CHUPACABRA

It was a new day. We had gathered to discuss the plan to find Sophia

"Morning, guys. Let's get going. We've got a lot of ground to cover. All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Y/n had found, she might have gone farther east than we've been so far" Rick explained

"I'd like to help" Jimmy spoke up as he walked over. We all turned

"I know the area pretty well and stuff" Jimmy explained. I smiled

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you" Jimmy said

"All right then. Thanks" Rick said. Jimmy nodded

"Nothing about what Daryl and Y/n found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse" Shane said

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea asked

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high" Daryl said putting his hand out. I nodded

"It's a good lead" Andrea said

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again" Rick said

"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her" Daryl said

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too" T-Dog said

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked

"You never heard this?" Dale asked

"No" I said turning to look at Dale

"Our first night at camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra" Dale said putting a rifle on the hood of the car. Me and Jimmy laughed

"What are you two jackasses, laughing at?" Daryl asked me and Jimmy

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Jimmy asked

"I just- you're the last person I would expect to believe in that. I'm not judging you, it's just funny with how much it doesn't match your personality" I said laughing

"Okay, asshole and, do you believe dead people walking around?" Daryl asked. Jimmy's smiled dropped. He went to grab the rifle but Rick stopped him

"Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked as he took the rifle

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one" Jimmy said

"That was not a yes" I said

"Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees" Daryl said fixing his crossbow that was on his back. He then walked off

"Why don't you come train tomorrow? If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor" Shane explained to Jimmy

"For now he can come with us" Andrea said

"He's yours to babysit then" Shane said. I walked off. I was wandering until Daryl came up to me. He was riding a horse

"You need something?" I asked. He scoffed

"Are you coming or not?" He asked. I was shocked he even asked me

"Yeah, I'm coming" I said as I grabbed my bag

"Well, get the hell on. We ain't got all day" He said. I got onto the back of the horse. I wrapped my arms around Daryl's waist as the horse began moving. We left the farm and were moving towards where ever Daryl wanted to go. He suddenly stopped the horse and grabbed his crossbow. He then shot an arrow at a squirrel

"You sure love your squirrel" I said with a teasing grin. He rolled his eyes. He guided the horse towards the squirrel that had an arrow in it. He then grabbed it and took the squirrel off

"Put this in your bag" He said. I took the dead squirrel and put it in my bag. The horse kept trotting along. We were going down a hill. He was looking to the side

"Whoa" He said. The horse stopped

"What is it?" I asked. He didn't respond as he got off the horse. I followed in suit. He tied the horse to a nearby tree with some rope. He then began walking down the hill. I followed him

He took the crossbow off of his shoulder and then we continued walking down the hill. We saw water and some tree branches. We walked through the water, my shoes had become soaked along with my socks. There was something in the water. Daryl bent down and picked it up. It was a doll. I took a closer look at it and my eyes widened

"That's the doll Eliza gave Sophia" I said

"She was here" Daryl said

"Sophia!" I yelled as we both looked around. There was no response. We both walked back to the horse. I untied it as Daryl got on. I then hopped on

Daryl turned the horse around and we began moving uphill. Birds flew through and were screeching. The horse jumped a little

"Whoa. Easy, easy. Come on" Daryl said as we continued on. Something had startled the horse causing it to jump up higher than last time. I fell off the horse and my back hit the ground. I groaned in pain as Daryl tried steadying the horse but failed. He had fallen off and was rolling down the hill. I got up as the horse ran off

"Daryl!" I yelled as I heard a splash of water. I did my best to maneuver down the steep hill without falling

"Son of a bitch" I heard Daryl say. I got closer and saw the water he was laying in, turning red.

"I'm almost there" I said as I jumped into the water

"Hurry your ass up" He said in pain. I walked over and helped him up.

"I need you on a dry surface so I can see your wound" I said as we walked slowly to some firm ground. He grunted with every step. I realized he had been stabbed with his own arrow. We got to the dry land and Daryl fell to his knees. He pulled out a knife and cut his own sleeves

"If you're thinking of pulling that arrow out, I suggest not doing that. It'll make the bleeding worse" I said. He completely ignored me and tied the sleeves of his shirt together. He then tied it around the arrow. Grunting with every pull

"I'm not a dumbass. I wouldn't pull it out" He said as he looked up. I followed his eyes. He was looking at the hill that was too steep to climb up. Daryl stood up and groaned in pain. I went to help him but he slapped my hand away. I scoffed

"Fine, don't come to me when you can't walk" I said. Daryl ignored me and picked up a sturdy stick. We heard rustling, and we turned our heads in the direction of the noise. We continued to hear it. Daryl went to grab his crossbow but it wasn't there. He walked back into the water with the stick to find it

"I have a knife" I said

"I want my bow" He said. He kept looking until he pulled it out of the water. He then went to the steep area. I took his bow and put it on my back

"I'm helping you up, okay?" I asked. He scoffed. I went up a little bit ahead struggling to get farther. Daryl followed behind me as he groaned. I continued up and so did he. I could hear him breathing heavily

"Maybe we shouldn't do this" I said as I stopped

"Just keep going!" He yelled at me. I continued going. He groaned with every move he made. We had made it quite aways up. I heard a stick drop and some rocks sliding. We continued on

"Oh, come on. You've done half. Stop being such a pussy. Come on" Daryl told himself. I stopped as I heard Daryl breathing heavily. I heard something snap. My eyes went wide as I turned. Daryl had begun to roll back down

"Daryl!" I yelled as he hit the ground. I began climbing my way back down. It took me about five to ten minutes. I ran over to Daryl. He was out of it

"Daryl?" I asked as I kneeled down beside him. His eyes were closed

"Daryl?" I asked. His eyes opened and his head turned as he looked at me

"You're awake" I said relieved. Daryl smirked, but it was weird. He was looking straight at me, but it felt like he didn't see me

"Merle" Daryl said. I looked at him confused. I looked around trying to figure out why the hell he would call me Merle?

"Daryl?" I asked

"A shitty day, bro" Daryl said making no sense

"Daryl, can you hear me?" I asked

"Screw you" Daryl said still completely out of it. I hoped he wasn't talking to me, because I would've left him to die

"Daryl? Hello?" I asked as I waved my hand in front of his face

"A girl. They lost a little girl" Daryl said barely above a whisper. His eyes closed now. I took part of my sleeve and ripped it. I got closer to Daryl and put his head in my lap. I opened the bag I brought and pulled out a water bottle. I opened it and poured some water on my ripped sleeve. I then closed the water bottle and put it back in the bag. I used the soaked sleeve to start cleaning the blood on Daryl's face

"You better treat me like I'm a God when I get you back to the farm" I said

"Shut up" Daryl said as I dabbed his face

"Looks like you nicked yourself pretty good" I muttered

"Tried like hell to find you, bro" Daryl said

"Do I look like your bro, hoe?" I asked him as I finished cleaning the blood. I found the source of the wound and began applying pressure

"You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you. Rick and I, we did right by him" Daryl explained

"I ain't nobody's bitch" Daryl said. He began to fall unconscious. I tapped him

"Hey. Stay with me" I said. I heard a walker coming. I moved Daryl's head to the ground. I got up and took out my knife. It was coming my way. I got close enough and quickly killed it. Another one had come and was going towards Daryl. Daryl became lucid and began moving away. I ran over and killed it before it could hurt him. Daryl just laid on the ground

"You done dreaming, redneck?" I asked

"The hell you talking about?' He asked panting

"Nevermind" I said. Daryl sat up. He took the arrow out of his side. He used his shirt to soak the blood up, leaving him in an undershirt

"We need to get going. The longer we wait the worse your injury's gonna get" I said helping him up. He groaned

"I know. Son of a bitch was right" He said as he took my bag. He walked away with it. He sat down on a log and began cutting up the squirrel. I sat on the other side. He began eating it. I wasn't really hungry and I could wait to eat. He needed it more anyways since he was injured. Though it would've been nice if he offered. Once he finished, I watched him cut off walker ears and turn it into a necklace with shoelaces. I stared at him like he was crazy. I watched him put the ear necklace around his neck

"Let's get the fuck outta here" He said. I picked the bag up and put it over my shoulder. We began to climb the steep hill once again. I could hear Daryl grunting as he breathed heavily. I heard him cry out a little as he tried to move up but couldn't. Birds screeched and Daryl looked up. He then turned to his right. He looked like he saw something and then looked down. He tried to move up

"I liked it better when you was missing" Daryl said

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I got up. I held my hand out for Daryl to take. He quickly took it and I helped him up

"Yeah? Since when?" Daryl asked. It was like after our hands stopped touching I disappeared

"You never took care of me. You talk big game but you was never there. Hell, you ain't here now. Some things never change" Daryl said panting. He then started getting angry as he talked to thin air

"I know what I saw" Daryl said. My guy was hallucinating big time

"You'd best shut the hell up" Daryl said

"Daryl.. who the fuck are you talking to? No one's there" I said. Daryl looked at me. He then glared

"Mind your damn business" He said. I rolled my eyes

"No, thank you, or anything. Fucking asshole" I said as we began walking towards the farm. I wrapped Daryl's arm around my shoulder as I watched him stumble over himself

"Come on, we're almost there" I said. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked.. until finally we came to a clearing. One that made the farm visible. Footsteps ran towards us. I looked up to see Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog. Rick pointed a gun at us

"The fuck are you doing? Daryl needs help" I said

"That's Daryl?" Glenn asked. Daryl was angry at Rick

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl asked. Rick put his gun down

"We need to get you inside. Your wound will get infected" I said

"Jesus Christ you're annoying" Daryl said. I moved in front of him

"You know, I saved your ass. And all you can do is be a fucking jerk. God, maybe I should've left your sorry ass in that lake. Ungrateful bastard" I said glaring at Daryl. He glared back. Suddenly a gunshot went off. I felt something hit my stomach. I yelled out in pain as I fell to the ground

"Son of a fucking bitch!" I yelled out. I had just been shot. Blood spilled from my wound as I laid on the ground

"No! No! Stop!" I heard Rick yell

"Holy shit" Daryl muttered as my shirt was painted red

"Daryl, and Y/n both need medical attention" Glenn said

"If we move her, she might bleed out" T-Dog said

"The bullet didn't go through" Rick said. I panted as I struggled to deal with the pain. Rick and Shane helped me up. It felt like I was dying. That's the only way I could describe it

"It hurts" I said as they put my arms around their shoulders. I then felt my conscious slip from me. My eyes closing and the rest became blank

-----

When I awoke, my eyes had struggled to adjust to the light

"She's waking up" I heard a voice say

"Y/n" I heard Maggie say. I turned to see Maggie and Beth

"She really is awake" Beth said. Maggie and Beth had red and puffy eyes

"Were you guys crying?" I asked. They both wiped their faces

"No, of course not" Maggie said

"We definitely were not crying" Beth said. I laughed only to groan in pain

"Don't laugh. Got that" I said gritting my teeth

"You had us worried. Daddy fixed you up. I told him if you died, I would kill him" Maggie said winking at me

"It's 'cause you love me" I say winking back. We all laughed until I groaned in pain again

"Maybe you should stop laughing" Beth said

"Thank you, if only I could control such habits" I said

"Sarcastic as always" Maggie muttered. Beth's eyes widened

"I gotta do something" She said

"Like go make out with Jimmy?" Maggie asked with a smirk. Beth's cheeks darkened

"No, I'm helping Patricia make dinner.. bye" Beth said before scurrying out

"She's totally going to see Jimmy" Me and Maggie said

"Great minds think alike" Maggie said.

"Glenn's been acting funny. What's been going on between y'all?" I asked. Maggie's eyes went wide

"How did-" I cut her off

"Glenn's easy to read. Like really easy. And condoms fell out of his pocket" I said. Maggie facepalmed

"How did you decipher it was me?" She asked

"'Cause Glenn's got googly eyes for you. I mean who wouldn't? You're hot" I said. She laughed

"Not as hot as you" She said winking

"Are we about to make out?" I asked biting my lip. She began bursting out in laughter as I did too. I ignored the pain in my side

"What's so funny?" I heard Glenn ask. We looked at eachother and began laughing harder until I felt a strong spike in pain causing me to groan loudly. Maggie's face had worried written all over it

"Y/n, there's something I gotta tell you, but I'll tell you later" Maggie said as she stared at me concerned

"It feels like I'm on fire" I said as my face cringed in pain

"Damn, you're kinda a pussy" I heard Daryl say

"Says the one who was hallucinating and couldn't even kill a walker" I said

"I'm gonna go find some more bandages. Come on, Glenn" Maggie said as she stood up. She dragged Glenn out leaving just me and Daryl

"How's your side?" I asked

"Fine, your stomach?" He asked

"Could be better" I said

"Thanks, I guess" He said. A mischievous grin appeared on my face for a small second. An innocent like look on my face replaced it

"For what?" I asked 'confused'. Daryl looked unamused

"I'm not stupid" He says. I drop the act

"Just please my ears by telling me what they want to hear. It's your payment since it's your fault I got shot" I said. He scoffed

"Thanks for saving my ass. Get better" He said before walking out. I felt proud of myself

(3013 words)
11/09/21

Edited: 07/08/22