Fear the Dead, Fight the Living
Phoebe POV...
The sun shined through the window the next morning and I rubbed my face then feel Daryl wrap his arm around my waist pulling me to him and kissed my neck, "Good morning" I giggled and his hand trailed up my side to my breast
"It is, but I know how we can make it better" He says into my ear squeezing my breast then moved his hand down to the front of my pants trying to undo my button but I grabbed his hand and faced him
"Slow down mister, you need to fully heal first." I tell him, he sighed and pouted
"Fine, have it your way." He says and kissed me then I got up and he started to
"Whoa what are you doing?" I asked him moving over to him
"I ain't staying in this house any longer, I'm gonna go rest in my tent."
"Hershel said you can stay in here while you heal." I point out
"Nah, I'll be fine" He says as he groaned getting up, I grabbed the clothes I got for him and helped him get dressed then walked him outside to his tent.
"Hey want a peach or some jerky?" I asked Daryl standing at the entrance to his tent
"You know what I want." He says and I look around
"Stop it" I said with a smirk and walked away, "Hey Glenn"
"Hey Phoebe" He greeted and I grabbed a peach for me and some jerky for Daryl then looked at him
"You ok?"
"Yeah, yeah w-why wouldn't I be ok?" He asked nervously
"Ok then" I tell him and walked back to Daryl's tent giving him the jerky and a kiss then met up with Rick and Shane
"The creek flows south, past that farmhouse Phoebe and Daryl found. Maybe Sophia dropped the doll there, the current brought it downstream." Rick pointed out as we looked at the map
"So what, you think she took this road here and then she went north?" I asked him
"Yeah. What's up that way?" Rick asked Jimmy
"A housing development. It went in maybe 10 years ago."
"Take a run up there after gun practice. I'll hold down the fort here, but take backup. After what went down with Daryl, I don't want anyone going out alone. We stay in pairs." Rick says to Shane
"I'll take suggestions on a partner."
"See how they do on the range, then take your pick." Rick says as Glenn walked over with the peaches, "Thanks."
Glenn walked over giving one to Jimmy and I saw him look at Rick and Shane, "My binoculars." Shane says to him and he put the basket down
"Yeah yeah. Okay, bye." He walked away and I shrugged then Patricia and Beth walked over
"We'd like to join you for gun training today." Beth says to Rick
"Hershel's been very clear. I can't involve any of you in what we do without his okay."
"He doesn't like it, but he consented." She adds
"Otis was the only one who knew guns. Now that he's gone, we gotta learn to protect ourselves. Her father saw the sense in that." Patricia pointed out
"No offense, but I'll ask Hershel myself."
I headed to my tent and grabbed my bag after getting my gun from Dale then walked over to Daryl's, "Hey I'm heading out"
"Come here" he says and I walked over kneeling down next to his cot, "Be safe"
"Always am" I tell him and he pulled me into a passionate kiss, "You make it very hard to leave when you do that."
"I know"
I gave him a quick peck and got up, "Rest, I'll be back" I turned to walk out and felt him slap my butt, "Hey now" I smiled pointing my finger at him and he raised his hands and smiled.
Me, Rick and Shane watched as the others started to shoot at the targets Shane set up and smiled seeing they were doing pretty good
"Hey, come on, man. Don't give me that gangsta shit." I hear T-Dog say to Jimmy and I chuckled then walked to my mom
"You okay?" I asked her and she looked at me
"I don't know how I feel about this"
"I know, be honest I was unsure of guns too when I started at the academy but their effective, especially against walkers" I tell her and she raised her gun up, "Trick is to breath, find your target, take a deep breath and as you exhale squeeze the trigger" I instructed and she took a moment then fired hitting a bottle, "Nice!" I said with a smile and she smiled back
"Thanks Phoebe"
"You're welcome, just don't point that at anyone other then a walker and make sure you have the safety on when you aren't using it." I mention and she nodded, "When did I become the one to teach you things?" I asked and she looked at me
"When you became a cop" She replied and I nodded
"You gonna stay here tonight?" Daryl asked me as I changed his bandage
"I was thinking of staying at my place, early day tomorrow and my boyfriend can't keep his hands off me" I smiled and he grabbed my hand facing me
"You know I don't just want you for that, I want who you are as a person, the other stuff is just a bonus"
I smiled at him and gave him a kiss, "I know, now turn back around I'm not done" I said and he kissed my cheek then faced forward again, "I feel like my mom's giving up hope"
"What?"
"I see it every time we come back with nothing, I see it in her eyes that...she's beginning to think we aren't gonna find Sophia." I tell him finishing up and he faced me again
"Hey," He says putting his hands on my face, "We'll find her, and everything will be okay"
"How did I find someone like you?" I asked putting my hand on his cheek
"Reverse that question, how did I find someone like you?"
"Just fate I guess" I tell him and he kissed me then laid us down on his cot deepening the kiss, "We can't, you could hurt yourself more" I tell him but he kissed my neck and lightly bit down on it, I bit my lip fighting back a moan
"I'm fine" He tells me and moved his mouth down to my collar bone kissing it while pushing my shirt up over my head getting rid of it, I moved my hands to his and unbuttoned the ones he had done
"Was this payback for me keeping my two buttons undone?"
"Had to show you what you could have had this morning." He told me and I took his shirt off throwing it as well then he took off my pants
"Well I think that if we are gonna continue, you shouldn't be doing the work" I said and carefully moved him so that I was on top and undid his pants sliding them down then kissed and bit my way up his chest hearing him groan putting his fingers in my hair then I moved back down reaching his member kissing above it
"What are you..." He started to ask but I wrapped my mouth around it cutting him off, "Oh fuck Pheebs" He groaned tightening his hands in my hair as I moved my head up and down, "Oh" He quietly groaned and it was hot. I stopped and kissed my way back up again then straddled his lap lowering myself onto him and began moving my hips. He gripped them hard enough to leave a mark but it didn't bother me, he shifted himself and pounded into me as well.
"Mmm" I moaned biting my lip as he moved his hands to my breasts and squeezed them before pulling me down and putting one of them in his mouth, "Oh god" I quietly moaned and he moved his mouth to the other, "Oh..Daryl"
"Phoebe, my Phoebe" He groaned and it sent me over the edge and I couldn't help biting into his shoulder as I moaned hitting my peak, he pushed into me a few more times and grunted as he finished as well.
I moved off him and covered us with his blanket then looked at him, "Are you okay?" I asked him trying to catch my breath
"I'm good, I promise" He says putting his hand on my face and I kissed him, "As long as I have you I always will be."
"You'll always have me, no matter what" I reassured him and he kissed my forehead then we both relaxed and fell asleep
The next morning after we unsuccessfully tried to get dressed because he kept trying to undress me again we sat around our camp site while my mom cooked breakfast. I sat on the ground next to his chair and ate my eggs while he played with my hair with his one hand.
"Um, guys." Glenn says and we all look at him, "So... The barn is full of walkers."
"You cannot tell me you're all right with this." Shane says to Rick walking back over to us as we stood next to the barn
"No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land."
"This is our lives!" Shane yells
"Lower your voice." Glenn tells him
"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea pointed out
"It ain't right. Not remotely." T-Dog add
"Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about fort Benning for a long time." Shane said
"We can't go." Rick tells him
"Why, Rick? Why?"
"Because my daughter is still out there." My mom says to him and I put my arm around her shoulder
"Okay. Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."
"We're not leaving Sophia behind." I tell him
"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl argued
"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane tells him
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl yelled at him and I grabbed his arm and he looked at me
"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours."
"Shane, stop." I warned him
"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Shane says to him and Daryl broke out of my hand and went to go for him but Rick held him back and they all shouted, I moved in front on Daryl putting my hand on his chest and he looked at me
"Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out." Rick says to Shane
"What are you gonna figure out?!"
"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick said
"Hershel sees those things in there as people... Sick people... His wife, his stepson." Dale informed us and we looked at him
"You knew?" Rick asked him
"Yesterday I talked to Hershel."
"And you waited the night?" Shane asked
"I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."
"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no." Shane shouted and the doors on the barn started to rattle as the walkers pushed on it, I moved my mom back as Daryl stood in front of us.
Daryl POV...
I carried the saddle into the barn trying to ignore the pain shooting up my side and I lifted it into the holder then leaned on it, Phoebe didn't know I was doing this otherwise she would stop me.
"You can't." I hear Carol tell me as she walked into the stables
"I'm fine." I walked over and grabbed a bit
" Hershel said you need to heal."
"Yeah, I don't care." I said
"Well, I do. Rick and Phoebe are going out later to follow the trail."
"Yeah well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing." I tell her putting the bit around the horse
"No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse. We don't know if we're gonna find her, Daryl." She says and I looked at her, "We don't. I don't."
"What?"
"Can't lose you too, neither can Phoebe" She said and I grabbed put my hands on the saddle then picked it up and threw it but a pain shot in my side and I bent over groaning, "Are you all right?" She asked rushing over but I shoved her off
"Just leave me be. Stupid bitch." I said walking out of the stables, I shouldn't have said that to her, she is right, I can't do that to Phoebe.
Phoebe POV...
I sat in my tent looking at Sophia's doll, I really want to find her I do, I remembered the day my mom had her, I was 13.
"Phoebe, this is your sister, Sophia." My mom told me as I walked over to her bed and looked down at my baby sister, "Do you want to hold her?" She asked and I nodded my head
She placed my little sister in my arms and I smiled down at her, "Hi Sophia, I'm your big sister and I will always protect you, no matter what. I love you"
I sniffled wiping away the tears that came out of my eyes, if I can't find her then I will have failed her, and I don't think I can live with that.
"You see it?" Daryl asked my mom as we walked through a part of the property by a pond and see a few Cherokee roses
"See what?"
"I'll find her." He says to her, "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened this morning" He told her
"You wanted to look for her. Why? This whole time I've wanted to ask you." My mom says to him
"'Cause I think she's still out there. Truth is, what else I got to do?" He asked and wrapped his arm around me, I then looked at my mom who walked over to the flower
"We'll find her. We will. I see it." She says and I moved from Daryl and hugged her
"We will"
"We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." I hear Andrea say as we joined up with the others at the house
"Yeah you were. What the hell?" Daryl asked her
"Rick told us he was going out." My mom says
"Damn it. Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail." Daryl says and looked out to the field, "Oh, here we go." We see Shane walking over with the bag of guns, "What's all this?"
"You with me, man?"
"Yeah." Daryl replied taking the rifle
"Time to grow up." Shane says handing me mine, "You already got yours?" He asked Andrea
"Yeah. Where's Dale?" She asked him
"He's on his way."
"Thought we couldn't carry." T-Dog says to him as Shane handed him a gun
"We can and we have to. Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't. How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" He asked Glenn holding up a gun, Glenn hesitated looking at Maggie hen grabbed it, "That's it. Can you shoot?" He asked her
"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."
"We have to stay, Shane." Carl tells him
"What is this?" Lori asked walking over
"We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He... Well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" He asked Carl kneeling in front of him, "Huh? Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."
Lori pushed Carl behind her and looked at Shane, "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."
"Oh shit." I hear T-Dog say and we looked out at the field seeing Rick, Hershel and Jimmy walking with a couple walkers and Shane took off running with us following
"What is that? What is that? What the hell are you doing?"
"Shane, just back off." Rick told him
"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked him
"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" Shane asked Hershel
"I see who I'm holding onto."
"No, man, you don't." Shane says
"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick tells him
"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us. Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He asked shooting the walker
"No! Stop it!" Rick begged
"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" He shoots it again, "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" He asked shooting it again
"Shane, enough." Rick said to him
"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." He walked over to the walker and shot it in the head, "Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone!" He yells and I put my hand on my mom's shoulder, "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now." He tells us and ran over to the barn and started breaking the locks
"Take the snare pole. Hershel, take the snare pole. Hershel, listen to me, man, please. Take it now. Hershel! Take it!" Rick yells to him, "No, Shane. Do not do this, brother. Wait! Don't do it!"
"Come on. Come on, we're out here." Shane yells at the walkers in the barn and I push my mom back
"Stay behind me" I tell her and looked at Daryl
"This is not the way! Please!" Rick pleaded
Shane stands in front and aimed his gun up as the walkers came out and started shooting them followed by Andrea and T-Dog, "Stay here" I tell my mom and moved forward shooting them as well then Daryl moved up next to me and started shooting followed by Glenn. We get them all killed and I put my gun down and look at Daryl, then suddenly we hear another growl and the others raised their guns up and my heart stopped when I saw the walker, it was Sophia.
"Sophia? Sophia!" My mom cried but Daryl grabbed her as she ran forward, "Oh Sophia" She cried and I swallowed the lump in my throat trying not to fall over as Sophia looked at us, I see Rick move forward but I stopped him, I gave him a nod and walked forward then slowly raised my gun hearing my mom cry as Sophia moved towards us.
I will always protect you, no matter what. I love you, I remembered then I pulled the trigger, killing my sister.
I stood there listening to my mom cry looking at my sister's body, "Don't lok, Don't look" I hear Daryl tell her but she ran away. I put my gun down and dropped it then slowly backed up and ran away, "Phoebe" I hear Daryl say but I ignored him and ran to a line of trees and leaned on one sliding down it and started to cry. I failed her, I failed my mom and my baby sister. I didn't want anyone around me right now, I got up and walked, just walked, I didn't know where I was walking to but I needed to get away.
Daryl POV...
I walked into the RV to see Carol sitting at the small table, I didn't see Phoebe though and that worried me, she ran off, I knew she was hurting and I would do anything to make it stop. Carol sat there looking out the window of the RV so I moved and sat on top of the counter and we stayed like that in silence for a good while until Lori knocked on the RV door.
"They're ready." She says
"Come on." I said to Carol
"Why?"
"'Cause that's your little girl." I mentioned
"That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought... She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago." She tells us and Lori walked back out, I got up and followed shortly after
"Hey," I called to Lori and she looked at me, "You see Phoebe anywhere?"
"Last I saw she ran to those trees over there," She pointed over to a line of trees away from us, "Other then that no."
"Thanks" I said and headed in that direction, I followed her tracks through the trees and heard a noise, I raised my crossbow and slowly moved towards it. When I got there I saw Phoebe above a dead walker, she was stabbing it repeatedly while crying, "Phoebe" I softly called to her and she didn't stop so I moved over slowly, I put my hand on her shoulder and she moved away
"Don't, don't touch me" She says facing me and she's covered in walker blood still holding her knife, "I don't need anyone right now now telling me they feel sorry for me, or-or looking at me with sympathy I just need to be left alone." She says and started to walk away but I ran up to her grabbing her arm
"I ain't leaving you alone."
"I..I can't Daryl, I can't even be around you right now because you're gonna hug me and I-I'm gonna break down and you'll make me feel better but I don't want to. I failed her! I failed my little sister, my baby sister! I told her I would always protect her, that I would always be there for her and what do I do? I leave alone under a fallen tree root to draw two walkers away when I could have just stayed there and killed them and we could have headed back to the highway and she would be safe but no I had to be an idiot! I failed my mom, I told her that I would bring Sophia back to her and now she's lost her baby, she put her trust in me and I failed her!" She ranted and I could feel my heart breaking, I hated seeing her so broken, "And you..you almost died looking for her and that would have killed me because I love you so much and if I lost you I wouldn't be able to move on, I would just be an empty shell of nothingness. So I just...I just can't" Her voices breaks a little bit and she closed her eyes, "I can't make this pain in my heart stop, it hurts so much." I moved closer to her and she moved back, "Don't..please" She says trying not to cry and I got closer but she didn't move, finally I was close enough and I pulled her into a hug and she cried into my shoulder, we just stood there as she cried.
I knew nothing I could do would help her, but I would try my hardest to bring her back.
After I got my tent and everything moved, Phoebe got cleaned up and laid down on the cot then fell asleep, she needed it and since I didn't want to disturb her I sat by an old fire pit making arrows lost in thought when Lori came running over, "Moving to the suburbs?" She asked me but I ignored her, "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel."
"Yeah. So what?"
"So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back." She tells me and I kept silent, "Daryl?"
"Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him? Fetch him yourself. I got better things to do."
"What's the matter with you? Why would you be so selfish."
"Selfish?" I asked her standing up, "Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day, so was Phoebe. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty! You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people." I said sitting back down and she looked at me then walked away. After a few hours I walked over to the tent and saw Phoebe was awake staring off into space, "Hey," I said walking over and I knelt down next to her, "Sleep okay?"
"How long was I out?"
"Few hours, you needed to rest." I tell her and she sniffled, "Hey, it's okay. God if there was anything I could do to take your pain away baby I would."
"I know," She says grabbing my hand, "I know you would, I love you for it, I just need to heal."
"I understand, do you need anything?"
"Do you have any water?" She asked and I nodded grabbing the bottle and handing it to her, she propped up and took a drink, "How's my mom?"
"Quiet. I haven't really seen her since I moved my stuff out here."
She nodded and set the water down, "Daryl, can I stay out here with you? I can't be around the others right now."
"Of course, I'll go down there and grabbed your stuff." I tell her standing up and kissed her head, "I love you"
"I love you too."
I headed to Phoebe's tent and gathered up her things when Carol walked over, "Where is she?"
"My tent, she needed to rest." I said not looking at her picking up Phoebe's bag
"Is she staying out there with you?"
"She doesn't want to be around anyone right now." I mention and she looked down, "She just needs to heal, it doesn't have anything to do with you."
"Will you tell her I love her, and that..I don't blame her." She asked and I nodded then headed back to my camp. When I got there Phoebe was sitting by a fire wrapped in a blanket, I put her things inside the tent and sat behind her wrapping my arms around her just sitting there in silence watching the flames.
Phoebe went back into the tent after a while and laid down, she must really be exhausted, I don't think I've ever seen her sleep thins much, "We can't find Lori - and the others aren't back yet either." I hear Carol as she walked over
"Yeah. That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em."
'What?" She asked me
"Yeah, she asked me to go. I told her I was done being an errand boy."
"And you didn't say anything?" She asked and I stayed quiet, she started to walk away but walked back over, "Don't do this. Please. I've already lost my girl, and my other one won't even talk to anyone but you." She says and I stand up
"That wasn't my problem neither." I said heading to the tent, I knew I wasn't being very nice to her, but it's not just Phoebe who let Carol down, it was me as well, right now all I needed to worry about was getting Phoebe back on her feet.
"What are you doing?" I asked Carol when I saw her looking at the dead squireels hanging from the rope
"Keeping an eye on you."
"Ain't you a peach?" I ask sarcastically
"I'm not gonna let you pull away, Phoebe either. You've earned your place."
"If you spent half your time minding your daughter's business instead of sticking your nose in everybody else's, she'd still be alive!" I yelled at her
"Go ahead."
"Go ahead and what? I mean just go! I don't want you here!" I yell but she still continues to stand there, "You're a real piece of work, lady. What, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that?" I asked her and she just looked at me, "Pfft! Man, you know Jack. You're afraid. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, only one daughter who blames herself for failing you. You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem! Sophia wasn't mine! All you had to do was keep an eye on her! Then maybe Phoebe wouldn't be so riddled with guilt right now!" I yelled and we just looked at each other, she sniffled a little
"Yeah"
Phoebe POV...
I woke up after falling asleep again to hear yelling then heard footsteps walking away, I looked out and saw my mom walking back towards the house then Daryl came in, "What was that about?" I asked him and he looked at me
"She just came to check on us"
"I thought I heard yelling." I tell him and he nodded
"I'm sorry, I yelled at her, told her if she would've paid attention to Sophia she would still be alive."
"You did what?" I asked standing up and walked over to him
"I'm sorry Pheebs, look I didn't mean it, I just..."
"You shut yourself off, I know, I know you but Daryl.." I started to say but he put his hands on my face.
"Hey, I'll apologize, okay? But right now my main focus is you. How are you doing?"
I sighed, "Getting there, I have the rest of my life to mourn but I know that she..." I stopped and took a shaky breath, "She would want me to be okay, to know that she isn't suffering anymore. She's happy now and probably knows that I didn't stop trying to find her."
He pulled me into a hug and kissed my head, "She knows you loved her." He says and I sniffled
"Thank you"
"For what?" He asked and I looked at him
"For being here, helping me, loving me."
"Until I die" He says and I kissed him
"Let's hope that it's not for a long time now."
"Same with you" He tells me and I smiled
"Now if we could just get rid of this stubborn jerk outter shell you have maybe more people could see you like I do."
"Stubborn jerk?" He asked and I smiled
"Either that or asshole"
"You think you're funny?" He asked me
"I am funny"
"You know what else is funny?" He asked and I shook my head, "This" He started to tickle my ribs and I couldn't help but giggle as I tried to fight and we ended up on the floor of the tent and he stopped, "I love you silly girl"
"I love you too...stubborn jerk" I said with a smirk and he tickled me again, "Daryl! Stop it!" I say through giggles and he stopped, "I do love you though, more then you know."
He kissed me, "Let's get some rest"
"I don't think my can sleep anymore. You get some rest, I think I'll sit outside for a while." I tell him and he nodded then got on the cot kicking his boots off and rolled over. I headed outside by the fire and sat down looking at it. I would be fine, I would, everything I said to Daryl was true, now I just needed to try and help my mom heal.
The next morning Daryl told me he was gonna go with Shane, Andrea and T-Dog to find Rick and Glenn who went to get Hershel yesterday. They loaded up the back of Shane's car and Daryl looked at me, "Be safe" I tell him and he kissed my head as Andrea walked over then we hear a truck drive down the driveway and see that it's them.
"Dad!"Carl tells him as they get out of the truck and he hugged him
"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery." Hershel tells her walking into the house then I see Rick and Lori talking to each other
"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asked and we all looked in the back seat of the truck to see a kid blind folded
"That's Randall." Glenn tells us
"We couldn't just leave him behind. He would've bled out, if he lived that long." Rick informed us
"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn pointed out
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked and Hershel walked in
"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for at least a week."
"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick tells us and Daryl walked in then stood behind me, I gave him and small smile, he put his hand on my hip and I saw him look at my mom
"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asks
"He'll have a fighting chance."
"Just gonna let him go? He knows where we are." Shane pointed out
"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat."
"Not a threat. How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?" Shane asked Rick
"They left him for dead. No one is looking."
"We should still post a guard." T-Dog suggests
"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel said
"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane tells us sarcastically and walked towards the door, "Look at this, folks... We back in fantasy land."
"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel tells him and I looked down, Daryl rubbed my back and I looked back at Shane, "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all...This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor... Keep your mouth shut." Hershel tells him and Shane sighed looking at him then walked out
"We're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." Rick tells us and everyone got up and started to walk out, my mom walked over to me and Daryl, he turned and walked out the door leaving me there with her.
"Phoebe.." She started to say but I cut her off and hugged her
"I'm sorry mom, I'm so sorry" I tell her fighting tears
"It's ok sweetie, you did everything you could, don't keep blaming yourself"
"But I.."
"No," She says cutting me off and made me look at her, "You did everything you could and she knows that, I know that too. You don't need to blame yourself."
"I love you mom"
She pulled me into a hug, "I love you too my sweet girl"
"Daryl, could you teach me how to track?" I asked him when we got back to our tent and he looked at me
"Why?"
"Because I want to help with more then just pointing a gun." I tell him and he chuckled
"Okay, but you should know I'm a strict teacher"
"Oh really?" I asked him and he walked over to me
"Mmhmm" He says putting his hands on my hips
"What would my punishment be for failing?"
"I won't kiss you for a week" He tells me and I gasp while smiling
"Well then I guess I better do good, who knows maybe I'll do better then you" I smirked and went to move away but he pulled me back
"You can try." He kissed me and I walked into the tent.