SUMMARY: Sophia is found much earlier, but not by Rick's group. This story will follow Sophia's journey back to her friends and family. More info at the end.

Prologue:
The Longest Days

It was hot. It was always hot in Georgia, but this day especially so. Carol had just spent her first night away from the highway. Her first night after abandoning her daughter. That was how she saw it, at least.

Carol, Andrea, and Shane were quickly approaching the car with that awful message on it. That message that meant "I don't know how to find you."

SOPHIA STAY HERE
WE WILL COME EVERY
DAY

Carol hated that it had come to that. Everyone did. They couldn't find her, so they left a message, along with food and water, and hoped that she would find them. They had a party full of police officers, experienced hunters, and outdoors-men. None of them could find her. And somehow they expected a twelve year old girl who had never even been camping to succeed at that same task.

More than anything Carol just wanted to know what had happened to her daughter. She was hopeful, but she knew hope would only get her so far. With every passing day, she stopped hoping to find Sophia alive, and instead started hoping to just find her.

So when she spotted all of the food and water missing from the hood of the car, that spark of hope came back to her. For a moment, even if just a moment, her daughter was alive. She wouldn't allow her rational side to take over. The side that knew it was probably just a starving passerby that found free food.

Either way, she ran. She ran like Sophia's life depended on it. Because after all, maybe it did. Shane and Andrea quickly caught on and followed her to the car.

But as Carol had feared, there was no sign of her. They began shouting her name at the top of their lungs. If she did take the food, maybe she was close by. There was too much of it for her to carry with her.

After a moment of silence following their shouts, Andrea spotted something. "Carol, come here!" she called.

Carol moved to the back of the car and stood next to Andrea. She could see a message written in black marker on the back windshield.

SOPHIA SAFE
HERD COMING
- J

Two days had passed since they rescued Daryl and Merle from the Governor. Two days since the brothers had gone their own way. A week since Lori had given birth to Judith. A week since Lori had died. Eight months since Carl had been shot. Eight months since Sophia disappeared.

So much had happened. So much kept happening. But all they could do was take it day by day. They needed to stay alive. And at that moment, staying alive meant antibiotics. They were almost out of them, and a single cut without antibiotics could mean death.

That's why Rick, Glenn, and Maggie found themselves walking the streets of a town far out of the Governor's reach. They were looking for a pharmacy, and as luck would have it, they found one. Much to their surprise, the front door was unlocked.

What they saw inside was possibly even more surprising. The place was was certainly abandoned, but seemingly none of the medication had been touched. How it had managed to stay in one place with the door unlocked, they didn't know.

They slowly began clearing the store. Maggie took the counter, Rick took the aisles, and Glenn took the storage room.

Rick and Maggie both sounded off a "Clear!" as Glenn was entering the storage room.

The moment Glenn aimed around the corner, a hand reached out and grabbed his handgun, twisting it out of his grip. Before Glenn could gather his thoughts, the grip of his handgun was punched into his face, disorienting him greatly. In what could have only been a few seconds, Glenn's situation had been entirely turned around. He was now held with an arm around his neck and his own gun to his head, with his attacker using him as a shield. It seemed that, as Maggie suggested, they were in no state to be going on runs.

Rick and Maggie turned and aimed in a split second, but it wasn't fast enough. They were now in a standoff with Glenn's attacker.

"Let him go!" Rick demanded.

The stranger looked nervous, but calm at the same time. He shook his head before saying "Let's all stay calm, alright? I don't want to hurt anyone. Now, my name is James, but my friends call me Jamie. What are your names?"

Rick only stared at Jamie for a moment before declaring "Our names aren't important. You need to let our friend go."

Jame shook his head once again. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want any of your stuff. I just want to leave. Now that we've established that," Jamie said, beginning to sound a bit more nervous, "I think we need to build some trust, alright? Because let's face it, we don't know each other. For all you know, the second you put down your weapons I'll kill all of you. But on the other hand, if I put down mine, you might put one between my eyes. So we need to trust each other. Okay? And the best way to do that is to share our names. Now, I'm Jamie. What are your names?"

Maggie only wanted to protect Glenn, so she offered up her name first. "Maggie."

"Good, it's nice to meet you Maggie."

Rick gives Maggie a side-glance, annoyed that she had given into a stranger. "I'm Rick," he said before pointing to Glenn, "and that's Glenn."

Jamie's face takes on a mixture of curiosity and nervousness. "Rick and Glenn? Your last name wouldn't happen to be Grimes, would it?"

It was the other three's turn to be confused. "It is..."

"And do you have a son?!" Jamie asked frantically.

Rick didn't quite know how to proceed, and eventually decided to answer truthfully, with a nod.

"What's his name?!"

"Why do y-"

"Just tell me his fucking name, man!"

Rick once again hesitated, trying to find the right move. "His name is Carl."

Rick and Maggie were once again surprised when they saw relief pass over Jamie's face. "Oh my god... Okay, look, I'm going to put down the gun, alright? And I'm going to let Glenn here go. And I need you to promise you won't shoot me, because I promise you that you'll want to hear what I have to say next. Sound good?"

Carol was sat talking to Beth in the prison yard. The day had been a slow one. Despite the almost constant tension and threat of danger from the past few days, their slow days were still unbearable. It was in the middle of a conversation about Judith that Rick, Maggie, and Glenn's SUV rolled up to the gate. Carol paid them little mind as Axel opened the gate for them.

When she noticed that they had returned with an extra passenger, however, their arrival truly grabbed her attention.

She saw a young man, probably late teens or early twenties fussing with something inside the vehicle. He had short brown hair and a five 'o clock shadow. He wore olive cargo pants with a blue T-shirt. He had on a tan plate carrier with only two magazine pouches, a (filled) handgun holster mounted horizontally near the top, and a rifle slung over his shoulder. He appeared to be talking to someone inside the vehicle.

Most people in the courtyard had noticed the extra passenger, and all eyes were turned towards the SUV. To everyone's surprise, a second unexpected passenger stepped out of the vehicle, but was behind the young man and couldn't be seen. All Carol could make was that the other arrival was a girl shorter than the male, as he was looking down to talk to her.

After a quick moment of what seemed to be a pep talk, the two faced the prison hand in hand. Carol got a much clearer look at the girl. She wore blue jeans and a grey T-shirt, looked much younger than the male, and had dirty blonde hair.

Is that...? Carol thought. She stood and cautiously approached to get a better look, afraid of getting her hopes up.

As she stepped closer and closer she became more and more convinced that it was exactly who she thought it was.

When Carol was only thirty feet from the SUV the girl locked eyes with her, and for a moment, the world stood still.

"Mom?!"

And that was all it took. Carol had never felt such pure joy and relief in her entire life. She quickly closed the gap between the two and wrapped her daughter in a hug.

"Sophia! Oh my god it's you! You're here! I didn't think I'd ever get to see you again!" Carol let go of her, and held her at arms length to take in her appearance. "You're safe!" She stated in disbelief, before quickly disengaging from Sophia and looking to the young man standing next to her.

"You kept her safe?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"Yes ma'am." Jamie replied, but Carol had already pulled him into a hug before he could get the second word out. She once again hugged Sophia, this time feeling some metal on her back. She leaned enough to see what it was, and saw that it was an MP5 submachine gun attached by a sling.

It was at that moment Carol realized that her baby girl was safe now, but hadn't always been. She had been out in the terrible cruel world that claimed the lives of people far stronger than her. It terrified Carol to think of what she had gone through, and what she may have done to survive.

Carol looked to Jaime, asking an unspoken question, and Jaime understood.

"We fought like hell to get here."

A/N: This is just a prologue/test chapter for something I've had in my head for a while now. I'm posting it to gauge interest in a full length story, so if you want to see more of this let me know! Also, please let me know of any errors or general bad writing! I use FF as an avenue to improve my writing, and would love to hear what you do and don't like about it! Either way, thanks for reading!