𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝟐𝐱𝟎𝟐

WE had heard a gunshot ring throughout the woods. Lori had been worried that something went wrong with Shane, Rick, and Carl. She stopped walking with the rest of us and looked back. "You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked turning around and seeing Lori stop. "It was a gunshot." Lori stated. "We all heard it." Daryl said. "Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori wondered. "Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl suggested.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly." Lori argued. "Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol chimed in. "There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl stated. "So what do we do?" Lori asked. "Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway." Daryl responded. "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Andrea assured.

Lori looked back one more time before she started walking again. Glenn, Daryl, Lori, and I stopped walking and turned around at Andrea's voice. "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel." Andrea sympathized. "I suppose you do. Thank you. The thought of her out here by herself... It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." Carol said. I looked over at Glenn who had the same tight lipped expression as I did.

"Oh god. That's the worst thing I ever said." Carol said regretfully. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Andrea told her with her own tight lipped expression. "I'll tell you what it's worth, not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, and she's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord." Daryl piped up. "I hate to admit it but Daryl's right. She's gonna be just fine." I told Carol grabbing her shoulder and giving it a squeeze as she put her hand over mine and squeezed it back.

I looked over at Daryl who was already looking back at me. He turned his head back to the front after I caught him and kept walking. "Hey." Glenn whispered beside me grabbing my attention. "Yeah." I whispered back. "What's up with you and Daryl?" He asked. "Nothing." I said nonchalantly. He tilted his head and raised his eyebrows at me. "What? Nothing is happening I pinkie swear." I assured him. "You guys are nice to each other now and you send secret signals with your eyes." He whispered. "How the hell do you send secret signals with your eyes? I mean come on, seriously, nothing is happening. I wish I was getting laid but I'm not." I told him. "Your disgusting." He told me. "Why thank you little brother it helps me sleep at night." I whispered sending a cheeky smile his way.

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We took a stop after what felt like forever. "We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Daryl suggested. "Let's head back." Lori said. "We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked. "Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori replied. We all turned back around and started to head back to the highway. We had been trudging through grass, the sun had been gleaming so bright. We were all just pushing along to get back to the highway, I just know we burned a lot of calories. "How much farther?" Lori asked.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies." Daryl responded. "Too bad we're not crows." Andrea groaned. "Yeah I would kill for their wings right now." I sighed. We kept walking and out of nowhere we heard growling and Andrea screamed. "Andrea?" Carol called out. We quickly bolted in the direction of her screaming.

She had fallen down and a walker was above her snarling and growling. Before I could get out my sword a lady on a horse knocked down the walker with a bat. "Lori? Lori Grimes?" The woman on the horse called out, her southern accent being very prominent. What's with all the southern accents? It's like a rite of passage around here. "Whoa." The lady said to the horse. "I'm Lori." Lori said. "Rick sent me. You've got to come now." The lady said urgently. "What?" Lori asked. "There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've got to come now. Rick needs you. Just come." The lady urged her to get on the horse.

Lori was putting down her backpack and walking over to the lady on the horse. "Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl protested. "Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The lady said. "Uh-huh." Glenn nodded. "Backtrack to Fairborn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene. Hyah!" The lady said hastily before riding off in the other direction.

"What the hell just happened?" I mumbled. The walker got back up wheezing until Daryl shoot it with an arrow. "Shut up." He said. We hurriedly made it back to the highway to inform T-Dog and Dale of what was happening. "Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale questioned. "I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn responded. "You let her?" Dale asked Daryl. "Climb down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl argued before trudging away.

"I heard screams. Was that you?" Dale asked Andrea. She just kept walking. "She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call." Glenn told him. "Yeah, today was like really shitty Dale." I sighed while rubbing the sweat on my head. "Andrea, are you alright?" Dale called out. Andrea turned around and let out a visible sigh before turning back around and opening the RV door. Yeah today was a shitty day but we gotta get to this farm. We had to leave.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol disagreed. "Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale told her. "What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen." Carol said. "If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea backed up. "Ok. We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig up a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." Daryl offered. "If the RV is staying, I am too." Dale said. "Me three, you guys aren't staying out here by yourselves." I offered up.

"Thank you. Thank all three of you." Carol said with gratitude. I nodded my head in her direction. "I'm in." Andrea said raising her hand. "Well, if you're all staying then I'm-." Glenn started. I was about to cut him off and tell him no when Dale beat me to it. "Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take Carol's cherokee." Dale cut him off. "Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn scoffed. "You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke." Dale asserted.

We turned to Daryl to see him looking through his bag until he pulled out a bag of pill bottles. "Keep your oily rags off my brothers motorcycle." Daryl said to Dale while throwing him the rags. He placed the bag on top of the car and looked through them. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brothers stash. Crystal, X. Don't need that. Got some kick ass painkillers. Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." He continued while throwing the painkillers to my brother and the oxy whatever to Dale. Then he walked back over to his bag. Well who would've thought. Actually, I would've. Merle's nasty.

That is another chapter of Desolation. This one was shorter because all of the characters were in a bunch of different places so, everything was pretty spacey. This one was 1k words. I'm really trying to speed up Daryl and Ara because I'm excited for them. Anywho that's that I love you guys as always, vote, comment, do whatever. See ya!
-brayla❤️❤️