Disclaimer: I do not own the walking dead or any of the characters mentioned in this story.

Warning: This is a dark fic that details what happened to Sophia after she was left alone in the woods alone. There is violence, gore, and mentions of domestic abuse.

The Little Rabbit

It had seemed like a good idea, hiding the little girl underneath the embankment so that he could lead the walkers away. The sheriff's deputy knew that it was the best option for her. He figured that after he led the walkers away, he could come back to her hiding place and take her back up to the road where the girl's mother waited in fear.

Perhaps it would have worked out if Rick Grimes had had time to consider that the child he was trying to save was a different sort of child than the one that Rick was raising.

No, Sophia Peletier was not the strong, willful child that Carl Grimes was. She was a timid and tiny rabbit, a small thing that was terrified of the big world around her. Living in an abusive home can do that to a child. It can make them fearful of every sound. It can make them flinch at every sudden movement.

It can make even hiding places into something scary.

Sophia's heart was pounding in her chest already when Mr. Grimes hid her under the tree root. It pounded harder when she took in the dark, dirty site and saw the large, black bugs that made it home. She didn't like dark places…and for good reason.

"No! No! Daddy, please, no!" Sophia cried and struggled against her father. Ed Peletier's grip was bruising on the little girl's arm as he dragged her down into the basement.

"Ed, please, stop-" Sophia's mother pleaded, trying and failing to pry her husband off of her daughter. Carol got a dizzying punch in the face for her efforts. Sophia cried out as her mother fell into the doorway leading down to the basement.

"Quiet!" Ed snapped, pushing Sophia down to the dirt floor. Then he was going up the stairs, dragging Carol back to the main floor.

"Daddy-"

"QUIET!" Ed shouted, slamming and locking the basement door. Sophia flinched as she heard each blow her mother took and tears streamed down her small face whenever her mother made a sound of pain. Even when the sounds upstairs stopped, Sophia still trembled. She didn't like the dark, cold, dirty basement. She didn't like the smell and she certainly didn't like the creatures that dwelled down there. She hated bugs and spiders. She flinched every time she saw a mouse run along the floor. She was even convinced that she had heard the hissing sounds of a snake.

From the moment Mr. Grimes put her under that root, Sophia was taken over by memories of her times in the basement and felt like the dark space near the river was closing in on her, suffocating her. It even smelled the same. If she closed her eyes, she could hear the sounds of her father beating on her mother.

It didn't take long before the child staggered out of her hiding place, panting and wincing as the light hit her eyes. She tried to remember what Mr. Grimes said about going back to the highway and stumbled up the side of the river. She wanted her mother. She wanted the comfort that Carol had provided after each time Ed had forced Sophia into the basement, even though every time, Carol had looked like the one who needed comfort.

Sophia made her way up the path, so intent on finding solace that she didn't hear or smell the walker until it was almost upon her. It was filthy, with blood and tattered clothes and the bitter, sickly-sweet scent of death. It snarled at her, its teeth gnashing together as it lunged for the little girl. Sophia did the only thing that she could and veered off the path, crashing through the dense foliage as the thing that had been once human chased her. Sophia knew what would happen if it caught her. She would get bit or maybe even torn apart like her daddy was. She pushed on, running even though her legs were sore and her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.

It was something furry that had saved her.

She had startled the poor creature out of its hiding spot and put it in the path of the walker. The dead thing claimed it, sinking its teeth into the furry thing with a sickening squelching noise. Sophia didn't turn around, though. She kept running until her foot caught on a rock and sent her tumbling down.

Her hands and knees stung and though she knew that she needed to get up, she couldn't. Her muscles felt like rubber and her heart was hammering against her ribcage. The little girl started to cry, sobbing into the leaves that littered the ground. She was alone and scared and lost.

It wasn't long before she heard a twig snap. Her head jerked up as she searched wildly for the source of the noise. She couldn't see anything, but she could smell it on the breeze. She could smell death, that scent that always seemed to be on the air these days. Terrified, she gathered up her little ragdoll and staggered to her feet again, stumbling once more through the brush.

0

It was getting dark now. The sun was falling fast and the idea that she could be stuck in the forest at night had Sophia shaking as she tried to find her way through the trees. She knew that she wouldn't make it if she didn't find her way back to the highway so she kept on, despite the aches in her small body. She looked wildly in every direction, trying to spot something she recognized, but everything looked the same in the forest. Every noise had her muscles tensing and her little heart racing. The forest was filled with danger.

And maybe people.

Sophia could see it faintly. A light. It was dim, but it was a light. She hurried towards it. Maybe it was the group. Maybe they were trying to find her.

But the closer she got, she realized that it wasn't the group. It was a tent and the light was coming from inside of it, illuminating a man sitting inside in a chair.

"H-hello?" the little girl said tentatively, "Hello?"

She received no answer, but still she crept forward and searched for the zipper on the tent flap.

The smell hit her as soon as she opened the flap. It was death again, the same smell that had invaded her nostrils when she and her mother found her father's dead body in the wreckage of their tent in the quarry. Sophia's wide eyes passed over the man in the chair. The flashlight at is feet illuminated the blood spatter on the tent walls. Cautiously, with her eyes never leaving the dead man, Sophia reached inside for the flashlight. When her small fingers closed on the plastic tube, she jerked out of the tent, her prize in hand. Then she scrambled away from the tent and resumed her trek through the forest. This time, the light illuminated the path in front of her, giving little Sophia a sense of hope. She would find her mother again. She would get out of the forest.

She wandered a little longer until the light hit a brick wall. As she approached, she realized that she had found a farmhouse…a very old one.

The door creaked and groaned as she opened it.

"Hello?" she called out tentatively. She waited for a response, but got none. It looked to be abandoned. No one was here.

Sophia couldn't help but feel a bit relieved at that fact, even more so when she found the kitchen. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was as she looked through the cupboard. All she found were cans, but she had no way of opening them. The only things she could open were a can of sardines. Maybe it wasn't the best meal for a kid, but it would have to do. She polished off two cans before placing them in the garbage can, even though garbage littered the floor of the house as it was.

Sophia tossed the pudding cup in the general direction of the garbage can and then rushed back to the living room to watch her cartoons, pausing only to receive a kiss on the top of her had from her mother. It had been a good day. Daddy was at work, which left Sophia and Carol in the house by themselves. They had slept late, watched movies, and played games. It had been perfect.

But every perfect day had to end and this one ended when Ed came through the door. His eyes zeroed in on the pudding cup that had fallen out of the garbage.

"What the hell is this?" Ed shouted, picking up the little plastic cup and throwing it at Carol. Carol paled and tried to stammer out an apology. She barely got a word out before Ed struck her. Sophia rushed to the kitchen when she heard the sound, but before she could say that the pudding cup had been hers, she was being whisked down to the basement to listen to her mother be punished for Sophia's crimes.

Sophia found an old blanket and pillow and made herself a little bed in the pantry. It was small, but at least she could shut the door and hide if anything unfriendly made it into the house. Exhausted by the day's events, Sophia curled up, clutching her stuffed ragdoll, and fell into a deep slumber.

0

The first rays of light were enough to wake the little girl. It took a moment, but then Sophia remembered where she was and why she was there. She quickly got up and scrounged around for something to eat, this time finding an old bag of stale chips. Then she stepped opened the door and stepped outside. Each step caused her muscles to ache and throb, but she knew that she needed to get moving. The forest didn't look so scary now, in the early morning light. Now she could even see white flowers blooming around the house. She smiled a little, hoping that they were a sign that she would find her way back to her mother today.

She was still hopelessly lost, but in the early morning, it didn't seem so bad. The birds chirped happily in the trees and now and then, she caught glimpses of little squirrels playing together on the ground and in the trees. The air even smelled cleaner, less like death and more like forest.

It wasn't long before Sophia heard the sound of rushing water. She was then reminded that she hadn't had much to drink since yesterday. She followed the sound and found a stream. Dropping to her knees, she cupped the water into her hand and took a drink. Even though it looked dirty, it was still cold water that felt good sliding down Sophia's throat. She sat for a moment, contemplating her surroundings as a light breeze lifted her blond hair. She wondered if this stream connected to the one that Mr. Grimes had left her by. Maybe she could follow it back to where she started and then find the highway. She smiled at the thought and took another sip of the water.

Across the stream, she noticed movement and she could just make out a little grey rabbit. It was standing on its hind legs and using its front paws to bring leaves to its mouth. It seemed happy at the moment as it had its breakfast and watching the little thing made Sophia's smile widen.

And then it stopped moving.

Its ears pricked up as if sensing danger and then it looked directly at Sophia. She smiled at it and said, "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

The rabbit took off, abandoning its breakfast to flee into the woods. Sophia frowned, but before she could think too much about it, she heard stumbling behind her and then the growl and then she smelled it.

She turned around, her eyes wide in fear. The dead thing was only a few feet away. There wasn't time to escape. She could see the milky, cloudy, dead eyes as it lurched forward, its putrid mouth open and hungry. Sophia tried to wrench away, but cold, clammy hands gripped her arm. She struggled like a rabbit caught in a trap, but it was no use. It was the end.

She screamed as the teeth sunk into her shoulder. Her own hot blood dripped down her chest and splattered into her face.

"NO! NO! MOMMY!" she cried out, still struggling and crying.

It was instinct for the girl to cry for her mother. Carol had always stepped between Sophia and the monster they had lived with. Carol had tried to protect her daughter, but this new world, this cursed world, proved to be too much. The monsters here were far more dangerous and numerous than Ed had ever been and Carol hadn't been able to shield Sophia from them. And in a small way, Sophia was almost glad that her mother wasn't here. All of her life, Sophia had watched her mother take beatings meant for Sophia and if Carol had been there, Sophia knew that Carol would die for her without hesitation. Maybe it was better this way.

The walker let the struggling girl go as it focused on chewing on the flesh it had ripped from her shoulder. Sophia staggered away, her doll falling from her hand and into the water. It floated away as Sophia tried to staunch the bleeding with her hands. It was no use as the red stained the child's hands. She could feel herself getting weaker, colder. She stumbled some more before her knees gave out and she tumbled to the ground.

Tears streamed down her eyes.

She knew what was happening.

She was dying and when she did die, she would turn.

She would be a dead thing.

Sophia didn't want to die. She was just a kid. Kids weren't supposed to die and they definitely weren't supposed to die alone, clutching at their fatal wound while writhing on the forest floor.

But she could feel it coming. She could feel that there was less blood gushing out of her wound. She felt herself shaking and she couldn't feel her extremities anymore. Her breathing slowed. Her vision grew blurry and dark.

She hoped that when she was a walker, she wouldn't hurt anyone. She hoped that her mother wouldn't have to see her.

Then it was over. Sophia Peletier was gone.

0

About an hour later, a hunter was wandering through the forest when he came to a clearing. He could hear the sounds of one of the dead feeding. He approached cautiously and the sight nearly broke him.

A little girl, no older than twelve, was sitting on her knees as she held the corpse of a little forest creature to her mouth. The girl looked up at the hunter, her dead, milky eyes boring into his. She stood up and the hunter's eyes lingered for a moment on the gaping wound on her left shoulder and the blood stains on her blue rainbow shirt.

"You poor thing," the hunter said morosely, reaching for the dog-catcher's pole that was strapped to his back. She snarled back at him, stepping towards him. As the hunter put the loop around her neck, the thing she had been eating slipped from her hands.

It was a little grey rabbit.

The End

AN: So this was a response to a writing exercise issued by EnglishPoet18. It had to be scary and less than 2500 words...okay, I might be 100 words over. I always thought that of everything on the Walking Dead, Sophia's death was the worst. She was a fearful child who lived her last days in fear, alone, and running from monsters. She died alone, without anyone there to help her or ease her passing. To me, that would be absolutely horrible.

Let me know what you think.