Untold Secrets

Chapter 6- The Search Continues

"You know you don't have to call me Daryl." He said to me as we walked down the highway and into the woods. "I can't just call you dad and expect it to be normal over night." I said to him. He was silent and asked "Did you know?" "I knew there was something familiar about ya when I first saw you at the camp during the deer incident, after you told me your name and about your mom, I knew." He said. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, a little serious. He sighed and said "Didn't know how. Thought it would be easier on you once you knew me better." He explained. I let the subject drop and after a few minutes, he said "Never in a million years do I want you to think that I left you because I wanted to." He said to me. "I left because I HAD too." He said. "Merle? My mom said he was dangerous." I said. "He was, and with our parents both bein' dead, he was living with your mom and I. Your mom hated that little shit." Daryl said, making me laugh at that reference. "What happened?" I asked. "When you were a little shy of a year old, Merle was doing nasty stuff like different drugs and alcohol, spent most of his time in juvy." He explained.

"Your mom couldn't handle him coming home drunk anymore, we would argue and you would cry a ton. She had enough and so she took full custody over ya and moved out." I listened intently and said "Why didn't you go with her?" I asked. "We ended whatever we had, and I couldn't just drag Merle over to you, I had to look over him." "Oh." I said. "I did it to keep you safe. I didn't want you to grow up around a guy like him. You didn't believe all that shit she said about me did you?" He asked me. I didn't know what to say, so I changed the subject. "Mom told me that it was better that you left with Merle, and since she was only 21 when I was born and I was an accident-" I was cut off my Daryl saying "You ain't no accident.." He paused like he was going to say something else but then we heard a noise in the distance. We walked a few more yards and then stumbled across a walker in a tree. The person had hung himself. There was a tent and Daryl read a terrible note that he had wrote before he killed himself. He was growling and tried reaching for us and his legs were only bones. I started coughing.

"You alright back there?" Daryl called across his shoulder at me as he looked at the walker. "Trying not to throw up." I simply said. "Go ahead if you have too." He answered. "Try and change the subject." I instructed him. "Look at him, hangin' up there like a big pinata." He said. That made me lose it and I threw up--barely nothing came up because I hadn't eaten since the CDC. "I thought you were gonna change the subject." I said and wiped my mouth. He chuckled slightly and turned around, heading in the opposite direction. "Aren't you gonna kill it?" I asked him. He turned around and looked at it. "No, he ain't hurting nobody. Besides, waste of an arrow." He said. "An answer for an arrow." I simply said. "What?" He asked and eyed me. "If I answer that question you asked me earlier, will you shoot it?" I asked. He nodded slightly and I said "I don't know. I want to believe you, but I'd like to think that a dad would've done anything to be with his daughter." He looked down shamefully and then shot it. "See? Waste of an arrow." He said, irritated and then continued walking. "No. I have these." I walked up to him and handed him the 4 arrows out of my bag. "Where did you find these?" He asked me, taking them from my hands. "They were in one of the cars on the highway, there were more, but the herd broke most of them." "Thanks, kid." He said.

******

The next morning, we all headed out to look for Sophia, except for T-Dog and Dale who were going to keep an eye out on things at the highway and try to get the RV running. After awhile, we stumbled across a yellow tent. Daryl signaled to Rick that he was going in. "Carol, call out so you're the first voice she hears if she's in there." Rick told her. Daryl began slowly unzipping the tent and Carol called out. "Sophia? Sophia baby, it's mommy." Daryl went inside the tent and came out with nothing except for an extra hand gun. "Nothin'" He said. Carol looked down sadly and we all sighed.

But then, church bells rang. We looked each other frantically and I said "That could attract Sophia!" "Or she could be ringing them herself." Rick said and ran in the direction of the bells. We came across a huge field with a small Baptist church. "This is the wrong church, there ain't no steeple." Shane kept telling us as we searched. We crashed through the doors, being met by 3 walkers. Daryl, Rick, and Shane took care of them. Daryl walked up to the cross saying "Hey JC, you takin' requests?" I sighed sadly and went outside sadly. "It's on a timer." Glenn explained to all of us. Carol said she was going back inside so Lori and I went with her. I squeezed her arm in sympathy as she cried and prayed from the front row. I couldn't stand to think about how Carol felt. I really missed Sophia too. She was the first friend I had since this whole thing happened besides Carl.