Undying Love

The memorial was emotional to say the least. Shane gave a speech explaining what happened last night and I think any bad opinions people may have had of Otis after shooting Carl were defiantly gone now. He was a brave man for what he did and although Patrica was still distraught by the fact she had lost him, I believe she found it comforting that he didn't die for nothing. She said she wanted it to mean something and I think everyone would agree that it certainly did.

~

"How longs this girl been missing?" Herschel asked, as a small group of us gathered around the hood of one of the cars. I was stood between Daryl and Shane as we waited for Maggie to come back with a map so that we could get ourselves organised in the search for Sophia. "This will be day three" Rick said, it not sounding great when you hear it said out-loud. "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations" Maggie said whilst rolling in out across the hood and placing small rocks in the corners to hold it down. Daryl leaned against me, trying to get a closer look but only ended up pushing me into Shane. "Sorry" I quickly said with a small, apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile on my face. "S'okay" he replied with a chuckle before his face settled into a smirk. I could feel Daryl's eyes on me but I was to scared to meet his gaze because I already knew what I'd be faced with and one pissed off Daryl was enough for one week. Its not like he has anything to be jealous about because that was the first time I had properly spoken to him directly in weeks. Besides, I was only apologies for barging into him when Daryl accidentally pushed me.

"This is perfect" Shane said from beside me, but I dared not look at him in-case Daryl still had his eyes on me. "We can finally get this thing organised. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams" Rick said, starting to sound hopeful that this might actually work. "Not you, not today," Herschel informed Rick. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking three minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle," he said, now averting his gaze upon Shane. "Push it now, you'll be laid up a month. No good to anybody." So far so good; the two main leaders of the group were out of action so the splitting into teams idea went straight out the window. "Guess its just me," Daryl stated, causing me to look at him in disbelief. Was this his way of telling me he didn't want me to go with him? "Im'ma head back to the creek, work my way from there" he said, leaning over the hood of the car to point it out to Rick on the map. "I can still be useful. Drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back" Shane pitched in, not one to be out done. "Alright, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right" Rick affirmed and it was good to hear that this was going to get done; not only for Sophia's sake but also for Carol's piece of mind. "That means we cant have our people out there with just knives. Need the gun training you've been promising" Shane said, the thought of proper training sounding like a good idea to me. I was already a pretty good shot because it was one of the first things Daryl taught me how to do when the world turned to shit, but a little extra practice would do me the world of good.

"I'd prefer you not carry guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp" Herschel said and although I didn't exactly like it, I respected what he said. However Shane was less so understanding. "With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wondering in here" he said with a sarcastic laugh. "We're guests here, this is your property and we will respect that" Rick said, empthasising it more to Shane then to the rest of us but I knew it still applied. Reluctantly Shane laid down his gun along with Rick and I would have too, but mine was already back in the gun bag. ""First things first, set camp, find Sophia" Rick said firmly, although we all pretty much knew the plan by now. "Look I hate to be the one to ask but somebody's got to, what happens if we find her and shes bit? Think we should all be clear on how we handle that" Shane said, which disgusted me to no-end. It wasn't so much the question because we did have to know, but it was the word he worded it like bothered me. "On how we handle that?" I repeated, the disgust clear in my voice. "Sophia isn't just some random walker that needs to be handled" I spat at him in an undertone voice, not wanting Carol to hear. "I didn't mean it to come across like that," he defended but I didn't care. "Try choosing your words more carefully next time" I bluntly said before turning my attention onto Rick again. I heard Daryl snigger a small laugh beside me and I made a mental note to ask him what he found so funny...that's if he was going to let me go with him.

"You do what has to be done" Rick stated shamefully. I think he still blamed himself for what happened, so the thought of her being a walker and having to shot her wasn't one he really liked to think about. "And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked him. If it did come to that, I'd hate to be around when they broke the news to her. Carol is a nice woman who's already had a pretty bad run of things with her husband, Ed. If she lost Sophia, I'm not sure she'd be able to cope. As I looked over at her she was helping set up the tents for camp with a small smile on her face from something that Glenn had said and I found myself smiling too. However my smile instantly straightened when Andrea answered Maggie's question with, "The truth."