X

—/<3/—

One thing the group had all silently agreed upon was to keep the children safe.

And they had failed.

First, Sophia got spooked after a walker found her and ran into the woods alone, Rick followed after her only to lose her after she didn't remain where he had told her to, and then Carl was shot by a hunter whilst admiring a deer.

Rory and Daryl were wandering around the woods with Glenn, trying to find any signs of Sophia when a woman rode up to them on a horse, ordering them to follow her.

The three of them were sceptical of her at first, not knowing what she wanted with them since her choice of words were vague, but then she mentioned Rick's name and how Carl had been shot, and asked where the child's mother was so she could take her to her family. Glenn ran back towards the highway at that, shouting for Lori.

The rest of the group watched as the woman rode off with Lori on the back of the horse before they rushed off to their cars to find the farm she'd mentioned for them to meet the rest of their group at.

They arrived at the farm 10 minutes later, pulling up in one of the fields. They didn't set up yet, not knowing if they had permission to, and waited around for someone to update them on Carl's condition. Then Shane disappeared off with a man named Otis, the one who'd accidentally shot Carl, to get the medication they needed for the old man to perform the surgery.

Rick stumbled out about an hour later, pale and woozy from giving so much blood. He sat down on the porch with a thump, resting his head against the railing.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Archie asked as the group walked over to greet him. A few hung back, not wanting to overwhelm the already worried man with too many people in his face at once.

"It's too late right now, just set up camp and then we'll send a few people out for Sophia in the morning." Rick said, his words slightly slurred.

"Rick, what's Carl's blood type? You can't give any more in this state so one of us might be able to give some." Niamh looked between the group members. Most of them shied away, selfishly not wanting anything to do with Niamh's suggestion.

"A positive, but I can handle it, you don't need to worry yourselves about giving blood."

"Just in case, I'm A positive," Mikey admitted, "if you need anymore blood, come find me, I'll make sure to stay nearby."

"Thank you."

—/<3/—

Rory woke up as the sun was rising the next morning, Archie snoring in the sleeping bag next to her. She wondered how he could sleep so soundly in their situation. Rory had always been a light sleeper but since everything went to shit, sleep was vey hard to come by for her, even when they were safe.

She climbed out of the tent quietly, stretching her arms above her head. It was hot despite it being early. Rory sighed and walked to the edge of the farm where Archie's car was parked to grab some clothes. She pulled a pair of loose grey cotton shorts, a cropped white tank top and a pair of clean underwear and socks from her suitcase and climbed into the backseat of the car, changing in there. It was the most amount of privacy she could get in a open camp.

Once she was done, she began her walk back over to the tents. She didn't think anyone was awake yet but Daryl sauntered over from his tent that he'd set up well away from everyone else's with his crossbow in hand. She watched as he lightly kicked the front of her and Archie's tent, frowning when he got no response.

"What do you need?" Rory asked, walking up behind him. Daryl swivelled round with a glare.

"Rick wants you to come with me to track Sophia down," he told her. "Eat somethin' and then meet me by my tent. We leave in a half hour. Don't forget your pack." He left after that, without waiting for an answer or even a nod of the head from Rory, not that she'd refuse anyway.

She did as she was told and grabbed something small to eat, ever conscious of the fact that she could be taking food from someone in camp who was hungrier than she was, but if she was going to be in the woods all day in that heat she needed to eat something. She filled up her flask whilst she was at it and then got to packing her bag and strapping her knife and gun to her hip.

Rory hurried over to Daryl's tent where he was busy cleaning his arrows. "You ready?" He questioned, looking up from the log he was sat on.

"Yeah, one second." Rory ran back over to the car, throwing open the passenger door and grabbing a few things from the glovebox. She tucked the flashlight into her bag and the cigarettes and lighter into her pocket. She didn't know how long they'd be in the woods, and if it got dark, they'd need the flashlight to find their way home, the cigs however, were purely because she needed one right now.

She was back over to Daryl within minutes, cigarette between her lips. She offered the pack to him and he took one hesitantly. Rory lit hers and then threw Daryl the lighter.

"Let's go," he said, taking a drag of his cigarette and tossing the lighter back to her. Rory nodded and followed quietly behind him, weaving through the trees. She didn't know how to track so she didn't know why Rick asked her to go with Daryl, but she'd try to help in other ways.

—/<3/—