PHOSPHENES¹ [the walking dead]

B - IV

CHUPACABRA

Winston and Beatrix made their way over to the car where they were setting up the search parties.

"Morning guys, " Rick greeted everybody. "Let's get going. We've got a lot of ground to cover. All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

One of the boys of Hershel's family, Jimmy, came up to Rick. "I'd like to help. I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?"

"Yeah yeah, he said to ask you."

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me," Shane told the group. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea told him.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Daryl put his hands around the height of Sophia.

"It's a good lead." Andrea agreed with Daryl.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick agreed.

"No maybe about it," Daryl told him. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea," T-Dog told him. "Maybe you'll see your Chupacabra up there too."

"Chupacabra?" Winston asked.

"Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra," Dale explained and everybody laughed.

"What you braying at, Jackass?" Daryl scolded Jimmy.

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" The boy replied.

"Do you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl retaliated.

With that, the conversation was over. Jimmy tried to grab a gun but Rick stopped him.

"Ever fired one before? " he asked the kid.

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one."

"Yeah, and the people in hell want Slurpees," Daryl told him, making Beatrix and Winston snicker.

———————— ✭ ————————

The groups had been decided. Beatrix and Winston were to follow Rick and Shane. Neither of the younger ones had ever really shot a gun before. Winston had familiarised himself with a gun in the last month but he had never received actual training.

Shane and Rick were walking up ahead, talking about things that happened when they were younger. Winston and Beatrix weren't listening. They decided to stay a little bit behind, not wanting to hear what the two men were talking about.

They had gotten a bit closer to the two men and now could hear them argue about Sophia. They didn't catch all of it but enough to know that they had different opinions.