Chapter 2-Finding old friends
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl woke up the next morning and saw Ofelia cooking a can of beans above the fire. "Do you know where we are going?" Ofelia asks him.
"No, we're about to go through Louisiana. Have you been through New Orleans?" Daryl asks.
"It's overrun," Ofelia says. "Swamps are filled with walkers. I try and stay out of it."
"We'll go straight through it," Daryl says. "I have the fuel to get to Texas today. You sure there is nobody here?"
"There could be in the city," Ofelia says. "But they are fighting each other. Nobody wants to leave that city. They all want to fight for it. This person that you're looking for, they're not here. If they are, they're dead."
"He might be dead," Daryl says. "We'll spend today searching the swamps. If we don't find anything, we'll leave for Texas."
Ofelia nods.
Two days later
Daryl stops his bike by a line of cars and climbs off. He looks at Ofelia as she takes her knife out. "We need some gas if we want to keep going," Daryl says.
"You think we'll find some here?" Ofelia asks.
"Probably not. Most cars have been drained of gas," Daryl says as a walker comes towards them. Daryl raises his crossbow and fires. The walker falls to the ground.
"So, how long will we stay here?" Ofelia asks him.
"A couple of days, Texas is a pretty big state," Daryl says. Ofelia nods as they hear a car. "Down," Daryl says as he motions for her to hide under the cars. Daryl holds his finger up as they hear the car stop. Two people climb out of it. A blond woman wearing a hat, a black man in a wheelchair, and a man Daryl couldn't see by the truck.
"This bike has supplies on it," The woman says.
"It does," The man in the wheelchair says. "You think someone left it?"
"No," The other man answers as he comes out from behind the truck, and Daryl's eyes widen as he sees the man.
"Stay down," Daryl whispers as he moves himself out from under the truck. "Dwight."
The three of them turn and look at Daryl. "Daryl?" Dwight says as he looks at the archer.
"You know him?"
"Yeah," Dwight says. "He comes from the same place as Morgan and I."
"Morgan, he's down here?" Daryl asks Dwight, who nods.
"Yeah, we have a group. We've been helping people. What are you doing down here? Did something happen?"
"I'm looking for Rick," Daryl says.
"Rick? What happened?"
"Maggie and I tried to kill, Negan. It was stupid, but I distracted Rick, and because of that, he saw a herd that would have destroyed the bridge we were building. Rick blew the bridge and himself up to save us," Daryl says.
"So he's dead," The woman says.
"If he was dead, I would have found a body. I didn't. I searched for four damn months, but I didn't find him, so I came looking. I'm going to search every damn part of the country to find Rick."
"Let us help you look," Dwight says.
"Dwight," The woman says.
"We're supposed to help people. Morgan will want us to help him too."
"I'm Sarah. This is my brother, Wendall."
Daryl whistles, and Ofelia comes out from under the car. "You have a friend," Wendall says.
"Had to be sure," Daryl says. "I'm Daryl Dixon. This is Ofelia Salazar."
"Salazar?" Sarah asks. "You're Daniel's daughter."
"How do you know that name?" Ofelia asks.
"Because he's with us," Dwight says.
"He died," Ofelia says.
"He didn't," Sarah says as she pulls her radio out. "Morgan,"
"I'm here, Sarah."
"We found some people, one of them, you know, Daryl Dixon."
"Why is he down here?" Morgan asks.
"Something to do with a man named Rick," Sarah says. "Where's the convoy?"
"We're camped at John's cabin right now," Morgan says.
"Okay, we'll see you soon. Can you get Daniel?" Sarah asks. A few seconds later, they hear a voice.
"What is it, Sarah?" Daniel asks.
"There is someone here who would like to talk to you," Sarah says as she holds the radio out to Ofelia, who walks up to her and takes it.
"Papa," Ofelia says, and the radio is silent for over a minute.
"Ofelia," Daniel says.
"Hi, Papa," Ofelia says.
"You're alive. We will talk more when you arrive. I will see you soon," Daniel says as the radio goes off.
"Alright, take us to your convoy," Daryl says as he walks towards his bike. He stops by Dwight. "You find her?"
"Not yet," Dwight says, and Daryl nods as he climbs on the bike.
Abraham's P.O.V
Abraham sat in a field, staring at the trees. "How did you get here before me?" Abraham looks at Sasha and smiles.
"I left early to make sure Michonne didn't see me," Abraham says. "How are things at, Hilltop?"
"Tense, Maggie barely leaves her office, and even then, it's only to talk with Earl or the farmers," Sasha says. "Alexandria?"
"Carl's pretty much been running it," Abraham says.
"I saw Jesus leave a couple of hours before me," Sasha says.
"That's funny cause I saw Aaron hand Gracie to Rosita an hour before I left," Abraham says.
"You think they're trying to do the same thing as us?" Sasha asks Abraham, who nods.
"Jesus has been fighting for the world Rick believed in since the day I met him. So how do we fix this?"
"We work both sides. I'll try and get Maggie out of this mindset, this shit that she is in. You need to do the same with Michonne or."
"Or?"
"You need to put Carl in charge of Alexandria."
"The kid has the mind for it. The world that Rick was fighting for. Carl fought for it first. Rick told me that while we were building the bridge. It was his idea to save Negan. I'll try to convince you, Michonne, and if that doesn't work, I'll help Carl take charge. You get Maggie out of her own head," Abraham says. "Be safe."
"I will," Sasha says as she kisses him and then walks away from him.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl stopped his bike behind the truck and climbed off his bike as Ofelia climbed off behind him. "Ofelia," Ofelia looks at her father and smiles as she runs up to him and runs hugs as tears start to go down their faces. Daryl looks at Morgan as he walks up to him.
"Is he dead?" Morgan asks Daryl.
"I don't know," Daryl says as he tells Daryl the same thing he told Dwight.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Morgan asks in anger.
"I wasn't," Daryl says. "If I could go back, I would have put myself on that bridge and died if Rick it meant that Rick would be with Carl, Judith, and Michonne. That's why I'm here. I'm trying to find him. I searched that fucking river for four months, and I didn't find him. The day he went missing, Gabriel saw a helicopter while with Anne, and Anne disappeared. Maybe she had taken him," Daryl says. "I won't stop searching till I find him."
"Let me help. We're helping everybody we can, and we'll probably leave Texas soon once the oil field goes try or we fill up all the tankers," Morgan says. "You should stick with us, at least for a little while. We can help you look."
"I'll think about it," Daryl says, and Morgan nods.
"Let me introduce you to everybody, at least," Morgan says, and Daryl nods as he follows the man. They walk up to two men and women talking. "Alicia."
Alicia Clark turns around and looks at them. "You were with Ofelia."
"I was," Daryl says.
"This is Daryl Dixon. Daryl, this is Alicia, John, and Wes."
"I want to talk to you later, Morgan," Alicia tells Morgan, who nods as they walk away.
"Alicia is my second in command. She has a brother, Nick. I took a bullet for him the same day we met," Morgan says with a smirk as he pulls his shirt down and shows him the scar. "This is him," Morgan says as he sees a man, a child, and another man speaking with Ofelia. "Nick, Charlie, Strand, this is Daryl Dixon."
"Nice to meet you," Nick says as he shakes his hand. "Thanks for bringing her back."
"She's helped me too," Daryl says as he looks at Ofelia with a smile. Ofelia smiles back as Morgan leads him away. Morgan introduces Daryl to the rest of his group. Grace, Luciana, and June. They walk toward the last group.
"John," Morgan says with a smile, making him look at them. With John Dorie stood Daniel Salazar and Althea. "John was the first man I met in Texas. John, this is Daryl Dixon. He was the first man I met in Virginia. This is Daniel and Al."
"You brought my daughter back to me," Daniel says as he shakes his hand. "I thank you."
"I've only known her a couple of days."
"You still brought her here. Thank you."
"Can you two give us a minute?" Morgan asks Daniel and John, who nod as they walk away. "Al, you've filmed a lot of people. Have any of them talked about choppers?"
"Choppers?" Al asks as Daryl notices her body tensing.
"Yes, we think one of them may have taken a good friend of ours," Morgan says.
"No," Al says. "None of them have mentioned choppers."
"Thanks, Al," Morgan says as he leads them away. "We have another group out. They should be getting here soon."
"I got a tent. Where can I set up?" Daryl asks.
"We'll find somewhere," Morgan says. "We started this a couple of weeks ago. There is a chance that Rick could be here somewhere."
"Your friend is lying," Daryl says, making Morgan look at her. "I can tell."
"Maybe you should try and talk to her later or earn her trust," Morgan says.
"I'll try, but if we don't find anything in a couple of weeks, I'll move on," Daryl says.
"Okay, we'll let's see what we can find," Morgan says as they hear a truck. "Must be the other group."
Daryl nods as the man climbs out of the truck and looks at Daryl. "Daryl?"
"Shane?"
Thanks for reading. I know this seems very similar to one choice, but it will start to diverge very soon from that story as Daryl is going to be in Texas for a good while. Shane is alive. I just love using him with this group, and so is Nick because fuck his death, and Morgan saved him this tim