Raising Dead

Chapter Seven: Missing

AN: KILL IT WITH FIRE! I didn't like this chapter. As far as chapters go it's just a filler until I can get everything back together. My laptop crashed and I had to reformat the damn thing so I lost all of the Walking Dead episodes I had on it. I need to go back and download them all again. Enjoy.

I listened to the hiss of the radiator hose for what seemed like the thousandth time since we'd been with the group. As soon as we'd stopped I had pulled Ayla on top of the RV with me to keep watch. It had become a normal thing for us since we'd left Atlanta. I tapped my feet against the siding, still not used to the new boots and still not over the idea that I could have died. I picked up the rifle Rick had given me so I wouldn't have to keep taking Dale's and stood up to look around us.

I saw nothing but cars, cars, and –oh, look- more cars. That was the problem. If something were to come at us I'd never see it. "I can't see anything!" I yelled in annoyance. It was just loud enough that everyone could hear me, but it didn't carry far.

"Open your damn eyes." Daryl snapped at me. We'd fallen into this pattern of seeing who could piss who off the fastest. I did a little dance to show him it wasn't bothering me before I stuck my tongue out at him. He huffed and stomped off.

"Children." Dale said as he caught the display. I only grinned to let him know we were getting along in our own way and that nothing was wrong.

"If anyone sees any pixie stix I want them. I could use a major sugar rush right now." I said when I heard requests going around. I turned around and acted like I didn't hear anyone laughing at me. It seemed like I was just there for humor these days, but I'll admit any day that it's better than seeing everyone lose hope. I really didn't want to see the kids lose hope. That thought alone forced me to be as goofy as I could be, which meant I would continue to act like an idiot with Daryl.

Dale joined us so he could get a better look around. I kept my eyes on either side of the road and Ayla watched behind us. I could hear Shane yelling about finding water and wished he'd stop wasting it so the rest of us could have some. I didn't see anything coming out of the woods or from the other side of the road. It felt pretty calm for once. That was before we saw the heard coming.

…..break…..

"AYLA!" I screamed into the empty woods. No one answered my scream. I don't think I've ever screamed like that in my life. Not out of fear and not out of rage. She was lost. I was lost. We had to abandon the RV to keep Dale safe. The three of us just couldn't hide all that well. So we ran. We split up to protect each other. We'd done it at the same time without realizing it. Now I couldn't find her.

I screamed for her again. My throat was raw. I didn't have any water or food. I was going to die out here if someone didn't find me. I put my back to a tree and slid down it. It was no use really. I wasn't going to find her and if I did the chances of her being alive were small. I had lost the one person I had made the biggest promise to. I never broke a promise like that. I'd said I'd never let anything hurt her and here I was with my back to a tree giving up.

Wait, me give up? What the hell wrong with me? I wasn't giving up. I was giving my throat a rest so I could keep calling for her. I wasn't leaving Ayla out here. Dead or Alive. I was going to find her and bring her back.

I picked up my discarded rifle and steeled my resolve. I had to find her. Even if it killed me to do so.

…..break…..

"Ayla and Erin are missing." Glen told Rick, Shane, and Daryl. They had just come back from leading walkers away from Sophia and then trying to find her.

"What the hell you mean 'They're missing'?" Shane snapped. "They were on top of the RV with Dale the last time I saw them." Dale showed up shortly after the statement was done.

"They took off. There wasn't enough room for all three of us. I was about to climb down when they jumped off the sides and ran. They were side by side with walkers behind them when they went into the woods." Dale informed them. "I feel so bad. I shouldn't have told them what I was doing. What will I tell Jake?"

"You said they went into the woods?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, right over here. I'll show you." Dale was more than a little in shock. Daryl tried to find a trail, but there wasn't one to be found. Plenty of tracks, but nothing else.

…..break…..

At this point I was so tired I was tripping over my own feet. I was glad nothing was chasing me, but with no food or water I was killing myself. The only items on me were the rifle, PX4 Storm, my knife, a lighter, and a pack of cigarettes. I suppose most people would consider what I had to be good luck, but that was far from the truth. I couldn't see to hunt, if I could hunt I couldn't cook, and I couldn't have light or warmth. I'd have to wait out the night in a tree; the only place I'd be safe. I couldn't keep going and I couldn't back track to find the road.

I climbed up a tree and waited for darkness to take me. I woke up several times in the night because of an animal or sometimes a walker moving around under me. The cold really wasn't helping my predicament either.

Once the long night was over I was greeted by an almost empty expanse of woods. It seemed just as desolate as it had before. That would normally comfort me, but I wasn't in the mood for no one being around.

I wanted to see Ayla when I woke up. Looking up at me as though I had done the dumbest thing in the world. I wanted to see Dale laughing at me as soon as I woke up at noon; tired from taking a longer watch than I should have. I wanted to be back with everyone else. I wanted to act like a jackass and make Jake, Carl, and Sophia laugh at me. I wanted to piss Lori off for the thousandth time and confuse Andrea about whether we were friends or not. I wanted to throw still lit cigarette butts at Shane and singe his hair. I wanted to goof off with Daryl and earn Carol's disapproving stare.

I climbed down from my post after taking a look around. I was sore from a night in the tree, but I'd live. I walked a ways away from the tree before looking the way I'd come from the night before. I looked in the direction I'd been going. If I kept going I'd find a building or something eventually. I'd just have to keep going.

As I walked along I listened to everything around me. Once I was about a mile from the tree I'd slept I started to get annoyed at the strangest thing. Damn bells. Stop ringing so I can listen! I stopped short after the though hit me. Bells? My eyes widened and I started running. Ayla had to be there. She was smart. She'd know I would hear them and come running.

I screamed for Ayla as I ran towards the church. I could hear my name being called from opposite directions. I ran towards where I heard Ayla and found her up a tree with walkers under her. I shouldered the rifle and took aim at its head. As I squeezed the trigger I heard something coming up behind me. I spun around, dropping the rifle as I turned and pulled one of my pistols free; aiming between his eyes. His damn blue eyes. I launched myself at Daryl and hugged him before pulling away from the startled man and punching him in his left shoulder.

"You bastard! What the hell did you think you were doing sneaking up on me like that? I could have killed you!" I snapped, forgetting Ayla was in the tree.

"What the hell was all that for? I didn't do nothing to you." He snapped back. I almost growled at him, but I realized I'd put him in an awkward position when I'd hugged him.

"Sorry, I had a bad night." I sighed. Ayla laughed behind me and I shot her a glare before I looked back at the very confused Daryl. "Where's everyone else?"

He stared at me hard before he answered. "Out front, we cleared out the building. Sophia's still missing."

"What happened?" Ayala asked, shocked. She liked the younger girl and had been watching over her when she wasn't helping me.

"I'll let Rick fill Y'all in on what happened. Everyone'll be glad we at least found you two." Daryl answered.

…..break…..

I was sent back to the highway with everyone else I wasn't too happy about, but I was no good as a tracker. I had a far different style from Daryl and only used mine to ID animals and their size, never to track people.

"It's so quiet." Carol said, longing in her voice.

"I could start singing if it'd make you feel better." I joked, earning a look from Lori and Andrea. No one here but Ayla had ever heard me sing, so they really had no idea if I was any good or not.

"No thank you. " She quipped. "I'm sure Daryl is trying to listen for Sophia."

"Look at that, a comeback when I wasn't joking. Drag your head out of your ass." I snapped. I hated it when people decided that I was playing on what was wrong. I was trying to make her feel better and she was being a bitch.

"What song would you sing at a time like this?" Lori asked, taking the same route as Carol.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe something by The Bare Naked Ladies?" When no one caught on to my humor I gave in. "I was thinking of something more along the lines of Stand in the Rain by SuperChick." Ayla smiled at my choice, but apparently no one else had ever heard of her. "Oh come on! It's a good song." I thought it over for a second. "Hell, maybe it's better for me to hear it right now. Damn."

"Erin don't say that. You should just do it anyway and shut them up." Ayla said, taking my side in a heartbeat.

"I would," I said. "But honestly, I'd rather not give them anything nice to listen to."

I walked next to Daryl so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. "You should be nicer to her." Daryl said, just loud enough I could hear him.

"I WAS being nice." I hissed. "She just decided to take it out on me. I didn't deserve that and she had no right to do it."

"You're right, but she just lost her little girl." He said trying to get me to calm down.

"And I almost lost Ayla. I'm sorry, but she meant more to me. She's basically family to me." I growled.

"Just be nicer. Comfort her or something." He told me, sounding a bit uncomfortable. I almost laughed.

"I'm no better with people than you are. That's probably the only reason I get along with you. No mushy weird shit." I confided. Ayla knew how bad I was when it came to people.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Daryl asked in a growl.

"It just means you don't expect me to get all mushy and… hell, I don't know. You just don't expect me to be anything more than me." I blurted. I am no good at this shit.

"Yeah," he said. "Same with you."

The conversation had gotten really awkward and no longer wanted anything to do with it.

"Have you ever seen what walking stupidity looks like?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Maybe. Who're you talking about." He shot me a confused look.

"Who do I hate the most of all the people I hate in this group." I asked, giving him a bored look.

"Shane ain't that bad. He made a bad choice one time and you've hated him since then." Daryl scolded. "You're too short to have all that attitude."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, looking surprised. "Are you calling me short mister I-have-too-much-height-for-my-own-good?"

The conversation continued like that for some time. Just easy banter. That's how we got along so well. Neither of us wanted anything more than what we were.