That Redneck (Daryl Dixon love story from The walking dead/TWD)

Chapter 40- How I Got Lost

"Oh my gosh Rick! What happened?!" I yelled. He stared at me as if I was a mirage, something that didn't exist.

"M-M-Mar-r-riah? Is that you?" He stuttered out. I nodded and Hershel stormed in with a metal table.

"Alright lay the boy down here." Hershel commanded. Rick hesitantly laid Carl down on the metal table.

As soon as Carl was on, Hershel took off to the closest bedroom. I could hear him barking orders at Patricia and Beth.

"Rick, what happened?" I asked quietly. He took a step towards me and laid his hand on my arm softly.

"It is you." He whispered. I opened my mouth to say something but Rick pulled me into a suffocating bear hug before I could say anything else.

He released me after a moment, his eye's wandered around the room. "Carl got shot by one of the men here." He said quietly.

My jaw dropped and I pulled Rick into another hug. "I'm so sorry Rick." I whispered.

Another slam sounded and I looked at the door. Allison, Ryan and Odis stood their all out of breath.

"What the hell?" Ryan exclaimed.

"MARIAH!" Allison screamed. She ran at me full speed and basically tackled me.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" She screamed into my ear. I laughed and stood back. They all basically looked the same just slimmer, if that was even possible.

"Hell ya I'm alive." I joked. She laughed but quickly stopped herself. Her eyes widened and she looked at Rick.

"Oh my gosh you wouldn't believe Tayler and Jason. Don't even get me started on Daryl." She said, alarm sounding through her voice.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Tayler and Jason, all they did was look for you everyday. They would barley eat any food." She said quietly.

"Daryl was worse, he wouldn't come back for days, he'd just wander around the forest looking for you." She said anxiously. I was touched that they all cared so much, but I wish they wouldn't have gone through so much pain, assuming I was dead.

"I'm sorry, I looked everyday. Its like you guys just disappeared." I said sadly.

Hershel appeared in the doorway a moment later. "Look, theres no way we can do this without proper medical equipment." Hershel said sadly.

Odis stood up and walked towards Hershel. "I'll go to that high school. They have a medical building set up." He volunteered.

"I'll go too." Ryan spoke up from behind Odis. Hershel nodded and started to name off medical equipment that they would need.

Patricia walked over to Rick. She asked him something and he nodded. She took him by the hand and lead him into Carl's room.

I turned to Allison"Hey do you want a shower? Something to eat?" I asked her.

Her eye's widened and scanned my face. "Definitely." She sprinted upstairs before I could say another word.

I laughed and poked my head into Carl's room. Needles were attached to Rick and Carl's arms, Rick was giving Carl the blood he needed to go on.

That almost made my heart break. I quickly shook my head and walked into the room.

Rick cradled his head in his hand. "Mariah how am I suppose to tell Lori this?" He asked me.

"Lori doesn't know?" I questioned. He shook his head. "I'll tell her Rick, don't worry." I said quickly.

He nodded and I left the room. "I need to go tell Rick's wife what happened to Carl, can you saddle a horse for me?" I asked.

"Yeah but I'm coming with you." She said quickly. "Fine but I'm staying behind with my group, that way I can lead them to the farm." I reasoned.

She nodded. "I'll go get the horse." I nodded and walked back inside.

"Rick where's the group?" I asked.

"The highway, where Sophia and you ran into the woods." He said quietly. I ducked back outside and got on the horse with Maggie.

"Let's go!" I yelled, she nodded and took off towards the forest. "They should be around a part of the highway." I yelled at Maggie.

She nodded and changed the way we were riding a bit. We trotted along rapidly, reaching the woods in record speed. We sped along the forest until a scream rang out through the woods and Maggie turned the horse so we were heading in the direction of the scream.

A person struggling with a walker appeared on the ground and Maggie quickly disposed of the walker, helping the women on the ground.

I looked down to see Andrea staring at me in shock. "ANDREA?" I questioned. I quickly jumped off the horse and she jumped up and hugged me.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed.

I pulled back. "Where's Lori!" I yelled. Lori came to my side a moment later.

She hugged me. "I'm right here." I hugged her back but quickly pulled away.

"Carl, he's been shot. Go with Maggie now, I'll explain later." I yelled. A horrified look came on her face as I pulled her over to the horse.

"Go!" I shouted as I shoved her on. They quickly speed off into the distance.

Carol, Andrea, Glenn and Alex stared at me in amazement. I hugged Carol and Glenn quickly. Then gave a tiny hug to Alex. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've ever touched him, he felt so warm and comforting. Almost like how Ryan felt.

I had to pull away or people would get suspicious. "Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"T-Dog and Dale are at the RV. Daryl, Jason, and Tayler left to go searching for you and Sophia." Glenn said happily.

I nodded and we all walked back to the highway, catching up on what had happened.

Rick had lost Sophia by accident, after he tried to loose two walkers. They've been searching for us both for days. We continued to chatter all the way back to the RV. Then an old mans voice rang out. "Is that you Mariah?" Dale asked quietly.

I laughed and he slapped my back. T-Dog gave me a small hug and we all kept talking. I told them how I got lost, and found the farm. How I searched for them far and wide but it was like they all had disappeared.

We kept talking until dark, we all sat on top of the RV, waiting for Daryl, Jason and Tayler to get back.

Soon enough we heard rustling in the bush. Glenn stood up and jumped down off the RV.

Three figures emerged from the forest. "Hey guys!" Glenn yelled.

The three figures moved towards Glenn. "Guess who we found?" Glenn said happily.