Atlanta was done –that was a fact. There were too many walkers and not enough safe spaces. They had to move on. Fort Benning was the option that everyone decided on. They thought the CDC was safe so who's to say Fort Benning will be any better? It seemed as if the whole military was planted outside the CDC and walkers managed to take them down. Was anywhere safe, really? It didn't seem like it. Death was everywhere they turned.
Mary stared out the window of the RV, chewing on the tip of her thumbnail. Jacqui, Jim, Ed, Morales and his family: All gone. Okay, maybe Morales was still alive somewhere but who knows? And she didn't actually care about Ed but still. That's seven people gone. How long would it take before everyone was gone?
"Hey." Mary jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and instinctively reached for her knife that she kept hanging from her jeans but calmed down once she realised it was just Amy. "Are you alright?" Amy asked, worried.
"Yeah." Mary lied, forcing a smile. "Just wondering how Cameron's doin'." That wasn't really a lie. She was curious as to what Cameron was up to. Some of the group (Lori, mostly) didn't think it was safe for Cammie to ride on the motorcycle with Daryl so she ended up in the station wagon with Rick, Lori and the other two kids. Just thinking about it made her uneasy. Not because she didn't trust Rick and Lori –she did… sort of. It just felt weird to think how much of a happy family they looked like in the car. They were all laughing and telling jokes and stories and Cammie looked… she looked like she belonged.
"I'm sure she's fine." Amy reassured the Dixon girl, planting a soft kiss on her lips. There were a few groans that followed which made Amy and Mary smile, then pull apart.
"No kissing in front of me." Andrea told the two, going back to cleaning her gun with a blue rag she borrowed from Dale. It had only been around a week since Amy and Mary told everyone they were together and Andrea still wasn't sure she was okay with it yet. Not because they were two girls. No, it was because Mary was A Dixon. It's not that she didn't trust them, she just didn't want Amy getting close to someone who would leave in a heartbeat for her family or would even die without thinking about how it would affect others.
"Would you rather us kiss in private?" Mary asked. "We would be able to do a lo—"
"Mary." Amy hissed, elbowing the other girl, making her stop. Amy was smirking however.
Andrea shook her head but also had a hint of a smile. Before the world went to shit, she would always joke about how her sister was still single and how she should get a man in her life. Well, jokes on her, huh? Took the end of the world for her little sister to find love and it was with another girl.
-O-
"I was just thinking about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl." Lori stated. Rick looked over with a smile and started laughing, memories coming flooding back.
This conversation started interested Cammie. She had never actually went on a trip, never mind a holiday. Unless you count Merle dragging her across the country to buy new hunting rifles a trip (which Cammie didn't because trips are supposed to be fun right?)
"I don't remember that." Carl said, looking between his parents.
"No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby." Lori told him. "And besides, we never made it past Fort Worth."
"No, you got sick." Rick added. "I never knew a baby could throw up so much." He joked.
"Gross." Cameron commented, sticking her tongue out.
"Yeah, gross." Lori agreed. "The Doctor in Texas said you'd live. Then we turned around and drove home."
"That sucks." Carl said
"No," Lori said, shaking her head. "It was a good trip."
"The best."
"We should go." Cameron said, staring out the window of the car. "To the Grand Canyon." She added in case they didn't understand. "I've never been and…" She trailed off, turning back around to face the other's, suddenly feeling like they didn't want her input.
"I'd like to go as well." Carl added, smiling.
"Can I come, too?" Sophia asked.
"We'd never go without you, guys." Rick told them, smiling warmly. "That's a promise."
Cameron leaned back against the car seat, resting her head on the head rest. This felt nice. Even if they were in the middle of an apocalypse. Her mind started drifting to the book she had been reading: The Maze Runner. She was almost finished the first book and was getting kind of anxious. Would they get out the maze? Would Chuck ever find his parents? Would Gally stop being a total jerk? Who knows? Next break they have, she would finish it. Though, part of her didn't want to finish it. She only had two books and she was still certain there was a third one and she doesn't have it. That would suck.
The car suddenly pulled to a stop, confusing the three kids. "What's going on?" Carl asked, looking out the front window. Daryl drove up on Rick's side and went around and then passed on Lori's side, heading forward again and once he disappeared past the RV, said RV started up again. The car followed behind for roughly five minutes before the RV stopped again and only when Dale climbed out did Rick get out of the car to see what was going on.
Cameron un-did her seatbelt and climbed into the passenger seat and out the passenger side door since the car had child locks in the back and stood back, watching what was going on. From what she heard, the RV had broken down again. Didn't they use the hose from Merles truck? Did it not work?
Cameron walked forward with Lori holding her and Carl under her arms like a protective mother unsure of what she was leading her cubs into. Cammie and Carl shared a brief look that told each other they were both confused as to what was going on.
"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked the old man.
"Just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…" Dale trailed of when he saw Daryl rummaging through and open trunk of the nearest car to the RV. "Okay, that was dumb." He admitted, realising they were practically in the middle of a supply goldmine. Well, Goldmine/Graveyard.
"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane said, shotgun at the ready in case anything tried to jump out at them.
"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl stated, looking inside the backpack he found. There was a couple of empty water bottles and very mouldy food. Yuck, he though, putting it back down.
"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T. said, looking around.
"Maybe some water." Added Carol.
"Or food." Said Glenn
"Might even find some weapons if we're lucky." Added Mary, placing one hand on her hip and the other over her eyes to block out the sun.
"This is a graveyard." Said Lori, shocked at how everyone could considered scavenging through all these dead bodies. Everyone passed their looks, not sure how to reply to that. They needed stuff they could find here. They were running low on gas, water, food and even clothes. Anything they could find would be useful. They were starting to not care where they got it from. "I don't know how I feel about this."
After a brief silence, Shane spoke. "Gather what you can, y'all." They couldn't just not get all the possible life saving supplies because one women didn't like it. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Cameron and Carl walked away with Lori while Mary and Amy took off in another direction and Daryl… well no one really knows where he disappeared to.
Flies buzzed around the cars that were filled with corpses that were more like skeletons now. The sun must have burned them away to nothing.
"Can we go look over there?" Cameron asked, pointing a number of large trucks around 20 meters away or so.
"Sure. Just don't leave mine or Carol's sight, okay?" The three kids nodded and ran off, running around cars and jumping over various obstacles that were laying on the road. Cameron got their first of course and tried to push open the shutters on the back of the first truck. It was a plain white one, maybe a rental. So who knows what could be in there. Sophia was carefully circling the truck next to it. Also white but it had a logo on the side. It was the Walmart logo. The third truck she didn't really get a good look at but Carl was already there so she would probably find out soon. Cameron finally yanked open the lever and the door flew open, causing Cameron to fall backwards onto the road in shock. She stood back up, rubbed her now sore hands on her combat shorts and climbed into the truck.
"Woah." She muttered. There were a ton of boxes that were marked all different. 'Kitchen supplies' and 'DVD's & Books'' and 'Memories' were some of a few. Cameron looked through all of them, picking out things she thought was the coolest. She did steal a couple of the books for herself, she wasn't going to lie. She was going to need something to read when she was done with The Maze Runner.
Once she had looked through she pulled up a box marked 'David's Clothes' and pulled it open. Based on the size of the clothes, David must have been around her age. She pulled out a few things, holding them close to her person to see if they would actually fit –which they did— and then sitting to the side. "Oohh" she awed, pulling out a black hoodie with the Sons of Anarchy Logo on the back. "Mine." She muttered, pulling it on over her plain white shirt and zipping it up. Perfect fit.
She pushed the box to the side for now and chose to look at the one next to it labelled: 'Comics.' She picked the box up and sat herself down on the red couch that was tied down to the floor of the truck and started looking through. They were mostly marvel but every now and then she would find a DC comic. She picked up a Spiderman one then shoved the box to the side and brought her legs up and started flipping through it.
"Cammie!" Her head shot up in surprise when she heard her name being called in a sort of hushed but urgent tone. It was Carl. He climbed into the truck and started trying to reach the shutter to pull it down. "Help me." He said frantically. Cammie got up from the couch, grabbed a nearby box to stand on and started pulling down the shutters.
"What's wrong?" She asked once they were down and they were plunged into darkness. The only light coming through the small window that looked into the driver's seat in the front of the truck.
Carl placed a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet, then carefully pointed to the small window. Thought the boxes and various pieces of furniture made it hard, Cammie managed to make it over to peer out the window and almost fell back in shock. There were hundreds of walkers out there. How long had she been reading that comic? And how didn't she hear them.
The two of them sat back on the couch, trying to keep their breathing normal. "Where's Sophia?" Cammie asked him quietly.
Carl shrugged. "She found some food and went to go show the others."
The two then fell into a very tension filled silence. Every now and then, a walker would bump against the side of the truck, causing them to jump in surprise and grab for each other's hand and then quickly taking it back. After the third time, they just held on tighter.
Eventually, the moans became quiet, almost non-existent. "Is it safe?" Cameron asked quietly. Carl shrugged. Cameron carefully stood up and stepped over all the boxes to look out the small window. She couldn't see any more walkers coming so they must have passed already.
"They're gone." At this, Carl decided to try to get the shutters open but failed. Even with Cammie helping, the door wouldn't budge. Out of exhaustion, the two fell back on their butts and let out a huge sigh.
"It's stuck." Carl stated.
"Yeah, I figured that out on my own."
"SOPHIA!" Both of their heads shot up when they heard their friend's name being called. The two stood up and pressed their ears on the shutters. It was Carol. What the hell was going on?
But then it wasn't just Sophia's name being called, but theirs too. It suddenly hit them that maybe the adults didn't know where they were. The two shared an understanding look before pounding on the shutters and yelling, trying to draw attention.
"Over here." They heard someone say.
"Cammie? Carl?!" Said another person who sounded like they were right in front of them.
"In here!" Cammie yelled, banging on the shutters with her fist.
"You two okay?" It was Shane. He was definitely on the other side.
"Yeah." Carl assured him. "We can't get it open."
"Hey!" They heard Shane yell. "They're over here!" The shutters then moved slightly but didn't open.
"Carl. Baby?" There was Lori.
"Damn shutters won't budge." Shane complained. "Hey, is there any other way for you two to get out?" Cameron's eyes went straight to the small window. It was a rectangle that barely took up any room on the wall. Just looking at it, Cam knew it was too small for her or Carl to fit through.
"No." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
Great, Cam thought. The dead are up and walking and she's going to die because she got trapped in a stupid rental van. Well, at least she wasn't alone. It would suck dying alone… her granddad died alone –so did her mom. Also her grandma… Were Dixons destined to die alone? Was that their curse? Cammie wasn't alone right now. Maybe she was just over-reacting at the moment. Of course she was going to get out of here. But thinking about all her dead family members, how they were all alone when they lost their lives… it scared her.
There was some commotion outside –people arguing over something. Probably how the hell to get them out. Someone (Sounded like Daryl) yelled for someone to give him something then a loud banging noise followed. It sounded like someone was repeatedly slamming the stupid handle that kept them trapped in the van. Suddenly, the shutters were up and Cammie was running out, desperate to get out of the darkness, and into her uncles arms.
"Thought you were gone just like Sophia." Daryl stated, sounding a little worried. He pulled back from the hug and looked down at his niece, seeing the fear slowly leaving her eyes only to be replaced with confusion.
"Wha—?" She asked, her voice trailing off as she began looking around, searching for her friend. Panic started to set in when she realised she couldn't see her friend anywhere. What she did see was a scared Carol, staring off into the forest next to the highway.
-O-
Mary didn't even think twice about it. As soon as she saw the walkers go after Sophia she was up and running after the scared girl who had ran off into the forests to escape the monsters who wanted to kill her. She vaulted over that barrier like there was no tomorrow and chased down the little girl who had become friends with her niece.
Sophia had screamed in fear when Mary had grabbed her, thinking she was a walker but calmed down when she noticed it was the oldest Dixon girl who was carrying her to safety. Once they had put a good distance between themselves and the walkers, Mary had put the girl down to catch her breath.
"Shoot them!" Sophia had cried, reaching for the gun in Mary's holster after hearing the moans of the walkers that were getting closer by the second. Mary shook her head and grabbed a hold of Sophia's wrist.
"No. We can't make any more noise or the walkers on the highway will come back." There was also the part that Mary got winded a hell of a lot easier than those stupid walkers but she decided against telling Sophia that.
Mary turned her head and saw the Walkers were only a couple of tree lines back. So she had picked Sophia up again and ran until she reached a small creek of sorts. She had jumped down and held Sophia in after her and told her to hide behind the brush which Sophia did.
"Stay here. If I'm not back in ten minutes, keep the sun on your left shoulder –that'll take you back to the highway. Got it?" Sophia nodded. "Good." Mary said, nodding her head a bit. "Good…" She said a little quieter as her attention was brought to the walkers who were almost at the edge where the ground dropped into the creek.
Then, she led the walkers away from the girl and killed them with a rock she had found. By the time she had gotten back to the place she had his Sophia, the girl was gone and Mary assumed that Sophia had made her way back to the highway. So you can imagine the fear that shot threw the women when she herself arrived back to the highway to find a frantic Carol and no Sophia.
"I swear she was right here!" Mary yelled, kicking a clump of dirt to the side in frustration. "Then—" she turned around and pointed in the direction of the highway. "I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left damn shoulder!"
Shane sighed and rubbed a hand through his curly hair. "Girl had a close call with walkers. Must have been scared shitless. Gotta wonder how much of what you said actually stuck."
"Oh blow me, Walsh." Mary spat at him, pissed off.
"No she did like you said." Came Daryl's voice. He pointed at the tracks he had discovered while Shane and Mary were arguing. He honestly wasn't even sure why Shane had come. He was no use. Daryl and Mary could track and if they came across any walkers they had their bows. He could understand Rick coming, but not Shane. Glenn was also here, keeping guard. Also no idea why he had to come. It would have been just being Rick, Mary and himself.
"Let's spread out, make our way back." Daryl ordered. Well, they were here now so he might as well put them to work. They could actually make themselves useful.
"Hey." Shane grabbed a hold of Mary's arm as she was pulling herself out of the water and he tugged her up the rest of the way. "We're gonna find her."
Mary took her arm back and narrowed her eyes back at him. "I know." She had no idea what kind of game he was playing here where one minute he was being a complete dick-bag and then the next he was this reassuring guy who she just wanted to punch in the face.
"She was doing fine till right here." Daryl said, kneeling down and staring at Sophia's prints. He glanced back at the three men and his sister who had been following him. Shane had also kneeled down to have a look but obviously he wasn't a tracker so he wouldn't even be able to see Sophia's prints. "All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way."
"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked, staring in the direction Daryl said she ran off in.
"Maybe a walker spooked her." Mary suggested walking over to see if she could spot any other foot prints.
"Nah." Daryl told them. "Aint any other footprints. Just hers."
"So what do we do?" Asked Shane. "All of us press on?"
"No. better if you and Glenn go back up to the highway. You too Mary." Rick added, turning to the oldest Dixon girl.
"What?" She asked, a mix of shock and anger in her voice.
"You're angry an—"
"Damn right I'm angry. It's my fault that little girl is out here in the first place. I'm staying."
"Your anger might get in the way."
"My fist might get in the way of your face if you don't shut up!" She spat. "Now I'm gonna go find that little girl. Feel free to join me." She told them before walking off, following Sophia's prints. If she didn't leave she would have punched Rick right in the nose.
-O-
When Shane arrived back, he started giving everyone tasks to get their mind of things. A few were challenged to move cars out the way, one was told to look after T. since he cut open his arm, the others were told to scavenge some more. Carl and Cammie were tasked with bringing over the boxes from the rental van they had gotten trapped in earlier. There was a lot of stuff in there that was useful to be fair. Clothes, possible weapons, entertainment. All sorts.
"Cool." Cammie muttered, picking up a black baseball bat that she had discovered when she moved the box that was on top of it. She swung it a few times, getting the fell for it.
"Hey." Shane's voice drew her attention away. "What did you find? Anything useful?"
"It's a baseball bat." She told him, lifting it up a bit higher. "Can I keep it?" she asked. Shane thought for a moment before nodding and Cammie smiled. She tucked it under her arm and picked up the box labelled 'Sports eq.' which was heavier than she anticipated and carefully stepped out of the truck, passing Carl on the way to the RV.
He was worrying about Sophia (Most people were). Cammie didn't feel the need to worry –not yet anyway. She had her uncle and aunt –two of the best hunters she knew- looking for Sophia. They were going to find her and that was just a fact.
Cammie sat the box down next to the RV and the baseball dropped from under her arm. She picked it back up and dragged it behind her when she climbed into the RV. Amy was sitting with T. who looked anything but okay. There was blood all over his shirt and arm and even leaking through his bandages.
She remembered seeing a box labelled 'Jim shirts'. Maybe Jim was the same size as T.? Quickly, she headed out and started looking around the boxes. She spotted it by the wheel and started looking around. Jim actually seemed a lot bigger than T. but he wouldn't mind would he? She pulled out a blue button down with short sleeves and then before she climbed back in the RV, curiousness over took her. She glanced at her dads back –more specifically, the little bag that hung off it. She wasn't an idiot, she knew her dad took all types of drugs when he could. Hell, before they met up with this group, he raided a pharmacy for anything he could find because his dealer was killed in the early days and his own stash was running low. Maybe the pharmacy pills he stole would still be in there. She quickly ran over and dug her hand in and began feeling around. A plastic bag grazed against her finger tipps and she dived in further to grab it and yanked out the plastic bag to see it was filled with various capsules filled with pills. Thank god, she thought.
By the time she had reached the RV again, Dale was also inside, looking around the cabinets above the sink. "I know I had some pain killers here." He muttered under his breath. "Oh, hey Cam. Anything I can help you with?" He asked, his eyes wondering down to the objects in her hand.
"No… but I think I can help you." She smirked and put down the clean t-shirt and bag filled with medication.
"Where do you get these?" Dale asked, reaching for them to see what goodies would actually help T.
Cammie didn't really want to say that her dad was a junkie, that he stole all of this to fill his drug addicted needs. So she just shrugged. "Found 'em." She lied. "Will any of them help?" she asked, going on her tip-toes and looking down at the bag in Dale's hands.
"Yeah." Dale said, smiling. Then he did something that took Cammie off guard. He hugged her. Dale pulled her in for one of the tightest hugs she had ever had and then ruffled a hand through her long hair. "You're amazing." He told her.
"What's the –uh… what's the shirt for?" T. asked, shivering.
"I thought you might like one that isn't covered in blood." Cammie told him, grinning. T. Laughed and nodded.
Mary, Daryl and Rick arrived back a little later when everyone was just starting to set up for bed. Carol was the first to run over to them and began to lose a lot of hope when she saw that Sophia wasn't with them.
"You didn't find her?" Carol breathed out, shaking her hands.
"Her trail went cold." Rick informed her. "We'll pick it up again at first light."
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol cried.
"Out in the dark's no good." Daryl said. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people would get lost."
"But she's twelve! She can't be out there on her own." Carol cried. "You didn't find anything."
"I know this i—" Mary who had been quiet during the whole thing tried to comfort the women but what shut down almost instantly.
"You don't know anything!" Carol snapped at her. "My little girls out there all alone. How would you know what that feels like?" Carol sobbed and Mary tried her best not to react. Cameron could tell Mary wanted to scream at Carol, wanted to scream at herself. It was painful for Cammie to watch her aunt try not to break down at that remark.
"We know she was out there. "Rick took the attention away from Mary, sensing it was cuasing her some kind of distress.
"Yeah, and we tracked her for a while." Daryl added, worryingly glancing over at his sister every now and again.
"We have to make this an organised effort." Rick addressed the whole group. "Daryl and Mary know the woods better than anybody. I've asked them to oversee this."
"Is… is that blood?" Carol suddenly asked, pointing at the blood stain on Daryl's trousers.
"We took a down a walker." Rick told her, trying to calm her down.
"A walker?" she asked softly. "Oh my god." The women then sat herself down and tried to get her breath back.
"But there was no sign it was ever near Sophia." Rick told her
"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.
Rick and Daryl shared a look before Daryl spoke. "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."
"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?!" Carol barked at Mary. "How could you just leave her?!"
"I'm sorry." Mary muttered, tears glazing over her eyes. "There were walkers and I— I thought…"
"My daughter is out there all alone because you thought wrong!" When the tears rolled down Mary's face, she ran for the RV. To everyone else, it might look like Mary was just upset that she had left Sophia out there on her own and was over-reacting just a tad because of course, Sophia wasn't her daughter. But to Daryl and Cammie who knew about Delsin, it was so much more.
"Hey!" Daryl practically yelled, stopping Carol from yelling at his sister anymore. "You don't get to talk to her like that!"
"My daughter—"
"Your daughter would be dead if Mary hadn't of done what she did. Dead, ya hear me?" And with that, Daryl followed after his sister who he found in the bathroom of the RV, sitting on the floor, her cried getting muffled by her hands which were covering her face.
"We're gonna find that girl." Daryl told her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "She's gonna be fine." He whispered, resting his head on top of hers.
"but if we don't—" she sniffed.
Daryl knew there was no pint in continuing to say 'We will' so he answered her. "Then it aint your fault, alright? It never was."
-O-
First light came quicker than anyone expected and everything started being set up for the first search for Sophia. Cammie was used to getting up at around 5am so it wasn't exactly hard for her but she couldn't speak for everyone else who was still groggy and sleepy when 6am rolled by.
"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick said, rolling out the arsenal Carl had found last night. It had hatchets, machetes, things like that. All very sharp. All very deadly.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. "Andrea stated, placing one hand on her hip. "What about the guns?"
"We've been over that." Shane said without looking up. "Daryl, Mary, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."
"It's not the tree's I'm worried about." Andrea replied.
"Let's say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane told her, annoyed.
"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles," Daryl started before anyone started arguing. "Turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."
"Stay quiet and stay sharp." Rick told the group. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." He then turned to Dale. "Dale, keep us those repairs. We need this RV ready to move."
"We won't stay a minute longer than we have to." Dale said. "Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back."
"Keep an eye on the kids while we're gone." Rick asked him, nodding towards Carl and Cammie who had been next to him.
"We're going with you." Cam said, quickly looking at Carl for confirmation that he too wanted to go.
"Yeah, you need more people right? Cover as much ground as possible." Carl added.
"Your call." Lori said, facing Rick. "I can't always be the bad guy."
"Well, they have all you to look after them. I'd say they're in good hands." Dale said.
"Okay. Okay." Rick finally agreed. "I'll double check with Daryl to make sure you can go." He said to Cammie who just smiled, knowing Daryl would be cool with it.
"What's that on your back, sweetie?" Lori asked her when Rick turned to go talk to Daryl.
Cammie smiled and took the bat off her back and held it up proudly. "Dale let me borrow some nails and rope and look." She nodded at the rope that had been nailed into the bat. "I made a kinda sling so I can carry it on my back. Kinda like what you do with a guitar."
"I wish I had a weapon." Carl admitted when she was slinging it back on.
"There was lots of stuff in that truck. I'm sure theres something." She told him, smiling.
"Alright." Rick said, walking back over. "Daryl says it's cool. You both gotta stay in our sights, all right? No exceptions." Then, Rick and Lori walked away to get set things up. Carl and Cammie smiled and waved at Dale before also walking away.
Dale still wasn't giving Andrea her gun because of Shane's orders so when they set off she was a little more than pissed but everyone elected to ignore it. Carl and Cammie were walking next to each other near the back.
"Hold on." Carl told Cammie before slowing down se he fell in line with Shane. He was still excited that his dad had let him carry one of the smaller knives and wanted to show it off. "Shane, look." He said, holding it out to the older man. "Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was—"
Shane cut him off. "Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia." Shane turned and began walking backwards, making sure nothing was coming up behind them. "You need to focus on the task." Shane had already began to slow down to keep an eye on the area so Carl walked forward again and caught up with Cammie who had stopped to wait on him a bit ahead.
"You alright?" Cammie asked him, sensing something was wrong.
"I think Shane's mad at me." Carl admitted.
Cammie glanced back at the man and shrugged. "Who cares what he thinks?"
"Yeah but… do you think I did something wrong?" Cammie shook her head.
"Nah. He's probably just worried about Sophia. We all are."
"Yeah but that doesn't mean you have to be a jerk." Carl muttered just loud enough that Cammie could hear, causing her to snicker.
Mary and Daryl who were at the front of the group, held up their hands, signalling for them to stop and duck down to avoid making any sounds.
"She could be in there." Shane said, looking at the tent that was around ten metres in front of them.
"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl added as he and Mary both stood up in unison and started slowing making their way towards the tent, bows up.
"Do you think she's in there?" Carl whispered to Cammie who just shrugged. There's no telling what could be in there.
Mary and Daryl circled the tent, trying to get a look in but they couldn't get a clear enough view. Daryl looked at Rick and shrugged. Rick then turned and whispered for Carol to come over.
"Call out softly." Said Rick, walking forward with Carol next to him. "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."
"Sophia? Sweetie? Sophia, its Mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's Mommy." When no response came, Daryl and Mary shared a look and as if they had planned it all out without even speaking, Daryl yanked up the flap of the tent and Mary aimed up her bow, ready to fire. She gagged and turned her head away at the intense smell that blew up her nostrils. Something had definitely died in there. She climbed in first and made a disgusted face when she saw the dead man sitting on the lawn chair with a bullet in his brains and maggots eating away at his flesh.
"Gross." She muttered, stepping back out of the tent, leaving Daryl alone inside.
"Mary?" Carol asked.
Mary shook her head. "It's not her."
"What's in there?" Lori asked.
Daryl then came out of the tent with a new gun in his hands. Probably the one the guy used to kill himself. "Just some guy. Did what Jenner said: Opted out. Aint that what he called it?" He asked, looking at Mary who nodded.
Everyone head looked up when the sounds of bells ringing filled the air. Everyone looked around, trying to locate the direction of where it was coming from. Rick was the first to figure it out and he pointed behind him and then everyone began running to get there. The ringing started getting louder which meant they were getting closer. Who would be ringing bells? Someone could be trying to signal others, or maybe that they found Sophia. Maybe she was ringing them herself.
Once they passed the tree line, a white church in the middle of a graveyard came into view. It was the source of the ringing, no question about it. But it didn't have a steeple which confused everyone.
"That can't be it. Got no steeple. No bells." Shane pointed out but Rick wasn't listening as he was already running again. "Rick!" Shane called after him. The group ran to the church, following behind Rick and Shane. By now the ringing had stopped but the question was: how did it even start? There were no bells.
Rick and Shane slowly opened the large red doors and inside they saw three walkers sitting in the benches which crept Mary out. Did they die sitting there or did the walkers sit themselves down? She wasn't sure which answer she preferred.
Daryl, Rick and Shane took care of the three walkers using the machetes and hatchet from the arsenal and then took the bodies outside so everyone could come inside and not have to deal with their smell.
Shane was telling Rick that this had to be the wrong church because of the lack of steeple when the bells began tolling again, causing everyone to run outside to see what was causing it. Glenn got there first and screwed up his face when he saw the microphone screwed into the wall with a wire coming down from it and into a metal box.
"A timer." Daryl panted, tired from all that running. "It's on a timer."
"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Said Carol, disappointed.
Carl and Cammie went inside along with a few others and sat on the back bench, not talking. Cammie was staring at the statue of Jesus on the cross at the front of the room. She believed in god. Then again, she believed in everything: Mermaids, fairies, vampires, angels, demons, gods. The lot. She always found it weird that only one god existed and all the other religions aren't real, so she decided 'why can't they all be real?' she likes to imagine all the different gods taking turns to do their job since a lot of them have the same one. Like the ones for raising the sun. And she likes to imagine that mermaids are swimming with the dolphins and fairies are kidnapping people and taking them into another dimension and Angels are up in heaven, keeping everything in order and demons are walking the earth, buying people's souls. It's just fun for her.
"Let's go." Lori's voice brought her out of her little trance and her and Carl squeezed out of the pews and left the church.
"Y'all gotta follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge." Shane addressed the group. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so. Just to be thorough."
"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah, we'll catch up to you."
"I want to stay, too." Carl said.
"Same." Cammie said next. "Sophia's our friend.
"Just be careful, okay?" Lori said, ruffling Carl's hair.
"I'm coming, too." Mary's voice shocked everyone. "It's my fault that little girls out here in the first place. Plus, I doubt you two will be able to find your way back without a tracker." She grinned.
-O-
The four had been walking around the forests for roughly an hour when Mary stopped them because she heard twigs snapping. It was quiet, but it happened. She raised her bow up in the direction it came from and started carefully walking forward to get a better look at whatever made the noise.
Marys gasp was audible when she saw the deer. A freaking deer. A stag at that. Do you have any idea how much meat that thing has on it? It could feed them well –really fill up their stomachs. It would be fresh as well which is like a bonus. Mary narrowed her eyes at her target and was going to fire off an arrow when she felt a tap on her shoulder. First she looked back at Rick and then to her niece and Carl who she just noticed were walking towards it. Mary smiled and lowered her weapon, watching.
They were so close. They were actually going to touch a deer! Carl glanced back, smiling, then looked forward again at the deer, then over to Cammie who was staring it with just as much awe as he was.
Carl stood on a branch, alerting the deer to their presence and they both stopped and held their breaths in case it heard and ran away. But it didn't. It stood and stared at them like they were staring at it. It was like he knew they weren't a danger.
The two kids were maybe a meter away when a bullet rang out, going through the deer and then Cammie, Causing the girl to fall backwards with the force of it.
It took a few seconds for everyone to realise what had happened but when they did they were rushing over and dropping down next to her, checking her pulse, the bullet wound, everything.
Carl kept trying to hold her hand but it was so limp it kept falling and he couldn't get a grip on it. He looked at the bullet wound. It was on her left side, just under her ribs. Then he looked at her face: Pale… lifeless. He swallowed down a cry because a sudden realisation had hit him.
She looked dead.
-O-
Dun, dun, dun…
Yeah so I wanted to say sorry because my computer broke and I couldn't use the internet and I tried to upload it from my phone but after every line there was just a bunch of code and I was not putting you guys through that. So I had to wipe my whole laptop (BUT DON'T WORRY I HAD EVERYTHING BACKED UP) and now its good.
Seriousness aside… SEASON 2? Yes, we are here. We did it. A lot of people were saying that they wanted Cammie to still get shot so she did. I know in 'Blood' season two was written terribly but fear not, I'm a better writer than I was then and honestly I hadn't planned this story at all but I have planned this one!... more or less.
Now I know some of you are asking: 'WHO THE HELL IS DELSIN?!' Well… *taps nose* you gonna find out, son. Just not yet.
I think this is long enough without the extra authors note so I shall bid you adieu and I'll talk to you later, dudes! (Honestly if you PM me I will reply no doubt about it. I love messaging other writers)
If you wanna follow me on tumblr then here you go: .
Follow/favourite if you want to see more and Review/PM me if you want to tell me what you liked/didn't like about this chapter or the story in general!
~Daniel
