Firecracker

Everyone sat around the fire, eating the eggs that Carol had fixed. It was quiet and made Raine feel uneasy. Her stomach was twisting and turning, the urge to vomit crawling up her throat. She swallowed, forcing the feeling back down and looked up at Daryl who was focused on his breakfast.

When nobody was paying attention, she reached her hands up and placed it on his thigh. He jumped slightly under her touch and his whole body tensed. He wasn’t used to her touching him outside of sex, but it was nice. He looked down at her and felt his lips tug into a tiny smile.

”Um, guys.” Glenn called out nervously. Everyone turned their attention to him and waited patiently for him to continue.

”So, the barn is full of walkers.”

Raine stared at Glenn with wide eyes, hoping that she was just hearing things. That he hadn’t just said what he said. She looked up at Daryl who was looking right back at her, his eyes telling her everything that he couldn’t verbally say. She set down her plate and picked up her crossbow, slinging it over her shoulder as she stood up from the ground.

She followed Rick and everyone else over to the barn, Daryl close behind her. He didn’t want her anywhere near that barn, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to convince her to go back. There were plenty of people near that barn, so if something were to happen, she would be protected.

Shane stepped forward and put his face inches away from the barn, peering inside to see what exactly was there. There was a loud growl and he jerked his head back violently.

”You cannot tell me you’re alright with this.” He growled to Rick who was holding a firm glare at his best friend.

”No, I’m not, but we’re guests here. This isn’t our land.” Rick pointed out, but Shane was barely listening.

”This is our lives!” He countered. Raine stepped in, rolling her eyes out of annoyance.

”Shane, lower your voice! I agree with Rick on this. If we take it into our own hands, it could ruin everything we have going for us now. We’ll be back on that road, living day to day. It’s never going to completely stop, but I don’t want that again. We just need to talk to Hershel and find out what he’s okay with.”

It was odd for Raine to be the voice of reason for once. She was usually the one that acted on impulse, that acted first and then thought later. Everything she said though was true. She knew that they were never going to catch a break, but they could at least not do anything to make their lives harder.

”We can’t just sweep this under the rug.” Andrea chimed in, earning a harsh glare from the younger Grimes sibling.

”It ain’t right. Not remotely.” T-Dog shook his head.

”Okay, we’ve either got to go in there, we’ve got to make things right or we’ve just got to go. Now, we’ve been talking about Fort Benning for a long time.” Shane pressed and Raine shook her head.

”No. No military bases, facilities, whatever.”

”Why the hell not?” Andrea asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

”Think about it for a second. You think if we roll up and ask for their help they’re just gonna let us in? No, they’ll help us by putting bullets into our heads.”

”We can’t go.” Rick agreed, his voice softer but still just as firm.

”Why, Rick? Why?” Shane was having a hard time wrapping his head around why exactly they couldn’t leave.

”Because my daughter is still out there.” Carol squeaked, her eyes brimming with tears. Raine pressed her lips together tightly and shot her a sympathetic look. Shane scoffed and ran his hands down his face.

”Okay. Okay, I think it’s time that we all start to just consider the other possibility.”

”We’re not leaving Sophia behind, Shane.” Raine said harshly to put emphasis on her words.

”I’m close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago.” Daryl pointed out, finally having something to say about all of this.

”You found her doll, Daryl. That’s what you did. You found a doll.” At this point, the argument was between Shane and Daryl and Raine could see this ending badly.

”You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Daryl lunged for Shane, but Raine and Rick were quick on their feet. They put themselves between them and tried to keep things from escalating.

”I’m just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it’s in the first forty-eight hours. Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you comin’ all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!” At this point, there was nothing Raine could do to keep the two of them from killing each other. She moved out of the way and watched, waiting for the blows to come.



Raine sat in the barn, watching as Daryl started saddling up a horse. He was going out to look for Sophia and despite Raine’s complaints, he was going anyway. He was determined and she knew that she wouldn’t win this one.

”You okay?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. Raine lifted her head, a smirk playing on her lips.

”Yeah, I’m okay. Just, that stuff with Shane today pissed me off.”

”Well, what do you think we should do?”

”I can’t give up, Daryl. I feel like we’re so close, I can almost taste it. If we just up and leave...she.... We would be leaving her for dead. We just have to push a little more.”

At that moment, Carol walked into the barn and over to Raine and Daryl, her arms wrapped around her waist as if she was trying to hold herself together.

”You can’t.” Was all she said. Raine licked her lips and looked down at her boots, biting her tongue.

”I’m fine.” Daryl snapped back, picking up the heavy saddle with a small grunt. Raine winced, feeling his pain.

”Hershel said you need to heal.”

”Yeah, I don’t care.”

”Well, I do. Rick’s going out later to follow the trail.” Carol pointed out, hoping that he would listen for once.

”Yeah well, I ain’t gonna sit around and do nothing.” He mumbled, setting the saddle down so that he could grab the bridle.

”No, you’re gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse. We don’t know if we’re gonna find her, Daryl. We don’t. I don’t.” The moment the words left her mouth, Raine and Daryl both looked to her with slightly widened eyes.

”What?” He asked for the both of them.

”Can’t lose you too.”

Daryl rubbed his nose quickly and felt anger surge through him. In the blink of an eye, he angrily knocked the saddle to the ground, wincing when he pulled his stitches. Carol gasped and walked over to him, lightly touching his arm and back.

”Are you alright?”

”Just leave me be! Stupid bitch.” And with that, he exited the barn. Raine sighed and walked up to Carol.

”I’m not agreeing with him calling you a bitch, but you shouldn’t have said that to him. He has spent so much time lookin’ for your little girl, to hear you, her mother, give up is too much for him.”

Raine followed after Daryl for a short while until she saw that he was just going off to the little pond not too far from the house. She headed towards the home and walked inside as soon as she reached it. Daryl needed to calm down, if she were to go after him he would just attack her. Sighing she grabbed a bottle of water and left the house. Hershel didn’t really want them inside, so she didn’t want him to catch her.

Raine sat down on a rocking chair on the porch and pulled out a cigarette, putting it between her lips and lighting it. As she blew the smoke out, Patricia and Beth came outside, both giving her a glare. She smile apologetically and quickly moved off of the porch.

Soon after Beth and Patricia came out, Glenn and Maggie showed up and sat down on one of the steps. It was odd to see that in a way, their small group had expanded. Hershel was still apprehensive, but he was accepting none the less. It brought Raine comfort to know that they had more people watching their backs.

Her mind drifted to Daryl and a small smile stretched across her lips. Finding Sophia meant so much to him, he saw it as his redemption. He had spent his whole life basically doing nothing except run around with Merle and the wrong crowd. He saw this as a way to make up for all of the bad that he had done. He couldn’t stop now, it would destroy him.

As Raine flicked her cigarette butt away, she saw Daryl walking up with Carol right behind him. She glanced to her right and saw Andrea marching up with T-Dog beside her.

”Do you know what’s going on?” Glenn asked, walking up to Andrea.

”Where is everyone?” She responded, looking around briefly.

”You haven’t seen Rick?” Raine asked, adjusting the crossbow on her shoulder.

”He went off with Hershel.” She answered, her eyebrows pushed together. “We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago.”

”Yeah you were. What the hell? Daryl snapped, walking over to Raine. He stood so close to her that their shoulders brushed together lightly, sending a shock through her entire body.

”Rick told us he was going out.”

”Dammit. Isn’t anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail. Oh, here we go.”

Raine followed Daryl’s gaze and she saw Shane coming up with the bag of guns over his shoulder.

”What’s all this?” Daryl asked, pointing to the guns.

”You with me, man?”

”Yeah.”

Raine ran her hands through her hair, this wasn't going to end well. Shane was on a road to destruction and there was nothing anybody could do to stop him, not even Rick.