𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄

𝟐𝐱𝟎𝟒

AS soon as the daylight hit and we were all ready to go, we made our way to the Greene farm. Daryl in the front riding the motorcycle, Andrea and I in the car and Dale and Carol in the RV. We drove up to the front of the house and saw everyone spread out in front of it. Daryl turned the engine off on the motorcycle, Carol and Dale got out of the RV, and Andrea and I got out of the other car.

"How is he?" Dale spoke up asking the question all five of us wanted the answer to. "He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori answered motioning to the older guy behind her with white hair. "And Shane. We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick added on. Dale went up to Rick and hugged him while I went over to Glenn and hugged him. "Did you behave?" I asked him playfully. "I should be asking you that dumbass." He responded shoving me. I just laughed out loud until he soon joined.

I looked for T to see how he was doing with this arm. I walked up to him and hugged him. It was one big hug fest, Carol hugged Lori, Andrea went and hugged T-Dog after I did. I went over to Rick and hugged him too. "We were so worried." I told him. "Believe me I was too." He responded. I walked back over to Glenn. "How'd it happen?" Dale asked Rick out loud. "Hunting accident. That's all, just a stupid accident." Rick answered.

They were all about to hold a funeral for a guy named Otis who had went with Shane to get the stuff for Carl and didn't return. A girl with blonde hair who's name had been Beth, had stepped up and placed a rock on the big pile of rocks. I was standing in between Daryl and Glenn. "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. Shane, will you speak for Otis?" The guy referred to as Hershel prayed before directing a question towards Shane.

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry." Shane declined. "You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." A lady with blonde hair who I had learneds name was Patricia begged with tears running down her face. "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 explained. His voice was saying one thing but his body language and eyes looked nervous as if he was covering something up.

He then walked up towards the wheelbarrow that contained rocks and grabbed one. "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 continued before putting the rock on top of the pile.

After the funeral some of us were figuring out how to execute our plan for operation finding Sophia. I had my sword strapped over my head like a satchel to keep it with me at all times. "How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked. "This'll be day three." Rick responded as a girl with short brown hair, who's name was Maggie, walked over with a rolled up paper in her hand. "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." She told us with her heavy southern accent as she unrolled the paper and placed it on the hood of the car before placing two rocks on the edges to keep it from flying away.

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams." Rick said. "Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle, push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody." Hershel shut down both Rick and Shane. "Guess it's just me and Ara." Daryl said while looking up at me and I nodded agreeing. "We're gonna head back to the creek, work our way from there." Daryl said. "Somebody's gotta back him up." I added. I saw Daryl glance at me while I was talking in my peripheral vision.

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back." Shane told us. "All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right." Rick said. "That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them." Shane stated. "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp." Hershel voiced his opinion. "All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane trailed.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick said while looking at Shane specifically. He put his colt python on the hood of the car and Shane reluctantly put his on the hood also. "First things first: set camp, find Sophia." Rick announced. "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." Shane told him. "You do what has to be done." Rick said while lowering his head.

"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie questioned. "The truth." Andrea chimed in. I didn't miss the looks that Maggie and Hershel made to each other, making secret signals with their eyes. Wait is that what Glenn meant? I was pulled out of my thoughts by Shane. "I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no ones carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience." Shane directed towards Hershel. Hershel didn't say anything and looked as if he was in deep thought.

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Rick said trying to convince him. Hershel then nodded his head to which Rick told him thank you. Daryl and Shane walked off. I tapped Daryl and asked if he could wait for me and he nodded before walking off. "That stuff you brought, got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asked. "Just what you've seen." Andrea told her before walking off.

"We're running short already. I should make a run into town." Maggie said looking at Hershel. "Not the place Shane went?" Rick asked. "No, there's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before." She answered. "My brother could go with you, the one in the baseball cap. His name is Glenn." I told her before pointing towards my brother. "Him and Ara are our go-to-town experts. I'd ask him along just to be cautious." Rick backed me up. I patted Rick on the shoulder before walking towards Glenn.

"I'm heading out with Daryl." I told him. He looked up at me and said, "With Daryl huh?" He asked grinning. "You suck I'm out." I told him before walking away to go look for Daryl. I saw Daryl walking out of the house and jogged up to him. "Hey you actually waited for me. I didn't think you would, figured you would've left me hanging." I told him while walking beside him. "I said I would." He grumbled.

"I only figured you wouldn't cause your mostly by yourself and don't really talk to anyone in the group." I told him he only kept walking. This dude is making it hard for me to get to know him, and he's super confusing. We were walking through a bunch of trees when an old house came into view. I took my sword out of the scabbard while he took an arrow from the crossbow.

He kicked open the door with his foot, and had the crossbow held in the air. We walked in slowly towards the two different rooms. I checked the one on the right while he checked the one on the left, when we found nothing we met in the center of the hallway to find the back door opened. He walked in front of me while I stayed behind him just in case. He walked into the room that was close to the back door to see if anyone or anything were in there. I started to walk up the stairs to check upstairs while he checked another room downstairs. I checked the three rooms only
to find no Sophia. It was all just a bunch of old clothes scattered everywhere and empty cans of food, which sucks because I'm kind of hungry.

I made my way down the stairs to see Daryl waiting at the bottom for me before we made our way through the back door. "Sophia!" We shouted simultaneously. He went to the left I went to the right while both shouting for Sophia again only to be met with silence. I turned around to see Daryl crouching down by two white flowers. Someone's got a secret admirer.

"Ready?" I asked him. He looked back at me and nodded before telling me to give him a minute. I told him okay and let him do his thing, while I stood there for a second and took in my surroundings. Without all the growling and snarling, it actually sounded somewhat peaceful out here. In my peripheral vision I saw him start to walk back but the roses on the ground were gone.

"Someone's got a crush. You gonna tell me who it is?" I questioned playfully while eyeing the back of his head. "No. If I did you ain't gon know about it." He grumbled before picking the white roses and holding onto them. "And here I was thinking one of them was for me. Guess I'll have to get one in my dream." I teased while smiling at him. He squinted towards me and said, "Your sum else."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment Mr. Poison Oak." I laughed before walking ahead of him. "Yeah whatever." I heard him remark from behind me. As we're walking back he sparked up a conversation. "Why you always offer up yourself to come and help me find Sophia?" He questioned. I stopped walking for a second and sighed before responding to him. "I know I don't know her all that much, but she's a sweet kid and she doesn't deserve to be stuck out there all alone in this world, especially not this one. I'm not gonna stop looking for her, even if it kills me because she deserves to be with her mother. If I had a kid I'd want someone to help me look for mine." I ranted wholeheartedly.

"As for you, you have a big heart you may not show it or express that you do, but it's there and Sophia deserves someone like you looking for her out there." I continued while searching his blue eyes for anything. He was biting his nail and looking down before he spoke up again. "She deserves someone like you too." He stated softly before his eyes met up with mine.

"I think that might be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me Mr. Poison Oak." I joked while smiling brightly. "You best stop calling me that." He pointed his finger at me before walking ahead. "Oh come on! I like the name!" I exclaimed before catching up to him.

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When we got back to the Greene farm we had diverged paths he went off somewhere, while I went to go find Glenn and ask how the run went with Maggie. I looked for him by the tents we had set up "camp" at close to Hershel's farm. I walked over to our tent that we shared to see if he was in there and he was. I crouched down and ducked my head through the door to properly take a seat.

I saw him messing with the baseball cap in his hand. "Hey." I said breaking the silence. I had only ever saw him like this a few times in our life. "So, what's up with your face?" I asked. He looked at me and sighed before telling me about Maggie. "I had sex with Maggie." He dragged out.

"YOU GOT LAID?!?" I shouted excitedly. "Keep it down." He shushed me while covering my mouth. I removed his hand and smiled before whispering along with him. "You got laid?" I grinned. I looked his facial expression over and my grin went to a frown. You'd think he'd be happier I mean he got laid during the apocalypse. I want to get laid during the apocalypse!

"What's wrong?" I asked. I wasn't exactly fond of the look on his face. Did he like...finish and she didn't? "She keeps giving me mixed signals and she told me it was only a one time thing when she initiated it first." He told me. "Okay, little bro woman are weird like that sometimes and I say this because I'm weird like that too. She's probably thinking about what would happen if her dad knew or she's worried about getting close because we won't be around forever. She'll probably come around and make her feelings for you clear." I advised.

"Now, for the question that's really on my mind is was it good?" I cracked a smile at him and he shoved my shoulder and cracked a smile too. "Oh come on your not gonna tell me? I'm your sister." I groaned. "There are some things you don't need to know Ara." He said. "Alright alright fine, but heed my advice just give her a second to see where this is headed." I reiterated holding out my hand. He shook on it before bringing me into a hug. I embraced his warmth and rubbed his back.

He pulled away first and gave me a sly grin. "Oh no nope this isn't about me, this is about you and Maggie." I shook my head. "Oh come on I've been waiting all day to hear about it!" He groaned. "There are some things you don't need to know Glenn." I quoted him from earlier. "Traitor." He scoffed. "Dumbass." I retorted before throwing a pillow at him. "Your such a man beater, Daryl dodged a bullet." He remarked.

"Oh yeah? Well so did Maggie." I laughed out before he threw a pillow back at me. "Ok ok but all jokes aside you've got this. It's all gonna work out and before you know it she'll say she loves you just like I do. Well, in more of a relationship way, but you know what I meant." I said while smiling softly. "So will Daryl. I see your glances towards each other. You follow him to go find Sophia, but also to watch his back and keep him safe. You care about him and it shows, before you know it he'll be saying he loves you just like I do too." He said restating what I said at the end of my rant.

We smiled at each other before laughing at our heart felt rants. I genuinely did believe that Maggie would fall in love with him because he's a lovable person. I just don't know about Daryl being able to eventually fall in love with me. I couldn't see it but apparently Glenn could, so I had hope for it.

Anywhooo guys that was chapter 10 of desolation I had some time during my nail appointment to fix it up and we got to 2k words so there's that. Ara and Daryl are slowly but surely getting to know one another and I'm excited for people to see it unfold. I love you guys vote, comment, give me your thoughts, I'm not a professional writer I'm a 16 year old so I can use all the tips I can get. Anywhooo I love you guys I hope all of your days are going great. "Thanks for stopping by." 💀😭imma do that at the end of every chapter from now on.
-brayla❤️❤️