Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.
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~202 ~ 3186
"Did you find her?" Carol asked the second that she could see Shane, Glenn, and Isabell appear through the trees.
Isabell sighed and shook her head. She could see the fear that flashed stronger across Carol's face. "Daryl and Rick are still out there." Isabell added to hopefully calm Carol. "They are going to do whatever they can to find her. And we'll scavenge this whole forest if we have to." Isabell moved next to Carol and put a comforting arm on her elbow. "Daryl will find her."
"Daryl?" Carol asked, her fear turning into confusion for a moment. "What makes you think that he actually cares?"
"He cares. He's not the type that wouldn't. There's a lot about him that you don't know." Isabell let out a gust of air. "He'd do anything for me. For you and that little girl. You're a part of our family now."
Carol, not knowing what to say, turned back to the trees, hoping that her daughter would come through them.
"They'll find her." Isabell insisted. "Don't lose hope."
Carol nodded.
"I'm gonna go help Dale with….something. Do you wanna come?"
Carol shook her head. "I'll wait here."
Isabell pulled her lips into a straight line and nodded, before she turned to walk through the RV.
Dale was messing with the engine to his vehicle. He glanced up for a second, seeing Isabell come towards him. "Anything?"
Isabell shook her head and came to a stop. "Nah, but Daryl and Rick are out lookin'."
"Daryl?" Dale questioned. It was obvious that he didn't think Daryl would be the one to be out there willingly like the others were.
"Yes, Daryl." Isabell stressed. "Do you people really think he's that terrible of a person?"
"We just don't know him to help out."
"Well, he's helping now. Daryl's out there. He's gon' find her."
"You're so sure." Dale pointed out, putting down the couple tools he had in his hand and turning to her.
"I trust him." Isabell said. "I know him. More than I know anyone. Even more than his brother did." She insisted.
Dale nodded, taking that as the truth.
Isabell didn't want to argue Daryl's case anymore. "Do you need any help?" She asked, pointing towards the vehicle's engine.
Dale nodded again and the two worked on the engine for a little while.
In that time, Shane and Andrea were working on getting some cars pushed off the highway so that the group could get through when they were ready to leave.
Carol walked over to Dale and Isabell, looking impatient. She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why aren't we all out there looking?" Carol asked. "Why are we moving cars?"
"We have to clear enough room, so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running." Dale explained to the worried mother. "Now that we have the fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn found on the map."
Shane overheard Carol's complaining and walked over. "Going back's going to be easier than tryin' to get through this mess."
"We're not going anywhere 'til my daughter gets back." Carol stressed.
"Of course." Isabell promised, stepping away from the RV engine and walking up to Carol. "We'll stay here. We wouldn't even think about leaving without Sophia."
"Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay?" Shane rationalized. What was left of the group gathered around Carol and Shane. "Just a matter of time."
"Can't be soon enough for me." Andrea complained, throwing a water bottle in Glenn's direction. "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by."
Carol shook her head and walked out of the group.
Isabell looked to Andrea and scoffed at her, before following after Carol. She didn't want to hear Andrea talk about how shitty her life was. Isabell started to dig through a few more cars, scavenging what she could, anything that she thought would prove useful along the way. She needed to find something to get her mind off Sophia. Thinking about the missing girl would drive her crazy. It's amazing how Isabell was so connected to the little girl after only knowing her for a short while.
After about an hour of searching through cars, Isabell heard a car start up. The next sound was a radio, which confused her. They haven't been getting any sort of signal for weeks. Isabell walked over to where she heard the noise and saw the group had gathered around a car Shane was sitting in.
"The Office of Civil Defense has been issued the following message: Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency."
"It's got to be within fifty miles of here." Dale guessed.
"Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way. The Emergency Alert System has been activated." The recording then started to repeat itself.
Isabell scoffed at the part that said help was on the way.
Shane reached into the car and turned it off. "Asshole." He said to the radio. "Okay, let's get back to work." Shane said, hitting the top of the car.
Isabell hadn't found much in the cars that she wanted for her or Daryl. She decided to stop looking and take a break for a while to check on Carol. Isabell joined her, sitting on the guardrail next to where she stood. "How're you holdin' up?" Isabell asked.
Carol shrugged, continuing to stare out into the trees.
"I told you that they'll find her." Isabell reminded. "We won't stop lookin' until we do."
Carol nodded. The two sat in silence for a long while. The fact that they were sitting around didn't make the time go any faster. It seemed to drag on.
Isabell didn't want to leave Carol alone again. She didn't know if Carol would eventually get restless and run into the woods alone. The sky started to change colors and then darken.
Andrea came up to Carol and Isabell, putting a hand on Carol's shoulder.
Carol turned her head at the blonde and caught her eyes. "It's late." Carol pointed out. "Gonna be dark soon."
"They'll find her." Andrea insisted.
Carol nodded before Andrea walked away.
Isabell stared at Carol for a moment, suddenly feeling an intense sense of guilt. "Carol, I'm sorry." She said quietly, once Andrea was out of earshot. "I should've grabbed Sophia. Not Carl. If I had taken just an extra step to her…." Isabell trailed off, wishing Carol would look to her. She didn't know how else to get Carol to talk to her. Isabell looked down at her lap. "I know what you're going through, Carol. I know the pain that you're feeling and I know it's all my fault."
"Like hell you know." Carol responded quietly and full of spite.
Isabell furrowed her brow and looked up at Carol with a confused expression on her face. "What?"
"You have no idea how it is to lose a child." Carol explained. "My only daughter is gone. She's lost in the woods with no one. You can't know how that feels."
Isabell stood from her spot on the guardrail. She wanted to scream. Isabell wanted to yell at Carol and come up with a way to prove her wrong, but it wouldn't help anything. "No, I guess you're right." Isabell said softly. "I don't know what it feels like to have a daughter lost in the woods. But that's only because my daughter would have found her way back." Isabell snapped. She took a deep breath and walked away from Carol and even farther away from the group down the highway.
Isabell hid herself behind the RV, sitting on the ground against one of the tires. She pulled her knees-up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Isabell's forehead rest on the top of her knees, wanting to drown out everything around her. She breathed deeply, focusing on the sounds of the birds, wind, and trees around her.
"Isabell."
Isabell tilted her head to the side at the familiar southern drawl. She showed a small smile at Daryl.
It was obvious to Daryl that she hadn't heard him come up. "Wha's wrong?"
"I tried to apologize." Isabell explained, keeping her head on her knees. "For grabbing Carl instead of Sophia. Carol wouldn't hear it, no matter what I said. I tried to sympathize with her." She cleared her throat. "I told her I know how she feels, and she denied that I did."
Daryl scoffed, leaning his crossbow up against the RV.
"She told me I didn't know what it was like to have a daughter lost in the woods. So, I told her that my daughter would have found her way back." Isabell hid her face quickly between her legs, slightly embarrassed at the sentiment.
Daryl stared at her and looked away. He sat down next to her, his body close enough to touch hers. "Yeah, she would've." Daryl said after a moment. "You'd've taught her not ta be scared. I'd've made sure she knew her way 'round a forest." Daryl admitted.
Isabell shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter anymore."
"Carol's just upset." Daryl reasoned. "Mad at herself for not bein' there. Tryin' to fin' someone else ta blame, so she don' have ta feel bad for that, too."
"I should've grabbed her though. I promised that I would look after Sophia. I didn't." Isabell stressed. "I grabbed Carl."
"You grabbed a kid." Daryl defended. "That's wha' ya promised yerself. Take care o' the kids. Yer only one person, Izzy. They's two."
"I coulda done it. I coulda pushed them under the same car." Isabell brought her arms up over her head, tying her fingers behind at the nape of her neck. "Sophia would be here with her mom. We wouldn't be in this mess. We wouldn't be on a completely unsafe highway. We'd be movin' on."
"Dammit, Iz. I can't comfort ya if yer not willin' to see another side o' the story."
Isabell picked up her head from her legs and looked to Daryl. She was frustrated, and she could see that frustration reflecting back on his own face.
Daryl sighed. "Ya did what ya had to. There wasn't nothin' else that could be done." He supported. "She just didn't know her way in the woods. But I'm gonna find her. I promise." Daryl turned his head away from Isabell. "I promise you and I promised Carol. We're gonna go back out tomorrow. In larger groups. Spread around. Rick put me in charge of the search party."
"That's the smartest thing that man has done since I've been around." Isabell joked, smiling.
Daryl sat for a moment. He looked back over at her and touched a finger to her chin. "Ya better now?"
Isabell nodded. "As good as I can be. Just make sure that we don't leave until we find her."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
! #$# !
Early the next morning, Daryl was up far before the sun was. He wanted to get out and start searching for the girl as soon as he could. Daryl was just as worried as everyone else was. He was worried about the girl being missing and about how Isabell was taking it. Daryl had seen Isabell's attachment to Sophia coming the second Isabell laid eyes on the little girl back at the Atlanta camp.
It was his job to make Isabell feel better again. That meant finding Sophia no matter how long it took.
The group gathered around a car as Rick took a sleeve of weapons and unrolled it on the hood of the car. The sleeve had knives and other sharp objects that they would use instead of using guns. "Everyone take a weapon." Rick ordered.
Isabell grabbed a machete, choosing to leave her more inaccurate bow around her body.
"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea complained, scoffing at the sight of the knives in front of her. "What about the guns?"
"We've been over that." Shane spoke from the RV, gaining the attention of the group. He seemed to be getting just as annoyed with Andrea's voice as Isabell was. "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying."
Isabell looked to Daryl, questioningly.
Daryl shrugged. He'd failed to mention that to her. Not that Isabell minded, but it was like Daryl was finding a place in the group.
"We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane stated.
"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea muttered.
"Say someone fires at the wrong moment. A herd happens to be passin' by. See then, it's game over for all of us." Shane explained. "So, you need to get over it."
Isabell stifled a chuckle at Shane's words. She had been wanting to tell Andrea off since she came out of the CDC. "I think it's a great idea."
Daryl spoke next. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn 'round, and come back down the other side." He explained. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl nodded and then gestured for Isabell to follow him.
Isabell nodded, following Daryl and ignoring Rick's further explanation of how the search was going to go. She sighed as they came to a stop next to the tree line. "I'm about done with her complainin' shit. She's gonna get an arrow to the head in a second." Isabell said.
Daryl chuckled quietly.
"You don't know how to get along without a gun in this world, ya might as well kill yerself now."
"Guess." Daryl agreed.
"I mean, I know not everyone had our childhood where we learned this stuff, but she should at least try to adapt." Isabell let out a breath again. "Daryl was right. To take her gun. Out in the open, Andrea's about as scared as a bunny in a foxhole."
Daryl nodded. "You ready for a hike?"
"Aren't I always?" Isabell countered. "I'm just ready to find Sophia and get off that highway."
The group got together again around Daryl and Isabell and started off on the search. Daryl led everyone through the trees.
Isabell was closer to the middle of the line, behind Glenn and in front of Carl. She wasn't happy about the kid being allowed to come along, but Isabell made is her responsibility to keep track of him while they were out in the woods. Isabell would much rather be by Daryl since she hadn't learned to fully trust the rest of the group yet, but she didn't want Carl running off like Sophia had.
"Shane, look!" Carl said.
Isabell turned her head to see Carl was hurrying out of his place in line to walk next to Shane.
Carl was showing off his knife to the deputy. "Dad said I could carry it and Mom said as long as I was — "
"Keep it down." Shane interrupted bitterly. "We're lookin' for Sophia."
Isabell furrowed her brow, glancing at the man. She knew that Shane was angry about Lori choosing Rick, but that's how it always would have been anyway. Isabell rolled her eyes.
"You need to focus on the task." Shane insisted.
Lori turned back to see Carl looking upset that Shane had just blown him off. "Gotta keep up." Lori said to Carl, placing a hand on his back and pushing him along. It was obvious that she didn't want him near Shane since he was becoming quite the asshole.
"I know." Carl said defeatedly.
Isabell let out a quiet breath and got into step next to the kid. "Carl, dude, let me see that." She said, feigning excitement for the kid's benefit.
Carl held his knife in his hand, no longer thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.
"That's pretty cool." Isabell said. She reached down into her boot to pull out her smaller knife. "It's bigger than mine."
Carl nodded, grasping his knife the way he should. He looked down at the ground. "I think Shane's mad at me."
Isabell knew Carl was upset, even without him having said something. She hadn't known how Shane acted around the kid before Rick was reunited with his family, but Isabell was sure it was better than how he was now.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Nah, bud, ya didn't." Isabell told Carl, putting a hand over his shoulders, leading along. "We're all just on edge from Sophia goin' missin'." Isabell looked up at the others as they stopped. In their way was a tent. Everyone became quiet as they slowly approached, not sure of what was going to pop out of the opening.
Shane, Rick, and Daryl had their weapons readied as they approached the tent ahead of the others. "She could be in there." Shane said.
"Could be a whole bunch o' things in there." Daryl countered, moving closer to the tent with his crossbow raised.
Rick and Shane caught up to Daryl, staying close behind him.
Daryl signaled that he was moving to the other side of the tent where the opening was. He also silently told the others to stay where they were. Daryl pulled his knife out, holding the crossbow in one hand, and sidestepped towards the campground. He walked around the tent, trying to get a glance into it. Daryl couldn't, though, not without making too much noise, so he looked up at the former deputies.
Rick turned back to the group and waved for Carol to stand next to him.
Carol complied, joining his side quickly and quietly.
"Call out softly." Rick instructed. "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."
Carol nodded and looked to the tent, before speaking. "Sophia?" She called. "Sweetie, are you in there?" Carol and the rest of the group grew quiet, waiting for a response. "Sophia, it's Mommy." Another moment and there was still nothing. "Sophia, we're all here, baby. Isabell, too." Carol said, turning towards Isabell.
Isabell looked to Carol, shocked that she spoke of her. She wasn't sure when the woman would ever talk to her again. Isabell glanced to Rick, who nodded. She pushed Carl over to his mother and stepped up next to Carol. "Sophia?" Isabell called, waiting a moment before speaking again. "Marco?" She waited for the 'Polo' response, but she heard nothing. Isabell sighed, eyes catching Daryl's.
Rick and Shane moved forward to help Daryl with the tent.
Carol reached for Isabell, grabbing onto one of her hands for comfort, and Isabell wrapped her arm around the woman's shoulders.
Daryl started to unzip the tent slowly. He opened it, peeked inside, and then turned back to cough at the pungent stench that came from inside. Daryl held his breath and stepped inside the tent.
Isabell's stomach was full of flying butterflies. She was worried with the men not saying anything. "Daryl?" Isabell asked, not getting an answer from the archer. "Dammit, Daryl, come out."
Daryl stepped out of the tent, quickly. "It ain't her."
That was all Isabell needed to hear.