True Love Trilogy

Part 2 - Scars To Your Beautiful

Jesus paces in the large open space, trying his best to listen to the ongoing meeting but his mind going back to the fact Daryl was almost four hours overdue for check in. Hearing Rick sigh and clocking him watching, Jesus decides to take his leave and go try and do something useful - Daryl will need more bolts and they were all low on 9mm bullets.

~~

The sun was setting when the radio Jesus carried crackled and Daryl's voice came through as a whisper of broken communications. He was close enough to radio but only just.

"I'm safe for now. I'm hiding."

"We got caught up in a hoard and had to split up."

"I need to get back to the bike..."

"...but I need to wait."

"Don't respond. I'll be in touch."

Jesus watched his radio waiting for more but ultimately nothing came and after half an hour waiting he grabbed it and jogged to Rick.

"...so do we just wait now?" Jesus leaned against a doorframe. "They have to be close enough, right? I mean what's the range of these?" Holding the radio in his hand in case anything else came through.

"Since they've been souped up, at least two miles... Yeah, we have to wait. Look I wanna go out there to find them as much as you do but we don't have the manpower to search an entire two mile radius... especially with a hoard close by."

Jesus stands and stares off, tapping the radio antennae against his lips. He knew damn well Daryl and the rest of the team could look after themselves and the fact he had checked in was a good sign, but it didn't stop him worrying about what could happen before the next check in.

He phased back into Rick standing in front of him with a hand on his shoulder "...they'll be okay. They all will and we'll be ready to help them when they get back." Jesus nods and sighs "okay, well I'm gonna go on watch tonight at the gate." Rick nods and offers a soft smile, no words needed in response.

~~

Luckily for Jesus the night was warm and he only had himself for company; the last thing he wanted was small talk or gossip about what was happening at the time. He had made sure his radio was charged and the search lights ready, just in case. There was a low hum, almost a drone, in the far distance and everyone was worried it was the hoard getting too close to their home. There were plans to move them off but nothing concrete yet until the recon came back with information on where it was heading.

Kal appears on the tower in Jesus' peripheral and nods "I've just heard from Tara... she found Andy, Morgan, Rosita and Abraham...they're heading in now. They haven't had contact with Daryl since you have but they think they know where he is."

"Are they going to find him or are they gonna tell us where so we can go find him?" Jesus keeps his eyes forward, his words steady and to the point but not rude.

"Abraham spotted a broken down windmill on the next border, Morgan and Rosita are heading out that way."

Jesus nods and stands when he sees the lights of a car coming up the entrance road. Eduardo lifts and activates a search light to see Abraham's car while Kal disappears to open the front gate to let them in. Jesus remains in his spot watching the road; noting how scratched up the rest of the team were and worrying about Daryl's possible injuries.

~~

The next three hours ticked by at almost a snail's pace but Jesus stood at the watchtower looking out; tunnel vision had set in long ago and the drone of noise from the distance was almost meditative to him at this stage. He was so far inside his own head that he jumped out of his skin when the radio crackled to life. It wasn't Daryl's voice, it was Rosita.