Worth It

Chapter 12: Pretty Much Dead Already

The next morning as I was getting dressed. "G'morning Sunshine." Daryl grumbles from behind me. "Are you ok?"

I look over at him, confused. "I'm fine. Why?" I ask him.

"Last night...?" I raise my eyebrow. "When me and Shane got into a fight?" He looks at me for a moment before scratching his head. "I thought it was more...." He trails off. "Nope." I say quickly, tying up my boots.

I turn to him and smile. I kiss his cheek. "I'm going to head out and get started on the day." He nods and gets up, starting to get dressed.

When I head outside, I see Shane and the slight bruise he's sporting on his eye, which if from me head butting him I think. When he meets my eyes I look away and head over to the stairs where I had left my bow the night before.

When someone asks him where he got it, he said he tripped the night before and hit his head.

I gathered with the small group in the center of our makeshift camp, Daryl already there and waiting for me.

"Um, guys.." Glenn starts. "So...the barn is full of walkers." He tells us. 

We're all silent for a moment.

I was thinking about the night before so his statement went in one ear and out the other. The fact that he thought I was Lori confused me. He wasn't trying to hurt ME but he was trying to get to Lori.

It's suddenly really hard to swallow. As we head towards the barn, it feels almost as though Daryl is dragging me behind him.

When we reach the barn, we can hear the moaning and the growling coming from inside. "You cannot tell me you're all right with this." Shane says to him, pointing at the barn.

"No I'm not," Rick tells him. "But we're guests here. This Isn't our land."

"This is our lives!" Shane yells at him. "Lower your voice." Glenn tells him.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Shane shakes his head, clearly pissed off. "It ain't right. Not remotely." He paces around, hat in hand. "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go." Rick shuts him down.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Carol steps forward, arms crossed. "Because my daughter is still out there."

"Okay." He rubs his face. "Okay, I think It's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"We're not leaving Sophia behind." Daryl's hand slips away from mine. "I'm close to finding this girl." He interrupts. "I just found her damn doll two days ago."

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane says back to him. Right now, Shane's making a lot of enemies and even I couldn't help him.

" You don't know what the hell you're talking about." Daryl argues. "I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours."

"Shane, stop." Rick tries to cut him off, but it's no use. "Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction."

Daryl charges at him and Rick tries to hold him back, Shane trying to go at him as well.

"Back off!" Rick shouts at both of them, pushing them apart. They continue to shout and I try to grab Daryl as Lori pushes Shane away. "Keep your hands off me." Shane says, pushing her arm away.