By the time they shut the master bedroom's door, Sonya was knocked out. Her body was absorbing so much pain, it physically exhausted her all while consciously condemning her to a nightmarish hell.
She kept imagining what had happened to her body during the crash to cause so much pain. Sonya believed that she was awake during the crash, but the memory of it just evaded her. She couldn't seem to grasp a memory of the crash but the smell… the sound… it was definitely there.
Sonya is a sound sleeper, there was nothing that could traumatize her sleeping, not even an apocalypse it seemed. That was a problem. She had a hard time waking up as it was, she would never be able to hear anyone approaching her while she was asleep. It was most definitely when she was the most vulnerable.
Daryl caught onto this as he occasionally checked in on her during the night. She was a silent sleeper, no heavy breathing or snoring but… very dead.
While she was asleep, he worked on making her a crutch for when she woke up. So she wouldn't slow the group down too much if they were on the run. She'd probably like it too, he thought. She seemed like she was the kind of girl to like to do things on her own.
His eyes were getting heavy after a few long hours. The crutch was finished and all his arrows were intact, all he had to do was wait for daylight."
But then light footsteps approached him from the stairs and Glenn appears.
"Daryl, I'll take over. You go on and get some sleep." Glenn says quietly approaching Daryl's station against the wall. "Alright, no need to be too quiet, the girl is a rock." Daryl says, cracking his back as he stands.
Glenn yawns once before clamping his mouth shut.
"Do you think she'll last here?"
Daryl had been wondering that same question almost the entire night. Did she have what it takes to survive? Yes, she was a fighter. She was in the Navy, right? What about her function in the group? She wouldn't exactly fit with the stereotypes like Lori and Carol but she'd get along with Maggie great.
"Probably, if she can survive a wreck like that I'm sure what we do will be a breeze for her." Glenn chuckles then it got awkward. Glenn and Daryl were never ones for conversation, especially about a girl.
"I'm out then." Daryl says, walking down the stairs silently. Glenn could barely hear the hunter's steps. Glenn looked out through the window; the sun would be coming up in two hours. He settled down in his chair and pushed his hat low over his eyes, unlike the deep-sleeping girl in the room, he had the gift of 'light sleep'.
In the morning, when Sonya woke up, everyone was already packing everything into their vehicles. Rick was planning their next move with Daryl while Hershel and Carol were in Sonya's room. They were all very surprised none of the noises woke her up. Given, they were trying to be quiet but it was still shocking that someone can still get a decent amount of sleep.
"Good morning, Sonya." Hershel says to the girl, noticing her eyes fluttering open. She sits up and stretches her arms out wide. After a few minutes of taking in her surroundings again, she smiles at Hershel. "Good morning." Then she noticed they were packing their few things away and frowns.
"We are leaving today." Hershel says. She was about to ask a question but Rick steps into the room. Behind Rick were Glenn, Daryl and Maggie. Glenn smiles at the girl, Maggie gave her a curious look-down and Daryl stares at the window again.
"We cannot stay here another day, it's too dangerous." Rick says. Sonya had caught on real early that he was the leader of the group. She raises an eyebrow. Did he just expect her to go with them with now say in the matter?
"It's not like we are forcing you to go with us or anything." Carol leaps in.
"But," Rick says, giving Carol a look for interrupting him. "It would be very unwise to stay by yourself alone. We won't take you kicking and screaming either. It's your choice." He steps back, to let her think it over.
Sonya looked at the crowd of people she'd known for only… 3 hours tops while she was conscious. She's never met half the group, how does she know they aren't complete whack jobs?
But on the other hand, how could she possibly survive without them? The Navy taught her survival, they taught her that what the musketeers said was true; all for one and one for all. It is the only real way to live and survive.
There were too many pros and cons to resolve then and there. They had to leave and she had to make her mind. "This is a bit of an awkward… situation." She says to them all. "Is this even all of you?" She continues. They look around the room then shake their heads. "No. Only a few others aren't in the room." Glenn says with a friendly smile.
"Alright, well. I hate to be in debt with anyone, especially with my life. So I will go with you… only to repay my thanks. Then from there we can decide… arrangements?" She tries, with a humorous smile.
Glenn laughs awkwardly. "It's a party then." The mood lightened in the room and they all file out so Carol could help the girl get dressed in some of Lori's borrowed clothes.
"Oh, this must really hurt." Carol says, flinching as she helps the girl with a painful step towards the door. "Nothing I can't handle." Sonya says, only a small dose of pain in her voice.
"Hold on, dear." She guides Sonya to a chair then pops her head of the door. "Can a strong young man assist me?" She yells out.
Sonya rolls her eyes but laughs. It was uncomfortable being so weak vulnerable. She'd grown up in a military family and joined the military right out of high school so weakness and pain were just as foreign as emotions and feelings.
Awkwardly, Glenn and Daryl both approach the room. Daryl lifted an eyebrow at Glenn who glared at Daryl. "You're not young." Glenn says. "Yeah, and you ain't strong." Daryl rebuts. Carol snickers at both of them. "Just help the poor girl get to the car."
Carol helps Sonya stand again. Glenn and Daryl each take a shoulder and they slowly make their way down the stairs. "I made you a crutch, but it's down by the cars." Daryl mutters as they slowly take the steps down the stairs. "Thank you." She says, relieved.
"I owe your whole group a lot; I hope I have time to repay you all."
"Don't worry about it." Glenn says. "We've lost a lot of people recently… it's nice to have a new face around here." He pats her shoulder before walking off to find Rick.
Daryl only stays long enough to give her the crutch before going back to his motorcycle. Carol leans against the door and smile at the crowd of people. "These people are good, Sonya. I hope you stay long enough to see that too."
"I'm already beginning to see it, Carol." Sonya responds. "But I've been betrayed enough in my life, I just want to be careful. If I ever come off as, well, ungrateful and guarded, I apologize."
Carol smiles amused. "You aren't the only one here who has been betrayed." Her eyes trail over to Daryl who was inspecting his brother's bike. "I already see so much you have in common with some people here." With those anomalous words, she walks off to T-Dog who was driving her.
"Let's roll out!" Rick says as a crowd of Walkers approach from the east.
Sonya went in and out of consciousness during the ride. Hershel had Maggie keeping an eye on her, waking her up every so often to check on her. She was so delirious from fatigue and pain she didn't realize when they stopped again. When Sonya was awake, she sat and talked with Beth or Maggie.
"So, what was it like to be in the Navy? Were there a lot of hot marines?" Beth asks from the front seat with a giggle. "Most definitely" Sonya laughs. "Nothing looks better then a man in a uniform."
"That's how I managed to catch your mother, Beth." Hershel says, laughing. Maggie smiles sadly, remembering her mother. Sonya scrunches her nose a bit, really hoping they were all not about to go down a path of memory lane. She never liked family moments like this. Luckily in her family, they never had 'family moments'. But still, she has seen enough to know it wasn't her thing.
Sonya remembers when she was first deployed. Her brothers and her father came to say goodbye. They went for a beer the night before and pretty much just said 'goodbye' and 'be safe'. Her brothers were already in the military and her father was a Lt. Admiral before he retired. They all knew the routine.
Watching mothers and wives attack the sailors in kisses and hugs made all of them uncomfortable. Sonya hugged her father and her brothers in a quick brisk fashion that most people would mistake for being awkward. It was more of a 'rough and tough' way of letting them know she was going to miss them.
Needless to say, Sonya was very relieved when their family moment was cut short by Rick signaling them to pull over.