My Angel (Daryl Dixon x OC)

(17) A farm, really?

Lily's POV

We drove up the dirt driveway. Me and Daryl were both on our bikes. I looked up to see a house. I slowed down the bike to a halt and I quickly climbed off. I saw Rick and Lori step out of the farm house. I made my way over to them.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He'll pull through, thanks to Hershel and his people." Lori answered with a smile on her face.

"And Shane. We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick added. I looked up at Shane, and my eyes widened slightly in shock. He'd shaved his hair off. I smiled at Lori to which she returned.

"Thank God. We were so worried." Carol sighed.

"How'd it happen?" Dale asked.

"Hunting accident. That's all... Just a stupid accident." Rick told us.

"But we saved him, thanks to Shane and Otis." Hershel added. "And we lost a good man, Otis was a good man, and he died saving this little boy, so it's only right to have a ceremony for him." He explained. I looked down sadly at the lost.

"Yes, and we will all join you, as our thanks to him." Rick added. I watched as two girls who I was told were Maggie and Beth headed inside the house. I made my way to Daryl who just climbed off the RV. I walked over to him and sent him a smile.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Nothing, why?" I questioned.

"Just asking." He mumbled, I just sighed and rolled my eyes. I don't understand Daryl sometimes. He's happy with me and we're laughing and having a semi good time, then he's an ass the next.

I looked over at the house and saw Beth, Maggie and a crying Patricia. The group followed him up to a tree on the edge of the ranch. We stood around a pile of rocks, they represented a grave.

"Blessed be God, father of our lord Jesus Christ." Hershel began, I was stood next to Glenn. I looked at the grave as Hershel continued. "Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis, for this span of years, for his abundance of character; Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset." He spoke as Maggie, Beth and Jimmy placed a rock on top of the pile. "We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace." Hershel finished. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?"

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry." Shane said.

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning." Patricia pleaded.

"Okay." Shane agreed as he began his speech about what happened. When he finished, he placed a rock on top of the pile.

After the ceremony, Patricia went to lie down. I however, went into the house to see Beth and Maggie. I went to talk to them.

"Hi, I'm Lily. Thank you letting us stay here." I said with gratitude.

"Hey, I'm Maggie, this is Beth, my sister. You don't have to thank us." Maggie introduced.

"So, you're with that guy right? The redneck with the crossbow?" Beth asked me. I looked at her with a bit of a red face before shaking my head.

"No, we're not together."

"What? Why? I saw the way you two look at each other, plus you were both riding motorbikes, like some badass biker couple." She let out a laugh whilst I let out a little chuckled and shook my head.

"Me and my brother Harry, who passed away, saved his ass in Atlanta. Been with this group ever since." I said to the pair.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Maggie said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks, come on let's see what everyone else is doing." I said, they both nodded before walking out of the house to see the guys gathered around Carol's car. Maggie rolled out the piece of paper she was holding, revealing a map of the current area.

"County survey map, it shows terrain and elevations." She explained, holding it in place with rocks at each corner.

"This is perfect, we can finally get this thing organised. We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams." Rick said.

"Not you. Not today." Hershel denied. "You gave three units of blood, you wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He told Rick. "And your ankle...Push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody." He then said to Shane.

"Guess it's just me." Daryl sighed. "I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." He explained.

"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate, seeing if Sophia wandered back." Shane said.

"All right, tomorrow then. We'll start doing this right." Rick sighed.

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them." Shane added, looking up at Rick.

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property, we've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp." Hershel told us.

"All due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here..."

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that." Rick said, pulling out his gun and placing it on the car bonnet. I pulled out mine and did the same. Rick looked up at Shane who hesitated at first but placed his gun down too. "First things first: Set camp. Find Sophia." Rick explained.

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit?" Shane asked. "I think we should all be clear on how we handle that."

"You do what has to be done." Rick said.

"And what about her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"The truth. She doesn't deserve to be lied to." I told her. Yes, me and Carol do not see exactly eye to eye. But that doesn't mean we should lie right to her face.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site." Shane explained. "I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience." Shane said, looking up at Hershel.

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." Rick told Hershel, who looked slightly weary of the idea before giving a short nod. "Thank you." He nodded as Daryl and Shane walked away.

"I'm gonna help Daryl look for Sophia." I told Rick who only gave me a nod in acknowledgement. I made my way over to Daryl who was grabbing his and my stuff into my arms. I sent him a confused look.

"Can you put that up over there while I'm out." He ordered, before turning away.

"Um, no. I'm coming with you to help find Sophia." I told him. He turned back round to me.

"No, you ain't, it's not safe out there." He denied.

"Yes. I am. I want to help, not just sit in this camp, doing nothing." I snapped.

"You're stayin' here, end of discussion." He snapped back.

"You can't force me to stay here, what makes you think I won't go looking for her myself. Can't stop me from doing that, now can you?" I asked. He glared at me for a couple of minutes before he wore his signiture smirk.

"Yo, T-Dog." He called out. T-Dog walked over to us. Keep an eye on her, make sure she don't leave this farm okay? If she leaves, you tell me." He told him.

"Yeah, sure thing." T-Dog said with a nod. I scoffed at this.

"So i'm being babysitted now, am I? You can't do that!." At this point, I was boiling with anger. "I'm a grown woman Daryl. I can take care of myself. I could whip all of your asses blindfolded!" I growled angrily as Daryl stood there glaring. I picked up his bags and tent. "You know what? Put your own fucking tent up. I'm gonna sleep somewhere else." I spat before shoving his stuff into his arms. I grabbed my bag and walked away. By now the group sent concerned looks at me. I wiped a loose tear that so happen to fall as I walked away from the event that just happened.....

[Oh dear, not very good at the moment, anyway stay tuned for chapter 18 xx]