𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐔𝐌 (𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛)

𝑆𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛

By the time we had gotten back to the highway, the sun had cast out a golden hue across the valley of cars.

"Dale!" Glenn hurried past me on my way up the steep hill just before the metal railing of the highway, "Carl's been shot!"

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale rushed into view with his rifle in hand. I took one long step over the railing and finally rested my feet on the sturdy ground of the concrete.

"I don't know Dale, I wasn't there," Glenn said to him, "All I know is that this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." 

Glenn sent me an exhausted look before heading back to the motorhome, his arms and face covered in dirt and sweat. I wondered if I looked as worn out as he did.

"And you just let her?" Dale scoffed in disbelief at Daryl.

"Get out of my asshole man," Daryl snapped.

✯✯✯

"Hey," I carefully approached T-Dog's hunched over figure. Despite the humidity, he was wrapped tightly in a wool blanket, shivering as if we had been transported to a tundra. His delirious gaze met mine and I could see the layer of sweat that covered his forehead.

"How are you?" I didn't know how out of it he really was, so I spoke to him in the calmest voice I could muster.

"'Bout as good as I look," he croaked.

I grimaced at his current state, wishing there was more I could do. The group had huddled together to discuss leaving the highway, as the mystery woman had suggested. Even from my spot next to T-Dog, I could hear Carol's protests.

I searched my brain for any knowledge of a medicinal herb I knew of. Elderberries, I knew would definitely help, Thyme also, but nightfall was growing near and searching in the dark for plants seemed like a suicide mission, especially because I couldn't guarantee that I would find anything useful. 

A fear that had been nagging me for a while was that my knowledge for plants and herbal medicine would soon fade away. I had been meaning to find a journal to write everything down.

I turned around to look at the group and found Daryl pulling out a plastic ziplock from his motorcycles bag. Inside, was an array of pill bottles and blue meth.

"Got ma' brother's stash," Daryl tossed the medicine to Dale and walked off.

I guess that solved our problem.

We all ended up agreeing that we would stay on the highway one more night, in hopes that Sophia might still wander back. If she didn't, we'd leave her some food and some directions to the farm in the morning. Glenn would drive T-Dog ahead to the farm so that he could get some food and rest.

After the two had left in Carol's Cherokee, night had fallen, and I found myself sitting outside on a large overturned bucket, leaning my back against the motorhome. I gazed out towards the forest, now engulfed in darkness, wondering if Sophia was out there. Was she asleep under a tree? Hiding in an abandoned cabin? Was she even alive? Children had been going missing long before the apocalypse hit, but parents never had to worry about them being eaten alive in the woods by monsters.

I heard footsteps inside the motorhome and turned my head to the door. It opened, and Daryl walked out with his crossbow slung over his shoulder and a giant flashlight in hand. He looked at me for only a second before closing the door behind him and lifting his head to face Dale, who was keeping watch on the roof.