This occurs during the barn episode when the walkers fall over.
The walkers pouring out of the barn fell one by one to the rattle of gunfire as Daryl, Andrea, T-Dog, Shane, and Glen stepped up toward them. Daryl knew it was a good thing. There were enough walkers in there to kill all of them if they didn't know they was coming. How dumb could those people be? Still, he knew there'd be trouble in a moment when Hershel pulled himself together.
The last walker fell and Daryl lowered his gun. He didn't holster it. There was bound to be more. One straggler or another, small or more broken than the others. They couldn't turn their back on that barn until they'd searched it. Someone else shuffled to the barn doors and he smirked to himself. Just as he'd figured.
The silhouette was small, child-sized, though he couldn't make out its figures in the gloom.
His mouth went dry.
Just a kid. Just some random kid. Couldn't be Sophia. That's just his nerves talking. They woulda said something if they'd stuck Sophia in the barn. It wasn't her.
She shuffled out into the light and it was Sophia and his heart smashed itself against his ribs. Sophia raised a hand over her eyes, like the light hurt her, confused her, but then she took another few halting steps forward, and her eyes were a dead girl's eyes. Faded blue. And there was dried blood on her neck from some bad bite but she looked mostly just like a faded, dirt-smeared Sophia. Carol wailed then and she ran forward and he grabbed her, dropping his shotgun, falling to the ground with her as she dropped, keeping her from running to the little girl.
She'd been in the barn.
It'd been hopeless from the start.
They must've corralled her and grabbed her before any of them came here. That must've been a day or two after she'd gone missing. Maybe hours after it. They'd grabbed her and taken her and put her in the barn and forgotten about her while they'd gone looking.
Damn, why'd he make it his problem?
He should've known she was dead.
She was staggering forward another few paces and everyone was still and Coral was rocking and crying in his arms, hands by her mouth. She'd been right. There'd been no point looking.
"Oh no, Sophia," cried Carol, voice broken.
Sophia took a few more steps, then something whipped out of the barn and slid around her, jerking her arms to her side. A lasso? Then another jerk, and she was dragged back off her feet, shoes sliding heel-edge against the dirt and arms bumping against the edges of the barn doors. Then she was gone, back in the barn, back in the dark.
"The hell?" muttered Daryl.
"What was that?" demanded Shane, all big and angry again with his chest puffed out like someone had insulted him. It was like Merle. Once he had a target there was no shock and no mercy. Shane looked around at all the farm people. "There another one of you in there?"
The old man didn't answer.
The others just looked shocked.
Shane strode toward the barn doors but Rick hurried up and blocked his way with an arm. "Who the hell is in there?" demanded Shane, stepping back from his arm and then trying to move around it.
"We need to think, okay?" Rick asked. "Gimme a moment to think!"
In that moment of silence, Daryl thought he heard fabric rustling from inside the barn, but he couldn't be sure.
Carol opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but all that came out was a pained 'ahh' that broke into hissed air. She sounded like the pain was physical. It sure felt physical to Daryl. Like someone'd kicked him in the chest. Damnit, it wasn't his fault and it wasn't his problem. Still he held on to her, to keep her from doing anything stupid, and maybe to keep himself from doing anything stupid.
"You need to think?" demanded Shane, almost laughing. "Now?" He swept Rick's arm aside and ran over to the barn doors, wrenching them open. "Get the hell out here, whoever the hell you are!"
The barn was empty, eerily silent. Nothing but feathers and dead chickens and a whole lot of footprints. Daryl's gaze went up to the hay loft and he let Carol go, let her cry to herself uselessly, and picked up his shotgun. He headed around the side of the barn and saw the woman running, something bundled up in her arms. She ran fast, too. Not superhuman fast. Nothing like that. It was an all-out sprint that foot racers would've been proud of, even with Sophia bundled up in her arms.
The others came round the barn, too. At least, most of them.
"Why'd she grab Sophia?" asked Glenn.
"She's gonna get herself bit," said Dale.
Andrea just shook her head. "Serves her right. We should have been able to bury our own."
Rick strode forward. "We still can."
Now it was Shane's turn to grab at him. "Let her go. We nearly lost enough people chasing ghosts as it is."
"But why?" asked Glenn. "Why do that?"
"Prob'ly thought we were gonna shoot some little girl," said Dale. "She must've hidden up in the hay loft when we shot the others."
Daryl watched her go, itching to chase after her. She was faster. He could tell. But he could track her down wherever he went. But Shane was right. There was no point. Sophia was dead anyway and that woman would've been bit by now or would be soon. She wasn't going to take precautions if she thought Sophia were still alive.
Damn that hurt.
Daryl gritted his teeth together. Best not to think about it too deeply. He started toward her. "I'll track her. See which way she went."
"What?" demanded Shane. "You wanna run that by me again? Tell me how it'd help."
"We need to bury our own," said Andrea, nodding, striding forward to join him. "Besides, if that woman gets bit then she'll turn and be a threat. We can't let loose walkers be on the property. Even ... Sophia."
Rick nodded. "You're right. Let's go."
Even Shane nodded at that. "All right."
"No," said Dale. "You two are gonna have to stay behind to help clean up that mess Shane made. Even if what he did was right, it was a horrible way to go about it and there's a chance we'll be kicked off the farm or worse. You've gotta find a way to make it right to their family. Let Daryl and Andrea deal with the woman and, well, and Sophia."
"No, I have a responsibility to Sophia," said Rick.
Daryl ignored them and set off. By the time they'd sorted it out amongst themselves, the woman and the walker would be long gone. Andrea followed.
"What about your responsibility for your family?" demanded Shane. "And the rest of us."
Rick didn't follow them. Maybe he'd figured out the others were right.
Andrea didn't talk as she followed after him. That was good. She understood how things should be. The woman and the walker'd disappeared into the forest but Daryl didn't hurry. Either the woman'd taken precautions or she hadn't and would be found with her throat ripped out lumbering towards them. One way or the other, her fate had been taken out of his hands, just like Sophia's had done. He followed the tracks, easy enough since she'd been running, and found that they only slowed once she'd reached the forest. That girl had some stamina. Then they slowed to a hustle. "No sign she's been injured," said Daryl, his hands on his shotgun as he walked along. "She must've hooded her with something thick or ball gagged her or something."
"That doesn't make any sense," said Andrea, with that tight smile she always wore now when she was upset. "She'd have to know she was a walker then. Why kidnap a walker?"
Daryl didn't answer, because he didn't have anything worth saying, and the two of them followed the tracks which slowed down considerably and started having the tell tale signs of exhausted hurrying. A slid foot here, a skid over there, broken branches from where she'd stumbled against the trees. Sophia was probably struggling and in the uneven ground, that'd make her hard to carry.
No, don't think of her as Sophia. Think of her as a walker.
He followed them some more until they reached a creek, checked both sides of the bank and then stopped. "Can't find any tracks. She must've went up or down the creek to get us off her scent. If we follow the banks, we'll find where she came out."
"Didn't help us last time," said Andrea, her callous tone at odds with the pained look in her eye.
Daryl nodded. "Take us awhile to find her if she don't want to be found. She came straight down here. Must know the lay out of the local land at least that well. Means she can probably hide from us okay."
"And she's far enough from the farm that we don't need to worry about her," said Andrea. "Damnit! What kinda person does this? We should be able to bury our dead! We have to go forward."
Daryl scowled at the water. He'd already decided this wasn't his problem, hadn't he? "She's dead." He turned and headed back for the farm.
Okay, well, hope you enjoyed it so far. More chapters to come. The next one will skip forward to the end of Season 2, the morning after. I haven't seen any of Season 3, though, so it'll diverge from there.