In the Shallows

Rick laid out the various sharp items Carl had found when Daryl, Rick, and I had been searching for Sophia. I scanned over them, they were so pretty sharp weapons. He spoke up, his tone dark, "Everybody takes a weapon."

Andrea scoffed, her eyes narrowing, "These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?"

Shane kicked off the RV, getting a little annoyed, "We've been over that. Daryl, Alex, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

She gave me a dirty look, "It's not the trees I'm worried about. Why does she get to carry a gun and I can't." I was perfectly fine with Andrea up until this point, if it weren't for Daryl stepping slightly in front of me, I would have clawed her eyes out. I couldn't help it, I'm a woman and the woman's natural enemy is other women.

Shane groaned, "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. With that being said, it's you and Alex standing there and a walker comes out of nowhere. What are you going to do, hm?"

Andrea scoffed, "Shoot it."

He nodded, looking in my direction, "What about you, Alex?"

I chewed my lip, "Just a single walker?"

Shane nodded, "Yup, just a single walker, in the middle of the woods."

I crossed my arms, looking away from Andrea, "Find a different way to kill without using my gun. A rock? I don't know where it came from, whether it was just a loner or if it strayed from a group. I can't risk it."

Shane nodded again, his cold eyes flickering towards her, "Exactly. You don't have the mentality to think things through, Andrea. In this world it's about quick thinking. You ain't got that just yet. So you need to get over it."

I wanted to laugh but I didn't, I turned my head as Daryl started speaking, "The idea is to take the creek up bout five miles, turn 'round and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

I walked over towards Daryl, giving him a pressed smile, I rubbed his bicep. I knew that finding Sophia meant a lot to him. I could see it in his eyes and the way he was talking to Carol the other night really confirmed it. Daryl wouldn't stop until he found her and that scared me. If we didn't find her dead or alive, he wouldn't stop. I knew Daryl like the back of hand and I would never be able to have in my heart to not help him. I turned around the second I heard Andrea's voice rising, it was a little awkward. I understood how she felt though, the C.D.C. was the way out, quick and painless. It was a perfect end to the nightmare we live in, but I would never admit that out loud. Daryl would have my head.

After her little episode with Dale, we all started on our way. Daryl was leading with me following closely behind, he didn't like the idea of me being too far away from him and I argued that I was perfectly fine but you can never really truly win an argument with him. We had been walking for a good twenty or thirty minutes before we came up to a little campsite with a single tent. Daryl and I crouched low with the others following along.

Shane spoke up lightly, "She could be in there."

Daryl shrugged, "Could be a whole bunch of things in there." He got up, motioning for me to follow him, which I did. Because apparently I'm his little puppy dog. I swore that the more time I spent with him out with this group, the more snippy and snappy I felt.

It was Daryl, Rick, Shane, and I walking cautiously towards the little tent. Daryl handed me his crossbow, giving me small little notions with his hands and his eyes. He pulled out his knife, both of us walking slowly towards the opening of the tent. I walked out a little wider out, aiming the bow towards the opening while Daryl was walking up to it. He peered inside but didn't see anything so he walked around it to look through one of the peep windows, but he had no luck. He glanced towards Rick and Shane and shrugged his shoulders. He stood a little ways away from the slit in the entrance and waited for Carol to call for Sophia. If a geek walked out and I missed for some odd reason, Daryl would get it quickly with his knife.

After a few tries of her calling out for her, Daryl started to unzip the tent which in my eyes looked like a straight up suicide, but I knew better to question his motives. I firmly gripped the bow, my finger hovering over the trigger in case anything bad were to happen. The second he fully opened it, he started coughing, and then they all started to cough. I made a slight high pitched noise in my throat when Daryl stepped inside, was he fucking crazy?

"Daryl?" Carol called out.

He emerged a few seconds later, "It ain't her." Andrea asked who was in there and he responded that it was just a guy and he had opted out just like Jenner said. I walked towards him, my eyes slightly narrowed as I handed him his crossbow. He responded with a slight and short lived smirk. I shook my head and failed to not return the smirk. I heard faint church bells, looking up, I strained my ears. Suddenly everyone hearing them too, Daryl gave me a look, "Where's it comin' from, Lex?"

Everyone gave each other confused glances before Daryl explained that I had a good sense of hearing and could tell which direction most noises were coming from. He also slightly joked that's why he took me on most hunting trips back before this world went crazy. I pointed past the tent, "That way." We all started sprinting towards the sound before we came to an open part of the woods, Rick asking me which direction. I stood still, telling everyone to stop moving, I closed my eyes and listened. I pointed straight, "It's coming from there."

In just a short few minutes we came to a Church, Shane turning towards me, "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. You led us to the wrong one."

Daryl cut in, "Hey."

I pressed my lips, "I swear this is it." I didn't get a response, everyone was too preoccupied with Rick running full speed ahead. I groaned, I was suddenly sick of running. In seconds we come to the Church doors, Rick slowly and quietly opened the door, revealing three geeks sitting like they were praying for God. It made me sick. They all turned, groaning and moaning. I watched as they impressively took out the three of them with no hesitation. They had become fearless and driven with determination. I cringed as Rick yelled out for Sophia.

Shane gritted his teeth, "I'm telling you, it's the wrong Church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." He pointed towards me, "She led us to the wrong one. We're wasting our time searching this place."

We all jumped as the loud bells we had heard just moments ago rang loud and clear, my eyes narrowed, "I got the wrong Church, Shane?" Daryl pushed past us all and we all followed shortly behind, making our way to the front of the church and sighing in defeat. Glenn rushed towards the little mechanical box and ripped out the mechanism, shutting the bells off.

Daryl looked genuinely upset, "A timer. It's on a timer." We all headed back inside after Carol had decided to talk with God. I stood in the back next to Daryl. The second Carol started speaking, my heart started aching. Half way through her little talk, my hand reached out and grabbed Daryl's, a tear falling down my face. I glanced over at him, his blue eyes giving me that sort of comfort I had always looked for when I was little girl. I was thankful that he didn't yank or try to pull away from me, it was like he knew I needed it. After that whole thing we all met up back outside, waiting for Rick and Shane to make the call on what to do.

Shane came walking towards all of us, I could tell he wasn't too happy about what was going to be coming out of his mouth, "Ya'll gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back. Search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"Splittin' us up, you sure?" Daryl and I exchanged glances.

Shane nodded, "Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

I pursed my lips as Carl begged to go with the two of them, I had a strange feeling something was going to go wrong. And I hated that feeling because lately? It was proving to be stronger and stronger with each feeling I got. I turned towards Daryl, "Should I go with them? I mean when it's get darker out, they might lose their way."

Daryl was about to object but Rick beat him to it, "That sounds like a good idea."

Daryl scoffed, "Hell no. She's my responsbility. I ain't lettin' her go without me."

I swallowed hard, "Daryl-"

"-No, Lex. Ya ain't goin'."

I gritted my teeth, a noise that sounded like a demon came forth from my throat. I bit my lip, "Excuse us for a second." I pulled him harshly away from the group and looked him in the eyes, "You gotta let me go." I put my hand up to stop him, "Stop. Nothing's going to happen to me, Daryl. Nothing. There's going to come a time where you're going to have to let me go."

He made a strange noise in this throat, "I ain't ever gon' let you go, Lex. Ya can't go. I already lost Merle, can't lose ya too. I already told ya that."

I sighed, "You and I both know that you can drop me in the middle of the woods and I'd find my way back. Because you taught me. There's no one else more knowledgable aside from you. If them three get lost. That's four people that we have to try to find." I placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a slight smile, "Will you please let me go?"