As you'll be able to tell from this chapter, I'm not following the events of the show in order. I needed Shane and Rick outside of the camp for a reason, and used Randall for that reason. Sophia's search party gives me a way to play on drama. Enjoy.

Daryl slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He reached around him and grabbed his shirt, throwing it around his shoulders before standing and buttoning it up. He looked back at the house with a confused frown before slowly making his way back to his tent with a slight shake of his head.

Rick gathered everyone around the truck and laid out the map of the area. Slowly, people started gathering around the map, waiting to discuss their search areas.

"Alright, today we'll all get new search areas, new grids, help make this organized. We'll find Sophia." Rick said. He started pointing out areas and assigning areas to people and teams giving them coloured ribbons to mark along the way.

"I'll take this ridge up here," Daryl pointed out, sliding his finger along a river bank on the map. "Take a horse and scout out the area, get a bird's eye view." He murmured.

Rick nodded his head, "Great idea."

Later in the day Lauren walked out of the farm house and noticed no one was around. Did they all leave when she dozed off? She looked around and caught sight of Carol hanging out more clothes on the clothes line, and she quickly jogged over.

"Hey Carol, where is everyone?" She gasped out, leaning over slightly resting her palms on her Capri covered knees.

Carol looked over her shoulder while pinning a pair of boxers to the line. "Oh," She gave a brief pause, pain flickering across her face. "They're out looking for my daughter, Sophia. Walkers chased her off into the forest." Her arms dropped down by her sides and she took a stuttering breath.

Lauren's face was solemn, she knew how it felt to have loved ones ripped away from you like that. "I know how you feel Carol. I won't say I'm sorry, 'cause the last thing ya need is more pity, but I do hope they find her." She placed a hand lightly on Carol's shoulder, and gave a light squeeze and a small smile. She slowly turned and walked away to see what else she could do while everyone was gone for a while.

"Walker!" Andrea called out from on top of the R.V. She grabbed her binoculars and pointed them towards where she seen the lone figure stumbling into the open field from the tree line.

"Just the one?" Rick asked as he grabbed his revolver, and started towards the tree line.

"I bet I can nail him from here!" Andrea called back, picking up the rifle and trying to get a good visual, but the sun was glaring into her scope.

"Andrea! Put the gun down. We'll handle this." Shane demanded, emerging from the small clump of trees that served as their makeshift camp.

As the others grabbed their weapons, the two started off towards the walker, knowing the others were very close behind. As they approached the figure they slowed down to a stop when the figure stopped moving. Rick pointed his gun towards the figures head, just in case.

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked in shock.

Everyone was silent, hoping that another member of their group hadn't been bitten.

"'Bout time you pointed that thing at my head." Daryl growled out. "You gonna pull the trigger 'er what?" Everyone lowered their weapons, instantly relieved. Rick looked away and breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly a shot rang out and Daryl flew back off his feet. He hit the ground with a grunt, sprawled out on his back.

"No! No, no!" Rick cried out, spinning and looking back at the R.V "NO!" He hit his knees beside Daryl, looking at the wound to see how bad it was, when Daryl suddenly moved his arm, reaching up and running his fingers over the cut on the side of his head. Shane grabbed his arm, pulling it away from the wound and then took the necklace of walker ears out of his mouth. Rick and Shane started heaving Daryl up on his feet and wrapped his arms around their shoulders.

"I was kiddin'" Daryl mumbled before passing out.

Rick and Shane started dragging him towards the house as Andrea and Dale came running.

"Oh my god, is he dead? Is he dead?" Andrea called out, racing towards them, panic set in her voice.

"Unconscious. You just grazed him." Rick grunted out, tugging Daryl's arm further onto his shoulder.

"What happened to him?" Glenn asked. "Look at him! He's wearing walker ears!" He called out pointing to the man's chest where the ears bounced with each step.

Rick reached over and snapped the necklace off the man's neck and balled it up before stuffing it in his own shirt. "Let's just keep that to ourselves."

"Hey guys? Isn't this Sophia's doll?" T-Dog asked, lifting the doll so everyone could see.

Lauren was out behind the house in the small pond, swimming when she heard the gun shot. She leaped out of the pool of water and grabbed her over shirt and raced towards the front of the house, not caring she was still in her undershorts.

When she turned the corner she saw Andrea sitting on the steps looking like she'd seen a ghost. "Andrea!" She panted out. "What happened?"

Andrea looked upsets and buried her face in her hands before Lauren felt her arm being lightly grasped and turned to see Dale holding her arm. Nodding his head to the side Lauren let herself be lead a few paces over.

"Daryl came out of the woods and Andrea mistook him for a walker. She grazed his head, but he should be alright. She's pretty upset about it." Dale finally looked down and Lauren, gave her a questioning look, and then shook his head. "If I was you, I'd go put some clothes on, just to be safe. Don't forget, there are young men in the area." Dale said with an small smile on his face, turning and starting over to Andrea.

Lauren looked down at what she was wearing and blushed. Her plaid shirt was barely buttoned, becoming wet with water where her bra was in contact with it, and her black undershorts were causing droplets of water to slide down her legs. She quickly glanced around to make sure no one had seen her, and took off back towards the pond to get her Capri's.

Shane looked out the window and watched the young woman run back around the house. Maybe he didn't need Lori and Carl.

This Chapter is indeed shorter then the others, but I'm hoping the next one will be longer. I'm hoping to add some twists to this story pretty soon, so stay tuned. And if anyone wants to know what Lauren looks like, I'm working on a drawing of her right now, so it should be up by this weekend or early next week.

Please R&R
Bye!