"Hope is not about proving anything. It's about choosing to believe this one thing,

that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us."

― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

"Morning, guys. Let's get going. We've got a lot of ground to cover," Rick said. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today."

They had all gathered around the car again, setting the map on top of it. Daryl, T-Dog, Andrea, Shane and Rick were going to look for them today.

"If they made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, they might have gone further east than we've been so far," Rick said.

"I'd like to help," Jimmy spoke up, apparently he was dating Beth, Hershel's youngest daughter. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, he said I should ask you."

"All right then, thanks."

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia or Cecilia to me," Shane exclaimed.

"I found Cecilia's earring!" Daryl exclaimed angrily, he had already explained that to them.

"It could belong to anyone, how do you even know it's hers?" Shane asked. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes them, right?" Andrea asked him.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high," Daryl told the others. "And I could tell two people were there."

"It's a good lead," Andrea said.

"Maybe we'll pick up their trail again." Rick said.

"No maybe about it," Daryl told him. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid, if they are up there, I'll spot them."

"Good idea," T-Dog told him. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too."

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked incredulously.

"You never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra," Dale said, making Jim chuckle.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl exclaimed.

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?"

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" Daryl shot back. Touché.

Then Jim tried to grab the rifle that was on the car, in front of Rick, who stopped the boy from taking it.

"Hey, hey! Ever fire one before?"

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one," Jimmy said.

"Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees," Daryl said sarcastically, starting to walk into the woods.

"Why don't you come train tomorrow?" Shane told Jimmy. "If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."

"For now he can come with us," Andrea said.
"He's yours to babysit then," Shane told her.

Each group had to nail a coloured cloth into some of the trees as they passed by, just to let others know someone had already checked that part and in case the girls were around, maybe they would take the hint and know that their group was still looking for them.

Rick and Shane went together and their coloured cloths were red, Andrea's and T-Dog's were light blue.

As they were there, something unusual happened. Shane and Rick heard a noise. Rick went ahead to check, Shane had his rifle ready, in case of something, but the unusual thing was that he was pointing it at Rick. Dale saw the whole thing, he knew Shane wasn't to be trusted, especially after what happened to Otis.

Something in his story just didn't fit. The man died trying to cover for him and Shane returns with his gun? That doesn't really makes much sense.

A bit far from there, Daryl was going on a horse, killing a couple of squirrels on the way. He was close to another part of the creek when he saw something. He got down and walked there, as he got closer, he realized it was a doll, Sophia's doll.

He could feel his heart beating faster as he took the doll in his hands, feeling encouraged to keep with the search.

"Sophia! Sophia!" he shouted. "Cecilia!"

No luck. He decided to get on the horse again and go higher so he could see from up there. Everything was quiet and calmed, nothing could go wrong.

Then the horse got all nervous and jumpy, Daryl tried to calm it down but it made no difference. The horse stood only on his two back legs, making Daryl flying off of him.

Unfortunately for Daryl he fell right next to the edge of a cliff, he painfully rolled down until he ended up back in the creek.

As soon as he stopped rolling, he felt a piercing pain in his left side. An arrow had gone through him, somehow, during the fall, the water around him was turning all red.

"Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed as he reached for his side.

Daryl crawled to the riverside and ripped the sleeves of his shirt, wrapping them tightly enough around his torso to slow down the bleeding.

It was a long way back to the top but Daryl had to get back up there. It would be faster that way. But before climbing up, he looked in the water for his crossbow, with the help of a stick he found it and soon as he got it back he started to climb.

It wasn't easy and he was in a lot of pain but Daryl kept going up, supporting himself with the stick he used to find his crossbow.

Almost at the top, Daryl grabbed a branch, he slipped and the branch snapped, and down he went... again.

But this time it was worse, he was already in so much pain because of the first fall, now everything hurt twice as bad. He even hit his head, almost making him go unconscious. Weakly he opened his eyes and saw his brother, crouching over him.

Daryl's POV

"Why don't you pull that arrow out, dummy?" I heard my brother's voice saying to me. I could see his blurry face right above mine. "You could bind your wound better."
"Merle," I muttered, feeling relief. He grinned.
"What's going on here? You taking a siesta or something?"

"A shitty day, bro," I told him.
"Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?"

"Screw you!"
"You're the one screwed from the looks of it," he told me, laughing slightly at me. "All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you! Lying in the dirt like a used rubber. You're gonna die out here, brother, and for what?"

"Two girls," I told him. "They lost two girls."
"So you got a thing for little girls now?" Merle asked me and all I wanted was to punch him in the face but I could barely talk, much less move.

"Shut up."
"Cause I noticed you ain't out looking for old Merle no more."
"Tried like hell to find you, bro," I told him, remembering when I went back to Atlanta and I just found his fucking hand lying on the ground.
"Like hell you did," he exclaimed sarcastically.

Merle kept telling me I abandoned him but I didn't, I went after him. I looked for him but he was the one who left, as usual.

"You his bitch now?" he asked me.

"I ain't nobody's bitch."
"You're a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers and democrats. You're nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don't you?" he said to me with a smirk. "I got a little news for you, son. One day they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dogshit, no one cares about you. No one! Not Rick, not these two little girls."

I tried to tell him Cecilia did care about me, Rick cared about me but I was starting to get very drowsy again. I felt my eyes getting really heavy, they were closing.
"Hey!" Merle exclaimed. He put an arm on my chest and shook me. "They ain't your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you'd got back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me." I tried to hear him but I was drowsy, I could barely keep my eyes open. "Now you listen to me. Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Nobody ever will. Not Rick, not this Cecilia girl, so you better stop looking for her, she won't give a damn."

How did he knew? Did I mention her name? Did I tell her she was one of the girls missing? Did I? I was sure I didn't but in my state maybe I did and I didn't remember.
"Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in." he stood up, I tried to move but I couldn't. He grabbed my feet and tugged at them but still I could barely keep conscious. "Let's go!"
I felt him tugging harder and I heard moans, that's when I finally reacted. Merle vanished immediately and I saw a walker trying to eat my feet, I kicked him right in the face, getting him away from me.

I tried to grab my crossbow but I couldn't reach it. The walker jumped on top of me and I felt how the adrenaline kicked in. I punched him several times and threw him off of me.

I stood up quickly and grabbed a stick. I pushed him to the ground, got on top of it and hit his face with the stick repeatedly and then I stabbed it with it.

I had to hurry because another walker was approaching. I had no choice but to take the arrow out of my body, it hurt like a bitch but I was lucky I was more scared than in pain, so I focused on staying alive not on the pain.

I grabbed the crossbow, put the arrow in place and pointed at the walker that was just a foot away from me now. I shoot and the walker landed on the ground next to me.

I let my head fall to the ground and I panted heavily. I closed my eyes for a second and I could swear I went unconscious for some seconds, maybe even a few minutes but nothing happened to me while I was out.

I sat up, took off my shirt, leaving me in just my under shirt, and wrapped it around my torso as well.

"Son of a bitch was right," I muttered as something inside of me just snapped. I wasn't feeling like myself anymore.

I got the squirrel I shot earlier and cut it open, I ate its raw guts to regain some of my strength. I also tied the doll on my jeans, I couldn't lose one of the few leads I had gotten from those girls. Then I took a shoe lace, cut the walkers' ears, put the ears in the shoe lace, made a knot and put it over my neck.

I turned around and that's when I saw something I really didn't expect. On the other side of the creek was a blonde girl with a shocked expression on her face. She looked frail and like she was going to faint at any moment.

"Daryl?" I heard her say.

She walked into the water, shortening the distance between us. I just shook my head at her. This just couldn't be her, I was just having hallucinations again, that's it.

"Go away," I told her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"I need to get back, I need to take care of my wound, get more arrows, eat something," I told her. "So I can find you for real."

"What are you talking about?"

"I should look so stupid, talking to no one. First Merle and now you, I must have hit my head harder than I thought." I looked at every direction but not at her, this wasn't real.

"What the hell are you wearing?" she asked me as she stared at the ears hanging from my neck.

"None of your business," I spat. "Now, excuse me but I need to get back."

"Daryl, where is my mum? Is she okay?"

I looked at her right into her light blue eyes then, and one part of me wanted to believe she was actually standing right in front of me but I couldn't fool myself again. She looked so real but Merle did as well, besides, if she were really here, where was Sophia? That was an important clue to tell this Cecilia wasn't the real Cecilia.

"Just go away, vanish or something," I exclaimed angrily now. "I can't lose more time. You are not really here, you are not. Maybe if I say it out loud I won't see you anymore."

"Are you alright?"

"I just saw and talked to Merle a few minutes ago and now I'm talking to you, I'm probably losing my mind, does that sound alright to you?" I spat.

I started to walk away from her and get my stuff, I looked behind me to see if she was gone but Cecilia was still there. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is but I just want to see my mum, and maybe drink some water."

You know how people move their hands in the air to disperse the fog or in movies to make a ghost go away? Well, I was going to try that, maybe it could work. I raised my hand and I was expecting it to go right through Cecilia's body but it didn't, it just bumped into it. The girl looked weirdly at me, wondering what the hell I was doing.

My heart skipped a bit, could it really be her? I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed it without hesitation. She looked down at my hand with her eyebrows raised but said nothing. I stared in disbelief at her, I could feel her. I then raised my hand a little bit and rested it against her cheek, rubbing it with my thumb. I could still feel her, she hadn't vanished yet. I could even feel her hot breath on my hand, making everything eveb more real.

"Cici," I exclaimed and before I knew it, I wrapped my arms around her. She was too shocked she didn't hug me back at first, but slowly and a bit awkwardly, she wrapped her hands around my waist, just under my injury, and at that moment I was completely sure it was really her. I had found Cecilia and now she was safe and sound.

This time I was more determined to get to the top, not only because of me but also because of Cecilia. We started to climb just after I gave her some of my water.

I could tell she was really weak, and she looked really bad. She had dark bags under her eyes, which were a bit puffy and red, her hair was a complete mess, she had dirt all over her body and clothes, and she looked like she had lost ten pounds since the last time I saw her.

While we climbed, I had to help her up a few times, even when the pain was almost not bearable when I had to pull her up. I could see how this was exhausting for her, she breathed hard the whole time and at some points she had to take breaks because she said she had blacked out, which meant I had to hurry, what if she faints from the top? She could hurt herself very bad and I was in no condition to carry her, she could also die from the fall. So I made her go ahead of me, if she lost consciousness at least I would be behind her to catch her or something.

"Please, don't feed the birds," I heard when we were almost at the top. The two of us had stopped to take a needed break. I turned to look up and Merle was there. "What's the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you? Throw away that purse and climb."
"I liked it better when you was missing," I told him.
"What?" Cecilia asked me, I just shook my head at her.
"Come on, don't be like that, just because you found her you are now treating me like shit, I'm on your side."
"Yeah? Since when?" I asked him.

"Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass," he said to me.
"You never took care of me. You talk a big game but you was never there," I told him. "Hell, you ain't here now. Guess some things never change."
"Well, I'll tell you what, I'm as real as your chupacabra."
"I know what I saw!" I exclaimed, getting tired of everyone not believing me.
"And I'm sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right?"

"You'd best shut the hell up!" I shouted, trying to climb to the top so I could help Cecilia once I was there.
"Or what? You're gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me? Well, come on and do it then, if you think you're man enough. Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son." Merle taunted me. "You know what? If I were you I'd take a pause for the cause, brother. 'Cause I just don't think you're gonna make it to the top. You are gonna fail, you won't save this girl. You can't save her or even yourself."
That pushed me, it made me so angry when he said I couldn't do something, especially something as important as to save Cecilia, so, with a final push, I got to the very top. But I couldn't rest, I had to help her. I offered her my hand, which she took. I pulled her up as agonizing pain shot through me, but I wouldn't give up. When she was finally right next to me, safe, I took a deep breath and let myself collapse to the ground, I felt like I was going to faint but she shook my body, not letting me slip.
"Come on!" she told me as she stuck out her hand to me, I took it and somehow she pulled me up. "We need to get back, you keep losing blood."

Cecilia tried to get me to put an arm around her shoulders so she could support me as I took her to the farm but she was way too weak and I was too heavy for her. I tried to refuse but she insisted. I put my arm around her but tried not to put most of my weight on her, I knew she wouldn't be able to stand my weight, not in the conditions she was.

Together we made our way back to the farm, stumbling, tripping and even falling once or twice. But we made it. I could see the farm house in the distance as we walked out of the woods. I turned to look at her and saw she had a smile on her lips.

I removed my arm from around her shoulders, she gave me a questioning look but I just kept walking. We were close to the farm now, if I needed help someone else could help me, Rick or Shane, or even Glenn. She needed her strength.

I saw in front of me that four figures were running towards us, as they got closer I could tell it was Shane, Rick, T-Dog and Glenn and I also noticed they had weapons aimed at us. Cecilia was right behind me so at first they probably couldn't see her properly.

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked as they stopped a few feet away from us.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head," I exclaimed, looking at Rick who was pointing his gun at me. "You gonna pull the trigger or what?"

Rick lowered his gun and I could see the relief in their eyes. It was then when Cecilia stepped to the side, letting the group see her well. They all had their mouths opened in shock, Glenn looked like he was going to cry.

"Cici?" he asked but I couldn't hear him well because at that moment I felt a piercing pain in the side of my head and then I fell to the ground.

Cecilia's POV

Daryl was right beside me when he just fell. Rick started screaming and ran to him, followed by me. He had just been shot.

I knelt next to him, put my hand on his chest and started to shake his body as I started to cry. "Daryl! Daryl!"

"I was kidding," he muttered. I sighed in relief as Rick and Shane pulled him up, put his hands around themselves to carry him to the house.
Glenn wrapped his arms around me but let go quickly. We wanted to follow the guys and see how Daryl was.

"Oh my God!" Andrea exclaimed as she ran towards us. "Oh my God, is he dead?"

"Unconscious," Rick told her. "You just grazed him."
"But look at him, what the hell happened?" Glenn asked, looking from Daryl to me, and that's when Andrea finally noticed me. "He's wearing ears!"
"Let's keep that to ourselves," Rick said and pulled the shoelace around his neck and threw it to the ground.
"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" T-Dog asked, picking up her doll. I felt my eyes watering when I saw it.

"What happened?" I could hear my mum's voice asked when she saw Daryl, she hadn't seen me. I was in the back of the group.

"Mum?" I spoke, making everyone looking at me. Lori, Dale, Teresa, Oliver and Sean, all gasped as soon as they saw me.

My mother's eyes filled with tears, she ran towards me and embraced me tightly. Rick and Shane continued to take Daryl into the house as more people approached me and asked me lots of things, I couldn't answer any of the question because when I tried to, another person asked something else. I started getting dizzy, so I just put my hands over my head as I closed my eyes.

"Guys, leave her alone!" Lori said. "Let's take her inside."

Sean approached me and didn't tell me anything, he just lifted me up and carried me inside while Lori and my mother hurried to get me some water and some food, but not much in case it could make my stomach upset.

Due to the fact people wanted to make sure I was okay and also for what happened to Daryl, people still hadn't asked about Sophia, I was dreading it. What was I supposed to tell them? That I lost her, that I left her all alone there?

"Eat slowly," Lori told me, setting a food with some food in front of me.

It was hard to eat slowly as Lori suggested me. I had stopped feeling hungry about a day ago but I felt consumed by hunger as soon as I saw the food and I tasted some of it. I just wanted to throw everything inside my mouth and if possible, eat the entire kitchen.

When I finished I was feeling like I hadn't eaten anything at all, I understood why they didn't want to give me more food right away but I still wanted some more. Instead I drank two glasses of glasses. Then Rick walked in.

"How is Daryl?" I asked him, speaking for the first time since I walked inside the house.

"He'll be alright," he told me, sitting right next to me. "How are you?"

"I'll be okay," I said nodding.

"I hate to be the one to ask you this but where is Sophia? Is she...?"

"I don't know," I muttered, feeling my eyes watering. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "We just spent the first night together. I woke up and... and she was gone."

"What do you mean?" my mother exclaimed.

"She was just gone, I tried to look for her but..." My voice broke, as the first tear fell down my face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Rick told me. But my mother didn't, which made me think that it was. She just stormed out of the house, followed by Lori.

"I had to keep her safe," I told him. "I had to and I couldn't."

"Why don't we take her upstairs?" a brunette young woman around my age said before Rick could say something to me. "She needs a bath, it will help her calm down."

Rick helped me go upstairs to this woman's bathroom, she introduced herself as Maggie. Rick left and told us that if we needed him, we should just call him.

I sat on the toilet as tears fell down my face. Maggie knelt in front of me and asked me if I needed help, I slowly nodded.

It was really embarrassing to be half naked in front of a stranger. She helped me take off my shirt and jeans but left my underwear on, knowing that would be too much for me. She helped me inside the shower and she stayed to help me wash my body and hair. The water that was going down the drain kept being brown, I don't know how many times Maggie and I scrubbed my body until the water was clean but at the end my skin was all red and irritated but it felt good to finally be clean.

Once I was all clean, Maggie slid the curtains to not see when I took off my underwear. Then without looking she handed me a towel, I wrapped it around my body quickly and then Maggie helped me out out of the shower and led me into her room.

"Give me a second," she told me. "I think my clothes will be too loose on you, I will grab something from my sister."

Before I could tell her that was not necessary she left the room. I stood there in her room awkwardly, until she came back with a pair of sweatpants and a comfortable T-shirt. I smiled at her and thanked her. She left the room for five minutes to give me privacy when I dressed.

"You can sleep here," she told me once she walked back inside. "You need to rest."

"Can you take me to Daryl?" I asked her. "I need to know how he is."

"Okay."

Maggie grabbed my arm to steady me as we walked downstairs. She then led me to a room, she opened the room and told me to go inside, she also told me to call her if I need anything I thanked her and then she left.

Yay! Daryl found Cecilia! What do you think about that part? And what do you think that half of this chapter was in Daryl's POV? Should I do more?
Who watched the episode of this week? I don't mean to sound heartless but I expected more deaths, I was sure Jesse and Sam were going to die, speaking of Sam, he's a bloody idiot, it will be a miracle if he doesn't die in the next episode.