Hey everyone, sorry for the really long delay on updates for this story. It's been a crazy past few months for me and I had some personal health issues that kept me from doing much for a few months. I'm hoping to be able to keep making fairly steady updates on this story because it's not finished. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and followed/favorited. It's because of you guys I tried to keep this story going. I've written up two new chapters so I'm posting them right away. Enjoy!

One hundred and twenty five miles lay ahead of us on our drive to Fort Benning. With the few cars sporadically abandoned on the highway, the last hour of driving had only knocked off near forty of those miles. The entire trip neither T-Dog nor Andrea had spoken, so I had remained silent in the backseat keeping myself preoccupied by counting the mile markers. Occasionally we'd pass a couple of walkers ambling along the road. The roar of Daryl's motorcycle far ahead of the group seemed to catch their attention. I had spent a while trying to decide if he was brave or just stupid riding around on his bike making that much noise.

My mind drifted back to Morgan and Dwayne. Were they still back at that house? Or had they tried to follow after us to Atlanta? A cynical voice in my head reminded me that it really didn't make a difference. We were all probably going to die somewhere, what did it matter if they died back in town or in Atlanta?

My eyes glanced down to my duffle bag on the seat next to me. I had left it unzipped, the handgun laying on top in case I needed to reach for it right away.

"Why are they stopping?" Andrea asked, her voice suddenly breaking the silence in the car.

I leaned forward and watched as Rick's car in front of us slowed down behind the RV. Daryl was pulling beside Dale in the RV, the two having a brief exchange before Daryl turned back around on his motorcycle.

"Looks like a lot of cars up ahead," T-Dog answered her. "Must be blocking the way."

The RV started moving again, inching forward. I assumed Daryl was leading the way, trying to find a path for us to take.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea," I spoke up. My eyes scanned the cars littering the road as we slowly made our way around them. Doors were thrown open and the cars were empty of people. "All these cars…their passengers have to be somewhere nearby."

T-Dog was gripping the steering wheel as he drove. "I don't like it either, but if we backtracked we'd waste a lot of fuel."

"Seems smarter than risking this," I muttered under my breath as we continued to inch forward behind the other vehicles. "Especially with that motorcycle."

I felt my heart rate increase as we passed a white van. There were three people inside it still, the doors still closed. I was afraid they weren't just dead.

"Oh shit," T-Dog grumbled. "Looks like somethings wrong with the RV."

Once again all the cars came to a stop. I could see smoke welling up from the RV ahead of us. Dale jumped out, Glenn following behind him. Suddenly everyone started spilling out of their vehicles and heading over to see what the problem was.

T-Dog and Andrea jumped out, and I slowly followed after them, making sure to grab my gun. I spotted Daryl picking through the open trunk of a van while Rick and Dale were discussing the RV.

"If we're going to be stuck here for a bit, might as well siphon more gasoline," T-Dog said.

"Maybe we can find some water?" Carol's soft voice spoke up.

"Food, too," Shane said.

"This is a graveyard," I spoke up suddenly.

Everyone turned to glance at me and the gun in my hand. Daryl continued to rummage through the trunk as if he hadn't heard me.

"Then we keep quiet," Shane ordered. "Everyone look around, find what you can."

Andrea and Glenn shot him a nervous glance, obviously having the same feelings as myself. This wasn't a good idea. We should fix the RV and move, or dump it.

I sighed and tucked the gun into the waistband of my jeans before I joined everyone else in searching the abandoned vehicles.

I poked my head around into a couple vehicles, spotting nothing of use. I tried to open a few trunks but found they were locked. My mind was more focused on trying to listen for that deep growling sound of the hungry dead than it was on scavenging.

I glanced back and saw Dale standing on the RV with his binoculars, scoping out the wreckage ahead of us. My eyes turned and saw Daryl watching me from a distance. When he noticed I was looking he immediately returned to helping T-Dog siphon fuel out of the vehicles and into gas cans.

I scanned around and spotted Andrea staring into a mini van, a hand covering her mouth. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what she was looking at that created that look of horror on her face. Further ahead Carol and Lori were pulling things out of the bed of a truck, both keeping their kids practically glued to their sides.

I came upon a white Honda, the doors all spread open wide. The inside was void of people but I found a brown, leather case shaped like a knife laying on the front passenger side. Hesitantly, I leaned into the vehicle, straining to reach from my place across the driver's seat, to grab the item. After having to nearly lie down, I grabbed the case and pulled it out, examining it in my hand. There was a bit of weight to it I noticed as I pulled the knife out by the handle. The blade seemed to be in good condition. Why would someone have left this behind?

I shook the thought from my mind and slipped the hunting knife back into its holster. I eyed the back of the leather case and saw that it had a clip to it, probably meant to attach to a belt. I hooked it onto the belt loop of my jeans since I didn't have a belt, and the knife stayed in place. The weight of the weapon pressing against my thigh made me feel safe.

Nothing else was in the car so I made my way forward, noticing Andrea was making her way back to the RV now. After her sister's death, she probably was having a hard time dealing with all of the dead here.

My ears suddenly pricked up at a sound behind me at the same time I saw Dale raise the binoculars back up to his eyes. I noticed Rick lifting the rifle in his hands up so that he could look through the scope. I only needed one guess to know what they were seeing.

My hand went to the newly discovered knife at my side as I slowly spun around. There was a woman with part of her skin missing from her face walking at a slow pace around an upturned truck. Quietly I slid the knife from its holster and tried to find a comfortable hold on the weapon. My heart skipped a beat when two more walkers appeared from behind the truck. And then more and more kept appearing.

I took a few slow steps back, squatting down beside the Honda next to me. I saw Rick warning the others behind me and I realized I had meandered far ahead of the group. Daryl was trying to grab my attention and when he noticed he'd caught it, he frantically began pointing for me to get under the car. I nodded to let him know I understood before I got to all fours and slid underneath the Honda. I tried to keep as still as possible and I was sure I was barely breathing as a few feet emerged beside the car. I bit my lip nervously and clutched the knife that was still in my hand.

I could hear a few of them groaning occasionally, but they weren't making the hungry snarl they'd always made whenever I'd seen one. They seemed to moving slow and without purpose, which I hoped meant they hadn't noticed us. Maybe we could wait them out until they wandered far down the road. This separated from each other, there was no way we would be able to fight our way out and survive.

After a couple of minutes I didn't see any more feet passing by me. I held my breath as I inched out from under the car. Slowly I stood up, still in a bit of a crouch beside the vehicle. The walkers seemed to have made their way past me, but they were just reaching the RV now. I stayed put, half hidden as I kept glancing behind me in fear that more walkers would appear.

A muffled scream erupted from back by the group, catching my attention. For some reason though, the walkers seemed to be converging to a different area and I wondered if they'd gotten someone. My heart dropped into my stomach at the thought. I wanted to run forward and find out what I could, but I was rooted to my spot, partially out of fear and partially out of knowing I'd never be able to fight off that many walkers by myself. Or even make it over there in time. All I could do was watch as they gathered together.

I was confused when they didn't stay there long, apparently not finding what they thought they had, and continued on away from the RV. A few minutes passed and I watched as the last two stragglers were making their way past the others. I held my breath, hoping no one would jump out too soon while those two still remained.

I began slowly making my way back to the group, glancing over my shoulder occasionally. I stopped immediately when I heard the distinct screams of a little girl.

Sophia.

I saw one of the walkers drop to the ground to where I assumed Sophia was hiding under a car. The second walker picked up his pace and made his way over to the screams. That hungry snarl mixed with Sophia's screams. Without even thinking I began running forward in hopes to help, still clutching the knife in my hand. I was halfway to her when I saw her dart out from the car and race off to the woods. Rick was immediately chasing after her and the two walkers that were on her trail.

Breaking into a dead sprint, I followed right after. I could still hear her cries of terror every few seconds as she ran. When I finally caught up, Rick had picked Sophia up from where she had fallen onto the ground.

"Shh," I heard him tell her. "Are you okay?"

She broke into hysterics and reached for the gun in Rick's holster.

"Shoot them!" she cried out.

Rick stopped her hand and continued trying to quiet her down. My eyes darted behind us. The two walkers were about to catch up.

"Those walkers on the road would hear a gunshot," Rick told her quickly.

"We need to move," I whispered.

Rick suddenly noticed me beside them before nodding his head. He picked Sophia up and carried her a little ways back.

"What're you doing, the road's the other way," I quietly called out to him.

"You just stay here, wait for us," Rick said as he set the little girl down in the creek we'd stumbled into.

"This doesn't feel right, we can't leave her," I told Rick.

He glanced over at me. "I don't think I can kill them both without a gun. I need your help."

While I knew he had a point, that gnawing feeling in my gut told me we shouldn't leave her. There could be more walkers nearby that might find her.

"Don't leave me," Sophia started crying.

Rick tried to quiet her down as he showed her a hiding place among some roots.

"Just stay in here, we'll be right back for you. We need to go take care of them before it's safe enough to head back to the group."

My heart was breaking as I watched the little girl clutching her doll. She was whimpering as she crawled in among the roots, huddling up and trying to stay hidden. I watched as Rick explained to her how to make it back to the highway in case something happened to us. She nodded her head in response, clutching the doll to her even tighter.

"Let's go," Rick said turning to me.

I shot Sophia one last glance before following after Rick, but we didn't have a chance to get far. The walkers were suddenly standing a few feet above us, Rick and I still standing in the water. I saw Sophia suddenly dart out from under her hiding place.

"Sophia!" I called after her, taking a step in her direction.

Rick's hand on my shoulder stopped me. "She knows how to get back, we'll find her after we take care of them."

I bit my lip and hoped Sophia wouldn't get lost but Rick was right. He needed my help here, there's no way he'd be able to take on both of these walkers on his own without using his gun and possibly drawing all the walkers on the highway back.

Rick began taunting the two walkers and soon they were falling off of the bank and into the water. They were back on their feet quicker than I would have anticipated. I gripped my knife tighter in my hand and raced forward. Rick distracted the second walker, trying to lead it away from me as I lunged at the first one.

My first attempt at stabbing it in the head was thwarted when the walker grabbed for my hand and nearly caught it. Scared, I jumped back and tried to readjust my grip on the knife. My hands were sweating profusely by now and I was afraid I would drop the weapon. The walker ambled towards me a few steps and the moment it stumbled on something in the water, I took my chance and stabbed it right in the top of the head. A wheezy rasp escaped from its mouth before it dropped to the ground. Hesitantly, I stabbed it one more time to make sure it was really dead before turning to find Rick.

In the distance I could make out his white shirt among the trees. He was trying to lead the walker in a circle. I struggled to get out of the water and reach him before he tired out, but he suddenly bent down and picked up a huge rock before darting behind a tree trunk. I quietly continued making my way over just in time to see Rick smash the walker's head in three times before it went down. Panting, he dropped the bloodied rock from his hands and met my eyes.

"Sophia?" Rick asked in between a breath.

"We need to find her."

I could feel the sweat running down my whole body now. My muscles were aching for me to sit down and relax, but we needed to find that little girl.

"Which way?" Rick asked me while doubled over, trying to catch his breath.

I pointed in the direction I saw her take off. Rick nodded and stood up before moving at a brisk jog. I followed after him, my chest burning from all of the exertion. We followed the direction Sophia had run off in for a while before Rick stopped.

There was a pained look on his face. "We need help if we're going to find her before the sun sets. We should head back to the others and start to gather a group to help search."

I nodded and followed after Rick towards the highway.

Where did you run off to Sophia?