Thunderous Silence
SyntheticProduct
Chapter Three: Until Dawn
NIGHT had come and gone, but once again Hope and Sophia were walking side by side. The forest seemed never ending and for once in Hope's life, she was sick and tired of all the trees. She wasn't about to tell Sophia, but they had started to run low on food; however, the water was going steady which was a blessing.
The walk was quiet except for a few questions from Sophia, the most common one was literally: are we there yet? Hope hadn't even seen a parting of trees to suggest that they were near any road at all and Hope had started to falter in her confident stride.
"Do you know when we'll reach the road? I know my momma is probably real worried about me."
Hope swallowed back the fear and placed a smile on her face, "honestly? I don't know when we'll reach the road, but when we do that'll be the home stretch." The pain in Hope's back was slowly becoming worse, in the dark of the night Hope had contorted into an odd shape with a flashlight to see that a nasty bruise was forming over her lower back and that a single cut looked to be infected. All she could do was run some water down her back and slap on a new shirt, one that hugged her skin so the water could soak into it like a makeshift bandage.
Sophia nodded her head and continued to walk beside Hope, holding her hand like the days previous. The sun was already hanging past high noon, sinking down to the horizon as they walked. Hope noted that Sophia was shivering during the night, even through the blanket, and had given up her nice fleece jacket for her. It was silly, watching the tiny girl wearing it drown when the sleeves went pass her fingers more than a few good inches and that it hung like a dress on her small frame; however, she was content and warm, that's what really mattered.
The chill in the air got stronger as the sun sunk lower on the horizon. While they wandered, Hope didn't know whether to think her eyes were playing tricks on her or if there was an actual house sitting in front of her. Vines, grass, and trees had taken over the house, but it looked safe enough, "look!" Sophia shouted, which Hope had to scold her about, "could we stay there tonight? It'll be warmer than the forest." Hope definitely couldn't say no to those pleading eyes and she just nodded her head, sighing as she did so.
"But!" Hope interrupted the girl's stride, "we need to check it over for walkers. Meaning you'll stay by my side until we check the house over, alright?" Sophia nodded her head, smiling as she did so. Hope took a sharp right, heading towards the overgrown house. It looked to be in good shape, other than the obvious signs of no living inhabitants. Hope pushed Sophia behind her as she knocked on the door, or rather began to bang on it.
"What are you doing? No one's home."
Hope hushed the girl and pressed her ear against the chipped, wooden door. She could distinctly hear signs of movement inside the house, coming from somewhere upstairs. In fact, her guess was absolutely right as the bouncing of someone or something falling down the stairs was heard, "old family secret to see if there are walkers inside." Hope winked at Sophia and slammed the door open, knocking back the walker that was trying to sit up from it's tumble. Instead, Hope flicked open her knife and drove it down into the walker's head. Dead.
"Stay there, let me listen to see if there are more."
Sophia stayed absolutely still and silent, which was amazing. Not that Hope didn't thing she could, but silence wasn't Sophia's strong point; however, she also didn't mind that one bit though. She strained her ears to listen to the house, if it creaked or groaned, but couldn't hear a thing until she stood up. She turned around and nearly paled to see that the closet door had moving arms sticking out of the plywood. Sophia's pant leg was grabbed by the roaming hands as the walker that was stuck inside gurgled in delight. Sophia screamed, her small fingers reaching down to pull back on her pants, but only offered in off-balancing herself and throwing her small frame to the floor. She screamed some more and Hope acted as fast as she could. She opened the closet doors, not thinking about much other than getting Sophia free, and stepped on one of the arms that had ahold of Sophia. A sickening crack was heard and it released her to deal with the threat. The walker looked emaciated with the thinning hair on it's head and the obvious sign of ribs poking out. Hope took one glance back at Sophia, trying to hide the walker, before slamming her knife down into it's cranium. It went stiff.
Hope pushed the body back into the closet and turned around to help Sophia up. Hope had barely noticed that had happened until Sophia was standing up and sobbing, pulling down at the fleece jacket. Hope glanced down and knew exactly why the little girl looked embarrassed, she had peed herself. Hope stood awkwardly as Sophia cried before pushing the door closed and kneeling down to Sophia's height.
"Hey, hey you don't need to cry or be embarrassed."
Sophia only sobbed harder in reply. Her cheeks were the shade of a cherry and the tip of her nose was a shade of pink as she rubbed it on the fleece sleeve. Hope grimaced, but tried to hide it as Sophia looked up.
"I'm old enough to know," she hiccuped, "not to pee myself, or the bed; I haven't done that," she sobbed again, "in years."
Hope patted her head as Sophia sobbed once again, "hey now, you were scared - Hell, I probably would've peed myself if a walker suddenly grabbed me."
"Buy you din't," her words began to slur as she sobbed more readily, "yew din't pee yourselv yestday." She hiccuped again and tugged down the jacket, trying to mask the wet spot that formed on the outside of her pants.
"Hey, how do you know? I was covered in mud, maybe I did pee my pants." Sophia looked up at Hope, hiccuped and stuttered out: "did you?" Hope guffawed and pressed a single finger to her nose, upturning it like a pig's, "why do you think I smell so bad?" Sophia's broken laughter was music to Hope's ears.
"I won't tell if you won't." Hope promised, sticking out her pinky finger as Sophia hooked hers around it, "okay a promise is a promise."
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Hope cringed at her words, it probably wasn't the best thing to say, but Sophia didn't seem to mind. In fact, she giggled quietly at the words, "my momma says that too." Hope's shoulders unfurled from the hidden tension and sighed, a genuine smile replacing the stressed one.
"Sounds like your momma is a smart woman."
"The smartest." Sophia corrected before rubbing her eyes and looking down. Hope knew the embarrassment wouldn't subside that easily, but she was glad that the girl had stopped crying at the very least.
"Come on now," she rubbed Sophia's forehead free from some dirt, "let's check the rest of the house and then we'll get you cleaned up, promise." A promise was a promise no matter how big, or how small. Once Hope and Sophia checked every inch of the house, closets included, Hope placed Sophia up on the dirty counter in the kitchen.
"Okay, here's the deal: I'll make some new pants for you from my pants, deal?" Sophia nodded her head eagerly. Hope knew what it felt like to wear your own soiled clothes, it made you feel dirtier than any mud pit could.
Hope nodded her back at the girl with a hint of a smile on her lips before putting her backpack up on the counter. She unrolled a pair of jeans that she had been saving for the cooler months and took out her knife. The sun was beginning to set now, the window let in the brilliant oranges and yellows the sky had to offer which in turn, only sped the process along. She laid the pants out next to Sophia and cut the pants a little longer, to give room for the girl's hips.
"I know they'll be big on you, but we can use some rope to tie it off, alright?"
"Uh huh, okay, but what are we going to do about these?" She pointed down to the soiled pair of capris she wore. Hope just smiled, "what we'll do is I'll wrap it up in one of my extra flannels so when we get to your group I can clean it."
"Just you right?"
Hope mocked a shocked gasp, "of course, a promise is a promise after all." A straight cut with her knife and Hope had made a new pair of pants for Sophia. She held them up proudly and gave the jeans to the girl, "alright, you'll change and put your old pants on the counter alright? I'm going to give you some privacy and see if I can hang up some material on the windows."
To be honest, the windows were mostly boarded up and already had curtains hanging haphazardly on rods, but it was an excuse for the little girl for the some privacy. She deserved it after all she had been through. Sophia only nodded her head. Hope left the room and began closing the curtains, even going as far as locking the front door. She peered out the small window on the door, her eyes scanning the forest floor for any signs of movement. She couldn't help but wonder if anyone or anything had heard Sophia's breakdown; surely, they would've come out by now if they had, right? A cough interrupted her thoughts and she spun around to wear Sophia was standing.
Of course, the jeans were baggy on her small frame and she had to hold up the waist to keep them from falling down. It was a sight that made Hope chuckle lightly, "come on lets get that rope for you."
When night had completely fallen, the two girls had huddled in the upstairs bedroom beside the bed. Hope wasn't too fond over the mysterious stain on the bed and had to tell Sophia that meant no bed for the night. The little girl didn't seem to mind one bit as she curled up in the old blankets that Hope had put together. She tried to find the blankets that didn't smell like moth-balls or mildew, but that seemed a lost venture if she ever had one. Although, the blankets looked clean and didn't have an nasty critters hanging off of them, which Hope gave her approval on.
In the matter of a few moments, Sophia had fallen asleep and Hope was standing guard. Her eyes shuttered in want since she had gone the last few days with little or no sleep, but she strained to keep them open. Soon enough, sleep overcame her and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
A few hours drifted by and Hope was awaken by scratching at the front door. Deep scratching followed by the sounds of moaning. Fear ran through her as she glanced down to where Sophia was sleeping, soundly. Hope inched her way over to the front window and peered out of it. She felt the pallor swallow her face as she counted at least five walkers outside the front door and more rolling in by the minute. Her feet screamed at her to run, but she stopped short of the door as she heard Sophia turn over in her sleep.
She couldn't leave her. She wouldn't.
She gulped back the knot forming in her throat as she gazed out the window once again, silently thanking herself for locking the doors. She heard Sophia rustle from her blanket bed and yawn, "what's going on?" She sleep was heavy on her words as they slurred together and Hope just smiled at her, "nothing go back to bed, I'll wake you up in a few hours." The girl just nodded and fell back asleep. Hope watched as the walkers formed a circle around the door and for the next hour, banged and scratched on the front door.
"It's not nothing is it?"
Hope was startled at Sophia's words. She was well and truly woken, her eyes darted from Hope to the window, "I heard them."
"There are some at the front door, but I think we can sneak out the kitchen window." The back door had been nailed shut from the inside and from Hope's pacing, she could tell that none of them had figured out how to circle the building to try to find a new way in. Yet. Sophia was shaking when Hope turned to look at her again, "Don't worry, I promised I'd get you to your mom safe and sound right? So I will." Sophia nodded her head as Hope started to pack up what little she had unpacked.
"Why are so many here?"
Hope didn't want to say it was from Sophia's loud sobbing earlier, but that's all it could've been so Hope just shrugged her shoulders, "maybe a something died nearby and the blood led them here." She couldn't tell if Sophia bought it or not, but motioned the girl to follow her when everything was packed up. Hope walked down the stairs, carrying Sophia as to not make added noise. They walked by the window as quietly as they came and fled into the kitchen. Hope put down Sophia as sweat started to pool at her neck. Her aching fingers tugged at the window, but it wouldn't budge. Fear ate at her very being as she looked around to see that the walkers had covered the front windows completely. She knew what she would have to do.
"Okay," she whispered to Sophia, "here's what's going to happen Sophia, I'm going to have to break the window."
"But they'll hear!" She said a little too loudly to which Hope covered Sophia's mouth gently with her hand, shushing her.
"I know, but once you get out you're going to run over to that tree, you see it there?" Hope pointed out the window to the low branch hanging tree, "you're going to climb it and wait for me to come out, alright?"
"But - "
Hope cut off Sophia, "do you know how to climb a tree?"
"I don't want to leave you - "
"Sophia," she said sternly, "do you know how to climb a tree?"
"Yes'm, did it all the time at home."
"Good, so when you get out of the window what are you going to do?"
Sophia was shaking, "climb the tree."
"Damn right and you're going to climb it as high as you can go alright?"
Hope blamed herself. She waited for more to show up, although she was hoping they'd all wander away. They were stuck in this situation because of her dumb decision.
"Hell yeah." Sophia muttered and Hope could only smile.
"Good," she pulled off her back and slung the canteen of water over her shoulder, "for when you get up there so you aren't thirsty as sin, alright?" Sophia nodded her head as Hope pulled out the bulletless gun, handing it to the girl.
"I don't know how to shoot."
Hope laughed as quietly as she could, "good because there aren't any bullets in there. If one of those fuck- walkers gets close you throw it at them okay?" Sophia nodded her head once again, her little hand shaking under the weight of the metal object, "you gotta be real brave now, can you do that for me?"
"Hell yeah." She muttered again.
"Good."
Hope stood from her crouched position and grabbed the nearest heavy object, which was a knife block and readied it in her hand, "okay, get up on the counter and get ready." The drop from the window wasn't very far, not even a story so she knew Sophia was going to be fine. She had to be.
"One the count of three, ready?"
"Yes'm."
Sophia crouched on the counter, holding the gun with both hands very dearly, "One..."
Hope aimed at the window with the knife block, "two..."
With a steady hand she crashed the block through the window, clearing out the remainder of the shards with her hands to clear a safe path for Sophia, "three! GO!" Sophia nearly leapt out the window, like cat hunting its prey. Hope watched as Sophia safely made it to the tree with no obstacles until she was at the base, that's when the walkers took note of her. She screamed loudly as she tried to scrabble up the tree.
Hope didn't want any of that, "hey fuckers!" She screamed over Sophia, taking objects from the counter and throwing them out the window, "dinner bell is ringing over here you ugly son-of-a-bitches!" Sophia made it up a few branches when the walkers diverted their gaze over towards her, "that's right fuckers why have a scrawny kid when I got some meat on my bones!" She drew her hands to the sill and smeared her bleeding knuckles and palms on the paint, leaning backwards as they started clawing on it. Her heart was pounding in her throat as she turned and started up the stairs, just as the front door collapsed in on itself.
"Mother fuckers! Bet you wanna piece of me, come and get it!"
She needed to survive this, this was her redemption - the pain, the fear: everything. She ran up the steps, followed closely behind by the bumbling footsteps of the walkers. She made a break towards the bedroom they had been staying in and locked the door behind her. Good, I cornered myself, she thought amusingly. She took one glance at the boarded up windows and began prying off the boards with her hands. Blood seeped from the wounds on her hands as she clawed her way out. The banging on the door was her adrenaline and there was no way in Hell she was giving up that easily now, not when that little girl needed her. She felt a few of her fingers snap off and she howled with pain as the open wound breathed in the air.
The banging on the door was harder than before as she finally pried off the last board. She was home-free, or so she thought. The door collapsed in behind her, just like the front door had done and she took a chance. Without looking back at the scrambling corpses, she made an 'x' with her arms and shielded her face as she jumped out through the window. The force of the glass made her arms snap back into her face, pushing back against her nose and the pain was immediate. She fell two stories and landed with a loud smack. Her shoulder snapped under her weight and she screamed in pain, but didn't have time to assess the damage. As glass rained down on her and she stood up, the pain pulsating from everywhere on her body as she dashed over to the tree Sophia was in.
"We gotta move, come on Soph!" Sophia was half way down the tree when the walkers started spilling out of the second story window, each of the bodies meeting the ground with another resounding smack against the crumpled leaves and glass, "now!" She howled. The adrenaline was bursting through her, working against the pain she felt from everywhere, as Sophia finally graced the ground.
"RUN!"
Sophia sprinted ahead of her, the metal gun still clasped in her hands as they shot out of the small clearing and away from the flooding house.
They didn't stop running for what seemed like hours, but quite possibly could've been just minutes. Sophia collapsed in a pile while Hope barely stopped a few feet from her, her lungs on fire from the sprint.
"That was..."
Hope nodded her head, "fucking stupid."
"So awesome!" Sophia beamed up at her through tear induced eyes, "like an action movie when you started screaming at them and then you just burst out the window!"
Hope wasn't expecting that and she would've laughed, but given the pain in her nose she just couldn't bring herself to do so. She just patted Sophia's head and wheezed, "lets keep moving."
Sophia nodded her head and looked up at Hope, eyes sparkling and everything, "lets go!" When Sophia clasped her hand together with Hope, she almost drew back her hand as her hand screamed, but smiled and nodded.
The sun had finally risen when Hope was met with a curious sight. A fence. Not just any fence, a barbwire fence that most farms had around them to keep out things as well as keep in things. Hope's eyes couldn't see very far, but she heard Sophia gasp out beside her, "I think I see momma!" Before Hope could say anything, she felt Sophia's hand leave hers and the resounding noise of Sophia screaming: "MOMMA!"
When Daryl had come back emptied handed, only the look of disappointment on his face and empty promises, Carol had given up hope. Sophia was just a little girl with too much sweetness and too much hope; had she done this to her own daughter? Could she had done something different? She choked back tears as she simply nodded her head, "you did your best Daryl, that's more than a lot of people are doing."
When Carol had turned around, she could hear Sophia screaming out for her. It almost pained her until she realized it was getting closer. She turned around, her eyes searching for where the noise came from and cried out when she saw Sophia passing the field beyond the farm, "Momma! Momma!" Carol nearly collapsed on sight, but found the strength in her legs to push her forward until she had Sophia in her arms again.
"Sophia! My Sophia, my baby, oh my god. I'm so sorry, momma is so very sorry." Carol placed kisses over Sophia's face and kept doing so until Sophia squirmed out of her grasp.
"You have to meet her Momma, she's awesome!"
"Who honey?"
Andrea sat on her perch, her eyes connecting with a tumbling figure out on the perimeter, "walker!" She yelled back, her hand going to her gun. Rick, who was nearby, saw the woman reach towards the gun and called out to her: "Don't shoot, we'll go out and take care of it!" Rick and Daryl rushed out with knives drawn, reaching the staggering figure in record time.
Andrea whispered to herself, "I've got this." She picked up her rifle, aimed, and shot.
Sophia was crying happy tears as she pointed towards the field, "my friend!" Her eyes glanced over just in time to hear the shot of the gun and to see Hope fall down in the field itself. The happy tears soon turned to ones of sadness as she screamed out: "HOPE!"
Hope felt burning all on her body, from her head to her toes as she chuckled out a grimace. She felt hands on her, but the darkness was so welcoming. She had done it. She redeemed herself, she was ready to atone. When she closed her eyes, she could still hear Sophia screaming. People were screaming. Shadows loomed over her and she knew what was coming.
Hope was readied to be snuffed out like a flame.
