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.
"Okay, first things first. Set camp. Find Sophia." Rick confirms the plan of action for the next few days.
"I hate to be the one to ask but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how we handle it." Shane voices. It was a question they'd all been pondering and like he said, someone had to ask.
"You do what has to be done." Rick's answer was short and straight to the point. No one wanted to be the one to do it but if fate should decide that one of them found her that way then there was nothing they could do.
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie questions not liking how dismissive they were on the matter. 'How could they just agree to kill the girl? They didn't even bother to stop and discuss any other alternatives. Killing here couldn't be the only answer? Could it?.' Maggie thought as she glanced at her father Hershel who shook his head as if to tell her not to question them.
"The truth." Andrea replies as Shane takes his gun back off the car and holsters it.
"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off-site. I do request one rifleman on the lookout. Dale's got experience." Shane volunteers as a compromise before making his request.
All eyes turn to Hershel who stared back at Shane reluctant to agree to his request. Till Rick steps in on the convincing of Shane's request. "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Hershel looks to Rick before giving a small nod to the request. "Thank you." Rick says before Shane walks off with the two guns and Daryl walks off to get ready to head out.
"Those supplies. Got more antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asks.
Rick looks over to Andrea as she was the one to hand over the rest of their medical supplies. "Maybe Y/n's truck. Other than that, it's just what you've seen." Andrea then walks off to find Shane.
"We're running low already. I should make a run into town." Maggie states.
"Not the place Shane went?" Rick asks worriedly. Both groups had already lost someone from that venture 5 miles down the road and it's safe to say nobody else wants to build another stone pile any time soon.
"No. There's a pharmacy just a mile down the road. I've done it before." Maggie reassures Rick that no harm would come to her.
"See our man there in the baseball cap?" Rick turns to look at Glenn who's setting up his tent. The man felt it better Maggie didn't go out alone. Can't be too careful nowadays. "That's Glenn, our go to town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious."
Rick spoke mostly to Hershel, seeing as he was most likely to agree to Glenn tagging along with his daughter and not argue their capability of doing the run alone. Hershel nudges his head towards Glenn at Maggie who lets slip a small nod before walking off.
~~~
Back at the RV Shane walks out with the bag of guns Y/n, Glenn, T-Dog, Rick and Daryl went back to Atlanta for. The bag consisted of both guns from the police station locker Rick had raided before leaving Kings County and some additional rifles from the armoury Y/n had shown them to back in Atlanta.
As he jumps off the bottom step he's greeted by Lori walking over to grab some of the camping stuff from within the RV. The two awkwardly stare at each other for a moment shuffling on their feet as they both look for the right words to use.
Things between the two had been awkward since Rick came back. A lot of things had happened that had now led to this awkwardness between the two which hadn't been going unnoticed, especially by Dale and Y/n. Only now one was here to watch the awkwardness develop further.
"I hear he uh... he woke up." Shane states with a slight stutter as he looks up at Lori from under the police cap he wore.
"Yeah, he's in and out, but yeah. He'll be alright." Lori replies wearing a nervous smile and letting slip an awkward but relieved laugh which Shane mimicked.
"That's good." Shane's states with a small scoff before limping around Lori as she stepped around him. Just as Lori reached the steps of the RV Shane's voice rang out again. "Did you mean it?" He asked as the two turned to look back at each other.
"What?" Lori asked, confused.
"You said stay. Did you mean it?" Shane whispered, taking a step forward to ensure no one else would hear their conversation. Loris' mouth opened as if she was going to speak but nothing came out.
Shane saw this and was quick and cut in. "Look, if you didn't, you just say so. Do it now. I need to know." He demanded both looking at the ground.
"I meant it." Lori replied with sincerity though guilt was creeping up in here. She had meant it but not in the way Shane hoped for. For her, Shane staying was extra muscle for the group and because a small part of her still held feelings for the man but none she'd ever act on like Shane was hoping she would, eventually.
A small smile threatened to appear on Shane's face as he kept shuffling on his feet keeping pressure off his sore ankle. "All right then." He replied, still trying to hide the small shadow of a smile before walking off over to the bench just under some trees a few paces away from the Rv.
Once at the bench Shane took the bag of guns off his shoulder and placed them on the table as he unholstered his handgun, placing it down in front of him as he sat down. As he did, a very angry Andrea came marching over to the bench he sat at.
"Give up our guns?" She said to him unimpressed. Lately she's been questioning why Shane was letting Rick take over leading the group. The man had come out of nowhere and was treating Shane like some lackey.
"You heard Rick." Shane said with a sigh, taking his cap off. "We're guests here." He repeats to the women.
"And you're okay with it?" Once again she was back to questioning the way people did things. It seemed nothing lately could satisfy the women. Ever since her sister died and she tried to blow herself up at the CDC she's been a changed person.
"I don't recall being asked. So lay down your weapon." Shane demands opening the bag of guns to grab out the cleaning equipment.
"You may like rolling over. I don't." The woman states not making any movement to hand over her gun.
"Look, I got to strip them and clean them anyway. You still wanna learn?" Shane asks using the one thing he knew that would shut up the women. Guns. That's all she's been on about for days. Obsessed even. And she didn't even know how to carry one properly.
Seeing through him Andrea gave Shane a look before unholstering her gun and sitting down at the bench with Shane.
"All right. Unload your weapon." Shane tells the blonde woman as he starts to show her how to take apart the gun. Andrea followed his instructions as they went along. "Check the chamber. The back, that's it. Push that level out. Pull the slide off." Andrea smiled as the gun was practically in pieces. "You're halfway there." Shane praises.
"Think I could move on to something like this?" Andrea asked, placing her hand gun down and grabbing Y/n's ICR that she'd left with Dale.
She holds the gun up only to have it immediately taken off her as Shane lets out a small laugh. "Baby Steps." He tells her. The rest of the day they spent taking apart the guns, cleaning them and putting them back together.
~~~
Over by the rest of the camp Glenn is still putting his tent together till a figure comes up beside him. He looks over to be greeted by Maggie who stood hands on hip with one eye closed as the sun shone down on her face despite the shade offered by the trees.
"I hear you're fast on your feet and know how to get in and out." Glenn gave the girl a confused look as he tried to understand what she meant. Seeing the confusion on his face Maggie clarified. "Got a pharmacy run. Are you in?" She asks Glenn.
"Uhh..." Glenn says turning towards her a little more but before he had a chance to answer her properly Dale interrupted them.
"Miss, what's the water situation here?" The old man in the fishing hat asked the brunette women. The two turned to look at the man as he asked Maggie about the water.
"Got five wells on our land. House draws directly from number one." Maggie says pointing at the closest well to them.
She then points behind Dale and says, "Number two well's right over there. We use it for the cattle, but it's just as pure. Take what you need. There's a cart and containers in the generator shed behind the house." T-Dog also listened in on the conversation about the water as Dale nodded in understanding at what the girl was saying.
"I'll go saddle your horse then." Maggie says to Glenn before walking off, assuming he was going to agree to tag along with her.
Glenn stood frozen for a second before turning to Dale questionably. "Horse?"
~~~
Up on the steps of the porch Rick sat with his elbows resting on his knees as he fiddled with his hat, waiting for Daryl to walk by. The sound of Daryl's boots crunching the earth below him as he walked by made his head snap over to his left to see the man with his crossbow slung over his shoulder making his way towards the fields where he'd re-enter the forest.
"Daryl!" He called out to the man as he jogged to catch up to him. "You ok on your own?" Rick asked. As the man stopped walking and looked over to him.
"I'm better on my own. Don't worry. I'll be back before dark." He replies and starts to walk off again.
"Hey!" Rick calls once more. "Take Skylla with you, no one should be out there alone."
"I told ya I'm fine." Daryl grumbles back.
"Just take the dog." Rick says before glancing over at the dog who sat in her owner's truck guarding the back entrance and growling at anyone who came to close. Daryl looked over and thought for a moment before nodding at Rick.
"One more thing. We've got a base. We can get this search properly organised now." Rick tells the man.
"You got a point?" Daryl asked, annoyed that Rick was wasting his time when he could be out looking for Carol's little girl. "Or are we just chatting?" He asked, taking a few steps forwards.
"My point? It lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything." Ricks says, saying the same thing he told Y/n.
"Yeah and I bet you told Scarface that before she left with Shane to go to that damned overrun highschool." Daryl states with anger in his voice.
"Y/n?" Rick questions the man. "She went because she wanted to help just like you're doing for Sophia." Rick says as he confusedly looks at Daryl not understanding what he was getting at.
"Maybe but we both know that wasn't the only reason she went." Daryl says going to turn around and walk off again.
"What do you mean?!" Rick called out now looking at the man's back.
"If you're too blind to see what was going on, I ain't gonna be the one to open your eyes, do that your damn self." Daryl called over his shoulder and with that Daryl walked off towards Y/n's truck.
Skylla didn't growl at him or Glenn, just the others that she hadn't spend too much time with. When she saw Daryl walk over she laid down with a whine.
The redneck came over and stroked the husky before talking to her. "I'm off to search for Sophia. Ya gonna come?" He asked the dog. She looked up at him before standing up and walking further into the truck, grabbing something and handing it to Daryl.
In his hand was a shirt. One far too small to belong to Y/n. It took a moment before he realised it was the same one Y/n had asked Carol for back on the highway.
Daryl tucked the shirt in his back pocket as the dog jumped down and began walking off. Daryl followed after the dog as the two made their way into the forest to continue the search for the girl.
To Be Continued