Chapter 13
"Daryl! Where are you?!" Sophia screamed.
"Coming, Phia!" Daryl yelled as he bounded up the stairs.
Maggie wasn't too far behind him, and watched as he made it to the bedroom where she heard a young child crying her head off.
Daryl opened the door, and walked in. Sophia leaped up from the bed, and wrapped her arms around his torso. She saw him tense up, and then quickly relax.
"Phia, I'm here; what's wrong?" trying to console her, placing his hand on her back.
"I'm bleeding!" Sophia cried into him, "And I don't know why." They broke apart, and Sophia climbed off the bed, and he saw blood on the bed.
Daryl knew what happened, but didn't know how to handle it. He looked behind him, and pleaded with his eyes to have Maggie come bail him out of the situation.
Maggie, not wanting to surprise her that she was there, but she didn't have a choice. She walked into the small bedroom, and stood at a distance.
Sophia noticed her quickly, and hid herself behind Daryl.
"Phia, there is no need to be worried. That is Maggie, she saw me last night looking for food, and felt bad, so she went to her house, and made sure we had breakfast to eat for today."
Sophia slowly poked her head out from behind him, and studied Maggie.
"Come Phia, don't be rude, you know your momma wouldn't like that. Maggie is a good person, she won't hurt you, and you know I will be watching."
Sophia slowly walked out from behind Daryl, where Maggie could see her. Daryl had his hand on her shoulder, making her feel more comfortable about the situation.
"Hey, I'm Maggie; I just want to help you. I promise to never hurt you."
Sophia looked up at Daryl, and then at Maggie.
"Hi Miss Maggie, I'm Sophia. My momma told me about this, but I always thought she would be around to help me."
"Sophia, just call me Maggie, where is your mom? Is she still alive?"
Sophia looked up at Daryl asking him with her eyes.
"Yea, Carol is still alive; Sophia was chased by some walkers, and somehow found her way here. I was able to track her down, and was going to bring her back to our camp, but when the storm hit, we stayed put."
"So, are you her daddy?" Maggie asked Daryl.
Daryl laughed, "No, I got no kids. Her father died a few weeks ago."
"He was a mean guy! I'd pick Daryl over him in a heartbeat, if I could, and if he would let me." Sophia said smiling up at Daryl. Daryl returned her smile with a grin.
"He must have been a bad guy, and Daryl seems like an alright one." Maggie said as she looked up at Daryl.
"Well, let's get you cleaned up. This is no fun, but it happens to all girls." Maggie held out her hand to Sophia. "I used to know who used to live here, so I already know where the bathroom is. Follow me, Sophia. "
~NLA~
Rick, T-Dog, and Andrea finally caught up to Carol. She stopped after the screams faded.
"I heard her; that was her. I don't know where she is, and it is slowly killing me" Carol said as she crumpled to the ground.
Rick walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "Daryl is out there, if anyone finds her, it would be him."
"I know…" Carol said as a tear fell from her eye.
Andrea squatted down next to her, and took Carol in her arms. "I agree with Rick, and we all know how good of a tracker Daryl is, and you know how stubborn the man can be; and goal oriented he is. His goal right now is to find Sophia, and bring her back to you."
"I'm just worried that something would happen to both of them, and I don't think I can live with that kind of guilt. Just knowing that he is out there looking for my daughter, all by himself, it has me worried."
Andrea smiled at her, and put her hands on Carol's shoulders. "You know he loves that little girl. Will he ever admit it? Probably not, but you can see it in his eyes. He wouldn't be out there looking for her if he didn't care about her. "
Rick and T-Dog stood back, watching the ladies interacting, "It's crazy how the world falling apart can bring people together." T-Dog said to Rick.
"Life has a weird way of working, doesn't it?" Rick chuckled.
~NLA~
Maggie and Sophia walked out the bathroom after getting Sophia all cleaned up. Being that Sophia was still dressed in the shorts with the blood stains, she went into the bedroom that she slept in and found some clothes to change into.
"I'd get changed if you could, I know they can smell blood, and you don't want to be a walking target." Daryl said as he saw them walking out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom.
"Thank you Maggie for helping me. I remember seeing clothes in the closet, I'm gonna get changed, and I will be down in a little bit."
"Alright, see you soon. And when you are done, we can take Firefly back to the house, and we'll get you fed." Maggie said giving the little girl a hug.
Daryl listened in and got instantly mad. He was able to hold back his anger long enough to get out of the room. Daryl walked down the short hallway, and started down the stairs to the living room. He went over to the couch, and paced around it.
He heard the door to the room shut, and heard Maggie heading down the steps.
"That must be…" Maggie started to talk, but was interrupted by Daryl.
"What you thinking?" he said through gritted teeth. "You can't promise to take her to your house. She doesn't even know you, and you are already promising her the world."
"Wha? I am not promising her the world; I promised her a home cooked meal! What the hell is wrong with that?" Maggie yelled.
"She is not yours to be taking her anywhere!"
"You are acting like she is yours! You even said she isn't yours. You have some nerve to be letting your ego getting in the way of the wealth fare of Sophia!"
"My ego? It ain't about my ego. I promised her mother I would find her and bring her back. Carol's falling apart without her! I found her, now I need to bring her back!"
"All I wanted to make sure she has food in her stomach, and then you guys could head back. Is that so wrong?"
"You could've…"
"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! RIGHT NOW!" Sophia yelled.
Daryl and Maggie were too involved with each other to hear her come down the stairs. They got quiet and allowed her to speak.
"Maggie only offered me something to eat because she heard my stomach growl when she was helping me get cleaned up. I told her no, but she insisted. I said I would and then I wanted to get back to my mom. After we eat, you can play hero, and bring me back to my mom!" Sophia said with her hands on her hips.
"I have no plans on being a hero, I just…" Daryl was interrupted by Sophia again.
"Then why are you here?"
The statement had him floored.
"I'm here to bring you back home. Your mom is practically falling apart without you. Even though Ed was a jackass, she still lost her husband, and she now thinks you have met the same fate. My pa was an ass too, but he did teach me something of worth. He taught me how to track, and I tracked your ass down. I found you, and I am will bring you back to Carol, and I will be damned if I let anything happen to you!"
"Uh, Daryl… that kinda makes you a hero…" Maggie chuckled.
Sophia started to laugh a little too. Daryl just stood there, and grumbled to himself when it clicked that he really was her hero, an accidental hero.
~NLA~
After walking around, the ragtag group made their way to the lake.
"Carol, let's head back to the camp, we are all starting to get hungry. After we eat, we will head back out. I will personally go with you." Rick said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"I'll stay, I've been without food before; Ed used to…" Carol said looking down at the ground.
"Hun, that is the past; he is long gone. You don't need to worry about him anymore." Andrea said as she walked to her.
"Tell that to his ghost that haunts me every night…" Carol said almost too quiet to understand.
"I know how you feel, I see Amy every night. I have nightmares thinking of the ways I could have saved her. Granted, Amy was an innocent victim, and Ed, well, he deserved it." Andrea chuckled, "I see her, and I have this fight going on internally that I can't control. I can't bring her back, I wish I could, but I can't. We all know the world is a lot better without that asshole in it. If he was still here, he would have made you give up already. He obviously didn't give a shit about her. He wouldn't have treated you that way if he gave a shit about you or her. Sophia is a smart girl. She knew what was going on, she feared the man. You didn't even need to talk to her; you saw the fear in her eyes."
"It was many times that Ed hit me because of Sophia. I would tell him to hurt me and not her. There were many times that I took a beating in her place. Some of which happened while I was pregnant with her. When he found out she was a girl, I got beat so bad, I ended up in the hospital. I made the mistake to mention to him about the simple biological lesson that gender is based on the male's chromosomes. He is also the reason I have short hair. I cut it off so he had less to grab onto. I will do anything for my little girl. She means the world to me."
T-Dog walked over to her, and took her into a big bear hug. "Call me crazy, but I am sure if Sophia was here, she would want you to eat. So, let's go get something to eat, and we will all come back out to continue our search."
Carol nodded quietly. "Okay" and followed Rick, holding hands with Andrea, and T-Dog following behind.
~NLA~
"Have you ever been on a horse, Sophia?" Maggie asked as they walked up to Firefly.
"No, ma'am, uh, I mean Maggie." Sophia giggled.
"Well, we are going to change that." Maggie said as she patted on Firefly's back.
Daryl shot Maggie a look, attempting to challenge her. Maggie wasn't fazed by it, and proceeded to help Sophia onto Firefly's saddle.
"Let's get some food in your belly, and we will get you all cleaned up."
"Are you going to go up there with her?" Daryl asked.
"No, we're just going to walk. Nothing is going to happen to her. Firefly is a calm horse. I will hold onto the lead, and she will hang onto the pommel. Everything will be okay. You need to calm down; I wouldn't do anything to hurt her intentionally."
They started to walk into the wooden area; Daryl had the crossbow at attention, watching every move. It took about 20 minutes of walking slowly, and killing a few walkers against Maggie's liking, but they finally came to the clearing, and about 1,000 yards in front of them was a large farm house that looked like the world was still intact and not crawling with the undead.
"Welcome to my home." Maggie smiled as they got to the horse barn.
"Well, let's get some food in ya, so we can get back to your momma." Daryl said as took Sophia from off of Firefly.
**Okay everyone, I am going to try something different here. I am looking for ideas on how Carol should find out that Sophia is still alive. Leave a comment, or send me a PM with your suggestions. I will pick someone, and use their idea. Don't forget to like, follow, and comment! Thanks guys! :) **