My Secrets In The Apocalypse

Chapter 17

Riley woke up the next morning feeling a little better emotionally but physically she felt run down. She laid in her sleeping bag for a while, making no effort to get up. She let her mind wander, recalling the events from the day before. Suddenly she didn't want to be alone anymore. She slowly got up, running her fingers through her messy hair.

As she stood up she realized how sore her muscles were. It had been a long time since she had done any running and she hadn't realized how out of shape she was. Maybe she would have to start going for a run in the mornings to get herself back in shape. At this rate, if she were ever to be chased by walkers she would be dead meat.
She shuffled over to her duffle bag and pulled out some clean clothes. She slipped on the shirt and stepped into her pants. As she was pulling her pants up she noticed the stitches in her leg. The cut was healing well and she thought it might be time for the stitches to come out. She needed to visit Herschel some time today and have him check on it. She quickly finished dressing, pulled on her boots and slid her hatchet into its usual spot in her belt.

As Riley stepped out of her tent she noticed Shane and Daryl were packing guns and supplies into Shane's car. She made her way over to them noticing how quiet things around camp were this morning.
"Hey, what're y'all doing?" she asked. Shane ignored her and made his way over to Lori who had stepped out of the house and was standing on the porch.
"Goin after Rick," Daryl said checking over the gun in his hands.
"Where did he go?" she asked confused. Obviously she missed some things yesterday.
"Herschel took off alone yesterday. Rick an Glenn went after em. Been gone all night," he said loading up a few more supplies.
"Oh," she said. "So what about Shane and Lori last night?"
"Yer buddy over there tried ta go out on her own. Ended up wrecking the car she stole," he said shaking his head in annoyance.
"She tried to go out alone? What the hell was she thinking?" she asked in shock.
"She asked me ta go, told her I was done lookin for people," he said closing the trunk and turning to her.
"Oh," she said looking over at Lori who was talking to Shane.
"That all ya got ta say?" he asked looking like he was expecting more.
"What do you want me to say? I agree with you. You spent days out there looking for Sophia, usually alone. These people are grown, if they want to find someone they can go look for them too. They need to learn to do for themselves instead of always expecting you to do everything for them," she said looking at him.
"Damn, Dinky," he said shaking his head in amusement. "Maybe ya should explain it to them. They were all pissed, acting like I packed her bags for her."
"They'll get over it," she shrugged. She moved closer to him and sliding her arms around his waist carefully and resting her head on his chest. She giggled under his breath as he stiffened in her arms.
"Dinky-"
"Shh!" she cut him off. "Just hug me dammit," she said sternly burying her face in his shirt.
"Damn woman," he mumbled wrapping his arms around her. She stayed there for a moment soaking up her victory before pulling back and flashing him a smile.
"Thank you," she said tiptoeing and giving him a quick peck on the lips.
"Whatever," he mumbled looking off towards the woods.

Suddenly a vehicle came speeding up the driveway catching everyone's attention. Riley and Daryl walked over to the vehicle joining everyone else who was surrounding it. They watched as Rick, Herschel, and Glenn climbed out looking a little worse for wear, but over all ok. Lori quickly ran up to Rick, wrapping him in a tight hug. Maggie following suit, bypassed her father and threw her arms around Glenn.
"Who the hell is that?" T-dog asked catching everyone's attention.
"That's Randall," Glenn said with a distant look on his face before walking away leaving a confused looking Maggie behind.
Rick and T-dog helped carry Randall inside to the guest bedroom. It seemed that was the room everyone would visit when they got hurt Riley thought to herself, maybe they should name it the infirmary. Once they got him to the room Herschel and Patricia got to work on his mangled leg, everyone hanging around waiting except for Daryl, who slipped away while Riley wasn't looking.