Way Down we Go (Male OC/Reader)

15. Caring

I woke up later than anyone else the next morning. I had been tossing and turning all night and I finally fell into a surprisingly deep sleep right before the sun rose. It was now around midday. I could hear everyone outside the tent busing themselves with whatever they were doing. I stepped out of my sleeping bag and stretched, trying to get all my muscles used to moving again. Once I had finished stretching I unzipped the flap on my tent and stepped outside, zipping it back up so no bugs could get in.

I looked around and saw Carol and Lori doing the laundry. The fire from the night before was down to embers but no one had put it out yet.

"Morning." I said as I walked closer to Carol and Lori.

"Morning." Lori smiled. "You slept in longer than me huh?"

"Yeah." I chuckled. "Don't know how I managed that."

Rick and Shane approached the tents and we all gathered around the car bonnet again. Now that Rick and Shane were allowed to go out looking for Sophia the search had properly started.

"Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today." Rick explained. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl and Y/N found yesterday she might've gone father than we thought."

"I'd like to help." I turned and saw one of Hershel's people, Jimmy, approach. "I know the area pretty well."

"Hershel's ok with this." Rick asked.

"Yeah." Jimmy responded quickly. "Yeah... I... he said I should ask you."

"Alright then thanks."

Dale approached with the bag of guns as we planned out our teams. I reached over the bonnet of the car and plucked my rifle from the bag. Jimmy noticed what I was doing and tried to grab one too.

"Hey hey." Rick put a hand over Jimmy's before he could get it. "Ever fired one before?"

"Well if I'm going out I want one." Jimmy insisted.

"Yeah, and people in Hell want slurpees." Daryl scoffed, slinging his crossbow over his back and walking away.

"Hey." I began walking after him. "I'll come with you."

He turned towards me and furrowed his eyebrows. "Nah, I'm going alone." He began walking away again.

"But remember what Rick sa-" I said, but he cut me off, turning around.

"I don't care what Rick said!" He spat. "Going out with you once we enough! Even if you did come with you wouldn't be able to protect me from shit!"

I stood there stunned and surprised as he stomped away to the stables to get a horse. I'd seen him mad but it had never been directed at me before. Maybe what he said yesterday about him not minding me was a lie. What surprised me even more was that I cared about what he thought of me.

—

I was paired up with T-Dog, Andrea and Jimmy in the search for Sophia since Daryl blew me off. Everything was going well, apart from the fact that we hadn't found Sophia.

"Nail one here too." T-Dog said, pointing to a thick tree in front of us.

I nodded and pulled out a blue cloth and a nail. I had a hammer strapped to my belt, which I used to nail the cloth to the tree. We were doing this so we knew which grid was which while searching, and also so we didn't get lost. Rick and Shane had red cloths and they were doing the same thing.

"Do you guys really think you'll find the little girl." Jimmy asked.

No. I didn't think so. She had been out in the woods alone for almost four full days. There was almost no way she was alive. But I kept that opinion to myself. I would keep searching for her. This was one of the only times I wanted to be wrong. I wanted Sophia to be alive, I didn't want to see Carol suffer anymore.