Chapter Nine

A brief thought passed through my mind that I had run into Laurent and the others. My heart stopped for a moment, in sheer panic, before I realised that I did not recognise the distinguishable accent of whoever stood behind me. It then dawned on me, that evidently, judging by their severely rude and demanding question, they didn't know who I was either.

I debated whether or not to remain silent; it would do no good if I got myself into any trouble now while Sophia needed me. The immediate thought of Sophia got me panicking, what if there were more people around? She could be in danger! I scanned my immediate area, trying to work out a plausible escape back up the hill, when the footsteps walked around me and a man came into view, blocking my progressive plans for an escape route.

He was a man, though I had already gathered that by his rough, deep tone. I would have aged him in his 30s, maybe late. His skin was tanned, though I wasn't sure whether it was a natural tan or if it was something to do with the mixture of dirt layers that hung off him. His clothes were nothing out of the ordinary; shirt and pants, and I could tell he hadn't a scrawny body underneath them either. Thick muscles tightened the sleeves of his arms and though he may not have had an athletics' body, he was definitely in good shape. He had short dark blonde, possibly light brown, hair that was scruffy and misshaped, dishevelled in all directions.

Despite my trepid and curious study of the man in front of me, I did not fail to notice that his expression was turned down in a scowl that creased his face and made it seem like a permanent expression for him. I also didn't fail to notice the heavy, menacing looking crossbow in his hands - that he was pointing directly at my head.

"You deaf or summit?" The man, the person who had undoubtedly saved my life only seconds previous, demanded with practically a snarl. I was a little taken back by his tone, but kept my face expressionless. I had learnt that showing my fear would not be progressive in these kinds of situations. "What is ya name?" He drew each word out slowly, each with more force. Finally, I licked my lips and decided that silence was probably not the way forward anymore.

"Ruby." I replied, stiffly. "Any reason you're pointing that thing at me?" He ignored my question.

"You bit?" His eyes scrutinised me, his gaze hard and like stone. I shook my head numbly. "Scratched?" Another shake of the head. His eyes narrowed slightly for a moment before he lowered his crossbow, his gaze never wavering. "The fuck ya doin' out in the woods alone?"

"You sure like to cuss, don't you?" I muttered, earning myself a glare. He studied me for a moment before turning on his heel and walking away. What? I was confused for a moment, wondering what he was doing. I watched as he crouched down by one of the walkers before pulling out a very large looking knife.

He had his back to me so I didn't actually know what he was doing. I remained still for a moment, before my brain restarted again and I fussed about, scanning the area for more walkers. Nothing staggered out of the bushes towards me and nothing was lurking behind any trees, so I sighed with relief. I ran a hand through my hair and briefly relaxed at the thought of being alive; that was a close one. Sophia's face popped into my head and my heart sank with disappointment. I would have to explain to her why I would not be returning with the doll.

Before I could turn and make my way up the hill back to Sophia, the sound of a grunt caught my attention and I glanced over at the strange man to see him holding something up above his head, still crouched down by the walker. I couldn't see what it was, but quickly walked over to pick up my discarded weapons from across the creek. Now feeling armed and slightly safer, I turned to the man.

"Thank you." I said, loud enough for him to hear. He glanced up on briefly before returning back to whatever he was doing. "For saving me."

"Whatever." He muttered. Wow, he sure was a talker.

He was a survivor though and that was all that matters. He was another living, breathing human who wasn't trying to eat me and I couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought. Perhaps there was some hope?

"What's your name?" I pushed. The man stood, ignoring me for a moment before walking over to the other dead body.

"Don't think we should get too familiar." He said, more to himself than me.

"You know my name, I think it's only right that I know yours." I reasoned. He glared over his shoulder at me. There was a long moment of silence before the man stood, having finished whatever he was doing, and took three steps towards me. I couldn't help but nervously step back at his approach, only making him frown harder.

"Got any string?" He asked, expression blank. I frowned before rummaging through the pockets I had, not even bothering to question why he wanted it. I was surprised to find a small bundle in the bottom of my trouser pocket, though the curiosity as to why the man wanted it still concerned me more in that moment. After handing him it, I got my answer.

"Are those ears?!" I cried, staring in horror at what was in his hands. Sure enough, in the palms of his blood caked hands were two pairs of rotted ears. "You took them from them?"

"Shout any louder 'nd I'll be addin' more ears to my collection." He muttered, threading each ear onto the piece of string before hanging it around his neck. I was suddenly beginning to feel very sick and the nerves were back. Perhaps I should be more hesitant of this man?

He pulled the arrow bolt out of the walker's skull before replacing it back onto his crossbow. His moves were steady, strong, vigilant. I remained still and silent, unsure of what to do, my eyes glancing towards the hill and my thoughts of making a run for it. Though the fear of getting an arrow in my back, stopped me. Finally though the man turned back to me, eyes judging me for a second.

"Ya got a place to be?" He asked, eyebrows raised. I swallowed hard, remembering Sophia though unsure if I should tell him I did incase he wanted to come with me. I didn't want to risk taking this man anywhere near Sophia, especially not with a string of ears around his neck.

"I-" My answer was held short though when I caught sight of something familiar on the man's belt.

Eliza. Sophia's doll.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, breathless, pointing to the doll to direct him. The man glanced down at the doll before his expression suddenly turned sour and dark.

"Found it." He hissed. I shook my head once, not quite believing what I was seeing.

"It's mine." I told him, forcefully, ignoring the sudden heavy glare that was directed at me. I saw his grip tighten on his crossbow, but I ignored that too. My only focus was on Sophia's doll.

"No it ain't." He muttered.

"Give it back." I tried to be firm and took a step towards the man, though was met with a crossbow in my face again. I sighed, though suddenly something struck me as vaguely familiar about the man. As I considered it though, I realised that it was perhaps not familiar, but alarm bells were definitely ringing. I glanced over him again, trying to work out what was standing out for me.

"Mr Dixon rides a motorbike and hunts food for us. He brings back squirrels to eat and showed my momma how to skin and cook one. He also has a really big, scary crossbow which he uses to kill walkers and squirrels with."

I froze, taken back by the sudden realisation and memory of my conversation with Sophia. "A really big, scary crossbow" - surely this wasn't a coincidence? I didn't even notice the single squirrel he had hung over his shoulder on a thin bit of rope, during our previous exchange. Definitely not a coincidence.

"He scares me sometimes."

I licked my lips and decided to take another chance.

"Are you Mr Dixon?" I asked, my voice suddenly losing all strength. As soon as the words left my lips, the man's face dropped and his expression fell to what only could be described as shock. His eyes held mine and his arms nearly fell limp with the weight of the crossbow. I held my breath and waited patiently for my answer. Suddenly, the man's glare was back and with full force.

"How do ya know my name?" He hissed through gritted teeth. I physically couldn't contain a smile as soon as he spoke, which only seemed to make him glare more.

We'd done it! We'd found them!

"I think I have something of yours." I stated, grinning from ear to ear. He looked confused and I couldn't bring myself to speak, too overwhelmed. Instead, I pointed to the doll hanging off his belt. He glared down at it before it suddenly dawned on him and all anger fell from his expression, only to be replaced by realisation. He lowered his crossbow again, his face for the first time soft and without any frown lines. He was actually quite handsome beneath the scowling, I noticed vaguely.

"Sophia?"

The elderly lady, Bo, vanished about two weeks after I found out about Jessica and her antics. I rarely spoke to the woman, but she would always greet me with a smile and seemed to have that happy ease about her. I wondered from time to time how she had managed so far with all her niceness, I couldn't imagine her killing any of the rotting creatures that hunted to eat us. She seemed in bliss about everything, even as all the hardships in camp were going on around her. Sometimes I'd see a sad expression linger on the woman's face but it was gone before I could truly fathom it, replaced by a firm smile. She was always cheerful around me and more than happy enough to talk whenever I was in her presence. She definitely provided a margin of comfort that was very much limited in the world now.

It was when I went to join her for cooking duty one day that something happened. I wandered over to the usual spot, surprisingly content with the day, but always on edge - ready. I turned up though to find Bo no where to be seen, Michonne in her place with a glazed expression that made me stop in confusion and nervousness.

"Where's Bo?" I asked the woman.

"Gone." Was my answer.

We cooked in silence for the next hour or so, an uncomfortable atmosphere that left me with a frown as I worked. My thoughts were rapid and questions just buzzed in my head, though I saved myself from asking anything. Too afraid, almost, to say something. It after the men had collected their dinner, chatting ignorantly and happily about their days before swaggering away to eat, that Michonne turned to me with an expression I had grown used to, but could never place.

"Bo tried to escape this morning." She told me, her voice strained. I raised an eyebrow in question. "They caught her before she'd even made it out the front gates."

"What happened to her?" I breathed, not sure if I liked where this was going.

"They brought her back." Michonne continued, ducking her eyes briefly. "They punished her for what she'd done. I'm not sure exactly what they did to her, but they called me over afterwards to tend to her wounds. She had lashes on her back and looked pretty beaten. I would hazard a guess and say they raped her too." I swallowed the lump in my throat down hard, my hands shaking. "She didn't say a whole lot to me while I tried to clean her up, but I don't think she was really strong enough to think about anything right then. Though she did say one thing to me, or one thing that I could make out."

"What did she say?" I asked, hesitantly. Michonne smiled bitterly.

"Get out of here." She told me before shrugging. "The boss came back soon after and I had to watch as he punished her some more. She died after a minute of enduring it all but the boss just kept going."

There was a record ten seconds before the man - Mr Dixon - turned his expression down again and struck me with a glare, this time it didn't hold its previous darkness.

"What you talkin' 'bout, girlie?" He demanded, an attempt to be firm no doubt. Again though, his anger didn't appear to be holding up as strong as before. I continued smiling at him and held out my hand, surprising him, in a polite gesture.

"Sophia's told me so much about you guys." I told him, warmly. He stared down at my outstretched hand and knocked it away with the butt of his crossbow. I didn't take it to heart though, surprisingly too happy to take offence.

"Ya know where she is?" Mr Dixon asked. I nodded immediately.

"I'll take you to her." I said, grinning. "She's going to be so happy!" I could practically see her beaming face when I would return to her, Mr Dixon in tow. It gave me a bounce in my step that reminded me of the girl in question.

"How did ya-" He paused. "Where did ya- I don't-" Mr Dixon stuttered, his face frowning, though his whole demeanour just seemed to relax. Thankfully. "Carol's gonna be- Jesus!" He ran a hand over his face and through his hair and I waited for him to gather himself.

"Is Carol her mother?" I asked, politely. "Only Sophia's only ever called her 'Momma'." Mr Dixon nodded dumbly, his eyes trained on the higher level of ground behind me. "She's not up there," I explained. "She's safe, don't worry." I added after he set his hard eyes on mine. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to her. I don't want to leave her alone too long." Mr Dixon studied me for a few scrutinising moments before nodding and sending me a half-hearted glare.

"If you're lyin', I won't hesitate in puttin' an arrow in ya ass 'nd throwin' ya to some hungry geeks." I wrinkled my nose in dissatisfaction.

"Aren't you the charmer." I muttered.

"The fuck I need charm for? Show me where she is 'nd don't try nothin' funny." I rolled my eyes, turning and making my way over to the steep hill, preparing to climb back up. My smile still remained and I glanced over my shoulder to see Mr Dixon following closely, his eyes suspicious and his crossbow lowered but ready.

He's allowed to be cautious, I reasoned to myself.

After a pause, we started climbing.

Mr Dixon was a considerable amount faster than me, and reached the top definitely quicker than Sophia had done earlier that day. I followed soon after and wasn't even surprised when he didn't offer me a hand up. He just stood, leaning against a tree, waiting. His eyes remained focused on me as I hauled myself up and he gestured with his crossbow for me to go when I was on my feet again. I nodded once and set off in the direction towards Sophia, Mr Dixon trailing behind me.

His footfalls were deathly quiet and it was almost like I was walking through the forest alone. I would glance behind me every so often just to make sure he was there, just incase he had vanished. He was always there though, his eyes trailing through the tree line looking for something. Whether it was Sophia or walkers, I was not sure, but his scouting looked a lot more skilled than my own amateur attempt.

"Are you a hunter?" I asked, breaking the silence. There was a moment's pause before he answered.

"Yes." He replied, stiffly. I nodded in thought, eyes looking out for that familiar glimpse of Toby that would tell me we were there.

"I can tell." I told him, glancing over my shoulder at him to smile. He met my gaze and merely raised an eyebrow before going back to his stealthy look out. "Do you have a first name, Mr Dixon? Or are we not allowed to get too familiar anymore?" Another pause.

"Daryl." He said, steadily. "Ya gonna tell me what the fuck's goin' on?" I sighed.

"First, you're going to stop swearing. I don't think it's a particularly good environment for a twelve year old to hear 'fuck' this and 'fuck' that every five seconds." I told him. I heard a snort.

"The world's gone to shit, the dead are tryin' to kill us 'nd you're bothered about a few cusses?" Daryl muttered. "I take it ya were some prissy ass lawyer or summit before all this? Not a hair out of place 'nd all that bullshit?" I rolled my eyes and forced back a sigh.

"No, I wasn't." I told him, ignoring the fact the word lawyer reminded me of Michonne. I slowed my steps so I was inline with the hunter. He glanced sideways with me with a glare, but I ignored it. "I found Sophia a few weeks back, being chased by a walker, and scared senseless."

"Wait- walkers?" Daryl butted in, the scowl subsiding slightly.

"Sophia's been calling them that and I picked it up." I explained briefly. "I helped her, took her somewhere safe. She told me about your incident at the highway and we were going to double back there the day after I found her. Only we were-" I paused, frowning. "We couldn't." I glanced at Daryl.

"Ya couldn't?" He asked, suspiciously.

"We lodged in a run down house for the night, when we were about to set out back to the highway, I looked outside and saw at least two or so dozen walkers. They must have come from your direction on the highway, judging by the size of them and from what Sophia has described about that day."

"This 'run down house'," Daryl began, his expression thoughtful. "I think I found it when I was out looking for 'er." He was glaring again, but it wasn't directed at me. "If I was only a few days sooner I could have got to 'er quicker."

"We left the next day." I told him. "It would have been highly unlikely that you would have gotten to the house in time anyway. We set off back to the highway, but you were gone by the time we got there. We saw your sign." His head turned quickly towards me at that.

"The fuck ya didn't wait there for us then?" He demanded, that familiar scowl back. Did this man know how to smile?

"We couldn't." I forced, hoping he wouldn't want me to elaborate on that. After a thoughtful pause, Daryl's face softened slightly at that and he nodded once, looking away and waiting for me to continue. "We spent the night in a tree then set off to a church, where we'd thought you'd be lodging. We must have got there too late. We found three dead walkers and we took a wild guess that you had been there?" Daryl nodded numbly again. I sighed. "The creek was the next heading." I gestured vaguely back in the direction we had come from. "It's taken us at least two weeks to get here, apparently my map skills aren't the best. We got here only this morning and found you weren't there so we moved on. I only came back because Sophia had lost her doll." I glanced down at Eliza on Daryl's belt and smiled slightly.

"Good thing ya did." He muttered. I nodded in agreement, despite him not looking in my direction. "There just you?" I raised an eyebrow in question when he glanced to me. "Ya part of another group or summit?" I swallowed hard before replying.

"Just me." I confirmed. "And Toby." Daryl's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Toby?"

As if on cue, I saw the familiar head of the German Shepherd peeking out from between the bushes and I grinned. Toby took sight of me and bounded towards me with a sprint. I patted his head upon greeting, forgetting about the man beside me and more happier than I had been for a long time.

I'd done it. We'd done it. After weeks of searching and almost reaching the point of despair, we'd found Sophia's family - albeit only one of them, but it was evident that the others were nearby somewhere. God, I couldn't wait to see her happy grin.

"That's Toby?" Daryl's voice questioned. I glanced up to see his crossbow trained on the dog in question and I glared at him, shoving the blunt of the weapon away forcefully in such a way it shocked the hunter. Once he'd come back around though, he glared back. "I ain't interested in ya mutt, where is she?"

I got to my feet and turned to the tree that Toby had been protecting and glanced up at the thick of the leaves, trying to catch a glimpse of her. I couldn't see her and wondered if she could see us. After taking a few steps towards it, I called out;

"Sophia?" No answer. "Darling, it's me. It's safe to come down now."

"Ruby?" A timid, shaky voice called. I smiled slightly and glanced over my shoulder at Daryl. He was stood stock still, statue like, with his eyes trained solely on the tree.

"Yes, it's me. Come down and see what I've found." My answer had left her with curiosity I knew. It was only a matter of time before I heard the sound of her climbing down and I waited for her to come into sight.

When she did, she had her back to us, focusing on climbing down the tree safely. When she finally jumped down, she turned to face me with a hesitant expression. A smile broke out upon sight of me, though then her gaze drifted to the figure behind me and I watched as she began to recognise who it was. Her smile dropped and her eyes went wide. Glancing back, Daryl's expression was much the same.

"Sophia?" Daryl was the first to break the silence, his voice broken and confused.

It was enough for Sophia and it was almost as if hearing her name had kick-started her. In just a single second, the twelve year old had propelled herself forward, running full-pelt in the hunter's direction before flinging her arms around him and hugging his stiff, stone-like body. Daryl didn't react or hug her back, merely stared down at her as she cried into his shirt, with an expression of confusion and relief.

(Author's Note): Hello all! Apologises for the longer update this time, but like I said; I've been a bit busy! I took some time out of my busy schedule to write this chapter though, so I hope you all like it!

I'm not sure if Daryl is truly in character in this chapter and if he isn't please tell me. If he's too nice, then I'll put that down to the fact he's found Sophia. I hardly think he'll act all grumpy if he did find her in the show. If he is too nice, tell me and I'll make sure in the next chapters he's back to his angry, stubborn self! I was a little hesitant about Sophia and Daryl's reunion, as they never interact in the show so there wasn't much to go off. I improvised and I'd like to think she would have hugged him if he had found her (*sobs that he didn't!*).

And I was planning to put more of the old camp's interjection, but I felt that this chapter definitely needed to be focused more on Daryl, Ruby and Sophia. I'd love to know what you did think about the tiny part though with Michonne and the old camp.

Please tell me what you think about this chapter as it's the one I'm most hesitant about so far. Thank you all for being patient and reviewing the last chapter. You're all awesome!