Chapter 31
Seeing the big high walls of Alexandria was a wonderful sight for Daryl. He was glad to be home. He was also eager to get rid of the damn trailer the car was pulling behind it. The tires were so low after all these miles that the trailer was practically riding on the rims.
He flashed the lights of the car to the guard on duty and the gate slowly swung open. As he drove down the deserted road that headed to the supply panty he could feel the drag of the trailer behind the car. The tires were completely shot, but they made it.
Olivia came out to help them unload the full car and trailer. She was very excited by their haul. Eventually Rick and Michonne joined them and with that many people helping, the trailer was unloaded and junked fairly quickly. Daryl left them to sort through the supplies, so he picked up the box of seeds and headed home to give Emma his present.
It was dinner time and Daryl fully expected to find Emma in the kitchen, but when he got there the room was dark and there was no food on the stove. He looked in the refrigerator and saw nothing prepared in there either. Emma never missed having the evening meal ready for them by now. Daryl ran up the stairs to their room calling out for her, but that room was also dark and empty. He got as bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and his hands started to sweat. The box of seeds was thrown on the bed as Daryl ran to find Rick.
He arrived at the panty out of breath. "Where's Emma?" he asked Rick grabbing him by the arm.
"What do you mean?"
"Emma, where is she Rick? She's not in the house and dinner ain't made. That's not like her, where is she?" he asked again getting agitated.
"Calm down, man. We'll find her," Rick told him. He turned to Michonne and asked her when she had last seen Emma.
"Not today. I was with Judith this morning then you and went over ideas in the library about the Saviors and Hilltop. I haven't seen Emma all day," she told the two men.
"Emma? Are you looking for Emma?" Olivia asked coming out from behind one of the back shelves.
"Yeah, you seen her?" questioned an anxious Daryl.
"She and Sasha came by earlier this afternoon to get weapons for target practice," Olivia told them. "Come to think about it, Emma hasn't returned the handgun she took out. Remind her, will you?"
"Sasha should be on watch now," Michonne said.
Daryl remembered seeing her when they came through the gate. She waved at him. "She is. Gotta talk to her." Daryl took off at a run for the watch post. Rick looked at Michonne and then took off after Daryl. He got to the platform seconds after Daryl.
"Sasha!" Daryl shouted.
"I saw you running across the yard, no need to yell. What's up?"
"Have you seen Emma?" Daryl asked again. He was fuming inside. He was tired of asking where Emma was, would someone just tell him!
"We went and did some target practice shooting. She wanted to get more comfortable with a gun. I had to head back for my watch shift and she stayed to finish the clip. She had half a dozen rounds left. Hang on." Sasha turned and yelled over to the guard at the gate. "Hey Adam, when did you let Emma back in?"
"I haven't. The only people to come through the gate after you was the supply run," he called back.
Daryl's blood ran instantly cold. Emma was still outside the walls. "When did you start your shift?" he asked Sasha.
"A little after four as I had to get more ammunition."
"Fuck!" was all Daryl could say.
"Damn, it's after six-thirty now," Rick said looking at his watch. He put a hand on Daryl's arm just before he was about to bolt towards the gate. "Let's do this right. It'll take just a few minutes to get guns to take with us. We need to be prepared."
As much as Daryl hated to waste the time, Rick was right. "Alright." They both ran to the supply room and while Rick always wore his gun, he added extra bullets to his pockets. Daryl grabbed a Glock and four extra clips. Seconds later they were running for the gate.
Sasha saw them coming and already had Adam throwing it open, so they were able to keep running right through it. Sasha watched them until they disappeared in the woods. She was upset with herself. She never should have left Emma out there alone and she should have made sure that she returned. Her head wasn't in the right place since Abraham died and this may have cost them Emma. She was off her game and while it wasn't her job to babysit Emma, they took care of each other. And she didn't do that. She owed Daryl and Emma and apology. She just hoped that she would be able to give it to the both of them.
When Daryl and Rick approached the area they used to target practice Daryl slowed down. His trained tracker's eyes started taking in everything around him and on the ground. He knew he couldn't miss anything. This was one of the few times he had anything good to think about his father. Learning how to track was critical to him and it was the only worthwhile thing he had learned from his old man.
"Someone was standing here by this tree," he told Rick. "Emma most likely would have been right here, but her smaller footprints are blurred. She went down here." Daryl looked around more. What the hell had happened here? "Got heavy footprints here. He picked her up along with the guy at the tree and walked this way."
Rick followed Daryl. Neither said a word as they tracked the people that took Emma. They were following a slightly weaving path through the woods. Daryl heart was racing as he kept tracking the two sets through the underbrush. When he found an elastic tie band with strands of long brown hair wrapped on it, he knew he was on the right track.
"Look," he showed Rick. "That was Emma's." He knew she had left it for him to find. "Good Girl," he thought.
"We'll find her," Rick told his friend. They had to.
"You don't know what she's gone through, man. She has to be freaking out. These assholes have over a two hour head start on us. I just wish I knew who would've taken her?" Daryl was calm on the outside, but panicking on the inside. He knew he had to rein it in so he could concentrate. He couldn't afford to miss a clue ...a sign or anything that would lead him to Emma. He was not going to lose her again.
Rick had a good idea of who may have abducted Emma. It had to be that asshole Dwight. He showed too much interest in her. "Daryl, I think I know who may have her."
Daryl stopped immediately and swung around to look at Rick. "Who?" he growled.
"While you were gone the Saviors came back. They saw Emma and it was all my fault. I forgot to warn her, man. I'm so sorry. I told them she was my sister, but that mutilated bastard kept asking questions about her. That's gotta be it," Rick explained. Rick had fucked up big time. He would be surprised it Daryl never forgave him. If it was indeed the Saviors that had her, it would be totally his fault. No matter what, he planned on doing anything they could to find her. Daryl had his back more times than Rick could have counted, he owned his friend this and more.
"Dwight? Are you telling me Dwight has her?" Daryl's voice was low and mean. Dwight had taken his bike…his crossbow and now his woman. He was a dead man.
"Good chance. I'm with you until we find her…and we will. We'll get her back," Rick told him.
"Did you know Negan has a thing for her?" Daryl said.
Rick looked at him in surprise, "He does?"
"He does. That's one of the reasons she left them besides finding me. She can never go back. I'm going to kill that fuckin' prick." Daryl turned and kept tracking through the woods. The sun was setting making visibility much harder, but Daryl kept on.
They emerged from the trees and came to a country dirt road. "Tire tracks," pointed Daryl. They got in a car here. Fuckers."
"We still have a little bit of light left and we need a car. Let's head back to Alexandria, grabbed some supplies and a car. When we lose the light, we stop and continue at dawn. "Rick could see that Daryl wanted to keep on going. "Daryl, we need a car. Without one we can't cover the distance we need to. Okay?"
Daryl wanted to keep going, but he knew that Rick was right. They needed a car. As much as he hated it he agreed. They both turned around and ran back to Alexandria, stopping only briefly a few times to rest before running through the gates. Daryl gassed up a car and Rick ran for some quick supplies. They were back out heading for the dirt road in minutes.
Sasha watched them from her platform knowing they hadn't found Emma. She quickly wiped away the tears away that gathered in the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to lose another person, especially when she felt it was her fault.
Rick drove so Daryl could keep an eye on the road. They got back to the spot where the car had been and it was easy to follow the tire tracks on the dirt road even though the light was fading. It got much harder once they turned onto pavement, but not impossible. The roads seldom saw any type of vehicle so the leaves and debris that accumulated on the pavement showed signed of travel to someone who knew what to look for…and Daryl did.
They followed the trail until it was too dark to continue on. As much as Daryl wanted to keep going, he knew this made sense. Rick pulled the car off to the side of the road and turned it off. They hadn't said much during the ride. Daryl just stared out the window not looking at Rick.
"How do you do it?" Daryl finally asked Rick.
"Do what?"
"Love people that can die," he said softly. "Lori died. You have Carl, Judith and now Michonne. How do you handle that?"
"Everything I do is for them. They are the reasons I make decisions a certain way. Family has to come first," he told him. "Daryl…Daryl?" Daryl finally turned to look at him. "You're family too…and I let you down, bro. I'm sorry."
Daryl was quiet for a moment before he turned to his friend…his brother. "It ain't your fault. You have more going on than any of us. I shoulda been there to protect her. I got responsibilities to the group and to her and I'm trying to do both, but it ain't working. Losing her once about killed me, if it happens again…I don't know what I'll do."
Rick knew what Daryl was going through. He had lost his wife and that was the worst thing he had ever experienced. He didn't want the same thing to happen to his friend. No one should have to go through a loss like that, but too many of them did.
"We'll find her. We will Daryl, then we kill the assholes and they'll never be able to do it again. You have my word on that," Rick promised him.
"Thanks," Daryl replied. He continues to look out the window into the darkness. It was good to have Rick by his side. Knowing he could count on Rick meant more to him than his friend would ever know. Daryl had never been able to count on anyone except himself for most of his life. This is what friends did… what brothers did for each other. He also would keep him from acting in impulse instead of thinking it through. He couldn't chance making a mistake. Emma meant too much to him to do that.
"You mentioned that Emma had gone through something that I didn't know about, anything you want to share?" Rick had been curious about this since Daryl mentioned it back in the woods.
Daryl's face got hard and mean. It was an expression that Rick had only seen a handful of times and it was never good.
"She was gang raped for days before she ended up with the Saviors. She's still dealing with it."
Rick was astonished. "Oh shit. I'm sorry Daryl. She never should have had to go through anything like that. No one should. Oh, man." Emma had been through the worse thing anyone could live through and now she was abducted. His heart went out to the two of them.
"I got first watch," Daryl said.
"Wake me up in a couple of hours so I can take over." Daryl turned his head and looked at Rick and then looked back into the night. "Daryl, I mean it. Tomorrow when we find her you need to be alert, so get me up in a couple of hours. You need to sleep."
"Will do," he told Rick. Rick leaned the seat back and got as comfortable as he could. He was out in minutes. They had all learned to sleep when and wherever they could. Daryl stared out into the blackness praying that Emma was okay. She was his heart. He knew it from the first minute he saw her. He would find her if it was the last thing he ever did. He owed it to her. He'd bring her home and never let her go.
A/N - Did I lose all of my regular reviewers? Thanks to the guest that posted and Missy. Would love to hear from everyone...anyone. The more reviews I get, the more people will check out the story.
Thanks for reading everyone!
WW
