CHEROKEE ROSE PART 2

"How long as this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

"This'll be day three," Rick answered while stepping aside to let Maggie through.

"Country survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." She laid a large map on the car's hood where everyone hovered, discussing their next plan of action.

"This is perfect." Rick nodded and quickly scanned over the map, already marking down the places they've searched or haven't been to yet. "We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you. Not today," Hershel insisted to him. "You gave three units of blood. You would be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out."

"Then I guess it's just you and I," Shane said and gestured between him and Daryl.

Daryl did his best to hide his reluctance. "Fine with me," he said with a sigh. If he were given the choice, he would've preferred to be with Natasha rather than Shane. She was smart when working out in the woods and also knew how to track. It would've instilled more confidence in him to have another person like her out there, but it didn't matter anymore since she was no longer with them. "We'll head back to the creek and split up from there. See if we can cover more ground."

Shane nodded and looked up at Hershel as he spoke. "That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them."

Hershel bit down on his lips and looked displeased to hear this. "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"With all due respect, we get a crowd of those things wandering in here…" Shane began but quickly stopped when Rick gave him a concerned look.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property, and we will respect that," Rick said and reached for his holster. He pulled his gun out and set it on the top of the hood. Reluctantly, Shane sighed and did the same with his own. "First thing first: Set camp, find Sophia."

Shane looked comfortable and hesitated to speak up. "I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

Rick lowered his head. He didn't want to put that option on the table, but he could see Shane's point. They all had to be realistic and look at the situation from all point of views…even the uncomfortable ones. "You do what has to be done."

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"The truth," Andrea said quite bluntly.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience." Shane met Hershel's displeased gaze, and it didn't look like he would budge.

Sensing the growing aggravation between the two, Rick quickly spoke up. "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." He watched as Hershel thought it over silently for a bit before giving a small nod of approval. Yet, the irked look on his face remained. "Thank you."

As the group began to separate, Maggie spoke up. "That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?"

Andrea answered her on her way by. "Just what you've seen."

Maggie nodded and looked at her father. "We're running short already. I should make a run into town."

"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked.

"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before." Maggie said, gesturing vaguely towards the direction.

Rick nodded and walked over to her. "See our man there in the baseball cap? That's Glenn," he said, pointing to Glenn setting tents up by the campsite. Rick's face then suddenly turned glum. "If things didn't turn out the way they did back at the school, I would've suggested Natasha. But Glenn is second best. He's our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious," Rick suggested, and Maggie nodded in agreement.

Glenn held a pair of binoculars up to his eyes and watched Maggie through them as she brought two horses up the road. Ones they both were going to use to ride into town. He had never ridden a horse before a day in his life. What really made him nervous was that he had to learn to ride…with Maggie.

"Hello, farmers daughter," Glenn said when Lori's face suddenly shifted into view. Glenn dropped his binoculars and stumbled back out of fright.

Lori lowered her head and smiled a little. "Hi. Here's your list," she said and handed him a piece of folded-up paper, but soon brought out another separate slip. "And, um, there's one other item. I wrote it down separately. It's personal. If we could be real discreet about that, okay?" Lori said with weary eyes.

Glenn furrowed his brows and looked down at the item. "Sure." He nodded hesitantly.

"Thank you," Lori said and began to walk away.

Glenn quickly followed after her. "Uh, what is it?"

"Kind of missing the point of the whole discreet thing, Glenn. I was going to …uh, ask Natasha to find me one when she came back with Shane, but…you know." Lori dropped her head and bit down on her lips. She really wish Natasha was still around so she could have someone to talk about her…situation with. Someone who already knew what was going on with her and Shane.

"Oh, right. Um... I just need to know where to find it," he asked in a small voice.

"Try the feminine hygiene section," Lori suggested before walking off.

It's been a couple hours since Glenn and Maggie left, but each second Lori had to wait settled more and more anxiety in her heart. She had helped with a walker trapped inside one of the wells, but the moment she sat down again, the tension returned. Luckily, her patience paid off when she was alerted to the sound of hoofs shuffling against gravel. Lori headed outside and saw Maggie and Glenn returning. She walked down the steps and passed Maggie on the way, heading straight to Glenn.

"Find it?" she asked him eagerly.

Looking like he was in a daze, Glenn reached into his pack and pulled out a concealed white bag. He handed it to Lori without a word and walked off. Once it was in her hands, Lori looked around before quickly hiding it in the back of her pants.

Lori made sure everyone had settled in for the night before heading outside. She crept past the RV and walked silently into the open pasture where she knew no one would see her. She first stabbed her knife into a log before pulling out her concealed pregnancy test. Once she got everything out of the bag, she began to undo her pants, squatted down over the tester, and waited in the darkness. She held her breath the entire time and tried to keep her pulse under control. It wasn't working though, and she could only hear her heart thumping against her eardrums. After waiting a couple minutes, Lori pulled the pregnancy test up and looked at the results. At that moment, she felt her heart stop altogether when she saw that it was positive. Lori couldn't keep herself together anymore and bit down on her lips while crying, holding back muffled sobs behind her sealed lips.

Lori stayed that way for a little bit before sucking in a deep breath and trying to relax. She pulled herself and her pants back up and looked back to the farmhouse, seeing lights glowing from the windows that drew her near. She longed for its warmth, but the stiff coldness in her heart kept her in place.

"Lori?" a deep raspy voice spoke up from behind.

Lori nearly jumped out of her skin and backed away from the petite dark figure lurking behind her. She stared intensely at the person for a bit before recognizing several things. First was the small stature, then the oversized coat, and the wild, curly hair that went everywhere. It didn't take Lori long to realize who it was finally.

"Natasha?"

Natasha only took a couple of weak steps toward her when her body suddenly gave out and collapsed right into Lori. It was so sudden that both the girl went down.

"Rick? Rick! Guys!" Lori screamed out across the field. "Natasha? Natasha, can you hear me?" she laid the girl on the floor and pulled back her curly hair to check out her face. She couldn't make out much of anything in the dark, but the only thing she knew was that she wasn't bitten. There were no bites anywhere on her body. Best case scenario, she was just exhausted and overheated.

Attracted to the sound of his distressed wife, Rick and the rest of the survivors flooded out of the farmhouse and RV. They ran through the pasture with Rick sprinting faster than everyone, pulling ahead and stopping in front of his Lori.

"She's alive! Rick, she's alive!" Lori said, nearly in tears as she held Natasha close to her. "Natasha's alive!"

Shane came to a sudden halt and his face contorted from panic to fear. "What…?" He walked slowly, almost like he was in a trance, past everyone and stood in front of Lori. It took him a good long time to convince himself that it was actually her, but as flashlights shined over her body…he sadly had to accept that it was real.

Natasha had returned.

"Is she bit?" Glenn said nervously.

Lori eagerly shook her head. "No. I-I don't see anything."

Rick gestured for everyone to get back. "We'll worry about that in a moment. Daryl, help me get her inside the house! Glenn, get Hershel!" he ordered.

Shane was nearly shoved to the side by Daryl as the man rushed up to Natasha. He crouched down beside her and picked her unconscious body up by himself. Everyone made way for him but followed close behind as he carried her out of the pasture, leaving Shane where he stood. Completely alone and in the dark.