Chapter 4

A/N:

Sorry for the delay in getting another chapter out. Kind of got hung up on this chapter. I don't know why it was hard to write. Maybe it's because I have the next couple of chapters outlined in detail so I was getting ahead of myself. I also got sidetracked in the form of the Rot & Ruin book series by Jonathan Maberry. It is really good. I had a very hard time putting the books down, but now that I finished the series I'm ready to get back into this story.

Thank you to everyone who has left a review and/or flagged as a Favorite and/or flagged as a Follow. I really appreciate it. You guys are awesome!

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

SMILES

Since they were going to try to stay at the house while Sophia continued to recover, they decided it was time to unload a few more supplies from the truck. They had dropped off a couple of bags and had gone out for another when they heard Sophia gasp and shout.

"Oh! My! God!" they heard her yell. They both ran back into the house weapons out to find her standing there staring into one of the bags. "Do you know what this is?!" she shrieked.

"Uh, yeah," Glenn said, not sure of where this was going.

"This is Kraft mac and cheese!" she squealed.

"I know," Glenn said laughing, finally getting what was going on.

"The hell?" Daryl asked. "Ya scared the shit outta me. Thought you was being attacked."

She continued to alternate looking in the bag and looking at them. Glenn and Daryl smiled watching how her face was lit up with joy. They would have to try to remember how much the little things were being missed. They would do anything in their power to make that look show up more often.

SCARS

As Sophia got her energy back, they started working with her a little bit on how to survive. They were basically running around playing tag, but it was actually showing her some ways to get away. She needed to learn how to watch her surroundings, move effectively and change directions quickly if needed. She had just managed to escape Glenn's reach when she slipped, sliding down on the ground and ending up on her back. Glenn went up to her to see if she scraped her back.

"Hey, did you get hurt?" he asked. "Let me take a look." He reached for the back of her shirt. She twisted around, pushed him and backed away telling him to go away. She looked completely freaked out. Glenn held his hands up palms forward to show her that he wasn't going to touch her. Daryl walked over to them.

"What happened? 'R ya hurt?" he asked.

"No," Sophia replied. "I'm fine."

"Sophia, Sweetie, you know we'd never hurt you, right?" Glenn asked her softly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just kind of panicked," she said.

"Can you tell us what's wrong?" Daryl asked. Sophia started to sniffle a little and her chin started to quiver.

"I don't want you to see," she said.

"See what?" Daryl asked. She looked away. "Nothing you could ever do or say will make us not love you."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Of course," Glenn said.

She turned around and lifted the bottom of her shirt to about midway up her back. It was easy to see the three thin white scars running across her back.

"Did your Dad do that?" Glenn asked.

"Yes…but I was being bad when he did it."

"There is nothing you could ever do to be worth that. It wasn't your fault," Glenn told her. She looked away again and they knew that she didn't believe what they were saying. Glenn and Daryl shared a look. Daryl turned around, unbuttoned his shirt and let it slide down showing her the scars on his back. She started to cry.

"Have you seen them?" she asked Glenn.

"Yeah, I have, Sweetheart," he said sadly.

She walked over and lightly touched them.

"Did it hurt?" she asked Daryl.

"Yeah, it did." he replied. "Did your's hurt?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yes," she whispered.

Daryl pulled his shirt back up and turned around. He pulled Sophia over to sit with him and wrapped an arm around her. Glenn sat on her other side and took her hand.

"It took me a really long time to understand that it wasn't my fault," Daryl began. "Sometimes I still forget that and I have to remind myself…or someone has to remind me," he said glancing at Glenn. "It wasn't my weakness that caused it and it wasn't my behavior that caused it. It wasn't about me. It was about what my daddy needed to do to feel like a man. Some men need to feel better about themselves by knocking someone else down. My daddy was like that and so was yours. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

She looks at him solemnly and nodded. They sat there and held her while she cried to the point of exhaustion. Daryl carried her sleeping form into the house and put her to bed.

HELPING

Daryl was sitting down and had just started butchering a rabbit when Sophia came over and sat down beside him. She looked at what he was doing and scrunched her face a little but watched intently.

"Do ya wanna learn how to do this?" he asked her. She nodded.

"I want to help you and Glenn as much as I can."

"Ya sure you don't want'a just learn how to cook it?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I need to know all of it."

"OK, sit here." He put her between his knees. Daryl filled her in what he had done so far and talked through the rest. Together they finished preparing the rabbit for cooking.

"So what'd you think?" Daryl asked her.

"It was kinda gross," she said scratching her nose. "I'm glad that I know, though. I guess I never really thought about it before. It kind of makes me sad for the rabbit, but I know it's just how it is. We need the food to survive. I am glad that there are rabbits and stuff out here."

"It isn't just animals, neither. There's lots of plants and stuff that we can eat and also use for medicine. Nature can provide a lot if you know how to find it."

"Show me," Sophia said. Daryl nodded.

PLANS

Daryl and Glenn were sitting in the kitchen when Sophia approached them.

"I know you have been teaching me how to get away and how to find food and stuff. I want you to teach me how to fight." Glenn looked at her and then at Daryl.

"Well, I think it's a good idea," Daryl said to her. "How about we get started after some lunch." She smiled and nodded.

"I have a lot to learn, too," Glenn added, "so you might as well teach us both." Daryl nodded.

While they ate, Daryl started to give Sophia some preliminary information.

"Now, when it comes to survival, there are a few basic things that we absolutely have to have. An easy way to remember them is to think in threes. We can last three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water and three weeks without food.

"Ok," Glenn interjected. "I get the air, water and food, but I don't understand why shelter is three hours."

"Well, it kind of depends on the environment. Like here, right now, it wouldn't be as important. If it was cold, you would need shelter pretty quick since it doesn't take long to get hypothermia or frostbite. If it was hot, you might need to protect yourself from the sun by making some shade. There's also bad weather to think about. You might not think a rainstorm is a big deal, but with lightning, it can be. Plus, it can rain for days. Being wet for days is just not a good idea. As a matter of fact, it really sucks."

"Got it," Glenn said.

"Me, too," Sophia added.

"Another thing to think about with shelter is camouflage. How to hide is a good thing to know. It's a good idea to be able to blend in with the environment." They both nodded. "Now, it used to be that in basic survival situations before Wildfire, defense didn't really play a part. If it was considered, it certainly wasn't on the top of list. I'm putting it near the top of the list. In order to worry about shelter, water and food, you need to be alive, so defense will come first. You'll see a lot of what we do every day with cleaning and cooking what we catch so not too worried about that right now. We've already started on that some and you'll pick up a lot of the food and water stuff as we go along."

"So what's the plan?" Glenn asked.

"Well, we'll start with defense which includes weapons and how to use them as well as some fighting skills. Then we'll move on to shelter building that will cover protection from the elements as well as camouflage from animals, walkers and people. We'll mix in fire starting, finding water, and snaring food as we go."

WEAPONS

"First thing we need to do is to find you a weapon or two," Daryl said to Sophia. "We'll need to teach you how to shoot, but that is a last resort because of the noise. We also need to make sure you have a knife. I found one under the seat of the truck that should do ok. I also want to find something else for you too. I'd like you to have something longer than the knife. The knife will be more for food and shelter building and stuff like that. It probably won't help ya much with the fighting part until you're bigger and stronger."

"The crossbow is just too heavy for you for now. Glenn has a baseball bat, but you need to have enough power to swing and hit really hard for it to work so that isn't a good choice. Plus, with ya being shorter, you'd have a really hard time getting a good angle. What you need to do is hit'em in softer spots. Go in under the chin or up under the back of skull. You can also kick their knees to snap them and make them fall to the ground. Then you have access to go through the eye, too.

"So, in order to hit the soft spots, you need something longer than a knife. I'd say it should probably be at least 2, maybe 3 feet long and less than an inch in diameter. We want it to have smooth sides and a very sharp point so it will be easy in and out. Wood probably wouldn't be so good. To have something light enough for you to handle, it would have to be fairly small in diameter. It would need a lot of thrust power with something lighter, plus the smaller diameter increases risk of breaking. We need to think of something light enough for you to use but heavy enough to do damage. I think it should be something metal that can be sharpened to a point. Now, a lot of things can be weapons. Let's looks around and see what we can find to use."

They all walked to the garage.

"Now, here's an example of improvising a weapon," Daryl said, pointing to a shovel hanging on the wall. The metal part can be sharpened and the handle can also be used. But, here we have the same problem as with the baseball bat. It's just too awkward for someone your size. We, however, will be modifying this and putting it in the back of the truck."

"What about this?" Sophia asked, holding up a hammer.

"Nah, not good. You'd have to be really on top of them and it would take a lot of hits to finish 'em. Plus the claw end would get stuck really easy."

"Wish we could find a crowbar," Glenn said.

"Yeah," Daryl replied. "That would probably be good. Don't see one in here though. Have ta keep a look out for one. Now, here's something we can use," he said holding up a long Phillips-head screwdriver. A little sharpening on the end and it's good to go."

"It seems kind of little," Glenn said worriedly looking over a Sophia.

"Yeah, but it'll get the job done. Hopefully she won't get close enough to one of them things to get a chance to test it."

"That'd be nice," Glenn said. "Unlikely, but it would be nice."

"What about the golf clubs?" Sophia asked, pointing to the corner of the garage. They all walk over to check them out.

"Not bad. We get the heads off and sharpen the shaft," Daryl said.

"We'll have to try them out some because golf clubs can be kind of flexible even though they don't look like it," Glenn interjected. "They also might be too light, but we should definitely try."

"Ok, let's head in and check the house." They started in the living room.

"Take a look around and tell me what you see," Daryl said.

"Fireplace tools," Glenn said lifting up the poker.

"Yes. Now, ya might think the poker is the best choice, but it isn't," Daryl said. "It does have a point, but the hook on it makes it almost impossible to use. You'd get one strike but this hook will probably catch and you'd never get it out. Now this," he said referring to the shovel, "is something we need to look at more closely. We can take the shovel part off and that will leave the handle. We can sharpen the end and that will make something usable. It's light enough to control, but heavy enough to penetrate. It won't break easily because it's metal. We'll add a little padding and something grippy to the handle to make it easier to hold and another grip a few inches up the shaft to allow a two-handed thrust."

They spent the next couple of days modifying their finds. They sharpened the items and added grips. The golf clubs ended up being pretty light once the heads were removed and they bent too easily on impact to be of any real use. The fireplace shovel ended up being a good choice. It was short enough and light enough for Sophia to control but long enough and heavy enough that she would be able to do some damage.

Then they needed to figure out a way for Sophia to carry the items. They looked through the closets and found and old leather jacket and belt. They took the small knife that Daryl found under the seat of the truck and attached the holder to the belt. They pulled elastic out of a couple of pairs of sweatpants and used them to fashion a holster for the screwdriver. They rigged one part that would hang from the belt and two more that tied around her thigh. The lower one had a small loop that was for the shaft of the screwdriver. The higher one had a larger loop on it to hold the handle of the screwdriver near the shaft. This allowed for it to be secure, but she had easy access to the handle to draw it out. It also wouldn't interfere with running, walking and sitting.

What they were calling her "sword" was a little harder to deal with. They started by cutting off the sleeves of the leather jacket. Glenn teased that it was something Daryl was really good at. They used one of the sleeves to create a pocket on the back that went from her right shoulder blade to her left hip. They used shoelaces to put ties in the front of the vest so that it could be pulled tighter on her.

"There you go. A original from the House of Dixon fashion line Warrior Chic," Glenn teased.

"Ha, ha," Daryl said with a 'you're so funny I forgot to laugh' face. He turned to Sophia. "Ya look good. How's it feel?"

"Kinda weird, but I'll get used to it. It's actually pretty comfortable."

"Ok, now that we got'cha outfitted, we need to talk about a couple of things," Daryl said. "You always need to have your head in the game. Keep your focus on the job at hand. You can be confident, but never be cocky. That'll get ya killed. All this stuff don't mean nothin' if you don't know how to use it. These ain't gonna protect you. You use them to protect yourself. Remember, it don't need to be fancy to be effective. Understand?"

"Yes," Sophia replied. "I understand."

They worked for the rest of the day on her ability to access her weapons quickly and move around with them. Daryl started instructing both of them on some hand-to-hand fighting skills.

They still had a lot of work to do, but yes, Sophia was on her way to being a bad-ass.

WHY

All of the day's activities wore Sophia out and she was sleeping soundly.

"Why'd you do it?" Glenn asked Daryl

"Do what?" Daryl asked.

"Leave with me."

"It was the right thing to do."

"I know you said it was your chance to get away from the group, but was that really it? I kinda got the feeling there was more to it," Glenn said. Daryl took a breath and sighed.

"They act like they're better than us. I know what it's like to be treated like a second-class citizen. I had t'face that shit all my life. You didn't treat me like that. You's the only one there who treated me like a person. I needed that. I needed that even though I didn't know that I needed it. I know I didn't show it, 'specially when Merle's around, but it was true. You're a good person, plain and simple. Nobody deserves to be treated like shit, 'specially someone like you. Well, that fucker Ed did," Daryl said with a huff, "but definitely not you."

"I know you won't believe me if I say this, but you're a good person, too, Daryl." Daryl looked away. "You didn't think twice about taking care of that little girl, comforting her, protecting her. That says a lot about you. Yeah, you're a good person. Guess I'll have to remind you of that every once in a while."

CHANGE OF PLANS

They managed to scrounge up some clothes for Sophia by raiding a few of the other houses in the area. They were grateful that they managed to find some jeans that fit her pretty well. The jeans were better and more durable than the lighter weight pants that she had.

They were glad that they managed to get a few weeks at the house, but they started to see a some walkers and worried about being able to get out fast so they moved on. They stayed in the area but they had to move around a few times. They tried to stay in houses or other buildings when they could, but that wasn't always possible. When it wasn't they camped.

They continued to drill Sophia on defense, drawing her weapons, and fighting. She was getting better at it all the time. She was getting stronger every day.

They had stayed in a workshop shed at the back of someone's property for the night. The next morning they packed up the truck and Glenn and Sophia went back in to make sure they didn't miss anything when they heard Daryl yell.

"We got walkers!"

Glenn and Sophia came out and saw a group of walkers coming around the shed near the truck and moving toward Daryl. There were more coming out of the nearby woods. There was no way Glenn and Sophia could get through them to the truck.

"You remember where that girl said her farm was?" Daryl asked Glenn as he moved away from the truck.

"Yeah."

"I'll draw 'em off. Meet ya there."

"Daryl, no!" Glenn yelled. "We need to stay together."

"Ya need to get Sophia outta here," Daryl shouted. Glenn knew they wouldn't get to the truck any other way.

"Ok, we'll meet you there. Don't get dead!" Glenn yelled.

Daryl started to call out and wave his arms to get the attention of the walkers. They turned and started to follow him. Glenn killed a couple close to him and Sophia. Sophia took a breath and side kicked the knee of one that was getting too close to her. Once it was down, she used her sword to finish him off. Then Sophia's training paid off big-time. When Glenn was taking down a walker, another hit him from behind and knocked him down. Sophia didn't hesitate for even a second. She stabbed the walker up under the back of its skull. Glenn pushed it off of him and got up.

"Thanks," Glenn said panting. "Good job, Kiddo."

They made it to the truck just in time to see Daryl disappear into the woods. Glenn pushed Sophia into the truck. Daryl took a quick glance back and saw Glenn and Sophia get into the truck. As Daryl moved out of sight, the last thing he heard was Sophia screaming for him.

A/N:

Uh-oh. The farm. That can't be good, right? More to come soon.

As always, I would love to hear from you.