Search and Rescue

I own nothing! Everything belongs to Robert Kirkman and AMC.

Just a warning I know the punctuation is a little off. I've had to live with open office and let me tell you it SUCKS!

I speak like a Dixon therefore I write like one. There will be swearing. Also for sack of arguments, merle is 35, daryl is 29, carol is 32 and beth is 20.

~fuck it's hot today!~ Daryl thought as he trudged across the forest.

He had been gone all morning hunting, coming up with several rabbits and two ducks. Manny, his black and tan coonhound loped beside Daryl. They were both headed to the edge of the forest, to home. His back door led straight to the forest, budded up against the town.

Daryl loved being able to roll out of bed just before dawn, and be several miles out just in time for the animals to start waking up. Between Manny's hunting abilities and Daryl's hunting skills, they easily brought in more then enough food for them to survive, plus quite a bit to sell. About half of what Daryl caught went to the local butcher, who paid Daryl handsomely for his catches.

But hunting for a living was not Daryl's first choice in careers. Daryl and Manny had been one of the best search and rescue teams in Georgia. The pair had found dozens of missing people; from criminals hiding from cops, to children, to the elderly. Daryl and Manny found them all, until Merle fucked up 6 months ago.

Because Merle had been arrested at their apartment, the cops searched the place, and even though nothing had been found in Daryl's spaces, Merle's spaces were a whole other story. pills, weed, illegal liquor; needless to say Daryl lost his credentials in a heart beat. The head of search and rescue had been sad to hand down the order. Daryl was good at what he did, and knew how to handle the terrain better then any other handler out there. But the law had spoken, and while Merle served a few weeks and was back at work, Daryl was forced out of his job.

Thankfully he made enough hunting to support himself, and unknown to Merle, Daryl still had his massive savings account. Daryl figured at some point he would need the money, just hadn't found a need yet.

As he walked out of the forest, Daryl saw a police vehicle parked in front of the building next to his. There was two officers, talking with a visibly upset woman. Daryl had seen her move in a few weeks ago, but hadn't met her yet. All the times Daryl had seen the woman, there had been a young girl at her side.

As Daryl watched the woman start sobbing, the apartment manager, Jacqui ran up to him. Daryl liked Jacqui, she had always been a good person to him.

"please Daryl, you have to help!"

Daryl couldn't say anything, as he dropped his catches on his back porch and was dragged across the grass towards the cops by Jacqui. As they stopped in front of the two cops and the gray haired woman, Manny ran up to Daryl's side.

"He can help! Daryl was in search and rescue, with Manny, his dog! There was some hullabaloo with his brother, but I promise you, Daryl and Manny can find Sophia."

Daryl held his hands up.

"hold up. What's going on? Who's Sophia?"

one of the two cops stepped up.

"Deputy Rick Grimes and this is deputy Shane Walsh. Sophia is a missing 5 year old girl. She was chased into the woods about 30 minutes ago by her father. He attacked carol, Sophia's mother who's separated from the man. At this time we don't know where he is. We have no leads other then she ran into the woods. Carol ran and searched for her but no sign of Sophia. Can you help us?"

Daryl looked at the sobbing woman, apparently carol. She had a darkening black eye as well as other bruises. Carol looked at Daryl, tears streaming down her face.

"please, Sophia is so scared! She just started running, I don't have any idea where to."

Daryl sighed and looked at the officers.

"Fine. I ain't a registered handler at the moment, so I'm acting under the good Samaritan's rights. Let me grab my things. I'm gonna need a shirt or other piece of her clothing, recently worn, in a zip lock bag."

Daryl headed into his apartment, where in his closet, he still had his search and rescue pack. He checked the water bottle and flash light, and pulled the long lead out of the bag. Manny stood beside him, somehow sensing it was time to get to work.