Waiting For the End || Blake Dixon Book One

Chapter 8 ||"Yeah we could put on shows for the walkers."

The next morning Blake woke to a throbbing ankle. Her dad was already up, probably talking to Rick about the search for Sophia so she got ready quickly. All she really had to do was throw on some cargo pants and one of her sleeveless t-shirts plus her trusty ball cap. She made the trek down from her and her dad's camp to the main camp setup with the rest of the group. She snagged a granola bar before sitting down to help Andrea and T-dog clean some dishes.

"Morning, guys. Let's get going. We've got a Iot of ground to cover." Rick called out as he walked up to the group with her dad at his side. Blake popped up and limped her way over to the station wagon they were all gathered around. Her dad flicked the brim of her hat in greeting as she came to stand beside him and she just chucked an elbow into his side in return, attention on the map that Rick was laying out. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"l'd like to help." A voice interrupted and Blake lifted her head to find the tall lanky dude that she had seen around. She wasn't sure exactly how he fit in on the Greene's farm, but she knew he wasn't one of Hershel's kids. "l know the area pretty well and stuff." He told them eyes lingering on Blake a little bit longer than she liked.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked, eyeing the boy.

"Yeah, yeah. He said l should ask you." Lanky replied.

"All right then. Thanks." Rick said and the boy just nodded looking around at the group awkwardly.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me. Anyone couId have been holed up in that farmhouse." Shane commented from where he was sitting in the station wagon.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea retorted.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Her dad informed them, sticking his hand out to show around Sophia's height.

"It's a good Iead," Blake reassured.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again," Rick added.

"No maybe about it. l'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whoIe grid. lf she's up there, l'll spot her." Her dad remarked pointing to a ridge line on the map that would give him a good view of the whole area they had been searching.

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too." T-dog teased and Blake snorted looking at her dad who was staring at T-dog incredulously.

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked, confused at the whole thing. Blake had forgotten that the man hadn't been there in the beginning when they were all swapping stories.

"You never heard this?" Dale asked as he brought them the bag of guns.

"Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." Dale informed the sheriff who Blake just now noticed was out of his uniform and missing his hat. Lanky laughed and shook his head causing Blake to bristle.

"What are you braying at,  jackass?" She asked him and he looked between the father and daughter in disbelief.

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" The boy asked them almost sarcastically.

"Do you believe dead people waIking around?" Her dad fired back and that shut the boy up. Instead of responding he reached forward for the shotgun that was laying on the hood of the station wagon.

"Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked him as he stopped him from taking the gun.

"Well, if l'm going out, I want one." Lanky responded.