44. tracking skills

QUINN

     THE SOUND OF A THOUSAND CRICKETS SURROUNDED them as they sat by a small fire. The sky was dark and she couldn't see more than a few feet away from her. She was playing with her dagger, pushing it into the ground and taking it out again, over and over as the three of them sat in silence.

They had barely spoken a word since they found each other and Quinn had been glad for the silence. Too afraid that if she opened her mouth she would start crying again.

She was glad that Daryl and Beth found her, she couldn't even begin to imagine having to be out here by herself, not knowing if anyone had even made it. Still, she couldn't stop worrying. It made her stomach ache and her head pound.

'We should do something,' Beth suddenly spoke, making Quinn look up at her but she didn't respond, unable to find the strength in herself to even hope someone else had made it out. 'We should do something,' Beth repeated when neither Daryl or Quinn responded. 'We aren't the only survivors. We can't be. Rick, Michonne, they could be out here. Maggie and Glenn could have made it out of A block.'

Quinn bit her tongue, not knowing what to say. It was too good to be true for them all still be alive. She wanted to believe it, she wanted to so badly, but she just couldn't.

'They could've,' Beth pressed when neither of the adults answered.

'Maybe,' Quinn mumbled, her voice hoarse.

Beth nodded at her before standing up and looking at Daryl. 'You're tracker. You can track. Come on!'

Quinn looked at Daryl, who sat still as a statue, staring into the fire. She couldn't tell what was going on in the man's mind but he clearly didn't feel like tracking for something that might not even be there, in the darkness.

'The sun will be up soon. If we head out now, we can...' she stopped speaking when Daryl didn't even look at her. 'Fine,' she snapped. 'If you won't track, I will.' Picking up her knife from the ground she turned around, disappearing into the darkness.

Sighing deeply Quinn pushed her aching body up. She didn't feel like blindly stumbling around in the darkness with her body so tired but she wouldn't let Beth go out there by herself. Throwing one last look at Daryl she walked after the girl, taking a dagger in each of her hands. She followed the sound of Beth making her way through the bushes when she suddenly realised Daryl had come after them after all. She could hear the steady rhythm of his footsteps behind her.

The sun had already risen by the time they finally found something. Or rather, Daryl found something. He kneeled down on the ground, staring at something that looked just like any other leaf to Quinn but as she walked closer and saw him carefully pulling the leaves aside she noticed a small footprint on the ground, like that of a child.

'Could be Luke's. Or Molly's,' Beth offered. 'Whoever they are, it means they're alive.'

'No,' Daryl mumbled, 'this means they were alive four or five hours ago.'

'They're alive,' Beth said determined before walking away again, into the direction the footsteps were going.

Having really no other option Quinn followed the girl and soon they ended up walking along a path of sand and mud. The footprints were even better visible in the soft soil.

'They picked up the pace right here,' Daryl said, pointing at something on the ground.

Quinn turned to see what he was looking at, her eyes falling on a few trampled grapes on the forest floor.

'Got out in a hurry,' he continued, 'things went bad.'

'You can tell all that from a few grapes on the ground?' Quinn asked, raising her eyebrows at the redneck.

'Yeah, you don't know what happened,' Beth agreed, 'wouldn't kill you to have a little faith.'

'Faith?' Daryl questioned, a mocking tone in his voice. 'Faith ain't done shit for us. Sure as hell didn't do nothin' for your father.'

Biting her tongue at that comment Quinn looked at Beth, who stared at the man with an angry frown on her face. Looking back at Daryl, however, she could read the regret in his eyes. As if he had wanted to take the words back as soon as he had said them, but he couldn't and he didn't say sorry either.

Taking a deep breath Beth turned around to the plants the grapes were growing on and started gathering them in her hands.

Quinn only then noticed how hungry she truly was and she walked up to the teenage girl, helping her. Putting one of the little fruits in her mouth she nodded at Beth, making a small smile appear on the girl's lips but it was gone as almost as soon as it came. The pain was still too fresh for smiles.

'They'll be hungry when we find them,' Beth said, still gathering grapes.

Suddenly Daryl walked up them, holding out one of the pieces of cloth Quinn noticed he always carried with him. Beth took it, throwing him a quick glare before looking away and putting the grapes in it.

When she was done they continued walking. The forest looked all the same to Quinn and so she didn't even try to find tracks, leaving that up to Daryl. Instead she kept her hand close to her dagger, looking around them for any danger that might be approaching. She still wasn't a fan of the dense forest where she couldn't even see the sky. She much preferred open fields, hills and mountains. Places where she could see the sky and feel the wind on her skin. Alas for her, Georgia offered more woods than fields.

Suddenly Daryl stopped, taking her out of her thoughts. She watched him reaching out to one of the leaves off a plant. Quinn narrowed at it, noticing the dull red color of dried blood on the bright green leaf. She would never have noticed it if Daryl hadn't pointed it out.

'What?' Beth questioned, looking at it.

'That ain't walker blood,' Daryl replied.

Beth took a shaky breath, worry written in her eyes, before walking forwards. 'The trail keeps going,' she said, trying to stay strong but her voice was shaking.

'Nah,' Daryl told her, 'got walker tracks all up and down here. At least a dozen of 'em.'

The sudden loud crack of a branch snapping made Beth turn back around, taking a hold of her knife. Quinn narrowed at the trees around them, slowly taking out her dagger and holding it tightly. She looked behind her, unable to see anything moving in the bushes.

A loud panicked yell from Beth made her turn around quickly and her eyes widened upon seeing a rotten corpse all but throwing itself at the teenage girl. Beth had her arms outstretched, struggling to keep the thing its teeth away from her skin.

Daryl pointed his crossbow at the corpse but couldn't make the shot without risking to hit Beth. Realising that Quinn clenched her jaw and ran forwards, raising her arm and pushing the dagger through the walker its skull, just as the thing its teeth were about to sink into Beth's shoulder.

Sighing with relief Quinn pulled her dagger out of the corpse and threw the body on the ground. Kneeling down she cleaned her dagger with the shirt of the corpse before standing up again. Beth muttered a shaky "thank you" before turning around and continuing to follow the footsteps.

When they walked out of the treeline, Quinn's eyes fell on a set of train tracks in front of them. She had never seen them before on any of their supply runs, making a sigh leave her lips as she realised she had truly no idea where they were.

Her ears picked up the snarling of walkers in the distance and she turned to look at her right. Her eyes falling on the sight of three walkers chewing on whatever was left of a few human bodies, probably the ones they'd been tracking.

Next to her Daryl raised his crossbow, firing an arrow through one of their heads. Quickly he reloaded the weapon, shooting down another one. He was about to raise his crossbow for a third time but Quinn shook her head at him. 'I got it,' she whispered.

Nodding at her he dropped the crossbow and watched as she walked forwards, her dagger firmly in her hand. Once she got closer the walker looked up from the flesh it had been chewing on. Before it could stand up and walk to her though, Quinn raised her leg and kicked the thing in the face, making it fall backwards. With an angry scream she pushed the dagger through the corpse its eye, its body going limp.

Pulling her weapon back out she noticed Daryl walking up to the walkers, pulling his arrows out of their skulls. With one last glare at Quinn he started walking away, heading towards the treeline on the other side of the tracks. Putting her dagger back in its holster she followed him but stopped in her tracks when a sob came from behind her.

Turning around her eyes fell on Beth, who was still standing by the remains the walkers had been chewing on. Her gaze was focused on the blood, almost as if she was unable to look away. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she cried for their deaths.

For a second Quinn just stared at her, not sure what to do but then she remembered her brother, taking her in his arms everytime she was afraid. Even the simple thought of Milo made it feel like a dagger had been pushed through her heart but the pain didn't freeze her, instead it made her move forwards. Taking a deep breath she wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulder. Beth didn't protest and leaned her head against Quinn's chest as her body trembled and sobs left her lips.

Quinn noticed Daryl watching them from a distance but she looked away from the man and turned to look at the remains of the human bodies, a shiver crawling down her spine. There was no telling who they had been. It could just as easily be Milo and she would never even know.

Quickly she looked away from the piles of blood and flesh, her throat hurting from the tears she was trying to keep at bay. She tightened her grip on the crying teenager in her arms, wanting to stay strong for her. There wasn't another choice but to stay strong.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

So, Quinn is stuck with Beth and Daryl for the next few chapters. I am so excited to write about her journey with these two because it is going to change her a lot. And it means we finally get to have more moments between Daryl and Quinn. 

The only question remaining now is, where is Milo? Is he still at the prison or did he manage to escape? And if he escaped, who is he with? I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait until saturday to find out but leave be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. :)

As always, leave a vote or a comment, or not, whatever you feel like doing. Thanks for reading guys!

xXx
UYM