Chapter 7

Hopeless Wanderer

"Yeah so we found this guy," Harry was saying as he walked down the halls of the hotel, towards the stairs. "We found him and he was in pretty bad shape."

Daryl's eyes took in the details of the hall that they were in as they walked. He held his crossbow close to his body, glancing back as they passed each room, noticing the looks on the faces of the displaced families. He looked back to Harry and nodded, "Not bit though, right?"

"Nah," Harry ran his hand over his mouth and began to descend a set of stairs, "He seemed to be recovering from a fever. He's severely dehydrated and emaciated. If he is your guy, he'll need some time to rest and recover. The road is no place to live as it is, and this guy won't last two seconds out there."

"Harper will love that," Daryl sighed.

Harry hesitated outside of room, his hand wrapped around the door knob, as he looked back at Daryl, "What do you mean?"

Daryl shrugged, "She hates being in one place for too long."

Harry nodded and opened the door, revealing a dimly lit room. In the middle of the room was a bed, with a frail body lying in the bed. "This is him."

Daryl crossed the threshold into the room and walked over to Glenn, his stomach flipping at the sight of his friend. They were right, Glenn looked terrible; ill. His once full cheeks were hollow, dark shadows were under Glenn's closed eyes, and he had lost a considerable amount of weight in the time since the prison assault. "Hey Chinese kid?" He asked, testing the man to see if he'd react.

"I'm Korean," Glenn murmured, his eyes still remaining shut.

Daryl nodded, "It's him alright." He looked back to the others, who were observing the interaction closely, "Can we get him moved up to our room?"

"Well," a man stepped from the shadows, who was wearing a stethoscope around his neck, "I would not recommend moving him, especially up that many flights of stairs. He should definitely rest and recover down here first, and when he regains some of his strength, we can move him upstairs. One thing is for certain, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

Daryl considered the doctor's words and nodded, "Alright, I'm gonna go let the others know. His sister in law will want to see him."

"Alright, only a quick visit though. I want him to rest."

Daryl glanced back at Glenn briefly and then headed out of the room and back up the stairs. The trip back to the room seemed to go by faster than the trip to Glenn's bedside. He knocked on the door once, "Harper babe, it's me."

Harper was sitting on the end of the bed, brushing Lilah's hair. She was about to get up but Beth bolted off the sofa and rushed to the door. She wrenched it open and stared at Daryl, "Was it him? Is it Glenn?"

Daryl looked down at Beth, his face set into a straight expression. He pushed past her, entering the room, and then he closed the door behind him, quickly latching the door shut.

"Hi Daryl!" Lilah cried.

"Lilah," Harper said, giving her daughter a stern look, "While we're here you call him dad."

"Oh yeah," Lilah frowned, "Hi daddy."

Daryl walked over to the pair of them and smiled down at Lilah before placing a kiss on Harper's forehead. He then turned back and looked over at Carol, who was sitting up on the sofa, and then to Beth, who was still staring at him expectantly. "It's Glenn," he confirmed, "Definitely Glenn."

"Oh thank God," Carole heaved a sigh of relief.

Beth's eyes filled with tears, "Is he okay? What about Maggie? Was Maggie with him?"

Daryl looked down and gave a brief shake of his head, "No, she wasn't."

A sob escaped Beth's mouth, "Did he-" She ran her hands over her face, trying to brush away the tears, "Does he know where she is or what happened to her?"

"I didn't get to ask him," Daryl sat down beside Harper, "Glenn was out of it pretty bad. I left him to rest up and then we can go down in a bit."

Beth sat down on the floor beside the sofa and stared down, struggling to not cry. "Okay," she nodded, "Okay."

Harper looked at Beth and then over to Daryl, "What is wrong with him?"

"He's underfed," Daryl shrugged, "Dehydrated and sick."

"So what do we do now?" Harper asked.

"We have to wait for him to recover a bit," Daryl shrugged, "He's in no position to be on the move right now."

Harper stared at him, "Daryl what-"

"Harper," Daryl cut her off, "Not here and not now."

She stared him down, fixing the man beside her with an angry look. When he wouldn't back down, Harper got to her feet and stormed off to the other room, slamming the door shut behind her. Daryl watched her go and closed his eyes, "I just don't know what to do anymore," he mumbled.

Carol looked down at Beth and then over to Daryl and sighed, "Daryl I understand better than anyone, what she is going through and-"

"No," Daryl snapped and he was on his feet, "Don't you go an' bring her into this. You relate my boy bein' gone to your girl and that'll just mean my boy is gone forever." He snatched up his crossbow from the floor and headed to the door, "Just don't go an' say things like you understand. Sophia is dead and Oliver ain't." He pulled the door open and then slammed it shut behind him.

Lilah stared after Daryl, not used to seeing him get upset in front of her. She looked over at Carol who had an almost shocked look on her face, "Carol, what was he talking about?"

"Nothing honey," Carol murmured, she looked back at Beth again and she gently brushed the girl's hair out of her face, "We're going to find everybody and we'll start over, just like we always do."

–

"Stop! Who's down there?"

Harper's hand had reached for a gate to push it open and leave the town, but she had been caught. She looked up at the man on the fence, blocked slightly by the glare of the afternoon sun, "Uh my name is Harper, we've just been taken in. I need to go out though. I need to look for supplies for my family."

The man frowned and jumped down to her level, "Why do you need to look for supplies? Everything you could need is here, we have plenty to go around."

She shook her head, "We're very grateful for your generosity but my husband and I won't take handouts. It's just the way we are and it's how we plan on raising our daughter."

The guard stared at Harper, quietly assessing the situation, "And your husband is fine with you going out on your own? Why doesn't he go?"

Harper gave a slight shrug, "He's taking care of our daughter and family. I'm quite capable on my own."

"You know there's a curfew. If I let you go, you have to be back by dusk," the man said.

She nodded, "I'll be back in time."

The guard was silent for a moment and then said, "You got weapons?"

Harper nodded, "Knives and my gun if things get bad."

"Alright, just be careful out there." The guard reached for the gate and slowly pushed it open, just enough to allow Harper's small frame to slip through. He quickly pulled it shut and climbed back to his perch, watching with concern as the woman rushed off.

–

"Hey Harry!" Daryl called, rushing down the hall.

Harry whirled around, "Yeah what's up, man?"

"Didn't you or someone mention somethin' 'bout a shootin' range?" Daryl asked quickly, his foot tapping in an almost impatient manner as he spoke,

Harry raised an eyebrow, noticing the tense attitude of the man before him, "Uh yeah sure."

"Mind showin' me where it is? I gotta let off some steam before I snap," Daryl said, "And last thing I want is to lose my temper even more in front of the little one."

Harry nodded, "Yeah I understand. My kid sister used to hate it when I'd get angry in front of her." He shrugged, "Come this way and I can show you where the range is."

"Thanks," Daryl mumbled, again looking around his surroundings as Harry lead them up the street.

"So how did your wife handle the news that you'd be stuck here for a bit?" Harry asked.

Daryl shrugged, "About as well as I expected."

"That's a shame," Harry said, "Y'all seem like a nice family, shame you won't plan on staying."

"We have a lot of people to find," Daryl said nonchalantly, "That comes first."

"Yeah I understand that," Harry shrugged again. He lead Daryl down a side street and then opened the door of what had once been a gun shop. The place was stripped clean but a man was sitting at the counter nonetheless, holding a book in his hands. "Hey Bruce, Daryl here would like to use the shooting range," Harry told him.

"Yeah sure thing," Bruce got to his feet. The man was much older than either of them and he looked to be at ease in this shop, like he was ready to just relax and live out the apocalypse. Bruce looked over to Daryl, "You just gonna use that crossbow, son?"

Daryl nodded, "It's my weapon of choice, so yeah."

Bruce grabbed a pair of keys off his belt loop and reached for the door, "Alright just this way then."

–

"Carol, do you want me to see if Harper wants to eat?" Beth commented, her eyes fixed on the window as the sun hung lower in the sky.

Carol was opening a can of food that she had carried in her bag to fix for Lilah and nodded, "Yeah, she needs to. I know that she hasn't touched any food recently."

Beth walked over to the door into Harper's room and knocked gently.

Lilah watched the two women and sighed, "Shouldn't we wait for Daryl before we eat?"

Carol looked at Lilah, "Well Daryl might be a bit, he'd be mad if you waited for him to eat."

"Yeah I suppose," Lilah frowned.

"You doing okay baby girl?" Carol asked her.

She shrugged, "I miss the prison." Lilah stared at the bright red label on the can that Carol was opening, "I miss when momma was happy. Or early morning's when Daryl would take me hunting and not tell momma, but we'd be back in time to cuddle with momma and Oli." Lilah looked back up at Carol now, "I miss Oliver."

Carol bit her lip, "I know honey." She reached for Lilah's hand and squeezed it gently, she was about to open her mouth when the door to the room opened and Daryl appeared just as Beth rushed back into the room.

"Carol!" She said quickly, not noticing Daryl yet.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked.

Beth's eyes were wide when she saw Daryl, "It's Harper-she's gone."

xx

A/N- Jesus Christ on a Popsicle stick. I AM SO SORRY THAT I HAVE NOT UPDATED. I have been insanely busy...my work load has been kind of bad...and you'd think with all the fucking snow days we've had that I wouldn't have that as an excuse...but still. Also I literally just come home from school or work, watch Fringe or The Walking Dead with my boyfriend and then pass out. It's just been a lot of things. I haven't forgotten about y'all so please keep the reviews coming. I need the love to be inspired! 3