𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 | 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 ¹

𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

Chapter Fourteen,
Bloodletting

A NEW DAY HAD DAWNED, and with it, Rick and Shane commenced their plan to launch another search party in pursuit of the missing girl, as they had promised.

"Everybody take a weapon," Rick instructed.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea questioned.

"We've been over that," Shane replied. "Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees that I'm worried about," Andrea responded.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by," Shane reasoned, which earned him an eye roll. "See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it. No one else is arguing about that. It's not just you who doesn't have one. Take Chloe for an example, why isn't she arguing? Lori?"

Chloe was taken aback that Shane would even mention her, given their history back at the C.D.C.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark," Daryl said, ignoring Andrea's ongoing protests.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick instructed the group.

"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane added.

"Dale, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move," Rick told the older man, who, along with T-Dog and Carl, would remain behind.

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to," Dale assured the sheriff as he patted him on the back. "Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back."

"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone," Rick said, and Chloe could see Carl preparing to voice his objections from where she stood, adjusting her backpack, bow, and knife.

"I'm going with you. You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible," the kid declared.

"Your call. I can't always be the bad guy," Lori turned to Rick.

"Well, he has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands," Dale chimed in.

"Okay, okay, but always within our sight, no exceptions," Rick agreed more quickly than Chloe had expected.

Unsurprisingly, Andrea was the next to protest. However, unlike Carl, she wasn't arguing to join the search party but rather to carry a gun for her own sense of safety, or perhaps her perception of danger. Dale was not as easily swayed as Rick.

"Andrea, I'm begging you. Don't put me in this position."

"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please," Andrea declared.

"I'm doing this for you."

"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop. What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?" 

"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now," Dale pointed out.

"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay," the blonde retorted.

"You chose suicide." 

And Chloe was becoming increasingly uninterested.

"So what's that to you? You barely know me," Andrea continued to argue.