Hey! Guess who's back, back again…she slept for about 1 hour before everyone started questioning about where she was. So then they finally went to check up on her and found that she was curled up in the restroom hugging her knees. That was a long sentence, well anyways enjoy the chapter! Oh and I don't own The Walking Dead!
Rinella's POV
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I felt my hand shoot straight up and grasp something. The sudden shaking stopped and I arose from my sprawled out form. I rubbed my eye with my left hand, wondering who wanted to wake me up.
"C'mon we're switching vehicles." I lifted my head and looked towards where the voice had come from. I nodded and jumped off where I was sleeping and found myself on the floor. Creaking sounds were heard from the entrance of the RV.
"What happened?" I'm pretty sure that was Rick.
"I-I don't know. She got up and looked absolutely awake before dropping to the floor." Oh it was Glenn. I groaned because of all the voices.
"Well, it's time to wake up. We need to go." He didn't seem impatient but there was something hidden beneath his voice that made me wake up a bit, was it urgency? I waved my hand above my hand waiting for someone-anyone to grab it. A warm hand clenched my cold one and I found myself on my feet. Yawning, I followed Rick to a small car, Carol's Cherokee I believe. Carol went in first followed by Sophia, me, and finally Carl. Lori sat in the passenger seat while Rick was the driver. My mind was still hazy and so were my eyes. So only a few words had gotten through my ears.
"Can we go see it? The Grand Canyon?" Carl asked. "I'd like to." If he's going then I want to go too.
"I want to go to. Can we go?" Sophia joined in on another conversation, wonderful! I can't wait to talk about more things once we stop. It'll be so much fun.
"We'd never go without you or your mom. That's a promise." That's good. Better keep that promise Rick.
"How bout your friend there?" Would she like to come?" Lori asked. I didn't know who so I was going to answer.
"Yeah."
"Yes." At that moment, I heard two voices which were not at all mine.
"Alright, it's settled. We're ALL going to The Grand Canyon." Rick said this time.
"Yay." I threw my right hand up in the air weakly before hitting the backseat again. This earned me a few laughs. I felt my head leaning towards the right and promptly closed my eyes to regain my lost sleep.
No One's POV
"Oh, Carl looks like you got your hands full there." Lori teased her son whose gaze was fixed on the passing grass and dirt.
"What?" Carl questioned before looking on his left shoulder. "Yeah, she sleeps a lot." He smiled, laughing. Carol and Sophia joined in on the laughter as well.
"Out like a light." Rick commented looking at hem through the rear view mirror. Once his eyes went back to the road, the brakes were hit. The RV that Dale was driving had come to a halt. Rick maneuvered around the hundreds of derelict vehicles that littered the high way. Carol held her daughter's leg while Lori covered Carl's and the sleeping Rinella. Decaying bodies were still inside some vehicles and everyone was nervous about the dangers lurking within the wreckage. Rick came to another abrupt stop once the RV finally broke down with white smoke emitting from it. The adults came out of the car first before leading their children out.
"Carl wake her up." Lori asked anxiously taking another look around the area. Carl shook her for a while until finally, her eyes fluttered open.
"We have to go, something's wrong." Carl told her. Rinella did a small stretch before following after the mom and son.
"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane points out, his hands on his gun.
The group surveys the needed supplies they could gather from the abandoned cars all round the high way.
"We could siphon more fuel from these cars, for a start." Says T-Dog.
"Maybe some water?" Suggests Carol, hugging Sophia with one arm.
"Food?" Glenn adds. The group was silent for a moment as if they were waiting for something or someone to say something. Glenn scanned the crowd trying to locate the small girl who tends to follow him around, only to find that she was trying to sleep while standing.
"This is a graveyard." The group becomes quiet once again waiting for some sort of sign. "I don't know how I feel about this." Lori finishes.
"Alright, alright, here we go. Come on everybody look around gather what you can." The group dispersed, all looking for different supplies. Rinella who felt herself being dragged, shook her head to rid of the sleepiness. She took a look around and found that Carl was holding onto her wrist with his right, whilst holding Lori's hand with his left. She tore her hand away foreign to the sudden contact. Carl turned his head giving her a questioning look with his eyes. She smiled weakly before shoving both her hands in her jacket pocket.
"Kids, don't look." Carol told the three of them. Though they were tempted to, they followed her demand. The two mothers stopped to rummage through some cars while the kids were let on ahead.
"Carl, always within my sight." Lori told her son.
"You too Sophia." Carol also told her child. A forced smile lit up on Rinella's face as she led the kids through some cars. A frown lingered on her face for a millisecond before quickly changing to a surprised expression.
"Carl, Sophia, check this out." She motioned them over to one of the cars.
"What?" Carl questioned. Her hand reached into the broken window before pulling out a small bear and doll. The two plushies were surprisingly clean of any blood. Aside from the black smudges, overall it looked clean. She handed the bear to Carl who smiled at the gift and she kept a hold on to the doll. It had blond hair cascading down its back, a light blue dress that was slightly torn at the hem, and bead black eyes. The bear had a red bowtie and was a dark chocolate brown.
"Now the three of us match. Since we're going to be best friends forever, of course we need matching items." Sophia and Carl smiled at the girl's overjoyed expression. That's when her happy expression became one of worry.
Rinella's POV
Rushing footsteps were approaching us so I turned my head only to see Rick mouthing some words. He looked anxious and once he made that pointed finger at the floor, I grabbed Sophia and Carl.
"Get under the cars, hurry." I whispered, urgency in my voice. I made sure Sophia was hidden beneath her car before pushing Carl more into the middle of his. I was about to go back with Sophia when a sudden shiver went up my spine. Wha? What is it now? Don't. My body hit the ground hard and I rolled myself over beside Carl. Walkers shuffled through the gap between our two cars and I made shushing motions to Sophia. She looked as if she was about to cry so I held on to my doll still making the motions. I felt something warm touch my arm. I tilted my head nervously only to find that it was Carl's hand. I completely forgot about him. I got a hold of his hand and held it tight. Where are all these coming from?! I felt sweat drops running down from my temple. The footsteps were no more but I still wasn't sure. I noticed Sophia was inching closer to me.
"Don't move." I tried mouthing but once she caught sight of my moving lips, down came a walker between us. She let out a scream before scrambling to get away. I tried reaching for my gun before I realized that it was in the bag with the rest. I don't care if I get bit, I lived my life the way I wanted too, I don't care if I'm a die pure, I will save Sophia. I ripped my hand away from Carl and grabbed a hold of the walker's shirt and dragged him beneath me. My whole body was trembling and its head was beginning to turn. Not knowing what to do with no weapon on me, I clenched the walker's hairs tightly before bringing its head up.
"You will not hurt her." I growled out. It only chomped its yellow teeth at me before, without a second thought, I banged its face against the cold hard pavement. Its arms were still twitching so I brought him back up and down for another one.
"Still moving?" I banged its head again, and again, and again. Its face looked like mush after the 8th bang and it finally stopped moving. Looking around I noticed that Sophia was nowhere to be found.
"My baby, my baby!" I heard Carol yell out before running towards the edge with Lori right behind her. Looking in front of me I saw that Carl, Dale, Glenn, nearly everyone was staring at me. They looked horrified, disgusted, worried, too many faces and expressions for me to count. I reached up to touch my face and all I was greeted with a crimson liquid on my fingers. My hands were still trembling and all in all I just felt like bawling my eyes out. Words fell short at this moment; I felt as if nothing could explain how I feel. I was dirty, scared, and that's when I heard footsteps. Turning my head, I saw that it was Glenn. I scrambled off of the dead walker away from him. He held his hand out to me but I was afraid to touch it. As if it would kill me.
Glenn's POV
She looked like a complete mess; as if a tornado had ripped through, full of blood and dirt. Her eyes were wide like a deer in headlights. I inched closer to her whenever she would back up. Splotches of blood had gotten on her cheeks and that white sweater only had dirt on it. Once I had gotten close enough, I reached for her hand but it shot up to cover her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She whispered with a choked up voice.
"What?" I questioned. Her muttering only continued and her eyes seemed as if they had gotten wider. Then I remembered. Rick said that she had a bad relationship with her parents but what kind of things happened? I took advantage –and though I felt guilty about it- of her traumatic state and lifted her up into my arms, carrying her back to the RV. The whole time she was saying sorry but she didn't seem as lifeless as before because now she tightly clenched my shirt in small fists. Everyone's eyes were on us but that didn't matter right now. I took her into the RV and laid her on the couch before going to the restroom and wetting a rag. I came back and wiped her face of all the blood that had gotten on her. She stayed silent the whole time.
"Alright, almost done," I wiped her hands and was glad that she stopped saying sorry. "And done." Though she still looked motionless, at least she was clean now. I went to dump the rag in the sink before walking back in front of her. Her lips twitched and I waited her reaction.
"What are you looking at?" This was certainly not the comment I was hoping for. I sighed. "Hey, what did I say about sighing?" She asked before getting in my face.
"That I lose a bit of happiness. Alright, alright, I get it." I waved her off hoping that would annoy her. Which it did.
"Don't treat me as if I'm nothing! You would be lonely without me!" She tried yeling. I winced and rubbed my ear.
"Okay, okay. Are you fine now?"
"Yeah, wait…what?" She questioned me.
"You know when you killed that walker?" She looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
"What are you talking about? I don't have my gun back yet. There's no way I would go out and fight a walker bare handed." She merely shook me off.
"You, you don't remember?" I asked her. She got up and pat my back.
"Glenn, Glenn, Glenn, it's alright. Whatever you were imagining didn't really happen. Though, it would be cool if it did." No, no it wouldn't because you would go back into that state. "Well, I think I hear Dale calling for you so, run along now." She was pushing me out of the RV. "Shoo, shoo."
"Hey, wait!" She pushed me off before heading back on in. I sighed deciding it would be best to go see what Dale had wanted.
Rinella's POV
"I do not know what he was talking about and I do not what to know why." Now let's go outside and see what Carl and Sophia are doing. Oh wait, yeah that's what happened. I sat back down and settled on looking out the window.
"Sophia, I hope you're safe." I whispered.
"Me too." I jumped when I heard a second voice. Turning my head, I saw that it was Carl. He handed me my doll while he held on to his bear.
"Oh, how can I forget?" I smiled at the items before giving him a nod as thanks.
"So why are you in here? I half expected you to be outside with your mom." His eye cast down to the floor.
"Shane yelled at me about coming back here to Dale." Shane, I knew that guy was no good. I nodded at his answer holding onto my doll.
"Is that it?" I asked him.
"No, they're having a meeting and they didn't want me to worry so they sent me in here so you wouldn't be lonely."
"How nice of them." Looking out the window, it had suddenly become orange which meant that night was falling.
"Carl, if you don't mind I'm a, I'm a go to sleep." I felt myself dozing off again.
"You sleep a lot don't you?"
"Haha, yeah." I curled myself up by the window before promptly knocking out.
The Next Morning
I woke up with a jolt only to find that I had actually woken up early…for the first time. When I tried to get up, I found that someone laid a blanket on me. I carefully picked up the blanket and folded it before laying it on the couch. Walking outside the RV, I was greeted with a ray of sunshine.
"Ow, my eyes." I rubbed them before jumping off the last steps of the RV. I noticed Rick approaching the group with a bag of knives and machetes instead of guns. He laid them out on the hood of a white car before explaining what we were doing.
"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick declared.
"There aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea questioned. I really didn't want a fight breaking out this early in the morning so I went to stand beside Andrea.
"We went over that. Rick and I are the only ones carrying; we don't want people poppin' rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane told her. Who said we would be poppin' rounds? Assumptions are the worst things to make.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about."
"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment and a herd seems to be passing by, then its game over for all of us." Though he had somewhat of point, I was not going to agree with him. "So you need to get over it." I rubbed Andrea's arm in hopes of calming her down because frankly, Shane was being a mean guy.
"Chances are she'll be by the creek." Daryl confirmed for us. Oh so we're looking for Sophia! I'll find her well, we'll find her and then we can have fun again! Looking towards my right I saw Glenn pick up a nice knife and looked as if he was in love with it.
"Stay quiet, stay sharp. Keep space between you, but always stay within sight of each other." I rubbed Andrea's arm once more before following Rick.
"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane ordered us. Rick noticed me and sent me a questioning glance. I shrugged my shoulders before patting his.
"What? You can't get rid of me that easily. I'm in your group from now on until the end." He stared at me for a while more before grabbing a loose strand in my face and tucking it behind my right ear. I pat my forehead, searching for anymore loose strands.
"Dale keep working on those repairs, get this RV ready to move. We're not staying here a minute after then we need to. Good luck out there, bring Sophia back." I stood behind Rick while he was talking to Dale.
"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone." He pats Carl's shoulder. Wait, I thought he was coming too. I mean, his parents are both leaving him.
"I'm going with you,. You need people right? To cover as much ground as possible." Rick shook his head before turning to Lori. I also turned to Lori hoping for a yes.
"I can't always be the bad guy." No, no you can't. I finger combed my hair again, wanting to get it as straight as possible.
"Well he has all of you too look after him, and you." He looked at me and so did everyone else. He pulled Rick off to the side to talk to him and I'm pretty sure it was about me. Carl looked at me for answers.
"I don't know." I shrugged me shoulders again before successfully untangling the final knot. They came back and Rick held his hat in his hands.
"Okay, Okay but only within our sight no exceptions." Dale gave Carl a wink before we all dispersed again. I followed after Carl not really wanting to talk at anyone else at the moment.
"You think we're gonna find her?" He asked me.
"You can bet on it. We'll find her and we'll play Mario again, how bout that?" We shook on it and then we were just staring at the trees while we waited for everyone to be ready. Once everyone was well armed and ready for what lies ahead, we began our search. We were all in one line trekking through the woods. I was behind Glenn while Carl behind me, Lori, and then Shane. I kept the small knife in my pocket not wanting to take it out and risk cutting myself. It really stings and it would be the dumbest thing to do.
"Ssh, she could be in there." Daryl announces as we all kneeled down. I looked towards where he was pointing and saw a little blue tent. "Lots of things could be in there." He went on ahead and the whole line was about to follow him before Rick held up a hand. I watched as Shane went along with Rick after Daryl.
"This isn't really a group search is it?" I asked Glenn with a half hearted smile.
"They're just trying to keep us safe." He answered me, still keeping a tight hold on that machete of his.
"Carol!" Rick called out her and motioned the lot of us over. He had her by his side, "Call out softly. If she's in there, your voice is the first that she should hear." He told her.
We all became quiet waiting for Carol's voice.
"Sophia, sweetie are you in there? Sophia its mommy. Sophia, we're all here baby. It's mommy. " Rick motioned for her to stop before standing beside Daryl who had his knife out. He lifted up the tent flap before going on in. All of a sudden, Rick and Shane began hacking and couching.
"Daryl, Daryl?" Carol called out. Lori comforted Carol once Daryl had came out.
"It's not her."
"What was in there?" Lori questioned him.
"Some guy, did what Jenner said. Opted out." He fixed his arrows before slinging the weapon over his back. "Ain't that what he called it?" A sudden ringing noise caught our ears.
"Is that," My ears were still adjusting to the foreign sound. "A church bell?" I asked. Everyone looked at me and once again I hid behind Glenn. The ringing was still going so we all ran towards the noise.
"If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too." Carol asked hopefully.
"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn said.
"Signaling that they found her." Andrea told Glenn.
"Or Sophia's doing that herself." I gained some more looks and I instantly jumped behind Glenn…again.
"Yeah she could be ringing them herself." Rick agreed before we all took off towards the sound faster.
"Come on." Shane said. We stopped above a clearing, looking out at a white church. "That can't be it, no steeple, no bells." He told us. Rick didn't seem to care and sped right off towards it. "Rick!" Everyone ran after Rick at different speeds. I was successfully keeping up with Glenn which just proves I'm a fast runner. That's nice to hear. Rick came to a stop in front of a red door and proceeded to open it, with Daryl close by his side. Once the door was pushed open, it made a creepy creaky sound and three walkers turned their towards us. Lori handed Rick her knife while Glenn handed Daryl his. Shane took out the last walker with his knife, slicing its face up more than necessary. I blanched at the sight but quickly turned my attention up at the cross hanging above. Sophia isn't here is she? Of course you wouldn't answer, you're just a statue.
"SOPHIA!" Rick yelled I frustration.
"I'm telling you this is the wrong church. No steeple, no steeple." Shane tried calming him down. Bells were ringing again and everyone ran off towards the sound. Turning the corner there was no bell or nothing.
"It's all automated." I stated. I watched sadly as Glenn unhooked the bells in frustration.
"I'm going back inside for a bit." Carol announces. Having no where else to go, we all followed after her. I lingered on the steps for a while before deciding to head on in and take a seat in the back. Carol sat with Lori in the front row praying while I sat in the back questioning. If you get all these prayers from people, why do you bring such misery upon them? A little while later once everyone had said what they wanted to say, we all went to take a seat in the graveyard.
"I always wanted to visit a graveyard." I said while plucking out some grass and sprinkling it around my pants.
"That's not creepy at all." Glenn tried to joke. I smiled at his remark.
"Nope, nope it isn't." I told him.
"You're all gonna follow the creek bed back okay? Daryl you're in charge. Me and Rick we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so to be thorough." Shane announced.
"You're splitting us up? Ya' sure?" Daryl asks him.
"Yeah, we'll catch up to ya'." Shane reassured him. I stood up with my hands behind my head.
"I wanna stay too, she's my friend." I stood beside Carl while Rick and Shane sent glances at Lori.
"Just be careful okay?" Lori held his face between her hands.
"I will." He assured her.
"When did you start growing up?" She hugged Carl for a long time and then when I looked on ahead, I saw Rick staring at me.
"You heard what I told you and I mean it." I winked which made him smile. He went on to hug Lori. Oh great another hug fest. I just wish I had someone who would do that to me. A sudden rub on my head woke me up.
"You come back too. I'll-we'll be waiting." I smiled at the slip of his tongue before laying my hands atop his.
"I will. No need to fear, Rinella shall be here." I declared pointing at his chest.
"Wrong side." He commented chuckling.
"Here." I pointed to his heart and he just laughed before walking off with Lori.
"Give me a minute?" Rick asked Shane. He nodded and Rick went back to the small church.
"Come on." He told Carl and me. Though I didn't enjoy his company, I was not about to start a fight now. We took a seat on the stairs, waiting for Rick to come back out. I wonder what he's talking about.
"Get what ya' needed?" I looked to my right and saw that Rick had already gone the steps. Wait, when did he pass me?
"We'll see." He told Shane. We all looked at each other before standing up and following after him. We were once again in the woods and after a few minutes had to come to a stop. Is that? Is that a deer?! My thoughts were jumbled for this was way better than one of those zoos people would talk about.
"Shane." I heard Rick say. Looking behind me, I noticed that Shane had his gun pointed at the poor thing. That's sad Shane, even for you. I watched as Carl was taking a few steps forward before someone nudged me forward. I turned my head only to see that Rick was motioning me forward. Carl waited for a second before glancing back at us. He saw me approaching so he waited. Once I stood alongside him, we walked up slowly towards the deer. I looked at Carl and saw that he was smiling. Looking back at the deer, I saw that it was staring at us. So close, so close I wonder how soft its fur is? Just a few more steps I yelled excitedly in my head. Suddenly, a loud gunshot echoes and as I turn my head all I could see was the deer going down. Carl, too went down, alongside it with blood seeping from his chest. Immediately I dropped down to my knees, covering the small hole that had formed.
"NOO!" I hear Rick yell and seconds later, is in front of me on Carl's right side. Was this, was this,
Really happening?
Author's Note
Woo! Second season, good start I hope! Wow, touching blood isn't really that nasty but a lot of it is just, too much. I really hope Rinella copes well. I don't want both of her best friends to be gone. This part was coming, we all knew it and even I wasn't prepared. That's all for today and sorry for any mistakes since I really don't reread my chapters. Well good night! It's 1:00AM over here and I do not want to skip again tomorrow.
Inspirational Song – Chasing Cars
Sang by – Snow Patrol
For some strange reason, I felt that this was a good song for this chapter. It's just that when Rinella was having so much fun with Sophia and Carl. As if they really didn't need anything or anyone. She also doesn't know how to say how she feels and so on. Well, good night now.