanced over and scoffed aloud. 'Merle threw a hissy fit when he couldn't find that"
'Is it some type of mixed CD or somethin?' He nodded. Mickey smiled to herself, finally, access to some music. 'Do ya think I can put it in?' He gave her the okay and she laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes when the Muppet's theme song started playing. She looked over at Daryl to see the corners of his mouth twitching into an almost smile. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and let himself chuckle along with Mickey.
It was almost afternoon when the caravan was stopped. Mickey and Daryl figured everyone else had run out of fuel. Daryl pulled Merle's motorcycle out the bed of the rusty truck and rolled it over to the Winnebago to see Dale, Glenn, and Mickey all hunched over the front. Dale pulled his head out slightly dirty and let Mickey move in to once again re- tape the radiator hose, also making some new adjustments so it could last longer. Daryl shook his head. This girl was just full of surprises.
Rick had Shane and T-Dogg walk to a gas station just up the road and everyone else was up and about stretching their cars were parked on the side of the road while they made a small camp in the foliage until they were ready to set out again. Mickey wanted to practice her throwing some more so she went a bit deeper into the forest and carved a target onto a tree. Just as she was about to throw her first dagger she heard footsteps and automatically knew they belonged to Daryl.
'How'd ya know it was me kid?'
'Your footsteps are more..I dunno ..graceful than everyone else. Like Glenns are really soft and quick.' He leaned against the tree she was practicing on. And only flinched slightly when he heard the knife whiz by him. 'Where do ya think it landed Daryl? On the target or out?' He smirked 'Please, it probably landed waay out of bounds.' he was teasing her but looked to see anyways.
'Damn, right in the middle'
'Every time, not to be too cocky' They enjoyed some bonding time with each other as Mickey tried to show Daryl how to throw and laughed at him when he got frustrated with it. Suddenly they could hear Ricks voice sound through the trees. 'Daryl! Mickey! Were gunna head out now!' She grabbed her knives out of their various places on the trunk and lightly punched Daryl on the arm. When they stepped out onto the road again Daryl hopped onto his bike and rode it to the very front of the line and looked at Mickey with what could be a tiny smile.
'Too scared ta ride wit me?' she cocked an eyebrow before climbing onto the back of the bike. She noticed Glenn looked a bit..worried was it? It was Mickeys first time on a bike and she was enjoying it very much. She liked the way the ground seemed to rush up beside her and how the wind whipped her hair around. It was a short ride, so it seemed when Daryl slowed the bike down as they approached the highway. Overturned and abandoned cars were everywhere, some even holding dead carcasses of the once living. The caravan was stopped as Daryl rounded back to the Winnebago.
'You see a way through?' asked Dale. Daryl looked back before nodding his head indicating Dale to follow him. They weaved their way through the maze of cars before the Winnebago gave a little screech before emitting a fountain of steam. Mickey jumped slightly before hopping off with Daryl and making her way over to Glenn who gave her a pat on the back in acknowledgement. Rick got everyone's attention and told them to scavenge what they could, despite the obvious distaste Lori showed.
'This is a graveyard, I don't feel comfortable with it.' Daryl made his way to a random car and popped open the back before pulling out random articles such as clothes and a small backpack. 'We could use some o this stuff' Rick nodded and everyone went their separate ways to find what they could. Daryl and T-Dogg left to siphon gas. Glenn worked with Dale on the Winnebago while Mickey raided different cars. So far she had found a case of bullets in the front seat next to a splayed out body of some person. She tried not to look too much as she searched for a gun. She was almost to the point of giving up until a flash of silver caught her eye. Unfortunately it was in the waistband of the dead body (she had already poked it with her longest knife to be sure). Swiftly yanking it out she looked it over.
It was a Smith and Wesson revolver with a wooden grip. It was truly a beautiful piece, she thought. She decided to keep it for shooting practice with Rick and pocketed 7 bullets before taking the rest of the box back to him. She couldn't find him so she went to Shane instead and watched in amusement as he bathed himself with water from a big delivery truck.
'Its like bein baptized man' she heard him tell Glenn. Mickey and Shane hardly talked, and she still had her suspicions about him, but his face still looked cheerful from his 'bath' as she walked up to him.
'Find somethin good?' 'Yep' she handed him the box of bullets and his face broke into a smile. He clapped her on the shoulder. 'Good work' She purposely left out the gun she found along with the 7 bullets she pocketed. She was about to grab a sleeping bag when she heard her name being urgently whispered. She whipped her head around. Dale was lying flat on the R.V ushering her to get down. Thats when she saw them. A hoard of walkers. She ducked under a car that was a few away from the one Glenn and Shane were under. She and Glenn made eye contact as feet shuffled past them, kicking up clouds of dirt. Mickey clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from breathing so loudly.
All they could do was wait. The group of walkers had passed leaving behind a few stragglers. A walker tripped and fell right beside the car Mickey was under and she prayed to God that it wouldn't turn its head- too late. Gnashing teeth snapped towards her face as she scooted further to the side luring it in enough to stab it right through the face. She shook her head at Glenn who had wide eyes and was gripping a big rifle. Suddenly she heard screams and rolled out from underneath the car to see Sophia being chased into the woods by two walkers. Lori was holding a frantic Carol as Rick leaped over the railing and went after them. Mickey was about to follow him when a strong arm gripped her around the middle holding her back.
She turned around to see Glenn who shook his head. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her. 'Mickey?' Daryl half shouted as he dragged T-Dogg back to the safety of the others. 'Over here' he handed T-Dogg to Dale and Shane and walked over to her before ruffling her hair and bringing her in for a quick one armed hug. 'Where's Rick?' he asked. 'Sophia got chased into the woods. Rick went after 'em.' Mickey sat with Carol, Andrea, and Lori on the railing hoping for the return of both . It seemed like forever until Rick emerged..with no Sophia. Carol cried out as Mickey looked down.
A small search party was organized for Sophia that consisted of Rick, Shane, Daryl, and Glenn. Everyone was surprised when Rick went over to Mickey and asked her to come. Neither Daryl or Glenn were too happy, but knew that she could take care of herself if need be. Rick led them to the spot where he said he had told Sophia to hide.
'I left her right here and told he that if I didn't make it back to run and keep the sun on her left shoulder.'
'Well, just think , she's a scared lil girl..how much of what you told her do ya think stuck?' asked Shane. Daryl was examining the ground. 'Hey short round, mind movin out the way' Mickey could hear him mutter 'Korean' under his breath before ushering him to stand beside her so they both could be out of Daryl's way. He followed the tracks up the embankment where Glenn helped pull him up and went back to looking at the ground before coming to a stop.
'She was doin jus fine until right here, the the tracks veer off that way' he pointed in the opposite direction.
'What could have made her do that?' wondered Mickey aloud. 'Walker?' Glenn chimed in. Daryl shook his head. 'Maybe..I see other footprints.' They searched for a while longer until Rick sent Shane back with Glenn and Mickey. She wanted to protest but knew that now wasn't the time, so instead she obliged and headed back. When the three approached the guard rail Lori and Carol immediately lept up. Shane explaining to them how Rick and Daryl stayed behind to look some more. Glenn and Mickey retired to the Winnebago where Dale handed each of them a granola bar.
Mickey decided to sit with T-Dogg to keep him company while she waited for Daryl and Rick. She asked to look at his arm and cringed slightly when she saw how deep the cut was. She pulled out an orange from her bag and made T-Dogg eat it. 'Gotta have that Vitamin C now' she had said causing T-Dogg to laugh at her.
It was almost maybe a few hours till night time with no Daryl or Rick. The group started to get antsy. Finally when Mickey felt like she couldn't take the wait any longer two figures emerged from the green and stopped at the guard rail. Blood was on the front of both their shirts. Rick explained with a pained expression to Carol how they would have to wait to search again the next day. Carol had to sit down from the grief. Carol then started to blame Rick for leaving her in the woods by herself. ' 's not his fault, Carol' said Mickey in a soft voice. Rick turned on his heel to take a walk as Carol sobbed.