I am really sorry for the delay, I've just had a stressful couple of weeks and I just needed to get it together, it was mostly with school work. Thank you for being patient with me, I really appreciate it. But Happy Valentine's Day in advance to everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and get lots of chocolate~

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Diary of the Dead Days

Part 2: Hershel's Farm

Chapter Twelve
Nerves

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, running inside the house and yelling for Patricia. She had been in the dining room, setting the table as I grabbed her shoulder and frantically told her about what happened to Daryl. Patricia nodded sternly and headed outside to meet with the others before telling me everything was going to be alright. I wasn't able to see what kind of condition Daryl was in, but I was afraid to know. Andrea was aiming for the head, and I saw his body hit the ground. I couldn't stop shaking, I had to sit down before my knees gave out. I bit down hard on my lip, trying to steady myself and not to cry.

I heard them stumble inside, Rick and the others were holding up Daryl and helping him walk. From what I saw from the threshold in the dining room, his head was still there but he was still wounded. Knowing this much calmed my nerves but I was still anxious. I couldn't quite explain my reaction. I mean, if anyone else in the group had been inches away from death, I would have been scared and worried about them. However, this shocked me to my core. If Andrea had been a better shot, Daryl would have been dead. I already lost so many people in these past few months. My parents and Amy were gone along with my sister lost in the woods. I didn't want to add Daryl to that death list.

Lori and Carol heard the commotion from the kitchen and went to investigate it. They found me sitting at the dining table, I was awaiting to hear more news from Patricia. I explained to Lori and Carol about what had happened, the two looked at me with horror as I retold the story. The front screen door swung opened and Andrea quickly raced in, her boots sounding loudly against the hardwood floors.

"Is he okay?" She was out of breath, even though the run from the RV to the house wasn't long. Her eyes were wide like a deer caught in headlights. She looked horror-stricken and nearly appeared about to cry, she almost took someone's life.

"You barely missed, it's a good thing you haven't took any gun lesson yet, huh?" I tried lightening up my tone in an attempt to make myself and Andrea feel better. She forced an uneasy laugh.

It took about thirty minutes for Patricia and Hershel to get done applying the proper medicine and bandages to Daryl's wounds, allowing him to rest in the bedroom upstairs. The bullet grazing the side of his temple wasn't his only injury, he somehow maintained to pierce his own side with one of his arrows. He explained the horse got spooked by a snake and threw him off, as he tumbled down the ravine he landed on his arrows. However, his search wasn't for nothing as he managed to find Sophia's doll in the stream. For being left in the water, it wasn't in bad condition. No blood or any damaged was done to it. It was another ray of hope that both the girls were still alive.

Everyone was gathering inside the house, the dinner that Lori and Carol had made to thank the Greene family for allowing us to stay on their farm was done. As I was about to take my seat at the table Maggie had pulled in next to the main dinning table since there wasn't enough seats, Carol had gently grabbed my arm. I looked back and noticed a tray of food in her hands.

"I was going to give Daryl some dinner, I thought you might want to come." Carol said, smiling sweetly at me.

I couldn't tell if she only asked me because she didn't want to go alone or not, but I accepted. I felt oddly strange for some reason, I kept playing my reaction of what happened earlier over in my head. Of course, it was only natural for someone to be worried about their friend after they almost died. Though I never really recalled crying over Amy's death, but I didn't get the chance the spend as much time with her as I did Daryl. I was beginning to get nervous as we reached the door to the bedroom, I wasn't sure what to say to him. Carol knocked before twisting the knob and opening the door.

Sprawled out on the bed was Daryl who quickly grasped the sheets to cover his torso as we walked in, looking wildly as if he hadn't expect our arrival. His eyes darted between Carol and me, and then his gaze finally rested on the ground. Carol walked around the bed, setting the tray of food on the end table. She smiled at him, leaning down and doing something I hadn't expected, she kissed him on the cheek. It surprised him as much as it surprised me, Daryl instinctively jerked away. His reaction somewhat reminded me of an abused animal receiving affection for the first time.

"You've done more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did his whole life." Carol thanked him, smiling softly.

For a moment, I imagined myself leaning down and kissing his cheek as Carol did. The thought immediately caused my face to become flustered and I shook the idea away from my head. Daryl looked away from Carol, casting his gaze towards the sheets on the bed and refused to make eye contact with either of us.

"I didn't do anything that Rick or Shane wouldn't have done." He said.

"I know, you're every bit as good as them." He didn't seem convinced by her reassurance, but he remained silent.

I stood near the door, watching the two carefully and didn't say a word. Carol gazed up at me, expecting me to thank him as well. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing come out. I was at lost for words. I couldn't help but feel shy and embarrassed.

"I'll see you downstairs for dinner." Carol said before exiting the room and leaving the door slightly cracked.

I awkwardly stood there, thinking thoroughly in my mind of what to say. I couldn't think of how properly thank him, and doing something like Carol did was out of the question and too embarrassing. When I finally summed up the courage to say something, I noticed he had been looking at me the whole time. His expression was hard to read, it kind of gave me the feeling of that I should leave but didn't appear unwelcoming. I gulped, resisting the urge to bite my lips.

"T-Thank you for looking for my sister." My voice came out in a stutter. I internally cursed myself, I thought I was finally over my shyness but for some reason, I felt nervous to be in the same room with Daryl, "... It means a lot to me."

"It's the least I could do for the way my brother acted." I was confused by his response, but I didn't press the subject. I silently waved goodbye before leaving and shutting the door behind me.

I felt greatly relieved by leaving the room, my nerves calmed as I walked downstairs and into the dinning hall. However, dinner wasn't any better. It was uncomfortably tense, no one really said anything. I sat at what was unofficially dubbed the 'kids' table between Glenn and Beth. I didn't know Beth really well, but when I glanced over at her, she smiled at me. It was probably in order to be polite, but her kindness made me feel more at ease.

The silence was almost unbearable, so I tried to eating my food quickly. I wasn't a big fan of steak, but I forced myself to eat every last bit. It was shameful to waste food and I would need the energy for tomorrow, the search for Sophia and Rose would surely intensify due to finding evidence. I heard a pen scribbling against paper next to me, I looked over and saw Glenn writing a note.

Tonight. Where? Was what I could manage to read and I assumed in was in Maggie's handwriting and Glenn was responding to the note. Maggie had been able to be secretive about it, but Glenn made it quite obvious though it wasn't intentional. It was hard not to notice the stern look that Hershel kept shooting at our table, but Glenn was oblivious to it.

He passed it back to Maggie. I couldn't help but roll my eyes as just early today, Glenn had complained to me that he was having problems with her. They seemed to have solve their issues quickly.

The following day was the start of gun training, which made me both excited and nervous. I had hoped to train more with using my compact bow since I hadn't been able to use it since our first camp near Atlanta, but learning how to handle a gun was equally important. I had been meaning to ask Daryl for more lessons, but with the search for Sophia and Rose and his newly acquire injuries, there hasn't been time. I was hoping the gun training would at least sharpen my aim and once I mastered the gun, it would make mastering the bow much easier.

The doll was found in the creek was near a housing development, which Shane was going to scope out after training. Whoever he evaluated as the best in gun training would accompany him, I wanted to help search for my sister but I knew my skills weren't going to be the best. If the search at the housing development turned up empty, the following day we would check back at the highway in case they found their way there. If they weren't in either locations, I'm not sure what would happen next.

For training, we lined up in front of a fence that had glass bottles placed on the posts. My father's favorite pistol was in my hand, I had no idea what kind of gun it was but Shane had explained it was an AMT Skipper. Which still eluded me.

Once we were given the signal to start shooting, I aimed as best as I could for the glass bottle in front of me. Of course the shot zipped past it, not even grazing the glass. I sighed, trying to aim once again. I felt the presence of Rick behind me, watching carefully as I took aim which made me nervous. I ended up missing again.

"You take to long to aim." Rick offered, "The second you line up your sights, shoot."

I nodded, trying my best to follow his advice. I held the gun firmly in my hands, aiming for the bottle. It was hard to force myself not linger on making my aim perfect, but as soon as the bottle was visible, I shot the gun. It was the closest I've ever been to hitting a target, the bullet hadn't hit the glass but hit the wood below it.

"Good job, keep practicing." Rick pat my shoulder in praise before moving on to Beth beside me, who was doing a lot worse than I was.

I grinned, happy I was able to improve my aim in the slightest. Rick's advice had helped a lot, I was constantly trying to keep my aim perfect. When my target was lined up in my sights, I keep trying to keep it there instead of shooting. I readied my gun, taking aim once again at the bottle. With the pull of the trigger, the glass bottle shattered upon impact of the bullet. I couldn't help but smile like an idiot, I had finally hit something I was meaning to hit.

Every so often, we would hold our fire for Rick and Shane to replace the broken bottles with either more bottles or cans. At some points, I would miss but only by a little bit, but for most of the part I would hit the target. I felt overwhelming pride, even more so as Rick praised me for my improvement. However, Andrea had been the best in shooting practice. She told me she was thankful the sun was in her eyes, or else she might would have killed Daryl.

The rest of the day had been uneventful, Andrea and Shane had continued searching for Sophia and Rose near the housing development but it turned up infested with walkers and no sign of either of the girls. I slipped away from camp, grabbing my compact bow out of my trunk. I went out into the open field in front of the farm. Dale could probably spot me from on top of the RV, but I didn't care if anyone saw me. I just practiced pulling back the string.

It felt as if my arms were stronger than last time, only by a little bit. It wasn't as hard to pull back the string as it use to be. However, after awhile of pulling it back, it became harder and my arms and fingers were starting to hurt. I forced myself to keep practicing until I couldn't manage anymore, my arms felt like noodles. I spent about half an hour just doing that and once I returned to camp, I placed it safely back into my vehicle. Even though I wanted to try to aim with it, I didn't have a proper target to shoot at.

"Where have you been?" I heard Lori's voice from behind, she startled me as I wasn't expecting her arrival.

"Just messing with my bow." I smiled a nervous smile. Her expression was stern and unhappy, her hands were placed firmly on her hips.

"I know you must be going through a lot, Lily," She started, "But Carol is in the same situation as you and she still manages to help around the camp. It's hard enough to split the laundry between the both of us while you and Andrea refuse to do any work. Ever since we've been here, you haven't helped us at all."

She started raising her voice at the end, but contained herself. I blinked, confused and surprised by her outburst. I know I had been cutting out cleaning duties, but I hadn't realized it upset her so much. I frowned, I couldn't help but feel angry. I couldn't stop myself from speaking.

"What about Carl? He sits around camp doing nothing, and I'm pretty sure the guys can lend a hand with laundry!" My voice was louder than intended, my anger had made it impossible to control the volume of my voice. I saw Glenn turn his head in the corner of my eye.

"They are busy protecting the camp." Lori spoke in almost a whisper, trying not to draw anymore attention, "Once you get off your high horse, I would appreciate it if you help me and Carol once in awhile."

She turned her heel before I had a chance to say anything else. Normally, I would just nod my head and say I'm sorry when I was being chewed out. I wasn't the one who got yelled at a lot, only when my mom would complain when I refused to do the chores which didn't happen often. At times, I liked Lori but she had her moments in which she acted like she had control of all the women in the camp. She would order us around, even back in Atlanta. I sighed, still seething with anger.

The next morning, I did help Lori and Carol with the laundry. Even though I did feel like I wasn't doing my fair share lately and Carol had been doing so much of the work, I despised the triumphant look on Lori's face. Dale was cooking our breakfast over the fire pit, eggs and bacon, while the others sat around the camp in lawn chairs. Andrea was on top of the RV, rifle in hand and guarding the camp.

I couldn't help but scowl, while Lori, Carol, and I was folding and sorting out everyone's clothes, they were all casually sitting and waiting for food. But I remained silent, only because I didn't have the courage to speak up. I couldn't imagine myself walking up to Shane, throwing a pile of clothes at him, and yelling 'Fold it your damn self!'. There was no way such a thing would ever happen. I sighed, continuing to sort the folded clothes Carol was handing me.

Daryl was almost fully recovered, he was sitting in one of the lawn chairs surrounding the fire pit. We took a break from the laundry as Dale announced breakfast was ready, he handed the plastic bowls of food to everyone. I couldn't help but noticed the sideways glances he kept shooting towards Glenn, like he was waiting for him to speak. I thanked Dale as he handed me my food, my stomach was growling all morning.

I took my spot near Carol, Ripley was wagging his tail beside me. Dale didn't forget our canine companion, setting a bowl of the leftover bacon strips along with some of his dry food. I was only able to stuff two large bags of dog food in my van and the first bag was already halfway empty. Though I imagined finding dog food wouldn't be hard. When the outbreak happened, most didn't think of their animals and didn't bother to raid the dog food.

"Guys." Glenn's voice caught my attention. Everyone gazed at him with mild curiosity, our eating slowed as we awaited the rest of his unexpected announcement.

"What is it?" Rick asked as Glenn was hesitating.

"The barn is full of walkers."

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