Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

20: Woodland Suspicions

The next day, I found out that Rick had decided to honor Dale's last wish; he was going to keep Randall alive. He would have to be carefully watched for awhile until we could safely put trust in him, but I'm sure Randall knew that that was better than nothing.

Anyway, that morning, before Dad and I did anything else, we moved our tent back up towards the rest of the group's camp. Dad said it was because we shouldn't be that far from the group with all these things happening, but I knew there was another reason there, too; Dad wanted to be there to protect everyone, because he really was starting to care about them.

After moving our stuff, I decided to go into the farmhouse to try and do something with my unruly hair. It had been getting in my way a lot recently, and it was extremely frustrating. Back then, my combination of straight and wavy hair was almost down to my waist.

I went into the farmhouse bathroom and found a comb lying out on the counter. I didn't want to use it without permission, so I peeked my head out of the door. I saw Beth standing in the kitchen, talking with Maggie. Since her fallout a few days ago, she had been doing much better, and was almost back to normal.

I walked into the kitchen and smiled at her, and she grinned back. "Hey, Beth, do you mind if I use this?" I asked, holding up the comb.

She shook her head, and then, an idea struck her. "Are you trying to put your hair up?" she asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, it can kinda be annoyin'. Gets in the way really easy."

Beth nodded. "I have an idea; come with me."

Then, she grabbed my hand, and pulled me along into her bedroom. "Here, sit down," she said, gesturing to the bed. I did as she asked, and felt her sit down behind me. She began combing through my hair, and I could feel her working out the knots in it.

"Sorry it's knotty," I apologized, moving my head back as she worked out a knot.

"Don't be; mine's just as bad," she laughed.

Once she got all the knots out, she reached across to her nightstand and opened a drawer, pulling out two hair ties.

"Okay, I can french braid, dutch braid, and fishtail braid; what do you want me to do?"

In all honesty, I didn't know what any of that meant, so I just shrugged.

"I don't know... um... French," I said.

She nodded. "Alrighty."

Then, she gently tilted my head back, and I could feel her begin to tightly braid my hair on the right side of my head. It didn't hurt, it actually felt kind of soothing.

When she finished with both sides, she let out a content breath and stood up. She grabbed a mirror from her nightstand and outstretched it to me, smiling.

I took it, and looked at myself. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the two, basically perfect braids on my head. I could feel the weight of them resting on my back, but it felt good to have my hair out of my face for once.

"It's so pretty... thanks, Beth," I said, grinning at her as I handed the mirror back.

She nodded. "No problem, and I'll redo it anytime you need me to."

"Thanks," I told her, nodding.

I talked with her for a few more minutes before departing from the house, smiling as I felt the braids bouncing on my back. As I began to head back to Dad and I's newly located tent, though, my eyes saw something at the edge of the farm that made me stop short.

I couldn't tell fully who it was, but from the shaved head and overalls, I had a pretty good idea. I watched with narrowed eyes as who I thought was Shane took a guy who looked a lot like Randall into the woods. Shane was being rough with him, and seemed angry.

It could've been that Rick had told Shane to do that, but a feeling in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise.

I watched the two depart fully into the woods before I turned around, and began scanning the area for Rick. I quickly spotted him over by his tent, talking with Lori and Carl. In all honesty, I really didn't feel like going over to him with Lori there, (I was afraid of getting yelled at again) but I knew that what I saw could be more important than that.

So, I rushed over to him, not paying any attention to Lori. "Hey, Rick? Can I ask you somethin' real quick?"

He looked up to me, and stood up from the log he was sitting on. "Sure, what is it?"

"Um... come over here," I said, not failing to notice Lori's narrowed eyes burning holes into mine.

I began walking away, and Rick followed me, seeming a little curious. Once we got far enough away, I stopped, and turned back around to face him.

"Rick, did you tell Shane to go off into the woods with Randall?" I asked.

Rick cocked an eyebrow. "No... I didn't. Why?"

"'Cause he kinda just went off into the woods with Randall..."

"Are you sure it was him?" he asked.

"Isn't he the only bald guy here?" I replied.

To that, Rick sighed, and nodded his head slowly. "Okay, just stay here for a minute. I'm gonna go find Daryl. I'm gonna need you to show me where you saw them go, alright?"

I nodded at him, and after that he quickly went off to find Dad. When he left, I looked back to the woods, trying to see if I could find any glimpse of Shane and Randall. They must've walked deeper into the woods, because I couldn't see anything moving in the trees. But, I did see where they entered the woods, and that was a start.

A few minutes passed, and eventually Rick reappeared, with Dad by his side.

"Alright, Sidney, I need you to show me where they went... I don't know what Shane's up to." He said the last sentence to Dad discreetly, but I still heard it. Dad nodded, and looked down to me before looking to Rick again.

He said something quietly to him that I couldn't quite pick up, but Rick nodded to whatever it was. Then, Dad squatted down next to me, and extended his hand. In it was something I didn't expect at all; a small, black handgun.

"What's this for? I thought we were just gonna look for Shane," I said, confused.

"Just... take it. Just in case, alright?"

Furrowing my eyebrows, I took the gun from him, and held it carefully in my right hand.

"Don't use it unless absolutely necessary, okay?" Rick asked.

I nodded my head. "I know," I told him, confident.

He looked down at me for a moment later before looking back up to Dad, holding a gaze for a moment.

"Alright, Sidney...lead the way," Rick said after a second.

I smiled at him before going in front of them and beginning to walk down to the woods.