6747, Jasmin Jade XX, HarmineandMarcus, halodoll89, itsi3, SOA loving mom, Rai, DarkAngelsShadow, and mygnomefriend - thanks for the 3
DarkAngelsShadow- I'm not going to lie, Carol going after Sophia was my whole impetus for writing this story. It always drove me crazy that Rick went after Sophia and Carol didn't. So, then I got to thinking, what kind of person would have the courage to go after Sophia, but not be able to stand up to Ed? And yeah, Lori's nickname tickles me every time.
mygnomefriend - I'm glad you enjoyed Shane getting punched in the face. I put it in for no other reason then I really wanted to see someone break that guys nose.
Yeah I own nothing... except the original stuff.
Chapter 9 - Carol
I woke to the sound of a gun shot, alone and in a strange house.
Sophia?
I scrambled to my feet and peeked out the window.
Letting out a breath I ripped the door open and ran to the two figures facing away from me in the yard.
"Sophia!"
Sophie spun around.
"Carol!"
I couldn't stop myself from crying I was so happy. I dropped to my knees when I reached her and wrapped my arms around her with a force that brought us both to the ground.
Laughing and crying, I kissing every inch of her face and nose and hair I could reach. We must have been quite a sight.
Daryl gave us the moment. Never taking his eyes from the woods, it reminded me what had awoken me. Sobering I climbed to my feet. I held out my hand to help Sophia up but couldn't seem to let her go once she was standing. I was never letting that girl out of my sight again.
"Was that a gun shot?"
Daryl nodded without looking at me.
"Daryl?"
This time he turned to meet my gaze.
I reached out my hand to touch his shoulder but he flinched away and I dropped it.
"Thank you for comin' for us, I don't think we would have made it if it wasn't for you."
He shook his head, "that little girl is alive because of you. If you hadn'ta gone after her..."
He let the words linger in the air not wanting to frighten Sophie. "Rick led the first two walkers away but she still wouldn't have made it back if you hadn'ta been there."
I looked at him confused.
"How did you know Rick led the first two walkers away?"
Daryl looked at me like I was dumb, "I read the tracks."
He was right, I was dumb. I had seen him in action. He read tracks like they were neon road signs.
How this incredibly capable, talented man came to care whether two burdens like Sophia and I lived or died was beyond me, but it was probably the first bit of luck we've had in our whole lives.
"Daryl, I just wanted to say that your friendship, it just means the world to us."
He frowned at me, looking like he was gonna tell me to stop my nonsense when Sophie, quite little Sophie piped up. "I'm real glad we met you, too," said Sophie, peaking out from behind my back.
Shock was written clear as day on my face. Girl almost never spoke to adults, to anyone really. I twisted around to smile at her and she looked up at me giving me a serious nod.
We both looked at Daryl then who frowned back at us before looking back to the woods.
"You ladies got all your shit? We best be getting back. Don't much like the implications'a that gun shot. What ever they are, don't bode well for our group."
I nodded, checked that my knife was in my pocket and against all odds Sophia still had her doll.
I nodded to Daryl and we headed back.
He shot squirls as we went. Sophia seemed to have trouble baring witness to the demise of the small fury cuteness but all I saw was dinner. Lord knows we hadn't had a proper meal since the CDC.
After an hour of walking Daryl stopped dead.
I leaned against a tree. I couldn't believe how far away from the highway we had run without realizing it. My thoughts drifted to the first time Daryl and I had spoken and he had told me I needed to feed myself as well as Sophie or I would be too weak to take care of her. Per usual he was right. As I battled another dizzy spell I vowed from then on to eat my fair share.
"What do you see?" I asked seeing the wheels turning in his brain and realizing he stopped to look at tracks not take a break. He would never show that kind of weakness.
He would never be that weak.
"You tell me," he said, surprising me.
I pushed off the tree and stood beside him.
"Deer tracks," lowering myself to my haunches and touched the small divot in the ground. "They're fresh!"
I looked up at Daryl excited at thought of eating something fresh that wasn't squirrel.
Daryl nodded, his eyes flicking to Sophie quickly.
"The other's will be worried, not sure if we should take any longer to get back, especially not knowing what that gunshot was about."
Translation. I'm not sure it's a good idea with the kid. She's a liability, can't focus on hunting and protecting at the same time. Besides she'll slow us down so much it might be a wasted effort anyway.
"The other's will forgive us when we bring back food enough to fill all their bellies and then some. Besides what ever the situation surrounding the shot, there was only one and it was near an hour ago. Can't imagine our arrival could have much effect on it now."
He nodded, but as he passed me to follow the tracks he whispered, "she's your responsibility then."
I snorted.
Like I needed reminding.
I walked beside Daryl, Sophia's hand in mine as he pointed out what different things meant in a soft undertone.
He guessed at the weight of the dear, told me how to tell if it was walking or running.
Before long he held up his hand and I knew to stand motionless. He lifted his crossbow, took in a breath, held it. With one eye closed he trailed the doe through his scope and pulled the trigger.
The deer staggered and Daryl sprinted forward knife drawn to end it.
I covered Sophia's eyes but never took my own away. I would learn everything I could from Daryl. He was a survivor.
Sophia was drawing in the dirt with a stick, careful to avoid looking at Daryl as he field dressed the creature.
I could tell he wanted to move as quickly as possible so I didn't ask him to teach me but I watched over his shoulder so I would at least have a general idea.
Somehow noticing me standing over him without turning around he started describing what he was doing and why without slowing the quick, efficient stokes of his hand.
As he spoke I heard something and looked up to see a geek coming toward us. I ran up and put me knife through its eye. Strutting back over to Daryl I said, "look who's not paying attention to their surroundings now."
Without looking up or pausing in his work he said, "good girl, you're learning to be more aware of your surroundings, but you missed one."
"What, where?"
I spun around and saw it, a second geek coming from the opposite direction. I growled and ran off to take care of it.
Geek gore all over my hand and knife I realized why Daryl always had a rag in his back pocket. I did a few 360s making sure I checked every direction as I headed back.
"How'd you know," I asked.
He snorted, his back still to me and I could practically feel him rolling his eyes. He was always just one step ahead.
I knelt on the ground wiping the gore off my hand.
I wonder if anyone else in the group knows how good he really is? How sharp? Does he keeps them in the dark on purpose or because he doesn't realize it himself?
I was filthy, starving and dead tired when we finally made it back to the highway. At first I thought we had come back to the wrong spot, but Daryl had made me follow our tracks back, like some kind of post apocalypse class assignment. If I'd gone off the trail he would have said something.
Daryl dropped his load and walked over to a car with supplies on the hood. On the windshield in white paint it read,
"Sophia
Carol
Daryl
Stay here
We will come every day"
"They left us," said Sophie, in a small voice.
I reached out my arms and she came to me. I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around my torso.
"No baby, something must have happened," I said squeezing her around the middle. "They'll be back for us tomorrow, you'll see."
"Might be better if they don't," said Daryl.
I glared at him over my shoulder and he huffed stalking off toward the woods. I grabbed two bottles of water and handed one to Sophie, eyeing her to make sure she drank it before chugging mine.
I used some of my water to wash off my hands before looking through the non perishables they left us on the hood. I opened a can of pickles and took a bite into one. Not a smart choice since the pickles would dehydrate me, but I always liked pickles.
I offered the open jar to Sophie and she looks at me.
"Daddy gets mad when we eat out of the jar," she said in a small voice.
"Daddy ain't here," I said with a wink, fighting the urge to check over my shoulder for him like he was the bogey man.
She gives me a small smile and plucks one out of the jar. As she takes a bite I lean over so we're face to face and whisper, "guess what?"
She looks at me.
"We get a whole day without Pa," I said with a smile. She smiled up at me and took a second pickle with her other hand. I laughed as she chomped down on the pickle in her right hand, chewed and then took an enthusiastic bite from the pickle in her left hand.
The smell of smoke attracted my attention then so I stuffed the food, blankets, flashlight, bottles of water and Gatorade into the satchel they left, grabbed Sophia's hand and followed the smell.
"We best stay off the highway," said Daryl as we approached.
"When we're done cookin' this here venison we should move to another spot incase the smell attacks anyone, geeks or otherwise," he said in a pointed way that reminded me of the massacre at the old folk's home in Atlanta. Geeks weren't the only thing out there to worry about.
Next a low burning fire on the other side of the highway from where Daryl had roasted up a squirrel and venison all-you-can-eat buffet, I leaned against a tree. Sophia had fallen asleep, her head in my lap. I absently stroked her hair as I stared into the flames.
Daryl had scavenged through the cars on the highway for something air tight to wrap our left overs in.
After doing his best to make sure no geeks or wild animals would smell the meat he went off in the woods to hang it from a high branch a safe distance from our camp.
"Hate to survive all them geeks just to get eaten by a black bear," he joked before disappearing. At least I thought he was joking.
I listened hard to all the sounds around me but I was still surprised when he appeared in the soft glow of our fire.
God he was quite, how'd he do that?
He nodded to me before plopping down on the opposite side of the fire.
"Get some sleep I'll take first watch," he said softly.
I stared into the fire, for a while, before I responded.
"What did you mean before, when you said it might be better if they others don't come back for us?" I mustered all my courage and looked him straight in the eye.
He sized me up, like he was trying to read my thoughts.
Chewing on his nail, he moved his glance back to the safety of the fire.
"Smaller group is more maneuverable. Quicker, less conspicuous, less mouths to feed."
"What about strength in numbers?" I asked.
"I got the number of everyone in that group and trust me, them numbers don't add up," he said shaking his head. "Skeletor ain't got no kind'a use in THIS world. Carl's just another mouth to feed. Andrea's bat shit crazy over her dead sister. Glen is good at supply runs but ain't no one in the whole group as quiet as the three of us, so it's not like he's adding a skill we don't have. T-Dog has mediocre aim with no other discernible skills of use. Dale is old as fuck but can fix up old ass RVs - which is only useful because HIS old ass RV keeps breaking down. Shane has is a great shot and the kind of cut throat kind of thinking that you need to survive now, but he his only looking out for himself, Lori, and Carl. He would hang any one of us out to dry as long as he could keep them safe. Did he risk himself to go on that supply run to Atlanta? No. Did he care about protecting anyone but Lori and Carl the night the camp got attacked at the quarry? No. Did he go after Sophia when she got chased by geeks into the woods? No. What good is a good shot to us if he ain't got our backs."
I was stunned. I had never heard Daryl say so much at one time. And, he had said no one in the group was as quiet as the three of us.
"Us." He thought Sophia and I could be useful.
"What about Rick?" I asked.
Daryl looked up at me from the fire.
"Rick? Decent shot. Can't track or hunt for shit and makes a hell of a wracked stomping through the woods, but he went back for my brother even though Merle weren't shit to him. Went after Sophia too. He's a good man, who'd have our backs, but his decency could be just as much a liability as an asset. That hero shit COULD have gotten you killed back when the world was pretending to be civilized, now it's a guaranteed death sentence.
"What ever Rick, Glenn, or Dale might bring to the table, it don't out weigh liability the other's present."
I laughed gently.
"Something funny?" he spat.
"That's a fine bit of logical reasoning Daryl. Very pragmatic."
"But..." he said cocking an eyebrow.
"Follow the same line of thought and the burden that Sophie and I represent far out weighs anything we could bring to the table, and by my calculation, that ain't much."
"Why you always got to be so dumb," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"You're quite, you listen and you're a fast learner. I could make a hunter out of you," he said sizing me up again. "Sophia brings nothing to the table but she ain't so much a burden. Ain't more then 60 lbs., that girl, sopping wet. Small mouth to feed as far as it goes and she keeps out of my way. Less annoying then most kids.
"And lets not forget your most valuable asset..."
What's between my legs?
"No one can keep awake all the time," he said. "If I keep you around then I have someone to keep watch so I can get some shut eye."
I looked at him.
"Aren't you always saying I'm woefully unaware of my surroundings?" I asked, half joking, half dead serious.
"No less aware then most of the others, and your getting better."
He was serious. He would take on the burden of Sophia and I and consider it a deal well struck for losing the others.
"Well, in that case, why don't you let me take first watch," I said. "I slept all through last night and I imagine you haven't slept in a solid 24 hours."
"Don't have to ask me twice," he said sinking to the ground.
Laying with his hands tucked behind his head, looking up at the canopy of branches he said in a quite voice, "is Sophia asleep?"
I nodded my head.
He looked up when he didn't hear an answer.
Idiot.
"Yes," I whispered.
"How much does she know... about what he does to you?"
I was quiet for a long time. Angry. I wanted to tell him to shut the hell up. Tell him it was none of his business. I wanted to cry and run away, ashamed. I wanted to vomit at the thought of him knowing wha'd bin done to me. In the end I gave into to the hopeless irrefutability that I owed him my life several times over. It was his to do with what he pleased, I didn't see I had the right to refuse him anything.
"As little as possible," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "I would love nothing more then for her to go her whole life without ever knowing."
He was quiet for a long time and I thought maybe he had fallen asleep but then his voice rose out of the darkness once again.
"I know you're all about strength in numbers, so maybe you put a different value on things then I do..."
He chewed on his lip for a second, like he was trying to decide if he was really gonna say what he was about to say.
"But, I think if you factored in that cutting our losses and heading out on our own would mean you'd never see your Pa again, and neither would she... I could be wrong, but I think that might make your calculations and mine add up to the same conclusion."
I didn't have a response to that, but and he didn't speak again for the rest of my watch. His words echoed around in my head, though, and if nothing else, they insured that I was in no risk of dosing off during my shift.