Galwidanatitud: That's Shane for you lol.
pyrojack25: Thanks, but so far it's going a lot better since I cut off a lot of toxicity in my life and took a lot more time on myself than I was used to.
KEZZ 1: Thank you!
lilnightmare17: Thank you, here's the next one!
MoonLunacy: Assumptions make things so much worse lol. I remember writing that picture taking scene and being like "Would a guy who has no way of expressing his thought and feelings take it or just go about his drunken self?" In the end, things get taken lol which I've done before while a little drunk (Nothing expensive, I've taken their cutest stuffed animal).
angelvoice15: The updates will continue to come!
Elljayde: Here's the update! I'm glad you're loving the story!
Hey!
Sorry I've taken so long to update all my stories but I was in a very deep hole and just getting deeper—but I'm getting better. I've dropped all things toxic in my life like certain friends, started sharing more of my feelings with my mother who suffers with my same mental illness and just decided to fight. It wasn't a simple or easy process—hell no—but I'm already feeling so much better.
I want to thank you all for reading, for reviewing, for messages. I don't think I would've continued with my writing and lost love for it a long time ago.
Rick tried to hold himself together as he rounded the group up by the RV. His instincts were telling him to run into the forest and hunt down Miri and Sophia so they could get out of here, but no one had a clue where they were or if they were okay. He placed the arsenal of deadly weapons that Carl had found while he was away on the hood of the car in front of everyone. "Everybody takes a weapon." He told the group.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea commented, her annoyed tone present. "What about the guns?"
"We been over that." Shane spoke up from behind Rick as one by one the group came and picked a weapon. "Rick, Dale and I will be carryin'. Can't have people poppin' off rounds every time a tree rustles."
Andrea glared at Shane. "It's not the trees I'm worried about."
Shane sighed, clearly annoyed with Andrea. "Let say somebody fires at the wrong moment, herd happens to be passin' by and then its game over for all of us." He glared back at Andrea as he threw his bag over his shoulder. "So you need to get over it." He walked away from her.
"The idea is to take the creek up 'bout five miles, then come back down the other side, chances are they'll be by the creek." Daryl explained to the group. "It's our only landmark." He walked away, not wanting to be around Andrea's pissy attitude.
"Stay quiet, stay sharp." Rick advised the group. "Leave space between you but always keep sight of each other." He turned around to go talk to Dale while Shane told the group to pack a bag each with essentials. "Dale, keep on with those repairs, we gotta get this RV ready to move." He instructed.
Dale nodded. "I don't want to stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there. Bring the girls back."
"Keep an eye on the kids while we're gone?" Rick moved Carl and Alice closer to Dale.
"We're goin' with you." Carl looked up at his father. "You need people right? To cover as much ground as possible."
Rick looked over to Lori, to see if she had anything to say about this, but she shook her head. "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy."
"Well, they have all of you to look after them. I'd say they're in good hands." Dale looked over to Rick.
Rick sighed, giving in. "Okay, okay." He patted Carl and Alice's heads. "But always stay within our sights."
They carefully moved through the path Daryl had pointed out to the group that Sophia and Miri could be on. The Georgia heat causing everyone to sweat and pant slightly. Daryl led the group with Rick behind him, holding Alice's hand, as the rest of the group was right behind him.
"You okay?" Rick whispered to Alice.
"I miss Miri and Sophia." She sniffled. "Are they okay?"
"I'm sure they are, they're just lost, that's all." Rick soothed her. "And we got Daryl to help find them. Right, Daryl?"
Daryl peeked over his shoulder and saw Alice staring at him with hopeful eyes. He grunted. "Sure." He turned his head back around and spotted a tent through the trees. He hunched down a bit and readied his crossbow, his body tense. He pointed it out to Rick, who told the others to stay quiet and to not move from their spots.
"Do you think they could be in there?" Shane asked.
"Could be a lot of things in there." Daryl walked forward carefully with Rick and Shane behind him. He motioned for them to stay back and took out his knife as he made his way towards the small campsite. He put down his crossbow quietly and tried to peek into the quiet tent. He couldn't see much in there, so he turned to look at Rick and gave him a shrug as if saying 'I can't see shit.'
Rick turned to the group and called Carol and Alice over to him.
Daryl readied himself just in case there was a walker as Carol called for her daughter while Alice called for Miri. He slowly started to open the tent door as Rick and Shane made their way towards him. He opened it when a horrid smell hit their noses that made them cover their noses and mouths quickly so they wouldn't throw up. Daryl took a look inside to see someone sitting in a chair with their back to him. He held his breath as he made his way in. The person in the chair didn't move. He looked at the person and saw he was dead; the lower part of its jaw was completely gone.
"Daryl?" Alice called out softly.
He didn't answer as he saw a gun in the dead guy's hand. Seems like he's opted himself out. He took the gun from his hand and put it into the back of his pants safely. He quickly got out and took a deep breath of fresh air. "It ain't any of them."
Carol looked chest fallen and Alice frowned as Carl held her hand. Lori went over to Carol and started to comfort the stressed out mother.
"What's in there?" Andrea asked.
"Some guy." Daryl picked up his crossbow. "Did what Jenner said, opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" He swung the strap of the crossbow over his shoulder and sighed.
Bells started to go off, making everyone look around to see if they could find the source of the noise. Rick pointed to where the sounds were coming from and they all followed after him. They paused after a bit and looked around. The bells were bouncing all around these woods, was hard to pin point where it was coming from.
"What direction?" Shane asked Rick.
"I think that way." Rick pointed to in front of him. "I'm pretty sure."
"Dang, it's pretty hard to tell out here." Shane cursed.
"Wait, since we hear them, maybe Sophia and Miri can hear them too." Carol told the group, hope filling her voice.
"Someone could be ringing those bells, calling others" Glenn said trying to gain his breath back.
"Or signaling they found them" Andrea said.
"They could be ringing them themselves, come on!" Rick said as they started running towards the sound. They came into a clearing that a small white church in it. There were graves throughout the field with dying flowers on them.
"That can't be it. Ain't got no steeple, no bells." Shane said as he looked at the small church. Rick just took off running towards the church, not listening to Shane with a determined look in his eyes. "There's no steeple, Rick" Shane yelled. "Rick!" They all took off after Rick towards the church. They came up next to him right outside the church's red doors.
Rick motioned for everyone to be quiet before he kicked them open and for a minute everyone thought they found other survivors. There were three people sitting in the pews, looking like they were sitting there for Sunday Mass, praying, until they turned around to show their rotting faces.
Walkers…
The walkers stood and started walking towards the group, their new potential meal.
Rick walked up and stabbed one walker with Miri's machete as Shane took out the other, stabbing it in the head too. Daryl walked around the female and made kissing noises, attracting her attention. She opened her mouth and growled, but he shut her up as he sliced her in the face and stepped back as black blood sprayed out. She fell to the ground.
"Sophia!" Rick yelled. "Miranda!" he sounded frantic as he searched the church.
Daryl walked over to the giant statue of Jesus nailed to the cross. "Yo JC, you takin' requests?" he wiped the sweat that was forming on the top of his lip with the back of his hand.
"I'm tellin' you, it's the wrong church, Rick, it ain't got a steeple." Shane told Rick as he stopped his friend from tearing the church apart. "No steeple." The bells started again, this time really loud and extremely close. It had to be this church. Everyone ran out the church and looked around for the source of the sound. The sound was coming from a loud speaker that was connected to a box. Glenn ran over, opened the box and pulled a wire out, stopping the bells.
"A timer." Daryl pointed to the loud speaker as he tried to get his breath back. "It was on a timer." The group looked down in defeat as the reality set in that Sophia and Miri weren't here.
"I'm going back in for a bit." Carol sounded like she was going to start crying again.
Daryl watched as she and most of the group went inside, Alice getting help from Carl as he held her hand tight. He walked into the church and saw Carol praying to the statue of Jesus, so he took a seat in the back and pulled out the photo he had taken from Miri's album back at the CDC.
She looked good, real good. Too good to be talking to him, much less be around someone like him. He scanned the picture over, taking in how good she looked on the bike with those leather tights and black bra top, her short hair looked like spun gold in the sunlight and lips parted slightly as she gave him a sexy look with her eyes through the picture, the sunlight making them bright. There was honestly no way in hell someone like her would give him those looks, even if he dreamed it. He quickly pocketed the stolen photo before anyone saw and went outside, where everyone was gathering around.
"You guys are goin' to follow the creek bed back." Shane pointed to Daryl. "Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick are goin' to hang back search this area another hour or so to be thorough." Shane said.
"Splittin' us up, you sure about that?" Daryl asked, not liking the idea.
"Yeah," Shane sighed, tired of having the group question him in this heat. "We'll catch up."
"I wanna stay too," Carl let go of Alice's hand and stepped forward. "She's my friend and Miri's family, dad."
Everyone was quiet for a minute before Lori stepped up to him. "Just be careful, okay?"
Carl nodded. "I will."
She grabbed his face in her hands and gave him a hug. "When did you start growin' up?" She gave Rick a kiss and he tried to get her to take his gun but she didn't want to leave him unarmed.
"Here. I gotta spare, take it." Daryl offered, handing Lori a small handgun. He pretended not to notice Andrea scoff as he walked away. 'Dumb bitch should know if she keeps acting like that, no one's gonna give her shit.'
The groups separated and Daryl's group started their trip through the creek bed.
They walked further into the woods for a couple minutes until Carol sat down on a log, exhausted. "So this is it, this is the whole plan…"
"I guess the plan is to separate us into smaller and smaller groups" Daryl mumbled.
"Carrying knifes and pointy sticks." Andrea scoffed, gesturing to their weapons with a bitchy undertone in her voice. "I see you have a gun," Andrea said to Lori in the same tone.
"Why, you want it? Here, take it." Lori said handing her the gun, annoyance clear in her voice. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me, all of you." Lori started to go through her bag. "Carol, honey, I know what you're goin' through and I would do anythin' to stop it, but you have gotta stop blamin' Rick." She glanced up at Carol. "It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran, both he and Miri didn't hesitate, did they? Not for a second! I don't know if any of us would have gone after her the way they did. Or made the hard decisions he made, or if any of us could do it any differently." She continued as she looked at the group. "Anybody?" Lori asked, looking around. No one said anything. "You all look to him and then put him down when he's not perfect. I mean, if you think you can do this without him then go right ahead, no one is stopping you." She handed her water to Alice without saying anything. The little girl's cheeks were red from how hot she was and tired. She took a big gulp and gave it back to Lori with a smile.
Andrea handed her the gun back. "We should keep moving."
Lori picked up her bag and held Alice's hand. They all turned and started back on the search for Sophia and Miri.
Miri was sitting at the kitchen table as Hershel was checking the bump on the back of her head.
"Well, it's goin' down, so that's good." He placed light pressure on the bump, making her hiss in pain. "Sorry. How are you feelin'?"
"Fine." She gave a smile before she flinched again as someone slammed the door open.
"Maggie, the door." Hershel scolded his daughter.
"Sorry, daddy." She threw Miri a sorry look. "Sorry Miri, I forgot."
"It's alright. Have you seen my gun and bracer?" Miri asked her, wondering where they were at since she had woken up without them.
"We removed them from your person when Otis brought you here." Hershel explain as he motioned to a heavy man in overalls and a cap. "We did it for our safety. We didn't know if you were dangerous. We'll return them to you in a bit."
Otis waved hello. "May I ask what happened to you? When I found ya, you just rolled down from the top of the cliff and hit your head. I tried to call out to see if anyone was up there but no one answered."
"I was running when I slipped down the cliff. I was alone but my family is still out there."
Otis nodded and left, giving his wife a kiss before leaving the house with his gun.
Hershel poked around the bump for about ten more minutes before testing to see how well her concussion was. "Well, seems like you might be able to leave today." He walked around the chair to look at her, giving a small smile. "The bump and headache have lessened, so you're good to go."
"Thank you, Hershel." She gave him a smile in return.
"Can I ask where you're from?" Maggie came over and sat in the chair next to her. "You sure don't sound like you're from 'round here." Beth placed a water bottle and a couple of homemade scones down in front of Miri for the travel to the highway. Hopefully they were still there.
"That's because I'm not." Miri chuckled. "I'm from Australia."
"You're a long way from home." Hershel commented.
"I came because of my brother and his family." She gave a small smile when she thought about them. "I hope they're alright."
Maggie tapped her chin in thought. "I've seen you before…"
"Probably from TV." Miri shrugged. "Had a show a while before the world ended."
Maggie snapped her fingers and pointed to her. "Sarah Levi! That's who you are!" she turned to her sister, who was washing the dishes. "I told you she looked familiar."
Miri nodded. "Yup." The headache started to form again. "Do you have any aspirin?"
"Yeah, I'll get it for ya." Maggie stood up and left. Otis and Hershel left, talking in whispers. Maggie came back with two pills. "Here you go."
Miri thanked her and swallowed the pills with her bottle of water. "I better go now. I have to get back to my family." She gave the girls a smile. "Thank you so much for helping me."
"I forgot your bracer and gun, wait right here." Maggie got up from the table and left the room.
She took small nibbles of the scones, liking the buttery take in her mouth. "These are delicious, Beth." Beth gave a shy smile and went back to drying the dishes. Beth was a quiet, shy girl, completely different from her sister, Maggie. Maggie was very cautious when she first started to talk to Miri, wondering if she was faking the injury to steal from the farm. She stayed with her the whole night, making sure she wasn't going to just shoot everyone and run off with the supplies. She got slightly warm towards her when she saw the newcomer wasn't faking and was polite to everyone. Miri was raised to thank people who helped her and to respect people. Just because the world has gone to hell, doesn't mean she had to throw those things to the air.
"Found them." Maggie handed her the bracer first and watched as she put it on. "You shoot?"
Miri nodded as she laced it. "Yeah, left my bow back with my group when I was helping a little girl escape from walkers, that's how Otis found me."
"I hope you find them." Maggie handed her the gun and Miri put it in the waist of her pants. "You know where to go from here."
"Yeah, I still remember from the map you showed me." Miri stuffed another scone into her mouth. "I better go and tell your dad I'm leaving now." She got up and went to walk towards the living room of the beautiful house when she heard yelling. "What the hell?" She readied her gun as she went out the front door, Maggie right behind her.
Maggie took out binoculars to take a look at who was running towards the house, when her breath caught in her throat. "Dad!" she called out to Hershel.
A figure was running towards them with something in his arms.
Miri took the binoculars from her and she quickly looked through them, then dropped them when she saw who it was. "Oh my God… Rick." She whispered, shocked to see her brother. She ran towards him. "Rick!" She called out as he stumbled with a bloody Carl in his arms. "Give him to me." She ripped the little boy from his arms and ran towards the house, not caring about getting her nephew's blood on her.
"Was he bit?" Hershel asked.
"Shot." Rick gasped, out of breath from running and crying. "By your man."
"Otis?" Patricia quickly walked down the steps.
"He said to find Hershel, is that you?" Rick asked the older man.
"Hershel, please help my nephew." Miri gave him a pleading look. "Please, he's too young to die." She could hear Rick crying behind her as she held Carl in her arms.
Hershel nodded, told them to come inside and for the others to help get everything ready to get the bullet out of Carl. Hershel told Miri to place him in the guest bedroom.
"Is he alive?" Rick whispered, afraid.
"Pillow case." Ordered Hershel, not answering Rick.
"Is he alive?" he asked again, his voice sounded dazed as people were getting everything together.
Hershel ordered Rick to put pressure on the wound as he took his pulse. "I got a heartbeat… it's faint."
"I got it, sir." Patricia told Rick. "Sir, please move."
"I got him." Miri grabbed Rick's hand and pulled him out of the way.
"What's your name?" Hershel asked him as he went over Carl.
"Rick… I-I-I'm Rick." He stuttered, clearly in shock.
"Rick, Hershel has him. We got to leave them alone." Rick turned to his sister, his eyes wide with tears.
He pulled her into a tight hug as he cried into her shoulder, finally taking in the fact she was alive and in front of him. "You're alive… Carl…" She squeezed him tight, crying over her nephew. "Miri, he went down so fast. I-I couldn't believe it." She shushed him, trying to calm him down. Yelling from outside grabbed their attention. Rick held Miri's hand tight as they walked outside to see Shane and Otis running towards them.
"He's alive?" Otis looked at their bloody clothes.
"Barely." Miri ran her fingers through her hair and remembered they had blood on them.
Shane looked at the siblings and went through his bag for a rag or something to help clean the blood off. He cleaned off the blood on Rick's face then tried to clean the blood from Miri's hair, but she moved away. She took Shane and Otis inside while still holding Rick's hand tightly.
Hershel was pressing the pillow case against Carl's bullet wound. "Do you know his blood type?"
"A positive." Rick choked on his words. "Same as mine."
"That's fortunate." Hershel looked over to them. "Don't wander far, I might need you." He sighed as he turned to Otis. "What happened?"
"I was… tracking a buck." Otis said slowly. "Bullet went through it, went clean through."
"The deer slowed the bullet down, that certainly saved his life." He sighed again as he pressed down on Carl. "But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces." Rick squeezed Miri's hand tighter. "If I can get the bullet fragments out, I'm counting six."
Otis went over to his wife, Patricia. "I never saw him." He whispered, frantic. "Not until he was on the ground."
Miri pulled Rick's forehead to touch hers, to pull his attention away from his son and onto her. "Rick, don't listen, jus-"
"Lori doesn't know." He whispered as he held onto her wrists. His lips trembled. "She doesn't know." He started to cry again and she pulled him into her shoulder, rubbing his back. "She doesn't know." he repeated in a whisper, sounding like a broken man and breaking everyone's hearts.