Sheriff Grimes was a man with a plan.
He decided the survivors would search together, because they could cover more ground that way, and would return to the highway before sundown. He wanted to stay as long as they could afford to and judging by the set of Sheriff Grimes' jaw, that would be a while.
But the survivors had no objections, eager to reunite mother and daughter.
"Everybody take a weapon." Victoria unrolled the bundle of blades on the hood of a tiny yellow sports car. She smirked, amused as the survivors immediately picked them over. "These are quality blades - sharp - treat them right and they just might save your life."
"These aren't the weapons we need." Andrea stared at the belt with disappointment. "What about the guns?"
Behind them, leaning against the camper, Shane glared up. "We've been over that." He reminded, his tone curt. "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."
Andrea cocked a hip, rolling her eyes. "It's not the trees I'm worried about."
"Say someone fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us." Shane barked, adding, "So you need to get over it."
A loaded pause fell over the group and Victoria wondered if they were always this high strung.
Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder, ignoring the tension as he told them, "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are, she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."
"Stay quiet and stay sharp." Rick instructed, "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." He turned to address Dale but Victoria was pulled away by Shane before she could hear them.
"Stick with me today."
At his demanding tone, Victoria scowled at him. "I'm not looking to, like, run off and play hero, especially when you have my gun."
She wanted to stay with Dale, T-dog and the camper but without her weapon, the safest place was in the numbers - unfortunately. But that didn't give Shane the right to be making any demands of her.
"Christ, man, you're not even wearing my holster right." Victoria grabbed the straps of her holster, clipped to Shane instead, and snapped it securely to his belt before shifting it over his wide shoulders. "What the hell is wrong with you today, man?"
Shane ignored her, the muscles in his jaw clenching as he glared over her shoulder.
Victoria turned her head, watching as Rick and Lori shared a sweet kiss to their son's disgust. "Hey. It's not about them today." She tugged the shoulder strap, bringing his attention down to her. "You hear me, man? It's about that little girl today. No dick-swinging contests today."
Shane's lip quirked. "Dick swinging?"
"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop. What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?"
Victoria and Shane turned back to the camper where Andrea was finally confronting Dale.
"I know you're angry at me, that much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now."
"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay."
"You chose suicide!"
"So, what's that to you? You barely know me."
"I know Amy's death devastated you-"
"Keep her out of this! This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise, to force my hand like that?"
Victoria felt bad for Dale as he tried to form an excuse, but spluttered before the enraged woman.
"Should you stop this?" Victoria whispered to Shane.
To her surprise, Shane shook his head. "Do you wanna get in between them?"
Victoria very much didn't.
"I saved your life!" Dale threw his hands in the air.
"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me." Andrea retorted, her voice breaking with unrestrained tears. "I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some epiphany, some life-affirming catharsis?"
Dale sagged, looking away from Andrea as he muttered, "Maybe just a little gratitude."
"Gratitude?I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks, that was my choice - you took that away from me, Dale." Her eyes softened as Dale continued to grasp at straws. "But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless, horrific nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale, and you expect gratitude?"
"I don't know what to say."
"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell am not your problem - that's all there is to say." And with that, Andrea stormed passed the older man.
The survivors took that as their cure, eager to pretend they hadn't witnessed Andrea's tirade as they followed her over the guardrail.
Victoria followed behind Shane with a sigh, it was already looking like a long day.
The woods were lush, green, and entirely too quiet.
And with the silence, came the annoying little voice in the back of Victoria's head - it told her she was doing the wrong thing for her.
Why was she putting her neck on the line for some little girl in the middle of the woods filled with infected - walkers? geeks? drooling freaks? - and allowing herself to be surrounded by people she didn't know, let along trust with her life, without a weapon?
Turn around, the voice said, take your things and don't look back.
"Shane, look!" Carl's excited half-whisper startled from Victoria her dark monologue. "Dad said I could carry it and mom said as long as I was-"
"Keep it down." Shane snapped. "We're looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task."
Victoria clicked her tongue as the boy returned to his mother with a disheartened pout. "Christ. That was a little cold, don't you think, man?"
Shane didn't answer, pointedly ignoring her as he scanned the treetops.
"Anyone ever tell you you're kind of an asshole, dude?"
His glare deepened, the crinkle that formed between his eyes made it difficult for Victoria to take him seriously. "I'm only doin' what Lori asked."
"What? She told you to be a dick to her son? Doubtful."
Shane finally looked at Victoria as if he was seeing her for the first time but whatever he wanted to say died on his lips. He rolled his eyes. "Get moving, Detective."
It was a needlessly tense affair, watching Carol call out to the tent they stumbled across in the middle of no where.
It wouldn't be that easy but, Victoria crossed her fingers anyways.
Daryl crouched by the tent flap with his hunting knife and counted down from five on his fingers.
"Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."
But it wasn't Sophia that Daryl found, but some dead guy rotting away.
Feeling in her territory of expertise, Victoria stepped into the camp and examined the little piece of frozen time.
It wasn't turned over by looters or wandering walkers, even the local fauna hadn't touched what little supplies was left - all the food was spoiled and the flashlight was still gripped between his bony fingers.
Victoria doubted this guy ever had visitors, Sophia included.
"She didn't come through here." Victoria mentioned to Rick quietly, gesturing to the camp with a head shake. "Food wasn't touched, flashlight's still there, and I don't see any footsteps that could match a little girl." She arched a brow at Daryl. "Dude, are you sure this is, like, the way she would've come down?"
Daryl's fingers tightened around his crossbow. "I don't hafta explain myse-"
But before the exchanged to get too heated, Church bells tolled in the distance.
The survivors stared dumbly at each other before they moved in unison, racing towards the deafening sound.
They were stopped in a small clearing on the ledge of a protruding cliff. They looked around, but the woods were too dense to see where they were going.
"Which way?" Rick grunted, his eyes darting back and forth.
"That way." Victoria whipped around, the bells sounding closer to her left suddenly. "I think?"
With a gasp, Shane braced himself on the tree by Victoria. "Damn, it's hard to tell out here."
Carol squeezed through the group, suddenly much more hopeful than a moment ago. "If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too."
"No." Victoria warned. "That could be anyone - anywhere."
"Someone's ringing those bells." Glenn insisted behind her. "Maybe calling others?"
Andrea jumped in too. "Or signalling they found her."
Without warning them, Rick jumped off the cliff they were gathered on and dashed forward. "She could be ringing them herself!"
Victoria groaned as they chased after the Sheriff. Every assumption was just another disappointment when they didn't find Sophia - or a group of friendly survivors.
They emerged from the treeline, stumbling across a small, white church in the middle of nowhere.
Victoria couldn't see any infected right away but a church meant there was a small town nearby, probably swarming with infected who heard the bells too.
"That can't be it." Shane expressed to Rick. "Got no steeple. No bells - Rick!"
The Sheriff took off again, sprinting through the graveyard with a speed the group couldn't keep up with.
Victoria watched graves as they approached the church - this was how horror movies started.
Rick and Daryl jumped the church stairs two at a time, leaning against either side of the red double doors. Shane caught up, standing in front of them with his shotgun readied.
"On three." Rick whispered. "One, two, three!" He shoved open the doors.
It was a completely ordinary church inside.
The furniture wasn't overturned, the pews were lined up facing the bloody crucifixion of Jesus Christ and there were walkers sitting down, facing the stature like they were worshiping him -Wow, Victoria hated the apocalypse.
The three men stepped into the church and made swift work of the walkers inside. Victoria stepped away, doing a quick sweep of the outside while the others watched the men.
From first glance, the church seemed abandoned. It was a single building surrounded by acres of trees and tombstones but there wasn't any place of a steeple or bells - Shane was right. Surely there wasn't another creepy church waiting for them?
"What the hell are we doing?" Victoria winced and turned to the church with a frown. "Sorry, God. I'll say my Hail Mary's later."
Like a sign from the Lord himself, the bells tolled above her.
The others burst from the church, dashing around the building to find the source of the noise. Instead, they found Victoria stabbing a fuse box that silenced the bells.
"It's a speaker." She pointed to the siren above them. "The bells are on a timer."
With a collective sigh, the survivors deflated.
Carol wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm going back in for a bit."
Around Victoria, the survivors dispersed back into the building except for Andrea. The blonde slumped against the wall and sat down with her knees pulled up to her chest.
Victoria considered leaving but Andrea was a sad sight, obviously still reeling from her one-sided shouting match with Dale.
"You like, good, dude?"
"Just because we almost died together, doesn't mean we're bosom buddies now."
Victoria chuckled at the interestingly worded insult and pried her knife from the wiring. "Hey, man, I was here first." She collapsed next to Andrea, stretching her hands behind her head.
Andrea rolled her eyes, her head lolling against the wall facing away from Victoria.
Victoria didn't mind the silence but, her big mouth couldn't help but to fill it where it wasn't welcome.
"Uh, I don't think you're like, looking to kill yourself."
A laugh bubbled from Andrea's chest. "You don't?"
"I had my gun all this time." Victoria reminded, albeit sourly. "Nothing was like, stopping me from changing my mind and shooting myself."
Andrea turned back to her with curiosity. "What stopped you?"
Victoria had to think about that. What was stopping her? There wasn't much. "I don't know." She said. "What's stopping you?"
Before Andrea could respond, another voice interrupted them.
"Are you really leaving?"
Andrea and Victoria perked up at the sound of Lori's strained voice from around the corner.
"Don't you think it's best for all of us?"
Victoria stiffened as Shane replied tersely - he was leaving?
"I think it is." Lori agreed but the uncertain raise of her voice betrayed her. "What made you decide?"
"Gotta back away. Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori, even if you don't see it. None of this was intended. I hope you know that." There was another awkward pause before Shane said, "Well, it don't matter. As long as I said it."
"You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?"
"He'd only try to stop me. No, that's on you. You tell him what you want. Or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife."
"And Carl? We dragged him into this."
"I love Carl."
"He thinks you hate him."
"I'm just trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easy on any of us, least of all me - I'm the one who loses you."
Lori cringed back, scurrying back into the church without another word.
With a sharp exhale, Shane turned, finally noticing his audience peeking from behind the church. His eyes widened. "Victoria-"
"Victoria-"
"Save it." She spat through gritted teeth, overwhelmed by the sudden desire to wrap her hands around his throat. "You know what, man? Do what you want 'cause it ain't my problem." She walked passed him but couldn't help to turn back around as she seethed. "This is what having my back looks like, huh?"
As another woman walked away from him, Shane gulped as Andrea watched on. He fled from the church, quickly ducking deeper into the graveyard with Andrea hot on his heels.
Victoria sat under the big tree in front of the church, stunned into silence as her mind raced.
Without Shane, she wasn't sure what she would do. Did she leave too? Did she stay until the group was whittled down to nothing? Christ, should she just get it over with and blow her brains out like she wanted to?
"What stopped you?" Andrea had asked but Victoria didn't have an answer. She didn't want to die. At least, she didn't think so. She refused to go down that rabbit hole since leaving the CDC.
Maybe Jenner, that asshole, was right. Maybe she was a coward.
Victoria didn't have much time alone with her thoughts, thankfully. The others started filing out from the church one-by-one around the same time Shane and Andrea returned.
But by the annoyed scrunch of her nose, the blonde wasn't pleased with Shane either.
Victoria didn't have the energy to wonder what they talked about.
"He won't leave you. If that's why you look like someone kicked your puppy." Andrea sat next to her, leaning closer as Lori and Carl settled next to them. "He was very adamant about that, at least."
Victoria glanced over to Shane, watching as Rick pulled him aside. They silently argued back and forth, becoming increasingly annoyed with each other.
"You should talk to him - convince him to take me with you while you're at it."
"I thought we weren't bosom buddies." Victoria tried to deflect.
"I'll be whatever the hell you want me to be if it gets me out of here."
Whatever Victoria was going to respond with was interrupted as the officers returned to the group.
"Ya'll gonna follow the creek bed back, okay?" Shane instructed them. "Daryl. You're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough." He caught Victoria's eye, despite the woman trying to ignore him. "Detective, you're with us."
Rick looked as surprised about it as Victoria felt.
"You're splitting us up." Daryl warned. "You sure?"
Shane scratched his head. "Yeah. We'll catch up to ya."
From his mother's side, Carl spoke up. "I want to stay too." He looked up at his mom. "I'm her friend."
Rick turned to Shane but the Deputy just shrugged and looked at Lori.
The woman sighed, cupping Carl's face in her hands. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will."
"When did you start growing up?" Lori wrapped her arms around her son, much to his annoyance.
Victoria stood up, ignoring the insistent flash of Andrea eyes - talk to him, now is your chance - and turned to Carl as Rick shared a quick embrace with his wife.
"Alright, kid, you're with the grownups. You ready?" In the corner of her eye, Victoria noticed Shane stalk back to the church - maybe Shane and Rick needed a buffer to keep them from each other.
"Uh-huh! I even have a knife." The boy presented Victoria with the small switchblade he tried showing Shane.
"Do you remember what we talked about yesterday?"
Without hesitation, Carl recited, "Thumb on the blade, strike upwards, use my small size to my advantage." He paused, cheeks puffing as he tried to remember the last thing. "Oh! Aim for the knees. Always the knees!"
"Sounds like quite the conversation." Lori commented as she stepped behind her son, her thin eyebrows lifted at Victoria.
Carl beamed up at his mother, carefully folding the blade back into the handle. "Detective Morgan showed me how to hold it so you wouldn't worry about me having a knife."
"Oh, did she?"
Caught red-handed, Victoria dug her boots in the dirt while she shrugged. "I just like, didn't want the little dude to get hurt if he grabbed it while your back was turned."
Lori patted Carl on the head with a sigh, appearing less upset then Victoria expected. "I'm glad he's learning to be safe about it, if nothing else." She gently pushed her son to the church. "Why don't you catch up with Dad and Shane?"
Carl pulled a face. "I know that's code for grownup talk." With a boyish giggle, he ducked as Lori playfully tried to swat him.
The woman smiled at her son before facing Victoria, the corners of her lips curling down as she began. "I know it's a lot to ask..."
Victoria already had a feeling what Lori was about to ask. "I'll keep an eye on him." She shrugged. "It's no problem."
With a fond, but still guarded sigh, Lori shook her head. "Keep an eye on all of my boys."
Something irrationally annoyed stirred in Victoria at Lori calling Shane hers. She could catch the hint - Lori wanted Shane to herself.
Victoria shoved the intrusive thought away, she was getting a little too ahead of herself. She wasn't getting involved in that mess anyway.
"They'll be safe with me." Victoria promised, forcing a smile she hoped didn't look too plastic.
With a wry grin, Lori watched Carl, Rick and Shane wait on the church steps. "All three of them need a woman to keep them in line."
Victoria chuckled at that, agreeing on at least one thing. "Most men do."
Without question, Carl stuck by Victoria as they followed Rick and Shane deeper into the woods.
The tension between the officers was thicker then foliage but for once, they seemed focused on the task at hand. However, Victoria was still skeptical a few extra hours of searching would be enough - why would Sophia be so far from the freeway?
"I hope Sophia's okay." Carl murmured, so quietly Victoria almost missed it.
The honest to god truth was too brutal for a young boy worrying about his only friend. Victoria didn't want this for him, not when his eyes were still so bright and full of hope.
"Me too, little dude."
Ahead of them, the bushes rustled fiercely. Victoria gently pushed Carl behind her while Rick and Shane raised their guns at whatever was coming for them.
Except, it wasn't a walking corpse.
A beautiful, perfectly healthy deer emerged from the leaves. She didn't acknowledge the survivors, but chowed down on some grass in front of them instead.
Victoria let go of Carl and breathed a sigh of relief - she couldn't handle anymore surprises. She stepped alongside Shane, frowning as the man raised his shotgun at the door animal.
Before he could pull the trigger, Victoria lowered the barrel with a dirty look. Are you seriously gonna shoot it in front of Carl? She wanted snap at him.
Rick tapped Shane's shoulder, gesturing back to the deer.
The three adults watched with anticipation as Carl approached the deer, the sheer look of childish wonder almost too adorable for Victoria to handle.
As Carl offered his hand to the deer, before anyone could move, a single shot was fired.