Chapter Ten
Lost
The hordes of walkers had come out of nowhere, surrounding her as if she was a vulnerable animal and the dead were predators. Predators would surround hunt their prey, catching its scent and tracking it, often attacking it to weaken the animal. Once they had the prey surrounded, they would then either kill the prey or take it back to the area they were inhabiting then kill it. Once the killing was over, with the predator getting the upper hand with two sharp teeth to the throat, the predator would then devour the lifeless form of the prey. She had learned about it when she was home schooled by her mother.
Mommy.
She had only ever been away from her mother a handful of times, before and after the dead started rising, and she had never liked the idea of being too far away from her mom. Sophia was a nervous child, and worried about things that were out of her control. She could only assume that she had inherited it from her mother, Carol, as her father was the opposite. He was laid-back and didn't care about what the world threw at him. He was selfish in the sense that he only thought of himself, as long as he was fine then that was all that mattered. It was a long time since they had left the Quarry and she had last seen him. Her mother had told her that he was gone, that he was no longer alive, and Sophia was surprised that she wasn't affected by his death.
The moans were getting louder and the decaying faces of the dead were just inches away. She didn't have a weapon, she couldn't protect herself. She was going to die. As tears filled her eyes, she tried to look for a gap between their legs but they were closing in on her. Sophia turned around looking at the faces of the dead; each one of them had a story, a family, and had hope that the world would be restored, just like she had.
She took a deep, shaky breath in, closed her eyes and thought of her mother.
She had left them for five minutes. Carl had suggested playing a board game to take their mind off of Glenn just for a little while. She had agreed, and Carol had gone to collect the board game from the cell that was used as storage of the things that had been collected over the past few weeks. She was gone for less than five minutes, and when she had come back to the main area, the children were gone. Her initial thought was that the two of them were playing a game of hide and seek, but something was wrong. Sophia's doll, the one given to her by the daughter of the Morales family and which never strayed too far from her, was lying atop the table they had been sat at.
A sob escaped her mouth, and she called out their names. But she never heard them giggle, or move about, hidden by the thick concrete walls. She searched for them, checking every cell just in case they had sharpened up their hiding skills. But when she was welcomed with empty cells, she made her way out, as quickly as her feet would take her, and she ran towards Lori and Rick who were talking near the first set of gates. Her feet felt heavy, her head felt fuzzy and she felt sick. Lori turned towards her with a furrowed brow and asked her if she was okay.
"The children…" she began. "They've gone." "What do you mean they've gone?" Lori asked. Rick placed his hands on his hips, as he took in the scared tone of Carol.
"We were talking, and then Carl suggested we play a board game to get our mind off of Glenn. So I went to get it, and when I came back, they were gone. Sophia's doll was lying on the table, she never leaves anywhere without it," Carol sobbed, clinging onto the doll. "They must be around here somewhere. They know the dangers of stepping outside," Rick said, whistling over towards Daryl who was coming out of the infirmary, and took off to speak with him.
"We'll look around the prison for them, they can't have gone off that far," Lori said, although she knew what Carl was like. He never listened to her and often went on little adventures without her knowing, only to be found by T-Dog or Daryl on his way back to the main area of the prison.
"We'll find them," Lori whispered, despite knowing the answer already. It was only a matter of time before something fatal would happen. And the shift in the atmosphere seemed to confirm her fears.
She thought of her mother, and of all the times when she felt scared and woke up screaming after a nightmare to find her mother by her side, enveloping her into a protective and reassuring hug. Before the dead started walking, she spent the majority of her time with her mom, and she enjoyed it. She was a shy child, and always needed her mother to be close to her in order for her to feel safe. And when the dead became undead, her fears of being away from her mother amplified and became an irrational fear. It was dangerous, straying too far away from family. And in this new world, the harsh reality of that was happening now.
She should never have listened to Carl, when he suggested going out and finding the plant he'd overheard Hershel talking about with Rick and Daryl that would help Glenn. She should never have agreed to venture out of the prison, and into the big bad world. It was not made her scared little girls, like herself. She only wanted to help Glenn, but she'd fallen behind Carl and he was nowhere to be seen. Her knee stung, and she could only guess that she had ripped her leggings. She heard more footsteps and she assumed that more had joined them, ready to rip her open. A sob escaped her mouth and she waited. A distance away, she could hear subtle thuds but when nothing happened she clamped her eyes shut even tighter. She didn't want to see the monsters that were going to take her away from her mother.
A yelp filled her ears, and she shuddered as it came from behind her. There was a crack, as if something had been hit, and she opened her eyes just a little bit. As soon as she opened her eyes, another thud sounded, as something dropped the ground. A soft gasp left her mouth.
"Sophia?" A gruff voice, one that seemed familiar to her, filled her ears. "That you?"
She kept her eyes shut, and shivered with fear. She heard a woman speaking just a little distance away from her, and found her voice soothing and calm. It was like her mothers, but there was a hint of an accent that she was unsure of.
"Hey… Sophia?" The woman whispered, inching closer towards her. "That's a pretty name. I wish I had a name like that."
Silence filled her ears, and she questioned whether what she was hearing was real or her imagination. Her mother always told her that she had an imagination unlike many others, where worlds could be created and worlds could be torn apart.
"It's alright," the woman said. "You're safe now, Sophia."
Sophia felt her fear disappear, as soon as she felt gentle almost timid hands wrap themselves around her small wrists in an attempt to reassure her. A thumb was stroking the inside of her wrist. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw, as the sun was fading in the distance, a woman surrounded by a halo of light.
