chapter seven: the herd
6717 words

Two of the cars were out of gas. Daryl's truck and the van that T-Dog had been driving. Daryl's truck had been an easy giveaway but the van was a bit more difficult. The van could hold more, go further than the rv could. Daryl and T-Dog siphoned as much of the remaining gas as they could, loading up the red cans into the other vehicles.

Daryl pulled Merle's old bike out of the bed of the truck, kicking it started and pulling it to the front of the group. Lin had to admit, it was a pretty sweet ride, even in the end of the world.

Dale offered Lin a place in the rv but with a few new people she knew it was going to be cramped. "I'll squeeze in with Carl."

She opened the passenger seat and pulled Carl up onto her lap, letting him curl up there. It wasn't the most ideal thing ever but if he was comfortable then so was she. Rick drove with Lori in the front seat and Lin sat privy to all their family stories, the memories they shared back and forth about a botched trip to the Grand Canyon.

"As long as you don't throw up on me now, we'll be fine little man," she teased. They kept going for a little while longer until the caravan came to a complete stop. Daryl brought the bike around to the rv window and said something that the car couldn't hear. He drove back and around the rv, scouting ahead for a way through. He began to guide the rv through the mess of cars, weaving Dale in and out. Lin moved Carl into the car a little further, letting her be the closest to the glass. The rv stopped again, a horrid screeching sound erupting from under the hood. Dale sighed and shut off the engine.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?"

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Daryl had walked around one of the seemingly millions of parked cars and began to dig through it. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here," Shane marveled, looking out of the cars that just kept going and going. Lin walked around the rv, guiding her eyes around the nearby cars. No movement that she could see.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find," Daryl continued to look.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog volunteered. He met Lin's eyes and she nodded, letting him know he wouldn't have to be doing it alone. She didn't know the first thing about cars, just what she'd heard Jim talking about. But she was more than willing to learn.

"Maybe some water?"

"Or food?"

"This is a graveyard," Lori started. "I don't know how I feel about this."

Some of the group shared Lori's sentiments but those that didn't hurried to look around. Lin covered her eyes, trying to get any semblance of information on just where they were. T-Dog had one of the red jugs in his hand and was already on the march to find any gas in the miles of abandoned cars.

Lin sped up to get ahead of him, finding the cars whose gas caps came off without a problem. Those that didn't, well, they didn't last too long when Daryl shoved his knife under the cover, putting his body weight behind it and popping it right open. He passed her, continuing his miniature hunt in the jungle of metal. Lin spotted Carol holding up a long red dress. She hoped she took it. She deserved to wear something that pretty even if it was for like 10 minutes.

Daryl popped another tank lid off, leaving it open for T-Dog to catch up to. Lin reached into one of the cars, pulling out a zip-up sweatshirt. It was way too hot to use now but it would be great to have. She ducked a little further into the car, spotting nothing else in the rear seat. But maybe in the trunk? She rounded the car, pulling up the open trunk to see a suitcase inside. Two actually, which she discovered when she moved the first suitcase to the side. She unzipped the first one, pushing away books and photo albums. At the bottom there were a few pairs of jeans which she sincerely hoped were her size. If they weren't hers then maybe they'd fit Lori or Andrea. Lord knows they all needed new clothes.

She set all the jeans up on top of the car, stopping when she realized that Daryl had gotten so far ahead she couldn't see him. A quick glance in the other direction told her that Lori and Carol were also. She'd lost all of them in just a span of seconds. Lin took in a step in the direction of the rv, getting just far enough to clear the bumper of the car, when something clamped down over her mouth, pulling her down the take cover between the stopped cars. She would have bit at the hand but it was warm and didn't smell like rotting flesh.

"T-Dog's bleedin'," Daryl hissed in her ear, her back pressed right up against his chest, his legs slotted right up next to hers. She exhaled out against his hand, her heart up in her throat. He pushed her up to her feet when he was sure she was at least a little bit calmer. He crouched low, keeping cover and darted around the car. Lin was going to ask what the whispering and hiding was all about but then she heard it. Walkers. A lot of them. And they were only getting closer.

Lin followed him around the cars, keeping low and as silent as possible. It wasn't hard to follow the blood trail on the pavement. It was fresh, still hot when Lin put her finger down into it. How he cut himself she had no idea but it looked bad. Really bad. She was glad she'd gotten those bandages now. She went the opposite way around a sideways truck, T-Dog leaning heavily against it. His white shirt had soaked up enough blood that it was more red than anything else. And judging by the way both of his forearms were covered as well it was a nasty cut. Lin dove down to his side, pressing her hands right on the cut. T-Dog groaned, trying to bite his tongue to keep quiet.

A walker had caught wind of T-Dog, having heard him stumbling around and gasping at the searing pain in his arm. Lin pulled her gun but the face that peeked around the truck was enough to make her stop. Daryl dropped his crossbow down onto a car hood, jamming a screwdriver up into the skull of the walker. It went down hard. Lin brought her gun back just wasn't willing to let it go. Daryl brought his finger up to his lips, reminding her and telling T-Dog to keep quiet.

T-Dog went limp, the bloodloss finally knocking him out a little bit. Lin scrambled for her belt, whipping it off and looping it around his elbow, slipping the end through the buckle and pulling as tight as it would go. Daryl pulled his feet, laying him down flat. He dropped the freshly killed walker down onto T-Dog before Lin could make any kind of questioning gesture as to what he was attempting to do. He grabbed for Lin's hand, the other going up to the car in front of him. He wrapped it around the neck of the body there, dislodging it from where it had been effectively stuck to the leather of the seat. Lin understood it then. Mask the scent, mask the person.

Daryl's grip shifted to her sleeve, pulling her to him. He would have put the walker over him and let her find her own but there wasn't enough time. She crashed into his chest and with his other hand he brought the walker behind her. He laid on his back and her position against him set her right on top of him. The walker on top of her felt awful and she knew she was going to smell awful but if smelling awful was the price of being alive then she was willing to pay it. Daryl scooted over towards the car, angling them so she was closer to the car, more under it than anything else. He wasn't sure that just one walker was going to cover them both.

Lin shut her eyes and willed herself to not think about the walkers getting closer and closer, stumbling right over them. She let her head fall into Daryl's neck, screwing her eyes shut and just waiting. It's all they could do, just sit and wait. With the amount of feet that Lin heard pass by it must have been an entire herd that followed them down the road.

Just as quick as the herd snuck on up them, it was gone. Lin didn't want to move, didn't want to risk it but Daryl had other plans. He pushed her off of him with a hand on her ribs. She cringed as she landed on the dead body, her elbow sinking through its stomach.

Daryl yanked the biter body off of T-Dog, helping him sit up. T-Dog's eyes were wide in fear and pain. Lin gripped the belt again, pulling it tight to stem the blood as much as she could. She needed all the supplies in her bag back in the rv to treat it. Without them he might as well just bleed out on the road.

Lin, now that she could sit without having to look over her shoulder, bent to see the wound clearly. He had to have snagged it on scrap metal because he had ripped the skin of his forearm nearly down to the muscle. It was nasty and the longer she let it sit, the more susceptible it was to infection.

All three of the survivors tipped their head up at the sounds of screams. Sophia. Daryl edged over to the opening in the car, his hand hovering up by his crossbow. He peeked up over the way and then disappeared around. Lin kept the pressure on T-Dog's arm, pulling her belt up to hold the leather between her teeth. She spoke in calming tones around the material, reassuring him that they'd be just fine.

It was Shane that found them. He'd followed where Daryl had come from, seeing that T-Dog and Lin hadn't followed. "Holy shit," he gasped, kneeling down quick by Lin to help her.

"Help me get him to the rv," she instructed the police officer. Shane lifted T-Dog's arm up over his shoulders, hoisting him up from the ground. Lin took his wounded arm, pulling the belt even tighter.

She ignored the way that Dale and Glenn gasped when they saw the carnage that was T-Dog's arm. Andrea was in the process of dragging a walker out of the rv and Lin knew not to ask when she saw her. Andrea dropped the body and moved out of the way to let Lin and Shane help T-Dog inside. T-Dog slumped down onto the couch where Jim had been. Lin had to look away for a second but she disguised it as her looking for her bag.

Shane stepped out, his shotgun in hand.

"Alright T, I'm gonna need you to keep talking so I know you're awake. Can you do that?" She titled her head up to see T-Dog nod. "Good. You may not need stitches so I'll wrap it best I can and we'll go from there. Don't go dipping your arms in anything until you can touch it and it doesn't sting."

She pulled a wad of gauze out, packing it on top of the wound. T-Dog started talking about total nonsense, explaining to her that he'd cut his arm on a broken car window but she shouldn't worry because he'd had his tetanus shot a few months ago. That bit made her laugh as she wrapped the gauze tight, pulling her belt back. A little bit more of her magic later and his arm was bandaged, all wrapped up and somewhat clean.

The sun was setting and the group was anxiously waiting for Daryl and Rick to come back. Sophia had run out into the woods and Rick had gone after her. Shane told them all they could do was gather what they could find from the cars and keep on the watch. Lin walked the short way back to the car she'd originally been at, scooping up the jeans and the jacket along with anything else she could find. Her clothes were getting threadbare and she was a little tired of getting blood on everything, whether it was red human or black biter.

She collected as much as she could reasonably carry, bringing it back to the rv for the rest of the ladies to pick through to their heart's content.

"Oh god, they're back," Glenn set down the crate of food he was carrying. The group diverted their eyes to the side of the highway, where Rick and Daryl had emerged from the woods. The setting sun painted a perfect backdrop for a family reunion, only it was just the two of them. They hadn't found Sophia. Carol seemed to realize this at the same moment the rest of the group did.

"You didn't find her?" She asked, beginning to fight away the tears in her eyes.

"Her trail went cold," Rick explained. "We'll pick it up again at first light." Lori waved Lin over, the two sisters flanking Carol for support.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl spoke softer to the worried mother. "We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own." Lin brought her arms up to comfort the woman. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Lin watched Rick use his people skills to try to keep Carol calm.

"And we tracked her for a while," Daryl added.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Carol cast her eyes down Daryl's figure, spotting the red stain on his pants that certainly hadn't been there before. "Is that blood?"

At the mention of the staining material, Lin turned her head, scanning the two of them for any injuries. It was a habit now, something she couldn't break if she tried.

Daryl must not have realized that the walker he'd cut open had gotten all over his jeans because he glanced down at where Carol had pointed. Rick answered Carol when Daryl didn't.

"We took down a walker."

"Walker? Oh my god." Lin was worried then that Carol was going to faint. She was speaking high and faint, her breath coming in shallower after each passing second.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia," Rick assured her.

"How can you know that?" Andrea posed. Lori brought Carol back to hold her shoulders, joining Lin is keeping the woman together. If girl power counted for anything it would have then.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

Carol spun slowly, her movement like she was underwater as she sunk down onto the divider between the grass and the concrete. Lori sat at her side, one mother to the other.

"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Carol was whispering, the wind taking her voice away. "How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance."

Shane rounded the center of the action, coming up on Rick's left.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol."

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child."

Lin wished then that there was just something any of them could say that would make Carol stop crying. She wished that the world hadn't gone to shit and that kids like Sophia had a chance of making it. She also wished that Ed hadn't been Ed and that Carol could have brought her daughter up differently.

It was a whole lot of wishes and not a lot of truths.

Rick laid the roll of knives out on the hood of a car, the heat of the sun forcing him to take off his hat. Lin pulled her hair up and off her neck, the auburn mess of it piled up into something close to a bun. She'd been inches from chopping it all off in the quarry.

"Everybody takes a weapon," Rick instructed.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea stated. She and Lin both had their guns taken by their mutual friend/surrogate parent Dale. Andrea put up a little bit more of a fight while Lin put hers in the man's hand herself. If he wanted it, he could have it. She didn't trust Shane but she trusted Rick and if he said no guns, no guns it was. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that." Shane spoke over Lori's head as she picked out one of the knives. "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

Glenn searched for his own knife. Lin stepped up, setting her hip against the side of the car. It was an assorted selection of blades and she wasn't sure which would have best suited her. Glenn pulled out a blade cut in a 90 degree angle, turning it by the grip. Lin eyed it and gave him a look. It was a funky looking thing but bound to do some damage.

A bowie knife just about the size of Lin's hand sat wrapped in one of the center slots. The handle was a dull leather, darn colored and a little worn. She reached for it, pulling it from the roll holster and all. It was a little heavier than she cared to admit but she'd get used to it.

"The idea is to take the creak up about 5 miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl hashed out the plan for everyone to hear. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp," Rick continued for the tracker. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

"Everybody assemble your packs."

Lin brushed the baby hairs away from her face. She'd search for Sophia all day if that's what it took but she couldn't help but admit that a pair of sunglasses would have made it all the easier on her eyes.

Carl stood his ground to his parents, stating to them both that he was going. He was tired of being treated like a little kid and they needed as many people as they could get. With a little coercion from Dale, Rick let him go. He was to stay in sight at all times which was a given of course but he was still allowed to go. Lin tapped the back of his head, nodding to one of the other cars to speak with him. He happily trotted over, glad that his plan had worked.

Lin took his little hands in hers, crouching to speak to him better.

"Carl, I need you to understand something for me, okay?" He nodded to urge her to keep going. "It's dangerous out there and you need to stay within our sight so you're safe. We can't let what happened to Sophia happen to you too." Carl's face drooped a little at the mention of his friend. "That being said, I want you to be able to keep yourself safe."

Lin reached for her pocket. In her search of the cars, she'd come across a key ring, one that had a swish army knife clipped to it. The entire piece itself was about 5 inches long, meaning the blade was, if anything, a little smaller. She let Carl see it then pressed it into the palm of his hand.

"I found this in one of the cars. I've got my own knife now which means I don't need this." Carl's face lit up as he began to pull at all the different accessories on the knife, the screwdrivers and the blade itself. "Carl, this is for absolute emergencies only. If your mom knows I gave you this we'd both be up the creek before we could say walker." Carl chuckled at the expression, making his aunt smile. She laid her hand over his again. "You keep this in your pocket and use it only if you absolutely have to, do you understand me Carl?" He nodded but she wouldn't take that. "I need words, Carl."

"I understand," Carl said, slipping the knife into his right front pocket. This was enough for Lin.

"Alright. Go find your mom. We'll be leaving soon." Carl shot forward, hugging his aunt tight around the neck. Lin, who wasn't expecting the action, set her hand back on the hot cement to keep herself from falling back. She kissed his cheek and let him run off.

"I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell not your problem." As Lin stood back up and returned to the group, it became apparent she'd missed something between Andrea and Dale. Lin knew that Andrea had wanted to die in the CDC. She knew that when she'd asked where Jacqui was Andrea went silent and closed in on herself. Dale knew he had saved her life but Andrea couldn't see it that way. She didn't want to. She'd lost Amy and to her there wasn't much more to life for than her sister. "That's all there is to say."

The group began to head out as Andrea walked away from Dale. He and T-Dog were staying behind to keep the repairs going on the rv. Lin felt her heart sink at the broken look on Dale's face. He'd risked his life for Andrea, literally laid it down right at her feet and she was angry at him for it. Lin clipped her knife around her belt and Dale sighed.

"Is there any point in telling you to be careful?" He asked her to which she nodded.

"There always is." She pulled him for a hug, letting him just stand there a moment after the bomb Andrea dropped under his nose. When she pulled away she pointed at T-Dog. "Keep that arm clean, mister. Not having you bleed out on me today." T-Dog smiled, nodded, having thanked her immensely for patching him up. It was her job, her piece of the puzzle here. Put the bandaids on the booboos and kiss them to help them get better, she'd said with a laugh one night back at the quarry.

The walk through the woods was quiet, permeated only by the occasional call out of Sophia's name. They kept it to a minimum however, the foliage acting as the biggest sight barrier around them.

Lin reached up with both of her hands, gathering her dirty hair up even further, wrapping one of her elastics around it to just keep it there. The ponytail just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Daryl stopped at the front of the search party. He crouched slowly, pointing from Rick to the tent just visible between the trees. Rick brought his hand down to get everyone to slow and crouch as well.

"She could be in there," Shane's words must have been an attempt to raise the morale of the group.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl stood with Rick and Shane following close behind him. Carol wanted to go with them because he daughter could be in that tent but Rick made her stay back.

The three men crossed the distance between the group and the tent with weapons and guards up. Daryl stopped a second time, pointing between the men behind him and the tent to get them to stay put. He could search a tent without a peanut gallery. He pulled his knife, dropping his crossbow down onto the ground. He eased his way up to the tent, leaning far to one side to try to look inside without moving anything. He doubled back, pulled a corner up, and shrugged.

Rick sighed silently. "Carol," he waved the mother over. Carol rushed over to the sheriff, her hand going up to cover her mouth. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

The way that Carol must have felt was something Lin could only imagine. She wanted to do everything she could to help. Carol called out very gently, keeping her voice low. There was no answer from the tent. Daryl unzipped it slowly, slow enough that the noise was limited. Rick left Carol's side to aid in opening the tent. Lin took his place in an instant, setting her hands on Carol's shoulders to comfort her in any way she thought she could.

The way Daryl jerked away from the smell emanating from the tent was enough to tell everyone in the area that there was as least one dead thing in that tent. Judging by the visible shape of a lawn chair, it was a person. Somehow, Daryl eased fully into the tent.

Rick went to do the same but the smell was too much and he titled his head away, coughing to get the air out of his lungs, the vile stench out of his nose. Lin squeezed Carol's shoulders when she felt her shift.

"Daryl?" The mother asked the silent tent. When he didn't answer she tried again. He emerged again, shoving the flimsy material aside.

"It ain't her." It was a relieving and a stomach-sinking sentence. Andrea stepped up closer so she could see.

"What's in there?" Lin turned her head towards the woman then back at the tent.

"Some guy." Daryl stooped to get his crossbow. "Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

From the distance, maybe as close as just a minutes run, church bells began to ring. Rick took off first, his group close behind. Lin touched Carl's shoulder, putting him ahead of her and in her sights. They stopped in a clearing for just a breather and a quick look around.

"What direction?"

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure," Rick pointed in front of him.

"Damn it's hard to tell out here," Shane cursed.

"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too."

"Someone's ringing those bells," Glenn hoisted his bag up onto his shoulder a little higher, "Maybe calling others." It was a party of hypotheticals, hopes that Sophia was still okay.

"Or signaling they found her," Andrea moved a little quicker.

"She could be ringing them herself."

Lin thought of Dale and T-Dog back at the rv. What she didn't know was that Dale had fixed the radiator hose yesterday. He'd faked all the rubbing and the sanding he'd done right in front of her, for the sake of Sophia. That little girl had to be out there somewhere.

Rick led his search party through the trees, stopping at the very welcome sight of a quaint white building. Lin adjusted her sweaty grip on her knife handle. She looked down at her feet and stepped away from the grave that lied there.

"That can't be it." Lin lifted her head. "Got no steeple, no bells." Rick paused to take the area in and ignored Shane's call of his name as he ran for the building. Lin's lungs were burning at the constant exertion of energy but she wouldn't dare complain, at least not to a group this big. She resigned herself to wearing Dale's ear off when it got closer to dark.

The doors of the church were red, redder than sin against the pure white of the church walls. Rick set a hand on either of the doors to push them open. Daryl put himself right next to the sheriff, knocking against the wood once with his knuckle before Rick shushed him. The sheriff pushed the doors open and while Lin couldn't see the state of the interior from her spot all the way behind Carl, her imagination could fill in the blanks.

The three men took out the three walkers inside. But that must have been all they found. Rick shouted Sophia's name in his frustration. Throwing open a door on one of the adjacent walls.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick."

Lin hastily scanned the surrounding woods, the soft whispers of his sister behind her keeping her calm. The ringing of the bells began again, loud and incessant. Lin had barely enough time to move out of the way as Daryl barreled right past her in search of the sound. It carried him right to the side of the church, to a loud speaker and a connected box. Glenn pulled the box open and ripped out something that made it stop.

Lin sighed in realization that all of their thoughts of it being Sophia ringing those bells were all hilariously incorrect.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl was out of breath and rightfully so.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." No one stopped Carol as she made her way back to the church. Most of the group followed her, the defeat of once again not locating Sophia too much for them to comprehend. Lin sat in one of the pews right at the back, catching her breath and pulling her knife from her holster. She rubbed her fingers along the smooth, blemish-free metal. She left fingerprints on the surface, gliding up to the edge of blade just to see how sharp it was. Had she pressed any harder she was sure she would have broken skin.

From the front of the church, Carol began to pray aloud. Lin, knowing she would absolutely not be able to hold it together if she heard the mother's tearful prayers for her daughter, stood quickly. Rick watched her walk right out the door, her jaw set firm.

Lin exhaled out into the heat. She relaxed her grip on her knife, coming to realize that she'd been gripping it until her knuckles went white. Age old habit only flaring up now in the face of trouble. She'd always gripped her tools a little too hard.

"You okay?" Lin picked her head up from where she'd had it tilted down at her own hands. Glenn had a careful eye cast on her, knowing that tensions in the group, at the moment, were a bit high.

"Yeah," Lin slipped her knife back in the leather holster. "I'm gonna look around." She gestured to the area around them, not really meaning any one place.

"Me too." Lin turned at the voice, the gruff tracker having pushed away from the wall he was leaning against, eager to get some fresh air or to get away from the church. Lin had the instinct to say no, that she could walk a few feet on her own, but Daryl wasn't someone Lin was particularly willing to argue with so she just nodded and started off in the direction behind the church.

They walked in complete silence, Lin's eyes more on her feet then up at the horizon. She looked up though when she just about ran into Daryl's back. He'd stopped at the sight of a walker stumbling against a tree. She stiffened at the dead thing stumbling around.

Daryl brought up his crossbow without a second thought, squeezing the trigger back and firing a bolt at it. It went right through its forehead, putting the walker down on its ass. Lin watched for any other dead things as Daryl retrieved his arrow. When he had his crossbow loaded again, she stepped back and kept going, walking the perimeter of the church.

The graveyard extended almost all the way around the church, the stones ranging anywhere from faded to nothing to as new as they could be considering it was months ago since anyone had tended to them.

Lin knew the further they walked, the further they would be from any kind of help heaven forbid anything happen.

"Hey, eyes up." Lin jerked her head up, having been staring down at her feet again. Daryl pointed a little bit into the woods where a dead and rotting woman was inching closer. The church bells must have lured them in.

"I got it," Lin told him, pulling her knife from her belt. Daryl watched her go, his hand on his crossbow strap. Lin had to do this, she kept repeating to herself. The walker spotted Lin coming and snarled her way. Lin's confidence wilted as the walker sped her way. She jerked back but then gained her wits about her, holding out her arm and putting her hand right on the woman's shoulder to keep her back. With her bowie knife, she plunged it right into the skull of the walker, halting its movements completely. The squish it made as she pulled it back had her making a face of disgust, one she was glad Daryl couldn't see.

She wiped the blade on the least disgusting part of the woman's clothes, scanned the horizon, and walked back to the church. Daryl had his hand up to cover his eyes from the sun.

"Those bells probably alerted every dead thing for miles," he said to her when she was close enough. She nodded, putting her knife away.

"Then we need to get back. I know we're looking for Sophia but we're losing the light." Lin saw Rick leaving the front of the church. A question brewed on the tip of her tongue. "Do you think we'll find her, Daryl?"

He looked her way, making her freeze under his gaze. "We don't gotta choice." And he was right. They owed it to Sophia. They owed it to Carol even more.

Lin scanned the area once more and when she was content with the fact that she couldn't see any imminent threats, she turned to return the group. She walked to the shade of one of the trees, smiling when Lori reached up to take her hand. It wasn't much or really for any particular reason except the fact that Lori wanted to make sure her sister was safe. Lin lowered herself down next to Lori, her muscles relaxing as she finally took a semblance of a break.

"Hey little man," Lin knocked her hand against Carl's knee. "How you holding up?"

Carl looked over at his mom then back at Lin. "I'm okay." Which was a perfectly good response considering that this was essentially his first run. She tapped the underside of his chin, and pushed herself so she could stand again.

Shane cleared his throat as he waked to the group. "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hours or so just to be thorough."

"You're splittin' us up," Daryl noticed. Lin had too, he'd just beat her to it. "You sure?"

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Lin didn't trust this plan. But she trusted Rick.

"I want to stay too," Lin's head jerked back to Carl. Yeah now she really didn't like the plan. "I'm her friend." The four adults that compromised the Carl Grimes familial unit all exchanged looks. Shane had to hide his smile, shaking his head and looking down. It wasn't Lin's place to make the decisions for Lori, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Just be careful, okay?" Lori reminded Carl. She set her hands on her son's cheeks and hugged him soon after. "When did you start growing up?" Rick crossed the space to kiss his wife. Lin tugged on the tips of Carl's hair to get his attention.

"Listen to your mom, okay?" He nodded and it was so childlike Lin felt her chest pang briefly. "Can't have you growing up too much." She patted her own pocket to remind him of the knife she'd given him. He nodded again and Lin knew he understood. She swooped down and kissed his cheek, flat out ignoring the protests he voiced.

Rick pulled his revolver, holding it out to Lori. "Remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Daryl pulled a much smaller revolver out from his belt, offering it to Lori instead.

"Here, got a spare. Take it." She did, which prompted a rather loud sigh from Andrea. She didn't see how it was fair that Lori got a gun and she didn't. But Lin was glad she didn't fight the issue as Daryl led them back to the rv. The walk was mostly silent. Daryl wasn't a talkative man, more get the job done kind of guy. But that made for a good leader. Lin pushed a branch away from her face, following the angel wings on the vest of the man in front. He turned his head to the side, counting the people behind him to make sure they hadn't left anyone. He moved his head the other way and caught Lin's eye. He said nothing but held it for just a moment.

"So this is it?" Carol slumped down onto a fallen tree. "This the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl didn't agree at all with the plan to split up.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea shifted her gaze to Lori who had unclipped her pack to search through it. "I see you have a gun."

Lin bristled at the jab to her sister.

"Why, you want it?" Lori grabbed the gun. "Here. Take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." Andrea's mouth had dropped open and as Lin leaned her weight to one side of her hips, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from making any kind of face. Lori could handle herself. "All of you."

Lori exhaled, like she always did when Lin acted up as a kid. She turned to Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently." Lori went quiet and put her eyes on every member of the camp including her own little sister. "Anybody?" The guilt was building each second. "Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

To calm herself down, Lori brought her water bottle up to her lips. Lin watched Andrea rotate the gun between her hands. She seemed to make up her mind and then she held it out to Lori for her to take it back.

"We should keep moving."

Lori stood from where she'd been sitting, slinging her bag back up over her shoulders. She made sure her little sister was okay, sending a nod her way. Everyone began to move again, following the creek bed back to the rv. If it was quiet before, it was dead silent now. 

an: in honor of twd season 10 coming on tonight, here's another chapter! and another meme! making memes for this book had been way too much because lin and daryl and just my favs together. and they're literally both just going to be heart eyes for each other and it makes me so excited to write them. sundays are now going to be my update day for this book bc that's when the show comes on. :)

 i hope you enjoyed, check out my other books, watch the premiere tonight!!! and ill see you in the next part!!