Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.

Rick had found Sophia, but then he had lost her again. Him, Shane, Glenn and Daryl had taken off into the woods to check the near perimeter over again. Even in our darkest of times, the sun bore down upon us. The heat was unbearable and I could feel my clothes sticking to my sweaty body.

While we waited for the men to arrive, we got to work on moving the cars to clear a path on the road so that we could move when they came back with Sophia. If they came back with Sophia, that was. Every moment of those hours, I prayed and I kept my thoughts with her. Ma had been religious, but she'd never forced any of us to follow in her footsteps. I'd never really bothered with the whole lark, but I wish I had now. Maybe the big guy would listen to me more if I'd been more loyal.

"Don't think about it," Benny instructed as he passed by me.

"How am I supposed to just let that one slide?" I asked.

"You don't. You just don't let yourself think about it all the time. It'll eat you alive."

"Were you there? Did you see what happened?"

"Yeah, I saw alright. But I'm not thinking about it. Maybe you should take a leaf from my book; it could do you some good."

Later on, Glenn and Shane came back and informed us to just carry on working, and that the others were still looking for little Sophia. Benny offered to go out and help them, and Carol quickly agreed. It seemed like for the millionth time that week, I was seeing my brother away to his possible doom. He simply smiled at me before leaving.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol fretted.

"Hey, that goes without saying," Lori smiled. "Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay? Just a matter of time."

As I carried on sifting through the interior of the cars, I overheard Lori and Shane arguing. It was about them and their relationship, as usual. They seemed to think that we were all oblivious to what went on between them, but we knew. I knew at least. Their voices always carried in the night.

"Why do you think I'm prepping my new ride?" I heard Shane ask. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" Lori replied; I turned my head in surprise too.

"Gonna quietly slip away first chance I get."

It wouldn't have been a shame if Shane upped and left, but I knew that it would break many of our camp. They relied on him. He'd been what had got them through the beginning of all this. I wanted to tell Benny, but I knew that the boy wouldn't be able to keep his big mouth shut, so I just kept it to myself. No harm would be done.

"Oh God, they're back!" Someone gasped.

"Her trail went cold," They called out as they walked back up from the woods and onto the road again. "We'll pick 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."

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there. And we tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organised effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Carol was close to breaking down in sobs again. I sighed and got up from the leather seat of the car that I had occupied during my search. Benny headed over to me and I held the fabric of his denim shirt between my hands.

"I don't even want to know why you've got blood on you," I mumbled.

"Walker," Benny shrugged. "We wanted to check if we weren't running on a goose chase. We gutted it and ripped open the stomach."

"Good to know that you're thinking of more creative methods to take them down."

The sobbing and the arguing continued. Dale was handing around weapons. Shane was talking about how only he, Daryl and Rick were carrying guns, in case of an emergency. I decided not to say anything about the pistol shoved down my jeans. What would he do? I couldn't bare the idea of not having a gun readily on me. It wasn't like I was even going to shoot it. It was just for keeping me sane.

"The ideas it to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl explained as we grouped.

"Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark. Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

We were all heading out into the woods to continue the search for Sophia. Dale and T-Dogg were staying behind to fix up the RV. The knife that I had been handed had been slipped into my boot. It wouldn't be the easiest place to grab it from, but I didn't feel comfortable swinging it around in the open.

"I don't want you to go," Benny told me as we all zipped up our backpacks of equipment, slinging them over our shoulders.

"I never wanted you to go all those times you ran off," I sighed. "But, like you, I'm ready and I'm able. There's no point me hanging behind when I can help."

I noticed that Benny wasn't grabbing his things. He groaned and ran a hand through his hair, looking down at the floor.

"I'm not going," He muttered. "I'm staying behind to help with the RV. Rick thinks it'll be a good idea. Also, in case T-Dogg and Dale get surrounded by another herd, I can help take them out. Neither of them are in the best shape."

"Rick's right," I agreed. "You're needed here. Don't worry about me, Ben. I won't be your baby sister forever, you know. I can handle myself."

"Alright, Annie, if you say so. Just try to stick by someone like Daryl, okay? I hardly think he'd let anything slip past him."

"Yeah, sure… You stay safe too, big brother."

He grinned and clapped me on the back before heading off to get to work. Just as we were about to head out, we were held back by Andrea and Dale arguing. That was all we seemed to be doing nowadays – arguing. I was getting sick and tired of it.

Eventually, we were moving. I trailed along at the back of the group, dragging my feet. But, I was still alert. My eyes scanned every single area in sight, hoping to spot Sophia curled up in a hiding place somewhere, too nervous to come out. Daryl was leading while I took the rear. Just like that, I'd gone against Benny's instructions.

We trudged through the mud and leaves and twigs crunched beneath us on our path. It seemed that we were making enough noise to draw attention to us, so surely Sophia would be able to hear us if we got close enough.

"Carol," Rick said as we approached a clearing where a tent was set up; everyone's voices dropped instantly. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol stepped forwards hesitantly. "Sophia, it's mummy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mummy."

Daryl went to unzip the tent. Coughs and gags could be heard from within, and I instantly knew that it wasn't Sophia he had found, but rather a corpse. He gave the heads up as he emerged, and the search carried on. I thought Daryl was going to take the lead again, but he briefly lingered behind to catch up with me. I turned and shielded my eyes from the sun, looking at him curiously.

"Have you still got your gun?" He asked in a low voice, glancing suspiciously at Shane up ahead.

"Yeah, I still got it," I nodded.

"Make sure it stays that way. You might need it out here… Don't let Shane or Andrea know that you have it – they'll have it off you in seconds."

I didn't get a chance to reply as he had already taken off to lead the search again. Andrea looked over at her shoulder at me, narrowing her eyes. I attempted to give her a small smile, but that wasn't what she seemed to want. All of the women around here were crazy. Lori would throw random dirty looks from time to time, and Andrea was no better. They probably thought that I was traitor, and that I betrayed them by not doing enough. It wouldn't surprise me.

Church bells started to ring in the distance, and we took off in a run, heading in the direction of the loud peals. I was worried that Walkers would also have the same idea, so quickened my pace until I was at a reasonable distance from the rest of the group. There would be no way that Sophia wouldn't have heard them if she was out here.

We approached the church, but discovered there were no bells on display. I groaned and clapped a hand to my forehead. It seemed like we weren't getting anywhere.

After Daryl, Rick, Glenn and Shane had taken out the Walkers inside the church, I took a seat in one of the pews at the back, staring at the statue on the alter in front of me. How could the world have turned to shit, even with the messiah supposedly watching over us? Surely that couldn't be right. They wouldn't have sent down this kind of punishment for the wrong doings of one man.

"Are you religious?" Glenn asked awkwardly from behind me.

"No," I turned and smiled briefly at him. "But it's a nice place to think, don't you agree? It's peaceful. The most quiet I've had in days."

"Oh, yeah, you're right… I'll, um; I'll sit down and think too."

I laughed lightly under my breath as Glenn took a seat, bowing his head. Right now, we were all God's slaves. We were all positioned around the room with our heads tucked down, whether we were praying to him or not. All of us were bowing, and I couldn't tell whether it was for forgiveness or not.