𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥《 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 》

f i v e// O U T S I D E R

"I can't help feeling like an outsider."

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel questioned as the group gathered around a car.
They had a little camp a little further away from the Greene's house. Their tents spread near the trees and the RV parked by the short fences of the farm.
"This'll be day three."
Hershel's oldest daughter, Maggie Greene, came walking to the car where the group gathered around with a map in hands. She spread it on the car bonnet.
"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations."
"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."
"Not you, not today." Hershel said, leaving everyone confused. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He explained, then looked at Shane across the car bonnet. "And your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."
"Guess it's just me." Daryl whispered. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."
"I'll go, too." Smith said. "I can also drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."
"Alright. Tomorrow, then. We'll start doing this right."
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training you've been promising them." Shane said.
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel narrowed his eyes at Shane. "We've managed so far without without turning this into an armed camp."
"With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..." Shane rambled before scoffing.
"We're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick said, eyes piercing into Shane's, threatening.
And so, Rick placed his gun on the map, eyeing the rest of the people, expecting them to do the same, which they did after a little bit of hesitation. Everyone except Smith. She would need it for the search.
"First things first: Set camp, find Sophia."
"I hate to be the one to ask but somebody's got to." Shane paused for a second, phrasing the sentence on his mind so it wouldn't sound so bad. "What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how to handle that."
Rick sighed and look down.
"You do what has to be done."
He knew it was the right thing to do-- have mercy for the little girl and not let her become one of those monstrous things.
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie questioned.
"The truth."
The conversation dragged itself a little longer. Daryl and Smith shared a look and it was almost like they read each other's mind. They simply walked away with one thought on their mind-- their duty to find Sophia.
Smith hopped on the 2011 light green Hyundai Tucson Shane had fixed up on the highway.
"I'll meet you there." Daryl mumbled quietly, leaving Smith a little confused.
Why would he meet her on the highway?
Smith had taken Daryl for someone who would do everything to be alone. She thought he would prefer to go looking for Sophia on his own. Being around Daryl wasn't an easy task. Smith despised conflict and oddly enough, it seemed like every single little thing trigger the man. Sha had to rephrase things over and over in her mind before saying it to him, otherwise he would just lash out. That's what her mind said he would do, at least. Smith hadn't had that many interactions with him and yet, she thought she had him figured out already.

★
"Daryl." Rick called out. "You okay on your own?"
"I'm better on my own. I'll be back before dark."
"Hey. We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now."
"You got a point, or are we just chatting?"
"My point is it lets you off the hook. You don't owe us anything. "
"My other plans fell through."
★

Smith stayed on the highway for a little bit. Daydreaming, deeply thinking while staring at the 'sign' the group had pulled together for Sophia in case she came back and they weren't there.
She felt... disappointed, in a way. Sophia wasn't there and there was no sign or evidence that she ever was. The untouched canned food and water bottles on the car bonnet and the dusty windshield with the words 'Sophia stay here. We will come every day' written on it.
A whistle caught her off guard. She turned around brusquely. She was holding on to her gun until her eyes recognized the author of the whisper. Mr. Daryl Dixon, of course. He hid his smile at how he had startled her and motioned her to follow him into the woods.
"Found a farmhouse not far from here. Looked inside but there was nothing." He looked back at her. "Thought we could go from there."
She nodded in response.
Daryl Dixon was quiet but it seemed Miss Smith was even quieter, which made him look like the extravert among the duo. Which was a completely incorrect statement, for he was no extravert, but with her quiet and sneaky persona following behind, he had to be the one to pull the conversation.
"And the highway?" He asked, not looking back this time, just walking.
"Nothing." She shook her head. "There was no sign she was ever there, that she even passed by." She said in a quiet and disappointed tone.
Daryl was secretly getting desperate trying to find this little girl. There was no trail. No clues of where she could possibly be, but Daryl wouldn't let others know he felt like that. He wouldn't give up on finding the little girl.
Pushing through the trees, the farmhouse Daryl mentioned came in sight. He kicked the doors open and walked, crossbow in the face, to the living room while Smith made her way to the kitchen.
There was an open can of tuna on the counter. It looked recently open, so Smith made sure to check out every square meter of the kitchen.
A slight breeze brushed through her long, brown hair and she turned around to see where it was coming from. A door of what looked like a pantry was half opened and slightly creaking with the wind. Smith took out her knife as she got closer to the pantry.
Pushing the door open, a little blanket and a pillow were revealed at the edge. She frowned. Could it be her?
The woman made her way to the living room, where Daryl carefully searched for footprints and any other signs that somebody had been there. She snapped her fingers and he looked at her in a matter of milliseconds. She kicked her head back and walked back in the kitchen, the man behind her.
The Dixon man examined the situation for a while then looked at her, wearing an expression she couldn't immediately read.
"Could it be...?" Smith said, more in a questioning tone.
"Search every corner. Upstairs too." He rasped out. "She might be around here somewhere."