Chapter Two
DAY 2
The next day is like all the previous days; clear-blue sky, fluffy clouds, heat that could fry an egg, and a cool breeze. The birds' chirp, unaware of the loss of humanity, and the air is fairly clear of rot. The atmosphere is still tense, with the two missing girls, and worry for Carl and T-Dog.
D slowly wakes to find she's alone and she sits up, her back against the truck's rear window to take stock of the morning's happenings. Dale's on top of the RV, once again on watch and movement in the camper catches her attention. She spots the siblings; Amy's pacing restlessly and Andrea is cleaning their father's gun. Daryl and Carol are nowhere to be seen, having left early for another search. Though disappointed that he isn't around the night before flashes through her mind and cheers her up.
However, that does lead to the memories of Amy's insensitivity and Daryl's observation of the blonde. Why hadn't she seen it before? Perhaps back at the Camp there wasn't a chance to. Lauren was there, in sight, safe.
The morning passes with Amy and Andrea scavenging, D meandering through the cars and Dale still on top of the RV. Daryl and Carol eventually return, empty-handed, which leads to Dale descending. Having come to the conclusion that they need to move. It was just a matter of telling D and Carol.
"D, can I talk to you for a minute?" He pulls her aside.
She gazes around, somewhat distant, but turns with a faint smile. "Okay."
He guides her to the back of the RV, for a little privacy. "We're going to need to head to the farm soon."
She blinks, a confused expression crossing her features. "But, Loz?"
"I know." He pats her shoulder, feeling guilty, but knowing they have to move on. "I was thinking of setting up a small table with food and a sign for them."
She bites her lip, the pit of her stomach bubbling with uncertainty. "They won't know where to go."
"Someone will come by and check the highway." He placates the best he can. "Can you make a sign?"
"Uh, yeah, sure." D nods, a lump forming in her throat.
She watches Dale walk off, pulling Carol aside. She glances around and Daryl catches her eyes. He's staring intensely. If she were paying more attention she'd have noticed the concern, instead her gaze slides to the forest, willing Lauren and Sophia to appear. They don't.
Daryl frowns at the faraway look and silently approaches. "Lea…"
She flinches and turns. "Daryl."
"We're going to find them."
"So you keep saying."
The Hunter frowns at the monotone response, mentally shaking his head. She's a funny thing. One moment optimistic that the girls are just around the corner, the next losing hope and heart. He grabs her upper arm, his grip slightly bruising, and jerks her towards him.
"I do." His tone is low, on the verge of a growl.
D's eyes widen and a brief image of a chapel and a white grown enters her mind. A quick mental shake and she's back on the road, staring into the dark eyes or the man she loves. "Alright." She nods, not quite sure what to say after that.
He lets her go once he sees the life come back. One last, long, gaze and he walks off to help pack the vehicles. After a moment she goes and helps Dale and Carol set up the stand; food and water with a sign stating 'STAY PUT'.
Amy stands by the RV, frowning. It's not like she wants them to be devoured. But the red head has the kids. Couldn't D be her best friend? She used to be the most popular girl in high school AND college. She knew everything. Now she didn't even have one friend. At least that's what it seemed to her. D would never have told her of her feelings for the redneck; not that it's hard to figure out and Glenn only hung out at the lake because D was there. And the kids, Lauren seemed to be God to them.
The reunion is a tense affair. Rick and Lori make a brief appearance, the former looking pale and peaky due to the blood he gave to his wounded son. T-Dog is on the porch, his own wound bound and healing, though colour has returned to his once ashen face. Shane returns alone, expressing condolences, Otis 'sacrificing' his life for him. Glenn's the happiest, throwing his arms around D, though she knows him well enough to spot the worry and fear.
After setting the camp up with the rest of the equipment Glenn officially introduces Amy and D to Beth, Maggie and Jimmy. D stays long enough to meet the others, Hershel and Patricia, but slips away to see Carl.
In his temporary room Rick and Lori are either side of the bed on foldaway chairs. As Carl's not well enough to sit up on his own he's surrounded by a mountain of pillows to keep his stitches from tearing. The poor boy looks as bad as his father.
"Oh Carl," D sighs with a smile, "what are we going to do with you?"
"Love me, feed me, never leave me?" He hasn't lost his innocently mischievous quality.
"Or sell you on Ebay." She counters.
"Nuh-huh,"
"Uh-huh." She sits on the end of the bed. "I'm sure it'd be the end of your parents worries."
"Loz wouldn't let you."
D's smile falls and she nods. "She wouldn't."
Carl shifts, guilt flooding through him. "Any sign of them?"
Lori places a hand on his arm. "Carl…"
"We'd have heard it." His shoulders slump.
"You can't give up hope, Carl." Rick intercedes, talking to D and himself as well. "Lauren is tough, she's smart. She's going tot keep herself and Sophia safe."
Carl nods, hope flaring bright again. "Yeah, she taught us to climb the hard trees so that we'd always have a safe place to hide."
"See, they're going to be fine." Rick adds, feeling hopeful himself.
D leaves with Rick soon after, all the talk about her best friend not sitting well with her. Rick on the other hand has to keep busy, his responsibilities do him well to keep his mind off the young woman who's slowly taking his heart. He still has to look at the map Hershel has provided.
As the day carries on, D finds herself restless. She enlists the help of Maggie, Beth and Jimmy. They put her to work on the farm, roping Glenn in as well; only needing a pout from Maggie. Amy wrinkles her nose instead of joining in; she stands by Beth idly gossiping, delighted to finally have a friend for herself. D can be as preoccupied with her thoughts, and Daryl, as she wants and Glenn can moon over Maggie, she can have Beth and Jimmy. Who needs the others? She and Andrea can stay with the Greene's, convince Dale to stick with them and the others can get eaten for all she cares.
When the sun begins to fade, D's too tired to think or do anything and because of this, Daryl helps her to her tent. She lies on her side, away from the opening and as he leaves she grabs hold of his wrist. He freezes, unsure as to what to do. Never has he been in a position like this before, but her grip slackens as she drifts off. He continues to stare, shifting to comfortably sit by her throughout the night. Noise outside, footsteps, and he chickens out, slipping from the tent as Dale walks by.
"How is she?" Dale stops, eyes flickering to the open flap.
"Worried," Daryl grunts, "how do ya think?" He zips the flap closed half way.
Dale nods, ready to 'talk' to the man about his blossoming relationship, but a hard look from the Hunter and he thinks better of it. Instead he pats the redneck's arm and carries on to the RV. It's Shane's turn as watch, though with how crowded it is he's disappointed.
1st POV
I wake, parched and starving, a little dizzy and still incredibly scared. We have to move. We have to find something to drink at least. It's a miracle that we've lasted this long.
"I'm hungry Loz." Soph whines, shifting in my lap.
It's amazing that even after a day and a bit on the run, she still has her doll clutched in her grip. "I know you are." I rub her leg; "We'll find something today. That's our goal."
"You can't walk."
"I can crawl, and I can hop. We'll make it." My smile is forced.
Looking down there's no walkers; no sound to suggest that they're around. It takes a hell of a long time to get down, as usual, and what's even worse is the slightest twitch of my foot sends sharp agonizing pain up my leg. Tears well and pausing to focus on my breathing helps keep the scream at bay.
When Soph's down, we take our time and she lets me use her as a crutch. We head north; well what I think is north. Sophia's the one to check for moss, and the side that has the most, I'm calling north. Luckily it's uneventful; there's been more than enough action for a lifetime.
I'm exhausted, haven't slept properly in days, and I want for this to be over. There's a saying, one I've lived my whole life by 'no matter if it's good or bad, nothing lasts forever.' It's gotten me through a lot. We will find the others. Or I'll go insane, one of them.
Unfortunately this peace doesn't last. We come across a couple of walkers and there's still nothing to use for weapons. There's no running either. Fear spikes like never before. I freeze. They stumble towards us. Sophia backs away, her hand still clutching mine and so when she goes over the ravine, I go with her. We tumble down, almost into the creek and the walkers plummet after us. My ankle throbs, head aches and bruises twinge. I bite back a scream; agony ripping through me, but a high pitched keen escapes.
The pains unbearable, all I want to do is die, something, anything to stop this pain. But Soph needs me. If I stop now, if I give up, then what will become of her?
I crawl slowly, torturously so, to her as she gets up. We need to move, a walker's close, pulling himself, by his rotted nasty arms, our way despite a broken spine. I'll think about how lucky we are to have come away from that fall later. Soph once again becomes my human crutch and we get into a rhythm. It's not terribly fast, but at least we're fast enough to get away.
We see a lone, little white house and slow to a walk, having finally lost them. I'm ready to collapse. It looks abandoned; doors and windows boarded up, the once pristine white panelling covered in dirt and dust, and some places smeared with dried blood. Soph has to be the one to check it out. I don't like it. I'd rather do it, but at least she can get away.
She disappears around the back, but returns shrugging. "Doesn't sound like anything's in there."
I stare at the house for a little longer. "Okay, we're going to go in, we're going to eat and find something to drink. After that, we'll see what's best."
She nods, grips my hand and helps me to the door. It opens easily, which sets off mental alarm bells. I squeeze her shoulder, and she stops. The dead walkers are another sign. Who else has been here? My eyes close slowly as I take a deep breath and then listen. The wind creaks the old house, birds are chirping and the breeze whistles by my ears. Other than that it's silent.
We creep into the kitchen, and I head for a chair first, breathing a sigh of relief when pressure is off my ankle. Soph dives for the pantry, throwing it open. It's only now that I realise she doesn't have her doll. We haven't had much time to stop to take a breath.
I really want to look around the house, but the thought of moving sickens me. There's no way I'd make it up stairs. Sophia's definitely not going up. I slip on to the floor and crawl over to her. If worse comes to worse, I'll use myself as a distraction. Soph can use the kitchen's door to get away.
It's too dangerous to make any noise without looking around. She obviously understands as she hands me a couple of cans and an old warm unopened water bottle without saying a word.
My fear of others coming in and hurting us is at the front of my mind. Night is falling and I'm beginning to panic. Though I don't want to alarm Soph, so I get her set up in the pantry, we make room for her to curl up at the bottom, I even stick an old bag of potatoes in front of her for cover.
I place a kiss on her forehead, wish her a good night and close the doors just a little bit and crawl to the corner. If anyone comes through the archway, I'll have a moment or two to decide what to do before I'm seen. The stairs to upstairs is in front of the archway, which is good to know.
I curl up myself, and bite back the tears; she doesn't need to hear this. I'll sob and cry when we're safe. When I've got D around. I'll even ignore my own thoughts of staying away from Rick and throw myself at him. Clutch to him, and use his strength to chase the nightmares away.
Hopefully my exhaustion doesn't cause me to sleep through walkers attacking, or strangers.
