RaphaeltheCowboy: I do actually have a plan with Andrea that will give her a better portrayal. A lot of people see her as some stuck up bitch, but I see a grieving woman trying to find her place in a world she's suddenly alone in. And Ania being a forensic psychologist will be able to help her through that. There's also the fact that I find Lori's argument of domestic things with her really, really fucking stupid...Like, make the men do their own damn clothes! XD
They ended up staying the night in an outskirt community of Atlanta itself. They could still see the city plain as day, especially from the roof of the school building they stayed in. There had been a few walkers inside when they got there, but it was clear that the area had been evacuated in the early days. They managed to find a few cans of various vegetables and fruits as well as a lot of snack food, like protein and cereal bars, pop tarts, goldfish crackers, and graham crackers. It wasn't a stockpile, but it would help expand their food resources by a week if rationed right. Spending the night in one of the interior classrooms, the group decided to try for Fort Benning. There was nothing left in Atlanta.
Come morning, everyone was bustling and preparing. They were leaving T-Dog's van, Shane's Jeep, and Daryl's truck behind, siphoning out the gas to save for the other vehicles. Carol's Cherokee was loaded to capacity with supplies while the rest went into Dale's RV. Shane and T-Dog would be traveling in the RV as well while Daryl and, much to Shane's chagrin, Tea would be riding Merle's bike together. Daryl remembered how Ania had told his brother that she didn't need to hold on to ride; the girl was right. As they all loaded into their respective vehicles, the two hunters mounted the bike, Daryl's crossbow propped up between the saddlebag and seat, Tea's foot securing it, while hers was strapped to her back. She leant her head against his back and held on only as he started forward before sitting back again.
They headed out on the empty side of the highway, out of the Atlanta city limits. It had been a long time since she had been on the back of a chopper. She enjoyed the feeling of the bike rattling between her legs and the wind whipping through her hair. Tea kept her hands on her thighs for the most part, though every once in a while she would brush one along his arm or grab his thigh. At one point, to get the wind out of her face for a while, she leaned in against him, resting her head between his shoulder blades and placing her hands on his hips. They'd been on the road for a couple hours when they came up on their first real test. Ahead of them lay a mess of wrecked and abandoned vehicles blocking the road. Daryl slowly made his way through before realizing the RV wasn't following them. He turned the bike around as Tea leaned back, leaving her hands on his hips to help keep stable.
Pulling up to the RV, Dale shouted out, "See a way through?"
Daryl nodded and swung around the RV to take lead again. Tea looked around and couldn't help but wonder how panicked people must have been to make such a mess. They managed to make it a little ways into the traffic, weaving in and around the overturned and dusty vehicles, before a high pitched squeal came from behind them. Coming to a complete stop and bracing the bike, Daryl turned off the ignition before climbing off, helping Ania off as well and grabbing his bow. They both started walking over to the RV as the others were alighting from their vehicles. Dale was the first one out of the RV and looked towards the front in frustration.
"I said it. Didn't I say it?" he started. "A thousand times. Dead in the water."
"Problem Dale?"
"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of -" he stopped his train of thoughts as Daryl walked to the open hatch of a vehicle, beginning to rummage through. "Okay, that was dumb."
"If you can't find a radiator hose here, there's a whole bunch of stuff we can find," Daryl said as he began pulling useful items out.
T-Dog walked up offering, "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start."
"Maybe some water?" Carol said.
"Or food," Glenn chimed in.
"This is a graveyard," Lori said making everyone pause and look at her.
"This is a goldmine!" Tea countered. "Food, clothin', fuel, maybe even some medicine."
"I don't know how I feel about this," the woman continued.
"Well, how ya feel 'bout dyin', Lori?" Tea stormed. "'Cause this is the way it is now. Ya eitha scavenge from what ya can, or ya go without and possibly die! Ya choice, but I sure as shite know what mine is."
Apparently, T-Dog agreed with her as he walked back towards the RV for the things needed to siphon fuel. "Alright, alright, here we go."
"Come on, y'all, just look around," Shane said rather dejectedly. "Just gather what you can."
Daryl continued looking through his vehicle as Tea moved on ahead. She noticed that it was mostly her, Lori, Carol, and the kids looking in the vehicles, and Lori and Carol weren't even doing much looking. Andrea had gone back into the RV, not wanting to deal with it. Tea knew she was still grieving and having a hard time processing Amy's death, let alone accepting the fact that she was still alive. Daryl went on ahead to help T-Dog siphon fuel. Opening the door to another vehicle, Tea found a carton of cigarettes Daryl would enjoy and a box of ammo. She heard Shane hooting and hollering as well as Glenn's laughs of delight and thought to herself that they were being idiots, all the while gathering a few odds and ends that would be useful into her bag.
"Hey," she said walking up to Lori.
Lori looked at her, and then around seeing no one was in hearing distance, "What do you want?"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Do we need ta worry 'bout Shane?"
"It's fine."
"Lori," Tea fixed the older woman with a hard gaze, making it hard for the woman to remain calm. "Did he force ya?"
"No, just," Lori sighed in frustration. "No, we're fine."
Lori walked away, leaving Tea to follow after her. Not wanting to stray too far from the kids, she'd kept close to the two mothers and lost sight of Daryl. It didn't bother her until Rick came running like a bat out of hell and yelling in the loudest whisper for them to get down and under the cars. Although the mothers were within sight range, the children were somewhat separated with Tea being the closest adult. Desperate to keep them safe, she grabbed the closest to to her. Shoving Carl under the vehicle, she crawled in after him and pulled him tight against her, shielding him as best she could from whatever was coming.
She smelled it long before she saw what was coming. Walkers, and a lot of them. The sound of their shuffling feet and raspy breathing were the next signs of their presence. Tea felt Carl wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her chest. The poor boy was shaking, which was the only reason she was able to quell her fears in the moment. She very well couldn't breakdown while she had the child to protect. Tea looked over and saw Rick laying under a car two from her own, Lori and Carol under one not far away and facing them. She tried to convey that she had and would protect Carl with her expression; Rick nodded, but Lori just stared at her son. Sophia was under the car on her other side when she turned to the girl. She tried her best to keep eye contact with her, silently giving her strength and pleading with her to stay still. Tea felt awful that the little girl was alone; she should have grabbed both children.
Eternity. That's what it felt like. In all honesty, it was only about twenty minutes, but finally the sounds began to fade as the walkers shuffled past. There had been so many traveling together, hundreds possibly; one wrong move and they were all dead. Everyone waited with baited breath to make sure the herd had passed. She held onto Carl and tried to warn Sophia not to move, but the little girl was already crawling out from beneath her vehicle. Unfortunately, there was a walker that had strayed further from the main group and it saw her. Her screams drew the attention of another walker as she crawled under the guard rail. Running down the embankment and into the forest, Sophia disappeared from sight with two walkers behind her.
As Tea watched Rick go over the railing after Sophia, she let go of Carl and rolled out from beneath the car herself. She told Carl to wait for his mother and took off after Rick and Sophia. There was only one thought in her head as she jumped over the guard rail – find Sophia and get her back to her mother safely. Keeping her footing down the steep embankment, she found their trail easily enough and started following it. Tea moved as fast as she possibly could, coming up to a stream. They had obviously entered it, and she looked around to see if she could find any tracks. There were two sets, as well as her own, coming in, and only one going out. The size and shape told her they were obviously Sophia's tracks.
Honing in on the shape of the tracks, she allowed her mind to hyper-focus on the task at hand. Every sound echoed in her ears as her eyes focused solely on the tracks; her peripheral vision took in every movement around her instead. Her breathing was silent, and she tread carefully, leaving enough of a track of her own for Daryl to follow if he needed to. Her vision tunneled as she followed along, very quickly becoming concerned as the tracks suddenly veered away. There was no reason for this change of directions as far as Tea could see looking around, but then again, she didn't need to know why. She simply returned to the tracks and trudged ahead. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes later that she heard the sounds of screaming.
Running towards the sound, Tea grabbed out one of her Darts and Bucky and burst around a tree. Though she hadn't known what she would find, she knew she had to be ready. What met her was a group of walkers closing in on the little girl she had been looking for. As she moved forward with purpose, her mind went blank and all conscious thought went out the window. She acted on instinct as her arm flew in an arc and released the throwing knife into the head of the walker trying to take a bite out of the little girl's shoulder. Grabbing another of her Darts, she spun around quickly and plunged her buck knife into the skull of another, pulling it back with brute force. Taking a step forward at the same time as bending down and twisting her body, she came up between two more walkers and plunged a blade into both chins and up into the brainstem. Once again pulling her blades as the walkers fell, she danced between Sophia and another three lunging forward. She caught one in the eye with Bucky while twisting her body to throw her other knife into the one closest to Sophia. Twisting again, she pulled Bucky with her and up into the chin of the third walker. Right before the last walker reached Sophia, she used her leg to swipe its from under it and smashed the blade into its forehead. It had taken all of a few moments for her to take out a group of eight walkers.
"Ms. Parker?" the little girl said weakly. "You found me!"
"Ya bit? Scratched?"
"No," the girl cried as she flung herself onto Tea. "I was going to die! It was going to kill me! You saved me!"
"Hush," Tea said a bit harshly, still in auto-mode.
The last thing she wanted was contact when she was in this state. She really wanted to push the girl away as her skin was crawling and she felt her chest seizing up from the girl clinging to her so tightly. Gritting her teeth, she kept silent and still, making no move to comfort the girl but also not removing her. All she could do was remain vigilant and still with knives still in both hands as the little girl struggled to regain her emotions. After a few moments during which Tea grew increasingly tense, they reclaimed her weapons and cleaned them before moving on. The commotion of the fight followed by Sophia's emotional outburst could bring another group of walkers. They had to press on and further into the woods.
Tea was thankful she had kept her blades on her, though she greatly missed Jewel; she'd left her back on the bike, trading her for a bag for supplies. Assessing their situation, she had left the bag back on the highway as well as her canteen. All they had between them were a hunting and buck knife, five throwing knives, a machete, and a Glock with half a clip. The sun was below the trees by now and there was no way of telling which way the group was. They would have to stay the night in the woods.
~x~
Daryl helped T-Dog back to the group and pulled out the dried herbs and clay Ania had in her bag as well as her mortar and pestle. He told Dale to clean the man's arm as best he could and to get some towel or paper or something they could bandage the wound with and duct tape. As Dale did what he was asked, Daryl added the right amount of chickweed and dandelion leaves with burdock root and some of the clay to some water before grinding it all together. Once he had made a thick paste, he told Dale to press it lightly onto the wound and then wrap it up, adding that it should be changed regularly and that T-Dog shouldn't move around too much. He'd been so caught up in dealing with the man's wound that he hadn't stopped to take notice of the situation outside the RV. Stepping outside, he noticed Rick coming up towards the guard rail where the rest of the survivors were standing. He walked over, only now realizing that they were missing people.
"Where is she?" the mousy woman, Carol, cried.
"She's not back here?" Rick asked.
"What about Tea?" Glenn asked.
"What about her?" came Rick's reply.
"She took off after you two," Dale said.
"She WHAT?!" Daryl yelled.
"There were two walkers after Sophia," Rick explained. "I went after her. Tea must have come after me. Shane, Glenn, grab a rifle, get me one too. Daryl, I'll need your tracking skills."
"You got 'em."
Rick led the three other men a ways into the woods. Although he wasn't happy about it, Daryl was supposed to focus on finding Sophia first. Ania was a grown woman who could take care of herself; she'd be fine and make it back to the group on her own according to Shane. Rick explained how he had found the walkers and left Sophia in an over-grown area where the roots made a shallow cave deep in the bank of a stream. They came across it soon enough, Rick leading them right to the spot he had described.
He and Daryl stood in the stream and looked in the hole, "Sure this is the spot?"
"I left her right here," Rick insisted. "I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek."
"Without a paddle," Daryl countered. "Seems where we've landed. And Ania's out in this shit thanks to it."
"She was gone by the time I got back here," Rick said. "I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder," he said, pointing towards where Glenn was standing. "Maybe Tea's with her."
Daryl walked over and glanced at the ground by Glenn's feet before scowling. "Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're muckin' up the trail."
"Assuming she knows her left from her right," Shane chided.
"Shane, she understood me fine."
"Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck."
"Got clear prints right here. She did like you said, headed back to the highway. And there's Ania's prints too, fresher by the looks of it. Seems like she caught the same trail and is followin' it. Let's spread out, make our way back," Daryl said as he hefted himself out of the stream.
"They couldn't have gotten far," Shane said while helping the two men. As he grabbed Rick's hand, he assured him, "Hey, we're gonna find her. She could be tuckered out hiding in the bush somewhere."
Daryl walked carefully, hunched over and looking at the forest floor intently. The trail was clear as day as he followed along with the others close behind. Everything seemed to be going well with both sets of prints leading in the same direction. It didn't make any sense when the tracks diverged from their path. He knelt down close to the ground to find out if there was any reason for it. Obviously Ania had also found the situation awkward; her prints circled around a couple of times as if she was trying to figure out why the girl had changed directions before following along her trail. Of course his Ania would be stupid enough to run off after a kid without second thought.
"They were doin' just fine 'til right here," he said. "All Sophia had to do was keep goin'. Ania followed after her, but Sophia veered off that way first."
"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.
Shane had bent down next to him and glanced over his shoulder in the direction Daryl pointed, "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off."
"A walker?" Glenn asked again.
"I don't see any other footprints but hers and Ania's," Daryl said with a shake of his head.
"So what do we do?" Shane asked. "All of us press on?"
"No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway," Rick replied. "People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."
Shane thought for a moment, "I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on."
As he and Glenn left, Daryl led Rick down the trail and into the underbrush. He was irritated as he heard the sheriff's footfalls land heavily behind him, wishing Ania was there instead. It was just like her to run off after a kid. If he was right, she hadn't even been thinking when she came out here. Her bag had been up on the highway as well as the one she'd been using to scavenge. Daryl wasn't overly worried that he wouldn't find Ania and Sophia. If he knew Ania like he thought he did, she had already found the little girl and whatever had forced them this way was keeping them going. They followed the trail until the light was starting to fade.
"Tracks are gone," Rick said a few minutes later.
"No, they faint, but they ain't gone," came his reply. "They came through here," he pointed ahead.
"How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."
"You want a lesson on trackin' or you wanna find the girls and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl asked a little heated.
They continued on for a time before stumbling upon a sight that gave them hope. Laying in an odd sort of line, eight walkers were lying permanently dead on the forest floor. The last one lay close to a tree, every single one having well-placed knife marks. There was no outward indication that the walkers had managed to harm either female, but they double checked. A few of them had blood under their nails and skin in their gums. Laying them on their backs, the pair worked to open each of them up and check their insides. It appeared as if one had eaten a woodchuck while the others had shared what seemed to be a small boar. None of the others had fresh blood, but they double checked them too. The pair worked quickly, sharing words only when necessary. It was hard to tell the tracks apart as the sun was setting. Ania would have to survive the night on her own with nothing but a little girl to help keep her safe. Heaving a heavy sigh and sharing a look with Rick, they headed back towards the interstate.
"We'll search again tomorrow," Rick told the hunter as they broke through the trees.
"We'll find 'em tomorrow," Daryl said firmly.
Carol was waiting at the guard rail and immediately began freaking out over the fact that the girl wasn't with them, "You didn't find her?"
"Their trail went cold," Rick said as he stepped over the railing. "We'll pick it up again at first light."
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own," Carol insisted, "to spend the night alone in the woods."
"We know Tea's with her, so she's not alone," Daryl said. "And out in the dark's no good. We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people getting' lost."
"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own with just one person to look out for her! Especially not Tea! She's not right in the-" the woman started.
"She took down eight walkers by herself when she found your daughter," Daryl spat out at the woman. "Ain't nothin' wrong with her but what y'all think of 'er!"
"I know this is hard," Rick tried, "but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there. We know Tea is with her and is keeping her safe."
"We tracked 'em for a while," Daryl cut in.
"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick added. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."
Carol looked over to Daryl before looking down at his shirt and getting riled up again, "Is, is that blood?"
"Like I said, Ania took down a bunch a walkers," Daryl said.
"There was no sign that any harm was done to either her or Sophia," Rick said, trying to reassure the panicking mother.
"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.
Rick and Daryl shared a look before Daryl answered, "We cut the son a bitches open, made sure."
Daryl's annoyance with the woman only increased as she sat down on the rail before looking at Rick with venom and said, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How can you just leave her?!"
"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance," he reasoned softly.
"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol," Shane said.
"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child," the woman broke down.
"Ania's with her," Daryl said. "They're fine."
Rick knelt on the ground and looked up at the woman, his face wracked with guilt, "It was my only option. The only choice I could make."
"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane said from the side.
"My little girl got left in the woods."
Both Rick and Daryl had to walk away after that. Wracked by guilt, Rick walked away into the cars trying to distance himself from the grieving mother. Daryl walked back to the bike and looked at Jewel. Stupid Ania and her stupid names, he thought to himself. Now she's got me callin' 'em by 'em. Thinking back to just earlier when she'd been on the back of the bike, Daryl refused to believe that she wouldn't be back for the prized possession. You better be safe when I find you, Ania.
~x~
Night had fallen and Tea had finally come somewhat out of the hyper-focused auto-pilot she'd been in. They had kept moving until it got too dark for Sophia to travel safely. They didn't have any real shelter, but Tea had found a small alcove in a rocky area. It was big enough for the two to lay in, though she had Sophia lay down behind her, back to the back rock with her front curled around the young woman who sat, still running on high adrenaline. In the morning, she would try to find the creek again and make her way back to the highway with Sophia.
She forced herself into a state of lucidity; her body was completely relaxed, but her senses and mind were still in the present. She had gone many a night in this state and trusted herself to be able to react should anything get too close. Four times during the night she had been roused only for it to be the hooting of an owl, a deer pass by, and what could have easily been walkers or rabbits. Nothing came to bother them as they took shelter. Staying lucid allowed her body to recuperate its strength and be well rested for the long trek ahead of them, but her mental state would suffer. She knew that she would have a breakdown as soon as she got back to Daryl, followed by a long period of shutting down or clinginess to the man.
As soon as she felt Sophia begin to wake in the morning, Tea sat up and crawled out of the alcove. There was very little she could do for the child as far as drink until they reached the stream, but the two of them could do some foraging for breakfast. She felt bad for being so stupid as to not have at least grabbed the bag of scavenged supplies before running off, but it only registered for a moment. Tea's mind was reeling with all kinds of possibilities, from getting caught in another herd to finally making it back to the highway for everyone to be gone. She forced it all away, determined to deal with it later. When Sophia emerged a short time later, they began to head out.
Tea tried hard to follow their trail, but walkers had obviously come through at some point of the night, a few animals too, and mucked it up. The only thing she could do now was follow the stream and hope they came to a landmark she recognized. Realizing that if she had no trail to follow, neither did Daryl, Tea went into survival mode. All other thoughts that didn't pertain to getting the pair back to the safety of the group fell away and in their place stood hyper- focus, awareness, and sensitivity. Every noise the girl behind her made, every movement of the forest, every smell; they were all caught by Tea's senses as she tightened her grip on her knives. They had been walking for about two hours and Tea had remained eerily silent to the little girl.
"Ms. Parker?" the girl asked quietly.
"Hm?"
"Why aren't you talking?"
"No' a lo' ta say."
"Is it because of that thing you talked about? Autisism?"
"Autism," she corrected. "And par'ly."
"Are you angry at me?"
"No."
"You seem angry," Sophia insisted.
"I'm no'."
"You sure?"
She didn't mean to, she really, really didn't, but she lashed out while quickly turning to face the girl, "I ain' fuckin' angry so stop fuckin' askin'!" Sophia cowered away and Tea ran a frustrated hand through her hair before kneeling in front of the frightened girl. "Sorry, Sophia. Bu' I need ya ta undastand. I can' be t'inkin' 'bout not'in', not'in', righ' now but gettin' ya back ta ya momma and safety."
"Are you scared?" she asked, her vulnerability showing in her voice.
"Not'in' ta be scared a. Daryl's lookin' for us. So's Rick. Ya momma too," she gave the girl before holding her hand out to her. "Now come on, we oughta ge' goin'."
~x~
Daryl had a hard night. He hadn't been able to get very much sleep knowing that Ania was out in the woods, possibly in the open. He couldn't help but wonder if she had gotten any sleep, if she was hurt or exhausted. What would happen if she fell asleep in the middle of the night and a group of walkers came upon her? All the thoughts that swarmed through his head along with the guilt that wracked him still from leaving Merle had left him wide awake. Morning couldn't come around quick enough, and even then, they didn't ready themselves to leave until the sun was already high overhead.
"Everybody takes a weapon," Rick said as he unrolled a sleeve of bladed weapons.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea complained, much to Daryl's annoyance. "What about the guns?"
"We've been over that," Shane said. "Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."
"Tea had a gun. And it's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea shot back.
"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us," Shane said. "So you need to get over it. Tea's never even drawn her gun; thing could be a fake for all we know."
"It ain't a damn fake," Daryl growled at him.
"Tea has a standard issue Glock 22, police force fire weapon," Rick stated. "She's had training and received her concealed carry permit, so there's no point in bringing her up. You didn't even know how the safety works the first time we met."
Andrea just scoffed and looked away, Shane glared at the two men, and Daryl spoke to the group, "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are, they'll be by the creek. It's their only landmark."
"Stay quiet and stay sharp," Rick added. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."
"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane said. "Tea might a been a crazy bitch, but she was right about those."
"Stop running your trap 'fore I shove my fist down it," Daryl spat at him as Rick walked up to Dale.
"Hey Dale, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move."
The man in question stood up and said seriously, "Good luck out there. Bring the girls back."
Daryl busied himself with getting his bag ready. He took some extra provisions just in case they found their missing girls. Three full bottles of water also went into the bag. He carried nothing else aside from his crossbow. Listening as Andrea threw another hissy fit over not having her gun to Dale. The man was just trying to protect the woman from herself and she was acting like a spoiled brat. She'd tried to kill herself at the CDC, Daryl thought, no way in hell should she have a damn gun. If Ania had been there, she'd probably lay into the woman for how she was behaving. A spoiled brat in Daryl's opinion; he could only imagine what Ania would call her.
They moved out after another minute, Dale and T-Dog staying behind. Daryl took the lead with everyone else trailing behind him. Trying to be a productive member of the group was grating on his nerves. He kept telling himself that he was only out here because Ania foolishly ran after the girl, but he knew that he would have been out here even if it had just been Sophia. Ania would never have left the little girl in the woods alone. Damn woman would have tried to track her in the dark to find her he thought to himself with a rueful scoff. He led the group to where the trail ran cold last night before moving on. It wasn't a long time later that he spotted what looked to be a campsite in the distance. Trying to remind himself to stay focused and not get too hopeful, Daryl motioned to Rick and the others.
They crouched down as Shane said, "She could be in there."
Apparently, he was still only focused on Sophia, which spurned the anger in his voice when Daryl replied, "Could be a whole bunch of things in there."
The three moved forward cautiously, leaving the group behind. When they were just a yard or so away from the tent, Daryl held up his hand and motioned for the two cops to stay put. With his hands, he told them he would go forward himself. Taking out his hunting knife, he slowly stepped up to the tent and peaked inside. He made a point of raising his hands and shrugging his shoulders to Rick as he couldn't tell what, if anything, was in the tent through the open door nor the side. Daryl heard Rick call to Carol, and then Carol's voice calling out to Sophia. When no movement was heard, Daryl slowly started unzipping the tent as Rick walked up, both on high alert. Shane stood behind them when Daryl finally opened the flap. The smell was enough to make him gag before he entered the tent, leaving Rick and Shane to choke and gag themselves. He heard Carol's calls for him as he studied the corpse and grabbed the gun from his hand. It was just a small six shooter, but that was better than nothing he supposed.
He tucked the gun in his back pocket before storming out of the tent. "Ain't her," he informed the awaiting mother.
"What's in there?" Andrea asked.
"Some guy," he responded. "Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"
There was a momentary silence before the sound of bells quietly came over them. After a silent breath was shared, the entire group started running through the woods. They paused after a few moments and discussed which way the sound was coming from and the possibility of what they would find. Deciding that it could be Tea or Sophia ringing the bells themselves, the group pressed on as quickly and quietly as they could. It didn't take long before they broke through the tree line and into a graveyard. In the distance was a church, but it didn't have any bells that Daryl could see.
As he and Rick pushed forward, Shane stopped to chide, "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells. Rick."
The pair reached the doors to the church before the rest of the group. They waited to be caught up to before opening the doors. Entering the church with Shane between them and the group behind, the pair were met by three walkers sitting in the pews. Lori handed Rick her machete and the man stalked up to one of the walkers. Daryl took a knife with a hook at the tip from Glenn, handing him his crossbow, and moved to the opposite side of the church. What looked to be a bride turned walker stood watching Shane as he dispatched his own walker. He made kissy noises to get its attention before wailing it across the face, dropping the poor bitch once and for all. The three men made sure the corpses would stay down before Rick ran back outside and yelled for Sophia.
Daryl walked up to the statue of Jesus with contempt, "Yo, JC. You takin' requests?"
"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church," Shane was telling everyone. "It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple."
No sooner had he said that than bells rang out. Daryl practically barreled through everyone to make it outside first, running around the side of the church and stopping dead in his tracks. Glenn moved forward to the power box and pressed a button, making the bells stop as Daryl scratched the back of his head.
"A timer," he said, sounding winded and slightly defeated. "It's on a timer."
"I'm gonna go back in for a bit," Carol said.
Most of the group followed her back in, including Daryl. He stood in the very back of the church with Glenn as they listened to Carol praying up front. She hadn't even bothered to pray about Ania, just that her kid be safe, and Daryl couldn't help but think that it was her own damn fault that both of them were out in these woods. If she'd have just kept an eye on her kid, taught her to have a bit more of a backbone, maybe the girl wouldn't have run off. Ania wouldn't have had to chase after her then.
"We'll find them," Glenn said, as he handed the man back his crossbow.
"No shit," Daryl scoffed as he gave the boy back his knife.
They stood there for a long moment before they headed back outside. Shane and Rick were having a little powwow on their own while the rest of the group sat under a tree. It seemed like they were becoming more and more at odds since they'd returned from Atlanta. Daryl could see the situation rolling downhill, but he could worry about that after he found Ania.
Shane coughed to get everyone's attention, telling them, "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back. Check this area another hour or so, just to be thorough."
"You're splittin' us up. You sure?" Daryl questioned.
"Yeah," he said, although he didn't look it. "We'll catch up to you."
"I want to stay too," Carl piped up. "I'm their friend."
The two deputies shared a look before Rick looked back to Lori. She contemplated it for a moment before walking up to him and saying, "Just be careful okay?"
"I will."
"When did you start growing up?" she asked him while giving him a hug. Daryl had to look down at that; it was always a bit hard seeing moments between mothers and sons for him.
Rick walked up and gave her a hug and her hand a kiss, reassuring her that they'd be along soon. As she started walking away, he held up his Python, "Here, take this. Remember how to use it?"
"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed," she stated as if she couldn't believe he would even offer.
Daryl was nice enough to pull the gun he'd found in the tent out and offer it to her, "Here, got a spare. Take it."
He could hear Andrea's scoff when the brunette took the gun with a thank you. Daryl just rolled his eyes at the woman's behavior. If she kept acting like that, she wouldn't just be a danger to herself but to the group. It was incredibly selfish of her to want a gun she didn't rightly know how to use while Lori, being a cop's wife, knew how to handle one. Her constantly bringing Ania into the argument about why she should be allowed a weapon was pissing him off, too, acting like Ania wasn't fit to have her gun. If the blonde brought up his girl one more time, he was going to be having words with her.
They'd only been walking for about fifteen minutes, making their way back to the highway, when Carol sat down on a log, too weary to continue. "So this is it? This the whole plan?"
"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl sighed as he leaned against a tree.
"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea complained. "I see you have a gun," she said to Lori.
"Why? You want it? Here, take it," Lori said as she all but shoved the thing into Andrea's hands. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She sat down and looked at Carol then, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blamin' Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did, or even Tea. Or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you. And y'all sit there and bash on Tea, and I know I have my problems with the girl. She's nothin' like any woman I've ever met before and so young I butt heads tryin' to act like a mother hen. But she ran after Sophia without a moment's hesitation. She's still out here keeping her safe. None of us did that. We sat and watched, but never acted. That was all Rick and Titania."
"Ania's out here with her," Daryl offered Carol. "She'll keep her safe 'til they get back."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Andrea scoffed, effectively stifling the comfort he was trying to give the fearful mother. "Have you seen how she acts around camp? She just walks out whenever she wants to. How can you know she won't just abandon Sophia if things get too rough?"
"It ain't like that," Daryl countered. "She walks outta camp to get herself in check so she doesn't deck someone 'cause they're bein' asses or 'cause there's too much goin' on. It's just a damn copin' mechanism. She's got somethin' to focus on now she's got Sophia. Ania won't have the time to think about what's happenin'. She'll just be actin' on instinct. And trust me, girl's first instinct will be to keep your little girl safe."
"How do you know so much about her?" Carol asked.
"'Cause she's my girl, I know her," Daryl admitted.
"When did that happen?" Lori asked.
"Don't matter, does it?" he quipped.
Carol seemed to take what he said seriously, along with Lori's spiel as Andrea handed Lori back her gun, "We should keep moving."
She looked at Daryl, standing with a questioning gaze. He just nodded his head in the direction they were heading in and she moved on. He waited for everyone to move out before shoving himself from the tree. Following everyone along, Daryl slowly worked through the rising agitation he was feeling at how so many members of the group looked down on Ania all because she was different. This was the judgment she said she'd get from being a versie surrounded by normies. When she got back, he was going to make sure she didn't have to deal with it anymore. The thought once again passed through his mind that she better be okay.
Dun dun duuuunnnn...
Updated 8/29/21