IT WAS EARLY THE NEXT MORNING WHEN THE REMAINING GROUP ON THE HIGHWAY DECIDED TO HEAD TO THE FARM.

They used paint that they found to write on the windshield of a car, telling Sophia that they would be back everyday to check if she was there. Then they left some supplies that they found while searching the cars.

Marcie hopped on the back of Daryl's bike, gripping his leather vest in her fingers. She was ready for the group to be whole again, to see if Carl was okay.

He could be dead and they wouldn't even know it.

Andrea drove the Hyundai while Dale and Carol were in the RV. Marcie grinned as they approached the farm, wind blowing through her hair.

The farm seemed untouched. 

"Look at the cows." Marcie yelled in Daryl's ear, pointing at the cows lounging in the grass on the side of the road, causing Daryl to shake this head,

Daryl parked by the house, where a group of people were gathered on the porch. Marcie recognised most faces, but some were unfamiliar. She assumed it was the family that lived there.

She got off the bike before Daryl could even put the stand down.

Marcie ran over to hug Lori before moving onto Rick, "How is he?" She asked, pulling back,

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori informed them,

"And Shane." Rick added, " We'd have lost Carl if not for him."

Everyone's eyes turned to the former cop, who was standing off to the side wearing large overalls and his head was shaved.

What had happened to him?

"How'd it happen?" Dale asked as everyone hugged each other,

"Hunting accident. That's all... Just a stupid accident." Rick answered,

Marcie spotted Vivian sitting on the porch, Liam next to her playing with some toys. She noticed the bandage around her elbow and approached her, "What happened to you?"

"Carl needed blood." Vivian stated, standing up and Marcie kept her steady, "Rick had already given two transfusions, couldn't risk another one."

"That's awfully nice of you." Marcie commented,

"Wanted to be helpful. Was the least I could do." She helped the brunette down the steps before reaching back and grabbing Liam,

Once everyone had caught up, they all walked over to a group of trees, where they began stacking rocks as a memorial for the man who had shot Carl. Otis had went to a refugee point with Shane to get medical supplies for Carl's surgery, but he ended up sacrificing himself, leaving Shane to bring back the supplies alone.

Vivian leaned against the tree, Liam sitting at her feet, while she watched as the Greene family and friends stack the rocks to create a memorial as Hershel read from the Bible,

"Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in Grace."

Marcie watched Shane, noticing how he was disassociating from what was going on in front of him. Something had happened on that mission. Something bad. Worse than Otis sacrificing himself.

"Shane, will you speak for Otis?" The younger man broke out of his trance and shook his head,

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry."

Patricia, Otis' wife, spoke, "You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please." She begged, "I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

They all watched as Shane limped forward, "Okay." He nodded, "We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We've got to save the boy.' See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. 'Run,' he said. He said, 'I'll take the rear. I'll cover you'. And when I looked back..." Shane didn't meet anyone's gaze as he spoke, "If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

Shane placed the rock on top of the memorial, concluding the service.

Everyone separated. They moved the cars a ways away from the house, under a patch of trees to spare them from the Georgia sun.

A few of them gathered by the Cherokee, waiting for Maggie to bring them a map of the land,

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked,

"This'll be day three." Rick answered, placing his sheriff hat on top of his head,

"County survey map." Maggie stated, standing between Marcie and Vivian as she rolled out the paper on the hood of the car, "Shows terrain and elevations."

Marcie grabbed some rocks from the ground to keep the map laid out, "This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick commented, "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

Hershel shook his head, "Not you. Not today. You gave two units of blood. So did you." He nodded over to Vivian, "You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle..." He turned to Shane, "Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just me." Daryl commented,

"And me." Marcie added, placing a hand on her hip,

He ignored her statement, "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."

"And I'll join you." She smirked at his narrowed eyes,

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back." Shane stated,

Rick nodded, "All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them." Shane brought up, which Andrea began really listen in on,

Marcie's ears also perked up. She wanted to learn how to shoot too, but had given away her gun to Jim before they went to the CDC,

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp." Hershel replied,

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane began but Rick interrupted,

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick set his Python on top of the map and Shane followed suit, with an unhappy look on his face, "First things first. Set camp, find Sophia."

Shane placed his hands on his hips,"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 stared down at the hood of the car. Vivian knew he hated the thought of Sophia being bit, and the guilt would just eat away at him even more, "You do what has to be done." He cleared his throat,

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie questioned,

"The truth." Andrea stated,

Shane grabbed his gun, "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."

They all turned to Hershel, since it had been made clear that he would be the decider. He hesitated, didn't say anything,

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Rick told him before the older man nodded silently, "Thank you."

Shane and Daryl began walking away and Marcie quickly followed behind, not wanting to be left behind.

"That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asked, glancing between Vivian and Rick,

Vivian shook her head, "Just what you've seen."

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

"Not the place Shane went?" Rick confirmed,

There was no way they'd sent someone back there. Not after what happened to Shane and Otis.

"No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before." The brunette replied,

Rick turned to see Glenn helping set up the camp, "See our man there in the baseball cap? That's Glenn, our go-to-town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious." Vivian opened her mouth to speak but Rick quickly shut her down, "No. You heard the doctor. You need rest."

"You don't even know what I was going to say?" Vivian frowned,

"Yes, I do." He smirked down at her, "No runs for you. Not yet." Rick squeezed her shoulder before she walked away.

She went into the RV to grab Liam, who Dale was watching, before going to set up their tent. Glenn came over to help her and Vivian smirked as Maggie stood behind him,

"I hear you're fast on your feet and know how to get in and out." Glenn quickly turned around and just stared at the farmer's daughter, "Got a pharmacy run. You in?"

"Uh..."

Vivian snickered and Glenn glared over at her,

"Miss," Dale walked over, "what's the water situation here?"

"Got five wells on our land. House draws directly from number one. Number-two well is right over there." She pointed over to the well that sat in the field, "We use it for the cattle but it's just as pure. Take what you need. There's a cart and containers in the generator shed behind the house." She turned back to Glenn, "I'll go saddle your horse then." She said before walking away,

Glenn glanced over at Vivian, "Horse?"

Vivian picked Liam up, "Yee-haw." She joked before walking back towards the RV to get the toddler a snack,

Marcella went to the RV, grabbing her pack that held her water and some snack before saying goodbye to Liam and Vivian and trying to find Daryl.

"Hey!" She called out when she spotted him walking towards the woods. He stopped and turned, waiting for her to catch up, "You trying to ditch me?"

He grunted, "Need to get a start before the sun starts to set."

"It's like 10 am... we have plenty of time." They began to walk towards the treeline, "So, what's the plan?"

"Imma head towards the north east. Go a few miles in, turn and go south before comin' back. Ya go southeast." Daryl answered, playing with the strap of his crossbow,

"So we're splitting up? Is that a good idea?" Marcie questioned,

"Cover more area tha' way." He grunted,

"I'm not a tracker, Daryl, what if I get lost? How am I supposed to know what to look for?" She asked,

Daryl stopped and turned to her, his face red. She was worried he was going to blow up on her for asking so many questions,

"Look, all ya need is ta do is go straight. Can' get lost that way. And yer lookin' for a little girl with blonde hair, got it?"

Marcie nodded and he began walking away, going to the right. She bit her lip before calling out his name again, "You're... you're not mad at me about last night, are you? About what I said?"

Daryl walked back over to her, "I ain't mad."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." He nodded, "You're the only one of these assholes out here lookin' for her anyway." He mumbled,

Marcie gave him a small smile, "I'll see you tonight then?"

He nodded again before walking away. Marcie watched him for a moment before sighing and heading towards the southwest section Daryl pointed to earlier.

Marcie did a zig zag through the forest, looking for what she would think a footprint would look like.

She stayed silent, not wanting to attract anything not alive to her. Every once in a while she would pause and take her knife, attempting to throw it at a tree for target practice, sighing when the handle would bounce off the bark.

Even though she couldn't shoot, she wanted to hunt and pull her weight. Maybe she should ask Daryl to teach her, if he wasn't sick of her already.

Marcie swore as her knife failed to stick to the tree. She bent over to pick it up and gasped as she came face to face with a biter. She fixed her grip on the knife, grabbing the dead by its' collar before stabbing it in the head. 

She sighed, looking up at the Georgia sun that stood tall in the sky. Marcie grabbed her water from her backpack, chugging some of it down before putting it back into her bag.

Marcie looked around the forest. It had been three days since Sophia had been missing.

Three days. Three days a person can go without water. 

Sophia can't hunt. Doesn't know how to collect water and boil it to make it safe. Can't make a fire.

All she can do is run and hide. But that would only keep her alive for so long.

In all honesty, she was only out there for Daryl and Rick. For his sanity, Rick needed to find this girl. He blames himself for loosing her, which he shouldn't, and if they don't find her, Marcie doesn't know how he would react.

As for Daryl? Marcie doesn't know what Daryl is so determined to find this kid. She had a feeling it had something to do with his own childhood.

She appreciated him telling a story from his childhood the previous night. Marcie had a feeling that he doesn't share often, and it felt nice that he trusted her enough to tell her something personal like that.

Marcie hummed for a moment before turning around and heading back towards the farm.