Angel in the Apocalypse

28

Upon reaching the farm, I retreated back to Daryl's camp. He was sitting by himself, sharpening his knife.

"Hershel knows," I said, announcing my presence.

"Knows what?" Daryl asked without looking up from his knife.

"He knows that I am an Angel."

Daryl was silent for a moment.

"How'd he find out?" He asked.

"My grace acted out."

"Your grace did what?"

"Hershel compared our group to a group of demons. He said that I was the worst one of all." I explained the situation. "My grace reacted violently, causing a shadow of my wings to show and many glasses to break."

"He come back after that?"

"No. By the time I explained everything to him, Rick had already reached the bar. I told Hershel to go with them without any fuss, but seeing that they are not back yet, he did not heed my warning."

Daryl nodded his head.

"So we just wait." He said.

"Yes." I agreed. "We must wait."

Daryl and I sat in a comfortable silence as he sharpened some sticks into arrows. I had my eyes closed, allowing myself to think about Hershel and how he knew about me. I highly doubt that he would tell anyone in the group, and if he did they would think he was crazy. I had no clue if he would tell his family; that was where a problem could occur. His family was just as religious as he is, while they may be skeptical at first, they would be more likely to believe him more than anyone in our group. The sound of footsteps caused me to open my eyes.

"Moving to the suburbs?" I heard Lori ask.

Neither Daryl nor I answered, not that Lori seemed to care.

"Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel."

What she did not know was that Hershel knew about Beth and still decided to stay and drink.

"Yeah. So what?" Daryl spoke up.

"So I need you to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back," Lori said while squatting down as if she was speaking to a child.

I glanced between Lori and Daryl to see what his reaction would be. It seemed that he was too making new arrows to notice.

"Daryl?" Lori asked after he stayed quiet.

"Your bitch went window-shopping." He said as he finally looked up at Lori. "You want him? Fetch him yourself. I got better thing to do."

"What's the matter with you. Why would you be so selfish?" Lori asked.

For some reason, her question riled both me and Daryl up. Daryl and I both shot up but I spoke before he had the chance.

"Selfish?" I asked.

Lori and Daryl both looked at me. The look on Daryl's face showed that he was surprised I was standing up for him.

"Daryl has done more for this group than you ever have. Daryl has fed this group since the beginning. He went out hunting every chance he got so you could eat. He continued doing so after we left his only brother on a roof to die. He continued doing so after you said that his brother's life wasn't worth saving. And when Sophia went missing, he did not hesitate to take the lead and track her. I guarantee that if I had not have found her, that he would still be out there looking for her." I basically praised Daryl. "All you have done is tell the women to do household chores while not doing any of them yourself. And you call Daryl selfish."

With that, I sat back down.

"Listen to me, Olive Oyl." Daryl finally spoke. "Don't you tell me about getting my hands dirty. You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride."

Daryl sat back down, ending the discussion. Lori gave us both a dirty look before walking away.

"I'm sorry," I spoke for the first time since Lori left.

"For what?" Daryl asked.

"Getting involved. You did not need me yet I interfered anyway." I answered.

"It's fine. Bitch didn't know what she was talking about anyway."

Nighttime rolled around and Rick and Hershel were not back yet. I watched as Daryl stoked his fire. For the second time today, our peace and quiet was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. This time it was Carol that made her way over to us.

"We can't find Lori. And the others aren't back yet either." She informed us.

"That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em," Daryl concluded.

"What?" Carol asked.

"She asked Daryl to go." I clarified.

"I told her I was done being an errand boy," Daryl added.

"And y'all didn't say anything?" Carol asked us.

Daryl and I stayed silent. Truly if we would have known Lori would have gone alone, one of us would have joined her. Carol sighed and walked back towards the farmhouse. Daryl and I sat in silence. Both of us most likely thinking about what could have happened to Lori. We both knew that at least one of us should help search.

"I'll go," I said while standing up from my spot.

I followed behind Carol and saw Carl, Sophia, Dale, and Andrea standing outside. I watched as Shane and T-Dog joined them.

"Well, where is she?" I heard Carl ask.

Poor kid is missing his father and his mother.

I bowed my head a little lower, thinking about that.

"She asked Daryl to go into town," Carol spoke up, alerting the group of our presence. "Must've gone herself."

Carl whimpered at the thought. I rested my hand on the young boy's shoulder. Carl took off running. Sophia and I both chased after him.

"Carl!" Sophia called out.

The sound of a car driving away caused Carl to slow down. We watched as Shane drove away in search of Lori.

"Carl," I spoke, gaining his attention.

Carl whimpered and hugged me.

"It will be alright," I told the child. "If Shane does not find her, I will leave to search for her when he returns. She will be okay."

"(Y/n) was able to find me, Carl. She could easily find your mom." Sophia said and joined our hug.

"We should go inside where it is warmer," I said.

I could feel Carl nod his head into my stomach. With his consent, I led the two children back into the farmhouse.