Softly Avery turned the key and the engine of her Unimog died. The vehicle stood on a badly visible, narrow field way, which led away from the Highway. She chose this way since the Highway turned to a graveyard of abandoned cars and she would not fit through with her big car. To leave her car was no option. Because of that she now stood on this field way, crawling quietly out of her Unimog and springing down onto the grassy ground. Absent-mindedly Avery moved her holster of her Machete so it was sitting snugly against her thigh. With quick fingers, she pulled the Machete from the holster and twirled it a bit. Slowly Avery rightened herself and observed her surroundings. The edge of the woods directly before and behind her was free of any Walker, so she turned right. The narrow way extended before her. After a quick look behind her, towards the entrance of the field way, she began walking along the way, hoping for something interesting, which could bring her some ressources. If not, she would go hunting in the woods even though she would have to pull her hunting rifle out of her car.

Leisurely Avery walked, playing a bit with her Machete, which rested in a loose grip in her right hand. Even though she looked relaxed, her eyes were moving around, trying to take everything in so nothing could surprise her. Her dark green eyes had a tired but observant gaze in them. To get surprised in these times led more often than not to your death. Slowly a small dark silhouette appeared on the horizon. While Avery began to squint, in hopes of recognizing what was before her, she slowed her step a bit and tightened her grip on her Machete. It wasn't moving and with every step, the silhouette was growing, turning square instead of human. Happily, she sighed and whispered a small "Yes!" while she began walking faster towards her target. In the near vicinity of the house weren't any Walkers and everything was quiet. No moaning, no panting, and no feet shuffling. In the distance were crickets chirping while the sun was beating down onto the earth.

Avery grabbed the handle of the door with slow and careful movements and turned it until she heard a quiet click. With caution, she pushed against the dark wood with her fingertips and let it swing open. Internally she cheered as the door hinge didn't squeak and thus couldn't notify nearby enemies. After opening the door fully, she darted her eyes around the hallway and began to whistle a bit to draw Walker in. As Avery heard no noise, she entered the abandoned house with slow steps but froze as she heard a loud, panicked scream of a girl in one of the nearby rooms. The brunette looked towards the closed door on her right behind which the noises came from with big eyes. Without any further hesitation, she broke free of her rigor and ran recklessly to the door and pushed it open.

In the room, she could see a little girl which seemed to crawl out of the opened closet behind her and was now trying to pull her arm free from the Walker who had gripped it painfully and was trying to take a bite out of it. Automatically Avery tightened her grip around her Machete and began without further ado to attack the Walker from behind, slicing into the head and quickly pulling out again after the Walker ceased his movements and fell onto the ground. Before Avery now stood the scared girl who stared at her with wide eyes. Her chest was frantically rising and sinking and her mouth was still wide open from her terrified scream. Slowly Avery bent down and began cleaning the blood that clung to her Machete on the dirty clothes of the dead Walker. After she was satisfied enough, she sheathed it into the holster on her thigh. Done with her routine she looked up to the girl before her while she idly noticed that they were now on the same height. The blond girl was watching her carefully with fear in her eyes, the clothes dirty and her fingers curled tightly into firsts.

"Hey…", Avery addressed the girl. Her voice was a bit hoarse from not using it for a long time because she had nobody to talk to besides herself. Nevertheless, she tried to let her voice be soft and not too loud, so she would not spook the girl anymore.

"I'm Avery and you?" The girl looked at her like she could not believe that a not undead human being was before her. With quick eyes, she scanned Avery, cautious that she could turn any moment into a Walker. After a while, she whispered "Sophia".

"That is a beautiful name.", reassuring Avery smiled towards Sophia. "How old are you?", she then asked. With that question, Sophia's posture changed and a small proud smile appeared on her bruised lips. "I'm twelve!"

"Oh, wow!" Avery responded. "You are a big girl then.", she smiled as Sophia began nodding her head viciously. "I'm an old lady of 22 years.", she laughed.

"How come that you are here by yourself, Sophia?", at that question, Sophia's smile disappeared and she lowered her eyes to the ground. Her fists were flexing beside her body.

"I lost my group and mama because a Walker was following me.", Sophia whispered slowly and didn't seem happy to tell anyone that she belongs to a group. Uncomfortable, she began wringing her small hands and her eyes shone still with mistrust, but Avery ignored it and instead pulled her eyebrows together, deep in thought. Her hands were resting on her thighs and she began gnawing on her lip. She could not leave that scared girl alone by herself and she knew what she had to do.

"How about I bring you back to your group? You could see your mother again. I bet she is searching for you right now and together we can find her faster." Sophia was in a conflict. She wanted to go back to her mother but Avery was an unfamiliar person and she didn't know if she could trust her. Die brunette noticed the conflict inside of Sophia and added: "I am sure, you are hungry and thirsty. I have lots of food and water, we can share. How about I bring you to the spot where you lost your group and you can eat and drink. I promise you, I will not harm you, I simply want to help you. In this house, you are not safe and you know that. Just look at that Walker before us." While speaking she pointed towards the Walker. Sophia still didn't seem convinced but after some long minutes, she finally nodded and watched how Avery stood up again and began shaking her legs because they hurt after crouching for so long. After that, she extended her left hand towards Sophia and waited patiently for her to take it. Slowly Sophia grabbed the bigger hand and stepped wobbly over the Walker.

"I want to take a quick look around the house. Do you want to go with me or wait here?"Avery asked the girl who tightened the grip around the hand of the older girl and stubbornly looked ahead.

"Okay, then we will look together. Maybe we can find something delicious to eat.", Avery smiled amused, and began searching through the house with Sophia. The loot wasn't the best, nevertheless, they found some tins to take with them. It was not much but with careful dosage, they could eat from it for at least two days with three meals a day.

The sun was slowly sinking as Avery finally came back to her Unimog with Sophia. The previously white car was covered with mud and a bit of Walkerblood but Avery didn't care about that. If it looked new, people would notice it sooner. The smaller girl looked at the car with big eyes. It was at least three times bigger than her and probably five times as long as she was tall. Sophia had seen her fair share of big cars and still remembered Dale's camper van. What surprised her, even more, was that the woman beside her was driving this camper. Avery instead looked proudly at her car but after a glance towards the sun, she gently pulled on Sophia's arm and led her to the passenger seat. She helped the girl to climb onto the seat and closed the door afterward. With a big sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair and couldn't suppress the feeling of regret with taking Sophia with her. Nevertheless, she could never leave another person alone, especially children who were so defenseless. She sighed again and then put the tins away before climbing onto the driver's seat. Just with caution, Avery could turn the Unimog around since the way was so tight and the car so long. It took her some time but finally, they were driving towards the Highway again.

"Where was your group the last you have seen them?" Avery asked and looked towards her small partner. Sophia lifted her gaze towards the older girl, startled and her mouth filled with beef jerky on which she first sat. Avery chuckled a bit and remembered the look on the face of Sophia as she pulled the beef jerky out under her butt. At first, Sophia wanted to put the meat away but since the moment where she ran away from an Walker and her mama, she hadn't eaten anymore and so she opened the package after an unsure glance towards Avery who nodded her permission.

"In the glove box is also another bottle of water but it will be warm because of the weather.", she added and waited patiently while Sophia drank some water to swallow the beef jerky. Avery felt sorry for that girl. Sophia didn't look malnourished but she could see that she got separated from her group at least a day ago because she seemed so hungry, diving right into the beef jerky. The girl wiped her mouth with the dirty back of her hand before she answered.

"We were on a Highway. Before us were a lot of abandoned cars and we couldn't pass so we wanted to part them but before we could do that a lot of Walker appeared and we had to hide under the cars. It was terrifying.", whispered Sophia and lowered her gaze towards the opened bottle in her hand. Sophia still felt guilty for not following Mr. Grimes's order and probably her mama would be terribly angry at her, although she wasn't even sure if they were still alive. With fear, she swallowed hard. Her voice was thin and Avery began to fear that Sophia might cry. Overwhelmed she cast a quick glance towards the girl beside her who had begun to quietly sob. Avery never had to do with a lot of people after her mother died. Her father was the only constant person she had for years and just a few times a year she would call her former neighbor to talk with him. With children, she had no contact since she was twelve and because of that, she felt very uncomfortable right now because she didn't know how to interact with them. Awkwardly she ran her fingers through her hair roughly and slowly patted the thigh of Sophia. She was not good at comforting other people. Her social skills were very rusty and her father was always easy-going.

"Hey… Everything will be alright. I will drive you to the Highway and I am sure everyone will wait there for you.", softly she squeezed the thigh of Sophia and pulled away. Sophia slowly nodded and wiped her face with her hands and the hem of her shirt. After a small shy glance, she turned towards the window, sometimes still sniffling. They finally reached the Highway and Avery began to drive faster.

"This is the place where we were last!"Sophia shouted upset and pointed towards a space before the car cemetery. Happy she smiled, her hopes rising to see her mother again until she realized that the space was empty. No camper van and no people. Nothing was moving and everything was quiet. Avery looked to her side and saw her fear being answered. Sophia's lip began wobbling and her eyes were filling quickly with tears. Tired, the young woman closed her eyes and suppressed a sigh. Maybe she could somehow distract her?

"I am sure we will find her, she would never want to leave her child behind. Maybe we can spend some time here and wait for her. How about some card games?" she asked the girl beside her who looked at her with red eyes. Then she began to sob.

"Carl and I always played card games.", she cried, big tears now running down her face again while she sobbed loudly. Avery looked at her blankly.

After some time passed by and Sophia calmed herself down, they both were still sitting inside the car, watching how slowly everything began turning dark.

"What do we now?", Sophia finally asked with a hoarse voice, sniffing her runny nose.

"You are going to sleep and I will watch over you. Tomorrow morning we will look around, maybe we will find some clues where your group is.", answered the brunette and opened the car door. She jumped out of her seat and walked to the passenger door to open it and help Sophia out of her car. The camper van was a bit too high so she could not yet exit it herself. The girl on her head rubbed her heavy eyes, tired from finally eating, being safe, and crying a lot. Sophia didn't have to wait long because Avery knew her car very well and quickly pulled the ladder out so they could climb inside the living area. After she entered, she pulled the ladder in and made sure to tightly lock the door. Quickly she turned the light on and led Sophia to the rear of the car where her big bed was standing.

"Do you want to go to the toilet before sleeping?", she asked the girl. Sophia didn't even answer anymore and instead fell onto the bed and crawled underneath the covers. Avery let a small sigh out and walked towards a small table that belonged to the kitchen area She let herself drop onto one of the two chairs that are screwed down on the ground. With slow motions, she removed her holster, laid it on the table, and pulled the Machete out. Automatically she grabbed the cloth on the table and began slowly and accurately to clean the curved blade. She would have a lot of time for that tonight.

I will cross-post this also on Wattpad and ao3. I wrote this story a while back in german and now I try to translate it just for fun.

Thank you for reading :)