When the sun rose the next morning Zoey woke slowly. Her head ached from lack of sleep and her joints stiff from sleeping on the ground. Sitting up slowly allowing her hair that had fallen out her sleeping pony tail to fall into her face. She pulled her hands up and attempted to scrub the sleep fully from her eyes. With a final huff of air she pushed herself onto her knees and retrieved her boots. Kicking them into place she moved towards the morning fire.
Glenn was sitting there looking lost in thought, a pained expression in his eyes. Zoey frowned, Glenn was always the happy one. Something must be up if it had the Asian man upset. Zoey turned to her brother and tapped him on the shoulder to let him know she was awake. He looked up at her and with a grunt nodded in her direction, his own version of a good morning. When he looked back at the fire eating his food slowly she took a good look at him. His hair had started to lengthen at the bottom touching the nap of his neck. She smiled and nudged him again causing him to look back up at her. She grabbed the ends of his hair and tugged before turning her head towards the rest of the group.
Just then Maggie walked by the camp in a hurry, not even glancing towards Glenn. Something was defiantly up considering the change in the women since last night. The red head ran after the other women not giving Glenn the chance to stand up from his seat. When she caught up with her she touched her shoulder causing her to jerk around to look at her a frown quickly dissolved. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I didn't realize it was you. What's up?" she looked straight at Zoey, like she was desperately trying to cover something up.
Zoey just raised a fire red eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. "What?" Maggie asked with a nervous laugh. Zoey just shrugged playfully with quick gesture for her to continue on. Maggie smiled and wrapped one of her arms around the shorter women and squeezed. "You know you talk too much." She said with a joke as they continued on down the path.
Zoey was content to help Maggie with her chores and in doing so secretly hoped that the older women would tell her what happened. No secrets were spilled so Zoey still had no clue what was going on. So by the time they were done she headed back to camp frustrated.
When she reached where the campfire was normally set up her target was not there. So she headed towards the R.V in hopes the little poop was hiding there. Just as she was about to climb into the home on wheels she heard Dale and Glenn talking. "You're old…um you know things. So…what if someone told you something that somebody else should know." Dale cut off Glenn, "Glenn, stop being dramatic. Spit it out." With a sputter Glenn quickly said. "There are walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant."
Zoey quickly backed out of the R.V and walked quickly to the front of the vehicle. When she spotted both of the men she grabbed Glenn on the shoulder so that he could look right at her. "crap." He whispered to himself before, "Please don't say anything, Zoey please, please." Clasping both hands in front of him pleading. Zoey nodded reluctantly, her mouth set in a firm line. She looked at Dale to see what the older man would suggest.
Dale's eyes were wide with worry when he said. "Keep this quiet. I will go and talk with Hershel." Rubbing his hands down his face as he turned to walk away, the rifle he carried slung low on his back. The Red head turned back to Glenn and without thinking she asked, "How long have you known?" The confused look on the young man's face alerted her to the problem. With and exasperated look she grabbed his shirt and led him into the camper. She slammed the door behind her and dug through the draws looking for a pen and paper. When Glenn realized what she was looking for he help her find the items she required. Once found he handed it to her looking stressed and worn down.
She wrote her question on the paper quickly, making her hand writing sloppy and almost unreadable. He took the note and read it slowly deciphering her chicken scratch. "Um, I found them last night…when… um, Maggie and I were going to the barn. I mean when I went to meet…her." He said as Zoey waited patiently for him to finish his sentence. Once he finished his stuttered sentence she nodded and took the piece of paper back and wrote. "I will keep your secrete. Just know that I am not alright with keeping it." She shoved the paper at him and exited the R.V with a huff.
It was later in the afternoon than Zoey thought cause by the time she was done talking with Glenn, everyone was getting ready to make lunch. Hershel seemed to like the whole get together dinner they had, so it seemed they were making every meal in the house, now. So Zoey sat in the kitchen but this time Lori had instructed her on how to cut up some potatoes. So with something to do she contributed to the meal. Even that didn't keep her from bouncing her leg impatiently. No one seemed to notice until Daryl walked in.
He eyed her closely, her hands were busy cutting up vegetables but he noticed his sister's leg moving erratically. Frowning he tapped her on the shoulder once he was closer to her. She looked over at him and smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Daryl looked around a moment before signing 'everything okay?' it took her a moment to answer but when she nodded that it was he didn't believe her. Out loud he told her "yeah sure." The short sentence letting her know they were going to talk about it later. As he turned around he noticed her eye roll and he snorted. "I am going hunting, if anyone needs me." He announced as he exited the kitchen.
As he passed the front room he gave a quick glance at the little girl. He paused a moment, there was something off the last time he looked at her, her head was pointed towards the front door. Now when Daryl looked at the little girl she was facing away from the door. Tilting his head slightly to the side he crept into the room and looked down at her figure, and she moved again. She tilted her blond little head back towards the door and with a slow flutter her eyes opened and closed before opening again and staying open. He froze, was he imaging this or was she looking straight at him, and a moment after she opened her eyes she smiled slightly before trying to sit up. This broke Daryl from his trance. "Carol!" he shouted. "You better get in her women." He kept his eyes on Sofia just in case he was hallucinating.
Carol came rushing out from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. "What is going on?" she asked looking straight at the man in front of her. Noticing that he wasn't looking at her she looked down to the bed. With a burst of air a squeak emerged and she bent down next to the couch, wrapping her arms around her little girl. A sound like a sob escaped as she rocked her little girl back and forth. "mommy." She said from under her mother's embrace. Carol lifted her head and smiled. "I dropped my doll." She wined quietly. "Oh, baby." Carols answered with a smile as she moved away hair away from her face. Daryl feeling slightly uncomfortable said gruffly, "where at?" when the little girl looked back at him her lip quivered. "By the river." Daryl just nodded and left the house, maybe he could find some food in that area.
Zoey frowned in disappointment wishing she hadn't decided to help with lunch cause the thought of hunting with her brother for a bit sounded really good. So she sighed heavily and continued helping with the meal. Lori looked at her with a smile. "Maybe next time you can go with him. It would be good for you to get away from camp." She said as Zoey looked at her. The red head smiled a little and watched as Carol left to check on Sofia who was sleeping peacefully now. When she was out of sight she stood and walked over to where Lori was standing. Making sure no one was watching she touched the brunette's stomach hoping the older women would understand.
The look on Lori's face told her everything. She was shocked and embarrassed. "How…" her unfinished question hung in the air. Zoey looked around really quickly finding some flour still on the counter, she wrote, Glenn. Lori rolled her eyes, "it figures." Then she looked at Zoey her eyes burning with faltering hope. So the red head shook her head, allowing Lori to take a deep breath. The older women wrapped her arms around Zoey in a tight hug, causing her to stiffen for a moment before she placed one hand on the back of her shoulders with a light tap. Then in silence they finished everyone's lunch.
Hershel had checked on Sofia. She still had a concussion but his examination of her stiches was good. No fever and no swelling of her wounded area meant it had a good chance of healing. The older man allowed her to get up as long as she didn't over exert herself. So she was sitting in the kitchen with Beth and Maggie when Zoey left to check on the camp area.
As she got closer she noticed that Andrea was on the camper with a riffle keeping watch. Keeping her eyes on the ground she figured if she stood around long enough someone would give her something to do till Daryl got home. When she leaned up against the R.V Andrea announced that a walker was headed their way. Zoey turned a little to look in the direction the women had pointed. The figure was too far out to see what exactly it was so Rick told Andrea to wait a minute.
Rick and Tdog took off in that direction in a swift walk. Zoey put her hand over her eyes trying to block out the sun to see better. As the being got closer something seemed familiar about the way it was walking. The two men had gotten a lot closer and were stopped Rick had his pistol raised, and after a moment he dropped his arm. "I can make the shot." Andrea said as she took aim again. Zoey took a step closer watching the reaction between what was going on, Rick and Tdog didn't seem threatened, but before she could point that out a loud crack reverberated off the trees. "Got it!" Andrea announced.
Panic rose in Zoey's throat as she took a faltering step again. Rick and Tdog were waving their hands frantically and screaming. The red head took off at a full run towards the spot, she knew something was wrong. She knew it. Grabbing ahold of the gate she didn't bother to unhook it she just threw herself over it. Stumbling to her feet she made it to where Rick and Tdog were hauling a dirty human being to his feet. She hadn't even notice that Shane and Glenn were right behind her. She watched in silent horror as Shane took Tdogs place. "Are those ears?" Glenn asked Just as Rick grabbed the necklace and shoved them in his shirt looking at Zoey in sympathy.
Red blurred the edges of her vision as they drug her brother's limp body to the house. She clenched her fists and turned around gritting her teeth she headed back to the R.V. Andrea was now on the ground heading towards them a look of apologetic fear on her face. "I am sorry, Zoey. I thought…" she didn't have time to finish her sentence when Zoey balled her fist up and pulled back. The red head hit her square in the nose and had no intention of stopping but before she could climb on top of the blond she was once again air born. Strong arms were holding her struggling anger induced body in the air a soft voice from behind her was trying to get her to calm down. It didn't help
She struggled and fought. She wanted down she knew she need to calm down but being held like a sack of flower wasn't helping. "Shane, put her down." Dale said calmly. It took a moment but Zoey felt her body lower slightly to the ground, but not close enough. Lifting her hands straight up, she wriggled her way out of her captures arms. Once she hit the ground she scrambled to her feet and turned around huffing in anger. Shane stood there his hands in the air showing his surrender. With her head on her shoulder a little better, but no less angry, she headed towards the house.
When she reached the house she was far calmer but her mind swam with worry. She skipped up the steps two at a time reaching the door and tearing into the house in a hurry. Zoey went to rush into the room where she seen Hershel was standing. In a half thought she wondered where they had moved Carl to but she pushed it aside. Rick stopped her from going into the room. He calmly told her that Daryl had taken an arrow to the side, and the bullet had only grazed his temple. After he assessed her to make sure she was ok he walked her into the room where Hershel and Patricia had just finished stitching his side. When they were done they left with a polite smile.
When they had finally left her all alone she sat on the end of the bed by her brother's feet to keep watch over him. Zoey sat there all evening not moving an inch. When Beth came in with a plate of food and before Zoey could tell her that Daryl hadn't even woke up she said, "I know I was bringing it for you. Can't have you starving now can we. When he wakes up I will bring him something too, don't worry." And with a smile and a quick glance at the sleeping man she exited the room. The red head picked at her food before setting it on a chair and curling up at her big little brother's feet and soon she fell asleep with a tear dripping off of her nose.