Solitude -> The Walking Dead

07

"Have you seen Dakota?" Abby asked.

I frowned and looked around. If she was in her tent, then Abby would have seen her. I haven't talked to nor seen Dakota since our conversation about Merle.

"No, when was the last time you saw her?" I asked.

She shrugged and I saw Ryan coming our way. His face was pulled up into a deep frown. My heart skipped a beat as I got up and met him halfway.

"Ryan, have you seen Dakota? Abby and I can't find her." I said.

He looked up in a daze and pulled out a piece of paper. I furrowed my eyebrows as he handed it to me. I quickly read through it.

"Dear Ryan,
I'm going to go look for Merle. He couldn't have just disappeared. I wanted to tell you but I knew you'd try to stop me or join me.
I won't put you, Abby or Josephine in danger. Please don't come looking for me. When I find Merle, I'll come looking for you.
We will see each other again, little brother.
Love, Dakota."

"Is she out of her fucking mind? She can't be out there alone!" I exclaimed.

That got the attention of a few members of the group. Ryan sighed before rubbing his face. We were supposed to stick together at all times.

Family comes first. It's a saying that has kept us alive and together since all of this started.

"What are we supposed to do? You read the letter. She said not to look for her." He said.

"Like hell I won't! I'm not letting her die for a fucker who doesn't give two shits about her." I protested.

"What's going on here?" Rick asked.

I looked up to see him coming towards us. Abby stuck to Ryan's side as more of the group stared at us curiously. Maybe shouting at Ryan in front of everyone wasn't a smart move.

"Dakota left. We need to look for her." I demanded.

I handed him the letter and he quickly read through it. Abby had only read a few lines from when I had the letter. But she knew what happened. She looked less upset than I expected her to be.

"Did she insinuate where she was going?" Rick asked.

"Well she did say she was looking for Merle. That means Atlanta." Ryan commented.

We already searched Atlanta for Merle and we didn't find anything. You could say that we didn't search hard enough, but Daryl was there. If he couldn't find his own brother, then how were we supposed to?

"Yeah but she knows Merle left Atlanta with the truck. So she's not going there." Rick pointed out.

"What about towns around Atlanta?" I suggested.

"There's too many of them to search." Rick protested.

I sighed in exasperation as my fingers went through my hair. For once in our lives, things were going smoothly. The group had a plan, we got rid of stupid assholes and our family was safe. Dakota just put all of that at risk.

"There has to be something we can do." I persisted.

Sympathy flashed in Rick's eyes. He was giving up before we even started. She could die out there. Does he really expect me to stand here and just let it happen?