Give Me Your Crossbow (DARYL DIXON)

A Missing Person

CHRIS POV

It was decided that we needed to get far away from Atlanta as possible. Shane suggested Fort Benning again, so it was decided we would head there. We had to abandon a few vehicles that were just wasting fuel. It was decided we would take the RV, Carols Cherokee and Merle's motorcycle, and of course I had to ride with Daryl again on the motorcycle. I stood next to the bike and scowled.

"Come on, jump on and wrap your arms around my waist. So that way you don't fall off."

"I think I'd rather fall off than do that."

"Can you stop being so difficult woman? Just get on the damn bike!"

I opened my mouth to retaliate but then Rick made his way over to me.

"Chris, I know that you don't like him very much, but we don't have any other choice. Just get on the bike, please?"

"Ugh fine."

I rolled my eyes and jumped on the bike, wrapping my arms around Daryl's waist. I was only holding on by my fingertips though, I didn't want to touch him fully.

****

We came to an abandoned highway, full of cars. We had to go through one vehicle at a time. We went through on the bike first but when I looked back, the RV had stopped. I gave Daryl a small shove and he stopped the bike. We got off and walked back to the others.

"We need to find a new hose, we ain't going any further."

"Everyone, check the cars. See if there's a radiator hose we can use. But stay alert, there could be walkers anywhere."

I headed over to a family van and checked everywhere. All I found were some empty backpacks and some empty candy wrappers. I sighed and grabbed the bags, throwing the wrappers back into the car.

"Shane found water! Woohoo!"

I chuckled slightly at Glenn, before a hand wrapped around my mouth and began pulling me under the car I was scavenging. I thrashed and turned my head to look at the person who grabbed me. Daryl. He put a finger to his lips and pointed out from under the car. I turned my head and saw dozens of pairs of feet walking through the cars. Walkers.
_____

We laid there for a while, waiting for all the walkers to pass. Being stuck underneath a car with Daryl was painful enough. When the silence finally came over, I couldn't get out from under there fast enough. I stood up and looked around, everyone else was coming out from under their cars. I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked at a small car just up ahead. Two walkers were straggling behind and Sophia hadn't noticed them near her hiding spot. She started to come out but the walkers spotted her. Her sobs tore through the air as she ran down the highway and over the guard rails. The walkers started to chase her down. We were all too far away to handle it, but I watched Rick run after Sophia over the guard rail. Carol raced forward, her mouth open ready to scream for her daughter. I grabbed her and put my hand over her mouth.

"No Carol. You'll draw the walkers back. Rick will find her, I can promise you that."

"But walkers are chasing my baby!"

"I know but trust me. It'll be okay."

It wasn't. Rick returned but no Sophia.

"I drew the walkers away and I told her to head back here. Where is she?"

"She's only 12, she can't be out there on her own!"

"Chris, Daryl, come with me. You two are the best at tracking. We'll find her Carol, I promise."

Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder and i palmed my knives. We jumped over the guard rail and headed down to the river.

"Here's where I left her. She was right here when I led the walkers away."

He pointed to a small crevice at the side of the river. I bent down and put my hand in the mud.

"It has been moved, she moved in this direction. She was heading for the highway but veered off over here. Something must've scared her off."

I gestured in the direction of downstream, we all started heading up the river before we found small footprints leading up out of the water. The grass was compressed which meant that she had stepped through it.

"She has been here, but the trail stops here. There's no walker tracks, she was alone."

A low growl made us all turned around but before I knew it, Daryl had shot the walker with his arrow. We knelt down next to it.

"You know what we have to do. We have to look in its stomach."

"I'm not doing it. That's fucking disgusting."

Rick glared at me before putting his hand out.
I rolled my eyes and handed him one of my knives. He carved into the walkers abdomen and a bit of blood shot out of the cut, hitting me in the face.

"Yuck! Stupid walker."

"What? Princess can't handle it?"

I glared at Daryl. Rick glanced up at me again before cutting further into the walker. Daryl began scooping out the intestines, it made me sick to watch. They both became drenched in walker blood and finally they managed to find the stomach. Rick handed it to Daryl who cut it open.

"Looks like he just had a woodchuck for lunch. No human remains though."

I internally groaned and grabbed my knife from Rick.

"Let's head back, it's getting dark."

We dropped the walker remains and headed back to the highway.