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O'Death

Chapter Three

"Are we lost?" Sophia asked timidly as she followed the teenager. She clutched the now dirty and worn out doll close to her chest, her eyes darting left and right through the trees.

"If I say no, would you be able to tell if it was a lie?" Kay asked, glancing at her with a small smile, trying to make light of their current situation.

It may have been a bad idea for Kaylee to be screaming Sophia's name into the open forest, could've caused walkers to find them. Though, something else just as bad happened, it caused the little girl to change her course to the highway and deeper into the woods with Kay. Now, with the teen leading them, it seems her direction got a little screwed up from the incident beforehand.

Sophia knew Kaylee was lost, but at least she wasn't alone in the woods. From what little she knew about Kaylee, she knew how to navigate through the woods and how to survive fine. Kaylee admitted though, she didn't know how they would fair the coming night without shelter. She had the thought of looking for a lake or stream that her and Angela initially were looking for earlier that morning. The heat was intense, and looking to check in on Sophia, the sweat on her face and soaking her shirt proved they needed water. Only so much shade was given to them from the thin trees around them, Georgia heat was merciless.

"Are we looking for the highway?" Sophia asked, stepping over a branch as her gaze switched from Kaylee to the ground below her to watch her footing.

Kay shook her head, "Not yet." She told. "It'll be dark soon, I thought of looking for a source of water to cool us down." Her eyes gazed up to find where the sun to, determining the time of day. "We can hunker down there tonight, that way if walkers come about, we can use the stream or brook to slow them down."

"Mom will be worried." She softly told, Kay paused after climbing over a large fallen tree and looked around before her eyes fell on her.

"I won't deny it, she will be." Kay nodded. "But, I'm sure the others are looking for us right now." She held a hand out to Sophia to help her over the tree, she took it and climbed on top. She jumped off as the leaves crunched under her sneakers.

"Won't your sister be worried, too?" She asked, as they continued, Sophia kept a hold on her hand. Kaylee didn't mind, she knew the girl would need some sort of comfort. It also helped not to lose her if a walker decided to jump them.

The teen shrugged in response. "To be honest, she's probably flipping her lid at the others right now."

Sophia's eyes furrowed up at her in confusion. "Why?"

Kay licked her lips, feeling them chap as her mouth grew dry. "She doesn't have the best temper. You saw how she was when- Shane was it?" Sophia nodded in confirmation at her question. "When Shane pointed a gun at us. My sister honestly just wanted to get the needed supplies and head back into the woods."

"I'm glad you didn't leave." She suddenly said, Kay looked down to her. Sophia smiled and squeezed her hand, "I would be alone if you hadn't come after me."

Kay smiled back, squeezing her hand in return and looked back to focusing on their destination. She knew, in all honesty, if Kay hadn't done so, maybe Sophia would've found the highway just fine. Kaylee blamed herself for the predicament these two found themselves in.



The group was in a thin formation of a line; Daryl leading up front as he was the tracker. Rick was behind for back up. Followed by Andrea, Carol, and Angela. Behind her was Glenn, Carl, Lori, and Shane keeping watch at the end. Angela heard Carl trying to talk to Shane, only to ignore or shush him. She's noticed a pattern with this group; not many of them got along with each other.

There was a clear tension between Dale and Andrea about suicide and her gun. It didn't take an idiot to know that she clearly tried to take the easy way out, and Dale had stopped her. Carl must have been trying to get Shane's attention, he wouldn't stop talking how his mom let him carry a weapon. Angela bit her lip to keep from smiling, this kid was too much. He just wanted to impress Shane, looking for praise to finally help the group. Her smile was easier to lose when she heard Shane shush him, and move ahead of him.

After taking a few turns, Angela let Glenn go ahead of her and she waved at Carl to come to her. She was glad to see Lori found it alright, as she said "Go on." and Carl jogged over to walk beside her.

"Got yourself a weapon, I see?" She pointed to the sheathed knife in his grip. He nodded, turning it in his hands now and then. It was just like yesterday, instantly down just from Shane.

Angela glanced at Lori, who shook her head as not to worry. Her eyes went past her to Shane who was watching the area, when their eyes met he, had this hard gaze. Was it on her or just how he looked around for signs of the girls? She turned back to Carl and patted his shoulder, he looked up at her. "Want to see my weapon?"

"It's the gun, right?" He asked, giving a short look to the said handgun in her jeans waist line.

"Well, yes. But, there are times when you'll need to be silent. Which is why everyone has knives, instead of guns." She pointed to Shane behind her, then to Rick and Daryl up front. "Besides those three."

Angela lifted the cover of her holster for her baton, the sound of Velcro ripping caught Carl's full attention. She made sure she wouldn't hit Glenn in front of her, as she whipped her hand to the side and the metal baton extended to full length. Just like before, Carl's eyes went big at the weapon.

"My dad had something like that, back when he was a sheriff." He told, tilting his head and almost tripping on a branch to see it more.

Angela kept it in her hand, letting her hand fall to her side as the cool metal pressed against her leg. "According to that attire, he still is." She joked, referring to the outfit his father was currently wearing. "But wasn't I right?" Carl's brows furrowed at her question.

"About your time to help the group." Her hands pointed to everyone around. "Here you are, helping us find Sophia."

Carl thought about, he smiled at her. "You were right. Thanks, Angela." She smiled back and nudged his arm, earning a nudge back at her.

Lori smiled from behind, she pondered if Angela has had children before. Shane, although, was growing more and more annoyed by Angela in the group.

Angela and others noticed the gang up ahead started crouching down by Rick and Daryl's orders. Once they got behind, they noticed a yellow and white tent further around a clearing. Angela's heart thumped against her chest, in hopes the girls were in there.

"They could be in there." Shane thought out loud.

"Could be a whole bunch of thin's in there." Daryl muttered

The hunter stood, slowly making his way to the tent, bow at the ready. Rick stood, but turned to gesture for the others to hang back before following. Carol was antsy, praying that her daughter would be in there. Shane and Rick followed Daryl, though he noticed Angela was following along behind him. He motioned for her to wait back with Carol, she shook her head and moved to pass him. Shane glared at the back of her head, if they hadn't need to be so quiet, he would've shoved her back to the others. Angela slid her extended baton in her belt loop, as closing it back would prove too loud currently. It hung on the loop as she took her gun out, hand on the trigger and the other under the hand grip.

The four got closer, Daryl paused, and looked back giving signs that he would approach first. Rick, Angela, and Shane watched as Daryl put his crossbow down, hunting knife now in hand and standing in a defensive stance to the entrance flap of the tent. Angela eyed the items around it; small cooler, flashlight, lamp and other assortments. Her lips hung in a frown, she knew her sister was not here. But that didn't mean Sophia might be.

There was an opening in the flap, Daryl peeked in but couldn't see what exactly was in there by his angle. He stepped back around the items on the ground, and tried to look into another opening in the corner. Still, couldn't see anything. Daryl shrugged at the three, finding it impossible without going inside.

Rick sighed and looked to Angela, pressing a hand on her back. "Call out, see if Kay is in there." He whispered.

Angela swallowed, stepping back from his touch, but careful not to make much noise. She shook her head at him. "I know she's not here." She whispered back, Rick saw the look in her eyes. "Sophia might be though, in case they separated. Carol should call out for her."

Rick nodded in agreement, and turned waving his hand to her. "Carol." He called in a hush. Carol rushed over, Rick lead her closer so that anyone inside would hear. Shane held a hand up to the others, wanting to step up and see what would be inside.

"Call out softly." Rick instructed gently to her. "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

Angela held the gun tightly, feeling herself grow tense for something to jump out- living or dead.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol called out softly, Daryl kept his stance, making sure not to stab in case Sophia came rushing out. "Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia, we're all here, baby."

No response was made, everyone waited until they were sure nothing was going to come out. Daryl reached for the flap, as Rick and Shane moved forward. Carol tried to, but Angela stepped forward, keeping a hand on her shoulder. She didn't want her to see a possible sight of her dead daughter. He lifted the flap, as a heavy disgusting odor hit the three men, making them cough and turn away, Daryl pressed the top of his hand to his mouth and nose, still holding the knife. That wasn't a good sign, something was in there causing the smell. Daryl held his breath and stepped inside nonetheless. Glenn stepped forward as Lori put a supportive hand on her other shoulder. Angela felt herself tense up, something was rotting in their, judging by Shane and Rick's reactions.

"Daryl?" Carol asked, terrified to find out her daughter could be the one rotting in their.

"What's in there?" Angela asked, unable to keep herself from wondering too.

He finally emerged from the tent, standing straight and no longer finding it a threat. "Ain't her, or Kaylee." Carol sighed, she didn't know if she should feel relieved or not that that answer.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked, Angela noticed Daryl was adjusting a handgun revolver in the back of his pants as he slid his knife into its sheath.

"Some guy." He answered, picking up his bow. "Did what Jenner said, opted out." Angela frowned, that name seemed to be floating around this group. "Ain't that what he called it?" He threw his crossbow strap over his shoulder.

Angela sighed and walked over looking over the things on the ground, looking for any sign that Kaylee was here. "Nothing seemed touched here, Kaylee would've taken stuff to help her and Sophia."

"If she ain't?" Shane asked, adjusting to one foot as Angela crouched beside Daryl to check the fire pit. She glanced up, squinting her eyes to see him. "Say the two got separated, we should focus on Sophia if that's the case."

Her eyes narrowed at the man, where was he going with this? The thought of the two separating was possible, did he just want to narrow this search down to Sophia and forget about Kaylee all together? That was the vibe she was getting from Shane.

"We'll find them both." Rick said, looking between the two.

The sudden sound in the air caught everyone's attention. Eyes darted about as the sound of bells rang around. Bells? Angela got to her feet, darting her eyes as much as Daryl did. Not just any bells, it sounded like it was church bells. Rick indicated the sound, pointing further into the woods past the tent. Everyone bolted toward it following Rick until they got to a small clearing.

"Which direction?" Shane asked, as Rick paused.

"I think that way, I'm pretty sure." He told, as they made their way to their left of the clearing.

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Shane commented, finding it difficult to pinpoint the direction compared to Rick.

Carol came up, hope in her eyes. "If we heard them, maybe Sophia and Kaylee did too." She said, looking to Angela. She felt her heart a bit touched, glad someone didn't want to forget her sister was out there too.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn added.

"Or signaling that they found one of them." Andrea told walking past.

"They could be ringing them themselves." Rick conceded, and went into a run. "Come on!"

They all trotted and jogged after Rick, trusting his word to discovering the source of the sound. Doubt plagued Angela's mind, would her sister ring those bells or let Kaylee do so? Those bells might attract walkers or some other living group toward them. Wait, maybe Kay was ringing those bells. What if they were attacked and were calling for help? The sudden fear stabbed her chest as she sped up running beside Rick and Daryl.

Leaving the foliage, they all found a cemetery greeted with a church in the distance. The sound of bells died off,
as everyone looked at the empty field of the the resting dead.

"We should check it out." Angela said, looking to them, eager to make a run for the building.

"No, that can't be it." Shane said, shaking his head. "Got no steeple, no bells."

Angela's head snapped to him. "We should still search it, they could be hiding out in there."

Rick sensed her urgency, and nodded, gently pushing her lower back as a signal to go. She and Rick took lead toward the building. Shane called for Rick, clearly finding the search a waste of time. Angela's jogging soon turned into a run, going ahead of Rick. She heard him call for her as he and the others started running as well to keep up.

They had to be in there, fuck a steeple and bells. It was shelter, and she knew her sister would take that building over the open woods any day! Angela ran up the stairs, grabbing the doors only to have Rick grab her wrist. She looked up, he held a finger to his lips indicating to enter silently. She nodded and moved her hands, taking her gun out as Daryl came up behind her. Shane followed behind Rick, as Daryl hand pressed on her shoulder to move in front of her.

They opened the doors, surprised to find the place nearly spotless. That is, until they spotted three figures sitting in the pews; walkers The four stepped in, as the walkers started to stand eyeing up their lunch. Angela aimed her gun up, and stepped a bit forward ready to shoot. Daryl's hand lowered her gun, she glanced up earning a shake of his head. He stepped around her to take care of the one dressed in a bride's dress. Rick took Lori's knife and moved to the left as Shane took the center one. Angela noticed that the one in the bride dress had attention on Shane as he stabbed the male walker up front. Angela maneuvered up and clicked her tongue as she removed her baton ready to smash it's brains in. It snarled loudly at her, as Daryl came up from behind and slammed his knife into its skull. It fell backwards, causing Daryl to stepped away and made sure it was dead. He looked up at her, as she now had her attention to scanning the room. Well, he knew she had no fear on approaching these things, since he and the others haven't seen her kill or fight them yet.

Rick and Shane finished off the other two, Rick looked up seeing Angela move past Shane to check around the room for any sign of the girls. "Kay?" She called out, checking behind the large statue of the crucified Jesus. "Kay!" She called louder.

"Sophia!" Rick barked out, opening an emergency door to his left and looking out for a moment.
Daryl came up behind Angela to the front, he watched her as she looked under and behind everything. Judging by her features, no sign of them was here. Her hand was brought to her chin, trying to keep her emotions in tact. Daryl understood where she was coming from; losing a sibling and not knowing if they were dead or alive. Just like when he went back to Atlanta for Merle, and still don't know if he's alive or dead either.

Angela met Daryl's eyes on her, she bit her lip and shook her head. Walking up to him, his eyes shot up to the statue. "Yo, J.C., taken' any requests?" He asked.

"I'm tellin' ya, it's the wrong church." Shane told, as he approached Rick.

"We still had to search this place in case they were here." Angela argued, stepping forward.

He turned on his heel, anger flaring in his sights. "N' look at the time we wasted, Sophia ain't here."

"Neither is Kaylee." Daryl commented, walking up behind Angela. It sounded as if he was on Shane's side. "But checkin' this out, we know they ain't in this area. It was worth a shot."

Before anyone could add anything to the growing argument, the church bells rung again. It boggled their minds, they looked around finding no bells in the building. Angela and Daryl bolted out, wanting to find an explanation to this mystery. They weren't losing their sanity, right?

No, the answer was proven when they surrounded the building, finding a speaker connected to an electric box. Glenn went to it, forcing the box open shocked to find what it was. He turned it off, feeling his rage raise as it did with Daryl and Angela. "It's a timer." Daryl said to himself, panting from the adrenaline run. "It's on a timer."

Angela felt a bit of rage run through her. She took her baton from her belt loop and smashed it against the box, stepped back, and smashed it two more times before feeling satisfied by the damage. Glenn and Daryl watched her, as everyone else stood silent by the hope they felt fall from their hearts. Carol said she wanted to go back inside, and moved to return inside the building.

The lone sister panted, feeling an urge to ram the baton against the box again. She felt her breath become ravaged as she left in a huff, seeing people stare at her. Angela didn't need these eyes on her, soon they started dispersing as she left to the lines of graves in the field.

Her brain was fighting between accepting Kay was long gone, or she would be found at any moment. There were no signs that the girls were here, and Shane wanting to give up on Kaylee grew more heavily on her anger and anxiety. Her eyes scanned the graves she walked by, the thought of the dead six feet below her feet trapped in a coffin came to mind. Said mind wandered as she moved to lean on a gravestone, she rubbed her eyes, not from her emotions, but her exhaustion starting to hit her. Not sleeping the night prior ended up being a bad idea, Angela just felt herself unable to relax to rest. Her eyes moved up, now noticing that Daryl had been following her from a distance. He paused, almost checking if it was alright to approach her. Her eyes moved down to the baton in her hand, she heard the leaves crunch as he walked up to her, bow strapped over his shoulder.

"She's out there." Daryl said, earning her head to raise to look at him. "Given' up ain't an option."

She scoffed at him, "Only one giving up is Shane." she commented. She kicked a stick by her foot, swallowing for her next words. "Thanks for, er, backing me up."

Daryl looked her over for a moment, before nodding at her. "I know what it's like, did the same with my brother."

This caught Angela's attention, she adjusting her sitting as Daryl leaned back on the gravestone next to her. It was extremely disrespectful they were doing this, but neither gave a shit right now.

"You got a brother?" He nodded at her question, finding nothing from from him, she asked another question. "When you say Shane tried to do the same, do you mean, give up on your brother?"

He nodded again, feeling himself clam up out of his own comfort. Then what was the point of approaching her if he wasn't going to talk to her? "Yeah, he was back in Atlanta. Handcuffed to a roof." He finally said.

Her brows furrowed at that, "Handcuffed? Did a group attack you?" she asked.

"Rick did it." That brought shock to her, Rick did it? She sort of expected him to say Shane, but the kind man that was Rick? Daryl noticed her reaction, she swallowed at the thought. Was Rick not what he seemed?

"Did he have a reason?" She asked, wanting more information before determining her thoughts on the sheriff.

He nodded, "Apparently that dumb shit was a danger to everyone, T-Dog dropped the keys down a drain when walkers started comin' at 'em." Her eyes went wide at that, Daryl caught it. "He ain't dead."

"How do you know?"

"We went back, all was left was his hand. Tough sumbitch cut it off n' left." Daryl was silent, unable to stop himself from talking now. He barely engaged talking with the others, yet here he was telling his brother's story here.

"I'll give your brother credit for that." She nodded, he glanced to her as she smirked. "I wouldn't have the balls to do that."

Daryl scoffed at her words. "He should've just stayed there. The doors were chained, so the walkers never reached him."

Angela chewed her lip at the silence between them. "Why are you telling me this?" She asked, tapping the end of her baton on the ground.

Daryl took a breath and leaned off the stone, he sniffed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. "My brother is a dumb piece of shit, but he's a tough one too. Only Merle can kill Merle." So that was his brother's name, Merle. He continued, "If yer sister is as smart as ya claim, she'll be just fine."

Angela hadn't expected this rough redneck to give her such reassurance. But, from what he told, he seemed to understand what she was going through. Angela couldn't help but let out a short snicker. "She'd survive in the woods longer than I would, I think." She looked to him, and stood nudging his arm. "Thanks, Daryl."

Not expecting her gesture, he nodded looking away, feeling timid once again. They spotted Rick and the others gathering by a tree, the two decided to join as they discussed what to do next. Rick and Shane approached the group, he looked to her, almost with concern. She nodded, showing she was okay, as she felt eyes on her from her episode before. Talking to Daryl seemed to have helped her grasp her emotions again and calmed her down. Though, being in the presence of Shane brought a bit of that anger back.

"Y'all gonna follow the Creed Bed back, okay? Daryl, yer in charge." Shane announced to everyone. "Me n' Rick, we're just gonna hand back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"Yer splittin' us up." Eyes went to Daryl who had his own narrowed at Shane. "Ya sure?"

Splitting up seemed to be counted as a good and bad idea to some members. "Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

"I want to stay, too." Said Carl. Stepping up, he added, "I'm her friend."

Shane looked to Rick, it was his son, so it was his call. He looked to Shane, who just looked away wanting no word in on this. His mom finally spoke up, "Just be careful, okay?"

Carl nodded up at his mother, "I will." She affectionately held his face with a smile. "When'd you start growing up?" She hold him close, kissing the top of his head.

Angela grinned at the sight, as Carl hugged back with a bit of embarrassment. Lori let him go, as Rick approached giving her a gentle loving kiss. Carl looked to Angela who gave a thumbs up, praising his words. Carol and Glenn moved ready to head out, Daryl felt antsy ready to keep searching. Angela slowly stepped around Daryl, noticing the intense looking Shane had on his features, he was a hard man to read. Couldn't tell what was going on in his mind when that look was there. Whatever it was, Angela didn't like the gaze he held.

"I'll be along soon enough." Rick told her, as they parted he held his revolver out to her. "Here, take this. Remember how to use it?"

Lori stopped, giving her husband a disapproving look. "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed."

Daryl remembered he had a second gun from the tent they found, he fished it out and held it to Lori. "Here, got a spare." She seemed hesitant on taking it, sure he had a crossbow and a knife, but she only had the knife on her. And by Rick's words, she knew how to fire a gun as well. "Take it." He urged, she did so and went head, ready to leave.

Everyone but Andrea seemed to be ready to head out, seeing Lori be given a gun seemed to have touched a nerve. She sent a look her way, not before giving one to Angela when passing the two. Angela frowned, Lori looked to her and the two followed Daryl and the others leaving Rick, Shane, and Carl.



The sound of a gurgling stomach echoed into their ears. Walking, for what felt like hours, Kaylee was sure there had to be a stream nearby. She wished it was her stomach that growled for nourishment, but it was the child she was with that had grown hungry. Her eyes scanned every bush they passed, hoping to find a berry bush soon to feed Sophia.


"I'm sorry." Sophia muttered as she walked behind the teen now, trying to keep up with her long strides.

Kay looked over to her, frowning. "Don't ever be sorry for being hungry."


The teen had wished for being an elder sister, instead of being the youngest. Only to be the bossy one, compared to how Angela and Nolan were. But, she didn't have the heart to be as mean as Angela is or authoritative like Nolan was. Her heart swelled at the sight of this scared lost child, just wanting to get back to her mom. She reminded her of herself when this all had started; terrified and didn't know what to do. The thought that this innocent girl might have to learn to kill soon brought a sharp pain to her chest.

Key's eyes finally spotted something in a bright green shrub, she smiled to Sophia. "Hey, are you a berry fan?"

Before Sophia could answer, Kay lead her to the shrub plucking a blue small fruit off a branch and tossed it into her mouth to test it for her first. She was right the second she spotted it, "Blueberries!" She cheered, picking a few and holding them up for Sophia.


The girl was hesitant, but eager nodding from Kay proved they were safe. She picked one from her hands, and bit into it. A smile beamed onto her face, "It's good!"

Laughing, the girls picked and ate to their hearts content. Sophia kept the doll in her one arm, using the other to pick and pop them into her mouth, as much as she pleased. "We should gather some up, bring them back to the group." Kaylee suggested, going through her pockets to find a gray rag. It wasn't the cleanest, but it didn't have any blood or such on it.

Sophia loved that idea! As Kaylee gathered them into the gray rag laid out on the ground, Sophia looked around to possibly find more berry bushes. Her little bright eyes spotted another bush a little further away from Kay. Her eyes fell on the teen, preoccupied with collecting the fruit. She wasn't going to wander too far, just a few feet away, she figured.

Her feet trotted her over to the bush, she tucked the doll under her arm and tugged at the bottom of her shirt to try and gather some berries like Kay was. Said teen felt the cloth grow heavy as she lifted them, she took two corners to tie it off keeping the berries from falling out. Taking the other two corners, she looped through the belt loop of her shorts, and tied it off again, letting them rest on her hips.

Kay got to her feet, "All full, let's keep- SOPHIA!"


The scream caused the girl to jump, too focused on the berries that she hadn't noticed a damn walker was stalking behind her! The berries fell to the ground as she screamed, Kay felt her heart drop when hearing the girl's voice screeched into the air. Feeling her pockets, she found her knife not on her. Her eyes darted around, finding a thick branch on the ground. Without a second thought, Kay grabbed it and ran full speed at the walker, slamming the branch against its head. Knocking it off Sophia, it fell to the ground. The sound of it's snarling proved to still be living, but she had to get Sophia away. Kay dropped the branch and picked Sophia up and ran off away from the walker, as it attempted to get to its feet.

Kay knew she could've just killed the creature and be dealt with the problem. But Sophia's scream might have triggers other walkers near by to find them. Her panting was heavy and sweat poured from her skin as she clutched the girl closer. She cried and whimpered in her arms, "It's hurts! It hurts!" She kept sobbing.

'It' hurt? What hurt? Kay finally took the chance to look down and was horrified to discover Sophia was bit on the shoulder. Oh God, please no, Kay begged. Not her, not this innocent little girl! All she wanted was to get back to her mom, she didn't deserve this!

Kaylee stayed on her path until she finally grew tired and fell to her knees, Sophia still in her arms. The girl cried, tears streaming down her face as she trembled in her arms. Kay's stomach churned at the sight of the bite, blood oozing out fast- too fast. If it wasn't the bite that would kill her, for sure the bleeding would. Her tiny body only had so much blood, and there was already a good amount staining Sophia's shirt and Kay's clothing as well. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw no walkers and heard no snarling around her. Birds chirping and… water. There was a babbling brook near by!

"Just-Just hang on, Sophia!" Kay stuttered, struggling to get to her feet, burning and aching to stop and rest. She walked a bit more, until she finally found small stream. "We're gonna get you fixed up!"

Sophia just continued to cry and tremble, her doll under her arm as she clutched Kay's shirt. "It hurts so bad!" She cried, burying her head into Kay's shoulder.

"I know, I know." She mumbled softly, kneeling down to the edge of the stream and laid Sophia down.

It was proven difficult, as she had to get her to let go of her shirt. Kay tugged the collar of her shirt off her shoulder, her eyes went wide seeing the amount that was bitten, it was a chunk. The blood kept pouring out, the more she moved the more she lost. Her eyes darted about, making sure now walkers could hear this poor girls sobbing.


The teen cupped handfuls of water and poured it over the wound to try and clean it to get a better look. The flesh was ripped with marks of the walker's teeth outlining the bite. Kay stood for a second to remove her plaid button up tied around her waist. She soaked it in water and pressed it onto the wound, earning a cry of pain from Sophia.

"I'm sacred, Kay…" Her breathing grew heavy, Kaylee prayed she wouldn't go into shock. "I want my mom…!" Tears kept escaping her eyes, the teen felt her own sting wanting to let tears out too. Kay bit back an urge to let a sob out.

She let a shaky sigh out, and pressed down continuously, despite the pain it caused for Sophia. Kay didn't want to admit it, but Sophia was not going to make it through the night. Kay really wished her sister was here right now.



The air felt tense as the smaller group wander more around. Daryl lead, and Angela moved herself beside him as she tried to find any signs that her sister or Sophia were there. She wasn't a tracker like Daryl, but he suggested she keep an eye out for any indication or clue that Kay left for them. She mentioned it would be harder for her to find any signs, as she didn't have any weapons to be able to carve into a tree or such.

"The only clue I feel she'd leave, its little cloths on the trees." She told, Glenn came up beside her.

"How so?" He asked, curiously.

"Back when we were kids, my brother took us camping a lot. He tore a sheet into strips and tied them around trees between a certain amount of distance to give the line on the perimeter of the camp area." She explained, looking to him. "She was wearing her pink button up, she might use that, which is easy to see against the dark trees."

"So, look for anything pink." He concluded.

Angela rose a hand, "Don't quote me. It's a guess she'd do that, she could be hiding with Sophia somewhere as well."

"It would be a good idea, so we know where they've been." Carol added, now wanting to spot any pink clothes on the trees.

Angela took a breath, not wanting to give false hope. "Like I said, she might not have, she might have." She said glancing at Carol, not wanting to diminish it either.

Carol seemed to have grown tired, as she stepped over a fallen tree and sat down. "So, this is it?" They stopped looking to Carol, "This is the whole plan? Just wander aimlessly?"

Daryl sighed, "I guess the plan is to whittle us down to smaller and smaller groups." He concluded.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea added, her eyes locked onto Lori who was fixing her shoes. "I see you have a gun." Angela rolled her eyes at those words, was she really going to start this now?

"Why, you want it?" Lori stepped over the tree and took the gun out, holding it out to her. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." Andrea had this, offended look at her face and took the gun much to Angela's displeasure.

"All of you." Lori added, sitting with Carol as she locked onto her. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through, and I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick." Some didn't expect this, Carol was still showing anger towards him. Her eyes went all the way to Angela, same stern look. "You too."

Daryl glanced to her as he leaned against a tree, Angela shifted in her footing. "It's in your faces every time you look at him." Angela didn't realize she had been looking at Rick like that. She wanted to tell Lori she didn't blame Rick, but knew she'd be lying. "When Sophia and Kaylee ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second." Her eyes went to the others, "I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the he and Kaylee did, or made the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could have done it differently."

Carol avoided her eyes, she took to staring at the ground. "Anybody?"

Daryl, Glenn, and Andrea were eyed up, Angela kept her eyes down. She felt like her mother was scolding her and she hated that feeling. This woman wasn't her mother, but had that power to put that into people. She wasn't wrong, Rick was trying his damn hardest and putting his dedication into finding Carol's daughter and Angela's sister. Anybody else Angela knew, would've given up after a day, like Shane was doing.

"Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead." Angela finally lifted her head to Lori at those words. She had to remind herself, she was not part of this group, this was not her group. She just wanted Kay back and to leave these people.

"Nobody is stopping you." She took a gulp from her water bottle and packet it back away. To Angela's shock, Andrea stepped forward and held the gun back to Lori. Her features seemed softer, less with annoyance and anger. Lori took it without any hesitance.

"We should keep moving." Andrea said, watching Lori go on head.

They all moved, Daryl nodded for Angela to come along as the two walked side by side, Andrea following behind. They didn't get far until a gunshot rang out in the air, everyone froze in their spots. Heads shooting up and looking around trying to find the source of the gunshot. Worry hit everyone's hearts, but Daryl encouraged them to keep moving.


The group walked, Daryl and Angela in lead once again looking for clues or tracks. He spotted animal tracks now and then, and told himself to ignore them, hunting would have to wait another time. Angela took noticed his eyes were on the ground more than the tree lines or sky.

"What is it your looking for in the dirt?" She asked, her gun now in her back pocket, as suggested by Lori. She kept the baton in hand.

"Footprints, displacements with the dirt or leaves; any sign of the two." He answered, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Haven't found any yet." She mumbled, her eyes sticking to the tree line.

"You still worrying about it?" They looked back seeing Lori stopping, looking around behind her.

"It was a gunshot." She told.

"We all heard it." Daryl said, turning to her.

Her head whipped around at everyone. "Why one-why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker." He suggested.

Lori didn't seem to like that answer, "Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker, or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked, feeling Lori's worry seep into her own.

It seemed to have reached Angela as well. Her eyes darted about, the thought another group or other people in the woods came to mind. Possibly shot at the other three, attacked them or worse.

Daryl walked around, eager to keep moving. "There's nothin' we can do about it, anyway. Can't run around these woods chasen' echoes."

Lori looked to him, "So what do we do?"

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for the girls, work our way back to the highway."

Andrea spoke up to encourage Lori to move on. "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." It seemed to work, as she moved past, Andrea approached Carol. "I'm sorry for what you're going through." Her eyes went toward Angela, nodding to her. "Both of you, I know how you both feel."

Angela bit her lip and looked away. She didn't need pity, she needed to keep moving. These pauses for conversations were killing her. "I suppose you do- thank you." Carol said and looked to everyone else. "The thought of her, possibly out here by herself if she and Kaylee got separated. It's the not knowing that's killin' me."

Carol's voice cracked, she looked to everyone then back to Andrea. "I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." Angela's eyes darted up at Andrea, seeing the hurt in her eyes. Carol noticed with instant guilt hitting her. "Oh, God! That's the worst thing I ever said." She took Andrea's hands, clearing just wanting to say what was on her mind.

Andrea seemed to understand. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

Daryl stepped forward to the women, "I'll tell ya what it's worth- Not a damn thing." There was a tad shock in the women by his words, Angela crossed her arms, watching. His eyes darted between Carol and Angela. "We're gonna locate those girls. They're gonna be just fine." He assured, earning a quiet look from the women.

"Am I the only one with zen around here?" He turned away, walking past everyone to lead again. "Good lord." He added, earning a grin from Angela at his last comment. Soon, they were moving again.

"Didn't peg you to be a zen type." She teased, earning a grunt of a 'shut up' from him. She held her grin as they trudged onward.


The dark night was good for one thing, keeping the girls from being seen. Kaylee was nervous that if the group was looking through the night, they might pass them. Her legs ached from the running, and arms strained to keep the shirt against the wound. The shirt was no longer a pail pink, but now a mixture of red and brown, as it soaked up Sophia's blood. Kaylee felt exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She sat there, watching the poor girl's chest slowly rise and fall, waiting for it to stop. She was bit, a walker had bitten her. That meant she would turn soon, but did Kaylee have to be the one to put her out when she turned?


Kaylee brought a up hand to wipe her forehead, feeling the blood on her hands smear her skin. Biting her lip, Kaylee tried to keep her bearings of her situation. She checked Sophia's pulse every few seconds, feeling her heart pumping the blood through her veins; still alive. But, for how much longer?

Snap!

Kaylee tensed, hearing a branch snap shot her head up, her eyes peering into the dark. Only light she got was the bright moon reflecting off the water of the stream. Bringing a hand over her mouth to stop breathing, her ears strained for any sound of snarling or groaning. More crunching of leaves and something dragging made her heart sink in fear of a walker nearby. Her eyes moved to Sophia, she couldn't check if she was still breathing without moving.


Time was passing, the sun was giving signals to set soon. Angela stood on a stump and looked up to the sky. Daryl took noticed, seeing where the sun's position was as it shined in his eyes through the trees. Everyone paused in their walking, seeing Daryl had stopped to eye the sky.

"We'll lose the light before too long." He warned them. "I think we should call it."

"Let's head back." Lori agreed, Carol looked to her.

"We'll pick it up again, tomorrow?" She asked, making sure they'd still search the following day.

"Yeah, we'll find them tomorrow." Lori assured.

Angela sighed, hands on her hips. She didn't want to admit it, but they'll have to get back before dark. She wanted to give a word in, that she'd keep looking. If she did, Carol or Andrea might volunteer to stay. Angela didn't need to watch for someone else's safety while searching for the girls, who were defenseless themselves. One night out here was one thing, but a second night in the wilderness? Angela was growing worried if her sister would do fine like she kept claiming.

The sound of a short whistle brought her back, she looked to Daryl who motioned for them to head out. She got off the stump and followed behind with the others. Angela sighed and felt herself grew more and more sluggish. Her body clearly wanted to rest when she got back to the highway, but her mind argued that rest was the last thing to be concerned with right now.

"You don't look good." Angela's eyes wandered up, finding Glenn walking beside her. He paused before continuing, "I mean, you look tired. Not that you don't look good." He cleared his throat, almost running on that tangent. "I heard you didn't sleep at all last night."

She shrugged in response. "I'll be fine. A meal will do me good and I'll be ready to search tomorrow."

Glenn chewed his lip in thought, looking forward for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to walk into a tree. "I'm sure we'll-"

"Glenn, stop." She glared at him, not wanting to hear another word. Glenn blinked at her, not understanding what he said wrong. "I don't need pity or sympathy, alright?" Some heard turned toward the, but Angela kept her feet moving. She refused another pause when light was wearing down now.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Sure you didn't." She scoffed, and went ahead to walk further from him, muttering "Sick of hearing it." for him to hear.

Leaving Glenn, she walked beside Daryl, her hand up to wipe the sweat on her face as she shook her head. She blinked a few times, the heat wasn't helping in her growing exhaustion. She fought to keep up ahead of everyone not wanting to be behind and see them glance at her. Despite feeling the eyes on the back of her head, she didn't give a single peek toward them.

"Yer dog-tired, admit it." Daryl said, not even looking in her direction.

She sent a short glare his way. "Just need to take a rest- sit for an hour or so."

"More like a nap." He argued, stepping around a tree to make a turn, she followed. "We can't have ya like this when out searchin'. It'll slow us down."

Angela frowned, it wasn't his business if she got enough sleep or not. "Mind your own business.." She sighed, clearly wanting the last word, but no signs to continue to argue. Angela pondered for a bit, if Kaylee was getting more sleep than her.

"How much farther?" Andrea asked, walking closer to Angela's right side.

"Not much." Daryl answered, "Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies."

Andrea repressed a groan, "Too bad we're not crows." she wandered a bit further off, noticing Angela was doing just the same. She kept up, until she walked into a spider web, her arms flinging in attempt to get the sticker stuff off of her. Angela glanced back raising a brow at her antics, unable to see the material on her.

"Stupid webs…" She grumbled, now beside Angela who was indeed looking exhausted, as she started to wander more to her right. "As the crow flies, my ass." She commented, earning an agreeing hum from Angela.

Growl, what was growling? It wasn't their stomachs, Andrea turned spotting a walker heading right towards her and Angela. She screamed, causing Angela to turn and find the damn walker reaching out to grab them. Angela stepped back, as Andrea continued screaming trying to find which pocket she stashed her knife in. Angela pressed her arm under the walker's chin, it's hands out trying to grasp her and pull her close to get a bite out of her.

"Son of a…" She groaned, her fatigue proved to be a problem as the weight of the walker grew heavier than it usually would. "Get back!" She barked to Andrea, who managed to find her knife only to let her fear screw up and get a stab in the gut.

Andrea's legs clashed with Angela's causing the girls to fell back, the walker coming down with them. Andrea was behind her, as Angela kicked her legs fiercely with the walker now trying to get a grip on one of them. Her hand shot out, pressing against the head, trying to keep the mouth as far from her skin as possible. Andrea wrapped her arms around Angela's waist in attempt to drag her away from the walker, proving it impossible with the said creature's weight on her.

At this point, Angela felt her own lungs screech out, despite it wouldn't stop the walker from getting to his goal. Where the hell were the others!? "Glenn!" She screamed, before adding, "Daryl!"

Between her own screams, and Andrea's, she hadn't even heard the sound of galloping, until a blunt object slammed into the walker's head, knocking him back a few feet. Andrea fell back at the shock, as Angela pulled her shaky legs up, her eyes locating her savoir upon a brown horse. The woman tucked her bat into a pocket attached to the horse, her attention no longer at the walker nearly getting a big meal on Angela's legs.

"Lori?" She called, Angela's eyes darted past, finally everyone else caught up to where she and Andrea wandered off to. "Lori Grimes?" The brunette sounded distressed, wanting to find Lori immediately.

"I'm Lori." She answered.

"Rick sent me, you gotta come now."

Lori frowned, "What?"

"There's been an accident, Carl's been shot." That caught everyone's attention, Angela felt the need to get to her feet, but couldn't get herself to move. "He's alive, but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you- just come!" She urged.

Lori needn't hear any more, she dropped her bag and rushed right to the horse. Daryl didn't trust any of this, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He called, pointing at the woman. "We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse!" Daryl tried to demand, though Lori hopped right on without a word.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" Glenn nodded at her question. "Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox, Name's Greene." Without another word, she rode off with Lori into the woods where she came.

Everything seemed to have happened too fast for Angela. She sat there, still trying to figure out what had transpired. Well, she almost got eaten from stupidity, Carl got shot, and some women on a horse swept Lori away like out of some Western movie.

Daryl's focus went toward the said sitting woman. Andrea managed to get her bearings back, leaning on a tree. Angela sat there, staring at the ground where her legs extended out. A low groan interrupted his thoughts, Daryl brought up his bow at the rising walker the women had just slammed.

"Shut up." He ordered, shooting an arrow through his head and making his way to the sitting woman.

"Ya alright?" He asked, looking between them. Andrea nodded, but no response came from Angela. She just stared at the dirt and leaves, her legs just resting there. His eyes narrowed and he knelt down, patted her legs trying to find any signs of the jeans ripped, blood, or exposed skin.

This seemed to have brought her out of her stupor, she blinked and watched him pat about. "W-What are you doing?" She stuttered, swallowing back to control her voice. She felt her cheeks grow warm as he gripped her calf now and then, waiting for any reaction of pain from her.

"Checkin' for bites." Daryl answered, now patting her other leg as he leaned forward a bit more.

"He didn't bite me." She told, tucking her feet to herself, causing him to bring his hand back. Daryl got to his feet and waited for her to slowly get to her own, only to stumble forward. He shot his arm out, letting her fall into him.

"Shit, just shook up." She excused, trying to not put weight on him.

He silently waited until she got her bearings, as Glenn and Carol came up, Glenn carrying Lori's bag now. "Should we hurry back and let Dale and T-Dog know?" He asked.

"That's the plan." Daryl said, turning with Angela still leaning on his shoulder. He looked around, trying to find their direction then turned back towards Glenn. "Let's hurry back."

Notes

Comments

@DarylsLilAssKicker

If you love this one, check out the sequel; 'I Just Wanna Die Anywhere Else'!

VixxDer VixxDer
8/4/18

Love love love!!!!!