Carol knew she had taken a wrong step the second the ground gave way beneath her. The dry soil crumbled away to nothing, turning her allegedly safe stairway to a ravine. With a cry that held more rage than shock she slid down into a ditch where she came to an abrupt halt, swearing and cursing like a sailor.
"Carol!" Maggie appeared at the scarp, ready to jump after her.
"I'm okay!", Carol called up at her, struggling to get to her feet to crawl back onto the path they had been wandering for days now.
Eagerness had turned to exhaustion, hope to desperation. After days and nights without any clue on Daryl's whereabouts, her fears had become almost unbearable. So far, the trio had found nothing – no tracks, no stabbed Walkers, not even a stray bolt stuck in a tree. They had even started to take a closer look at the Walkers loitering the woods. Instead of avoiding them, Carol, Maggie and Judith had hunted them, seeing if one of them would actually confirm their biggest fear.
Carol didn't know if she could do it. To find Daryl dead. Turned. Being forced to stab a knife into his skull, killing her best friend, redeeming him. She even dreamed of him – whenever she was able to get a couple of hours of sleep in old cabins or containers, whatever they found as shelter for the night. The same dream, over and over again.
She had always seen him at the river. He had just stood there, watching the water, his back to her. Whenever she had called out to him, he had turned around to face her, looking sad and lost. Alive, healthy. But incredibly sorrowful.
"You're still here", he said. Every time. "Why?"
And every time when Carol opened her mouth for an answer, he disappeared, only to show up on the other side of the river. But there he had changed. His skin was pallid, his hair wet, clinging to his face. His once icy-blue stare was now completely white.
"Run", he said. Every time. Quietly at first. Then again, louder, hollering, "RUN!"
It was the moment Carol always jolted out of her sleep, only to realize that it was still dark outside and she had no choice than to fall asleep again and return to this horrific constantly recurring dream.
Scrambling on all fours Carol grabbed the hand Maggie had outstretched towards her and let herself being pulled up and out. She didn't bother with getting up and sat down right there, her hands dangling from her knees. Dog came back from his scouting exhibition and sat down beside her. So did Maggie and Judith.
"If we go a few miles further to the east, we'll leave the forest", Judith explained, fumbling with a tattered map. "Might be a chance. We have a better view then."
Maggie didn't say anything. But Carol felt that she had something on her mind.
"You wanna go back, am I right?", Carol asked, the question directed at Maggie. "Abort the mission, follow the others."
The other two search parties had returned to Alexandria two days prior. To get more supplies. Maybe get more people moving, helping. They had assured they'd come back to resume the search, that they won't give up on Daryl – but to Carol it sure felt like it.
"It's just ... we don't have much provisions left", Maggie said, "We should head back and stock up. Maybe get the horses. More people."
"We'll loose too much time", Carol replied harshly, "Going all the way back will take us days."
"Carol's right", Judith spoke up, snuggling up at Dogs back, "We can't turn back now."
"Listen, I know you think I'm abandoning Daryl, but that's not true. I wanna find him as much as you do, but we're no good to him if we're starving to death."
Their discussion was interrupted by low, vicious growl and they turned to Dog who stood tall with two legs on a fallen tree, his focus on something in the near distance. Maggie stopped abruptly, frowning. Voices. Somewhere to their left. It sounded like a quite large group of people, heading directly to their current position.
Without hesitation, the three of them got their weapons ready.
"Ditch", Carol hissed, jerking her head at the spot she had fallen down earlier. She slid down along the ground backwards in an avalanche of leaves and dirt, followed by Maggie and Judith. They lay on their stomachs, frozen, breathing as flat as possible. They couldn't see anything from their positions, but heard the crowd coming closer.
"Where's Dog!?", Judith suddenly whispered, almost crawling out of their cover.
"Sshhh ... he'll be fine ... quiet now", Maggie pulled her down and lay an arm around her, holding her tight.
"The clearing up ahead is our last destination", a man said, "let's see if there's any game out there. If not, we'll head back."
"Aw, thank god, I thought you wanted us to march through the whole country, man."
"Maybe next time. We've been out here long enough."
"I'm in for a long hot shower, guys, don't know what you do but ..."
"Wait a second, did you hear that?"
"What is it?"
"Don't know yet."
"Are there any wolves left?"
"I don't know and will you just shut up, Noel?"
Carol felt her stomach drop and threw a fearful glance at Maggie. The men were close, they could hear their steps on the dry ground, their heavy breathing, their guns clicking. It ocurred to her that it was a rare thing these days hearing a gun being cocked. For a second, everything got very quiet. A tiny sob elicited from Judith, barely audible.
"Let's move. The clearing, then back home. Keep your eyes open."
The rustling set in again and the heavy steps receded slowly. The men had stopped talking, obviously having switched to hunting mode. When the woods were silent again, Carol, Maggie and Judith crawled from their poor hiding place.
Sensing Judith's unease, she put a hand over the girls mouth to keep her from calling out for Dog.
"Let's wait a moment ... I'm sure he led them away from us, he'll be back any minute."
"Did you notice his odd behavior?", Maggie asked quietly, observing their surroundings, "Dog's usually not that aggressive towards strangers unless their shady. That growling and baring his teeth?"
"Yeah", Carol nodded, "Think he had an encounter with them in the past?"
The women looked at each other knowingly.
"We should follow them", Judith said, "check out their place. Maybe they aren't bad people, they might have seen Daryl. They could help."
"I agree in following them", Maggie offered, "But we have to be very careful. They had weapons. Guns. That doesn't make them very confidence-inspiring to me."
She readjusted her bow and smiled. "Look who's there."
Out of nowhere, Dog appeared from the undergrowth, wagging his tail and jumping up at them, urging them to get going. He, too, knew this was a lead. And for the first time in days, Carol sensed something close to hope.