Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Sixteen

Daryl's POV

Chelsea lost Danielle and we haven't found her for four days now.

"What is she's dead?" I hear Carl mumble. I look over at him and sigh. The kid's right. Danielle could be dead. Danielle could be a walker. As much as I don't want to think about this...she could have killed herself.

I feel Chelsea rub my arm making me look over at her. She gives me a weak smile but I don't return it.

"You okay?" She asks me. I shrug and look down at my hands. Lyndon's dead and now Danielle left. This is just peachy.

"Chelsea, where was the last place you seen her?" Rick asks. I want to blame him for Danielle leaving, and I can. After all, he is the one who shot Lyndon and pushed Danielle to leaving.

"Right here. She was by the stream and I heard something walking. I seen two walkers. I was going to shoot them but Danielle killed one of them. She was going to let the other walker kill her but someone killed it before me. I heard them talking while I was trying to find a place where both of them wouldn't see me. When I turned to watch them, they were gone." Chelsea says and sighs.

"Daryl, do you think you can track her?" Abraham asks.

"Already tried it. I couldn't find anything." I grumble. Chelsea squeezes my hand and I hear her sigh.

"Ya know, I blame you, Gabriel." Chelsea raises her voice. "You could have stopped her! You could have convinced her to stay when she came to talk to you! You could have said something that influenced her to stay! How do we know you didn't tell her to leave in the first place?!" Chelsea yells and stands up. I stare at her then look at Gabriel.

"I wouldn't lie to you guys. I didn't say anything because I knew, no matter if I said something or not, she wouldn't change her mind." Gabriel says. There's something not right here. He's hiding something.

"Calm down, Chelsea. It's not his fault Danielle decided to leave." Carol says. Chelsea rolls her eyes and sighs in annoyance before turning to Gabriel.

"If I find out you made her leave, I'll snap your neck in a heartbeat." She threatens and walks off. I get up and walk to her.

I grab her hand making her turn around. She's crying and suddenly buries her face into my chest. I hesitate before wrapping my arms around her.

"Daryl, why would she leave?" She cries.

"I don't know. Maybe it was too much for her. I don't know. We'll find her. I promise." I assure her. She nods and continues to cry into my chest. I force her to look at me by lifted her head. I sigh and press my lips to hers. She kisses back but then pulls away.

"I'm going to go look for water." She says and walks off. I sigh and walk back to the group. Well...what's left of it.

Danielle's POV

"I'm going hunting. I'll be back." I tell Austin. He nods with a smile. I leave the small shed and begin walking through the woods.

I stay quiet and look in the trees and through the woods keeping an eye out for anything and everything. I don't want to come upon walkers or other people. Or the group. I really don't want to come upon them.

I hear walking, making me stop in my tracks. I look around and don't see anything. I climb a tree just in case it's a walker. Or people.

"What if we don't find her?" I hear Chelsea mumble.

Shit.

"We'll find her." Rick assures her. I roll my eyes.

Please don't find me.

I look down and see them walking in the direction of where me and Austin are staying. I sigh quietly and begin getting worried. What if they find Austin? What if they kill him? I can't let that happen.

I slip quietly down the tree and take a long route, avoiding the group, back to the shed. I run inside, scaring Austin.

"We need to leave." I say and try to catch my breath.

"Why?" He asks.

"My group. They are about to find this shed. I heard them while I was hunting. We need to leave." I tell him. He nods and gathered everything together. We quickly leave the shed and begin running to get ahead of the group.

I'm not letting them find me. I don't want to go back with them. I wish I could just be with Daryl and Chelsea, but they are with the others and I rather not be with them. Well...I rather not be around Rick.

After a while of running, me and Austin settle down in a thick wooded area. I sit down and put my crossbow and backpack in front of me. Austin sits beside me and puts his things beside him.

"So uh...why did you leave?" Austin asks.

"He shot my son."

"Who?"

"The leader. Rick. We were together, and I was happy with him. Then he shoots my son when there is a hoard of walkers in the lodge we were at. He said he didn't mean to, but the preacher that we have with us said that Rick did it on purpose. I was pissed. So I left." I shrug and force myself not to cry.

"Oh." Austin mumbles. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'll eventually be okay." I assure him. He nods and wraps his arm around my shoulders.

After a while of sitting there and talking quietly, we get up and begin walking through the woods in search for somewhere else to stay.

---sorry for taking so long to update. I was busy and had to worry about my end of course tests.---