Back again! Let's get started. I've been binge writing chapters just to get them done, because I'm excited to get to the key points of season 2.
Disclaimer I don't own The Walking Dead, just my ocs and plotlines.
Josie's POV
The mornings in Georgia were always warm, like it will always tell if it was going to be a hot or warm day. And today was definitely going to be a hot one.
Her and Carol were making the most out of the day, and they decided to hang up the washing. Connor was in his tent, resting as Hershel instructed him to do since he left the house. He's on pain meds, and it looks good that the wound isn't infected, so Tabby did a great job of cleaning it when she did before he got to the farm.
"Morning." She greets when she sees Lori walk up to them.
"I can't believe I slept in." Lori mutters and begins helping.
Carol smiles at her. "You must have needed it. Feeling all right?"
Lori nods her head. "Next time, wake me, all right? Especially on laundry day." She points out and Josie hums.
"We can manage." Josie tells her and Carol nods her head in agreement.
"I had an idea that I wanted to run by you." Carol says, looking at Lori. She doesn't look away from pegging up washing.
"What's that?"
Carol stops what she's doing. "That big kitchen of theirs got me thinking. I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again. Maybe we all pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight." Lori stays silent. "Kind of looking for things to keep me occupied."
"After everything they've done for us, seems like the least we could do." Lori agrees.
"You kind extending the invitation?" Carol asks her and Lori looks at her curiously. "Would just feel more right coming from you."
Lori raises a brow. "How so?"
"You're Rick's wife. It sort of makes you our unofficial First Lady." Carol states and Lori looks at the group gathering at the car. Seeing her husband and Callie leading the group.
"Plus it'll be good for the kids, to have a sense of normality. Carl, Connor, Maya, Summer, even the new girl, Daisy, Beth. I could go on. But... they need something to look forward to and get used to. Not just food cooked on a fire pit." Josie reminds Lori and she smiles at the thought. But she notices Lori's hand ghost over her stomach. No. Is she? Because there's no way for her to be pregnant from Rick, that only means that her relationship with Shane went a lot further then she first thought.
The girl, Harriet, walks up to them. "Anything that I can do?"
Carol smiles at her. "You can make a new line for the clothes, we're gonna need it with our group growing."
Harriet smiles at that and quickly goes into the RV.
They managed to find an extra tent in the RV, especially with all the dead people in the quarry, they kept a couple of spare tents just in case. Which was a good idea by Callie, since they've brought in more people since then.
In one tent, there was Amy, Andrea, Summer and Tabby. In another, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane. Daryl was in one. Jeremy and Callie were bunking together. Lori, Rick, and Carl. Carol in another. Dale was staying in his RV. Then herself, Connor and Maya in their own tent.
Callie's POV
"Morning guys, we've got a lot of ground to cover." Rick greets and they approach the car. Damien and Richie were there as well, clearly wanting to pull their weight in the group. Funny enough, Shane didn't have a say about the new people. He just said the more the merrier before walking off. I guess he was calming down.
"Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today." Callie announces and Shane nods in agreement.
"If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl, Jeremy, and Callie found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." Rick explains and everyone looks solemn at the thought. Further means more ground to cover, more people in danger. But more people to find Sophia.
"I'd like to help." Jimmy announces and everyone looks at him. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."
Rick raises a brow at him. "Hershel's okay with this?"
He looked nervous for a second before it went suddenly. "Yeah- Yeah. He said I should ask you."
Noa looked at him before nodding her head. "He said that I can go too."
"All right then, thanks." Rick smiles at the pair.
Shane shakes his head in frustration. Okay maybe she was wrong about him.
She narrows her eyes at him. "Something to say?" Callie asks him and everyone falls silent looking between the pair. Tension was running thick in the group.
"Oh boy." Tabby mutters. Amy looks nervous and Summer is watching them closely.
"Yeah." He says and stands up straighter and Glenn looks nervously between the two. She notices Damien even sizing him up. "Nothing about what you, Daryl and Jer found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been in that farmhouse."
"Anyone includes her, right?" Andrea speaks up and Callie smiles at her gratefully. After she promised to look after Amy since she was going to kill herself, it kinda sorted out their friendship. They trusted one another.
Daryl nods his head. "Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." He measures to his waist.
Shane still looked unconvinced.
"Suck it up, buttercup. That's the best lead we've got." Callie tells him and looks at Rick. She hears Glenn snort. "Me and Jeremy are going to the church again, see if she heard those bells and went there."
"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Jeremy says and Rick agrees with the pair.
"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's eye view of the whole grid." Daryl points out on the map.
Rick nods his head. "Take someone with you."
Daryl immediately shakes his head. "Nah. I'm good. I'll be back before dark." Rick nods begrudgingly. "If she's up there, I'll spot her."
"Good idea." T-Dog comments at him and Daryl ducks at the praise. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too."
"Chupacabra?" Jimmy mockingly repeats, amusement in his voice.
Rick looks confused and Callie laughs remembering the story. "Chupacabra?" He asks.
"You never heard of this?" Dale asks him. Shane practically rolls his eyes, Rick ignores him and shakes his head. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a Chupacabra."
Jimmy snorts in laughter.
Daryl narrows his eyes at him. "What are you braying at, jackass?"
"You believe in a blood sucking dog?" Jimmy asks him.
"You believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl retorts and Callie couldn't even bother trying to hide her smile. Jimmy's smile wiped off his face and looks down in embarrassment before he reaches for a gun.
Rick blanches and grabs it before he does. "Hey. Hey. Ever fire one before?"
Jimmy shrugs. "Well, if I'm going out, I want one."
Daryl rolls his eyes and shoulders his crossbow. "Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees."
Tabby laughs with T-Dog. Even Callie was smiling at the joke.
"Why don't you come training tomorrow?" Shane asks him and the group falls quiet. "If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."
Andrea gives Shane a look. "For now he can come with us."
"He's yours to babysit then." Shane snaps and Callie leaves with Jeremy to get started on their hike. If she stayed there for one more minute, she would have punched Shane. And she thought he changed for a split second.
But it was a long journey ahead of them.
"Can I come?" Harriet interrupts them and they look at her curiously.
"Fine. We're wasting time." Callie says and just as they are about to leave they were interrupted.
"Harriet!" They turn to see Damien. "Be careful."
"See you soon." Harriet says before they walked off the farm and into the wilderness.
Callie looks at Jeremy from the corner of her eye, before looking back to Harriet, who's trailing behind but keeping a steady pace.
"I need to tell you something." Callie blurts out and she feels his eyes on her.
"Go ahead."
Callie stops walking which concerns Harriett. "Everything okay?" She asks them and Callie nods her head.
Callie feels a tear drop down her face and she finally looks up at Jeremy, who is watching her in concern. "It's about my family."
Jeremy's eyes widen. "What's going on?"
Harriet looks away awkwardly, clearly trying to give a bit of privacy.
"I found them." She answers and he goes silent, waiting for any elaboration. "It's Rick."
Andddd I'm leaving it there. I wanted Callie to tell Jeremy because she trusts him. But all the secrets will be revealing themselves in the next upcoming chapters.
