I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Ms. Sleepy Clover: I already know how to introduce the rest of the original 22 (At least the ones that are going to be still alive at this point) to Rick's group, but I'm not really sure how to put the characters from the future casts in the story. I may put a few of them in Alexandria.
SomeGuy2020: Glad to see you still reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
The rest of the night was quite uneventful considering what happened in the last few days to Sophia, Carl, and Chef. Lori and Rick remained by Carl's bedside while everyone else worked together gathering rocks for the memorial of two people that lost their life to save Carl. Owen wiped sweat from his forehead when everyone heard someone driving towards the farm.
Everyone turned in the direction of the sound and saw Dale, Daryl, Carol, Harold, Tyler and Andrea all arriving to the farm, with the redneck on his motorcycle in the front of the group. Everyone stopped what they were doing and headed towards the farm house, with T-Dog going inside to inform Rick and Lori about the arrival of the rest of the group.
They parked their vehicles and got out of them, as T-Dog came out of the farm house with Rick and Lori shorty after. Dale looked at Rick and asked, "How is he?"
"He'll pull through." Lori said, giving Dale, Carol, Tyler, Harold and Daryl an assuring smile, "Thanks to Hershel and his people."
"And Shane, and Chef." Rick added, "We'd have lost Carl if not for them."
Dale smiled at them and moved towards Rick, giving him a hug, as Carol walked over to Lori and gave her a hug as well, "Thank god. We were so worried."
Andrea walked over to T-Dog and the duo shared a quick hug as Harold and Tyler walked over to the teenagers from Total Drama, a few of them offering them a quick greets.
Dale and Rick released each other from the hug, the former asking, "How'd it happen?"
"Hunting accident." Rick answered with a small smile, "That's all-just a stupid accident."
Tyler could feel relief slowly overcoming his relief. Carl was okay. That was one less problem for them, but when he looked around, he saw that someone was missing, "Where's Chef? I can't see him anywhere."
Dale looked around and saw that Chef was indeed nowhere to be seen. He looked at Rick and asked, "That's right. Where is he?"
Rick sighed, "He, Shane and Otis, the man who shot Carl went out to get supplies required for Carl's operation. He and Otis didn't make it."
Dale just stared at Rick for a few seconds before nodding his head, sadly. Andrea and Daryl remained silent as well. Tyler and Harold looked around their fellow contestants silent nods were the only answer they needed to get from them, Chris' saddened expression confirming it as well. Harold looked down and Leshawna placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while Tyler's hand clenched into a fist angrily. Those things got one more person he knew.
Hershel walked up to everyone and said, "We are almost ready for Otis' and Chef's memorial, if you would like to join us."
"Of course." Rick said with a nod of his head, to which everyone else just nodded and followed Hershel towards the tree line where they began to put rocks into a small memorial while Hershel said a small prayer, honoring their sacrifice to save a young child's life.
When he finished he looked up at Shane, "Shane, will you speak for Otis and Chef?"
Shane just gave him a nervous smile in response, "I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."
"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments." Patricia said in tears about her husband, "Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."
"And I would like to know about Chef's last moments." Chris added, staring sadly at the pile of rocks in front of them.
Shane looked at them and nodded, starting with Chef, "We were trapped in a building. We were just separated from Otis who dragged the walkers away from us towards another room, from which he'd jump through the window. I and Chef jumped off the bleachers and moved towards the windows to jump outside through them, but the impact of the two of us landing on the floor at the same time must've been loud enough to bring the attention of the walkers that Otis just led towards another room back to us. He handed me his bag and said "Go!" When I asked him what he was doing he said, "Don't worry about me! Worry about the boy! I'll find other way out!". After that he just ran forward, making sure that the walkers will follow him. Once I jumped through the window I heard him firing his shotgun, fighting them off, but then, it suddenly stopped."
Chris just gave Shane a grateful nod that he told him about his fellow hosts last moments as the contestants just gave silents nods, even Heather and Duncan were saddened.
Shane looked at Patricia and started explaining Otis' last moments, "As for Otis. I met up with him not long after I was separated from Chef. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. "We've got to save the boy". See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. "Run",he said. He said, "I'll take the rear. I'll cover you" And when I looked back..."
He didn't had to say more. Everyone understood what Shane saw when he looked back. He walked over to the memorial and placed two rocks on top of it, "If not for Otis and Chef, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was them. They saved us both. If any death, ever had meaning, It was theirs."
After the memorial, Rick, Hershel, Maggie, Daryl, Duncan, Shane, Andrea, Chris, Tyler and Izzy all gathered around Carol's cherokee as Maggie walked over to the vehicle with a map.
"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.
"It would be three days, now." Duncan answered.
"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." Maggie said, as she put the map on the front of Carol's cherokee before placing rocks on the corners of the map.
"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick nodded, looking down at the map, "We'll grid the whole area,start searching in teams."
"Not you. Not today." Hershel quickly said, "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He turned to look at Shane, "And your ankle-push it now,you'll be laid up a month,no good to anybody."
"Guess it's just me, and the these two." Daryl said while looking at Duncan and Izzy.
Izzy nodded her head, "We can pick up her trail."
Duncan responded by pointing at one spot on the map, "We're gonna head back to the creak, work our way from there."
"I can still be useful." Shane spoke up, "I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."
"All right, tomorrow then." Rick nodded his head, "We'll start doing this right."
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane said, taking a quick look at their group setting their tents, "They need the gun training we've been promising them."
"I agree." Chris said. He still had the Glock that he found on the highway with him and now he knew that he had to learn how to use it if he wanted to survive against those things. They almost got him once back when they attacked their camp near Atlanta.
Hershel looked at Rick, "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."
"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane was interrupted.
Rick cut his best friend off, "Look, we're guests here. This is your property. And we will respect that. First things first: set camp, find Sophia."
The sheriff deputy took out his revolver and placed it on the car while Shane scoffed, placing his Glock on the car shorty after. Chris sighed and took out his Glock , before placing it on the car as well.
Tyler sighed, "I know that you're not going to like this question, but what happens when we find and she's bit. I don't want this to happen because we already lost so many people because of those things, but we still need to consider that."
Shane smiled, happy that someone was thinking like him as Rick hung his head low, "You do what has to be done."
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.
"The truth." Andrea replied as Hershel looked at his daughter and shook his head, not wanting her to get involved.
"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience," Shane said.
Rick looked at Hershel, "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel stared at him for a few seconds in silence before nodding his head, "Thank you."
"That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics,bandages,anything like that?" Maggie asked Rick.
"Just what you've seen." Andrea replied.
"We're running short already. I should make a run into town." Maggie said to her dad as Daryl, Shane, Izzy and Duncan walked away.
"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked quickly.
"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've down it before." Maggie explained.
Rick turned towards his group, "See our man there in the baseball cap?" That's Glenn,our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious."
Hershel motioned to Maggie to bring him along to which his daughter nodded her head.
"I can go too." Tyler said, "I've been going out to towns along with Glenn."
Rick shook his head, "No, Tyler. You just came here. I think you should stay and help everyone settle the camp."
Tyler nodded his head before walking towards the rest of the group along with Andrea.
Shane walked into the RV and picked up the bag of guns. He placed it over his shoulder and walked out, coming across Lori on his way, "I hear he woke up."
Lori responded with a wide smile, "Yeah. He's in and out, but yeah. He'll be all right."
"That's good." Shane said with a nod of his head. When Lori turned to walk away, he asked, "Did you mean it?"
Lori stopped and turned to look at him, "What?"
"You said stay. Did you mean it?" Shane asked, "Look,if you didn't just say so. But do it now. I need to know."
Lori stared at him for a moment before nodding her head, "I meant it."
Harold walked over to DJ, Bridgette, Leshawna, and Gwen, who were busy setting up a tent.
DJ turned back and saw him approaching them, greeting him with a smile, 'There you are, Harold."
"Good thing you came, sugarcube." Leshawna smiled at him, "We could use your help."
"Guys. We need to talk." Harold told them.
Gwen raised her brow, "About what?"
"An excellent question." Alejandro approached them with Sierra, Cody, Noah, Ezekiel, Heather, Courtney, Owen and Izzy walking behind him, "He told me to gather everyone here, because he wants to talk with us about something."
Harold eyed the group and saw that someone was missing, "Where's Duncan?"
"He walked off somewhere with Daryl." Izzy explained.
"I think I already know where they went." Courtney stated, assuming that Duncan and Daryl went out to find Sophia without anyone telling.
Harold nodded his head. He hated Duncan, but he'd have to talk with him about it too.
"What do you want to talk about?" Noah asked him.
"It's about Tyler." Harold said, taking a quick look at Tyler who was sitting around the picnic table with Shane and Andrea, chatting with both of them, "I'm worried about him."
"Like we all are, Harold." DJ assured him.
"Harold. He just lost his girlfriend. I think we should give him some time." Owen stated.
"No, guys." Harold shook his head, "I think he's starting to lose it. Last night when we went into the woods with Daryl and Andrea to look for Sophia and we came across a walker that was hanging from a tree. I stabbed it in the head and cut the rope, making it fall down on the ground. When we started to walk back towards the highway he stayed behind and smashed it's head into pieces. When I asked him what was he doing, he just said "Just wanted to make sure."."
"What is he really just wanted to make sure?" Cody asked.
Noah shook his head, already knowing that all you had to do was stabbing the walker in the head to get rid of it, "By smashing it's head into pieces after Harold killed it? I don't think so."
"My point is that it wasn't the first time when it happened." Harold continued as he looked at Alejandro, "Alejandro? Do you remember how he made sure that Lindsay wouldn't turn back in our near Atlanta?"
Alejandro thought for a few seconds, but recalled that it was exactly what Tyler did, "...He smashed her head into pieces."
"Exactly." Harold nodded his head, "And when I asked him about this, he just told me that it's his business how he deals with the walkers. I wouldn't pay much attention to it if they were still walking at the point when did that, but this is the ones that are already dead we're talking about. Afterwards, he refused to talk with me, Dale, Daryl, Carol. He only talked with Andrea."
The group of teenagers remained silent for a few seconds. Tyler talking with Andrea didn't suprise them that much, because the blond haired woman and Shane recently became the only people in the group that the red clothes teenager talked with, but the thing that got them worried was how Tyler started doing with the walkers that were already dead.
"Listen. I'm not excepting any of you to say anything about it to me, now." Harold said, noticing the silence that the rest gave him in response, understanding what he meant by that, "I just want you to keep in mind that there may be something bad going on with him and that we should keep an eye on him."
Everyone just gave him silent nods in response as Heather turned to leave, "I should leave now. Dale wanted me to help him and T-Dog with pumping the water."
"Look at that." Leshawna said, a hint of suprise showing on her facial features. Just a hint because her mind was still thinking about what Harold said to them about Tyler, "Someone finally decided to do something for the group."
Heather rolled her eyes at her comment, "Yeah, whatever you say. I didn't want to do this, but Dale somehow talked me into it."
Everyone watched her walk away as Alejandro stepped forward, intending to follow her, "I'll go with her."
Back at the house, Rick sat on the steps, staring into the sky and thinking when he saw Daryl and Duncan heading out to go looking for Sophia.
"Daryl, Duncan!" He called out to them and stood up, "You alright on your own?"
"Better on my own." Daryl said, beginning to walk away again.
"We'll be back before dark." Duncan added, heading off as well.
"Hey. We got a base." Rick said, making them stop, "We can get this search properly organized now."
"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl asked him.
"Because if the answer is the latter then we're just wasting our time here." Duncan added.
"My point is it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything, both of you." Rick explained.
"My other plans fell through." Daryl replied and took off again, with Duncan taking off after him shorty after.
Rick watched them leave for a moment before turning back to the house to see that Hershel had just stepped out. He walked over to him, "We could give you more space. Set up over by the barn."
"No, no need for that. Better you stay close to the house." Hershel replied, "I don't say this easily, Rick. We don't normally take in strangers. I can't have your people thinking this is permanent. Once you find this girl and your boy's fit for travel, I expect you'll move on. We need to be clear on that."
Alejandro had just made it to Dale, T-Dog and Heather who were gathered around the spout to gather some water for the group.
"What are you doing here?" Heather asked him, suprised that Alejandro followed her.
"I thought you could use some help." Alejandro answered.
Heather crossed her arms, "You know that you didn't had to come. We're just pumping water."
"I know that but." Alejandro paused for a second and walked over to T-Dog who had his hand on the pumper, "Dog, I can do this for you. Your other hand is still healing."
T-Dog stared at Alejandro for a few seconds before letting go off the water pumper, "Go ahead, kid."
Alejandro nodded his head and placed his hand on the water pumper. He began to pump the well and water started to pour into their bucket.
"Guys, you think there's a snowball's chance we'll actually find that little girl?" T-Dog asked all three of them.
"For the first time in my life I'm betting on the snowball." Dale said, beginning to walk towards the well.
Alejandro nodded his head to T-Dog's words, "That makes the two of us."
"I'm with you guys on this one. I wouldn't recommend getting lost in the forest to anyone, even to my worst enemies." Heather agreed. The one time when she thought she was lost on an abandoned island with Duncan, Gwen and Owen was on her mind when she said these words, "And with those things around it's even worse."
Dale crouched down to take a look at the well and quickly shot back to his feet after seeing what was inside. Heather lowered a landle and filled it with water before bringing it towards her lips. Dale quickly ran over to her and slapped it out of her hand.
"What was that, Dale?" Heather glared at him.
"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." Dale answered, earning confused looks from Heather, Alejandro and T-Dog.
He led them to the well and pointed downards and T-Dog, Alejandro and Heather now understood why Dale slapped the landle out of Heather's hand. A large walker was trapped in the well.
"Great." Heather said, "Just great."
"Should I get the others?" Alejandro asked them.
Dale, T-Dog and Heather could only nod their heads in agreement.
A few minutes later Alejandro returned with Shane, Andrea, Tyler, Izzy, Glenn, DJ, Maggie, Ezekiel, Noah and Courtney to show them their recent finding in the well. Everyone gathered around the well and crouched down, taking a look at the large in the well, looking aimessly around it's surroundings, unaware that it was being watched.
"Looks like we've got us a swimmer." Dale said, shining light into the walker.
"For how long was it there?" Glenn asked.
"The question should be how hasn't anyone noticed it until now." Noah pointed out.
"I think it's easy to say that it was there long enough to grow gills." Andrea stated.
"We can't leave it in there." Courtney stated, "God knows what it's doing to the water."
"We got to get it out." Shane stated.
"How are we going to do that?" Heather asked, knowing how lucky she was that Dale stopped her from drinking water from this well.
"Easy." T-Dog answered, "Put a bullet in it's head. I'll get a rope."
"Whoa whoa, guys." Maggie said as everyone turned to look at her. She shook her head, "No."
"Why not?" Glenn asked, "It's a good plan."
"It's a stupid plan. If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing it's brains out will finish the job." Andrea explained.
"Eh, maybe we should just seal this well away." Ezekiel asked, looking at Maggie, "I'm sure that this farm has more wells than just this one. My farm did."
Maggie shook her head, "We have more, but sealing it away would be a waste of the water."
"It wouldn't make much difference." Noah stated, turning to look at her, "Do you think that anyone is going drink from this one after that?"
"I surely won't." Heather stated.
"So it has to come out alive?" T-Dog asked, a bit annoyed.
Shane smirked, "So to speak."
Tyler sighed and crossed his arms, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"How do we do that?" Glenn asked as everyone looked at him, "What?"
Alejandro shared a quick look with most of the people around the well, and said to Glenn, knowing that all of them must've have the same idea as he, "You probably are not going to like it."
Glenn send him a confused look, "I'll say it again, what?"
The asian man got his answer a few minutes later. Izzy wrapped tightly rope around his waist and looked around herself, "It's done. It should hold him for long enough."
Shane nodded his head as Glenn turned to look at him, "Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut? You have a nice shaped head."
"Don't worry about it,bud. Hey, we're gonna get you out of here in one piece." Shane answered, giving him a quick pat on his back.
"Don't worry, Glenn." Izzy said, sending Glenn an assuring look, "We'll make sure you come back in one piece."
"Living piece. That living part is important." Glenn said.
Shane and Izzy walked over to the rope that was wrapped around the well spout, where Alejandro, DJ, Tyler, Courtney, Ezekiel and Andrea were already waiting for them while Maggie, T-Dog, Noah, Dale, and Heather stood nearby, watching them.
"Nice and slow, please." Glenn said as they began to lower him into the well.
DJ send him an assuring look, "We gotcha, Glenn."
"You people are crazy." Maggie stated.
"You're the one who wanted to get it out of the well, even though nobody is going to drink from that." Noah pointed out.
"Can one of you give us an eye?" Alejandro asked.
T-Dog walked over and looked down, watching how Glenn was slowly being lowered into the well, "How are you going there?"
Glenn send him a nervous look in response, "Doing great, pal. Living the dream."
The group proceeded to lower Glenn for a few more seconds until T-Dog turned to look at them, "Little lower, guys."
Just then the spout came loose from the ground and went flying towards the well. Izzy quickly leaped herself towards it, thankfully catching it while Glenn screamed for help as he was not practically inches away from the walker. Everyone, even those who weren't lowering the rope a few moments earlier went over to Izzy and started to help her in pulling the spout away from the well.
"Oh my god! Get me out of here!" Glenn's panicked scream rang out from the well.
The group made it to safe distance away from the well. Knowing that in this distance, and with the others making sure the spout wasn't going to fall into the well, Shane, Alejandro and DJ rose back into their feet and started pulling the rope towards them. Glenn's head finally poked from the top of the hole in the ground and he pulled himself out from the well shorty after.
Everyone gathered around him, DJ asking him, "Are you okay?"
Glenn nodded his head after a few moment as Dale took a deep breath, "Back to the drawing board."
The asian man stood up from the ground and handed the rope to him, giving him a small smile, "Says you."
He walked away from them to catch a breath as everyone walked over to the well to see that, despise the situation he found himself in, he somehow managed to tie the rope around the walker.
A smile formed on Izzy's lips, "He actually did it."
Alejandro turned to look at Glenn, "Good job."
Glenn gave him a quick thumbs up in response, while trying to catch a breath.
Daryl and Duncan came out from the forest, instantly spotting an abandoned house ahead of them. The younger Dixon took his crossbow off his back and readied it while Duncan did the same with his bow.
"Think we're going to find her here?" He asked Daryl, walking towards the house with him.
"I hope so." Daryl answered, "This looks like a place where she could hide."
Duncan nodded his head, "Took these words out of my mouth."
They made their way over to the doors and Duncan loaded an arrow into his bow to be prepared just in case if there'll be any walkers in this house. Daryl pointed his crossbow at the doors, before kicking them open. He and Duncan slowly walked inside and looked around the house, trying to spot Sophia or something that would lead them to her.
Daryl spotted something in a nearby trashcan when they were making their way through the kitchen. He picked up an opened tin of sardines and showed it off to Duncan, "Take a look at this."
"It looks like someone opened it not that long ago." Duncan observed.
Daryl placed the tin back in the trashcan and spotted a doors which were slightly opened on the other side of the kitchen. He made a gesture to his head to Duncan who looked in the same direction as he did. They slowly walked over to the doors and Duncan opened them. There wasn't Sophia in there, but there was something that she could made. He quickly spotted a small sleeping spot that looked like it was made for a child.
He moved away, allowing Daryl to take a quick look at this too, before asking him, "Do you think she made it?"
"It is most likely." Daryl gave him a quick nod in response, "An adult wouldn't fit in here, but a child like her surely would."
Daryl turned away from the sleeping spot and the two of them exited the kitchen and headed towards the exit from this house. Sophia wasn't in this house and they didn't had a reason to stay inside of it for longer.
"Sophia!" Daryl yelled after stepping out of the house, just in case if Sophia was nearby, "Sophia!'
"Are you in here, somewhere!?" Duncan cried out shorty after, having the same reasons as Daryl did.
The juvie stepped towards the forest, crying out for Sophia a few more times and a flower growing not too far from the house caught Daryl's attention. He walked over to the flower and crouched down, taking a good look at it.
Duncan turned to him and saw him crouching in front of a flower. He walked over to the redneck and asked him, "What are you looking at?"
Daryl turned away from the flower and looked at Duncan, "You don't know what that is?"
"No." Duncan shook his head, "Looks like a regular flower to me."
Daryl turned his gaze back to the flower, before giving Duncan a quick explanation what kind of the flower this was, and what it meant.
Meanwhile at the farm, Shane, Alejandro, DJ, Courtney, Glenn, Andrea, Tyler, Izzy and Ezekiel all pulled on the rope slowly pulling the walker up the well. T-Dog, Noah and Heather stood in front of the well, giving them a quick information about where the walker, and how close it was to being pulled off out of the well.
"Come one, guys! Pull." T-Dog shouted.
"Come on y'all!" Shane shouted in encouragement as everyone kept pulling as hard as they could.
"This ugly thing is almost there!" Heather declared as the walkers head popped from the well.
She, Noah and T-Dog took a few steps away from the undead and looked at it in disgust after spotting that it's eyed were almost coming out of it's skull. The first half of the walker was easily moved over the well into the ground, but it's lower half was stuck, and it didn't seem like it was going to move anywhere.
"Guys!" Noah was quick to inform them, "It's stuck!"
The walker grunted, reaching it's hands towards T-Dog, Heather and Noah who only watched how the others we pulling it towards themselves with all the strength they had. It was when it seemed like the walker's body had enough of it. It split in the half and everyone pulling the rope fell on the ground at the sudden weight change. The entire lower half of the walker fell into the well, filling it with it's guts while it's upper half remained on the ground.
Alejandro sat up and put his hand on his forehead, "You gotta be kidding me."
Everyone stood up and most of them walked towards the walker. DJ and Courtney stayed in the back because they had to barf after seeing the gruesome scene in front of them as Tyler walked over to his baseball bat which laid on the ground a few meters away from them.
"If anyone had any doubts before, I think it's easy to say that none is going to drink it from it now." Noah stated, staring disgusted as the scene in front of him.
"What do we do now, eh?" Ezekiel asked.
Shane sighed, giving Ezekiel a quick pat on his back. "It looks like we're going to use your idea, Zeke."
"I think we should deal with this guy before we seal it." Izzy stated as the upper half of the walker was still trying to reach out for them, snapping and closing it's jaw every moment as it did so.
"I got this." Tyler said, walking past her with his baseball bat in ready. He brought it down on the walker's head, instantly killing it, but he didn't stop with just killing it. He proceeded to bring his weapon down at it's head several more times, until there was nothing but pieces left of it's head.
Everyone just stared disgusted at what just became of the undead's head as Shane walked over to Tyler and put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from continuing, because it didn't seem like Tyler was going to end anytime soon.
"Hey." He said, making Tyler turn to look at him, "It's done, kid."
Tyler breathed in to take a deep breath and nodded his head at him. He turned to the rest of the group and said, ignoring the fact that his entire baseball bat was covered in blood, "I knew it wasn't going to end well."
Not long that they took care of the walker in the well, Shane, Andrea, Carol and Chris went to the highway, waiting for some time, hoping that Sophia was going to show up at any moment. Carol stood in front of the car they used for a sign for her daughter.
There was an inscription painted on it in white, "Sophia stay here. We will come every day."
Andrea walked over to Carol and put her hand on her shoulder, comfortingly, "We'll come again tomorrow. You know there's always the chance..."
Carol cut her off, "Don't. I really don't need to hear it anymore, Andrea. Save the thoughts and prayers."
"You never know, Carol." Shane said, but Carol simply waved him off to shush.
Shane shared a quick look with the host of Total Drama before walking off with him. A few minutes later, he lead Chris, Andrea and Carol into a field on their way back to Hershel's, coming across a fence on their way.
"Look at this." Shane pointed at the fence, "We can hang targets along that fence line there. That rise,It gives a natural backstop. It's a good idea."
"How long before you'll teach us?" Chris asked.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Shane gave him a short chuckle in response, "I and remember seeing your face after Shane gave you that Glock before he left with me and Otis. It was clearly saying that you weren't fond of the idea of having to use a gun. What made you chance your mind?"
Chris sighed, "It just want to know how. If those things got Chef of all people, then how it'll take them to get me? They almost got me when they attacked our camp in Atlanta, and I wouldn't be here if there wasn't a rock laying nearby. I barely know how to defend myself, and dying by one of those things is not how I want to go."
"Good thing that you changed your mind, pal. I hope that at least some of the kids from that show of yours will share your mind about it. Desire will take you a long way and it won't get you killed by the walkers." Shane said to Chris before shifting the glances between the host and Andrea, "But there's something you need to know, both of you."
"I'm listening." Andrea said as Chris nodded in agreement.
Shane started explaining as the moved towards the fence, "Paper targets is one thing. Easy to hit what ain't moving. But taking down an assailant,one that's trying to kill you, it's different. They say in that kind of situation things slow down. That's crap. They speed up. Adrenalin, ha. It'll cripple you if you let it. You need to use your instinct. You got to rule it out. Because somebody is going to die and you'd better hope that you're the one who's making that decision."
"How do you do that?" Andrea asked as they reached the fence.
Shane placed his shotgun on the fence and continued, "Turn off a switch. The switch. The one that makes you scared or angry,sympathetic,whatever. You don't think. You just-you act. 'Cause odds are somebody else is counting on you. That's your partner. That's your friend. There ain't nothing easy about taking a man's life no matter how little value it may have. But when you get it done, you have to forget it."
Rick and Hershel had returned to the house after going on a walk together. The sheriff deputy looked at the camp and saw everyone sitting peacfully, "You need to reconsider."
"I beg your pardon?" Hershel asked.
Rick turned away from the camp and looked at Hershel, "Asking us to leave. You need to reconsider. If you saw how it is out there you wouldn't ask. You're a man of belief. If you believe anything,believe that."
"You're putting me on the spot." Hershel told him.
"Well, I mean to." Rick nodded his head, "Those people look to me for answers. I wish they didn't, but they do. But I'm not asking for them or myself. I'm asking for my boy. After the price your friend Otis paid and our friend Chef paid, the least you can do is give it some thought."
Hershel smiled, "You're a plainspoken man."
"I'm a father." Rick said as he sat down on the steps leading into the house, "He's the one thing I don't want to fail. I feel like I do every day. I lied to him this morning. It wasn't a big lie, but it was enough."
"My father didn't bother with comforting lies." Hershel began, "He used his fist. He was a loveless, violent drunk and no good to anybody. He drove me home when I was 15. Didn't lay eyes on this place again for many years. I was not at his deathbed, Rick. I would not grant him that and to this day do not regret it. Some men do not earn the love of their sons. I don't see you having that problem."
"Will you consider my request?" Rick asked Hershel as the farmer sat down on the steps next to him.
Hershel nodded his head, "There are aspects to this,things that I can't and won't discuss. But if you and your people respect my rules,no promises,but I will consider it. You have my word."
Duncan and Daryl just made it back to the camp and started looking around it for a certain person. They saw her walking into Dale's RV. They walked over to the RV and walked into it, seeing Carol sitting at the table.
"Hello, Daryl, Duncan." She greeted them.
Duncan looked around Dale's RV and saw that someone must have cleaned it up. One the things that made him think like that was the fact that all of the dishes were shining, "Someone cleaned this place up?"
"I did. Wanted it to be nice for her." Carol explained.
Daryl and Duncan nodded their heads, the former saying, "For a second I thought I was in the wrong place."
"That makes the two of us." Duncan nodded his head in agreement.
Daryl took out a bottle that was filled with water and one of the flowers that he and Duncan found in the forest was coming out of it. He placed it on the table as Carol raised her brow in confusion.
"A flower?" She asked them, not understanding why they brought it here.
"It's a Cherokee Rose." Duncan answered, now knowing that kind of flower it was after Daryl explained it to him, "At least that's what he told me."
"The story is that when american soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation." Daryl began explaining what kind of a flower it was to Carol, just like he did to Duncan when they were out in the forest, looking for Sophia, "A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer;asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirits,give them strength and hope. The next day this Rose started to grow right where the mothers tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother."
Carol wiped her teary eyes as Daryl continued, "But I..." He paused for a moment, before turning to look at Duncan for a second, "We believe this one bloomed for your little girl."
The sun was gone from the horizon and everyone in the group settled down in their camp for the rest of the day, talking with each other about various things, or just sitting in silence, looking at the darkened sky of the night, thinking about some things.
Rick sat by his son's side, waiting for him to wake up so he could have a talk with him about Sophia. Finally his son opened his eyes and saw his dad sitting next to him. He whispered, "...Dad?"
"Hey." Rick looked at his son with a small smile, but it faded when he spoke up to him, "Carl, I told you something earlier today about Sophia..."
"I know." Carl said softly, "Mom told me."
A smirk formed on Rick's lips, but his smirk disappeared from his face as soon as it showed up, "Here I was getting ready to confess. I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want to worry you. It's a stupid excuse but it's all I got."
"It's okay." Carl assured him, "Do you think we'll find her?"
"I know we will. Well..." Rick paused for a moment and sighed, "I don't know. But I truly believe it."
"You look tired." Carl stated.
Rick chuckled, "I am tired."
"Hey, I'm like you now. We've both been shot." Carl pointed out,taking a quick look at his chest, "Isn't that weird?"
"Yeah, I think your mom would rather hear we got the same eyes. So let's keep that between us." Rick smiled as Carl laughed quietly, "Since you're in the club now,you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?" He picked up his sheriff hat and placed it on Carl's head, "We'll pad the rim tomorrow so it sits better."
"Won't you miss it?" Carl wanted to know, touching the top of the hat.
"Maybe you'll let me borrow it from time to time." Rick suggested.
"We can share it." Carl offered.
"Okay." Rick nodded his head, beginning to fix the blanket, "Sleep now."
"I love you, dad." Carl said, lowering the hat to cover his eyes.
Rick smiled at his son, "I love you."
After his son slowly drifted into sleep, Rick pulled out his badge and stared it for a few seconds before standing up. He came out of Carl's room and entered another one. He walked over to the dresser and started taking his sheriff shirt off, before folding it. He opened the dressed and placed it inside. He took out his badges shorty after and stared at them for a moment, before placing them inside as well, laying them on top of his sheriff shirt.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.