my tears ricochet

Chapter Six

"She's a fucking kid. How hard is it to keep out of those damned woods?" Daryl snarled, grabbing onto Glenn's shirt and yanking him close. "Do you think I like searching for little girls who get lost out there?"

Glenn's eyes were wide and his hands were up, leaning back and trying to force space between him and the older man. "I tried to get her to stick to camp but she wasn't waiting. I didn't know you'd take it personally."

"The hell do you mean by that?" Daryl demanded, shaking Glenn like he could rattle sense in his thick skull. He had been impressed by the sharp thinking back in Atlanta when it came to positioning men in the city to get the bag of guns left on the street, and also by how the kid managed to sneak in and out of the city with a bag of necessities he and Merle couldn't shoot out in the woods. Now, he wanted to hit Glenn for being so stupid. He wanted to punch him hard enough in the face that teeth would fall and he would never do something so idiotic again. 

Ivy had been missing all day. He hadn't seen her on the back porch with Beth reading those girly magazines, and she hadn't been ghosting Maggie around either. It was a big farm but she had a routine she liked to follow, and her absence had been nagging him right up until lunch when he went searching for her to get a plate. He should have followed his gut and looked sooner for the girl because for some reason, she liked wandering away from the safety of a group prepared to deal with rogue walkers. 

Lori and Andrea were trying to pry Daryl off but he held fast. Glenn's face had turned pale and he savoured the sharp tang of fear in the air. "You send her off to die, Korea? If Carl went off into the bush would you just wave your little hand and let him go?"

"Hey," Lori snapped, managing to knock him back with a sharp tug. He wouldn't hit her so he went with the motion of it, letting Glenn tumble to the ground. "That's enough."

"She's not one of us. I didn't think we were looking out for her," Glenn muttered, standing up and brushing dirt off his legs. "I know that sounds harsh, but she pulled a knife out on me when I tried to make her wait around until you came by."

Of course Ivy would have flipped that damned little knife around to make a point. She didn't like men and barely tolerated Hershel and himself. Not even Rick had managed to make it past her guarded front, despite how some of the others called him Officer Sunshine. Ivy didn't seen much sun in the man and kept distance, almost as sharp as the space she created between her and Shane. 

"Listen, sweetie. I get that you didn't tie her to a chair. That was a good call," Lori said, exasperated. "But you can't let the kids go wandering. There's not enough of us left in the world to take risks like this."

Glenn apologized, rubbing the back of his neck as he sized Daryl up. "Listen, I should have ran and got you before she got far. I just didn't want to leave the look out empty in case anything came by and I didn't even know where you were."

"It doesn't matter. Look, I think that's her," Andrea said, shielding her eyes from the sun with her left hand and squinted into the distance. Daryl whirled and looked off towards the tree line to the tiny shape emerging. 

"She look bit to you, hotshot?" He asked with some nastiness. Ignoring both women he took off, storming his way through the campsite and across the stretch of land until he saw her, dirty but lacking any visible blood on her. 

Ivy tilted her head as she surveyed him right back, gauging his temper. Just as she turned to make a break for it he caught her, jerking her close and holding tight to her arm. "What the hell is wrong with you, girl?" He yanked firm when she tried to push against his chest with her free hand. "You wanna walk around the woods with a death sentence?"