This was one of my favorite chapters to write and also I'm so happy with the way it turned out.
I love Nikki in this chapter so I hope you guys do to!
Thank again for all of the love, and let me know what you think!
Not much was said between me and Daryl for the rest of the journey back to the farm. He had lapsed back into his usual silence, a slight frown on his face but I decided not to ask any questions.
Once we had reached our base Daryl headed straight for the RV, not saying another word to me or even acknowledging that I was there but it didn't bother me. I knew it wasn't personal.
Besides, right now Carl was on my mind. When I entered the house Mom had greeted me at the door with a hug and informed me that Carl had woken earlier and, typically, asked how everyone was and if he had missed anything, she told me that Dad was currently sitting with him while he slept and that it'd be better to get some water into me and sit down for a bit.
Currently I was sat at the kitchen table sipping on a glass of water while sitting opposite Mom. Patricia was busying herself around the kitchen, washing some Delph and floating in and out of the room with various bits of laundry.
"You meet any walkers out there?" Mom asked, she was sat opposite me, watching me carefully.
"Not really, just some on the way back but they were too far away to bother us." I shrugged, lifting the glass to my mouth before placing it back down in front of me. "Got to take a shot at a rabbit with the crossbow but I missed."
I could hear the sulkiness in my own voice as I frowned at the table, looking up I knew the smirk on Moms face was due to the fact that she could hear it too.
"I'll get him next time." I smiled.
"I know you will." She laughed back, reaching across the table and taking my hand, squeezing gently.
"Sorry for what I said the other night out on the porch." I mumbled, keeping my eyes focused on our hands.
"Every emotion was running high that night, we all said things we didn't mean" Mom muttered back, squeezing my hand once again. "Y'know I love you to bits right, all of you."
A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth at this before fading again quickly.
"When are you gonna tell Dad?" My voice was barely above a whisper, I didn't elaborate but I knew I wouldn't have to.
"Nikki, now's not the time."
"Will it ever be?" I asked, my voice raising a little. "I can't keep carrying this around with me all the time it's tearing me apart and I don't want to have to be the one to tell him but if it comes to that I will."
"It's really none of your business Nicole." Mom shook her head, taking her hand from mine.
"It's my family, that's always gonna be my business." I told her fiercely before standing up. "I'm going to see Carl."
I stalked out of the kitchen and made my way to the large room Carl was staying in. I didn't bother knocking before opening the door gently, a smile spread across my face as I saw Carl grinning up at Dad from under the wide brim of the Sheriff's hat.
"What, you gotta get shot to wear the hat around here?" I asked, making my Dad and brother laugh.
"Matching scars." Carl grinned back as I took a seat on the edge of his bed, in front of Dad. "Did you find Sophia?" Carl's question made me glance quickly at Dad who nodded solemnly, he had clearly updated Carl on everything.
"No we didn't find her but we were in a house couple miles south, Daryl reckons she was holed up there for a while. We found a make shift bed in the kitchen."
"We'll find her." Carl said positively, I couldn't help but smile at how confident he was. His coloring was almost back to normal and he was a lot stronger than before.
"You need to sleep." Dad told him, pulling his blankets up higher as I stood from the bed.
"I love you guys." Carl said, looking between Dad and me.
"We love you too, squirt." I grinned, leaning in to ruffle his hair.
"I love you." Dad muttered, kissing his forehead before ushering me out of the room.
"He's gonna be okay, isn't he." I smiled to Dad as he shut the door.
"Yeah it looks like it." He smiled back to me before pulling me in for a hug. "Love you too."
"Love you." I muttered into his chest as I breathed in the familiar scent that surrounded my childhood. "I'm happy you gave him the hat."
I felt Dad sighing before he kissed the top of my head.
The heat beat down on us the next morning as we got to our chores. Carol was hanging up the laundry while Andrea was tending to the dressings on T-Dogs arm. His infection was clearing up and he seemed to be getting more use of it.
"Mornin' guys," Dad called to the camp, making his way over to the bonnet of the truck and laying another map out on it. "Let's get going, we've got a lot of ground to cover."
After we had all gathered around the truck Dad continued on with the plan for today.
"Okay everyone's getting new search grids, if she's made it as far as the house Daryl and Nikki found then she might have gone farther East than we've gone so far."
"I'd like to help." A voice interrupted us, making us turn to the source; a frightened looking Jimmy. "I know the place pretty well and stuff."
"Hershel's okay with this?" Dad asked disbelievingly, I eyed Jimmy as he nodded quickly.
"Ain't nothing about what Nikki and Daryl found screaming Sophia to me," Shane spoke loudly from the driver's seat of the truck. "Coulda been anyone holed up in that house."
"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea spoke up pointedly. I narrowed my eyes at the back of Shane's head as I felt the frustration rolling off of Daryl.
"Whoever slept in that cover was no bigger than yay high?" Daryl spoke to Dad as he buttoned his shirt up.
"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Dad nodded.
"No maybe about it," Daryl muttered, studying the map. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, get a birds eye view of the whole grid."
"Good idea." T-Dog nodded. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too." I couldn't help but grin as T-Dog teased Daryl.
"Chupacabra?" Dad asked, his eyebrows raised.
"You never told him?" Dale asked me, looking amused.
"Our first night in camp at the quarry, we were sitting around the embers from the fire and Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of the time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." I laughed slightly at the memory as a smirk tugged on the corners of Dads mouth.
"What are ya grinning at, jackass?" Daryl asked defensively.
"So you believe in a blood sucking dog?" Dad fired back, taking a gun from Dale.
"D'you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl shrugged.
Before Dad could reply he had his hand on Jimmy's arm which was reaching for the gun Dale had just laid down on the bonnet.
"Who am I going with?" I asked, shouldering the gun Jimmy was about to claim.
"Nikki, Andrea and T-Dog, you guys can take this grid." I nodded looking at the square we were given.
We had been walking for a while, not being able to find anything of interest that might lead us to Sophia.
"This is hopeless anyway, none of us can track." T-Dog muttered as we passed another one of the colored cloths we had previously pinned to a tree, a sign that we had been walking around in a circle.
"At least we're out doing something." Andrea sighed back, ducking under a low hanging branch.
"Think we should be heading back soon anyway." I said, stopping at a ridge in the earth. "We had to have covered most of the grid by now and we haven't found a thing."
Sweat was trickling from my forehead as the humidity closed in on us. Admittedly, it was a lot cooler to be out in the woods, under the shade of the trees but there was no point in exhausting ourselves more than what we had to.
"We're having dinner with the Greene's tonight too." I told them, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. "Mom and Carol are cooking for everyone."
"Now that I could get on board with." T-Dog grinned, making me smile in return.
"So sick of everyone playing house." Andrea muttered, shaking her head.
"I'm so sick of you bitching about everything." I shot back at her, frowning.
"Oh, c'mon Nikki you know what it's like being out on these runs you honestly can't think there's anything productive coming from playing housewife in the kitchen."
"If they didn't do it then we wouldn't have clean clothes or meals at night. If you wanna eat raw squirrel and vegetables then go ahead, but if not then learn how to be a little more grateful." I glared back at her.
"C'mon guys let's just get back to the house and get some rest." T-Dog sighed, ushering Andrea towards the direction of the house.
My hands were placed firmly on my waist as I glared around at the trees trying to cool down my blood flow. Andrea and T-Dog were already a good distance ahead of me when I spotted it.
Movement between the trees, it was too big to be a walker. Curiosity made me stalk towards whatever it was, my gun held ready to be fired. I glanced back to where T-Dog and Andrea had now disappeared through the trees, I didn't need Andrea going off and bulldozing through whatever this thing could be.
For one bizarre moment I thought of the story Daryl had told us about the chupacabra and wondered if maybe we were wrong to doubt him. After all, dead people walked around with us now and Dad had survived what should have been a fatal coma along with Carl.
A laugh of relief escaped my mouth as I rounded a tree and saw the thing up close, a chestnut colored horse was standing chewing on a nearby tuft of grass.
"Hey girl," I whispered gently, extending my hand as I made my way over to the animal. "Where'd you come from?"
The horse neighed, throwing her head back as my hand reached her face, stroking her gently. An anchor may as well have slipped down my throat at the same time the lightbulb went off in my head. Daryl was borrowing a horse from the farm to go out.
"Where's Daryl." I asked no one as my frown deepened, studying the area around me for anymore movement. My heart was beating quickly at the thought of him being in danger. Daryl had become part of the family since Merle had disappeared, it wasn't time for him to go yet.
I concentrated hard on the ground around the horses hooves, trying to see what Daryl sees when he's tracking.
"Damn how does he do this?" I muttered, my head hurting already from trying to find any kind of pattern in the leaves. After another few minutes of studying the ground my feet began to carry me in the opposite direction of the horse, maybe if I moved around I would see something.
My heart leapt before my brain had registered what I was looking at, a broken branch on the side of the makeshift path. It had been snapped off the nearest tree.
This had to be where she came from, she must have broken it when she went past. My eyes scanned the ground once more but it was no use, at least if the ground was wet there'd be hoof marks but all I could see was leaves and dirt.
I carried on past the broken branch, hoping that another clue would reveal itself.
I only had to walk for a short while before I found something else, but this just made my heart sink.
A piece of cloth was hanging from the branch of a nearby tree, as I neared it I knew immediately it was from the shirt I had seen Daryl buttoning up earlier, but that wasn't what made my heart plummet to my feet, it was the view I was looking down on from here. I was standing on a large ridge, looking across what was a dried up lake, water still lodged in some areas.
I could see a body lying in the sand a good bit away but I was too far to be certain of it being Daryl.
Stepping forward carefully I squinted, please don't let that be blood I'm looking at, I told myself as I tried to make out whoever it was.
The sight of the blood was distraction enough for me to forget myself and step forward, before I knew it I was falling, my gun flying out of my hands as I tried my best to grab onto anything around me as I rolled down the steep ridge. Rocks bashed me in the head as I made my way down and when I landed a sharp pain in my side made me cry out, I knew straight away that I had landed on my sickle.
Looking down I saw the blood quickly staining my vest as I pulled myself off the sickle, shouting out in the process.
I quickly ripped a shred from the bottom of my vest top, tying it back around my waist to put pressure on the wound. It was deep enough to leave a scar but it wouldn't be anything major once it stopped bleeding.
I grit my teeth as I hauled myself off the ground, my hand gripping to my side I scanned around for my gun, a frown creased my forehead when I couldn't find it anywhere.
Finally looking up, there it was wedged onto a rock jutting out from the cliff face I had just fallen down.
"Mother fuck." I swore, spinning around to find the body I had been looking down on.
He was lying a couple of yards to my left, out cold. "Please don't be dead." I mumbled to myself as I made my way over to his unconscious form.
It was Daryl alright, beaten and bloody from the rocks where he had obviously fallen from. I cringed as my eyes landed on the arrow jutting out from his side.
"Daryl," I spoke clearly, lifting his hand in mine, the fingers on my other hand feeling his wrist, a breath of relief left my throat when I felt the dull throb of a pulse under his flesh. "Dixon, c'mon it's Nikki we gotta go."
He mumbled something back to me but he still didn't seem to be conscious. A groaning sound suddenly had my heart racing once more.
It wasn't coming from Daryl, I spun around to see a walker limping towards us, its jaw snapping frantically in its haste.
"Dammit, Dixon." I shouted at Daryl, slapping his face repeatedly. Gritting my teeth I grabbed the sickle that was now coated with my own blood and walked towards the walker, the same ankle that I had hurt back at the CDC was now tingling in protest but I pushed it to the back of my mind as the walker snarled in my face.
I swung as hard as I could and the blade buried itself in the skull of the walker, causing it to fall to the ground, no longer snapping.
My breath was heavy as I tried to ignore the throbbing coming from all over my body, the fall had clearly bruised me a lot more than I originally thought.
The altercation had clearly made quite a bit of an echo off the cliff face as the sound of more groaning and snapping made me sigh deeply, I squared myself up, determined to make it back to the farm with both Daryl and I alive.
My stomach flipped as two more walkers made their way into the clearing, limping right in my direction.
"Dixon, now would be a really good time to wake up!" I shouted, launching a kick at his foot. I shook myself into action as the walkers advanced on us, the one closest to me was a lot taller than I was and put up a fight.
I pushed a hand to its chest as I tightened my grip on the sickle once more, weakness coursed through me as I tried to find the strength to swing the sickle and keep the walker off me at the same time.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see the second walker knelt at Daryl's feet, grabbing his boot in its rotten hands.
The hand against the walkers chest was now starting to sink through the skin there, I could feel decaying bones brushing off my fingers. Closing my eyes tight I swung my left hand with all I could, the wound in my side protesting angrily at the movement.
The sickle stuck as it made contact with the walkers head but it didn't go all the way through to the brain, the jaw was still snapping at me, getting closer to my face and I pulled with all I could to free the sickle from its skull.
Horror washed over me as the walkers stench filled my nostrils, how was I supposed to kill it now, it was right on top of me.
Just then the walker dropped to the ground, silent. A single arrow was protruding from its skull, I looked around in amazement. Daryl was slumped on the ground, crossbow raised and still aiming towards the spot my walker had been in moments previous, the second motionless at his feet.
"Nice of you to join me, Dixon." I panted, placing my hands on my knees.
"Shut your mouth, that's the third time I've saved your ass." He grumbled back, sounding just as tired as I felt.
"We're gonna have to climb out." I muttered, looking around the cliff edge.
Daryl didn't speak another word. I watched as he pulled himself from the ground and tightened the makeshift tourniquet around his waist where the arrow had formerly been lodged.
He then proceeded to pull a dead squirrel from his belt and cut it open and gut it while sat on a log by the water.
My nose wrinkled as he offered me a scoop of bloody, raw meat he had taken from the squirrel, I shook my head but he only nudged it towards me again.
"Eat." He demanded. I knew why he was doing this, if I was gonna have any hope of climbing that cliff face I was gonna have to gather my energy.
Hesitantly, I allowed him to place the mass of blood on my hand before I threw it into my mouth, trying not to think about it. The metallic taste of blood took over from anything else and I tried not to concentrate too hard on the texture.
When Daryl was finished with the squirrel I watched with my nose wrinkled as he sliced off the ears of the walkers we had killed. I decided that this was another of those things I shouldn't question Daryl on as he strung them onto a shoelace and hung them around his neck.
We were halfway up the cliff face and my ankle was niggling more than ever, not to mention my makeshift tourniquet was soaked through with blood as the pressure of hauling myself up on branches did no good for the wound.
Glancing above me to see how much farther we had my eyes widened as they fell on the gun I had previously lost. It was hanging two feet about us.
"If you can't stay on a horse, why did you take one?" I panted, finding a part of the rock that I could lean on safely enough.
"Can stay on just fine." Daryl panted back. "Thing got spooked and threw me off."
I watched as he pulled himself up on another branch, I had to admire his determination as I was strongly wondering if I could sleep on a protruding rock for a while.
"Hey, Dixon." I called once more as his grunts subsided, telling me he'd succeeded in getting to the next part of the cliff. "Why the walker ears?"
"Cause I ain't nobodies bitch." He called back after a long moment of silence. I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at his vague answer and continued on pulling myself up the cliff face behind him.
Another ten minutes had passed and we had progressed slowly up the ridge, Daryl had managed to stretch across a couple of branches and retrieve the gun and when I looked up this time I could actually nearly touch the edge of the ridge.
Daryl's loud grunt told me that he had met the edge of the cliff, once he was up I panted heavily and grit my teeth, pulling myself up as close as I could to the edge and grabbing his hand, I found a solid rock with my foot and used it to push myself up as Daryl pulled.
We both collapsed on the ground, panting and breathing heavily.
"Damn and I thought algebra nearly killed me in school." I muttered, I could have sworn I heard the huff of a laugh.
After Daryl had shown me he found Sophia's doll and we had decided it would be best to get back to the farm sooner rather than later we found ourselves tracking through the trees once more.
I followed Daryl, letting him lead the way as I tried not to focus on the aching of my ankle.
Just as I could make out the outline of the farm between the trees I lent again the trunk nearest me and took my weight off the ankle.
"I swear if this starts acting up every time I go out on a run I'm gonna be seriously pissed." I breathed, holding my wounded waist at the same time. I looked up to see Daryl limping towards the farm, not listening to what I was saying.
I rolled my eyes once more as I kicked my boot off to study my ankle, it was swollen and slightly bruised but it didn't look as bad as I expected.
Sighing deeply I slipped my foot back into my boot as gently as I could, wincing as I put my foot to the ground again.
My head snapped up, heart beating rapidly for the hundredth time today as the sound of a gunshot met my ears.
"Daryl!" I called, pushing away from the tree and limping forward as quickly as I could.
My breath caught in my throat as I stumbled out from the wood to see Daryl lying on the ground, Dad, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn surrounding him.
"He's not a walker!" I screamed.
"It wasn't us that shot!" Glenn shouted back, holding his hands up.
My heart was in my throat as I limped as fast as I could over to Daryl.
"It just grazed him." Dad reassured me as he and Shane took one of Daryl's arms each and began to drag him back to the farm.
"What did you do to yourself?" Glenn asked in disbelief, grabbing my hand to swing my arm around his shoulders as he took my weight and allowed me to limp forward, T-Dog rushing over to support my other side.
"Fell down a fifty foot cliff, killed three walkers, got impaled on our own weapons." I panted. "Standard day in the apocalypse."
"We were terrified, Andrea and T-Dog arrived back without you we thought you were dead!" Glenn's voice was rising quickly.
"Man, I thought Rick was gonna shoot me then and there when we arrived back without you." T-Dog shook his head.
"I'll explain later, is Daryl okay?" My brow was creased as I focused on Daryls form in front of us, he was like a rag doll between Dad and Shane.
"Think he passed out." Glenn stated.
"We did not go through all of that today for him to get shot by someone who couldn't pay attention, who was on watch?" I growled.
"Andrea." Glenn sighed, hesitantly as he and T-Dog exchanged looks.
"Gimme a break." I snarled, my blood boiling. What was that girl's problem? Why couldn't she just listen to the people who were trained?
As we neared the house I watched as Dad and Shane disappeared with Daryl into the house, Hershel following close behind them.
"Nikki, God what happened to you guys out there?" Andrea asked, rushing forward as Mom pulled me into a hug. I pushed myself against my Mom and Glenn, using their bodies to launch myself at Andrea.
My fist was pulled back ready to snap forward but before I could make contact T-Dog was pulling me away from her.
"Have you actually got shit for brains?" I shouted at her as T-Dog continued to restrain me. "You can't shoot to save your life, you're still in training what makes you think it's okay for you to be on watch!?"
"Nikki, I'm sorry I didn't realize." Andrea stuttered.
"Son of a bitch." I growled as the wound in my side gave a painful throb. "No you don't realize! You won't open your narrow mind long enough to realize that you're so selfish you could actually kill one of us one of these days! You're lucky you're such a shit shot or we'd be digging a grave for Daryl right now!"
I limped into the house, growling under my breath as my entire body ached against my every movement.
I have no idea where my rage came out of but after the day we just had, being shot at by one of our own was something me and Daryl didn't need to be dealing with right now.
