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The Hunter Within

Thank You

Using one hand to block the harsh midday sun from her eyes, Sophie used her staff to support the weight of her weary body, the fingers of her other hand curled around the width of the wood. The air around them was thick with dust, consumed by the sounds of the dead. It had been a long day. Hell, it had been a long couple of days. Since having discovered the herd earlier in the week, they had spent every waking moment preparing, and after the success of the current practice run, she couldn’t help but fee like they were. As Tobin had promised, the whip wall had taken them two whole days to construct with the help of most of the community, only a select few still refusing to leave Alexandria. The third day, the day before, had seen a few of her own people collecting any car that would run and dragging those that wouldn’t to line the road out of the quarry in hopes to keep the herd from dispersing when they were released.
Glancing around the quarry, the unmerciful smell of the dead radiating from it, flesh rotting under the midday sun, she hoped that all their preparedness would be enough. Letting her gaze touch on where Daryl stood beside her, his own eyes on where Rick stood upon the back of one of the trucks, running through the plan once again, she knew that it would have to be. Feeling the weight of her stare, he turned to consider her with a questioning look, eyebrows slightly raised as she dismissed his silent inquiry. The last few days had been difficult in more ways than enduring the pressure of preparing for the main event. Sophie had found it hard to slip back into a normal routine without letting Daryl become a distraction, often finding herself studying him, watching the bands of muscle in his arms flex as they worked on the wall.
“I know this sounds insane,” Rick boomed over the constant hum of the rotters behind him, grabbing Sophie’s attention. “But this is an insane world. We have to come for them before they come for us. It’s that simple!” The man paused, scanning over the motley crowd before him, his own people hiding their concern a little better than the Alexandrians were. “This is where it all starts tomorrow. Tobin gets in that truck, opens the exit and we’re off. He hops out, catches up with his team at red, staying on the west side of the road. Daryl and Sophie are on the bik –“
A deep rumble tore all eyes away from Rick and onto the quarry behind them, the side of the road that climbed the side walls crumbling away, threatening to take one of the far side trucks with it. A panicked murmur moved through the large group, the practice run threatening to turn into the real thing right before their eyes. “You see that?”
“It’s open!” Rick cried as the truck lost its battle with gravity, metal screeching out over the dead as it fell to the bottom of the quarry below, doing its bit to remove some rotters as it landed. “We got to do this now! We’re doing this now! Tobin’s group! Get moving! Go!”
“No! Rick!” Carter called out above the noise, as if they really had a choice. The herd was coming, and denying that wasn’t about to change the fact. “We’re not ready!”
“Sasha! Abraham!”
“Damn straight!” He called back as Rick worked to ignore the Alexandrian, Sophie’s heart thumping as she glanced over the flood that threatened upon the new opening, adrenaline beginning to run its course as she turned to the motorbike. “We’ll do it live!”
“You meet Daryl at red! Let him take them through the gauntlet!” Rick ordered over the commotion of all the others, the man himself loading a bolt into his bow. “Soph! Soph, you’re with us!”
Pausing at the sound of her name, both she and Daryl turned from where they backtracked to his parked motorbike, her eyebrows furrowed and his mouth set into a scowl. They hadn’t been prepared for that. “She’s ridin’ with me!”
“We need her on the road! Glenn is going to take a group to handle the tractor place, we can’t have them distracting the herd!” Rick turned to talk to Glenn for a moment, leaving Sophie to handle Daryl’s reluctance alone.
“You said that you would be with me. You and me.”
“I know,” she spoke much more calmly than he had, half of her attention on the chaos around her as she met the angry sea of his blue eyes, only too aware of the limited time they had to debate the subject. “But they need people on the ground. There’s no time to stand here arguing about it.”
Watching as his eyes slipped from hers, over her shoulder to where her point was being made, a rotter managing to push itself through the tiny gap between the closer pair of trucks, its skin catching on the uneven surface. Daryl left her side to step forward, raising his crossbow to bury a bolt in its brittle skull, buying them a little more time as Tobin climbed up into the driver’s seat of one of the trucks. Her heart continued to pound unforgivingly against her chest as she waited for him to reload and return to her. As he moved passed, a single hand snaked over the exposed skin of her neck, fingers wrapping around the base of it with an unexpected sense of tenderness. Neither of them said anything as he pulled her close into a one armed hug, his other hand still gripping at his bow, her staff still in hers.
“Please,” he spoke in her ear, his voice thick with desperation. “Just stay safe, okay?”
“You just come home,” she raised her eyebrows expectantly as the space between them grew. “Because that’s what it is now. Promise me?”
“Promise.”
Nodding, Sophie held her breath as she hesitantly lifted herself up onto her toes, placing a tentative kiss on his bristly cheek. He seemed to stiffen under where her free hand was planted on his shoulder, his eyes uncharacteristically holding hers as she lowered. Opening her mouth to speak, she was surprised to find that he closed the space between them once again, his lips pressed against hers, swallowing the notion. Melting into him, she found herself entirely unprepared, hesitating ever so briefly before letting herself indulge in his moment of bravery amongst the commotion that threatened to engulf them entirely. Her hand moved from his shoulders, fingers digging into the back of his neck as she dared to deepen the kiss a little, not willing to let the moment pass by just yet. His hands moved to snake around her waist hesitantly, the muscles of his arms tightening to lift her up ever so slightly.
All too soon she was returned to Earth, their noses brushing as they found themselves forced to face reality once again. “Thank you,” she whispered, not entirely sure if she was talking about his promise to come home, or for his moment of confidence. Maybe both. Tilting her head slightly, she dared to kiss him again, it much more fleeting and just like the other, ending all too soon. “I’ll see you after.”
Daryl seemed lost for words, barely nodding as she mustered the strength to part from him, the pads of their fingers travelling down the length of the others arm until the space between them became too much. Glancing over her shoulder, she met his unreadable eyes as he watched her with a sense of desperation, enough so that Sophie found herself reminded of a time where she had once kissed him in hopes of convincing him to stay. He lingered for a moment longer before the impending herd beckoned for his attention, for their attention, Daryl turning in favour of his bike. As the low rumble moved over the moans, Sophie fell in beside Michonne, rolling her eyes as she met the other woman’s curious stare as Rick argued with Carter for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
The pair waited in silence for further instruction, Sophie’s heart fluttering and eyes darting around the quarry before them as Rick called for Tobin to get ready, most of the large group having already moved off in smaller ones. “They’re heading for home! We don’t have a choice! Get ready to hit the flares!” He called to those that remained as Sophie touched at her damp lips hesitantly, time seeming to slow to an excruciating pace as she stole a glance over her shoulder at where Daryl was waiting to lead the herd away, the splutter of the large, long dormant truck drowning out the rumble of his motorbike. “Now!”
“You’re with us!” Vince called for her over the commotion as Sophie turned to watch the streaks of colour as they shot through the sky behind her at Rick’s command, the flare proving enough to pull the rotters attention away from the opening and onto the other side of the quarry, driving them towards where Tobin coaxed the old truck forward, creating a new one much closer to where they stood.
Knowing that was their signal to get out of there, those that remained did exactly that, Sophie falling into step beside Heath as Rick’s group held off the herd. Glenn, Vince and Nicholas bringing up the rear of their own group as they moved towards the barricaded road, the others melting into the thick forest, looking for a head start before Daryl began to lead the dead right towards them. Turning to the sound of Glenn’s voice, Sophie slowed her pace a little, her eyes brushing over the pistol he extended for her to take, their bodies bobbing as they ran. Without argument, she shifted her staff into her left hand, taking the weapon from him and stashing it in the waistband of her jeans, the weight almost welcoming since she had opted to sheathing her knife around her upper thigh. She believed it looked ridiculous, but she did have to admit that it was much more accessible there, not having to fight with the hem of her top single handily.
“You all have your assignment, you know where to rendezvous,” Rick spoke over the radio from his delayed position as their feet brushed over the dirt track, Sophie working at keeping her breathing even as they moved passed the line of rusted cars and onto the road. “Daryl leads them out. Sasha and Abraham will join him at the bottom of the hill.” Silence moved over them for a moment, long enough to send her glancing over her shoulder curiously, watching as another flare whistled through the air. “Glenn, you hit us when you take care of the walkers at the tractor place. That’s the one thing we gotta get ahead of. Everyone keep your heads, and just keep up.”
With that, they seemed to push themselves a little harder, Sophie moving in beside Heath once again. The canopy of forest fought to stretch over the road, the sun positioned in a manner that left them little shade, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of her face as she worked at controlling her breathing. It didn’t surprise her that Heath was able to stay with her as they ran, nor did it surprise her that Nicholas had begun to tire all too soon, his feet occasionally dragging. Scavenging was one thing, living on the road was another, and it separated those who were living in the new world from those who were surviving in it. She, Glenn, Vince and even Heath, they were survivors. They had adapted, and they had fought. Nicholas, Carter, Tobin, the others currently out there somewhere, scaling the forest with unsure feet, they were simply living. They were waiting it out. They hadn’t been forced to compromise who they were, their hands were clean and their conscious clear, and though she was reluctant to admit it, Sophie was jealous.
Running her teeth over her bottom lip as she moved alongside of the greenery that boarded either side of the road, Sophie felt the weight of Daryl lingering there, not being able to help but consider how differently things would have been if she had managed to hold onto a little more of the person she was before all this. Old Sophie would have been brave enough to admit that there had always been something between the two of them, that they had been kidding themselves to think otherwise. She wouldn’t have fought it, even if old Daryl would have, much more reluctantly than he did now. New Sophie was scared, though, even after everything they had been through. Especially after everything you’ve been through, something warned knowingly. After everything, how can you believe that this is going to have a happy ending?
Because we are fighting for it, a long buried, hopeful part of her argued back, it enough to silence her doubts for now. As the reluctance in her wrestled for something of value, she let herself consider what him kissing her would mean. He had never done that before, and though she had known better, he had always pushed her away when she had dared down that road. The last time they had kissed, she had told him that she was sick of pretending, and he had told her that it wasn’t safe enough. He had been right, but maybe now it was different. Maybe he felt safe enough now. The notion sent Sophie’s heart slamming against her chest, a sense of fear pooling in her joints and blood in her cheeks as she considered what that meant.
It had been a long time since she had thought about being with a man, and even longer time since it had actually happened, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she wasn’t even sure how and if that kind of relationship would work with Daryl. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him, because for the sake of continued honesty, boy, did she want him, it was that she was terrified that he didn’t want her back. Physical contact wasn’t something he often encouraged, it having taken months for him to stop flinching every time she reached out to touch him, and Sophie was scared that if she let herself get too comfortable with where they could be now, she would want more. With the taste of his last cigarette still lingering on her lips, Sophie knew that she would always want more, that she could very well become addicted to Daryl Dixon.
“We’re at red,” Sasha’s voice crackled through the radio, pulling Sophie from her thoughts with enough force to kick start her heart, as if she had been caught in thought. “At the bottom of the hill.”
“All right,” an all too familiar drawl followed moment’s later, static taking its place as her eyes touched on the radio longingly. You should be with him. “Here comes the parade.”
“Glenn? Are you there yet?”
“Almost,” the young man behind her replied to Rick’s radioed question as the forest began to thin, buildings littering sporadic clearings. “We’ll have it handled before they get here and we’ll meet you at yellow.”
“Copy that.”
“It’s a good thing this happened today,” Vince huffed from the back of the small group, earning himself a look of disapproval courtesy of Heath. “We’re ready. Everyone’s well rested. Tonight, tonight they would have laid awake thinking about what ifs and maybes. This way… There is no thinking. Just doing.”
“We should’ve done the tractor place when we passed it,” Heath worried, defaulting back to the mentioned doubts.
“But we didn’t,” Sophie offered as gently as she could manage under huffed breaths, her ankles beginning to complain at impact with the asphalt. They had left Alexandria as the sun rose, moving along this very road slowly enough that she had found herself wishing for a faster pace. And now you have it.
The group fell silent once again, the thumping of boots along the leaf littered road saving them from being consumed by it entirely. With her palms growing sweaty, Sophie adjusted the grip she had on her staff, her thoughts instantly shifting back to Daryl. While she wasn’t there with him, she to comfort in knowing that he wouldn’t be alone, that Abraham and Sasha would be looking out for him and she trusted them to do so, the latter especially. Just as she had begun to become more recognisable to her own group over the days since Reg and Pete’s death, so had Sasha, the other woman seemingly moved off the path of self-destruction. It had only been upon returning from the first long day at the construction site that they had spoken for the first time since the prison, that they had really spoken with each other.
Though they probably would never be as close as she was with Maggie or Michonne, Sasha was and Tyreese had still been family. They had lived, fought and scavenged alongside each other over the months they had lived together. Sophie had always admired and respected the other woman’s strength and endurance, and if the time they had spent apart had taught her anything, it was that even the strongest tired sometimes. Sasha, Rick, Carol, and even Daryl, they were different versions of themselves now, pieces broken off, the exposed edges rubbed raw. Damaged. Working at steadying herself with a deep breath, she considered the words Daryl had all but breathed as the first day they had spent back together, really together, had drawn to an end. You’re still Sophie, though.
She had hung onto the notion, and somehow, she believed that she would for as long as she remembered how it had sounded through his rough voice. They were all damaged, yes, and perhaps that damage would never be repaired, but they were all still them at their most inner core. They were all still family, that much hadn’t changed. In the days after regaining her memory, she had worried that it had, the dynamics of the group having shifted almost beyond recognition. Surprisingly, it had been Eric that she had shared her fear with, having sought him out for more information about Aaron and Daryl’s trip, considering finding him herself, terrified that somehow their dynamics had changed as well. They have, her heart fluttered anxiously, knowing just how true it was.
Knowing that the shift could have possibly been for the better didn’t make it any less frightening, her lungs constricting even more as the radio secured at Glenn’s hips crackled almost impatiently. “Glenn,” Rick spoke clearly as they moved in on the tractor place, Sophie pausing to drive her staff down through the brittle skull of the rotter pinned beneath a piece of machinery. “You have to hurry. The noise could distract the herd right off the road. Talk to me.”
“We’re here,” he answered moments later, he too having paused to dispose of one of the dead that had gathered there since their earlier passing. Sophie moved in beside where Vince was studying the thankfully thick glass pane with a sense of deep consideration. “I’ll update you when it’s done.”
“Sounds like a lot,” Nicholas mused as the radio static died off, leaving them to the sound of rotting flesh banging against the glass, working to drown out their own moans.
Sophie glanced down the road anxiously, knowing that the open space will make it hard enough to keep the rotters in formation without the sound drawing them off the road. “We need to do this, now.”
“So, what's the plan?”
“Take ‘em out a few at a time,” Glenn offered Heath, his eyes touching on Sophie as she nodded reassuringly before scaling the sidewall towards the entry. “Nicholas, you’re at the door, all right? You let one of two of them out and then you close it. You keep doing that. That’s the trick.”
“That’s how we control it,” Sophie backed him up, noting the way even Vince shifted uneasily at the thought.
“Wait,” Heath pulled them up short as they slipped into a practised, readied position, Nicholas touching at the door handle apprehensively. “What if he can’t close it?”
“I’ll be able to.”
“Then we take them on, right?”
Heath faltered at Vince’s question, dark eyes darting between the Canadian and Glenn in a way that told Sophie that while he was acquainted with the real world, he wasn’t as accustomed to it as they were. “We take them on?”
“If we get into trouble, we go behind the build and lead them into the woods, we draw them away from here.”
“There are five of us,” Sophie worked at calming the man beside her, knowing that she had done more with less help. “We’ll be fine either way.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Nicholas added, her eyes narrowing in on the man, his words contradicting the fact that the wounds he had inflicted on the other man were yet to heal. “Me and Aiden, we didn’t.”
“This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal,” the dark man gave up, grabbing at his sheathed knife with a sense of defeat.
“I’m supposed to be delivering pizzas, man,” Glenn offered in return, Sophie suppressing the smile that threatened her chapped lips at the memory of the young, almost baby-faced, man she had first met. “Daryl’s leading them this way and they’re closing in. That noise is gonna pull the herd right off the road and then we have serious trouble. We have to do this.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay,” he replied to her as Glenn moved to position his crowbar in between the double doors, Vince standing by with a pistol in his hand, ready for just in case.
“On three,” Glenn commanded, bracing himself as the sound of a bullet sliding into its chamber clicked seconds later. “One… Two…”
Sophie’s heart slammed against her chest, fingers tightening around her staff as the word three was followed by utter silence, the group instantly relaxing as they found the entry way barricaded by a roller door. Straightening, she fought against the urge to tell Nicholas off for holding the door too wide, that if there hadn’t of been another there, Glenn was standing too close to deal with the flood of rotting corpses that could have followed. More what ifs and maybes, she told herself as her heart settled, knowing that it was completely different. Instead, she trusted that if Glenn had wanted to say something, he would have. Nicholas wasn’t her responsibility. Someone like that, she considered, thinking back to life on the road with Beth and Carl after having to abandon the Greene Farm, they are everyone’s responsibility.
“What now?”
Nicholas’ words sat heavy upon their shoulders and the silence that followed, Sophie taking a step back as if to evaluate the situation. They couldn’t open the roller door, even if they could actually open it. It was much too risky, their vision too obstructed. “We break in?”
“The glass?” Glenn pried, the pair locking eyes as he considered the notion, considered the other choices they had. They had none. Without a word, he moved back to the wall of glass that spanned half the width of the road-facing wall. “We break the glass. Use the guns and pick them off as they come through.”
“That’s the opposite of letting them through two at a time,” Vince questioned, studying the rotters with a sense of hesitation, hands crossed over his chest. “Zero to a hundred real quick. This is a bad idea.”
“It’s the only idea,” Sophie spoke truthfully, her eyes flickering up the road that would all too soon be accommodating thousands of rotters to wherever they would end up. Far away from here, she hoped.
“I think there’s something like a dozen in there,” Nicholas butt in, his reluctance even more evident than Heath and Vince’s, having suddenly lost faith in Glenn.
“We stay back, on opposite ends, draw them to each of us.”
“And what? Try and take down two and a quarter roamers each?” Nicholas continued, as if two was a hard number to handle, glancing over at the man as she pulled her borrowed pistol from where she had stashed it, she forced herself to acknowledge that for some, it was.
“No,” Glenn closed the space between him and the other man, gesturing him away with a nod. “This is just the four of us. You get back and you stay back. If things go south, you tell Rick and you draw them away.” Sophie worked at counting her bullets as Glenn thrust the radio out for the other man to take. They were running out of time, and judging by his tone, patience. “Just move back.”
“You ready?” Sophie asked the other two, setting her staff behind her, making sure it wasn’t in a place where anyone would trip on it before returning to the lineup, taking up position next to Glenn, opposite of the other two.
“No,” Heath admitted, Vince dipping his head from behind him. “But since we’re doing this thing anyway.”
“All right,” Glenn worked at loosening his shoulders, glancing over at Sophie as she raised her aim, adjusting the grip before nodding.
It only took a single round to break the glass, rotters stumbling through the opening as it shattered, the shards that littered the ground enough to slice the decaying skin that barely covered a pair of bare feet. Tearing her eyes away from the trail of blood it left behind, she squeezed the trigger, the first bullet brushing the side of its intended skull to rip through the one behind it. The dead kept coming, bullets continuing to rip through bone and brain as they worked at putting them down. It soon became apparent that there was much more than something like a dozen, the bodies beginning to crowd the space before them, excited by the gunfire. Sophie found that between shots she had shifted from an offensive stance to a much more defensive one, the built up moans beginning to wear on her confidence.
“They’re still coming,” Heath observed over the sound of bullets as Glenn paused to reload beside her, her gaze shifting to watch him put down a rotter that had managed to get within arms reach, a second lunging for him.
“I got you!” Sophie called out as Vince hesitated, rotters threatening upon him as he turned to help Heath, instinct telling him to protect himself as well. Without a clear shot, she left it to the other man to grab at his knife, driving it down through the brittle bone as she knocked the rotter advancing on him off its course long enough for him to pull it from one skull and bury into another.
Glenn took to covering her until she deemed the situation under control, Nicholas having jumped in with his blade in hand to help despite his instruction. The two men eyed each other off as the others corrected themselves, Sophie making sure Heath was okay as he too grabbed for his knife, driving it into the rotter approaching him with ease. Catching her breath, she turned to face the final moan, the rotting figure stumbling over the crumbled bodies towards them, her weary frame complaining as she scooped to collect her staff. It was Nicholas that beat her to it, however, this time, having waited for Glenn’s approval before doing so. So instead, she tucked her staff under her armpit, the pistol much too warm to holster in the waistband of her pants, and waited for the last rotter to slump against the hot cement.
“Come on,” she coaxed the others as it did, her eyes brushing over the road behind them, knowing that they had lost valuable time. With the herd no doubt having already passed by the whip wall, she imagined that Rick was already waiting for them at yellow.
Knowing that the hard part was over, it took all of Sophie’s remaining strength to keep her from waiting for Daryl to catch up as they started in the opposite direction at a much slower jog than the pace they had arrived at. The last few days, weeks, months, years had begun to take its toll, her body aching, her bones threatening to give way with each step she took. The afternoon sun beat down on them without mercy, her beaten and bruised skin already feeling the oncoming of sunburnt, despite the durability she had built up since the fall of society. Glancing down at her arm as they swung with each step, she considered the brown skin that stretched over formed muscle, the colour something that had scared her before, believing that her hair was much too light to be able to pull off skin so tanned.
Huffing with a sense of reminiscence, she considered a life where she had actually cared about how she had looked, finding herself almost missing it. Since she had woken up and regained her memory, she had actively avoided scrutinising her appearance too much, knowing that the person she had been would be disgusted in the split ends she wore, the rough appearance her nails had taken on, her dry lips and un-moisturised skin. It was then, covered in sweat, in cuts and in foul blood, her hair bundled up in a knotted bun that she vowed to take better care of herself once this was all over. She would go home tonight and take a long shower, she would wash her hair and shave her legs. She would ask Rosita to pluck her eyebrows and perhaps even see Olivia about the nail polish she had scoffed at only days before. They were safe, and if she was going to have any luck in convincing Daryl that, she would have to believe it herself.
The notion of safety, the prospect of Alexandria becoming home, scared her more than it should have, not just for what it meant for her and Daryl, but for what it meant for her alone. Giving in, admitting that this was for real, that it was more than just surviving, made her feel vulnerable, weak. She had always had things to lose, but now, she had everything to lose, just like the prison, but this time, she had seen what having it taken from her looks like. She had lived it, she had survived it, and she wasn’t sure if she could do it all over again. Glancing over at Glenn, once again picturing the baby-faced man she had met back in Atlanta, she knew that she couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t lose him or Rick, or Michonne, Maggie or Carl, Carol or Sasha. Most of all, she wasn’t strong enough to lose Daryl, not again, not for good. You’ve lost people before, the survivor within warned her knowingly, her eyes going to Vince as they swerved into the forest, her mind to the others she had met. To Jake, to Rosita and Tara, to Abraham and Eugene, and you’ll lose more before this ends.
It didn’t take them much longer to regroup with the others, the Alexandrians looking just as exhausted as she felt. Rick, Michonne and Morgan found them moments later, each of them coming to a stand still as they anxiously watched the herd from just within the cover of the forest. “It’s working,” Carter offered as Sophie dared to step forward, trying to find the start of the parade, to find Daryl. “You were right.”
Giving up, she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes meeting Michonne’s concerned stare before touching on where Rick and Carter shook hands in a treaty. “Everyone, we need to finish this,” the first turned to address the group, all too aware of his volume and the herd that passed them by. “We have to keep moving and fan out down that thing, front to back. It’s just like we said, cops at a parade. Glenn, you take the back. If it gets sloppy, we fire our weapons to pull them back on track.”
“I’ve got the front,” Sophie dared, moving to step around Rick, hoping to catch up with the convoy at the head of the herd before they broke away.
“I want you holding down the centre of this thing,” he reached out to steady her eager pace, Carter offering instead. “Make sure you spread out. One after the other.”
Accepting her position in defeat, Sophie understood Rick’s reasoning as he moved off behind the other man. Morgan would follow, Michonne after, leaving Sophie to centre the defence, Vince to back her up and Glenn to bring in the stragglers. There were Alexandrian’s littered between them, but for the most part, he had his own people stretched along the line. Watching as everyone peeled off one by one, just as ordered, she slowed to a walk, her fingers tightening around her staff, rolling the wood in her palm as she eyed off the herd with a sense of uneasiness, truly feeling alone. If something were to happen, it would just be her and the mass of dead until someone managed to rush to her aid. Glancing over her shoulder, she tried to remember the face of the Alexandrian behind her, hoping that it was someone like Heath or Annie. Someone capable.
She hadn’t been walking long when her fears were cemented by an unfamiliar scream calling out to the herd towards the front of it. Glancing over her shoulder once again, she quickened her pace a little, listening out into the distance, holding onto the fact that the scream hadn’t been familiar. Daring at the edge of the forest, Sophie worked at trying to locate the noise along the line, finding a proportion of the herd threatening to move from the rest and into the forest. Cursing, she swung her staff with a grunt, putting down the rotter that had spied her, driving the bladed end through the second before melting back into the greenery. Gunshots ripped through the sky and her remaining confidence moments later, her heart thumping as she tried to place that sound, too.
Deciding that it had come from over the other side of the road, hoping that Rick had given the command to pull the herd back onto the road, she settled a little, her racing heart slowing to a slightly steadier pace. Her gait seemed to match it, her sure feet navigating the forest floor expertly as she worked to close the distance between her and Michonne, anyway. Her mind began to run through possibilities as she found the space too stretched, her strides growing shorter as she once again glanced over her shoulder, regretting not asking someone for a radio. Something’s not right, she decided, memory telling her that the scream had been both male and unfamiliar. It didn’t matter, though, something didn't feel right.
A blaring horn sent her gripping tighter at her staff, her heart and mind racing ahead as she searched the forest for something that told her it had nothing to do with Abraham, Sasha or Daryl. It’s too faint, she told herself, eyes snapping to the herd as their idle moans grew curious, the bodies beginning to peel off into the forest towards her. Home, she realised, it taking every ounce of bravery she had left to not call out for someone. Instead, she moved towards the community at an angle, hoping to run into anyone on her way. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for a just as rattled Annie to move in beside her, Heath, Vince, Glenn and the others having done the same before they paralleled their course to the road, intercepting Rick and Michonne.
“Tobin,” Rick hissed into the radio, not looking at the group as they rushed to meet them, Sophie falling in beside Michonne before she moved off to decapitate an approaching rotter on Rick’s command, Glenn taking her place. “It’s not stopping. Light it up. You hear me? Tobin!?”
“Shit, shit, shit,” one of the Alexandrian’s almost cried from behind, his voice just as panicked as Sophie felt. “It was half. Jesus. It was more than half.”
“We just gotta stay ahead of them,” Annie, from Heath’s team, worked to try at calm the small man as they scaled a slight rise. “They walk, we run.”
“Rick?”
Sophie’s pace quickened at the sound of an all too familiar voice, her heart fluttering at the welcomed sound as she eagerly moved in beside him. “I’m here.”
“What’s going on back there?”
“Half of them have broken off,” he worked at filling Daryl in, what remained of the others no doubt listening in from their scattered locations, just as desperate for an explanation as they were themselves. “They’re heading towards Alexandria.”
Silence followed for a long moment, Sophie glancing up to meet Rick’s gaze as they waited, as they walked. “Towards you?”
“We ran ahead,” he answered much quicker. “There’s a horn or something. It’s loud, coming from the east. It’s not stopping.”
“I’m gonna gas it up, turn back.”
“We have it, you keep going.”
“They’re gonna need our help,” he argued back, not to Sophie’s surprise. Glenn and Michonne settled back into the space beside them as they came to a halt, waiting for any kind of instruction, for any kind of plan, as Rick assured him that they had to keep the herd moving more. “Not if it’s going down, we don’t.”
“The rest of that herd turns around, and the bad back there gets worse.” More silence followed, Sophie’s heart creeping further up into her throat with each passing second. “Daryl?”
“Yeah, I heard you,” he offered stubbornly. “Soph with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Put her on.”
She took the radio eagerly, her spare hand curling around the receiver and index finger searching blindly for the button as she raised it to speak. “Daryl?”
“Soph,” he seemed to breathe with relief, a soft smile evident in his tone, enough so that one dared at the corners of her mouth, despite the situation. “You stay with Rick, got it? You stay with the others. I’m gonna come get you, don’t go back without me. Stay with Rick. You hear me?”
Her gaze snapped to the man before her, studying him with a sense of curiousity as he shook his head ever so slightly. Rick was thinking with his head, and Daryl, his heart, something he did more than he cared to admit. “Daryl?” She feigned confusion, guilt pooling in her joints as she raised her voice. “I… I can’t hear you over the noise? Just… Just keep going. I’ll see you soon?” The radio crackled, Daryl repeating himself desperately, cementing the guilt in place. “Okay?”
“Stay with Rick,” he warned again as she handed the radio back to the man, raising an expecting eyebrow.
“All right, listen up. Here’s the new plan,” he started as he secured it into place, glancing over Michonne and Glenn as they slowed to a stop. “I go back, get the RV and circle around the woods on Redding. I’ll get in front of them before they get there and lead them away.”
“The RV is miles back, Rick,” Sophie frowned, tightening the grip she had on her staff, hoping to keep the promise she didn’t actually make. “I can go with you.”
“I’ll handle it,” he dismissed the thought. “I want you to run ahead, this group, there is too many of them to move quickly. You know what you’re doing out here. Just get home, they might need you there. They might need all of you there.” Sophie paused as she stepped away from the trio, a nod playing at her head as he addressed them all. “If something’s in front of you, you kill it. No hiding, no waiting. You keep going.”




Notes

Firstly, the usual, many thanks to rachelloyd, amberryvonnee, Witchy (*whispers back @ you* happy birthday! I hope you like your present!), Sanders151, Thanya and Zophie_. Also, a welcoming thanks to Ceeekes! Hope to hear from you again!

Secondly, I am not a push over! So don't even start, just enjoy it, because if history has taught as anything, it's the last time that will happen in a long time! Or perhaps the cycle has been broken... We will see.

Over to you x

Comments

Who's here on 2020 for a re-read? :D

Tee- Tee-
4/17/20

@QueenUchi

New readers make my heart sing, especially when they start this journey ten months after I ended it (abit abruptly but we won’t get into that because it’ll make me sad again).

Thank you you so much for leaving a comment. Nothing is more motivating for the unmotivated than a little bit of love. Whenever I get a comment from someone new all I find myself wanting to sit down and grill them with a million different questions.

If youre chasing updates about any eventual stories I write, please follow me on instagram @ sophyl_

Thanks a million again!! xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/28/18

thank you @sanders151 for recomending me this fanfic

Your fanfic has been in the center of my life for the whole month November. Let me just tell you that im in love with everything about this story. Im even at loss of words about how amazing this journey has been.

There have been moments when i actually had to get up and calm down from all the feelings may they be joy sadness or just extreme suffering. Ive been cheering, i've been crying to the point of ugly sobbing, ive been screaming while reading this all.

I dont even know how to tell you how i feel about this fanfic there arent any words for it so ima just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH about it cause thats the closets that i can think off "insert all the feelings i cant express here"

I am just so thank full for all your time and effort and everything youve put into this story. Cause WOW youre an amazing writer and when you do make your original story please do know that I WOULD LOVE TO READ THAT TOO.

This journey has ended but it will forever be in my heart.

QueenUchi QueenUchi
11/27/18

@Sanders151

I was so surprised to see a new notification on this story after all these months. Thank you so much for taking the time
to comment, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read since. Please feel free to leave me updated on your thoughts xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/25/18

Hello,

It's been a looong time since i've read this story. Life got busy and i totally forgot to finish it.

SO i decided to reread everything and lemme tell you...I STILL LOVE IT AS MUCH AS THE FIRST TIME.
Im currently at chapter 62 (right after fort hill) and i can't wait for what is to come.


Sanders151 Sanders151
11/15/18