Chapter 15 - Chupacabra

"Sure you don't want me to help? I've got a little time before Rick and shane come back." I say.

Carol shakes her head, "No I'm good." She says, hanging up the wet laundry on the clothesline.

I nod my head, "Okay."

I turn and make my way over towards where the others are gathered around the car, waiting for Rick and Shane to come back. Today is the first proper day we are going out and looking for Sophia. The search party consists of myself, Daryl, Shane, Rick, Andrea and T-Dog. Hopefully with this many people, we will be able to cover enough ground and hopefully find her.

"Morning guys, let's get going. We got a lot of ground to cover." Rick greets as he walks towards us all.

He lays out the map that Maggie gave us yesterday and pins it down with some sticks, "Alright, everyone is getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farm house Daryl found than she may have went further east than we thought."

"I'd like to help."

We turn and see looking Jimmy at us hesitantly, his hands in his pockets, "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asks and Jimmy nods, "Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you." He says, a bit of hesitancy in his voice.

I eye him as Rick nods, "Alright then, thanks."

"What Daryl found doesn't scream Sophia to me. Anyone could have been held up in that farm house." Shane says, sitting in the doorway of the car.

"Anybody includes her right?" I state.

"Well whoever slept in that cupboard is no bigger then yay high." Daryl says, gesturing to just above his waist.

"Good lead." Andrea nods.

"Maybe we will pick up her trail?" Rick says and Daryl shakes his head, "There ain't no maybe about it."

He leans over and points to the map, "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here. Get a birds eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her." Daryl says as Dale comes up beside me and places the bag of guns on the hood of the car.

"Good idea." T-Dog says, "Maybe you will see your chupacabra up there too."

I stifle a smirk and look down at the ground as Rick speaks, "Chupacabra?"

"You've never heard this? First night of camp, Daryl tells us about the time he went squirrel hunting and saw a chupacabra." Dale says unconvinced as he hands out guns.

Jimmy scoffs and Daryl narrows his eyes at him, "What are you grinning at jackass?"

"So you believe in a blood sucking dog?" Rick asks, a smirk in his voice and Daryl responds instantly in a defensive tone, "You believe in dead people walking around?"

Jimmy goes to pick up a rifle and Rick stops him, "Hey, hey. You ever fired one before?" He asks Jimmy.

"Well if I'm going out I want one." Jimmy states and Daryl grunts, "Yeah and people in hell want slurpees."

Daryl slings his crossbow over his back and walks away and I stifle my smirk as I take a rifle off of Dale as well as my normal handgun.

"Why don't you come train tomorrow? If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor." Shane says.

I nod my head and turn to him, "For now he's coming with me." I say, slipping my gun in the waistline of my jeans.

"He's yours to babysit then." Shane says.

I chuckle, "With you lot? I'm babysitting all the time." I tease and he rolls his eyes and I chuckle, slinging the rifle over my shoulder.

"Alright Andrea and T-Dog, I want you guys down here. It's dense forest area, a lot of places she could be hiding so keep your eyes open." He says, looking at the two.

"Bree and Jimmy, you guys take this area here. This is east of where Daryl went yesterday, Jimmy you know the area so you can maybe think of some places she will be hiding." He says, looking between the two of us and we both nod.

"Everyone take a coloured bandage and nail it to a tree to show where you have been. That way if you see someone else's colour you will know to head in the opposite direction. Give it a couple of hours and if you find nothing, make your way back to the farm. We don't want people getting lost out there after dark." Rick states.

We all nod and he folds up the map, "Alright, let's head out."

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I keep an eye out as Jimmy finishes hammering a piece of green cloth to a tree. We've been out here for a couple of hours and we haven't found any trace of Sophia.

"Alright." He says and I turn to see him wiping some sweat off of his eyebrow.

"Alright, let's get going." I say, turning and walking away.

Jimmy catches up and walks beside me. It's quiet for a moment before I speak, "So, Hershel doesn't know you're out here huh?"

He turns and looks at me with wide eyes, "Uh. What?"

I chuckle, "It wasn't hard to tell, you were hesitant before telling Rick you were allowed to come." I state.

He looks away and I roll my eyes, "I don't care Jimmy."

"Really?" He asks and I shake my head, "No. I mean, the more people we have coming out and looking for her, the better chance we have of finding her."

He remains silent as we walk before he speaks, "I just don't like being stuck in that house all day. I mean, I help Hershel around the farm a lot but I like coming out here. He just thinks I'm too young to go out and do runs."

I nod, "I get it, you're what sixteen?" I ask, glancing at him.

"Seventeen." He clarifies defensively and I nod, "Seventeen, he's just trying to look out for you."

"Yeah I know, doesn't mean I like it though." He mutters annoyed.

I chuckle and he looks over at me, "What?"

I shake my head, "It's nothing, it's just... I would have killed for an adult to be looking out for me when I was your age." I say, searching around the area.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"My Dad ran out on me when I was young, not that he ever really cared about me in the first place. And my Mom... Well let's just say she didn't handle it too well. It was more me looking out for her." I explain.

"So you had no one?" He asks and I shake my head, "No, I mean I had Daryl and his brother Merle. But adult wise, no one cared about me."

"How did you survive?" He asks and I glance at him, "You're a nosy kid aren't ya?"

She looks away, "Sorry, I didn't mean too..." He trails off and I sigh and decide to be honest with the kid, "When my Dad left, he cleared out all of our savings. But my Mom had a secret account that he didn't know about, so we lived off that for awhile. Growing up I always helped my Mom with the bills so I knew what to do. And when I was old enough, I got a job and started to pay the bills myself. A couple of years later I dropped out of school and got a full time job." I explain.

"What about your Mom?" He asks.

"She wasn't really in any state to do anything much, so it was just me. I took care of her, she burned through the rest of her savings buying prescription drugs and alcohol. She died around three years ago." I state, still saddened over her death after all this time.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles.

I shrug, "It's alright, it wasn't a surprise."

It's quiet between us for a moment before I turn to him, "So, what about you huh? How did you end up here?" I ask, looking over at him.

He looks down at the ground as we walk, "Beth and I started dating around five months ago, we met awhile ago at church."

"How'd you start dating?" I ask, trying to keep up conversation as I search the surrounding area.

"I uh, always had a crush on her so I asked her if she wanted to go to the dance with me, expecting her to shoot me down." He explains embarrassed.

"And she didn't?" I question, glancing over at him.

A small smile comes to his face as he shakes his head, "No, she went with me. When I dropped her home that night, she kissed me for the first time. It was both of our's first kiss." He blushes.

"That's cute." I say, my eyes gazing over the greenery.

He nods, "Yeah. So when my everything happened and my parents, my little brother and my little sister died, Beth insisted I move in with her and her family and I've been there ever since."

"I'm sorry about your family." I whisper after a moment and he nods sadly.

I look around when my watch goes off and I look down, "We should probably head back. Rick said to only be out here a couple of hours." I state.

"But we haven't found anything." He protests.

I wipe the sweat off of my forehead and nod, "I know, don't worry we'll pick it up again tomorrow."

He nods his head and we turn around and begin to make our way back towards the farm house.

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"It is nice to be cooking in a real kitchen again." Lori breathes.

"Yeah, I never thought I would be so happy to see a potato." Carol smiles, looking down at the vegetable as she peels off the skin.

"I'm just glad we aren't roasting squirrels over the fire on the woods." I mutter as I cut up some beans and carrots.

"Thank you so much Patricia for just letting us into your house." Carol says, looking over at the woman.

"Thank you for cooking dinner for everyone." She says and I roll my eyes, "It's the least we can do after everything you've done for us."

"Don't be silly, of course we love to help." Beth smiles at us and I bump my hip with hers and she giggles as she mixes the stock in the pot.

We all continue to cook the dinner, making small talk like it was the good old days and I almost forget about everything that is going on out there. Jimmy and I came back a couple of hours ago and the others came back not too long after. Daryl hasn't come back yet and I'm slightly worried but I know he's probably just caught some trail or gone hunting while he's going. Suddenly we hear a gunshot from outside and everyone drops what they're doing and runs outside.

"Rick!" Lori screams as we run.

"What on earth's going on out here?!" Hershel yells as we stop and try to figure out what's wrong.

Andrea climbs down from on top of the RV and runs off into the field with Dale not too far away. The rest of us follow after them and on closer inspection my heart freezes in my chest.

"Oh my God." I whisper as I run forward.

"Is he okay?" I ask and Glenn holds his hands out as I come to a stop.

"He's fine, the bullet grazed him. He's okay." He reassures me as my eyes are locked on Daryl

He is covered in mud and blood and I wonder what the hell happened to him. We begin to walk back to the house when T-Dog calls out to us, "Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" He asks, holding up the familiar doll that she always carried around with her.

We all turn and look at it in shock before Rick turns to us all, "Let's get him inside, then we'll figure out what's going on." He states.

"Get him inside, I'll stitch him up." Hershel says, turning and leading the way back to the house.

Shane and Rick carry him all the way to the house, with me following right behind them. They get inside and Hershel leads us into a room near where Carl rests. Hershel exits the room to go get the supplies and I help the men lift Daryl onto the bed. I notice that his shirt is tied around his waist and I see blood surrounding the area.

Hershel comes back in and he cuts off Daryl's shirt, the material falling away. I notice the puncture wound and I feel sick in my stomach. I also see the scars covering the top half of his back but I look away from them as I try to not think about his horrible past. Daryl stirs awake and his eyes land on me and I let out a sigh of relief, "Thank god." I breathe as I take a seat in front of him.

"Hold this to your head." Hershel says, handing him a rag.

"What happened?" Shane asks as Daryl lifts the rag to his head.

"The horse got spooked and bucked me off. I fell down into the creek, bolt went right through my side. I tied up the wound and had to climb back up the wall. Walked all the way back here only to get shot in the head." He explains, his voice laced with pain as Hershel begins to work on stitching his puncture wound.

"The doll? Where did you find it?" Rick asks, laying out the map in front of him.

"I found it washed up on a creek bed right there. She must have dropped it crossing it some where." Daryl says, pointing at the map.

"Cuts the grid almost in half." Rick says, looking back at Shane.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Daryl says as he winces as Hershel stitches him up.

"How's he doing?" I ask, looking towards the older man.

"I had no idea we would be going through antibiotics so quickly." Hershel says, finishing up the stitches before turning to wash his hands in the basin, "Any idea what happened to my horse?" He asks, looking back at Daryl.

"Yeah the one at almost killed me? It's smart, it left the country." Daryl mutters as Rick stands up and rolls the map up.

"We call that one Nelly, as in nervous Nelly. I could have told you she's throw you if you bothered to ask." Hershel scolds as he wipes his hand dry, "It's a wonder you people have survived this long."

Rick and him exchange a long look before I decide to break the silence, "How about we let him rest huh?" I ask.

Hershel glances over at me and nods his head. He turns and grabs the rubbish and walks out of the room, with Shane and Rick following after him after a moment. I turn back to Daryl, "You scared me half to death, you know that right?"

He scoffs and I hit him in the arm, "Hey."

He rolls his eyes, "I don't know why you worry, you know I'm always gonna come back." He states.

I shrug my shoulders, "I know, doesn't mean I won't worry about you." I mumble, looking down at my hands.

I feel his eyes on me and a small blush comes to my cheeks as I glance over at him. I shuffle off the bed and get to my feet, "I'll let you get some rest. I'll come by later and bring you your dinner."

He nods his head and I give him a smile before I turn and make my way out of the house. I make my way out of the room and close the door behind me. I look down the hall and see Andrea and Dale sitting out on the porch steps and I walk out. They both turn to look at me and Andrea gets to her feet, "Bree, I'm so sorry. I didn't-" She begins but I cut her off.

"It's fine Andrea, he's fine." I state.

Admittedly I'm annoyed at the fact she didn't listen to what she was told but I understand that it was an accident and Daryl wasn't hurt. If he was, it would be a completely different story. I step forward and give her a hug and I see Dale smiling at the two of us over her shoulder. I give him a wink before I step back and I glance towards inside, "I'm going to go help and finish making dinner."

They nod and I turn, making my way back inside towards the kitchen. Seeing Daryl the way he was, covered in blood and unconscious was one of the scariest moments of my life. This just reinforces how much I really care for him and if I lost him, I don't know what I would do. The thought of it sends chills down my spine and I shake my head. He's fine Bree, I tell myself. Nothing serious happened and that's all that matters.

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Everyone is silent around the dinner table as we wall eat our food, the only sound is of cutlery scraping against crockery and chewing. I sit up at the main table with the rest of the adults while Jimmy, Beth, Maggie and Glenn sit at the 'kids' table. There was no room for them at the main table, but the idea of it makes me chuckle. The food is incredible, something my body isn't used to having after all this time.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asks and I turn to see him smiling at all of us.

"Dale found a cool one. Somebody's gotta know how to play." Glenn says as everyone reminds quiet.

"Otis did." Patricia states sadly from her spot beside Hershel at the head of the table.

"Yes, and he was very good too." Hershel says to her.

We all stare for a moment before turning back to our meals, it being just a silent as it was before. Soon enough we all finish our meals and we all get up to clear the table. I begin to prepare Daryl a meal when Carol comes up beside me, "Do you mind if I do it? I just want to thank him for today." She states.

I nod my head and smile, handing her the serving tools. She returns the smile and I help the others wash up and put away everything we used for the meal. It takes awhile but soon the kitchen is clean and everyone heads off to go do their own things. I decide to go and check in on Daryl to see how he is doing. I creek open the door and turn to see him facing away from the door. I see his plate is empty on the beside table and I step in to go take it away when he turns his head to face me.

"How're you doing?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

"I feel like shit." He mutters and I nod, "Getting an arrow through the side and getting shot tends to hurt I hear." I say sarcastically.

He rolls his eyes and I chuckle, "You want some company?" I ask.

He shrugs his shoulders and I place down the plate and shut the door behind me. I walk around and take a seat on the bed, pulling off my boots. I turn and lay back on the mattress and let out a moan, "It has been so long since I have laid on a mattress." I say, letting out a delighted laugh.

I soak in the comfiness for a moment before I open my eyes and lay on my side, tucking my arm under my head. Our eyes connect and I can't help the small smile that comes to my face as I look at him. My heart warms up a little and I can't help but feel embarrassed at my body's reaction to him. Even laying here in the wounded condition he is in, I can't help but think of him as the most incredible man in the world.

He lets out a yawn and his eyes droop and I give him a small smile, "You looks exhausted."

He nods, "Yeah, these painkillers are kicking in good." He mumbles as his eyes close.

I look him for a moment, "Well then I'll let you get to sleep." I say, going to get up.

Suddenly he reaches out and grasps at my wrists, his eyes open and on me, "Stay here."

"Daryl, you need to rest." I protest, wanting him to relax and get better.

He shakes his head, "I'm not going to let you sleep in that tent when there is a perfectly good other side of a mattress right here." He argues.

I look at him and bite my lip and he rolls his eyes, "Come on Bree, it's not like we've never shared a bed before."

I chuckle and smile, "I know, it would almost feel weird not sleeping next to you after doing so for the past seven weeks." I say.

I look at him for a long moment and sigh, "Okay fine."

I move my boots out of the way and get up, walking around to turn the bedside light off. The room is shrouded in darkness except for the moonlight filtering in through the open window. I climb under the sheet and pull the blanket up around me, loving the heaviness over my body despite the heat. His breathing has become significantly heavier and I know he will drift off to sleep soon.

"Night." He mumbles and I smile, "Night Dare."

I roll onto my side facing away from him and tuck my arm under my head, the other laid across my body as I settle in for the night. I close my eyes and listen to the sound of Daryl's heavy breathing. It's very soothing, especially after everything that happened today. Soon enough, I drift off into the most comfortable sleep of my life, beside my very best friend.