Surviving. (Book Two.)

Chapter Twenty.

*Daryl's POV*

The brakes were hit suddenly and Sarah fell into me, the force of that and the jolting of the large vehicle sending both us and Little Ass Kicker to the floor but somehow; with sheer, dumb luck, Sarah managed to catch her before she hit the floor, causing her to start crying. 

"Jesus," she I muttered, taking Judith from her so she could get up, "Ye' alrigh'?" 

"I'm fine. What about her?" 

"Think she's okay," I said quietly, checking her over for any obvious signs of injury, "Must have startled her." 

Sarah cooed softly at her and took her from me, humming some sort of lullaby to try and calm her down, "Shall we go see what happened?" 

I pulled the door to the bedroom open as Abraham started reversing and we saw that everyone else was crowded around down near the front windows. 

"Wha' the hell was tha'?" I demanded, coming to stand by Tara, feeling Sarah behind me.

"Did we hit something?" 

"They did," Abraham answered, "Walkers went after 'em."

"Well we have to get out of here!" Sophia said quickly, "Isn't there another way?" 

"There is," Rosita mumbled, "But we don't know if we'll meet them." 

"Look!" Carl cried, pointing  out the window and the RV came to a slow halt. We all looked up, spotting the bright flare as it soared into the night sky and I pushed past everyone to get to the door. 

"Where are you going?" Carol gaped, taking Judith as Sarah practically shoved the baby into her arms, following me out into the cool air. 

"You're thinking the same thing as me, right?" she asked, watching as I climbed the ladder to get to the roof, "It has to be them. Rick took the flare gun with them." 

"Tha' is wha' I was thinkin'," I murmured as she climbed up too, "But mind wha' Aaron said. His friend has the other." 

"So what are we going to do?" 

I stared in the general direction of where the flare came from, seeing the shadow of a water tower. "We're gonna tell the rest of them," I then said, "Then we'll take a vote." 

"Okay," she whispered, running her hand down my arm, a smile on her face, "I like it when you take charge." 

She was back down the ladder before I had even turned around and I followed, everyone looking at me  as I came back in. 

"Well? See anything?" Tara asked hopefully. 

"There's a water cooler," I informed them, "It looks as if tha's where the flare came from. But we don't know for sure tha' it was from our people."

"It could be Aaron's 'friend' who fired it." Sarah continued, "So if we go, we're going in blind."

"We decide together." I said again.

Everyone sat in silence, thinking about their options and Maggie was the first to speak.  

"We should go," she said quietly, "If it wasn't them, Rick would have seen it. Glenn too and I'm sure that they're thinking we saw it and are now heading towards it thinking it was them." 

Everyone nodded along and Abraham stuck up his hand, "I'm all for going." 

"Me too." Tara said as soon as Carol and Sarah put their hands up and soon, the rest followed. 

"Alrigh'," I nodded, "Then let's get goin'."

*****************

Abraham drove again while the rest of us got comfortable on the rest of the seats and such. 

I was on the floor while Sarah was on the couch behind me, her hand playing with the ends of my hair while reading a book and it was relaxing me to no end. 

"You okay?" I heard her ask and I opened my eyes. She was now looking at Carl who was sitting across from us, Sophia sleeping against his shoulder and he glanced at her. 

"I'm just worried about my dad." 

"He'll be fine." she murmured, moving her hand when I gave it a subtle nudge with my head. 

"Hey," Abraham called, "I think this is the place!" 

I reluctantly got up from the floor as everyone filed out, Sarah grabbing her knife and pistol from the surface beside her. 

"Rick?" I called quietly as I stepped off the RV, "Glenn, Michonne?" 

There was no answer and Tara looked at the building, "Maybe they're inside." 

"Hello?" 

Everyone turned at the sound of a males voice and Abraham, Rosita and I quickly moved towards the voice, weapons raised. 

We rounded the corner and spotted a man resting against the wall of the building, holding his ankle. "Who the hell are you?" I asked, pointing my crossbow at him.

"P-please don't hurt me. I-I have some good news. We, sorry, I have a community that I'd love to bring you back to."

Community..."Are you Aaron's friend?" 

"Yes!" he said loudly then lowered his voice, "Yes. A-aaron, do you know him? Where is he?" 

I ignored him and called Maggie over, "He looks as if he's twisted his ankle or something." 

"Excuse me," the guy said loudly again, "You haven't answered my question. Where is Aaron?" 

"He's with some of our friends," Sarah appeared beside me, "We were following them but we lost them when they ran into walkers." 

"What?" he exclaimed, "Is he...?" 

"We don't know," she mumbled, "We were hoping that the flare that was sent up was from them. But I'm guessing that it was you." 

"Can we talk about this inside?" Maggie asks as she helps the guy stand on his good leg, "I think it's sprained but I can't be sure in so little light." 

Sarah nods, "Good call. Besides, I don't think any of us want to be out here for any longer than we need to be."

I agree and turn to the rest of the group, "Everyone inside. We'll be safer there." 

As everyone shuffles inside, I notice Sarah as she goes back into the RV and I let the door go after the last person is in and follow her onto it.