Iridescence

nowhere to be found

Mia sat silently on the back of the tailgate. Her mind had taken complete control as she picked off the sticky red from her fingers. Of course they offered her a shower, some type of clean up, but it just wasn't the same.

The lake cleansed most of it, but the fact that it wasn't completely gone soothed her. Her blood was a reminder that dale was real. He was something that she fought for, something that showed her that they had to fight to survive. Dale was a good man, but he lacked the spark to fight.

Rick again, slammed a decent sized crate into the bed of the truck behind her.

In honor of dale, it was decided that they let Randall go. Take him somewhere far away, then turn him loose on his own. It's what the old man wanted.

Everyone had gone about their own preparations, but Shane and Rick were going to be the ones to end the job. Mia offered to go in her own way, but of course they looked down on her like a broken child. This wasn't the first person that she had lost, let alone the first person she had to kill. If only she could use her words, they would know the stories that she had to tell.

"Rick!" Shane's voice suddenly called across the farm.

Looking up from her spot, she could see the blood that was running down his forehead. But the way it ran, it looked as if his nose might have been broke. 

Out of pure instinct everyone started racing forward, but Mia stayed planted on the tailgate studying his every move. "The little bastard jumped me." He tried telling his friend.

As soon as the words left his mouth though, the man's left shoulder rose and rolled backwards. He's lying. She noted to herself.

"What happened?"

"Soon as I undid the cuffs the little shit knocked me out and took off."

"Shit." The officer turned calling for daryl. Everyone else gathered in a panic, but over the crowd their eyes locked.

Shane and Mia stared one another down. He knew that she knew, but making sure nobody believed a 17 year old kid, Shane looked back towards the others.

It was set into a plan that they would split up, groups of two searching the area for Randall. Daryl was with glenn, thank God someone they trusted.

Seeing them all start in separate directions, Mia started off towards daryl.

He saw her coming, and more importantly she knew what he was going to say before it even left his mouth. "You're not coming." He shook his head.

Mia didn't fight it though. Instead, she pulled out her pistol from her waist band and extended it towards daryl. He stopped for a second, looked at it, then her.

As they stayed in at position, Mia glared in Shane's direction with a look that could kill. "I know he's lying kid." He pulled her attention back. "But we're gonna need proof he killed em. You need to stay back, cuz if he makes it back before we do, somebody needs to be ready to stop him."

The two archers looked to one another with a long determination.

Something was going to happen tonight, and they were going to make sure it worked out in their favor.

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Sitting on top of the barn, Mia kept watch over every part of the the farmhouse. The sun was beginning to set, and neither group had made it back yet. Daryl was smart, Glenn was fast, their group would be okay. But Rick? Rick was on his own with Shane, and that worried her beyond belief.

At her side, the long barrel to dales old rifle rested against the wood. This was he best place to watch for the others, and her best place to take a shot if she needed too.

As the cool air began to creep in, Mia looked to her dangling boots and at the ground below.

Life was so easy to take away, but only if you were willing to give up. 

If it wasn't for daryl, she could just slide off the top of this roof head first and end it all. But because of him now, she couldn't. Daryl had managed to grow on her, am attachment that has clearly saved her life. But it wasn't only him anymore. Sitting on the roof allowed her to thing. Most of these people cared about her. Glenn, daryl, rick, maggie, hersehel, sophia... there were more people looking out for her now than ever before.

Maybe finding that little girl in the woods wasn't such a bad thing. Getting shot was though. Hell that still hurt.

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Daryl walked up the steps to the farmhouse, his mind a blur. How is that even possible? No bite mark...?

Scratching the back of his head, he pushed it away and immediately started looking for Mia. "Did you find him?" Lori asked stepping out to daryl and Glenn.

Everyone soon crowded around. "Nah, but is Rick around? We gotta talk about something."

The sorrowful and confused look on Glenn's face made it evident that It was important. He sucker at lying, ducked at hiding his emotions. Daryl on the other hand, could do both without so much effort as to blink.

"No, him and Shane are still out there." Lori sighed.

"Alright, ya know where Mia's at?" He asked in return.

This time, Maggie answered. "She's on top of the barn."

Turning, he could see her silhouette sitting on the very peak. Without another word to the others daryl was making his way towards her. He knew that she saw him coming, the kid was good.

At the barn, he moved right on inside and up the ladder to the loft area. Each step was a pull for him, but reached the window was the biggest obstacle.

Mia was light, quick at these types of things. Daryl was more of a stay on the ground type of person. "Ya see anything?" He grunted while pulling himself up on the shutter.

Seeing him do so, she extended her hand and helped pull him up. Her silence meant no.

"Glenn and I, we found something." The two sat down with a huff.

Instantly her curiosity rose.

"Randall's dead, just like we thought. The kid was a walker." It didn't surprise her. Shane killed him. "But he wasn't bit." This made her turn with confusion. "Randall was turned, but he wasn't bit. Checked the body and everything."

To get turned, you needed to be scratched or bitten by one of the infected. That's just how it worked.

If there were no marks on Randall though, that meant one thing. In that moment, it dawned on Mia that nobody was safe anymore. Not her, not daryl, not sophia, and not Glenn. They were all infected.

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed from the field ahead. Groans and moans sounded from every direction of the farm.

In their small moment of realization, the walkers had closed in all around them. The farm was under attack, and Rick? Rick was nowhere to be found.