Alright, here's the second chapter of FF net's The Walking Duty.
A walker roams through the forest, growling quietly in it's search for flesh. Milky-white eyes scan its surroundings as the wind brings the scent of a warm-blooded meal. Then it hears a whistle, much like someone would call a dog back to its master. The walker turns towards the noise.
KA-THUNK!
An arrow suddenly buries itself into the skull, sending the creature down to the dirty forest ground. Beyond the fallen walker stands a gray tank-top wearing redneck with a crossbow in his grip. He grunts in a small sense of satisfaction while pulling the arrow out of his kill. On the quiver he holds one more crossbow arrow while at his belt is a large combat knife. Behind him, Rick, Glenn and Shane follow the hunter as he'd work to follow the girl's fading tracks.
"The tracks are gone," Rick remarks once the tracks seem to vanish into the undergrowth. Daryl kneels down to the ground, gently brushing aside a few blades of grass, blue eyes scanning ahead at the broken sticks and packed dirt prints.
"They ain't gone. They're faint, but they ain't gone." Daryl comments as he points to some of the disturbed trail.
"How can you tell? I don't see anything?" Rick questions as he follows up behind him.
"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass of that interstate?" The hunter questions while the two continue onward.
Back with the marines, the daylight starts to fade. The sun goes down and visibility decreases. All in all spelling out nothing good for a fight in which you aren't prepared for.
"We must find a secure shelter against the night, before these foul creatures strike from the shadows," Takeo comments as the darkness starts to grow in the forest. Shadows are being cast by the trees as the light fades away. Richtofen's Wonderwaffe helps shed some light for the group, but even the glowing of the 115 bulbs do little against the shadows. The other three men nod and they lead Sophia over towards a house at the edge of the trees.
"I'll take point, watch my back Eddy," Tank whispers with an amused grin on his face as the German mutters out foreign curses. Flashlights are clicked on and the Devil Dog marine scopes out the room. A small hallway greets him with several open passageways into different parts of the house. His combat boots lightly step down upon the wooden floor as he moves room to room. Richtofen's footsteps quietly follow the marines, AK-47 held close to his eye.
"We're clean everyone, let's get to work on setting up camp." Tank orders as soon as they've completed a double-sweep of the building. Once everything is secured, camp is set up. The doors are locked up tightly, some boards pounded onto the doors. Looking around the rooms, everything would be trashed except the living room floor. A small closet is built into the wall on one side, just big enough for little Sophia to sleep in.
"Alright, we'll each rotate every two hours. Nikolai first, Richtofen second, Takeo and then I'll take the morning watch." Tank orders while they'd all wrestle open a can of beans or corn with their knives.
"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick says as he unrolls the pouch of Gerber gear. Hatchet, Machete, kurki, knives all wrapped up in a leather pouch. It's the next day of the search and this time they have more daylight and more of a plan.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea questions with a disapproving look at the melee weapons.
"We've been over that. Rick, Daryl and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane responds firmly.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea comments, as if reminding the officer about the dangers that have been walking among the living. Shane just sighs and looks to her. "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by." He pauses for a moment so the blonde can do the math. "See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."
"Alright people," Daryl calls out to everyone, his crossbow slung over his shoulder. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side." Glenn grins as he picks up the hooked gator pro machete. Everyone else would move to grab a weapon of his or her choice while the hunter comes up with a plan. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."
"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick's voice would command, reminding everyone to not get lost like Sophia. Everyone would nod, assembling their packs to get ready to roll out.
"Keep on those repairs. We have to get this R.V. ready to move," Rick says, motioning to the large rec van with the blown out hose.
"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to," Dale promises with a pat on the truck. "Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back."
Daryl, Rick, Andrea, Carol, Glenn, Carl, Lori, and Shane. That's the marching order as the search group makes their way through the forest. Daryl has his crossbow out and Shane's got a police shotgun in his hands.
After a few moments of travel Daryl crouches down in the bushes, a fist raised in a military sign for halt. He motions the questioning groups eyes forward where a bright blue and yellow tent is erected in the woods.
"Think she could be in there?" Glenn asks with a whispered voice, glancing at the tent.
"Could be a whole bunch of things in there. Only one way to find out," Daryl mutters before he slips up closer to the tent. Crossbow is raised and scanning the whole area in front of him, as if a walker might just pop up right in front of him. Rick and Shane follow close behind him until they'd come up to the edge of the treeline. Dixon motions for the two officers to stay back while he goes forward. The hunter holds his knife in an icepick grip, moving like the whole world is made of tinfoil as he tries to peek into the tent without disturbing the tarp. He throws a shrug of 'I don't know' to the police partners before taking his place at the entrance.
"Carol," Rick motions the mother closer to him. She jogs upwards, with a little less stealth than the Dixon man. "Call out softly, if she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."
"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol softly calls out to the tent. There's no response. "Sophia, it's mommy. We're all hear baby."
Rick gives Daryl a nod and the tent is slowly unzipped. A wall of stench meets them, forcing Rick to take a few steps back with several coughs. Inside Daryl sees a dead man, a snub-nosed revolver in his hand with one bullet missing.
"It ain't her." He announces, coming back out of the tent with the pistol in his back pocket. "Just some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"
Everyone in the group looks up as the sound of ringing church bells echos through the forest.
And there we are, chapter two is finally finished. I know it's not as good as I'd want it, and I wanted to type up some more for this chapter, but I got a little lazy of typing and just decided to post what I've got. Sorry everyone.
On another note: I seriously can't wait for the return of TWD. At the same time, I can't help but wonder what I can do to change the events of "Too Far Gone" (The mid-season break-point of season 4.) Do I have them keep the tank? (Dempsey would love that) Do I let them push back the enemy? It's all up in the air right now. Just leave me a review and watch the walking dead with me Feb 9th.