We regrouped at the driveway, huddled around Otis' beat up truck. Maggie had run inside to retrieve a map of the surround areas. I was determined to go with them today, to help look. My hands had healed nicely from the fall when we left the CDC and thanks to Doctor Jenner's handiwork, my eye had begun to heal nicely, the stitches had even fallen out over night.
"How long has this girl been missing?" Hershel asked as his daughter returned with the map.
"Three days." Rick answered. I walked up to the truck across from Daryl, leaning on the hood of the car as Maggie placed the map in front of us. Daryl looked up at me briefly before his gaze fixed on the map in front of him.
"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevation." Maggie said coolly, gesturing to the map she'd just brought out.
"This is perfect, we can finally get this thing organized." Rick said happily. I looked up at him, still wearing his sheriff's duds, as he studied the plot. He didn't speak for a few moments, taking in what he was looking at. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."
"Not you, not today." We all looked up at Hershel and he continued. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before you passed out." he turned to look at Shane this time. "Your ankle, push it now and you'll be laid up a month." Finally Hershel looked at me, his gaze lingering on my eye. "Your eye looks like its healing fine, but if you were to injure it again, I'd like not to think about it." I looked at Hershel quietly, glancing over at Shane. It had been about a week since our encounter in the quarry. I could still remember how it felt when he brought his fist down on me. Shane cleared his throat, standing taller, taking an instinctual step away from Daryl who was perched next to him.
I could tell Daryl was still sore on the subject, especially after the incident at the CDC and then again the night after. Daryl stared at the man, a scowl evident on his face. He cleared his throat, looking away from Shane when he spoke.
"Guess it's just me." I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." Daryl stated matter of factly. I stared at the man in front of me, gaping widely at him. He looked quickly, shaking his head as he did so. The group began to squabble about guns and I tuned them out, unable to take my eyes off of Daryl. He tried his best to ignore me, but he would glance at me on occasion, he knew I was watching him.
"I can go. My eye doesn't hurt and my vision is fine. It'd help to have two people out there instead of just one." I said defiantly. The group looked up at me. We were no longer on the subject of who was going out to search so my comment caught them by surprise. Daryl shot me a warning glance but I ignored him.
Hershel sighed, running a hand down his face before beckoning me to come closer to him. He placed a hand on my face, poking at me cheek. He took his two fingers, opening my eye for him to see and once he was satisfied he released me.
"I'd feel better if you stayed, but I see no reason to keep you." Daryl grunted in disagreement, but that was all he said on the matter. Hershel eyed him suspiciously, looking between the both of us until something clicked in his mind. He remained quiet though, not wanted to cause anymore stress between us.
Everyone split up from there to go and set up their tents. Daryl chose a spot away from the others, something I raised my eyebrow at, but I said nothing to. We set up our camp in silence, and I listened to Daryl huff around the tent.
"Would you like some help?" I asked. He'd found a larger tent in one of the cars we raided the other day. This one seemed like more of a two-person job than his last tent. Daryl looked at me as he straightened out the poles and shook his head, not saying a word.
"I ain't thrilled bout ya joinin me out there." He finally said after a few minutes. I rolled my eyes going back to digging the fire pock. "I know you can handle your own, Darlin', but it ain't the walkers I'm worried about. I ain't to thrilled about what we may find out there." I knew he was talking about Sophia. There was a good chance she was already dead, or worse, turned. I looked into the tree line at the unknown forest behind us, shivering lightly.
"I'll be fine." I said trying to reassure him. He gave me a look, like he didn't believe me and I shook my head. "I promise I will be fine."
"Beau!" I heard my name shouted across the lawn and I saw T-Dog and Dale gesturing to me. With them they had a few jugs and a wheelbarrow, probably headed out to find the well. I stopped what I was doing, watching them for a second and looked back to Daryl. He nodded to them with his head, gesturing for me to go with them. I watched him suspiciously and he sighed.
"I ain't gonna leave without ya, now go help your patient Doctor Abner." Daryl sassed me, a coy smile playing on his face. I smirked at him, standing up from where I was sitting, running across the lawn to them, glancing over my shoulder periodically.
"Would you mind helping us fill these bastards?" T-Dog asked, pointing to the buckets in the wheelbarrow.
"There's a well just over that hill up there. Its not too far away, but I know nobody wants to walk over there every time the want water. You can even take a jug back to your tent if you'd like."
"Bribing me with water I see." Dale frowned at me and I smiled. "I'm just kidding, of course I'll help." T-Dog grinned as he began to lead the wheelbarrow up the hill, panting heavily. I studied him quietly out of the corner of my eye. "Are you sure you should be pushing that? You may still be too weak-"
"I'm not weak." He interrupted, startling me. Dale looked over as well, watching him carefully. "And I'm not a coward." T-dog finished as we reached the top of the hill.
"We never said you were." Dale reassured him, walking over to the tap to pump it. I grabbed the nearest jug, handing it to the old man as T-Dog continued.
"No, what I said, on the highway, I don't know what that was or where it came from." He seemed ashamed and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "That wasn't me."
"It's okay, T, you were injured and I'll. People say things when they're sick with fever." I said quietly. The man looked at me, a small smile on his face and shook his head.
"If it's okay, I'd rather you never told anybody about that stuff I said." T-Dog had grabbed the jug next to him and began to pump water into it. I watched him quietly, looking up at Dale before speaking.
"What stuff?" T-Dog stopped what he was doing, looking at me like I had sprouted a new head. I smiled at him widely.
"Yeah, I couldn't get a word out of you all day." T-Dog realized what we were doing and he chuckled, going back again to pump the well. After a few seconds he spoke again.
"Say, you think there's a snowballs chance we'll actually find that little girl?" His words hit home and I realized I'd forgotten that Sophia was missing. I grew quiet, taking the bucket that Dale had already filled and replacing it with an empty one.
"For the first time in my life, I'm betting on the snowball." I said, nodding to both of the men. Sensing it getting awkward I glanced around, trying to find something else to occupy my thoughts with. A few feet away I found the actual well that the pump led to and I began to walk over to it. I hadn't seen one of these since I lived on my father's farm.
On my way over I slowed, noticing the lid was damage. There was a hole in the top of it and it immediately concerned me, made me wonder what all had gotten into the well water through that hole. Even the tiniest thing can do immense damage to a well.
I leaned down, placing my hand on the side, only to hear something moving around inside of the well. Cautiously I stepped back, looking over to where T-Dog and Dale were conversing. T-Dog had just grabbed the ladle to the bucket we brought with us and was slowly bringing it to his mouth. The moaning from the well continued and I ran over to him just as he was about to bring the water to his lips, effectively knocking the ladle from his hands.
"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." I said ominously. Dale and T-Dog looked at me like I was crazy, but I just glanced back to the well. They followed my gaze, walking over to well themselves. T-Dog pulled the wooden lid off, tossing it to the side and looked down. At the bottom of the well sat a walker. He growled up at us, clawing at nothing and I grimaced. He was puffy and fat, looked to be a bit water logged which only added to its gross factor.
"I'll go tell the others." T-Dog offered, running off to camp.