FATHERS RIFLE • C.Grimes

ೀ⋆｡˚ CHAPTER 2 ೀ⋆｡˚

FAYE FOUND carl sat on one of the cars, she pulled herself up and joined him. the two sat in silence for a few minutes before faye spoke up. "shane's an ass." she mumbled staring into the distance. "not always, i don't know what's up with him. it's like he hates me now or something." carl replied glaring over to his mother and shane. "he doesn't hate you, he's just stressed." faye gave him a reassuring smile "we're all stressed." she added looking over at carol.

"do you not get worried when your dad goes away?" carl spoke up breaking the silence once more. "its terrifying. but worrying won't do anything, i just have to trust him when he promises he'll comeback." she explained picking at her fingers.

"see" she smirked lifting herself off the car, heading towards her father and rick who had returned. although faye's moment of glee was soon interrupted by the sickening feeling that washed over her when they returned without sophia.

"hey, you." daryl muttered pulling his arm around his daughter. "but she's twelve she can't be out there on her own." carol cried. "daryl knows the woods better than anybody. i've asked him to over see this." rick tried to calm the woman.

"how could you just leave her there to begin with." carol spat at rick "how could you just leave her!?"

"those two walkers were on us. i had to draw them off. it was her best chance." he explained slowly loosing his patience.

"how was she supposed to find her way back on her own? she's just a child." she sniffed.

"it was my only option, the only choice i could make." he knelt down to level with the woman.

"my little girl got left in the woods." carol sobbed while everyone stood around her in silence. andrea and lori sat down next to her to comfort her watching rick walk away.

-🦊-

THE NEXT DAY the hot sun beamed down on the group as rick explained their next plan to search for sophia.

"everybody takes a weapon." rick spoke as he opened up the arsenal faye and
carl found the day before. "these aren't the kind of weapons we need. what about the guns?" andrea placed her hands on her hips.

"we've been over that. daryl, rick and i are carrying." shane replied making faye scoff quietly as she fidgeted with her pocket knife. "we can't have people popping off rounds everytime a tree rustles" his cocky tone triggered faye more and more. she didn't know why she hated shane so much he just had a really punchable face.

"let's say someone fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by, see then it's game over for all of us. so you need to get over it." shane spoke firmly.

"the idea is to take the creek up about five miles. turn around come back down the other side." daryl explained "chances are she'll be by the creek. it's her only landmark." he added.

faye followed her father ready to get going when she overheard carl "if faye's allowed to come why can't i?" he snapped looking up at his parents. rick and lori sighed debating between the two before nodding hesitantly.

"weasel." faye teased carl "shut up" he tried his best to give her a firm look. it made faye giggle on the inside. carl was far from scary. "be nice." lori muttered placing her hands on faye and carls backs guiding them along.

-🐞-

THE GROUP trailed along the path, faye instinctively stayed close to lori like daryl always told her to. "shane look!" faye slightly turned her head to ease drop, it wasn't her best trait but who could blame her? "dad said i could carry it and mom said aslong as i was.." the freckled boy rambled "keep it down. we're look for sophia." shane snapped making faye frown.

"gotta keep up." lori softly spoke pausing a second waiting for her son. "i am." he replied bluntly.

"you okay?" lori asked "i think shane's mad at me." carl mumbled. "did i do something wrong?"

"no, no honey i promise you." lori reassured her son. "he's just.. he's worried about sophia that's all."

this made faye roll her eyes. she knew it was bullshit and there was something deeper going on. she may be young but she wasn't stupid. she turned around for a moment giving shane a glare before turning back around and speeding up her pace.

the group creeped around a corner of the woods, a tent in the distance. daryl brought his finger up to his lip looking back at the the group as rick gestured for everyone to get low. "she could be in there." shane spoke quietly.

the long grass brushed against faye's knees as she took a few steps closer to keep an eye on her father who was approaching the abandoned tent along with shane and rick. a million thoughts ran through faye's head as she nervously chewed on he bottom lip. is sophia dead? would they ever find her? where is she? maybe she found another group? maybe she was hiding?

the girl snapped out of her thoughts to the sound of carol softly calling for sophia. her eyes widened as daryl began unzipping the tent, rick close by with his gun ready.

daryl stepped out the tent a few moments later "it ain't her." he muttered. faye released a breath she didn't realise she was even holding in. "what's in there?" lori asked with concern etched all over her face. "some guy. did what jenner said, opted out. ain't that what he called it?" he slung his crossbow over his shoulder.

suddenly church bells began to ring, making faye jump a little. the group began sprinting to the source. "which way?" rick caught his breath. "damn it's hard to tell out here."

"if we hear them then maybe sophia does to."

"someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others."

"she could be ringing them herself."

faye drowned out the groups chatter as she wandered ahead, in the distance she saw a church. "guys come on!" she called out

out the woods, the group reached the church. "that can't be it. got no steeple, no bells." shane sighed. rick ran ahead making everyone else run after him "what the hell." faye muttered under her breath before sprinting behind them

RIRIS NOTES
GUYS... i fear i'm not the greatest writer so pls be nice or I'll cry🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤.
faye is literally shane's #1 hater and it makes me giggle

18/8/24