Call me England Dixon

Chapter 23: Promise

England's POV:

A huge thud can be heard as my father puts down a few weapons.

"Everyone takes a weapon."

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea starts to protest. I roll my eyes at her annoyance.

"We've been over that." Shane starts, annoyed as I am. "Daryl, Rick, English, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping everytime a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about. Besides, why does she get one? She's a kid." I scoff at Claim.

"Yeah. A kid who actually knows how to use a gun. Let's say somebody fires at the wrong moment, and a herd happens to be passing by. See, right then it's game over for all of us. So what you need to do is woman up and get over it." I respond, shaking my head.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl explains. He walks up to me as the others get themselves ready.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you, but always stay within sight of each other." My father instructs.

"Dale, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this r.v ready to move."

Dales nods agreeing with my father.

"We won't stay here any longer than we have to. Good luck out there and you." He turns in my directions, pointing a finger at me. "You bring Sofia back."

I give him a small smile.

"You've got it."
"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone."

Carl looks at my father, confusion floating around in his eyes. "I'm going with you."

"Umm..."

"You need people right? To cover as much ground as possible." He reasons. Dad groans looking over at my mother.

"Your call. I can't always be the bad guy." My mother states. She's not okay with it, that much I can tell. He sighs looking at me this time.

I look between the three of them and shrug.

"I mean... He'll be with us." I state looking over At my little brother. He smiles up at me and I wink in return. Dad nods his head in agreement.

"Okay. Okay, but always within our sight. No exceptions." Dad orders. He walks away from us. Carl silently cheers, throwing his hands up in the air. I chuckle at his theatrics and walk in the direction of the woods, everyone following in my trail.

~        *        ~        *

We walked for about an hour.

"Hey, take a look at my machete. Isn't it cool?" Glenn says holding out his weapon with a big smile on his face. I chuckle softly at my best friend.

"Yeah, it's pretty co-" I get interrupted when Daryl puts his hand out stopping me from moving any further. He crouches down making everyone do the same. I look in the direction he's staring at and see a small tent area.

"She could be in there?" I ask quietly.

"Could be a whole bunch of things." He stands up slowly, walking towards it. I follow suit with my gun raised. Daryl goes to the front of the tent while I look at the side. I try to look inside, but don't find anything. I look at the three men and shrug letting them know I can't see anything.

I hear my father calling Carol over. Telling her to call out for Sofia just in case she's in there. I doubt it but I understand it's just a procedure. Carol starts calling out but no movements could be heard. She tries again, but still nothing. Daryl nods at my father and slowly starts unzipping the tent. A nasty odor has me and Daryl coughing, but he continues to go in.