Chapter 4 Dancing in the Shadows
The wild can bring out a new side of a person, whether that side is a purer reflection of who the person is on the inside can be debated. For Kara though it brought out a side that was the closest thing many could say was her true self, this side was also brought out every time she entered a battlefield for her there was a sense of peace that washed over her when she was in the center of complete chaos. At this moment she sat in a tree over looking a small house that she had found and had slept in last night, as well as where she had managed to find some meager scraps such as the sardines that she had for dinner last night. For now, she chose to sit in her tree there wasn't much she could do to find the group without first choosing a direction to look. To the extent of her knowledge there was only a select few places that would be able to hold a large group such as the on that she was from, one of such places was only around a mile and a half away. The farm would be a wise choice as the records showed that it was nearly completely self sufficient from the well to the amount of live stock that could have possibly survived thus far. She had spent two days on this quest and checked at least half a dozen places and came up with practically nothing, the teams that she sent out were still working on their assignments as well. Alpha was still working their way through the highway as there was quite a bit of ground to cover, Beta reported the possible locations that she had thus far looked through as well as the one that she had chosen to search for today, Delta and Gamma were switching off scavenging and guarding the compound. Doing this independently made it so that she was seen as less of a threat this also came into an advantage so that if she managed to find the group she would be able to spy on them without too much trouble. She assumed that the group would still be looking for the girl, so she began to plan out the perfect way to gain entrance into the group to observe them from up-close and personal. As she continued to think about the unusual ways to gain access to the group she noticed that the area around her had gone silent, thinking it was another of the dead she jumped down and drew her katanas and looked around for her pray. Looking around she put her back to the entrance of the house only to feel a sharp stab in the middle of her back and hear a gruff voice, "Who are you? And where is Sophia?" This startled her as she should have seen him, but at the same time it gave her a bit of relief as he knew the girls name therefore he was a part of the group.
"I'm Kara Cross, and I have no idea who you are talking about I am simply a traveler on my own." She replied her voice smooth as silk, she didn't wish to lie to them, but she wasn't going to send the girl somewhere that she wasn't going to be protected.
"Don't lie to me, your footprints were all around her. Now, where is he?" She could tell that he was getting angry with her but another part of her simply did not care.
"Ah, so you think I have the girl because I was around her at some point? That is completely illogical. Yes, I saw the child, but I don't know where she is. We got separated a couple days ago." Though technically true she knew that these were not the answers that he was looking for. "She isn't alone though so she is safe, when we were separated she ended up with my brother.
'Where did he take her?"
"No clue, I told you we were separated." She needed to think of something fast so that he would take her back to the group, knowing that it was a long shot she walked towards her bag.
"What do you think you are doing?" His voice had a hard edge, though not nearly hard enough to make her fear him.
"I'm getting you something she dropped when we got separated," she dug around in her bag for a minute before pulling out the doll, though covered in dirt and grime it was still special to the young child. "I had planned to find her mother and get her back to her, but some stuff happened and now it is a matter of them finding me or me finding them."
"Give that to me." He stepped toward her and stabbed the crossbow into her back again then reached around her and grabbed the doll from her hands.
"How about not?" She said turning around and taking the doll from him, this was entrusted to me and I will be damned if I let you take it from me. She quickly scanned him from head to toe noting his stance as well as his weapons. Sighing to herself she decided that she was going to try to make a deal with him and then analyze the group for a brief time before calling the others, the girl needed to be returned to her family. "How about this I go with you back to the girls' mom and tell her what I know, and in exchange you escort me and can make sure I don't get up to no good. Sound good?"
"Like hell! You could be lying for all I know, and how about I just make you talk?" She knew that he was trying to intimidate her but in a way it more reminded her of a dog, and not a Chihuahua like Merle but more of a dog that had been beaten and had originally been kind but now needed to appear mean as to not be harmed again.
"Then I can't help you, ta!" With that she turned and began to walk off knowing that the likelihood of him letting her walk away was quite low, the only two ways that she could see it going is him calling her back and fallowing through with the deal or him letting her walk off and loose the chance to find the girl. As she put away her blades to then bend over and grab her pack she felt a flash of pain before blackness obscured her vision and she greeted the blackness of unconsciousness.