Thanks for the review from galwidanatitud, and she may know them...just have to read on!
"Thought you didn't remember nothin'?" Daryl's gruff voice called out to me.
"I don't. This church just seems familiar. I'm pretty sure I've been here before," I told him. "The church bells…something about them seemed to sort of jog my memory, but I couldn't make out what or why."
Daryl's eyes squinted back at me. "That why you looked so strange earlier?"
I nodded my head. "Felt like a memory was trying to surface. It felt…different."
Rick shot me a half smile. "Getting some memories back, that should be a good thing."
"Yeah," I said with a forced smile. I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about remembering things.
"I'm gonna go back in for a bit," Carol said, her voice shaky as if she was near tears.
Rick led her inside, his hand on his son's back as he went. Glenn followed closely behind the three. Andrea took a seat on the grass, her back leaning up against the building. She looked like she wanted to be left alone. I noticed Shane wander off a bit towards a tree near the road and Lori was following after him. They seemed to jump straight into a serious argument.
My eyes shot over to Daryl who wandered off towards the edge of the cemetery and sat down, his crossbow beside him. I made my way over to him and sat down next to him.
I pulled the backpack off of my back and unzipped it, pulling out two water bottles. I offered one silently to Daryl. He eyed me for a moment before he accepted the water and opened it. I watched as he took a few deep gulps before he resealed it and his hands were back at his sides.
I opened my bottle of water and took a few sips before closing it up and putting it back into my bag. We sat in silence for a minute as I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
"I never said thank you for the other day," I said suddenly.
I saw Daryl shift uncomfortably beside me in my peripheral vision. His gaze was still on the road farther ahead of us.
"What for?" his gruff voice asked after a moment.
I chewed my lip and picked at a hole starting to form in the knee of my jeans.
"For pulling me out of the CDC."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw him turn his head towards me, studying me for a few seconds. He let out a snort in response before turning his attention back to the road.
"I know I yelled at you for it," I told him quietly, remembering the way I'd seen Andrea yell at Dale this morning. "I'm sorry." I sighed and stopped picking at the hole and instead turned my attention to him. "I panicked. This…" I gestured to the space around us, "It's all new to me. I didn't have a few months of being exposed to it like the rest of you. I didn't have a family to fight for like Rick." I shrugged. "I didn't know what to do. Dying seemed the easiest option."
Daryl's mouth was set in a straight line as he eyed the road. He didn't say anything for a long while. When he did speak, his voice was so quiet I had to strain to hear what he said.
"Sometimes what's easy ain't always what's right."
A slow smile spread across my face as I watched him. I saw him glance at me a few times before he turned his head to me, frustration apparent on his face.
"What?" he shot at me.
I shook my head.
"Why you lookin' at me like that? Stop it," Daryl said uncomfortably.
"I don't understand why they all underestimate you," I told him finally.
"They see me as some dumb hillbilly redneck," Daryl grunted. "Same as Merle."
"You aren't though. You're a lot more than that," I said, reaching a hand out towards his.
Immediately Daryl's hand retreated and he was standing up, his crossbow back on his shoulder.
"Thanks for the water," he said, his tone sharp as he tossed me the bottle.
I fumbled to catch it and watched his retreating form head towards the church and enter inside where everyone else was. I frowned in the direction he'd stalked off in. What did I say wrong? I thought I was being friendly?
Feeling flustered and a little irritated, I let out a huff and shoved the bottle of water into my bag. Daryl Dixon was confusing.
Making my way back to the church, I noticed Shane and Lori weren't fighting anymore. Instead, Shane was by the road and Andrea had moved her spot where she kept a watchful eye on his back. I couldn't read the expression on her face as I passed by her.
Daryl was at the back of the church standing by himself. He ignored me as I walked in. I felt my jaw tighten in frustration but made my way over to Rick. I spotted Lori and Carol sitting in the front pew. Carol looked like she was praying.
"What's the plan?" I asked Rick.
He glanced over at me, almost jumping slightly as if I'd startled him.
"We can't stay here, we need to keep moving. Keep looking."
"Sophia could have heard those church bells," Rick told me. "She could be nearby."
"Maybe we should split up then. Send some people back down the other side of the creek towards the highway. Some of us search out around here, see if she came out this way."
Rick looked at me for a moment, taking in my suggestion.
"We need to do something before the sun starts setting again," I told him.
He nodded. "You're right." He raised his voice louder to catch everyone's attention. "Let's head outside, we've got to keep moving."
Slowly, Lori and Carol got up, closely followed by Carl and Glenn. They made their way towards the exit and I followed after them.
Once our group had been gathered together, Rick took a moment to pull Shane away. They were having a serious discussion as I watched and I began to wonder what was going on. Why was Shane butting heads with the Grimes family?
"Everyone listen up," Shane said as he turned to face the group. "Daryl's going to lead the rest of you down the other side of the creek to search. Rick and I will stay here in case the bells drew Sophia to this area."
"I want to stay, too," Carl spoke up, taking a step away from his mother. "I'm her friend. I want to keep looking for her."
Rick and Shane exchanged a look before Rick turned his attention to his wife. They seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes.
Lori took a step over to her son. "Just be careful, okay?" she asked him, giving her consent.
"I will," he told her as she drew him into a hug.
"When did you start growing up?" she asked before planting a kiss on the top of his head.
When Rick and Lori said their goodbyes, I noticed Andrea exchange a glance with Shane. Something was definitely going on.
Our trek back down the creek was long and quiet. Daryl led the way while Glenn and I stayed in the back. Occasionally Glenn would make small talk with me, but our conversations would fizzle out. We hadn't found Sophia. So far we had failed, and none of us were happy about that.
I had plenty of time to take in the group dynamic as we walked. Daryl was engrossed in his tracking, he still seemed irritated and was short with anyone who asked him a question. He continued to ignore me too. Carol was sobbing and trying real hard to keep quiet as she walked. Without Carl, Lori seemed too distracted to offer much comfort to the woman. Andrea seemed moody, even more so than she had been all day.
After some time, I glanced up towards the sky between the tree tops. From the position of the sun, it looked like a significant amount of time had passed. Maybe an hour or an hour and a half since we had left the others. Carol suddenly stopped and settled on an overturned tree. Everybody stopped and glanced at her.
"This the whole plan?" Carol asked. "Just keep splitting into smaller and smaller groups?"
"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea said sarcastically. She turned her attention to Lori who was settling herself on the tree next to Carol. "I see you have a gun," she said sharply.
Before we had split up, Daryl had given Lori the gun he'd found on the dead guy in the tent. Andrea was eyeing it now.
"Why, you want it?" Lori said. She sounded irritated now as she took the gun out of her waistband and handed it to Andrea. When Andrea just stared, Lori added on, "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."
Wordlessly Andrea accepted the gun, her mouth hanging open as if she'd been offended by Lori.
Glenn took a seat on the ground beside me and I slowly followed suit. I tried to sneak a glance at Daryl and noticed him leaning up against a tree on the opposite side of our group. Keeping as much distance between us, I noticed.
Lori took a seat by Carol and caught her attention. "Honey, I can't imagine the pain you're going through right now. If I could make it go away, I would. But you have got to stop blaming Rick and Isabell for this. It is on your face every time you look at them."
Carol looked about as taken aback as I felt at Lori's words.
"When Sophia ran, neither of them hesitated a second, did they?" Lori continued. "I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way they did. I don't know if any of us could have made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done any differently. Anybody?" Lori asked. Her eyes were on Carol first, who was staring at her feet, then to Daryl who remained silent, and Glenn and Andrea who wouldn't meet her eyes. "You all look to him but you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you," Lori finished as she started digging in her bag for a bottle of water.
When she'd gotten her drink, she put the bottle back in her bag and shot Carol another look. Andrea stepped over and handed the gun out to Lori.
"We should keep moving," Andrea said softly, her mood suddenly changed.
Once again we were up on our feet and moving again, Daryl leading the way. No one dared to break the silence after Lori's words as we walked on.
The silence had dragged on for quite a few minutes until a loud sound echoed in the distance. We all stopped.
"What was that?" Carol asked nervously.
"Gunshot," Daryl answered. "Must have just shot a walker."
We waited a little while longer, but no other shots rang out.
"Why just one?" Lori asked. "Rick and Shane would not waste a bullet to take down just one walker. They'd do it quietly."
"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked, her attention turning to Daryl again.
"There's nothing we can do about it anyway," Daryl said. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."
"So what do we do?" Lori asked him.
"Same as we been," Daryl told her. "Keep checking for Sophia and work our way back to the highway."
"I'm sure they'll hook back up with us at the RV," Andrea told Lori. She then turned her attention to Carol. "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel."
Carol offered her a soft smile. "Suppose you do. Thank you. Just the thought of her out here wandering alone." Carol stopped to fight back some tears. "It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy."
I saw the expression change on Andrea's face immediately.
"Oh God," Carol said the moment she realized. "That's the worst thing I ever said."
Andrea shook her head, fighting back her own tears now. "We're all hoping and praying with you. For what it's worth."
Daryl spoke up immediately, he sounded irritated. "I'll tell you what it's worth—not a damn thing. Just a waste of time all this hoping and praying."
My mouth dropped in shock, but he continued before I could say anything.
"We're gonna locate that little girl, and she's gonna be just fine," Daryl assured Carol before he turned around and continued to lead the group.
My mouth shut immediately and I saw the smile on everyone's faces at Daryl's words. For once he let them see what I had been seeing in him.
The mood of the group was different than it had been when we'd left the church. Everyone seemed more hopeful now, including myself. We continued searching for quite a bit longer and I became painfully aware that I hadn't had a chance to eat anything all day. My stomach was growling and I tried hard to ignore it. I was thankful when Daryl finally spoke up.
"We're about to lose light. We should call it a day. Head back to the RV."
The sun had changed positions in the sky again when I looked up between the trees. We had maybe an hour or so of sunlight left.
Lori turned to Carol and told her we would pick up the search again in the morning. I was surprised when Carol seemed alright with the decision.
Daryl led us a slightly different direction for what seemed to be a couple miles before Andrea asked how much farther we were from the RV.
"About a hundred yards," Daryl told her.
She let out a huff somewhere behind me as we pressed on.
I had only taken a few more steps when I suddenly heard her let out a shriek from behind me. I spun around, my right hand already pulling the hunting knife out from my side. I jolted forward when I saw her trip on a root and fall to the ground, her knife slipping from her hands.
"Andrea!" I heard Lori cry out from behind me.
Just before I made it to Andrea's side to kill the walker that was almost on top of her, I stopped. A young woman on a horse was just feet away, a baseball bat in her hand and a determined look on her face. She pushed the horse forward and smashed the bat into the head of the walker, sending it flying forward towards my feet as the horse galloped onwards. I checked that the walker was dead before helping Andrea to her feet.
"You okay?" I asked her.
She nodded as she took my hand. I pulled her up and averted my attention to the young woman on the horse as she turned it around and slowed it to a trot.
"Lori?" the young woman on the horse called out. "Lori Grimes?"
"I'm Lori," she called out as she raced forward.
I made my way back towards the rest of our group with Andrea by my side. The stranger on the horse was placed directly between us and our group. Her attention was only focused on Lori.
"Your husband Rick sent me. You need to come with me right now," she said in a rush.
"What?" Lori asked.
"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot," the girl said in the same rushed tone. "He's still alive but you gotta come now."
When Lori tossed her pack on the ground, Daryl shot a hand out in front of Lori, barring her way.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said. "We don't know this girl!"
Lori ignored him and walked around his outstretched hand. She immediately jumped onto the back of the horse.
"You can't get on that horse!" Daryl yelled at her.
"Rick said you had others on the highway?" the stranger asked the group. "That big traffic snarl?"
Glenn nodded his head, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Backtrack to Fairview Road, two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name's Greene," the stranger told Glenn.
She turned her attention back to the horse and was about to rush off again now that she had gotten Lori, but her eyes caught sight of me and she did a double take. She stopped dead, her mouth hanging open as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Why aren't we going?!" Lori asked the girl frantically.
The stranger ignored her. "Isabell?"
Daryl suddenly jumped in front of me protectively. "How do you know her?" he barked at the stranger.
She ignored Daryl entirely, her eyes still fixed on me with the same expression. She looked like she was about to cry.
"Izzy…we…we thought you were dead…" the girl's voice was barely audible.
Daryl shot a glance over his shoulder at me. "You know her?"
I barely managed a shrug in response, too stunned at this girl's reaction to me.
"My son!" Lori suddenly shouted at her.
This seemed to snap her back to the moment. She shot one last glance at me and said, "Get to the farm. Sarah's there."
And then she was off, Lori clinging to her on the back of the horse as they disappeared into the woods.
"Who's Sarah?" Daryl asked, his voice sounding rough and a little frustrated.
I shook my head. "I don't know…"
And then a thought struck me. This stranger had called me Izzy. The notes in my duffle bag that I'd had in my hospital room were addressed to Izzy. They were all signed S.
Sarah?