Holy SHIT, you guys! 100+ reviews?! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this story would come so far and get as much love as you all have given it. Thanks for proving me wrong. It means more than you could imagine.
Also, if you haven't noticed already, I'm tying in actual dialogue from the show. Thought it would give you a taste of both worlds. This chapter doesn't have much between Molly and Daryl, but I thought it would be nice to capture the other characters for a change. Hope you're enjoying it!
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First thing the next mornin', I found myself (along with almost the entire group) deep into the woods. We were all scouting the area in search of Sophia, picking up where we had left off the day before.
Dale, T-Dog, and Molly opted to stay behind to search the abandoned vehicles for supplies such as food, clothing, and medicine. Plus, Dale had quite a bit of work to do on the Winnebago to get it runnin' like it should again.
I had my crossbow pointed straight ahead at the ground below and a large hunting knife tucked into the waistband of my jeans. "Sophia?!" I called out, careful not to be too loud.
No response. Only the crunch of the brown,red, and yellow leaves beneath our feet. I wasn't sure exactly what day it was, but the dull colors of the trees made it obvious that it was close to Fall. That meant cooler nights, especially out here in the woods. And that meant we needed to find Sophia soon. Can't stand the idea of that little girl out here, alone and cold in the woods. I been there, done that. Ain't no fun at all.
.::.
Not long after, we came upon a tent set up not far from where we had left off the day before. We crouched down, keeping our distance to get a better look before we decided to move any closer.
"You think anything's in there?" Rick whispered from behind my shoulder.
"There could be a whole buncha things in there." I replied before standing up and slowly making my way forward. Rick and Shane followed closely behind but motioned for the others to stay put until the coast was clear.
Turns out, it was. I peeked my head inside to find the decaying corpse of a man sitting in a chair. The smell was enough to wilt a flower. I ain't got a weak stomach or nothin', but there ain't nothin' as foul as the stench of a dead body. Nothin'.
I heard Shane and Rick coughing closely behind me and Carol calling out my name as I pulled a gun from the tight grip of the corpse's hand. "Ain't her." I said, sliding out of the tent.
Carol looked incredibly depressed but tried her best to fight the tears.
"What's in there?" Asked Andrea, a tall thin blonde who was known for havin' a worse temper than myself.
"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out." I replied, slightly out of breath as I slung my crossbow over my shoulder. Before I could say another word, we heard the faint ringing of a bell and didn't waste a single moment running towards it.
.::.
Took us probably three minutes to reach a nearby church with an attached graveyard. "That can't be it." Shane furrowed his brow. "Ain't got no steeple, no bells..."
The rest of us pressed on anyway. We ran as quietly as possible to the front of the church, past a white sign out front that read Southern Baptist Church. When we entered, we were immediately greeted by three gruesome walkers scattered among the pews. It was definitely a creepy sight to behold. Kinda made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Rick didn't waste a minute before he started slinging a machete into one of their heads. The body slumped to the floor and Rick continued to hack away as if he were carvin' a Thanksgivin' turkey. Shane did the same, and so did I until it was just us left. "Sophia!" I called out as the rest of the group frantically searched around.I came upon a large statue of Jesus on the cross. "Yo, J.C, ya takin' requests?"
Once again, we heard the bell ring. We hightailed it outta there all the way to the side of the building where Glenn immediately checked a switch.
Shit. "A timer. It's on a fuckin' timer." I tried to catch my breath.
A look of sheer disappointment settled on every single face around. All this way fer nothin'.
"I think I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol stifled a cry as she disappeared back into the church.
.::.
We were making our way back to the highway after a long day's search. Rick, Carl, and Shane had offered to stay behind and continue the search until there wasn't no light left to see with. Lori wasn't too thrilled about that, especially since we heard the blast of a single gunshot coming from their direction about ten minutes before.
We trekked through the brush, fightin' through spiderwebs and mud, for close to an hour. We weren't too far from the highway when all of a sudden we heard a high-pitched scream.
I turned my head to find Andrea fightin' off a walker. She had drifted so far off that we had to run like hell to catch up to her. She tripped over a fallen branch and fell flat on her face and the walker grabbed tight hold of her legs, ready to sink his teeth in and rip her to shreds. I thought she was a goner.
All of a sudden, a dark haired girl on a horse appeared out of nowhere, swinging a machete and decapitating the unfortunate walker right on the spot, saving Andrea's life.
We all stood there, still as a picture, tryin' to process what had just happened when the mystery girl spoke up. "Lori? Lori Grimes?!" She called out in a panic.
Lori ran ahead, just as nervous. "I'm Lori."
"Rick sent me, you gotta come now."
"What?" Lori furrowed her brow in confusion.
"There's been an accident, Carl's been shot. He's still alive, but you gotta come now. Rick needs you. Just come!" She shouted sternly.
Lori looked confused and horrified all at once, but she didn't hesitate to run and jump up on the horse.
"Woah, woah, woah!" I spoke up, taking a large step forward. "We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse!" Lori brushed me off and went ahead anyway.
"Rick said you had others on the highway?" Mystery girl asked, looking down at Glenn. "That big traffic snarl? Backtrack to Ferabin Road, two miles down you'll see our farm. Name's Greene. Hiyah!" She slapped the reins of her steed.
And just like that, they were gone. Leavin' the rest of us to twiddle our thumbs and try and figure out what the hell had just happened.