Same Love

10: Unknown

Daryl searched all around the farm but there were no signs of Sam ever coming back last night and he felt worry overcome him. Was Sam ok? He waited as the prepared the search grid, wanting to get out there as soon as possible. Some people from the farm offered to help and Daryl saddled a horse, wanting to go alone and T-dog joked that one day he might "see his Chupacabra", referring to one of the very first stories Daryl told the group in Atlanta about seeing the rabid beast of fantasy.

"You believe in a bloodsucking dog?" Rick asked in disbelief, thinking Daryl was not one for old tales and scary monsters.

"Do you believe in the dead walkin'?" Daryl shot back. It wasn't nasty but he was getting anxious and they all shook their heads as he vaulted the horse.

"Where's gay boy? Isn't he coming with us?" Shane sneered, earning a sharp look from Jimmy, Beth's teenage boyfriend who agreed he'd help out. 

"Sam didn't come back last night from hunting, Daryl says he stayed out but now he's missing too" 

"He'll find his way back" T-dog assured, sensing the animosity between Shane and Sam.

"Sure, Gay boy will find his way back using his flimsy bow and shiny arrows" Shane spat sarcastically and Daryl felt anger bubble in his chest. This guy was an asshole. 

"He'd have an arrow through your eye in an instant" He grumbled before riding off. The others followed far behind him on foot to hunt for Sophia. He rode for a few hours, being careful to look for any signs of Sam but all he found were dead walkers, laying motionless on the ground the further he pursued the trail. He found a creek and dismounted, finding Sophia's small ragdoll floating in the water and tucking it in his belt for safekeeping, this did not give him any more faith. He called out for Sophia and Sam but to no avail. He mounted the horse again, plodding on further until the horse was spooked by something and threw Daryl to the ground, his arrow piercing his side painfully.

Sam heard a loud thump nearby and jumped out of sleep, his belt loosening and him falling out of the tall tree. His vision blurred and his ears rang, he was sure he'd broken one leg and his knife also had speared it, leaving a deep bleeding gash. He leaned forward to inspect the damage, seeing that it really was fractured and bleeding heavily. He ripped a bit of his shirt off to stop the blood flow and then winced in agony as he pulled himself towards the noise. He limped towards the source of the noise, hearing shouting not to far from where he was. He knew it was stupid but perhaps it was the group come to find Sophia again like they'd been doing since she disappeared. He neared a small pond where Daryl lay, bloody and bruised on the bank yelling at the sky, an arrow buried deep in his side. Sam rushed over as fast as he could with his head still spinning, images of his mother and father materialising in the forest and then one of Nate.

"You left me to die" The images said at once and he kicked and screamed, falling into the pond and banging his head on a rock, leaving his ears to ring again painfully. He pulled himself up, seeing the figures watching him as he crawled towards Daryl who still lay, conscious but exhausted. Growling descended upon them and two walkers emerged. Sam reached for an arrow only to see his quiver laying outside of arms length on the leaves. He must have dropped it when he saw Daryl. He scrunched his eyes shut as his knife dug into his leg, gouging a larger hole into the flesh. He had accepted his death by this point when the figures started to laugh at him, even Daryl laughed at him as he put his hands over his ears, wanting to stop their humiliating laughter. Death didn't come though. Daryl had ripped the arrow from his side and speared the walkers with it, being his last arrow and Sam was still collapsed beside him, eyes wide and hands over his ears. Daryl knelt beside him, carefully replacing his quiver on his back and taking his hands, unsure of what was happening.

"Leave! NO! I don't want to hear it! I can't change!" He yelled at figures Daryl couldn't see, seems they'd both hallucinated today. Sam had lost more blood than Daryl and there was a large hole in his left leg that was bent at an odd angle, obviously broken. He waited for the vision to pass, cutting off the walker's ears and compiling them into two necklaces for him and Sam. Once the man had stopped shaking and regained consciousness Daryl stood with his help and then the two leaned on each pother for support, trying to get back to camp as fast as they could, stumbling together desperately. The farmhouse came into view and Daryl let out a relieved sigh as he fell unconscious, Sam tried to keep him up and Rick appeared, a gun held to Sam's head as Daryl's body hit the floor.

"That's the third time you've held that gun up to my head. You going shoot me?" Rick lowered his gun, going to take a step when a gunshot rang out in the silence and Sam jolted backwards, the bullet having grazed his temple. He grinned weakly.

"I was jokin'" He muttered before falling to the ground. Rick's scream of horror seemed to say it all. Rick and Shane struggled to carry Daryl back to the farm and those from the farm helped carry Sam. It was harder than they thought. They dropped him as he started thrashing around.

"No! I won't do it! You can't make me!" He yelled as T-dog and Glenn came back to help. The man was bleeding profusely, deliriously yelling at hallucinations as he had done earlier in the forest. They taunted him, telling him he was the devil, laughing at him bitterly and accusing him of killing them. Hershel quickly gave him a sedative and it quieted down his protests, sending him into drug induced sleep.

Daryl started at Sam in the bed next to him as his wounds were treated by Hershel and Shane and  Rick talked to him. Even though Daryl had faced the same hardships as Sam had that day, he saw Sam's leg was beginning to get infected as the man's slumber became more fitful. They left Daryl alone with Hershel as he started treating Sam's wounds, complaining about the lack of antibiotics since the group arrived.

"Don't give me any if he needs 'em, I ain't no wuss" Daryl commented, watching the man shake his head.

"You both need them to survive, I'm sure he'd want you to live just as much as you want him to" Hershel said, plunging them into an awkward silence. The older man left and Carol entered with a plate of dinner for Daryl who was anxious as Sam still wasn't awake. It didn't show on the outside but he was worried.

"Thank you, for looking out for Sophia" Carol said, placing a kiss on his bandaged head. He grumbled at her about minding the stitches and turned to look outside, uncomfortable with the affectionate gesture. 

"You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did for her in his whole life," she said slowly, sitting at he foot of Sam's bed.

"You both did" 

"Sam did more than I did, only doin' what Shane or Rick would've done" Daryl insisted, staring at Sam's pained face. It seemed that nightmares still plagued him. It was something he noticed when they were in Atlanta, how his nights were often ridden with terrors and he moved around a lot in his sleep and called out to people, a frown settling on his features. 

"He doesn't seem peaceful does he? He never does" Carol watched and replaced the wet cloth on his forhead. The infection was making his body heat rise and he was running a slight fever but they'd checked him over and they knew he hadn't been bitten. It was just a case of waiting for him to wake, his head would heal,  his leg would heal and he would pull through, though Carol wondered how long he could stand being bed ridden.