The New Day

Next morning, Shawn woke Damian up. He came out and went to wash his face. Shawn brought him his pair of clothes. Damian thanked him and took it. After the bath, he came out of the house. He looked at his group helping Hershel's family collecting rocks probably for Otis' funeral a little far away, near the trees. Beth saw him from the trees and then looked away. He saw that far away in the farm field, cattle were grazing. As he was getting down the stairs, he heard the RV far down the road approaching the farm along with others.

Damian went back in upstairs and called Rick, "Rick. They're here", as everyone walked out to meet the guests. Damian looked at Kayla who was also looking at him. "Hello. How are you? We didn't talk earlier. I saw you were busy", Damian said.

She smiled a little and said, "Yes, I was". "He is fine now", she said looking at Carl as Damian approached him and checked his condition. "You feeling alright, buddy?", He asked Carl. "Yeah", Carl replied.

"I heard you really went all in and took the bullet to save a deer huh? Or was it the other way around?", he asked jokingly. 

"It was the deer that saved me", Carl said trying to smile. 

"Well, rest up. You'll get healthy in no time. I too was shot not too long ago. See, I am fit as fine now. No big deal", he said as Carl nodded.

Damian stood up and went towards the window and saw his group coming down from their vehicles. "Were you really shot? Are you okay now?", Kayla asked from behind. "Yes. After I was taken by those soldiers, things happened. There was a medic, she treated my wound", he said to her.

"You are here since that day?", Damian asked her.

"Hershel is a good man. I treated Shawn's injury for some days. I had lost contact with my family and asked his permission to leave. He said that it wasn't safe in the town and everyone else was infected. I decided to stay here with them after that", she said.

"You made a wise decision. The towns, cities, even the highways are all filled with them. Nowhere is safe", Damian said looking outside, adding, "maybe accept this place, for now". 

Soon, they came out while the group was settling down. After that Hershel called everyone to attend the funeral for Otis. They had piled up the grave with the rocks they collected earlier. 

"Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to Him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of character. Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset. We thank you, God, for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived, in grace". Hershel finished his funeral speech and then looked at Shane. "Shane, will you speak for Otis?", he asked Shane.

"I'm not good at it. I'm sorry", he denied.

"You were the last one with him. You shared his final moments. Please. I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning", Patricia, Otis' wife begged Shane to tell them his last moments. 

Seeing Patricia crying, Shane collected himself and started speaking, "Okay. We were about done. Almost out of ammo. We were down to pistols by then. I was limping. It was bad. Ankle all swollen up. "We've got to save the boy." See, that's what he said. He gave me his backpack. He shoved me ahead. "Run," he said. He said, "I'll take the rear. I'll cover you." And when I looked back... If not for Otis, I'd have never made it out alive. And that goes for Carl, too. It was Otis. He saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his", he finished as Patricia kept her composure and listened to him.

Damian looked at Shane strangely before walking away in the middle. Dale was also looking at him the same way. But no one said anything. It was peaceful. He went to his van and took out a bag and put some cartridges in them and few cans of food. He walked to the place where the group was gathered but was stopped by Beth.

"It was rude", she said. "What?", Damian asked. "It was rude of you to walk away in the middle like that. No one said it but it was", she explained.

Damian looked at her eyes, and said, "Look. I don't do well with funerals. I needed some space. I apologize if Patricia was hurt", he said as he walked away, and Beth stared at his back.

As he reached the car, Maggie came from behind, bringing the map of the county to assist in coordinating the search for Sophia.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations", she said as she spread the map on the bonet.

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized", Rick said, adding, "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams".

Hershel looked at him and said, "Not you. Not today. You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out", and then he looked at Shane and said, "And your ankle, push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody".

"I guess it's just him and me", Daryl looked at Damian. "We'll head back to the creek, work our way from there", he said.

"I'm not coming with you", Damian said. "I saw some guys yesterday outside the forest. They were dangerous. But they might have found Sophia before us. I saw them leaving to the town. Someone said that they were going to their base. There could be more in that group. I'm gonna go look in the town and see if they have Sophia", he said.

"And you're telling us now", Shane said in anger.

"No one was in their right minds last night", Damian said.

"This means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need the gun training we've been promising them", Shane said. 

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property", Hershel said and added, "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp". 

"With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here...", Shane was about to say when Rick interrupted. "We're guests here". He then looked at Hershel and said, "This is your property and we'll respect that", he put down his gun on the map as did Shane. 

"First things first: Set camp, find Sophia", Rick said.

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? "I think we should all be clear on how we handle that", Shane said with a cold gaze.

"You do what has to be done", Rick replied. 

"And her mother? What do you tell her?", Maggie asked.

"The truth", Andria replied from the side.

Damian noticed Hershel shaking his head at Maggie for some reason. Then it striked him and he looked at the barn that was closed. 

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying till we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience", Shane looked at Hershel with expecting eyes.

"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun", Rick said calmly getting a nod from Hershel. "Thank you", he said.

Damian hearing everything he needed to hear left the talk and went back to the car Andrea came back with. He started the engine and drove away.

Before leaving, he met with Shawn and asked to give a letter to Rick if he doesn't come back by the night.