Moving through the woods Kayla remained quiet, careful not to attract any walkers. She came across a stray one here and there which was nothing she couldn't handle. She's been on her own for what two months now? A couple of walkers posed next to no threat.
Coming up on the edge of her grid Kayla sighed. No Sophia. No sign of Carol's lost little girl. Plumping down in the grass Kayla let out an annoyed breath. If Sophia wasn't found by now, there was a good chance they weren't going to. Or at least find her alive the way she was before. As much as she wanted to think someone would find Sophia hidden up in a tree or back on the highway, Kayla couldn't because the chances of that happening were almost impossible. But there's always a chance…a slim chance.
Standing up, Kayla began walking back towards the farm. She was careful going down the ridge she climbed up and the over the rocky terrain Daryl warned her about. He was right about it though. The ground was uneven and rocky which caused Kayla to fall a couple of times. She was never that coordinated to begin with. Her knees were definitely going to be bruised and her arm had some scrapes on them she got from a lost battle with a prickerbush from earlier.
By the time she got down the ridge, Kayla leaned against a tree for a rest. She was sweating like crazy, her clothes were sticking to her skin, and she had a fresh coat of walker blood on her hands and shirt. Lovely…she thought to herself as the shade cooled her down a little. Staying like that for a few minutes underneath the tree and in the quiet woods was nice. But she had to move and now.
Before she could even move, something from behind grabbed her ponytail from the space between the part of the tree that separated into limbs. A low, growling noise signaled in was a walker. From the shock and surprise of the grab, Kayla dropped her knife in the leaves. "Shit…"She muttered, trying to get out of the grip the walker had on her hair. Fortunately the walker couldn't get his head through the space in the tree which meant he couldn't get his mouth on Kayla to bite her. After pulling her head out of the walker's grip she fell frontwards from the momentum and landed in the leaves. Quickly, she grabbed her knife as the walker approached her and jammed it through its skull as it bent down to get at her.
The body fell on top of Kayla with a thump. Breathing out a sigh of relief and annoyance she pushed the officially dead creature off of her. Now she was covered on blood that was originally on the walker. Standing up she brushed herself off and recollected herself before heading back.
Daryl stepped out of the abandoned farmhouse and called out Sophia's name "Sophia!" he yelled. "Sophia!" he began walking around the perimeter of the house when he came across a patch of weeds that shared an area with a small collection of Cherokee Roses. He bent down in front of them, examining them closely. Taking his knife, he cut the stems off a few of them and put them in his pocket when rustling leaves caught his attention. Standing up with his crossbow aimed at where the sound came from, he watched the woods when a figure came out of the shadows. Only this figure was alive. It was Kayla with blood covering the entire front of her. She quickly saw Daryl and widened her eyes in shock at the weapon pointed at her until he lowered it when he realized it was her. "Hi," she greeted shyly. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"Don't sweat it." Daryl replied shouldering his crossbow.
As she walked towards him, Daryl stiffened a little. "I was heading back, what about you?" she asked.
"Same, did you find anything?" he asked as they began walking.
"Nothing." Kayla answered sadly. "What about you?"
"Found a makeshift bed in that house there." Daryl said looking at the farmhouse. "It was in the pantry, perfect size for someone like Sophia. Found an empty sardine can, too."
Kayla just nodded. Daryl looked at her in the corner of his eye. She was still dressed in her clothes from yesterday that were now coated in blood and dirt, her hair had leaves in it, and her hands were covered in blood as well. There were bags under her eyes and her skin was pale looking. Her figure was what you'd expect to look like in an apocalypse: thin, but there were still a curve here and there. She had a pretty face with her hazel eyes and long brown locks complimenting her thin face. If she looked pretty caked in dirt and blood, Daryl could only imagine how she looked clean and neat.
Daryl didn't even realize they were walking for a while until they got halfway back to the farm. "Don't talk much do you?" he asked her. She looked at him. "What do you want me to say?" she asked.
"Normally when I'm with someone they always try to start some kind of conversation. Not you though." Daryl clarified.
"Well I don't wanna annoy you. If you wanted to talk you would have said something by now."
"How do you know I wasn't waiting for you to say something?"
"How do I know if you weren't?"
Daryl smirked at this. "We're talking now." He pointed out. "So I guess you did want to start a conversation." Kayla replied.
"Mind me asking where you were before you showed up on the highway?" Daryl asked.
"Just bounced town to town, went from here to there without much thought. What about you?"
"I met the group on the highway outside Atlanta when hell broke loose."
"Dale told me about that." Kayla said. "I mean the quarry, the CDC, all that stuff."
Daryl re-gripped his crossbow. "Man likes to talk don't he?" he muttered.
"He just wanted me to know everyone." Kayla explained. The two looked at one another and smiled. That's when Daryl realized it was the first time he's smiled for a while.
