That night, Carol and Sophia sat by the fire, not talking. It wasn't necessarily by choice. But it was so strange. To be reunited after all this time. Sophia had just finished giving Carol a summary of what the past few years had brought her. Ren, Bella, the Windmill, the owls, Bella's death, Gabe, and finally, the three kids left behind at their home: Grace, Chance, and Valor.
Carol wouldn't let go of Sophia, she kept her held against her form. As if that would stop anything bad from happening ever again. She ran her hands through the dirty blonde, admiring the softness, even after all this.
Across the room, Gabe was checking on Benjamin. He wanted to give the two some breathing room, but at the same time, he was anxious. Sophia was their fearless leader, she wouldn't leave them now, right?
"Sophia, we have to go back, at least tell Ren what's going on. We promised we would be back before dawn. If we're gone too long… you know he'll want to come looking." Gabe spoke, more so looking for permission than anything. She may have been younger than him, but Sophia knew what they needed, and how to keep everyone happy.
"You're right." This was nice, getting a hug from her mom. But she couldn't stay here forever. Especially with everyone cooped up back at the cave. "We'll be back." Sophia promised, meeting her mother's gaze.
"I could… I have to stay for Benjamin. Please hurry back. And you can bring everyone." Carol asked, afraid that the moment her daughter walked out the door, that she wouldn't return. But the facts were there, Sophia had handled living without Carol, and surely, she could survive one more day.
"As long as that's okay with you. Grace is a handful." Gabe laughed at Sophia's words, agreeing with her completely, but every once in a while, she couldn't help but think back to when they had first found Grace..
It had been about a year since Ren and Sophia had lost Bella, and maybe seven months since Gabe joined them, when they came across a woman pointing a gun at a small child. They had been wandering, looking for somewhere safe to stay. So far, all they had was a car to get them around from place to place, which they had left a few streets back to explore.
"Shhh sweetie." The woman whispered, tears streaking down her face, and the child in question was crying silently, face in her hands.
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?" Sophia yelled angrily. The kid couldn't have been older than 3. The woman's head snapped up to look at the three kids approaching.
"I… I have to! All she does is cry. And eat. This is better for both of us." Her voice cracked, eyes wide. "It's better for you too. She just eats." She was clearly half insane, and the child on the ground didn't look like she had eaten recently.
"Hey, how about you just walk away. We can make sure she stays happy." Ren offered, hands up in a pleading gesture. That made the woman even angrier, as she turned the gun on the three teenagers.
"No!" She shrieked, her face screwed into a snarl. "She has to die!" Sophia reacted before really thinking out her actions. She charged at the woman. The woman screeched in surprise, and pulled the trigger, the sound deafening. Luckily she missed, and gave Sophia the chance to body check her, throwing her to the ground.
Ignoring her for now, Sophia scooped up the toddler, and started running back to her companions. She was frighteningly small in her hands, she could feel the bones, and the tears staining her cheeks were already soaking Sophia's shirt.
"Let's get out of here!" Sophia yelled, completely frightened, clutching the dark haired girl to her chest. They ran all the way back to the car without looking back. Ren had to take the driver's seat because the girl wouldn't let go of Sophia's shirt. "Hey, you're safe now." Rubbing her back, Sophia looked over her for any obvious injuries. "What's your name?"
She would never answer that question, even weeks after. So Gabe picked the name Grace, and they never changed it after that.
Gabe and Sophia left, going for speed. Ren was an anxious person, as most people were these days. But he was especially anxious. Hey had no doubt in their minds he was growing worried about them, even if they hadn't even reached their ETA.
Luckily, their walk back to the car was uneventful, aside from having to duck into the woods every so often to avoid patrolling cars. Gabe climbed into the driver's seat, letting Sophia think over everything that had happened since they left their home base.
"When was the last time you saw your mom?" Gabe asked a little while into the ride, looking over to his friend. He had never heard any stories about Sophia before she met Ren and Bella. He just knew they weren't actually siblings.
"Um. I had gotten separated from our group. I was really young, and scared. I couldn't protect myself at all." Sophia hated thinking of herself like that.
That she used to be the dead weight. She didn't mind having the young kids around, not at all. But it bothered her when she thought back of how she just stood there, scared. Maybe if she was braver, she could have helped that sheriff guy, or made it back to her mom right away. Or maybe, just maybe she could have remembered the instructions to keep the sun on her left side, or her right.
"And the directions to make it back to our group… I couldn't remember them, for the life of me. So I got lost. And then after falling off a cliff, Ren and Bella found me. I never managed to find my group after that, I wasn't sure where to go, so I just followed them. And well, you know the story after that." Her voice died out after that, tears on the edges of her eyes, which Gabe didn't comment on.
They drove in silence, a respectful silence, until suddenly there were headlights right in front of them.