Ch.25 ~ The Search Continues

                                    

                                          
3rd Person POV 
Everyone soon dispersed from the graves and back up to the main part of the farm where they'd sort out sleeping arrangements. Hershel had agreed to let the group stay on the farm. For the time being.
At the top end of the garden was a small circle of trees where Hershel had allowed the group to set up camp. The RV was situated behind the camp looking out into the field and tree line of the forest.
Rick parked his car a few feet from the rear end of the RV diagonally facing the camp. Gathered around the front of the car was Rick, Shane, Daryl, Andrea, Hershel and Maggie, who had brought a county map over with her and laid it out across the bonnet, placing stones on either corner to hold the map down. 
"How long's this girl been lost?" Hershel asked as they all glanced down at the map.
"This'll be day three." Rick replied.
"Well this county survey map shows us the terrains and elevations." Maggie states.
"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organised. We'll grid the whole area. Start searching in teams." Rick goes on to explain to the group.
"Not you." Hershel cuts in glancing at Rick. "Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month. No good to anybody."
Hershel directed his speech towards Rick and Shane. Eliminating over half the search party leaving only Daryl and Andrea but given as Andrea had no gun training and was prone to getting tackled easily by walkers this left only Daryl to go out searching for the girl. 
"Guess it's just me. I'm gonna head back to the creek. Work my way from there." Daryl states, going on to tell the others where he'd start his search. Given that he was now the only tracker in the group it made sense for him to double back and try to pick up a new trail. 
"I could still be useful. Drive up to the interstate. See if Sophia wandered back." Shane suggests looking over at Rick for confirmation. 
"All right. Tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right." Rick agreed with Daryl's and Shane's ideas on their course of action for the day. He also looks to Hershel when telling everyone they'd start properly the next day to which Hershel gave a small nod to.
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. We need the gun training we've been promising." Andrea's and Shane's heads turned to Rick when Shane suggested this.
A moment of silence fell on the group as Hershel looked between them all before stating his views on the gun training idea. "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."
"With all due respect. You get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane trailed off with a scoff reluctant to the idea of being unarmed after the highway herd and incident at the school. Being unarmed in this new world was a death sentence, even if this place had proven to be safe this far.
"Well we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick sided with Hershel, shocking everyone. It made sense though, the man had saved his son's life and offered them a place to stay while they searched for Sophia, a little common courtesy was the least they could offer.
That's said and done Rick was the first person to pull out his gun from its holster placing it atop the map that rested on the bonnet of the car. He looked towards Shane with a stern look which told the man to not argue this matter and hand his gun over.
Reluctantly and with a huff, Shane tossed his gun next to Ricks as he bit down on his tongue to prevent himself arguing about why they shouldn't hand in their guns.