Walking Dead: Unexpected Return

Chapter 21 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.

Chapter 21

Carol sighed lightly as she finished with the dishes, still amazed at how much had been going on, how much had changed. Sophia was doing remarkably well, apart from the occasional nightmare, such as last night.

'She's putting on a brave face, but I can tell she feels terrible about these nightmares. She probably views them as impediments to her progress.' Carol thought sadly. 'As if the fact she's having them is a sigh she's not getting better…'

Carol still remembered what the therapist had said and knew that wasn't true. In fact it was unlikely Sophia would ever fully get over the nightmares, too many horrible things had happened for that to be the case. But still, she would need to convince Sophia of that, to help her see that her recovery was not being impeded at all. Before she could think further on that, something else happened, something surprising.

"Mom."

She turned and saw Sophia standing there, a rather determined look on her face. Drying her hands Carol approached her daughter.

"Sophia, what's wrong?" She asked.

Sophia seemed to take a moment but then replied. "Would...would Rick be at the station right now. I need to talk to him?"

Carol was even more surprised by that, but nodded.

"Yes, he'll be there." She confirmed.

Seeing Sophia's determination, Carol immediately went with her to get ready and head out.

Arriving at the station and explaining their purpose here they were taken to an interview room and waited. As they did so Carol glanced nervously at Sophia. She sat stiffly in her chair, her left leg bouncing slightly while she appeared to be slightly sweating, but otherwise she was calm and seemed focused on what she wanted to do. Carol couldn't help but admire her daughter's courage. The door then opened and Rick entered, carrying a file with him which he set down on the table and sat opposite them, opening it.

"I understand you want to talk to me, Sophia?" He asked kindly.

She nodded. "I...I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I'm ready now. I can talk about, about what happened, as much of it as I can."

Rick was instantly alert. "I see. Don't apologize, you needed time. If this gets too much for you at any point, let us now."

Sophia nodded and Rick readied himself.

"Alright Sophia, in your own time and in your own words, let's begin."

Carol braced herself for this, grimacing. She knew this wasn't going to be pleasant, to have to hear about what her daughter endured for four years. To know what Ed had done, who had helped him, she was especially dreading that part, wondering what sort of sick people would help a man abduct, imprison and sexually abuse his own daughter.

Sophia took a deep breath and began, she knew the parts Rick already knew, she'd allowed Carl to tell him. So she knew the parts she had to explain, to fill in.

"The group that dad took me to, there were seven of them, all men." She explained. "They were, so evil, I saw them torturing at least three different people over those four years and, and they even brought in two women and...raped them before just murdering them."

Carol gasped in horror hearing this. Sophia shuddered at the sound, but pressed on, undeterred.

"Dad wouldn't join in that stuff, but he did nothing to stop it either. All he cared about was having me." She continued. "It was like there was some sort of agreement between them and dad that they'd have us stay there, let him use the stuff he used on me, do what he wanted with me and in return they'd not touch me or go after me themselves."

Rick looked up from the report at that moment. "You say Ed never participated in any of their activities?"

"Well, not anything relating to other women. He had no issue helping them torture any men they brought in, even brought in a teenage boy once. I don't know what happened to him." Sophia admitted.

That caught Rick's attention and he pulled out a photo from the file he had with him.

"Is this the boy?" He asked.

Sophia looked at the photo, it showed a boy of around fourteen with messy brown hair under a backwards blue cap, brown eyes and fair skin.

Sophia nodded. "That was him, they, they said his name...um, Noah?"

"He's been missing for three years. Looks like we know what happened to him now." Rick said with a heavy sigh.

There was silence for a moment as this weighed down upon them.

Sophia swallowed and then straightened up.

"I...I still remember what they look like…" She said. "The one I saw most often, apart from dad was...Joe. He was tall, scruffy looking with shaggy medium length grey hair, a short grey beard and moustache and brown eyes, those eyes...they were so cold."

Rick noticed her reaction and spoke gently. "We can stop."

"No, I...I can keep going." Sophia replied, calming down. "There….there was Billy. He was about the same height as Joe, but thinner, brown hair, looked creepy. Harley was another, looked scruffy, blonde hair going grey...had a beard and was quite violent when they were torturing those others. There were two others, Len and Lou, but they're dead now...I saw them get killed by their own people, by the others, when they messed something up."

Just hearing this was bringing tears to Carol's eyes. To think her daughter had gone through all this and was now talking about it, it was clear it was taxing for her, but she kept going. Her fortitude had to be admired.

"Is that all of them?" Rick asked cautiously.

Sophia shook her head. "There were two more, Tony, he had black hair, brown eyes, African-American, he's the one who killed Len and Lou, sounded like he was Joe's right hand man. The last one...was Dan, he was the worst of the lot, overweight, brown long hair and blue eyes, beard...That boy Noah, he...the things he did to him…"

"I think we understand Sophia." Rick said quickly. "So, that's them?"

Sophia nodded, she had named her tormentors and Rick gave her time alone with her mother after that to recover, but said he'd return.

Carol immediately pulled Sophia into a hug and Sophia relaxed against her, a few tears spilling out.

"I...I…" She whispered.

Carol gently brushed her hand through Sophia's hair. "It's okay sweetie, you did great. That was the bravest thing I've ever seen you do. I'm sure this will help."

Sophia nodded, trying to pull herself together. Finally however Rick returned and revealed where he had gone. Using Sophia's descriptions and working from there, they had managed to at least get not just names and basic descriptions, but forensic artist representations of the men she had named. Upon seeing them Sophia shakily confirmed their accuracy which was enough to confirm they'd do the job.

"Alright, one more question Sophia, then you can go home." Rick said. "These men, you say they were a group, did they mention any sort of name or anything like that?"

Sophia nodded and gave the name.

"The Claimers."

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.