My Redneck (Sequel to That Redneck/ Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

Chapter 14- Follow the Leader

"Are we there yet?" Carl whined again for the sixth time in the past ten minutes.

I ignored his whine like everyone else and continued to walk at our snail-speed pace.

The sun seemed to be especially hot today just for our walk. I could feel beads of sweat running down my neck and my mouth was so parched that my tongue felt like sandpaper.

I dug into my backpack and my fingers wrapped around a bottle of water and I yanked it out as fast as I could before taking a giant swig of the water.

"Can I have some?" Carl asked from beside me.

I nodded and handed him the water and watched as he chugged the rest of it down. He finished the water and handed me the empty bottle. "Wow thanks." I murmured as I tucked the water bottle back into my bag.

"Dad can we stop just for a minute?" Carl begged as he moved over to his dad.

Rick was about to protest and Glenn quickly butted in. "I think it's a good idea we stop. At our pace we'll make it back by sun down." Glenn suggested.

Rick sighed and gave a slight nod. Carl grinned and literally collapsed on the ground. I also dropped my bags and plopped down next to him. Michonne sat down more pleasantly and Glenn just kinda slowly sunk to his butt. Rick was the last to sit, his eyes continued to search around us before he finally sat down.

Carl tore open a bag of pretzels and began to munch on them rapidly. He tilted the bag my direction and I greedily reached my hand in and stuffed my face with the pretzels as well.

"How much farther till we get back?" Rick asked Glenn.

"A couple more hours maybe." Glenn said, studying the map.

Carl and I groaned in unison and I dug into my bag for another bottle of water. I began to drink the water thirstily when Rick looked past me in alarm.

"What?" I asked, removing the water from my mouth.

Michonne put her hand out as if to stay 'shut up'.

After a moment of random silence Rick sighed and stood back up. "Come on." He urged.

"What was that all about?" I asked as I set the water back into my bag.

"You didn't hear that?" Michonne asked.

"No?" I mumbled as I stood to my feet.

"There was rustling in the bushes. It was probably a walker or something." Rick added.

I nodded and we began to walk again. This time I heard the rustling of the bushes to my left and I looked at Rick who had stopped walking.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and watched the bush rustle until it finally stopped.

Michonne unslung her sword from her back and stalked towards the bushes quickly. "Michonne," Rick whispered.

She turned her head to look at Rick. "I'll be careful." She promised.

With that she hustled into the bush and all that could be heard was her quick movements inside of the foliage. Then the plants went still and we waited. It was a silent minute and a half before the plants began to shake again. Then Michonne appeared, there was a troubled look on her face.

"We're being followed." She admitted.

I clenched my jaw as she walked towards us and slid her katana back into it's sheath.

"How do you know?" I asked, surprised.

"Whoever they were, wasn't very stealthy. They left fresh footprints, the branches were snapped out of place and I found this." She stated, holding out a single bullet.