Chapter 2: What Lies Ahead Part 2

I awoke to the sound of someone banging on the door of the SUV. Daryl's arm was around my waist and I was snuggled next to his chest. I looked up at Daryl who was also awake. The banging continued and we got up. Daryl opened the door to find Matthew at the back of the SUV. The two of them had a stare down as I got out of the SUV and closed the door. I moved around Daryl and shoved Matthew's shoulder to get him to start walking away.

He was a little hesitant but eventually started to walk with the two of us behind him. We gathered around a car next to RV as Rick unfolded a pack of knives and other weapons. "Everyone takes a weapon," Rick instructed everyone.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea complained. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that," Shane said in exasperation. "Daryl, Gale, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people poppin' off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea muttered.

"Say someone fires at the wrong moment and a herd happens to be passin' by," Shane said. "See, then it's game over for all of us. So, you need to get over it."

Andrea looked away, seeming put down, for now.

I turned to Daryl for the plan. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around, and come back down the other side," Daryl explained. "Chances are, she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp," Rick instructed. "Keep space between you, but always within sight of each other."

"Everyone assemble your packs," Shane ordered.

I went to get my bag from the truck and made sure that I had enough in there and keep up with everyone. Abby approached me with a concerned look on her face and Alex next to her. I gave her a nod and she went to get her stuff ready. I knelt to look Alex in his eyes. "So, you know what's going on now?"

Alex nodded and looked down at his feet, kicking the pavement slightly in nervousness. I put my hand on his shoulder to look at me. "We'll figure out what to do about the full moon, I promise," I told him sincerely. "But right now, you need to know that with me as the Alpha, you listen to what I say. If I tell you to do something, you need to listen. And once we find a place to stay, we'll continue with training."

Alex nodded again at me and looked like he wanted to say something.

"You can say what you want to Alex," I told him.

"You won't be demanding like grandpa, will you?" he asked in a timid voice.

His question caught me off guard. I had almost forgotten that before me, my father had been their Alpha. I had hoped he wouldn't have been too hard on his own grandchildren, but I guess not. I glanced up to where Ronnie and Abby were watching us with worried looks. Looking back at Alex, I gave a reassuring smile. "I'm not like he was," I assured him. "I won't ever give you an order that you would be uncomfortable with. I welcome it if you disagree with my decisions. I promise that I won't be hard on you."

Alex gave me a real smile that showed off his dimples and I smiled back at him. Standing up, I led him back to his parents and sent them a nod that we were good. Rejoining the group and coming to a stop beside Daryl, I caught the tail end of Andrea's rant to Dale. I thought she was being unreasonable about Dale saving her, but I really didn't have any say in what she did. I would want someone to pull me off the ledge like Dale did, but I would probably be just as pissed off.

*Running with the Wolves*

Daryl and I took the lead at the front of the group and were following Rick and Sophia's trail. It was quiet for the most part, other than hearing a few words exchanged by a few members of the group. I kept glancing around the woods to see if I could find anything, occasionally looking down at the trail we were following. That was when I saw a tent through the trees.

"Daryl," I whispered to hunter in front of me. When he looked back at me, I nodded to tent that I spotted through the trees.

Daryl nodded, motioning to Rick to get down low, and he motioned to everyone to do the same. As we approached the tent, Daryl lowered his crossbow and handed it to me. I took it and Daryl took out his buck knife, standing next to the opening of the tent. Shane stood at the other end with his gun out.

"Carol," Rick whispered, motioning for her to join us near the tent. Carol hurriedly came over to stand right behind Rick. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia?" Carol called out just loud enough for anyone in the tent to hear her. "Sweetie? Are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia, we're all here, baby. It's mommy."

When no sound came from the tent, Daryl looked at Rick and me. I looked back at Ronnie, who always had the best hearing out of anyone. When he shook his head, I gave Rick a look and he nodded at Daryl to go in. He slowly unzipped the flap, before going into the tent. When the flap opened, I got hit with the smell of a decaying body. I scrunched up my nose and held my breath slightly.

"Daryl?" Carol called out hesitantly. "Daryl?"

Daryl emerged from the tent and shook his head slightly. "It ain't her," he said.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked, curious.

"Some guy," Daryl responded as he put his knife away and took his crossbow from me. "Did what Jenner said, opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

That was when we started to hear church bells. Rick turned to follow them through the woods, and we all followed him. Rick stopped at the top of a small hill and tried to figure out which direction they were coming from. "What direction?" Shane asked out of breath.

"I think that way," Rick said pointing ahead of them. "I'm pretty sure."

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here," Shane muttered.

"If we hear them, then maybe Sophia does too," Carol said hopefully.

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

"Or signaling that they found her," Andrea added.

"She could be ringin' 'em herself," Rick said. He then turned to me. "Gale?"

I turned to Ronnie and nodded to him. He nodded back before closing his eyes, trying to find the source. Opening his eyes, Ronnie moved to the front of the group. "Come on."

I followed him and noticed the questioning look Rick gave me. "Ronnie has the best hearing out of all of us," I explained quickly.

We took off after him until we broke through the tree line into a clearing that was used for a graveyard. There was a small white church at the other end of the clearing. It didn't look like there was anybody around and the bells had stopped. But I noticed that the church didn't have a steeple, so it couldn't be the right church.

My thoughts were voiced by Shane. "That can't be it," he said. "Got no steeple, no bells."

Instead of listening, Rick wiped off some sweat and then took off running across the clearing.

"Rick!" Shane called after him.

I exchanged a look with Shane, before we both took off running after Rick. We ran across the field and caught up to Rick before we reached the doors. I went up the steps with Rick and stood on the other side opposite him. I watched as he counted to three before we busted open the doors. Inside, there were three walkers sitting in the pews that slowly turned to us. Rick and Shane took point, moving towards two of the walkers.

Daryl handed me his crossbow again, and Glenn passed him his hook like weapon. Daryl went after the third walker and made kissing noises at it to make sure it came at him. The others were hacking away at the two other walkers. Once they were done, the all spread out to look if they could find Sophia. "Sophia!" Rick shouted.

Daryl approached the front of the church, where there was a huge crucifix sitting at there. "Yo, J.C.," he greeted the statue. "You takin' requests?"

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church," Shane reasoned with Rick. "It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple."

Suddenly, the bells that we hear earlier began to ring again. We all ran outside and around the building as Glenn walked over to a fuse box, ripping out the wires to make the sound stop. We all panted in exhaustion from the excitement.

"A timer," Daryl panted. "It's on a timer."

We all stood in silence for a second before Carol broke it. "I'm going back in for a bit."

Everyone went back inside as well, to try to get out of the heat. I went out among the gravestones and sat down by a tree. I was feeling a little down being in a graveyard. My unit and I would always walk through the military graveyards, saying prayers for the ones that were lost and for their families. I never joined in on the prayer, not being one for believing, but went walking with them anyway. After a little bit, I heard footsteps approach and looked up to see Daryl walking towards me.

Daryl sat down next to me but looked back over his shoulder. I followed his gaze to see both Ronnie and Matthew staring at us with their arms folded. We looked back at each other and Daryl looked a little hesitant. I heaved a heavy sigh.

"They had the brother talk with you, didn't they?" I asked. Daryl only gave me a nod in response. "Don't worry. They won't do anything to ya."

Daryl snorted in response, but still stared at me. I gave him a confused look, and Daryl shifted in his spot. "Are you sure that you want someone like me?" he wondered quietly.

I gave him a frown and gave a glare towards the guys. "Is that what they said?"

Daryl put a hand on my arm to stop me from getting up and shook his head at me. "They didn't say it. I was just thinkin' it."

I took his hand in mine and gave him a kind smile. "Daryl, you are a good man. Don't think otherwise. You're just as good as everyone else in this group. You're pretty good looking too."

Daryl smirked at my last comment and looked like he wanted to kiss me, but hesitated. "I'm not really good at all this stuff," he confessed.

I smiled again in understanding. "We can take it one day at a time," I suggested. I then looked over his shoulder and saw the group was gathering. "Guess we better head back."

We approached the group the same time that Rick and Shane came back to the group as well. "Y'all are gonna follow the creek bed back okay?" Shane told everyone. "Daryl, Gale, you two are in charge. Me and Rick—we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough."

Daryl gave them a confused look. "You're splittin' us up? You sure?"

"Yeah, we'll catch up with you," Shane responded with a nod.

"Take Matt with you," I suggested. Rick and Shane looked at little startled. "Matt has the best nose and knows Sophia's scent. That and he'll be extra muscle just in case."

The two men shared a look before they both nodded. I looked back at Matthew to see him nod as well and walked over so he stood next to Shane.

"I wanna stay too," Carl spoke up and everyone gave him a concerned look. "I'm her friend."

Rick and Shane looked to Lori and she looked to them. She sighed and stepped up behind her son. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will," Carl assured her.

While they were saying goodbye to each other, I walked up to Matthew. "You okay with this?" I wanted to be sure that he was alright with my decisions.

Matthew smiled at me. "I'm fine sis and I'll be careful, so don't worry so much."

I laughed at little at him. "Just listen to Rick okay?"

Matthew nodded at me. "You got it."

Nodding at him, I gave him a pat on the shoulder before walking back to the group. I walked up just in time to see Daryl hand Lori a gun from his waistband. "Here, I got a spare, take it," he offered.

Lori took it hesitantly and we all walked back to the creek. We followed the other side before we all took a small break. I stood up at the front with Daryl and looked back to see Leah sitting down, looking exhausted. Alex stood next to his father, looking around at his surroundings. He looked like he was listening to everything around the area and I smiled. I was glad that he was starting to learn to use his abilities and that he wasn't afraid to use them.

"So, this is it?" Carol wondered. "This the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl responded.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea complained. "I see you have a gun." She was starting to get on my nerves.

"Why, you want it?" Lori snapped at her and held the gun out to her. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She went back over to her pack and knelt next to it. Lori looked up a Carol sitting on a downed tree. "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."

Carol just sort of looked at her with disbelief, so Lori continued. "It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could have done it any differently."

Lori looked around at our small group. "Anybody? 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. Nobody is stoppin' you." She then took a drink of her water bottle before putting it back.

Andrea then handed the gun back to Lori. "We should keep moving."

Lori took the gun and stood up and we all followed after her, moving through the woods. After walking for a while, we all then heard something that made my nerves go on high alert and my blood run cold. A gunshot.