Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait! Welcome to my new followers! Thank you for coming to enjoy this story, I hope you stick around. Thank you for the wonderful reviews, it makes me feel great that you guys are getting pumped for this story. I will continue to do my best to keep you all entertained! Here is chapter 23! Hope you guys enjoy! I do not own any of the walking dead.

Chapter 23

They were making little progress as they trudged through the dirt and dried leaves of the woods. Blake was getting more and more irritated by the second. She eventually stopped in her tracks and wiped her sweaty forehead with her arm.

"How many hours of sunlight do we have?" she asked her group.

"A few more. Like 3 and a 1/2 hours," Shane spoke as he took a glance at his watch.

"Alright, we should move a little further and then we're going to have to turn back in order to make it to camp before dark," Blake spoke as she looked at her small group.

Rick just nodded quietly, not happy with the idea of leaving his son out in the woods another night. Andrea walked up to Rick and Shane and spoke, "We're gonna find them, guys."

Rick just nodded again and scanned the woods. Shane nodded his thanks and patted her on the shoulder, "Thanks, Andrea. I know we will".

Blake started to move forward again, following the trail. Andrea kept up by her side. Blake glanced out of the corner of her eye at the older blonde woman walking beside her. "Ya know," Blake began, "You should try and believe in the positive words yourself".

"What do you mean?" Andrea said.

"I mean, it's good that you're supporting and giving positive words to the rest of the group. Sometimes though you have to believe that for yourself too," Blake spoke, eyeing scuffed up dirt.

"Believe wh-" Andrea started before getting interrupted.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Everyone's bodies started spinning in circles, trying to locate the sound of the church bells echoing through the forest.

"Where the hell is that coming from?" Andrea asked loudly.

"Can't tell. Sounds like it could be from anywhere," Blake said as she too scanned the forest with the fear of the undead possibly following the sound.

"This way," Rick bellowed as he started sprinting through the forest.

"Come on!" Shane yelled as he followed Rick, his bag slapping his strong back as Andrea and Blake started running after them.

What if it's the kids? What if there are survivors?

At the thought of the kids Blake started to pick up more speed. Before the group knew it they broke the forest, running out into a small clearing with soft green grass. Sitting quaintly not too far off was a white church surrounded by cherry blossom trees. The group halted and looked around.

"We need to stop those church bells," Shane announced to the group. As the two men and two women sprinted across the small field, Daryl and Glenn and the moms broke through the brush of the forest on the other side. The two groups met up at the church.

"There's no steeple," Lori said, running to her husband's side.

"Blake, come with me," Glenn said. Blake immediately ran to her friend's side as he prepared to make a round around the church.

"There has to be a control panel for this," Blake said as she sped walk by Glenn's side as they scanned the church walls.

"Exactly, just hopefully it's not inside," he said. Blake nodded at his comment, knowing there was a good chance they'd find something inside they wouldn't want to deal with.

"Blake, here!" Glenn said as he ran up to a panel and ripped its cover off. From there he ripped out a few wires and the ringing sounds ceased.

"Thank god," Blake said as she put her gun back in her pants.

"Any luck out there?" Glenn asked as they began walking back around the church to their group.

"Nothing, dude. That kid was hauling ass for a while. I don't know how he didn't get exhausted," she spoke, wiping more sweat from her forehead. She was sweating more water than she was ingesting it and with her recent incident she had to keep up with her water. God, it's so fucking hot.

"Same. Sophia hoofed it too," Glenn said as he ripped his baseball cap off his head, his jet black hair stuck to his forehead from the stickiness of the day. He continued to wipe his head with his forearm, making his black strands stand up in every direction. Blake began to giggle at Glenn's wild appearance.

"What are you laughing at," Glenn said, trying to sound annoyed but failing miserably.

"Oh nothing," Blake said as she starting laughing. Glenn joined in with her laughter as they rounded the corner where their group was.

"What the hell ya'll laughin' at," Daryl spoke, interrupting their moment of happiness.

"Nothing, Daryl," Blake rolled her eyes and then jabbed Glenn in the ribs. "This guy just always gets me goin'" she said with a smirk. Glenn blushed immediately and tried laughing it off as he rubbed his ribs. Daryl gave Glenn a glare that Blake couldn't help but notice.

"You jealous, Dixon?" Blake said with an exaggerated wink.

"What's wrong with you people?" Daryl asked. "We're tryna find some lost kids and you guys can't seem to wanna keep your hands to yourselves," he bellowed, catching Andrea and Carol's attention from their perch near the church doors.

"Daryl," Blake said, kind of surprised by his outburst, "Just stop. You're not taking your anger out on me or him today. Can't take a joke then move along," she said as she shoved past Daryl and away from Glenn. Glenn was looking at Daryl with a disapproving eye.

"What the hell you lookin' at?" Daryl said to Glenn as he turned on his heels and walked a little ways away from the group to scan the area for small footprints. He was analyzing the ground around the church when he heard a sound.

"Daryl?" a small voice said.

Daryl's ears immediately perked up.

"Daryl, is that you?" the young voice spoke.

"Kid?" Daryl spoke, eager to find where the voice was coming from. "Where you at?"

"In here!" the voice spoke frantically as banging began to be heard from a vent on the side of the church. Whoever was inside was trying to kick themselves out of it.

"Hold on," Daryl said as he got onto his knees in front of the vent. At the sound of the ruckus the group ran around the building to where Daryl was. Rick and Shane had their guns drawn.

"What is it," Rick yelled as they ran up to Daryl.

"The kid," Daryl huffed out as he was slamming his knife into the crevices of the vent to get it loose. With a final slam into one of the creases the rusty metal fell off, exposing a dirtied up and scared Carl.

"My baby," Lori screamed as she nearly knocked Daryl over, his palm landing in the dirt to catch his falling body. Lori grabbed her son and held him close, nearly suffocating the poor child. Tears ran down the mother's eyes as Rick embraced his family as a whole and gripped onto his son's brown haired head.

Blake smiled at the happy family then continued to look down at Daryl who had just saved himself from eating shit.

"Need help there, buddy," she smiled, holding her hand out for him.

"Don't need no help," he said as he got to his feet, also looking at the happy family reunion happening before their eyes. "One down, one to go," he spoke, wiping the dirt from his hands onto his denim jeans.

"Yup," Blake said, placing a hand on her wide hips and looking back out into the forest. "One down, one to go".