Bitten But Alive (The Walking Dead X Reader)

20

A New Place To Stay

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( Rick POV )

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"Well," Hershel paused for a second before meeting my eyes, "How long had this girl be lost?"

He doesn't seem too optumistic about this.

I ran my hand across my face as I thought about the days before slowly answering him, "This'll be day three." We all waited by the car for Maggie to come up to us with a map after deciding we would get their help. This short conversation gave reminded them of a map they had of the entire area. It was old but still accurate as the area had never changed too much. It showed the entire outlay of the forest including the church we had been at not long ago. If we were ever gonna find Sophia, this was our ticket to her.

"This is the county service map...as you can see it goes on for miles. It shows terrain and elevation as well." Maggie laid out this information for us as she slowly opened up the map and laid it on top of the car for me, Andrea, Daryl, and Shane to see.

Daryl looked at the map before motioning over to a certain spot, "The girl was last seen right there." Everyones eyes went to the spot before looking at him in confusion. I raised an eyebrow at him so he'd explain further and he did," Y/N was found over here. She was the last to see the girl in this area before losing sight of her. Said last she spotted her running this way."

I expected Y/N to comment or even add onto anything after Daryl mentioned her. I was met with silence though. I looked at the group to find Y/N was missing. I swear I just saw her.. I looked behind our group huddled around the car only to see her not helping set up camp either. She was inside the house then...or....Only two people would know where she went, I looked up at Daryl, I'll have to ask him later. "This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized and we'll grid the whole area. We can start searching in teams. Y/N could head up to the spot she last saw Sophia...she might recognize the way Sophia headed before she disappeared and it'll give us a route to spread out and focus on."

I had already begun to hatch a course of action only to see Hershel turn to me with a shake of his head, "Not you." I looked into his tired eyes but he remained adamant about his statement, "Not today." I opened my mouth to speak but he stopped me, "You gave three units of blood Rick. Thanks to that your boy is fine but YOU are not fine right now. You wouldn't even be hiking three minutes in this heat before passing out."

This feels like I'm being scolded by my own old man. I still got no words in as my mind went blank and Hershel instantly looked up at Shane. He instantly pointed at Shane and spoke before Shane could argue, "And you. Keep pushing that ankle down and you'll be laid up a month. No good for anybody." Shane looked annoyed but had nothing to say as his leg hadn't gotten any better, "Both of you need to rest a bit."

"Guess it's just me then," said Daryl as he angled himself enough to see the map perfectly. "Hmm..Imma head back up to the creek then. I'll work my way from there."

I nodded at Daryl though I was upset our first day of search was basically down to only one. I guess better to have one than none. I complied to Hershels statement seeing as the second he told Lori she gave him a seriou nod. There is no way I'd be able to leave with Lori on watch. Shane on the other hand was upset but who knew if he'd sneak off. "I can still be useful," Shane directed at Hershel without meeting his eyes. "I'll drive up to the interstate and see if maybe Sophia wondered back for us."

No arguing with Shane right now and at the very least driving was better than out walking, I nodded at him for a brief second before addressing the rest of the group near us, "Alright. Tomorrow then, we start doing this right."