In The End | Daryl Dixon

Chapter 10: Cherokee Rose

Rick, Shane, Daryl, Andrea, Hershel and I were gathered around the hood of an old pale yellow truck.

"How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked Rick.

"This'll be day three."

Maggie squeezed herself in between Rick and myself, laying out a map across the hood of the truck, "County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick was analyzing over the map. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

Hershel looked to Rick, "Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He then looked to Shane, "and your ankle. Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"Guess it's just me." Daryl groaned. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there."

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back." Shane looked to Rick.

Rick nodded his head, "All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doin' this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promisin' them."

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel looked to Rick, "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

Shane took off his cap, "All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..."

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick looked at Shane setting his pistol on the hood of the truck.

Shane placed his pistol on the hood of the truck with dissatisfaction, and I pulled the revolver Daryl gave me the day prior out of the back pocket of my jeans, placing it onto the hood of the truck.

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit?" Shane asked Rick. "I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

"You do what has to be done."

                   ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

"That is one ugly motherfucker." I grimaced at the sight of the bloated walker that was currently stuck in one of the wells on the property.

"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asked.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andreas face contorted in disgust.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." Lori added.

"We gotta get out." Shane said.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head." T-dog suggested.

"No guns T." I squinted my eyes due to the sunlight. "Besides, if you shoot it, it'll definitely contaminate the water if it's not already." I added.

"She's right. Can't risk it." Shane looked down at the well thinking.

"So it has to come out alive?" T-dog had a bewildered face.

"So to speak."

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"Live bait." Andrea smirked looking at me.

I looked to Andrea, then everyone around me also was eyeing me down. "You're kidding right? Tell me you're kidding."

Nobody said anything, just kept giving me that look of "sorry to be you" look. I poked my lip into my cheek shaking my head.

Shane tied the rope around both my legs, making a seat of sorts, while the rest of the rope he laced around a pipe, "We gonna get you out of here in one piece Jordyn, alright?"

"Living piece, please. That's the key." I said nervously.

"You people are crazy."

"You want to get it out of your well or not?" Shane called out to Maggie over his shoulder.

"Give us an eye there Maggie." Dale asked.

I took a deep breath, and scooted my ass off the ledge and descended down the well. I looked down, my breathing accelerating.

"You doin' okay?" Maggie called down to me.

"Oh wonderful. Having the time of my life."

I lowered the rope down to get it around the torso of the walker so we could pull it out. All of a sudden I was jerked down further than expected. I screamed as I was now having to hold my feet up to keep them out of the walkers reach.

"Guys! Get me out of here!" I screamed.

I was hitting the side of the walls due to me kicking the walker to get it off my feet.

"Shane!" I let out a blood curdling scream.

Slowly I was being lifted up out of the well, when I got to the top, I was dragged out of the well by my arms, landing face first into the dirt. Lori cradled my body as I was hyperventilating. When I realized that I was out of the well and safe again, my breathing started to slow down.

"Back to the drawing board."

I looked up at Dale, slowly standing up,

  "Says you." I handed him the rope that I managed to get around the walker.

                    ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

I sat near the tents, I needed a while to recover from the well incident and have time to myself.

"Heard you tried swimmin' with a walker."

I looked over my shoulder and saw Daryl setting his crossbow down next to his tent.

I scoffed, "Never am I fucking ever doing something that stupid again."

He laughed lightly, taking a seat next to me. He handed me an empty beer bottle with a white flower in it.

I smiled taking it in my hands examining it, "A flower?"

"It's a Cherokee Rose. Found some while lookin' for Sophia. Thought you might like it."

"It's beautiful Daryl. Thank you." I gave him a genuine smile.

He grunted in response, turning his attention to some squirrels he hunted while he was out.

"So when are you going to take me hunting? Give that crossbow a try?" I asked playfully.

He stopped doing what he was doing with the squirrel and looked at me, "Pfft."

"Oh come on. Okay maybe not the crossbow. But I'd like to go hunting. Learn from someone else, because Tyler was too pissed to teach me." I laughed.

"Maybe when you tell me this 'disastrous' huntin' trip. I'll consider."

"Okay, so the stand broke within 30 minutes of us getting there. Tyler had to rig it, we didn't see a single deer all morning, then it started storming so we had to call it quits. Tyler was so pissed, so needless to say I didn't learn much of anything."

"Sounds like a shit time." He agreed with me. "Fine. I'll teach ya. After we find Sophia." He turned his attention back to the squirrel he was trying to cook up.

"Sounds good to me."