Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or any of its characters. I don't even own Annie, she belongs to Sophie, who you can find on YouTube under xSoppySofax. Read on, darlings, and enjoy!

This chapter takes place during 2x01 "What Lies Ahead"

Chapter 12

"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked, looking at the two of them. Sophia hadn't been where they'd left her so they went back to the highway, figuring she'd done as Rick said and went back. But she hadn't been there either. Carol was inconsolable, breaking down in Lori's arms when they came back without her. It would be dark soon so Rick and Annie told her they'd go back into the woods and find her. This time, however, Daryl said he'd go with them. As a hunter, he knew how to tracker. He was their best shot at finding Sophia.

"We left her right here," Rick repeated and pointed ahead of him. "We drew the walkers way off in that directions up the creek."

"She was gone by the time we got back here," Annie told him, shaking her head looking around. "We figured she'd just took off back to the group."

"I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder," Rick added insistently.

"Hey, Short Round!" Daryl called up to Glenn. "Would you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail!"

"Assuming she knows her left from her right," Shane commented skeptically.

"She's the same age as Carl, does he know?" Annie snapped at him as Rick assured him that she understood him fine.

"Kids tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Kinda wonder how much of what you said stuck," Shane argued. Daryl called them over and pointed out that he had clear prints, definitely Sophia's. She had listened to Rick and headed back toward the group. The group spread out, saying that she couldn't have gotten very far. "Hey, we're gonna find her. Probably tuckered out, hiding in the bushes somewhere."

They followed the trail until it stopped, veering off in another direction. They speculated that it could have been a walker that scared her off, but Daryl didn't find any other tracks. Rick told Shane, Glenn and Annie to head back up to the highway. He wanted them to assure everyone, especially Carol, that they were on her trail and to keep them calm. Shane assured him that he'd keep them occupied by scavenging cars and any other chores he could think of. Annie suggested that Shane have the able-bodied start pushing cars out of their way. They'd need the room to turn the RV around so they could double back. Whatever direction the herd of walkers had been headed, it wasn't a direction they wanted to be going in.

"I'll stay behind, help Rick and Daryl." Rick insisted that she go back to the highway but she refused. "I'm just as responsible for this as you are. I'm going," she stated. She refused to hear another word about it, following after Daryl. Eventually, the man slowed down and Rick assumed the trail was gone.

"Tracks are faint. They ain't gone," the hunter announced, carefully stepping through the foliage, eyes fixed on the ground. "She came through here."

"How do can you tell?" Rick asked, fascinated. "I don't see anything. Dirt, grass—"

"You want a lesson in tracking or you wanna find that girl, and get our ass off that interstate?" Rick immediately shut his mouth, stepping where Daryl stepped, sufficiently silenced on the matter. Daryl knew what he was doing, this was his field of expertise; far be it for him – or anyone else – to question that. A brushing of leaves sent them quickly to a crouch and they moved forward. Just over the hill was a lone walker. Daryl gestured for one of them to go forward, draw its attention while he snuck around behind it. After pushing Annie to go with Daryl, which she only did with hushed protests, Rick walked into the walkers view and whistled sharply. The walker growled at him before dropping dead, one of Daryl's arrows through its forehead. "Sophia!" Daryl called out. Nothing.

"What you doing?" she asked as Rick pulled on his gloves and knelt over the walker.

"Looking for skin under the fingernails," he told them. Fear flooded Annie's veins as Rick flipped the walker over and told them it fed recently.

"Christ," she whispered, hands at her mouth. Rick said that there was flesh caught in its teeth and Annie clenched her own teeth together to keep from puking as they started cutting the walker open. She may have smelled a walker being cut open before, back in Atlanta to smother Rick and Glenn in its guts, but it sure didn't prepare her for the stench. It drifted over to her and she gagged, covering her mouth and turning her back on the men. She felt a hand squeeze her calf and looked over to see Rick, offering what little comfort he could. As she looked, Annie caught sight of the walker and almost hurled. Everything inside it, all its organs and even its blood, were completely black.

"Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there," Daryl said and proceeded to dump the stomach onto the forest floor. Annie looked over her shoulder and watched them root through it before Daryl's knife pulled out a tiny skull. "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." Annie sighed in relief, muttering a thank you to God.

"At least we know," Rick stated as they chucked the skull away.

"At least we know," Daryl echoed.

Annie squeezed Rick's shoulder, telling him, "We'll find her. But it's getting dark. We should head back." Rick started to protest but Daryl agreed, telling him it would do no good to try and track her when he couldn't see anything. "Rick, we can't look for her in the dark. You know that. We'll pick it up again in the morning." When they got back to the highway, it was already dusk and Carol burst into tears when she saw them without her daughter.

"You didn't find her?!" Rick told her that the trail went cold and promised her they'd pick the search up again at first light. "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own! To spend the night, alone in the woods!"

"Hunting in the dark's no good," Daryl told her, trying to calm her down. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's twelve!" the hysterical mother insisted. "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." Daryl chimed in, assuring Carol that they'd tracked Sophia for awhile. "We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is that, is that blood?" Carol gasped and Daryl looked down at his pants, paling when he realized where the woman's mind went. Rick told her that they took down a walker, assuring her that there was no sign it was anywhere near Sophia. When asked how they could possibly know that, Daryl told them they'd cut it open to make sure. Carol slowly sat on the guardrail, feeling faint. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" she questioned Rick. "How could you just leave her?!" she accused spitefully.

"Those two walkers were on us," Rick told her. "I had, we had to draw them off," he said, gesturing to Annie. "It was her best chance.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol," Shane said.

"How's she supposed to find a way back on her own?" Carol cried. "She's just a child! She's just a child!"

Rick knelt before her and tried to make her understand, earnestly repeating, "It was our only option. The only choice we could make." Shane assured him that he was sure nobody doubted that.

"My little girl got left in the woods..." Rick shook his head and rose to his feet, looking at everyone. They either didn't know what to say, didn't blame him or they absolutely did. Rick couldn't take it and walked away from the group, running his hands through his hair. Annie, unable to bear the accusing looks Carol and Lori were giving her, hurried after Rick.

"We'll find her, Rick. You heard Daryl, she couldn't have gotten far," she assured him but Rick just looked at the ground, continuing to walk in an unknown direction. "For all we know, she climbed up a tree or found a cave to hide in. I'm sure there's some scattered all over these woods."

"Then why wouldn't she call out to us?" he posed angrily. "She would've heard us calling for her if she was still—" Annie swung him around and slapped him hard.

"Talk like that doesn't help anybody," she stated firmly, glaring at him in shock. "Don't even think that she's dead. You do that and she really is. If you don't believe she's alive, then why should anyone else?"

Rick stared at and took a breath. Sighing, he whispered morosely, "All these people, they look to me. All of you look to me, and I don't even know why."

"Because they can," she told him with a soft smile, gripping his shoulders. "Because they trust you. And they can see that you're a good man. Just like I do." Annie rested her forehead against his a moment and felt him nod. "I know you think they blame you and, okay, maybe some of them do but that shouldn't matter. They blame me, too and I don't care we made the only choice we had. We made the best choice we could and we'll do our best to find her. Okay?" Annie scoffed and shook her head. "You aren't perfect, Rick. And you don't have to be. You're a good man. That's enough." Rick slowly nodded and she watched him a moment. "You good now? You okay?" Rick chuckled and nodded again. "I'm gonna head back and you should to. Everyone needs to get some sleep if we're gonna be heading out at dawn."

"I'll be back soon." Annie stared at him and wavered, uncertain if she should leave him alone. "I'll be fine. I just…I need a minute."

"Okay," she conceded. "Don't wander too far, Sheriff."

"I won't, ma'am." The pair shared a smile at their little inside joke.

The next morning, Dale handed over the bag of weapons Carl had found and given to him, under Shane's orders. Rick unrolled them on the hood of his Cherokee, telling everyone that was joining the search party was only doing so with weapon from the roll. Andrea stated that they weren't the kind of weapons they needed, demanding the guns, but Shane reminded her that if someone fired at the wrong moment and that herd happened to be going by again, then they'd all be dead. No one but Shane, Rick and Dale were allowed to have a gun and, much as it pained her, Annie passed hers off to Dale. She still had her knife so at least she wasn't empty handed. Daryl told them that they were going to take the creek up five miles then come back around the other side because, chances were, with the creek as Sophia's only landmark, that's where she'd be. Rick laid down the rules: stay quiet, stay sharp, keep space between one another but always been in sight of the group. Dale stayed behind to continue with the RVs repairs while they were gone, wanting to make sure it was finished by the time they got back, with Sophia, ready to hit the road. Annie went off to try and make contact with Morgan and Duane on the walkie again but there was no response, as usual. When she came back, everyone was awkwardly silent, staring at Andrea and Dale. Confused, she walked over the guardrail and waited.

"You're coming with us, Annie?" Carl asked excitedly

"Sure am," she replied, rubbing his head affectionately. Rick wandered over to her, wondering if she shouldn't stay behind and help Dale with the repairs. She knew all too well that the hose on the RV was fixed, that Dale was intentionally stalling. Holding off the needs of the many versus the needs of the few arguments for as long as possible. Annie didn't blame him one bit for it either. If it had been her lost in the woods, she'd want the others to wait and find her before moving on. Of course, the only people she expected to care much were Rick and Dale, maybe Carl. "There's not much left to be done on it. Dale can handle it from here," she lied. She caught the older man's eye and he nodded at her, subtly winking. "I want to keep searching."

"All right. Got a weapon?" Annie tapped the knife strapped to her thigh and Rick nodded. "Then let's get going." As they headed into the woods, Shane bringing up the rear, Glenn walked beside Annie and asked her what she was doing in Atlanta.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you were with Rick but you met him, what, the day before? And you just went with him into the city of dead?" he asked with an incredulous tone. "Just curious why. Did you have family there?"

"Sort of," she answered cautiously. "My family is dead."

"Oh, my God!" Glenn winced. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he apologized profusely and Annie smiled at him. Glenn really was a sweet kid. "Was it…?"

"Walkers? No. No, thankfully." Glenn sighed in relief, happy that he hadn't stuck his foot in his mouth. "My dad passed about thirteen years ago, cancer," she explained, "and my mom died when I was just a kid. Accident on the farm."

""Farm"?" Rick echoed up ahead of them, looking back at her with a smile. "You're a farmer's daughter?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" she asked with a phony look of affront. He responded no with a laugh and went back to following Daryl, who shushed him quite loudly. Glenn looked at her then and asked her if that was why she was such a good shot. "Hell no!" she exclaimed with a laugh. Wistfully, she told him, "My dad, he never let me near his guns. Ever! The guys I worked with at the auto shop, they taught me. Said they didn't like the idea of a single girl living on her own with no way to defend herself. My gun was my "graduation" present. They gave me my knives, too."

"So," he toned curiously, "where are they?"

"Atlanta," she answered shortly, eyes dark and focused straight ahead. "Those guys, they were my family. A bunch of surrogate fathers, brothers, uncles; their wives and girlfriends, their kids – all them, they were my family."

"You went there to find them," Glenn realized.

Annie nodded and said, "Instead, I ended up in a tank with Rick. Then with you guys."

"Maybe they made it," he told her, sounding hopeful for her sake.

"I hope so but, from the looks of the city, I doubt it. If they did, they got the hell out of dodge early on and there's no way I'd be able to find 'em. Not as if we had a "if the world goes to hell" contingency plan." Glenn nodded and looked at her, wondering if he should ask. Wincing, he asked Annie if she had any other family. "None that I'm close to. All my parents' relatives live out of state. So, no, I have no family."

"You have us," he pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah. Guess I do," she replied with a nod, returning his weak smile. Her earlier thought of Rick, Dale and Carl being the only ones who cared about her grew by one more. Glenn said she was family and, damn it, the thought made her grin. "We're a regular Partridge Family," she sad sarcastically.

"Better than the Manson Family." Annie laughed out right at that, Glenn chuckling with her. Both of them immediately shut up when Daryl and Rick waved at them, everyone sobering up and kneeling down as a camper's tent came into view.

"She could be in there," Rick stated, eying the tent anxiously.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." He moved forward, crossbow raised, Rick and Shane behind him. When they got closer, he motioned for the two cops to wait as he pulled out his knife and approached the tent. He peered inside on both sides but couldn't make anything out. Rick called Carol over and she rushed to his side, listening as he told her to call out to Sophia. If the girl was in the tent, her mother's voice should be the first she heard.

"Sophia? Sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy," she called softly, her heart breaking when there was no response. "Sophia! We're all here, baby. It's mommy." Daryl crept back around to the front. He slowly unzipped the tent with Shane and Rick close behind him. When he pulled back the flap, an awful stench hit him but he went inside anyway. Everyone watched as the men coughed and approached, waiting for news. "Daryl? Daryl?"

The redneck climbed out the tent and told them, "Ain't her." Carol's eyes closed and she gripped Lori's hand. Andrea asked him what was in there. "Some guy. Did what Jenner said, opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Bells rang out and everyone looked around, hearts pounding, and bolted in the direction the noise came from. They ran through the woods, trying to figure out which why they had to go. Whoever ran the bells could have been signaling that they'd found Sophia, or it could be Sophia herself.

"Whoever it is, that noise is gonna draw walkers roaming around so we have to move quick," Annie pointed out as they ran down hill. The moment they broke the clearing, the saw a church and tiny graveyard and it sounded like the bells were coming from it but there wasn't a steeple. No steeple meant no bells. Regardless, everyone ran to the church and cautiously made their way inside. Three walkers were sitting in the pews, still dressed in their Sunday best. At the smell of fresh meat, all of them rose to their feet. Rick, Shane and Daryl made quick work of them. When it was all said and done, Rick screamed out for Sophia. Nothing.

"Hey, JC, you takin' requests?" Daryl snapped sarcastically at the crucifix.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church," Shane told Rick. "Got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." The bells rang out again and everyone bolted outside. They were definitely at the right church, but it didn't change the fact that Sophia wasn't there.

"Timer. It's on a timer," Daryl told them as Glenn shut it off. Carol told everyone she was going to go back in for a bit, voice breaking with tears. Annie squeezed Rick's shoulder, nodding reassuringly at him with a smile as they led Carl inside. She stood with them at the back wall, gently rubbing Carl's back, as Lori stayed with Carol, listening to her pray. Listening to her, it broke everyone's heart; no one deserved to go through this kind of pain.