A/N: Okay, so I absolutely love how this chapter turned out. This is to finish the transition to the farm, and to peel back the layers and let you all get to know our heroine a little bit better. Please leave your opinions in a review, I would love to hear from you!
~A.S.D
"How long has this little girl been lost?" Hershel asked as we all gathered around the hood of Carol's car to discuss the plan for today.
"This'll be day three," Rick said and I saw the look of uncertainty on Hershel's face before he composed himself.
"County survey map," Maggie said, walking up with a roll of paper tucked under her arm. She stretched it out on the hood, pinning it down with four paperweights. "It shows terrains and elevations."
"This is perfect. We can finally get organized, start doing this thing right. We'll grid the whole area and start searching in teams," Rick said, looking at the map with amazement. This was exactly what we needed, an actual method of looking for Sophia.
"Not you. Not today," Hershel said and we all looked at the old man. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. And your ankle, push it now and you'll be laid up a month. No good to anybody."
This was perfect, we finally get organized and now half of our hunting party was injured or too weak to look.
"Guess it's just me then," Daryl said, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder.
"I'll go with you. You shouldn't be out there alone. Two can cover more ground," I said, tucking my gun in my waistband. I felt Shane's eyes burning a hole in me, but I refused to meet his glare.
"Fine. We'll head back to the creek, work our way from there," Daryl said, pointing to the creek on the map where Rick had originally left Sophia.
"I can still be useful. I'll drive up to the interstate and see if Sophia wandered back," Shane said, finally looking away from me.
"All right, tomorrow then," Rick resigned. I could tell he genuinely felt bad for not being able to help.
"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives. They need that gun training we've been promising them," Shane continued. Shane was a certified instructor, one of the best in the state. He'd taught me how to shoot when I was a kid, telling me he always wanted to know that I could take care of myself.
"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property. We've managed this far without turning this into an armed camp," Hershel said and I looked at him like he had completely lost his mind.
"With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here…" Shane trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence up to our imaginations.
"We're guests here. This is your property and we will respect that," Rick said firmly, looking at Shane and me as he said it. He took his gun out of its holster and set it on the hood of the car. Shane reluctantly did the same and then they looked at me.
"I'm not going out there without my gun, but I won't have it on me while we're here," I resolved, leaving my gun where it was. Rick nodded and continued.
"First things first, set camp, find Sophia."
"I hate to be the one to ask this, but someone's got to. What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how to handle that," Shane said and my heart sank. It was easy to forget that there were worse things than death lurking in those woods.
"You do what had to be done," Rick said quickly, and I knew it was the right call. If Sophia had been bitten, there was nothing we could do, and the humane thing would be not to let her turn.
"And her mother? What do you tell her?" Maggie asked, looking angry.
"The truth," Andrea and I said in unison.
"I'll gather and secure all the weapons. Make sure no one's carrying til we're at a practice range off site. I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience and Addie is a hell of a shot," Shane said, taking his gun off the hood and staring Hershel down.
"Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun," Rick added and the old farmer nodded slowly. "Thank you."
"That stuff you brought? You got anymore antibiotics, bandages, anything like that?" Maggie asked.
"Just what you've seen," Andrea said and walked away.
"We're running low already, I should make a run into town," the small girl continued and I looked at her bewildered.
"Not the place my brother went?" I asked, genuinely fearing for her safety.
"No, there's a pharmacy, just a mile down the road. I've done it before," she said. Rick looked over his shoulder.
"See that man over there in the baseball cap? That's Glenn, our go to town expert. I'd ask him along just to be cautious," he said and Maggie went off to do so. Shane went to go collect the weapons, Andrea followed. Rick went to help set up camp in the front field near the house and Daryl and I went to quickly prepare some provisions and head out. The sun was already sinking in the western sky but we had a couple of hours before nightfall.
I packed quickly and told Daryl I'd meet him at the tree line in a minute and walked over to where Shane and Andrea were sitting at a picnic table. He was showing her how to strip and clean a gun, but looked up at my approach.
"Hey, you alright going out there with Daryl?" he asked, showing Andrea how to check the chamber for a bullet.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just wanted to make sure you were," I said, he had been angry at my volunteering to go, but seemed fine now. Maybe he just didn't want to talk about it with Andrea around.
"Everything's good. Dale will be lookout while your out and you can takeover later tonight," he said and I nodded. I stood there for a second longer, but when he didn't say anything else, I walked off.
Daryl was waiting for me and when I reached him we started heading for the creek.
"You okay, you look upset," Daryl said, as we were walking through the woods.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's been a long week," I said with a humorless laugh.
"You sure? 'Cuz you can't be distracted while we're out here."
"I said I'm fine. I've got your back, now let's get a move on. We're already loosing the light," I said fiercely and I saw a thin smile play on his lips as he turned away to lead the way through the swampy area we'd come across. We trekked on for a while in silence before coming to a clearing. There was a house there. It was old and rundown, the grass taller than me close to the door. We stood at the edge of the clearing, looking on.
"If Sophia found it, she probably went inside. Shelter, maybe some food," Daryl said and I nodded. We walked up the pathway and soon the grass stalks were over my head and up to Daryl's chin.
"Can't see a thing," I murmured. We reached the front door and Daryl instantly loaded his crossbow. I pulled my gun as well.
"You go left, I'll go right," he said, gesturing to the hallway. I moved away from him and started checking rooms.
My heart was racing, even though there weren't any evident signs of walkers. I cleared each room and then got to the living room. Some things had been thrown around and all the alarms in my head started going off. There was a door that was slightly ajar adjacent to the room and I heard a thump. I pointed my gun with a steady hand and started walking towards it slowly. I put my hand on the doorknob and yanked it open. It was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief and then felt a hand on my shoulder. I yelled, hit the hand with the butt of my pistol and then turned with my gun aimed…right at Daryl's head.
"Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on people during the freaking apocalypse!" I yelled, my heart about to pound out of my chest. He was cradling his hand and looking at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Damn girl. I didn't realize you were so jumpy," he said and I rolled my eyes.
"Let me see your hand," I said and took the injured hand in both of mine. It was red and there was going to be a nasty bruise but everything seemed okay. "You'll live."
"Come see this," he said and started walking back in the other direction. I followed closely and he led me to the kitchen. He gestured to the cupboard and I walked over and went to open it.
"Don't attack the flour, there's nothing in there," he said with a laugh and I glared at him harshly. I pulled the door open and looked.
There was a blanket and pillow in the bottom of the cabinet. It was evident that someone had slept there recently and judging by the size of the cupboard, they couldn't be bigger than a child. I looked at Daryl with wide eyes.
"She could have been here," I said and ran outside.
"Wait girl!" he called after me and followed.
"Sophia! Sophia!" I yelled out in the empty space, praying the girl was close by and would hear me.
"Sophia!" he yelled too and I looked at him. He looked back and then went back to calling her name. If there were any walkers nearby they definitely would hear us, but it was worth it.
We stopped after a moment, looking for any signs of life, or death, stirring in the grass. We saw nothing moving and I flopped down on the ground, defeated. Daryl's attention had been caught by something though and he was moving towards it. He knelt in the grass and I moved over to kneel beside him.
"What is it?" I asked, looking at the pale flower he was holding.
"Cherokee Rose," I looked at him with arched eyebrows and he sighed. "The story is when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee mothers were crying and grieving so much 'cause they were loosing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elder, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day, this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell," he said, looking down as he approached the end of the story. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and quickly wiped it away.
"That is probably the sweetest thing I've ever heard," I told him, wiping at my eyes. He blushed a little and stood up.
"We should be getting back," he said, putting the flower in his jacket pocket and picking up his crossbow. I got up too, brushing off my jeans and followed him back.
By the time we made it back to the farm, it was almost completely dark. We saw Dale on top of the RV keeping watch and saw Hershel out in the field.
"Hey, you found a good lead, we'll find her," I told Daryl when we had walked past the RV. He nodded.
"Yeah, we will," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder and looking at me for a moment. "Your brother's looking for ya," he said after a minute and walked away. I turned around and saw Shane staring at me.
"Hey!" I called and started running to him the way I did when I was a little girl. He laughed when I ran into him and hugged me.
"You'd think you were ten instead of twenty-five. You are in a good mood, something happen?" he asked.
"We got a pretty good lead. Found a house where someone's been staying, someone not much bigger than Sophia by the looks of it. They've been sleeping in the cupboard," I told him and pulled out of his arms to hand him my gun. "I promised Rick I wouldn't carry while we were here," I said but he wouldn't take it.
"You're going to be taking over watch for Dale, you can just sit it in the RV for now," he said and I shrugged. "You really think it's Sophia holed up in that house?" he asked.
"Don't you? Who else would it be?" I asked, my smile fading quickly at his tone.
"There's no way of knowing how long ago that place was used, plus it could be someone else who got lost," he said.
"Why would you say that? It's hope, Shane. Something we haven't had in a long time," I said, furrowing my brow and taking a step back.
"I'm not trying to make you angry, I just don't want you to get your hopes up for it to be another dead end. I want to find her just as much as you do, we just got to be realistic. She's been missing for three days now, even if she's still alive, the chances of her not being bit or something is slim."
"I know things look bad, but this is something. We can't just write her off because she may be dead. That little girl is innocent and I'm going to do everything I can to bring her mother closure, one way or another," I told him and walked off. I stormed back to the RV.
"I'll take over for you now," I told Dale and he looked at me as I climbed up.
"Everything okay?" He asked as I flopped down in the lawn chair and took the rifle from him.
"Peachy, I think Carol and Lori are making some stew, you can go eat," I told him, wanting to be alone right now. He left after casting another glance at me.
I stared out into the field but there was nothing out there so I looked over to the small campfires where everyone was sitting. From here, I could just make out who everyone was. Rick and Lori were snuggled together, looking oddly incomplete without Carl. Carol was huddled by herself and Andrea was sitting awfully close to Shane. Dale joined them and sat between T-Dog and Glenn. I didn't see Daryl, which wasn't surprising since he usually didn't eat with everyone else. I heard a clinking on the metal ladder that led up to where I was perched and tensed. I got up and waited, but saw Daryl's head before I reacted.
"What are you doing, you're lucky I didn't bash your brains in," I said and sat back down.
"You scare too easily girl, you need to toughen up," he said, a small smile playing on his lips and I fake laughed at him which caused him to really laugh. "I though you might want some company. I heard what happened with Shane," he said, pulling his pocketknife out and playing with it.
"Oh, your eavesdropping on people now," I joked and he glared at me.
"No, I guess a big mouth just runs in your family," he shot back and I scoffed.
"Not all of us are socially awkward hermits," I said, smiling now at our game.
"Better to be a hermit than a nuisance."
"Okay, you win," I said and we both laughed.
"No, but really. You okay?" he asked and I nodded.
"My brother is a pessimist, I'm used to it. I know it's crazy to think we're going to bring that little girl home, but I really do believe it. We have to," I told him and our eyes met, staring intently. I broke the contact first, looking down at my hands.
"It's not crazy. I think we are too, just a feeling," he said.
We sat there in silence until we heard another noise from the ladder.
"Wow, I'm popular tonight," I said and walked over to see who it was.
"Addie," it was Shane and he came into view a second later. "Oh, I didn't know you weren't alone," he said, looking at Daryl.
"I was just leaving," he said and nodded to me before leaving me alone with my brother.
"What's up?" I asked him.
"I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I was a jerk, and I'm sorry," he said. I looked at him skeptically.
"You've never once apologized to me for something you did. You always said no one's right, there's always two sides to every story," I mocked his voice and he smiled.
"Things have changed. I don't want you to every walk away angry. There's always a chance we won't be able to make up later, and I love my little sister too much to let that happen," he said. I smiled broadly and gave him a hug.
"I'm not going anywhere," I told him firmly.
"You better not kiddo," he said and ruffled my hair like he did when I was a kid.
"You're not so much bigger than me," I joked and he laughed. I let go of him and stepped back. Thoughts of our childhood flooded my mind. I gestured for him to sit down and he did.
"Do you still hate me for what happened?" I asked him, knowing he'd understand.
"Addie, I never hated you, and I never will. Things happen, you got better," he said, but I could sense the hurt.
"I wasn't trying to hurt you, I was angry that you left me and I couldn't handle living with them. They were awful. All they talked about was how horrible I was and how I was nothing like my mama," I chocked a little on a sob and Shane moved to put an arm around me.
"I know, I know," he whispered.
"Grandma was the worst, saying horrible things about daddy, and saying how she never understood how he convinced mama to leave home with him. That night, they'd just gotten a call from one of my teachers, telling them I was failing. Grandpa was so angry, he slapped me. They told me I was horrible and that they hated me, that they were going to send me away. This had been going on for weeks now, it was getting worse and worse. Then Jamie got in that car wreck, he died, and I'd lost my only friend. I felt I had no way out, no reason to live. I locked myself in my bathroom, turned the shower on. I got a razor from the counter, and I made just a small cut, just to see,"
"Addie, stop. It's okay, you don't have to talk about it," I was pretty sure that was more for his benefit than mine, but I had to keep going now.
"It stung, but the pain felt good. It was something other than the numbness I'd felt since mom and dad died and you left for the police academy. So I made it deeper, and deeper, until blood was pouring from my arm. I screamed as the pain really set in and they came beating on the door but I wouldn't let them in. I was crying and screaming, and cutting. I eventually passed out, then I woke up in the hospital."
"Addie, stop."
"You were sitting there, right beside my bed. You were holding my hand, my wrists bandaged in thick gauze. You looked up at me when you realized I was awake, and you started crying. You hugged me and you told me everything was going to be okay. You told me we'd get through it together, well this is something else we're going to get through together, and I'm here now. And I'm not anywhere," I said sternly, tears streaming after telling the story I'd kept locked up for all these years.
There were tears in his eyes too and he hugged me tightly, grabbing my wrists and looking at the scars that were a constant reminder of what I'd done and how close I'd been to leaving Shane all alone.