Rick, Daryl and I walk in the forest, with Daryl and I tracking Sophia via her tracks. Her small feet are difficult to track in the midst of the leaves and i had to rely on my nose to help me find her. We head back to the creek in which we left her, but we dont find her might've been out there for an hour or so and we still don't find her. I sense her trail again and head across the creek to the other side of it. Daryl attempts to discover her tracks but since he's only human he can't really do anything I can't already. Running up ahead to see if I could find anything, I suddenly couldn't find her tracks anymore. It was like they just, disappeared out of thin air. I stopped and waited for Daryl to come to the same conclusion. Turning my head to look back at them, I notice Daryl's confused expression.
"They're just, gone," he says quietly. He furrows his brows in confusion and looks at Rick.
Rick looks at him, not liking the comment from Daryl he was given, "What do you mean gone? the tracks can't just disappear can they?"
"I don't know," Daryl says, he then looks down to me, "They just did. What do you think, Destiny?"
I nod my head to agree with them. I dont know what happened. Unless she just sprouted wings and flew off I have no idea what happened to her.
Rustling is heard among the leaves on the ground and we all turn around to attack what was coming at us. I was ready for a walker, but nothing came into sight. I didn't smell what walkers smelled like; rotting flesh and blood.
Daryl had his bow up, "Sophia?" he asks
"No," a rough voice said. Shane came out from behind a tree. It wasn't as if he were hiding, he was just behind the tree at the moment.
"Everybody's worrying, you all have been gone for at least an hour," Shane says to us. rick looks surprised.
"You head back," Rick says, "Tell them we're doing our best to find Sophia and will be back soon."
Shane nods and heads back with Daryl tagging along as well after a few exchanging of words. We look for a few more minutes before heading back. On our way up I heard a low growl come from a biter and turn around to see it, with part of the skin from it's jaw hanging off. Rick wouldn't shoot it because it would attract more. Two other walkers popped out from behind some trees behind it, their growls giving their locations away. We turn the other way to see another two of them surrounding us. If I had my human voice, I probably would've mumbled some profanities.
Rick seemed to have the same thought, "Shit," he cursed. I remembered how, in my wolf form, I was immune to the virus, like all other animals. I can chew through their necks and have their heads fall off and be useless.
Even in my wolf form, I could feel I smile tug at my lips.
I growled menacingly at the walkers, changing from cute pup to threatening canine within milliseconds. Even Rick jumped a bit at my new demeanor. The walkers, however, seemed unfazed and only stumbled closer. Their arms were trying to grab at rick, but I stopped any of them that came near him by jumping at them and using my teeth to rip their throats out. It was gross, believe me, but when you're in a life and death situation, you'll do anything to survive. I felt the stale blood on my tongue and tried furiously not to think about it without barfing. I felt the top of his spine that connected to his head snap in two.
Leaving that one on the ground, I pounced onto another and did the same thing. I jerk my head back and forth, like a dog with a chew toy, until the same ending meets with the next one. I see out of the corner of my eye, rick grabbing a rock to fend for himself. He smashes a few heads as well as the one I ripped the head off of before. I finish the second one, and leave it to die from the rock in Rick's hand.
He smashes it into the walker's brain, and turns around to see me.
"Thanks," he says, "I'm not too sure if I would've lived without your help."
I nod at him. I have to clear my system of the walker blood, or else when i turn back human I'll have the virus and turn into one of them. I learned about this from my cousin and their family, I was surviving out here with them for a while until something like that happened. We learned that if you wait for a few hours and drink a crapton of water, it'll all be flushed out and you'll be back to normal.
We head back up to the highway side, and meet up with the rest of the group. Everyone looks at me with horror when they see the blood staining my fur coat. Carol, Lori, and Andrea run up to us, followed by T-dog, Daryl, and Carl. Dale looks over, but keeps at the top of the RV, looking for anymore walkers coming down the highway.
"What the hell happened to you guys?" Daryl says, "We left you for a few minutes and you come back like this?"
"Are you bit?" Shane asks me seriously..
Rick shakes his head, "We're fine," he says, "We were held up by a few walkers, and Destiny here saved my life." he looks at me though, "But you had to have had at least some of the blood go into your system, does that mean you'll turn?"
I shake my head. I wish I could tell them why, but I guess they'll just have to trust me.
Lori just looks at me, deciding what to do, "Well, we ought to get you cleaned up," she looks over to Shane, "Someone go take her back somewhere to get cleaned up, she can't just stay here covered with blood looking like that."
"We shouldn't go back to the creek for a while," Shane says, "There are probably more walkers that would try to come back over here"
Carol objected, "But Sophia is still out there she could be hurt!" she sits on the rail separating the highway and the woods. "How could you just leave her? She's just a child…" she trailed off and tears formed from her eyes.
Rick rubbed his face, trying to figure out what to say to calm her down, "It was our only option I couldn't carry her and she couldn't run fast enough from the walkers," he said to her as calmly as he could manage, "I was just going to lead the walkers away so she could get back up here to you."
Carol mourns Sophia, and the rest of the group tries to make her feel better. I feel out of place and walk over by Carl. He seems to not know how to feel about this like I do. Rick stands up, and walks off. I don't pay attention to where he is going, because Shane gestures me to follow him. I leave Carl's side and go to follow him over somewhere else. He leads me over to the truck filled with water jugs. He takes two of them out of the truck. Shane opens one of the jugs and pores some of the cool water on me, suddenly.
I jump back as soon as the water hits my fur, but I understand what he's doing.
"We have to get you cleaned up," he says shortly. He continues to pour the water on me, and the waters rolls off my fur along with the red blood. After I'm clean, I feel new. My fur coat is pure white again, and I like it. Shane is called over by Dale, and he leaves. I just sit there for a while, looking at the sunset.
It's getting late, I think to myself
"So are you going to change back?" a new voice, Carl, comes over and asks me. I shake my head. "oh," he says. He comes over and sits by me.
"Do you think we'll find Sophia?" he asks me. He looks out at the sky but then at me, as if forcing me to answer.
Truly, I don't, but I can't just tell Carl that!
I nod my head, and Carl smiles, "You know, its so weird to have a friend that can change into a wolf. I thought this world was already weird enough, I guess I thought wrong."
This world is full of weird things, I wanted to say. I couldn't, and just kept to myself.
