RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

grazed

IT WAS DAY 2 with the new plan in place to find Sophia. Rick has been forming pairs of their people and assigning them grids to help search more ground. Daryl insisted on staying on his own, claiming he does better that way, and maybe he was right. On the first day, he came back with new information. He had found a farmhouse that had recently been slept in.

"Everybody is getting a new search grid today." Rick set down the map. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might've gone further East than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help." The group turned around, Jimmy stepping up with his hands in his pockets. "I know the area pretty well."

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick questioned the boy.

"Yeah." The boy answered confidently. "He said I should ask you."

Rick glanced at Willow, searching for her input, but she shrugged.

"Alright then." Rick nodded to the boy. "Thanks."

"Nothing 'bout what Daryl found screams 'Sophia' to me." Shane ducked his head out of the truck they were meeting at. "Anyone could've been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea looked over to him.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard wasn't more than yay-high." Daryl held out his hand to a height no taller than his waist.

"It's a good lead." Willow said, dismissing Shane's doubt. "Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." She glanced over to Daryl, giving her a nod as he slipped on a warn out plaid jacket and a leather armless vest.

"I'm gonna borrow a horse." He leaned over the truck, trailing his finger along the map. "Head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea." T-Dog said. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too."

"Chupacabra?" Rick and Willow asked in unison.

"You never heard this?" Dale began to unzip the gun bag that Hershel let them have back for their trip. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra."

Jimmy began to laugh, and Willow let out a slight chuckle under her breath.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl said to the boy, ignoring Willow's laugh.

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Rick asked in amusement.

"You believe dead people walking around?" Daryl responded hotly, shutting Rick up real quick.

Jimmy began to reach for one of the shotguns Dale had set out onto the hood of the car, Rick immediately stopping him, grabbing the gun before he can. "Hey, ever fire one before?"

Jimmy answer shyly. "Well, if I'm going out I want one."

Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees."

Willow turned her head, covering the smile that drew big on her face. As Daryl walked off, she saw a faint one on his too.

Shane stood up from inside the truck. "Why don't you come train tomorrow? If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor."

Willow turned her head back to him, her smile dropping at the offer Shane dangled out to the boy. "For now, he can come with us." She said, a certain harshness in her tone.

"He's yours to baby sit then." Shane muttered.

"Gladly." Willow shot back, taking the shotgun from Rick.