Daring Dixon (A Daryl Dixon fanfiction)

Chapter 27

I was laying in my tent, reading an old book of Dale's and being bored out of my mind. Daryl had stayed with me for a few hours but he had to leave and take a watch shift at the walker barn. I thought it was a bit rude of Rick to ask him to take a shift because he had just been through hell on the mountain, but Daryl didn't seem to mind so I didn't say anything. I didn't want to start a fight.

I was drifting off to sleep when the first gunshot made me jump out of my skin. I stood, despite the pain in my ankle, and rushed towards the barn, which seemed to be the place where I could now here more shots coming from.

Upon reaching the barn, my eyes widened in shock. Walkers were streaming from the barn and Shane, Daryl, Andrea, Glenn, and T-Dog were all shooting them down. Rick, Lori, Carol, Hershel, Maggie and the others just stood back, shock registering on each face. I didn't know what to do.

Before I could decide whether or not to fight or not, what seemed like the last gunshot rang out. I stumbled forward and pulled Daryl's shoulder around so that he was facing me. "What the hell is going on?" I demanded softly.

"Shane opened the barn. We had no choice to kill these fuckers or they would've killed us," he spat.

"Those 'fuckers' used to be people. Hershel thinks they still are! In his eyes, our group just committed a mass murder. What's going to happen to us now?" I asked angrily.

"Shane opened the barn. If we wouldn't have shot them we'd all be dead now and you'd be blaming me for that too," Daryl spit.

I softened my face and my voice. "I'm not blaming you. I know it's Shane's fault. But-"

I broke off and my head shot over to the door of the barn, where something seemed to be lurking on the other side. A growl and the dragging of feet was heard, and then suddenly, a short, slim figure made it's way into the sunlight. I felt every last ounce of hope leave my body as Sophia stood before us, growling, a walker bite clear on her shoulder.

Nobody moved. It was as if the venom and anger had left everyone for good. Sophia made her way towards us, and I stepped forward, taking Rick's gun from his holster. Carol let out a cry like a wounded animal, but I knew someone was holding her back because there was no movement behind me.

I gulped as I stepped forward and raised the gun, pointing it at Sophia's head. She was just a child. She was Carl's friend. Carol's daughter. A lone tear left my eye as I pulled the trigger and she collapsed to the ground.

We all stood there, taking in the horror that we had just witnessed. After all these weeks of looking for Sophia, we found her in a barn, as lifeless as she could possibly be at this point.

I heard Carol give another strangled cry and turned slowly to see her shrugging Daryl off and running away, most likely back to her tent. I somehow made my feet move, my destination being my tent as well. Today was too much. First I was attacked by a walker and then I had to shoot Sophia. I was exhausted, both emotionally and physically.

An arm wrapped around my waist and I expected it to be Daryl, but when I looked up it was Dale. I hadn't realized how slow I was moving or how much my ankle hurt, but at that moment I was glad that Dale was holding on to me because my ankle was hurting like a bitch.

We managed to hobble back and Dale set me in a lawn chair by the fire pit. He sat across from me and I raised an eyebrow.

"This was not you're fault, you know that right?" he demanded softly.

"Of course it's not, Dale. I didn't put her in there. But I did just put a bullet in her head. Nobody else would. I felt like I had to," I explained.

"Losing Sophia was not on our to-do list. But we know now what has happened to her. Don't let Carol get to you. I'm sure she'll make a comment or two. Remember that she was gone before you shot her," Dale reminded.

I shook my head in agreement and then stood, hobbling as best I could back to my tent. I went inside and laid on my sleeping bag, hoping for sleep to come, but all I could do was see Sophia fall to the ground again.

I could only imagine how Carol was feeling. Watching your daughter die before your eyes and not being able to do anything about it must be one of the hardest things a mom could do. It was hard for me to lose my daughter.

There was a rustling outside my tent and then I heard it unzip. I turned over as Lori stepped through the flap. "Hershel wants us out by the end of the week, but Rick's going to try to get him to let us stay. But as of right now, Hershel is missing so Rick and Glenn are out looking for him," Lori rushed out quickly. I could tell she was anxious.

"He'll be just fine," I assured her. She kneeled beside me.

"I think someone should go into town and look for them," Lori stated.

"So why are you here? Ask Shane. He'd probably be more than happy to do it," I snapped.

Lori's eyes grew wide. "I was hoping you'd go. We need someone to watch the fort and Daryl already declined. He's pretty pissed at me right now," she said bitterly.

"You have nothing to worry about. Rick, Glenn, and Hershel will be back before you know it and then everything will be okay. Don't get your panties in a bunch," I muttered.

She stood abruptly and stalked out of the tent. I knew I shouldn't have said that but I couldn't help it. She was so annoying sometimes and I wasn't in the mood to listen to her today.

I sighed, standing and heading out of the tent. I climbed atop the RV to where Dale was sitting watching the horizon.

"What's up hon?" he asked.

I smiled. "You know me all to well Dale," I said. "Have you seen Daryl?"

"Not since he stalked away after the incident at the barn," Dale offered. I nodded.

"I'm gonna try to find him and see if he needs anything," I said, taking off down the ladder.

"Take a weapon with you just in case," Dale suggested. I nodded.

"Will do," I said, going inside the RV and grabbing a small handgun and then slowly making my way towards my best bet of where Daryl was.

My ankle didn't hurt quite so bad but it was definitely slowing me down. About halfway to the waterfall that Daryl had shown me, I heard a rustle from behind me. I whipped around, gun raised, but it was too late. A canvas bag was placed over my head and then a blow to the back of the head made me lose consciousness.

So from here on out there will be major differences between my fanfic and the TV show. But no fear, there will still be plenty of chapters to come!

So whom do you think has Rosaline? Do you think they are a threat or are they trying to help her? What do you think about the chapter?

Don't forget to vote, comment, fan, and share!