Chapter Thirty-Eight

(Fin's POV)

Voices filter to me, muffled indistinct through the bedroom door in the other room.

Daryl didn't wait long after they'd returned to call a 'council meeting'; even short several key members.

This is how they work things out, and with Carol back things need to be brought up; cleared…they've been in there for almost two hours if I had to guess based on the amount of this book I've covered by lantern light since they left.

Glenn's right; it's terrible….but it's a welcome distraction from the talk going on next door.

They've obviously been talking about more than just the Lizzie issue; the fact that the voices haven't raised at all in the last hour leads me to believe they may not have even reached that part yet, don't want me to overhear what's being said…

Which means they're probably talking about me; or the farm…or both.

Carol is a council member; or was before her brief hiatus from the group.

I don't know how much Daryl told her earlier today in town; but she obviously had more questions then he'd answered, she kept glancing at me all day, expression carefully neutral while I pretended not to notice.

Glenn wanted me in on the meeting when Daryl brought it up; Sasha had nodded along with him. My stomach twisted into knots. Daryl wouldn't look at me when Glenn mentioned it; wouldn't look at Carol either. Still not sure how to deal with us both in the same room…

His classification of her as a 'friend' feels more and more muddled by the hour…I'm not sure what to do with that situation.

Everyone else seems to be trying there damnit'est to ignoring it.

Glenn the most obvious in the group, though Daryl's not far behind him; you'd think they both had shoe fetishes the way their eyes dive down whenever Carol and I are anywhere near each other.

I can only hope whatever they're airing out in there lessens the tension so thick you could almost reach out and touch it earlier today.

It wasn't the only reason I declined to join their meeting tonight: but it was the largest factor…I wanted a little space to myself; away from all of them to breathe a bit.

Glenn pulled a face when I declined, eyes darting to Carol before hitting his boots again. It's obvious he's desperate for everyone to just get along, poor guy.

I told him they should at least wait 'til we get back home, before extending such an invitation; let them put it to a proper vote with Rick and Michonne and Maggie present.

Plus someone needed to stay on watch while they chatted it up in there.

A deep baritone raises in the other room; far louder than before. My fingers pause flipping a page to listen.

Sounds like they've finally gotten down to what I'm sure was Daryl's main focus for calling the meeting tonight; not talking about me.

He's made it abundantly clear he's not letting Carol cover for what Lizzie did at the Prison. He wants to let everyone know the truth; putting all the cards on the table; clearing Carol's name…

I can't help but wonder if he's doing it for himself or for her.

Tyreese might have come to blows as Daryl put it when he and Rick first found out; but I couldn't see Tyreese doing the same to Lizzie; warped or not she was still a little girl…

I look up at the muffled soft sound coming from the other side of the house.

I know something is wrong the second I see her pale face coming down the hallway.

I'm on my feet instantly; the partially muffled voices of the meeting still taking place without me in the other room melt away.

This would be when she'd do something…

She had to know with Carol back it would come out…

"Help me, please! You have to stop her!" Mikka's voice is lowered, but urgent. Her hands are on my arm pulling me toward the dark hallway tear tracks glimmer on her cheeks when we pass the through the moonlight filtering through the window.

Dread crawls, twists through my insides; claws its way up my throat burning like acid. My feet start moving on auto-pilot; brain still flying through the possibilities; flipping through the horrors I've seen before.

"Mikka, what happened?"

Oh God…what if I open that door and they're both dead…my pulse speeds up, pounds through my ears.

"Lizzie, she took Patrick into the woods, she said not to tell anyone,"

Oh God. It can't be true…all this time watching her…worrying she'd do something to me and they left her in a room with a bunch of other kids…

…the fucking window is wide open.

With walkers outside we never considered the possibility that she'd bolt from us.

Revulsion twists my stomach, I take a deep breath; fight the urge to be sick.

"Did she say where she's going?"

Fuck it all; if I have to track her alone in the dark…

"Please! She said not to tell, but I have too; she's going to do something again and then Carol will leave us!"

Carol is the least of our worries right now. Fuck.

"Is she armed Mikka?" I need to know what I'm running into.

"She made me get her a knife yesterday. Please don't be mad at me…"

Right under our fucking noses, shit!

I'm already moving back down the hallway at a run Mikka right behind me. I sprint to the kitchen, pull open the backdoor quickly scanning the yard in the moonlight, nothing; not that I expected them to be there.

I jump back inside grabbing my gear off the table; screaming his name.

I notice Mikka is grabbing a handgun off the counter behind me.

"No Mikka!"

Her reply is lost in the loud bang of the bedroom door slamming into the wall in the front room a second before Daryl rolls around the corner; takes in my expression and grabs his bow off the table without question.

A second later Glenn, Carol, Tyreese and Sasha round the corner looking shaken; though whether that's from the content of the meeting I just interrupted, or the fear brought on by not knowing why I've called them out; why I'm grabbing my weapons—what can only be sheer panic on my face; I'm not sure.

"Walkers?" Glenn is grabbing a gun too.

If only

"Lizzie took Patrick into the woods!"

Carol's hand flies to her open mouth.

If I had any doubts left about Lizzie; they're gone now.

Tyreese curses behind her.

"Mikka stay here!" Carol is grabbing a gun, they all are.

"No! Don't leave me!"

I don't wait for them to get ready; already moving out the door.

"Don't you Dare go out there!" Daryl's right on my heels as I blow through the back door calling back to him over my shoulder. "Who else can fucking track in the dark?!"

This will take both of us, and there's still very little chance we'll find them in time…

He's cursing, vaulting over the railing of the porch right behind me, we both hit the hard frozen ground running while the others race down the loud wooden stairs filling the yard.

"We'll search around the house, Mikka stay inside!" Sasha calls out in the darkness.

I'm already moving through the clearing just behind the house, searching in the moonlight is a near impossible task. I find two sets of small foot prints moving into the trees…

"I've got tracks!"

"I've got them too!" Daryl's voice is tight. The others are circling the cleared space around the trailer, behind us.

Fuck, She was playing with them earlier; having them race to the trees and back repeatedly: Lizzie never plays with them…

I thought it was because Carol was back…

My breath goes cold realization dawning. She was filling the space behind the house with prints…is she smart enough to know we'd try to track her even in the dark?

How long has she been planning this? Cold dread curls through my insides, bitter fear for Patrick. How long ago did they start out, how fast could she move a frightened child half her age in the dark?

"Too many damn prints here," Daryl's moving into the tree line, shining a small flashlight against the ground; trying to bounce it off more useful prints in the dark.

I move into the tree line, look for anything obvious, keep moving farther from the house; I can still see him off to my right, mostly because of his flashlight catching the corner of my eye.

Someone is coming up behind me, I turn for a split second start to raise my bow thinking it's Lizzie, realize its Mikka…she's followed me into the woods.

I exhale flooded with relief for a moment, 'til she speaks.

"She went this way; she said not to tell anyone but you."

Oh fuck me.

I'm about to play cat and mouse in the dark with a 12 year old monster.