Chapter 9
Rick's POV
It only took about 10 minutes to take care of the walkers. He would have to remember to carry a knife or a weapon that was quieter than his gun in the future. Jogging back to the spot where he left the two girls, he started to call their names,
"Sophia, Cora it's me"
The only response he received was a gurgling noise and some rustling of leaves. Cautiously stepping up to where he left the girls he immediately dreaded the worse. What he saw wasn't much of a relief but he would take it over finding their bodies partially eaten. Laying on her back Cora was having a seizure and had somehow managed not to fall into the water. Her legs were in the creek. Running over to her he ducked under the enclosure to make sure that she was on her side and didn't fall into the water. There was no sign of Sophia anywhere. Taking his shirt off he laid it under Cora's head. Hopefully Sophia went back to the others to get help for the little girl.
Once the seizure subsided, he knew she would be too tired to walk. Picking her up he started the hike up to the highway and she slept the entire time in his arms.
Daryl's POV
He couldn't stop looking into the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of Cora making her way back to her mom and him. He noticed that Kat was starting to stir and he hoped she stayed out of it until Cora arrived back safe. He didn't want to tell her that her baby was lost in the woods. He was still unsure why he didn't go running into the woods himself. He wasn't thinking straight is the only answer he could come up with.
Looking to the woods another time he heard movement and caught a flash of something moving. Stepping off the R.V and raising his crossbow he started to walk toward it. Rick stepped out of the woods carrying an unconscious Cora. He immediately feared the worse and dropped to his knees.
Rick was talking to him. What was he saying? He tried to focus on the man holding the unmoving body of someone he loved.
"She's fine….seizure….Sophia?"
Shaking his head he got back to his feet and took the fragile body in his own hands. Good she was breathing. He didn't realize he was crying until a tear fell on the little girls face he was watching.
"Is Sophia here?" Rick asked grabbing his shoulder
"No, she hasn't made back here." He started to walk back to the R.V and laid the little girl down next to her mother. They just looked like they were sleeping, that nothing was wrong.
Giving both of his girls a kiss he walked out to help search for Sophia.
Rick was pointing to the spot that he left the two girls "She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off when Cora had a seizure maybe to get help back at the group. I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." He pointed in the direction of the rest of the group.
Looking up the bank he noticed that Glen was standing on the tracks of the missing girl. "Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." Sometimes he wished people would use their heads. He wasn't a miracle worker just knew how to follow tracks and signs and he couldn't do that if people trampled all over them.
"Assuming she knows her left from her right."
"Shane, she understood me fine." Rick was still out of breath
Trying let Rick know he did the right thing he piped up with "Even Cora knows her right and left and she's five. I think Sophia knew what Rick was saying."
"Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane said shaking his head
Finally Daryl caught sight of a pair of small foot prints and they were leading the way that Rick told her to go. "Got clear prints right here. She did like you said, headed back to the highway."
Trying to stay focused on the tracks he was following was becoming difficult. All he could think about was Kat and Cora. Were they okay? Seeing Cora's body like that had put a terrible feeling deep inside him. One he didn't want to think about.
He followed the tracks until he noticed that for some reason Sophia changed directions and decided to go to the right. Squatting down to get a better look he notified the rest of the group with him "She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Pointing to the right and deeper into the woods. "I don't know why she would do that there are no other footprints so walkers weren't the issue."
"So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked
"No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm." Rick had a good point and it was easier to track with less people around. He could hear better without several pairs of footsteps behind him.
Shane and Glen left them to go back toward the others and Rick followed him in the direction Sophia's tracks went. Hopefully they found her soon, it wasn't exactly safe out here anymore.
30 minutes into the search Sophia's tracks became barely noticeable.
"Tracks are gone" he almost forgot the cop was with him
"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone. She came through here." He said while indicating over a log and through some trees.
"How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."
"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" he didn't mean to sound so harsh but he was worried and his mind preoccupied. He didn't have time to stop and show him what he spotted.
It didn't take much longer before they stumbled across a walker. Quickly shooting it in the head with his crossbow he went to retrieve the missing bolt from the things head. Hoping that the lost girl was hiding nearby from this walker he shouted "Sophia" there was no response.
Looking back to Rick he noticed that the cop was doing some kind of detective work. Like it was a homicide case or something.
Flipping the thing over he looked in its mouth "It fed recently, there is flesh caught in its teeth."
"Yeah but what kind of flesh?"
Pulling his knife out Rick ripped open the shirt of the walker "Only one way to know for sure."
Rick was about to shove his knife into the gut of the walker, when I put my hand up. "Here let me do it. How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine is sharper." Raising his hunting knife up, he shoved the blade down. He was surprised by how much he didn't care that he was cutting into a person, maybe it was the fact that this thing was no longer a human being. It was a lot easier than field dressing a deer since he didn't have to worry about not hitting the intestines. "Here comes the bad part" was the only warning he gave rick before he shoved both hands into the dead bastard and starting digging for the stomach.
It was weird it wasn't warm like he expected, way below body temperature. I guess that happens when you are dead and have no heart pushing blood through ya. Finding the stomach he noticed that it felt full and kinda started to fear what he was going to find.
Turning to Rick "Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." Ripping the stomach out, he threw it over to Rick's feet. He didn't want to be the one to see parts of an innocent little girl. It could've been Cora.
"I got this" he wasn't sure if Rick was telling him that he could do it or if he was trying to pump himself up.
Going through the contents of the stomach he put his knife in and pulled up the skull of a rodent. "This gross bastard had himself a whistle pig for lunch" turning to face the confused look on Ricks face "Ya know a woodchuck"
Nodding while standing up Rick announced "At least we know"
"Yeah at least we know" he knew Carol wouldn't find comfort in that but at least there was hope that Sophia was alive.
Walking back to the highway with rick was quiet until he spoke up "Would you be okay with leading the search for Sophia tomorrow? You know the woods better than anyone and I know that Carol would feel a lot better if you were out there looking."
"Yeah sure" He had no trouble searching for the girl. He could just as easily be out here searching for Cora instead of Sophia. "I wanna thank ya" he told Rick
"For what?"
"Taking care of Cora when I couldn't. Her momma will be grateful as well. That girls means a lot to me, both of them do." He wasn't use to showing any kind of feelings so this was getting a bit awkward.
"No need to thank me. That little girl of yours has an amazing outlook on life" Daryl didn't correct the man that she wasn't his little girl "the other day she was telling me a story about how you and Merle took her hunting once. She said that you bought her a pair of pink camouflage overalls. She was laughing and giving a pretty good Merle impersonation saying that he was shouting about 'not being able to find anything while they were hunting because Princess Petunia was here to scare everything away.' The girl couldn't stop laughing as she told the story" Rick was chuckling remembering the story that Cora told him.
Yeah, Daryl recalled that day. He knew Merle would be pissed that they wouldn't find anything but he also knew Merle loved the smile on her face just as much as he did when she came out wearing those offensive overalls. He put on a show but Daryl knew Merle could care less about coming home empty handed.
Before he knew it they were back at the highway and before he could go check on Kat and Cora he needed to let Carol know that they weren't giving up. The mother was visibly upset, even more so when she realized that Sophia wasn't with them.
"You didn't find her?"
"Her trail went cold. 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."
"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost" he couldn't track at night and he would be damn if he was babysitting a bunch of idiots wondering around the woods.
"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" The mother sounded so concerned and Daryl didn't miss the pleading in her voice.
Rick could tell that the group was starting to get alarmed. "Hey, I'm asking y'all not to panic. We know she was out there. And we tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." The speech seemed to work on everyone but Carol
"Is that blood?" she asked pointing to Daryl
"We took down a walker." Rick reached out to grab her shoulder
"Walker? Oh my God." She looked like she was about to pass out
Looking into the eyes of the woman on the verge of hysterics "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia. Okay?"
"How can you know that?" Andrea asked. Who side was she on? They were trying to calm down a frightened mother and she wants to put doubt in peoples minds.
"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl hoped his statement eased the woman's concern a little bit.
Daryl had to walk away when Carol started to blame Rick for leaving her little girl in the woods. He knew the man tried as hard as he could to save both Sophia and Cora. Hell, he was thankful the man had the balls to run after two walkers pretty much unarmed. If he hadn't there was no doubt in his mind that both Sophia and Cora would be certainly dead. Walking up to the R.V he hoped his girls were awake he needed the comfort in knowing that they were okay.
