RJ's POV
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The car was silent. The only sound coming from Daryl's motorcycle in front of the RV.
Carl sat on top of my lap, and my arms were wrapped tightly around his torso. Even though the world had ended, car wrecks weren't completely ruled out of the picture. Him not having a belt made me nervous, so I acted as his human seatbelt. I didn't care if I was a little sweaty from the heat, I could take it.
Sophia sat in the middle seat, and Carol sat on the other side of the back seat. Carol offered for Sophia to sit in her lap, but Carl had declined—Lori and Rick had always taught him to be a gentleman.
"I was just thinkin' about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl," Lori spoke, catching everyone's attention.
Rick laughed at the memory, as did I. I had been a surprise tagalong member of the family trip.
"I don't remember that." Carl shook his head slightly. His eyes moved between the three adult Grimes'.
"No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby." Lori giggled reminiscently. "Besides we never made it past Fort Worth."
Carl's eyes shifted to me for confirmation, to which I nodded my head with a smile, I too was reminiscing.
"No, you got sick. I never knew a baby could throw up so much." All three of us chuckled and I shook my head.
"No kidding. I was the one that got most of it." I cringed at the memory. "All over my shirt, my neck, my pants..." My eyes shut tightly and my head shook from side to side violently while Lori and Rick laughed, remembering my suffering.
"Ick." Carl giggled.
"Yeah, ick." Lori agreed with a laugh, her head momentarily turning to face both Carl and me before turning back. "The doctor in Texas said you'd live. Then we turned around and drove home."
"That sucks." My nephew sighed. Even though he was too young to even remember being alive, he still felt a little bad for ruining our trip. I could see it in his eyes and in the way he slumped guiltily into me.
"Nah, it was fun." I shook my head.
"The funnest." Rick chuckled and Lori nodded her head in agreement.
It was silent for a beat, but this time it wasn't so much dead silence as a comfortable and light-hearted silence.
"Can we go see it? The Grand Canyon? I'd like to." We, adults, knew that with the world in the state it was in, there'd be a low chance that we'd really be able to go to a place as far as The Grand Canyon, especially just to go sightseeing, but hope was all we had left.
"I would too." Sophia piped in. "Can we go?"
"We'd never go without you and your mom. That's a promise." Rick stated firmly. The Grimes family had formed an attachment to the Peletier family—even me. The single mother and child were rather alone in the world, and really only had the groups men and me to protect them.
"And RJ?" Carl asked hopefully with a smile.
"Oh, RJ is a given. Couldn't get rid of her if we tried." Lori joked, but there was a whole lot of truth behind her words.
The car fell back into its lighthearted silence as we all relaxed once more.
We'd all been a bit shaken up, especially after what we'd seen at The Vatos' place. The building had been filled with bodies and walkers. I had been the main one to be affected by the tragedy, mainly because I actually spent time with the people who'd died.
We didn't see G's body, or Felipe's, in fact, there was only a handful that any of us could recognize. I only hoped that it meant they made it out somewhat okay. The thought of them walking around as walkers was a thought I wouldn't like to think about.
The RV slowed to a stop, and the adults all shared a confused glance. None of us knew what was going on, but I took the moment to look around. It still sent shivers down my spine—seeing how dead the Atlanta roads looked. I used to hate all of the noise, but nowadays I found myself missing it.
On the other side of the highway, it looked almost empty. No one had been trying to leave town, it seemed like everyone had been trying to head towards the city—which would've seemed like a smart idea unless they knew what would've awaited them.
With an impatient sigh, my eyes searched for more clues. Thanks to The Peletier's old Jeep Cherokees manufacturers, I was unable to roll the windows down. It was a good car, but the old car didn't allow for the backseat to have a say in whether or not they wanted to hang out of the side of the car.
As we got closer, we could see more and more cars. Some had been stopped in the middle of the grass between the two highways. We could see now where some people had tried to escape by using the other road but had clearly been unsuccessful.
Something in my gut told me that this wasn't a good idea, but I told myself that we'd be out of it soon enough, and if we had to, we could turn around.
The sound of Daryl's motorcycle got close again, and we saw him say something to Dale before turning around back towards the traffic.
I knew that meant that he'd probably be finding a way through, which would be smart considering he had the smallest motor vehicle out of the three that we had.
Rick, Dale, and Daryl began weaving through the wrecked and scattered cars. The worst one we saw had been a P.T. Cruiser that'd been flipped over. There were clothes and trash littered everywhere, and some even strung along the cars as if something had pulled them out halfheartedly and then just left them.
My grip on Carl tightened, as did his on my arms. He had his arms wrapped up in mine for some sense of safety. He knew that if anything were to happen, he'd be protected by me and his parents, but that didn't make anything any less scary.
My eyes caught sight of something in a car we were passing. My heart dropped and as Carl turned to look, my hand immediately covered his eyes. Although it was a feeble attempt, considering we saw dead bodies every day, this one was a child, this one was a little boy just like Carl.
An ear-piercing screech-like sound came from the RV. All of our heads snapped over to look ahead of us, and we all saw the white smoke emitting from the RV.
I let out a quiet string of curses. This was the last place I wanted us to be stranded. It felt so wrong being there. It felt like we were hanging around a graveyard.
Rick put the car in park before removing the keys, and I took that as my queue to get out of the car too.
I had been the only one to have much when we left. No one really had the time to grab anything on the way out of the CDC. A lot of things were left behind, including clothes. All I had were my BDU pants, a tan tee, and my combat boots.
I stepped out of the car with my beretta drawn and my senses on high alert. My eyes traveled over every car and through the woods. I didn't like surprises, never have.
"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale ranted as everyone walked up to the smoking RV.
"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked, his eyes wandering over what looked to be a goldmine for supplies.
"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—" Dale turned and his eyes immediately landed on the hundreds of cars surrounding them that were full of supplies.
"Okay, that was dumb."
Daryl was the first to begin searching. He dug through a car with the back window popped open, and my eyebrows furrowed. I knew we needed it, but something about wearing and using a bunch of dead people's stuff gave me the heebie-jeebies.
"If you can't find a radiator hose here . . ." Deputy Dumbass trailed off with his shotgun at his hip.
I had somewhat made up with Shane when we were hiding out at The Vatos' place. He gave me food, and that was usually how we made up. I still thought he was a major asshole, but I also knew that he wasn't completely in the wrong. It also didn't mean he was completely forgiven, it just meant that I understood why he told us that Rick was dead.
"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find," Daryl said as he continued to search through the car. Footsteps walking up caught my attention, and when I turned I saw T.
"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start."
T-dog had somehow become our designated fuel siphoner. We had to leave a few of the cars behind, and when we did, T-dog siphoned the fuel from them for the cars that we were using. He was pretty good at it, so it just made sense.
"Maybe some water." Carol pitched in the idea, which was one I'm sure we all had on our minds. Water had become scarce, and it pissed me off that I hadn't even thought to take some water from the CDC before we left, but then again I was kind of running for my life.
"Food?" Usually, I'd say food was something that Glenn always thought about, but at the moment it was what was plaguing everybody's mind. We hadn't had anything to drink or eat for the past couple of days since we left the CDC. All we had was one water bottle to go around and snacks that Shane and I had managed to snag before we left.
"This is a graveyard." My eyes snapped over to Lori. She was right, it was, but that didn't change the fact that we needed the supplies inside of the cars. Everyone stopped for a moment, seemingly taking in her words. "I don't know how I feel about this."
I stepped back to be beside her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I'd make sure that we'd make it out of this safe and sound. The pause continued for a beat until Daryl turned back to the car and Dale made his way for the RV.
"Alright, alright, here we go." The man mumbled.
"Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane ordered. It took a minute but everyone began to disperse.
Lori still looked to be pretty uncomfortable with being here, so to maybe help with it, I stuck around with her and Carl.
Truth be told I didn't know how to feel about this place either. It gave my gut a bad feeling. We were so out in the open, it would've been so easy for someone to attack us while we were spread out—dead or alive.
"We'll be okay." My eyes snapped over to Lori with furrowed eyebrows. "It's fine, we don't need a guard dog. Help out, go search." It seemed like Lori was trying to convince herself more than me, but I didn't want to suffocate her with my presence so I reluctantly nodded my head before heading out to see if anyone needed help.
T-dog was good at siphoning fuel, but everyone could always use a hand. I spotted him walking with a gas can and I immediately jogged forward to catch up. He may have lost the key to the cuffs that cuffed my best friend to a roof, leading him to saw off his own hand, but T-dog actually was a good person. I saw the guilt in his eyes every time he looked at Daryl, sometimes even me.
When I seemingly suddenly appeared beside T, his eyes met mine and he jumped to the side, successfully bumping into Daryl who had also shocked T.
I guess we both had the same idea to give "The Siphoner" a hand.
"Jesus, man, y'all need some damn bells." T panted out as he pushed himself away from the both of us. A small smile made its way to my mouth. It was kind of funny.
With a sigh, T continued onward towards a car. Now that he had Daryl, I figured I'd just search cars in the general area but in case they both needed help. It likely wouldn't happen, but it was a possibility.
I felt eyes on me as I walked ahead of the two, and when I turned I caught a pair of questioning blue eyes. I jerked my head towards one of the cars before turning towards it once more and heading over to it, letting the hunter know of my intentions.
The door was locked, and I would've much rather saved time and searched another car than waste time trying to open up the car without making any alarms go off. With a sigh, I moved on to the next one.
I couldn't see T or Daryl from where I stood, but I was within calling distance so that was enough for me.
The light green Prius didn't look like much, but anything was helpful. I tugged open the door, relieved when it gave and opened wide without any protest. In the passenger seat was a backpack, and I immediately reached for it while I sat in the passenger seat to search through it.
I quickly unzipped the zipper, revealing the clothes that'd been stuffed inside. It seemed like whoever had packed this bag was in a rush when they did so. They weren't folded or anything, in fact, they were extremely wrinkly. They'd been stuffed inside of the backpack for a while though, so it made sense.
The shirt at the top was crumpled up into a ball. It was black from what I could see, but when I pulled it out I realized it was a Rob Zombie t-shirt.
At the sight of Rob Zombie, memories from my rebellious and traumatic years began to surface. With an annoyed sigh at my mental incompetence, I threw the shirt into the back seat before continuing to search through the bag.
At the bottom of the bag was a flashlight, but when I tried to turn it on I realized the batteries were dead. I tossed it back into the bag with a sigh before moving to the pockets.
The backpack's contents were pretty useless except for the pocket knife in the front pocket. It was almost shocking how unprepared this person was for what hit—but then again how could someone really prepare for the zombie apocalypse?
I didn't find anything else in the car, even after I searched the middle console and glove compartment, all I found were two lighters and a pack of cigarettes. Pretty useful in my opinion. I stuffed the three into my pockets before leaving the Prius and shutting the door behind me. I'd been searching for maybe five minutes at most, but when I looked around it was quiet, too quiet.
My ears picked up on something that rose goosebumps on my skin, but before I could look a hand wrapped around my forearm and yanked me down. Daryl stood crouched with a finger over his mouth, warning me to be quiet. The moans and groans got closer, causing my survival instincts to kick in.
I heard the sound of fast footsteps scraping against the pavement. It couldn't have been a walker, the steps were too fast and the smell of death hadn't hit us yet. Both of us peaked out from behind the flipped car and saw a badly bleeding T-dog, stumbling with his hand over his forearm. I was about to take off towards him when Daryl's hand wrapped around my arm and yanked me back. My upset and confused eyes met his, but he was focused on something that'd been behind T. I looked to see walkers. I unsheathed my knife, ready to kill them, but then more rounded the cars, more than I could take on my own. Daryl tugged on my arm, pulling me with him as we quietly ran to the next car to hide behind. I watched as we ran ahead of T and stopped behind another flipped car.
As I crouched there, all I wanted to do was run over and grab T. He was dripping blood all over the pavement, and if he continued to lose blood like that, then we were going to lose another member of our group. I couldn't allow that to happen.
My eyes caught onto movement ahead of us, but Daryl pulled me back again. I was starting to get annoyed with all of his pulling.
A walker cut through and walked past the flipped car, heading straight for T. My eyes widened and I pushed Daryl back while I ran forward to catch up with the walker.
I ran up behind the walker and grabbed onto its body for more control as I shoved my knife through the back of the neck where the brain stem was. All of its movement stopped and I quietly guided it to the ground, not wanting to draw attention to us. There were walkers in almost every direction, and I was beginning to panic.
Daryl ran past me, his finger over his mouth towards T, shushing him just as he did me before pulling T so that he was laying on his back.
My eyebrows furrowed as I watched him, but the shuffling footsteps around us had my hand that was wrapped around my knife twitching. I looked around in my crouched position, scared that we'd be spotted.
Daryl pulled the freshly killed walker and placed it over T-dog. Camouflage. I immediately understood and grabbed onto one of the old bodies on the floor and placed it over myself as I laid down. Daryl placed another body over me, and I sent him a glare. The smell was horrid, especially when you had two dead bodies in your face.
I listened as Daryl laid down and placed a body over himself, and he did it just in time too. The shuffling footsteps got louder, and soon they were walking right over us. Some stepped on me, and I had to suppress a groan a few times. Even though they were dead, they were still pretty fuckin' heavy.
I tried to keep my breaths controlled and shallow. I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself, especially when there were so many walkers.
My mind was racing with thoughts of my family. I hoped they saw the group of walkers before I had, they had to. I hadn't heard any screams which was a good sign, it meant they were safe somewhere.
It felt like forever before the group finally passed, but it was probably something like five minutes. I heard the sound of a body being thrown, and I immediately shoved the two off of me. The smell of the dead was one I'd never get used to.
Daryl rushed over to T, as did I. Luckily Daryl had a rag for T to use on his wound. I inspected the cut and winced at the sight. He was definitely going to need stitches, but the problem with that was we didn't have any stitches. We barely had bandages.
Both Daryl and I helped T-dog up. I wrapped his uninjured arm around my shoulder as I helped him walk, and Daryl did the same with his other arm, careful of his wound. T-dog winced as we all walked, and my eyes darted around in search of any more walkers. The poor man was bleeding all over the place and I couldn't even stitch him up.
Before we could even reach the RV we saw most of the group standing by the guard rails watching the woods. My eyebrows furrowed and my stomach dropped when I didn't see Rick.
Daryl and I leaned T-dog against a car before I ran for Lori. Her eyes met mine and I saw the panic in them. She was doing her best to stay calm and hide her worry, but she couldn't hide much from me.
"What happened? Where's Rick?" I asked in a panicked voice. Carl's arms wrapped around me tightly, and I knew it had to be bad.
"Two walkers chased Sophia into the woods, Rick went after her," Lori answered, and it all made sense. Carol was crying, her shoulders shaking as Lori soothingly rubbed her shoulders.
I didn't even think, I pulled Carl from my lower half and I immediately jumped over the rail and tumbled down the hill towards the woods.
"RJ!" I heard the others call as I got back onto my feet. My knife was still in my hands, ready to kill anything that got in my way.
My eyes searched the ground and immediately found my brother's tracks. I ran into the woods, running in the direction my brother did. I couldn't let him fight anything alone, especially if all he had was his loud-ass Python.
Third Person POV
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Rick climbed his way up the hill. Daryl noticed his crawling first, but it wasn't until Rick called out to his wife that everyone turned, hoping that he'd returned with the little girl and RJ.
Lori and Carl were extremely worried for the soldier. She was a good fighter, but that didn't mean she was invincible.
Carol's eyes searched around the man as he climbed all the way up to the guard rail, but she came up empty. Her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
As Rick climbed to his feet, his eyes met the others. He searched, and he too came up empty. When he found the place where he left Sophia empty, he'd hoped that she'd made it back to the highway, but that clearly wasn't the case.
Tears made their way back to Carol's eyes as she began shaking her head in disbelief.
"Where's Sophia?" Rick asked as his heavy breaths became more shallow. There was a pause as more tears welled up in Carol's eyes.
"She's not back?" He asked hopelessly.
A sob left Carol's lips as she slowly descended to the ground. She couldn't believe it. How could this have happened to her little girl? When you thought about things like these happening, you worried about them, but you never really thought that it could happen to you or your loved ones, but it was happening to her, and she couldn't understand why.
"And RJ?" Lori asked as Andrea met Carol on the ground, cradling her with as much comfort as she could give.
Rick's eyes met Lori's, confused. He didn't know that RJ went after him, he never saw her or heard her in the woods.
"W-What?" He asked, his eyes blinking rapidly in disbelief.
"RJ went after you when she heard," Daryl answered as Lori's hand placed itself over her mouth.
They knew that RJ was more than capable of surviving out there on her own, but they still didn't like the idea of her being out in the woods alone, especially after they saw that big group of walkers.
"Maybe she found Sophia." Dale offered in an attempt to give the sad group some kind of hope.
Rick's hands made their way to his hair as he took a couple of steps back. He was upset that his sister followed, but he was also upset at himself. He knew his sister inside and out, he knew that she would've followed, but he was stupid enough to think someone could stop her.
"C'mon, I'll bet I can find their trail." Daryl offered as he pulled his crossbow over his shoulder and began walking towards the guard rail. Neither Rick nor Shane had to be told twice.
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Even after they searched, they'd only been able to find Sophia's trail. RJ had managed to keep her steps light when she ran, and they'd only been able to see her steps that followed Ricks towards where he left Sophia.
Her prints were light, but they were there. She and Sophia had been together for a while until they were unable to track either of them anymore. There were tracks, but somehow Sophia's became almost like RJ's, but when they became like RJ's, the soldier's prints seemingly disappeared.
Daryl had been sure to look in the trees but still found nothing. It was baffling. When it had gotten too dark to track, they had returned empty-handed, but with somewhat good news. When Carol heard that Sophia had been with RJ, it was like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. They just didn't understand how they weren't back yet.
Lori and Carl had been extremely worried even still. When they heard that it seemed they'd run into trouble, it only further worried them.
They'd all turned in for the night, all except Daryl. He didn't know why, but he sat on top of the RV. He'd volunteered to take watch, but even as he was on watch it felt like he was waiting for something. He played it off as him waiting for Sophia to pop out from the brush, but even he knew that wasn't the whole truth.
RJ had been running through the woods all night, but when she finally found the edge of the Forrest it felt like a miracle. She hoped that Sophia made it back, she hoped that even though it took her almost all night to make it back, Sophia made it back before her.
The walker guts that caked her skin and clothes made her feel sticky and gross, but her heavy eyes were what worried her the most. When she finally climbed up the steep hill, she plopped down on the pavement, staring at the sky, praying that the group didn't leave.
Daryl had watched her climb up the hill, but he hadn't realized it was her until he watched her lay on the pavement. His eyebrows furrowed at the sight of her arms and shirt covered in blood and guts. He climbed down from the RV, and slowly made his way over to the woman. When he realized Sophia wasn't anywhere in sight, a quiet sigh left his lips. The hunter crouched beside the soldier, his eyes taking in the gore that covered her. Her eyes met his, and he could tell what she was asking, but all he could supply her with was a solemn head shake.
Her eyes shut and a defeated sigh left her lips. All she could think about was how she should've looked longer, how she should've had Sophia climb up a tree, how she should've kept the little girl in her sights instead of telling her to run for the highway.
"C'mon, Jarhead." Daryl stood to his full height with his arm held out towards the sulking soldier. "Ya look like shit."
RJ couldn't help the snort that escaped her lips. She was sure she did look like crap, and she could only imagine the smell she was giving off. She accepted his hand, and Daryl helped haul the tired soldier to her feet.
"RJ?" Their eyes moved to the voice to see Rick. He stood there in almost disbelief before making a beeline for his sister. He'd been so worried, and so had the rest of the Grimes family. It'd taken forever for Carl to sleep, and it took Lori twice that. Rick had heard mumbles outside, and when he went to check it out he was blessed with the sight of his sister.
"I'm sorry," RJ mumbled into her big brother's shirt. She knew she worried them, and she didn't mean to, but with the group, she and Sophia got caught up they should've been worried.
Rick held the trembling RJ in his arms. She was exhausted and he knew it. He sent Daryl a thankful nod before guiding RJ towards the RV so she could shower and hopefully get some shut-eye.
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"Can you walk us through what happened?" Shane asked as they all stood around RJ. She was sitting on the hood of one of the cars. When they heard that she was back last night, everyone had hope that Sophia was with her, but when she wasn't the worry set in once again.
Carol had wanted answers immediately, and rightfully so, her daughter was left behind in the woods. Rick had to tell her to give RJ the night. She was exhausted and could barely stand upright without swaying.
They formed a plan to start looking in the morning, and that was what they were about to do, but first, they had to know what happened. They had to know where to look.
RJ nodded her head. "I was following Rick's tracks when I found Sophia. She was crying and said that Rick led the walkers away. I knew I had to get her back before I went back for Rick, so we started making our way back to the interstate." The soldier began fidgeting with her hands. She hated having everyone's attention on her, especially when she had to speak. "We were doin' good for a while until we saw maybe five walkers up ahead. I couldn't take them all by myself, so we decided to hide until they went away. We were pretty much out in the open so we veered off the way back but..." she didn't know how to say it without making Sophia seem guilty, so she didn't. "There was a branch, a loud one, and I didn't see it until my foot was on it."
Carol's eyes shut, she thought her daughter would be safe with the soldier, she hoped that her daughter would be safe with RJ.
"They started coming towards us so we ran. We were gonna run back to the highway for help, but then more and more started to tag along with the group and I knew I couldn't bring em' back." The tracks and what RJ was saying were lining up. Daryl saw where they started running, he saw the branch, the only difference was it was Sophia's tracks that had led to the branch. "So I told her to run back to the highway, I told her the direction and I gave her the knife I found."
"How many?" Shane asked with his furrowed eyebrows. He'd seen RJ last night, he saw how her arms, shirt, and neck were covered in walker insides.
RJ moved her eyes to the ground. She couldn't even remember. She lost count after seven, so she made an educated guess.
"Ten, maybe." She shrugged. "I was leading them away and killing them at the same time. They just kept coming, and–and they don't tire like we do." Her voice sounded almost traumatized, and that's when Carol knew that there really was nothing else that RJ could've done. She did what she could for her baby, even lead a small herd of walkers away, and based on what she saw last night, it almost cost her life.
There was a pause as everyone took in her words, took in her story. Some of them couldn't believe that she'd taken out that many by herself, and Daryl hoped that she really did get them all and that none of them managed to slip by for Sophia while she was busy with the others.
Rick nodded and they all began to back away from the woman. She seemed anxious, and they knew she'd had enough time in the spotlight to last her a while. They all began to grab their things, ready to start looking for the missing little girl. Rick called them all over, and RJ followed. Her brother threw something on the hood of a car and her eyebrows furrowed.
"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick gestures towards the leather pouch that unfolded, revealing weapons that nearly made RJ jump with joy.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" The blonde was starting to annoy RJ.
If the soldier could take out a small herd of walkers with nothing but her knife, then they could take out a couple with the large weapons that Rick was handing out. There were hatchets, machetes, pretty much everything they could use to kill a walker—or pretty much anything.
"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, RJ, and I are carrying. We can't have people poppin' off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane answered from where he stood leaning against the RV.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea grumbled with a glare.
"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it. If RJ can take out a group of walkers without her gun, you can take out a couple without yours." Shane was very clearly annoyed, and RJ couldn't have said it better herself.
Andrea went silent, as did everyone else. The blonde could've gone on and argued more, but it would've been a waste of precious time that was running out for Sophia.
"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl instructed as the others began pulling weapons from the leather wrap.
"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick was still rather worn out from the previous day's events, and RJ could hear it in his voice.
"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane called as he passed by.
"Dale, keep on those repairs. We've gotta get this RV ready to move." Rick ordered as he walked up to the old man.
RJ was already ready. She'd been ready since she woke up in the early morning. She sat on the guard rail watching the tree line in hopes of Sophia walking out of one of them. She'd been zoning out a lot more lately, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.
She didn't like how it felt when she killed all of those walkers, she didn't like how she felt almost comfortable in the zone she was in. Killing was something she'd been doing for a long time, killing was her job before, but she never necessarily felt comfortable. Indifferent? Yes. But comfortable? Never.
"I'm going with you." Carl's voice caught her attention. Her head snapped over and she began walking toward her family. Carl would be safe with all of the adults protecting him, but RJ wasn't sure if she wanted another Sophia situation.
"You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible."
Rick groaned. He wasn't sure if he wanted Carl to come. He and RJ were on the same page. Sophia had been surrounded by people who could protect her too, but she was still missing.
"Your call. I can't always be the bad guy." Lori shook her head as she looked at Rick. Rick's eyes met RJ's and the sister looked away. She wasn't gonna be the one to kill Carl's mood.
"Well, he has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands." RJ couldn't help but feel ashamed. Sophia should've been in good hands when she was with her, but she failed, she made a mistake—a huge mistake.
Rick let out a defeated sigh. "Okay. Okay. But always within our sight, no exceptions."
They all began walking away. RJ remembered where everything went wrong the day before, and she immediately walked over to Rick.
"I'm gonna go scope out the woods. Make sure there are no more wondering packs." She unsheathed her knife just in case, and Rick knew he couldn't stop her, so he sent her a nod.
The woman began making her way towards the guard rail. She tried not to draw attention to herself, but her presence was hard to ignore when you knew it was around. The others watched her as she began swinging her legs over the guard rail.
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed. It wasn't time to leave yet. He followed after the woman, adjusting the strap on his shoulder that held his crossbow. "The hell're ya doin'?"
RJ's eyes met his before she finished swinging her leg over the guard rail. "Checking for surprises." She mumbled as she turned back towards the tree line. Without another word, RJ began to make her way down the steep hill and Daryl followed. Her eyes met his curiously and he let out a scoff.
"Don't need ya gettin' lost again."
The soldier rolled her eyes and she gripped tighter onto her knife as they began wandering through the woods to make sure there were no "wondering packs" or "herds".
"Ya did what ya could." RJ's eyes snapped over to Daryl. They'd been walking in silence, but Daryl knew. He could feel it; the guilt.
"Still wasn't enough." RJ scoffed at her own incompetence. She wasn't even able to protect a small child. If she couldn't protect Sophia, how could she expect herself to protect her own nephew?
"Maybe not," Daryl shrugged. "But ya gave 'er a chance."
They stood there in silence for a moment before the other's footsteps caught their attention. It was time to begin their search. As they all made their way through the woods, Daryl and Rick were in the front, RJ was in the middle, and Shane took up the rear. They didn't want any blind spots.
The woman's eyes were searching everywhere. Again, she hated surprises. She wouldn't allow anyone else to get hurt or go missing on her watch.
Everyone was making enough noise to scare an elephant, and it was starting to bother the silent woman. She'd spent so much time out in the woods with the Dixon's, she was used to loud and annoying, so she had some training.
They were walking for a bit before Carl walked up beside his aunt with his eyes on his feet. When she noticed, her eyebrows furrowed. Carl had been so excited to join, he really wanted to find Sophia. What had changed?
"What's up, Bud?" The woman mumbled loud enough for the boy to hear. His beautiful blues met her forest-green eyes and they almost made him feel better.
"I think Shane's mad at me." He mumbled back, his eyes unable to hold her gaze. RJ was pretty upset. She didn't even let Carl's teachers make him upset before the world ended, and Shane wouldn't be off the hook either.
RJ's hand ruffled her nephew's brown hair. "I'm sure that's not it. He's probably just worried about Sophia."
Even though he didn't believe it, he nodded his head before continuing on to catch up with his dad. RJ's soft gaze switched to a murderous glare as soon as she looked in Shane's direction. Lori was walking ahead of the mood killer, and she too looked upset, but RJ set her sights on Deputy Dickhead.
She stopped and allowed the others to pass her, waiting for Shane. As soon as the former deputy saw what she was doing, he let out a deep sigh. He knew why, and he knew it was unlikely that he'd get off of the hook for this one.
As soon as Lori passed, Shane stopped in his tracks, waiting for the scolding that was due. He felt like shit for blowing Carl off the way he did, but he was trying to make things easier for him.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" When she asked she was asking about his overall attitude the past week since Rick had been back. Shane let out a sigh, his eyes unable to look the soldier in the eye.
"We don't got time for this." He grumbled before taking a few steps forward to walk past her. RJ stepped in his way with a threatening finger in his face.
"You make him feel like shit again and I'll break you're fucking nose...again." And with that she pivoted on her heels, walking at a fast pace to get back to her position.
Shane knew she was serious. The last time she threatened to break his nose he didn't take it seriously. He learned then to never take RJ's threats lightly.
The group slowed to a stop. RJ looked over their heads curiously to see a bright yellow tent. The group crouched quietly, and the silence almost scared RJ. She wasn't aware that they were actually capable of being quiet.
"She could be in there," Shane said softly with his shotgun aimed at the ground.
"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl stood to his feet and began to walk. The others tried to follow, but Rick held up his hand, telling them to stay out.
RJ tried to ignore him but when he sent her that authoritative stare, she knew she had to stay back just in case.
The soldier watched intently, but when the sound of an owl hooting caught her attention, she realized she needed to keep an eye out for anything and everything.
Never underestimate the element of surprise.
Her eyes wandered over all of the greenery. Everything was so still except for the swaying trees. The wind had picked up a bit, and the dancing trees plus the cicadas sounded beautiful.
Once she decided the coast was clear, she briefly watched as Daryl walked up to the tent with his knife raised. He peeked inside the tent before walking around to peak from another angle.
"Carol," Rick whispered, beckoning for her to follow. The woman didn't have to be told twice as she quickly made her way over to the sheriff.
"Call out softly, if she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."
The others began making their way forward. They, too, wanted to know if little Sophia was inside the tent.
RJ watched skeptically. They would've heard some kind of whimper by now. When Sophia was scared, it was rare that she'd be able to stay quiet by herself.
"Sophia, sweetie. Are you in there?" The worried mother called out, hoping and pray that Sophia was inside. "Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."
Nothing surfaced or budged. RJ's heart broke a little when she could hear in Carol's voice that she was about to break. The soldier couldn't help but feel responsible. She had the girl in her grasp, she had the girl in her sights, but she told her to run.
When the silence continued, Rick and Shane pushed themselves away from the breaking woman and towards the tent where Daryl was crouched by the entrance.
RJ sheathed her knife and pulled out her Beretta. If there was a human in there, they had the possibility of being much more dangerous than a walker.
Daryl calmly pulled back the fabric door, only to be met with a beyond revolting smell. Rick turned his head away while Daryl covered his mouth, letting out a cough. Suddenly, RJ was happy that she wasn't up there beside her brother.
She watched as the hunter stepped inside of the tent for a minute before resurfacing.
"It ain't her." The news greatly disappointed the group, and he could see it on their faces.
"What's in there?" Andrea asked curiously as she took a step forward in an attempt to get a glimpse.
"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl answered as he swung his crossbow over his shoulder.
There was a pause as the faint sound of church bells began to ring. RJ listened for the direction, and once she got it, she took off.
"RJ!" Rick called. He didn't want his sister on the front lines, especially if this was a trap of some kind. But RJ told herself that she had to. She had to be the one to find Sophia and bring her home, especially because she was the one who got her lost in the first place.
The group followed, but when they stopped at the tree line that separated a graveyard and the forest, RJ continued on.
She had her eyes set on the white church. Her eyes had been looking everywhere for the steeple, but even when she came up empty, she continued running.
"RJ, Wait!" Shane called, but she didn't care.
She got a good distance before finally deciding that maybe the girl was inside. She paused, waiting for the others to catch up before walking towards the big red doors.
Rick, Shane, and Daryl jogged up the steps to be beside her when she opened the doors. There was no telling what was inside of the church, but their hopes were on Sophia.
RJ waited a moment to make sure everything was quiet before she and Daryl both pushed open the double doors. Inside were four walkers, each sitting before the cross. The soldier almost felt bad for them—but she was also curious as to how they got there.
All four of the walkers slowly turned their heads towards the group before standing up, ready for a feast. RJ switched out her beretta for her knife, ready to take on every one of them by herself if she had to.
The four humans made their way toward the four flesh-eating monsters. Each of them ready for the kill.
Rick slammed the hatchet that'd been given to him by his wife down into a walker's skull. He watched as it dropped to the floor with hate-filled eyes. RJ ran forward, pushing past Shane to get the biggest walker in the room. He had his eyes set on it, but it was clear that RJ needed it more. Her anger and shame flew through her body as she launched forward at the large body. It had to have been over six feet tall and was clearly all muscle before he died.
The soldier swept under his legs, sending the large thing straight to the floor. The ground shook from the sudden weight, and RJ had taken her moment to straddle the beast before quickly stabbing her knife through its temple, but she didn't stop there. The knife was repeatedly plunged into the walker's face until it wasn't even recognizable as a previous human.
"Riles." Someone called from behind her, but she didn't stop. She was so angry at the world, so angry at herself. "Riles, it's dead." A hand touched her shoulder, but she immediately shrugged it off before abruptly standing up and storming out of the church.
She left the group dumbfounded. They watched as she left the church and stood in the front yard, raking her hand through her hair. She refused to cry, despite the copious amount of remorse that continued to slam through her body.
Suddenly, the bell began to ring again. RJ looked around trying to find the source until they landed on something on the side of the building. It continued to ring almost mockingly, causing RJ to sneer. She marched forward, pushing past Glenn. She yanked open the small power box below the speaker and angrily switched it off before backing up and kicking it with the bottom of her foot as hard as she could.
"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl explained breathlessly. The woman continued to kick the box until it broke off of the wall.
"Stupid piece of shit." She growled angrily before storming off once again. She needed space from everyone, and if she could she'd even be taking space from herself.
She paced beside the church, trying to think of ways to find Sophia, to lead her back to the highway without risking the safety of the group.
"Are you really leaving?" Neither RJ nor Shane nor Lori had realized that they were near each other, but when RJ heard Lori talking about somebody leaving, everything in her stopped.
RJ had never been an eavesdropper, but this could be serious, and she needed to know who was planning on leaving.
"Don't you think it's best for all of us?" The soldier's heart nearly stopped. She may have thought Shane was an asshole, but she still loved him like a brother. But of all the people for him to tell, why did he tell Lori?
"I think it is. What made you decide?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she stepped closer to the edge to get a better listen.
"Gotta back away. Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori. Even if you don't see it. None of this was intended. I hope you know that." He paused for a moment, but the more he spoke the more confused RJ got. "Well, it don't matter as long as I said it."
"You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?" Lori hissed as she stepped closer to Shane.
"He'd only try to stop me. No, that's on you. You tell them what you want or tell them nothing at all. You're his wife."
"And Carl? We dragged him into this."
"I love Carl."
"He thinks you hate him." Suddenly it started to make sense. Shane was being an asshole because he was leaving. What RJ couldn't understand was why.
"I'm putting some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easy on any of us, least of all me. I'm the one that loses you."
It was like a switch had been flipped. Now she understood everything. Shock filled her, followed by anger. She couldn't believe that either of them would do this to her brother.
She watched as Lori walked away, but she was unable to move from her spot. When Shane turned, he saw a shocked and confused-looking RJ. His heart dropped. He never meant for her to hear that he was leaving, let alone that he slept with her brother's wife. They stood there, staring at each other for a moment before RJ finally spoke up.
"You're just—you're just gonna leave?"
Shane immediately began to step forward, ready to defend himself but RJ held up her hand. She didn't want to hear his excuses.
"No "goodbye", no "fuck you", no nothing?" Shane knew she was upset right now, but soon the anger would follow.
"I had to otherwise y'all'd try to stop me." He defended, looking straight into RJ's green eyes. He wanted so badly for her to understand, but she just couldn't.
"So you went and slept with my brothers—your best friend's wife . . . and now you're just gonna leave?" When she said it like that, it made Shane really feel like shit. "After everything . . . you weren't even gonna tell me anything?"
"You—" RJ already knew what he was gonna say.
"I may be angry now, but that didn't mean I'd stay angry forever!" She tried her best to keep her voice quiet, but her emotions were everywhere.
"Fine." She scoffed. "Leave. Just don't expect either Lori or I to clean up your mess afterward."
With that, she stormed off to sit and be by herself. Shane watched her walk away, feeling even more like shit.
It was true. Throughout their lives, RJ had been the one to clean up his messes, and when it wasn't her it was Rick and Lori. They were his family, and he fucked it all up.
RJ sat by a tree, taking in the feeling of the breeze. All she wanted was peace, all she wanted was a peaceful day with no fear, no loss, no death.
She felt someone sit beside her, and she nearly frowned until she saw it was her nephew. The others followed and stood by the tree. RJ would've cursed and begged for some time alone had Carl not been beside her.
They all stood there while Rick and Shane talked. RJ felt betrayed by Shane. Not only had he slept with her brother's wife, but he was still acting as though nothing was gonna happen, as if he wasn't just plotting his leave without anyone knowing.
"Y'all gonna follow the creek back, okay? RJ, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." RJ's eyebrows furrowed. She wasn't gonna let Shane and Rick be alone after what she heard. If Shane decided to tell Rick what he'd done, she didn't want either of them to kill the other.
"You're splittin' us up. You sure?" Daryl asked skeptically.
"Yeah. We'll catch up to you." Shane nodded exasperatedly.
"I want to stay too. I'm her friend." That was the perfect reason to stay for RJ. She would've stayed whether she had a reason or not, but having a reason was still nice.
"Just be careful, okay?" Lori stepped up, looking Carl in the eye as she spoke.
"I will." He nodded with a grin.
"I'm staying back too," RJ spoke up as she stood.
Shane's eyes snapped over to RJ. He thought she'd want to stay as far away from him as possible, and she did, but she also didn't want Carl to be in the middle of anything if they started arguing.
"Then who's in charge if you're staying?" Andrea asked, her hand on her hip as she stared RJ down.
It really pissed the woman off, so she looked her dead in the eye, feigning indifference.
"Not you." She turned her head, looking straight at the redneck, and one of the only other experts on weapons.
"You're in charge. Good luck."
RJ avoided Andrea's insulted gaze. She knew she was offended, but that woman needed to know her place.
The group did their best to ignore it as well. They weren't entirely surprised that Andrea was suicidal enough to talk to RJ like that, but they were certainly surprised by RJ's passive-aggressive comeback.
"Here, take this. Remember how to use it?" Rick held out his Python towards his wife, his eyes doing everything in their power to avoid Andrea.
RJ stepped forward to be beside Carl. He grinned up at her as she ruffled his hair. He was growing up so fast, and she wasn't sure if she liked that.
"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." The others watched almost in disbelief—specifically Andrea.
"Just take mine, Lori. You know I won't need it." RJ held out her beretta. She may be upset with her, but she didn't want Daryl to be the only one in their group to have a gun while her group was almost full of them.
Lori let out a defeated sigh before grabbing the gun and tucking it into her belt. Rick sent RJ an appreciative nod before turning to walk off.
As they all began to walk, Daryl called out, "Hey, Jarhead."
RJ stopped and shut her eyes in annoyance before turning on her heels. "What's up, Toots?"
Daryl held up the gun he'd found in the tent, pushing it towards the marine.
"Got a spare. Take it."
RJ eyed the gun for a moment before taking it and sending him a nod. Daryl returned the nod, they both shared a quick "be careful" glare before they turned on their heels and headed for their groups.
Carl, Shane, and RJ sat on the church steps, waiting for Rick in a comfortable silence—at least Carl thought it was a comfortable silence. Shane was waiting for RJ to break and start yelling at him, and RJ was staring at the dancing trees, willing herself not to break in front of Carl.
It was a minute or so before the sound of Rick's heels clacking against the floor neared them. RJ stood up, ready to get the show on the road.
"Get what you needed?" Shane asked from where he continued to sit.
"Guess I'll find out." The sheriff shrugged.
The three of them followed after Rick towards the woods. They walked in silence, all of them keeping their eyes out for any movement.
RJ's steps were obviously the softest ones. Even though Carl weighed less, and was smaller than her, he wasn't really paying any mind as to how hard he was stepping.
Shane knew that RJ wouldn't say anything to Rick in front of Carl, she had a tendency to try and keep him safe from any harm—both physically and mentally. That didn't stop him from worrying though, because RJ was also the type to not lie, especially to her family. She hated liars, and she hated hypocrisy.
Their feet crunched the fallen, dead leaves, creating more sound. The further into the woods they got, the more protective RJ felt over Carl. With every rustle in the bushes or movement of a tree, she found herself pushing Carl away from the movement, and placing herself between her nephew and potential danger.
Rick stopped their little line by raising his hand. They heard the sound of footsteps—or rather what they thought to be footsteps.
RJ wrapped her hand tightly around the handle of her knife and wrapped her other arm around Carl's shoulder protectively.
The sheriff pointed in the direction that he saw and heard the movement coming from. He and Shane had their guns aimed at the floor, while RJ had her knife raised and ready, along with her arm ready to shove Carl out of harm's way.
The closer the small group got, they realized what was moving in the brush was a deer. It walked and sniffed leaves, oblivious to its audience. The beautiful animal stepped out from the brush and into the open. It seemed the group was almost in a trance as they watched it.
RJ's eyes had drifted down to Carl as she realized that the boy had never seen a deer in real life. A small smile formed on her face to see how fascinated Carl looked to be with the deer.
Shane raised his shotgun, ready to take down the deer from some good dinner, but was stopped when Rick called out to him. The deputy turned to see Carl inching forward with the most fascinated look to him. Almost immediately, Shane lowered his gun and watched as Carl made his way toward the deer.
Even though it was a beautiful moment, RJ didn't like Carl being so far away with no protection. She crouched and followed behind Carl in an attempt to not scare off the feeding mammal. Her footsteps were light—light enough to keep the deer calm, even after it noticed the two humans getting closer to it.
Carl and RJ were halfway towards the deer when Carl turned towards his dad and Shane. The two gave him an encouraging nod, grinning like fools. He then looked towards his crouching aunt, and she too gave him a smiling nod as if to say, "I got your back, Bud."
The two continued to get closer. Step by step. The experience was so exhilarating for Carl, even if it was a slow-paced moment. He found himself so excited to tell his mom, to tell everybody.
RJ bit her lip nervously. Calm moments were good, she loved calm moments, but all good things must come to an end, and she was worried about how this moment would end. Her fear of what happened to Sophia happening to Carl was beginning to suffocate her.
The soft sound of a branch crunching had the deer's full attention. RJ and Carl stopped, staring at the deer right in the eyes. There was a moment of peace, a moment of silence. RJ thought back to when she asked for this, not even a full hour ago. She smiled—watching Carl as he stared at the deer.
Then, she heard a hoot. The hooting of a distant owl caught her attention, pulling her away from her daze. She noticed something off in the distance moving, followed by the unmistakable sound of a rifle cocking. She knew that sound from anywhere, she knew exactly what was coming.
"Carl!" The soldier screamed, springing to her feet. She knew there wasn't enough time to move them both out of the way, and she was right.
Rick watched the scene unfold before him. It all happened so fast, they barely had any time to react.
Carl was sprawled on the floor with RJ hovering over him, screaming. Only a few feet away lay the body of the once beautiful and alive deer.
"No!"