Chapter 7

"NO!" Sophia screamed. In an instant the walker was on the ground with one of Daryl's arrows right between the eyes. Carol collapsed and I rushed over to her. The wound on her neck was bleeding heavily. "Give me something!" I yelled. Daryl took off his shirt and handed it to me. I placed it on her neck and applied as much pressure as I could. Sophia was screaming and sobbing hysterically, everything was so loud, I was having a hard time concentrating.

"Glenn, get her the hell out of here now!" I yelled at him. He rushed over and pulled her away.

I could see the color draining out of Carol's face. Her eyes were wide and frantic. Despite everything happening to her, she was very calm. "Sophia." She said, hoarsely. "Shh. Don't talk. You're gonna be fine." I said back to her, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of my shirt. "Don't lie to me. I've been bit. I'm dead already." She coughed, spewing blood all over herself and me. "Bring her to me." She whispered.

Sophia walked over to her, tears streaming down her cheeks. She knelt beside her mom. "I'm so sorry mommy. I didn't know this would happen." Carol placed her hand on Sophia's cheek and said, "I know baby, it's okay. Remember, I'll love you forever. Come here." Sophia bent down and Carol whispered something into her ear. Sophia sat up and shook her head yes. They both smiled at each other.

I clutched onto Daryl's arm. I was so scared and so very sad. I liked Carol and I hated the fact that there was nothing I could do to save her. And poor Sophia, she was an orphan now. Will this little girl be able to survive?

We all stood and watched as Carol's labored breathing became shallower and shallower and then finally she took her last breath. Sophia let out a horrific groan as she slowly realized that her mother was gone. We looked at each other, none of us really sure what to do. Rick started to walk towards them when Sophia took out her knife and buried it in Carol's head.

With a sigh, Sophia stood up, wiped her face and started walking back toward the highway and the rest of our people. "Follow her." Shane told Glenn and he took off after her. "Me and Bren will head back and I'll get some shovels. I'll bring 'em to ya if you want." Daryl looked at Rick. Rick seemed to be at a loss for words. All of us was really. What did we just witness anyways? "Yeah, yeah that's fine." Rick said as he sat down against a tree. Shane followed suit and added, "Might wanna hurry though. It's already dark."

Daryl and I started walking, neither of us talking to the other. I was crying, but softly enough to where Daryl couldn't hear me. Halfway back I finally broke the silence. "It was my fault ya know."

"How you figure?" Daryl stopped walking and turned to face me.

"I told Carol to come with me. I was just going to go hunting, I had no intentions on looking for that girl. That's what you guys were doing. But Carol started talking to me about Sophia and I thought it would be good that if we did happen to find her, her mother would be one of the first people she would see."

"Your heart was in the right place, but your brain is in outer space. This ain't your fault, Bren. Carol didn't have to come just because you asked her to. She made that choice on her own. The person who really shouldn't be able to live with herself is her daughter. If Sophia hadn't had gone missing a second time, none of this shit would have happened. In no way, shape or form is ANY of this your fault and I don't want you blaming yourself for any of it, okay?"

I stared at my husband for what seemed like an eternity before I said anything back to him. "Okay." Was all I could manage to spit out. We kept walking for a while longer and then finally got back to the highway and the string of cars we were camped at. Daryl got the shovels and before he took off again he embraced me in a bear hug so tight I thought I would have exploded.

"No matter what Brenna. We will always find each other." He stepped back and gave me a kiss. This time it was a passionate kiss. The kind of kiss you see at the end of those Disney movies with the Princesses. I didn't want him to go, but I knew deep down that it didn't matter what I wanted anymore. Daryl Dixon was gonna do whatever the hell Daryl Dixon wanted to do and that attitude alone was enough to make me love him even more than I ever did. "Right, we always will. I love you." I said back to him. "Don't wait up. Get some sleep. We're probably heading out tomorrow."

I walked back to the station wagon, making sure to avoid everyone else. I really didn't want to talk about what had just happened and I was pretty sure Glenn would have spilled the beans by now. All I wanted to do was sleep and pray that all of this was a big nightmare.

I laid in the vehicle for the longest time, my mind racing, going a mile a minute. I tried to wait up for Daryl to come back but I knew that would be near impossible. Even though I was having trouble falling asleep, I knew I was fall asleep eventually.

We will always find each other…

We will always find each other…

We will always find each other…

I kept repeating that over and over in my head until finally I fell into a restless sleep.