Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.
Lost Hope: The Beginning
Chapter Nine
(Carl's Pov.)
Erin just took off and ran. She ran off into the forest. Andrea was still hovering over Amy's body, stroking her face.
"Why is she running?" Mom asked no one in particular. "Was she bit? She was covered in blood…."
"No." Daryl spoke up. "Shot a walker and it fell on her."
"Well someone's got to go after her. She's eleven and she shouldn't be out there alone; especially after what just happened." Mom said.
"We can't risk more of the group." Shane told her. "We already lost too many people."
I felt myself start to cry harder than I already had been. "She's my friend."
"And mine too." Sophia said also crying.
"I'm sorry." Shane said kneeling down in front of me. "There's not much we can do."
"Shane, she's just a little girl." Carol told him. "We can't just leave her out in the woods."
"I know we can't leave Erin out in the woods, but Shane is also right; we can't risk anymore people right now. It's dark and it would be hard to track where she went. We will send some people to search for her first thing in the morning."
I felt sad, not being able to do anything. I wanted to go after her, but I knew Mom would never let me. I could try to sneak away to try to run after her, but my mom would never let me out of her sight after what just happened. Then the last person I expected to help spoke up.
"If no one else is going to go after her, then I am." Daryl said strapping his crossbow to his back. "I'm the best tracker here, anyway. I will be able to find her pretty quickly and bring her back."
The others looked at him in surprise. Daryl Dixon was offering to help.
"You sure you want to do this?" Shane asked him.
"I have nothing else better to do." Daryl replied. "Besides, I'm not like you people; I don't leave people behind." He said referring to Merle.
"You know that was not intentional." Rick told him.
"Yeah, whatever." He began heading in the direction that Erin had took off into too.
"Alright we need to start thinking of a plan. It's obvious not safe here anymore." Rick told the group. "But for now, let's start taking care of this."
(Erin's Pov.)
I didn't know how long I had been sitting out in the woods, but apparently it had been several hours because the sun was already starting to rise. I had sat there wide awake the whole night, out in the middle of the forest. I couldn't get the sound of people screaming out of my head and the images of some being eaten. We lost so many.
I decided I should go back now. People are probably worried about me. I stood up and I slowly began to make my way back towards the camp. I still had a grip on my gun. I hadn't set it down once since the incident; I was too scared too. Then I heard a twig snap. I turned towards the direction that it came from and aimed my gun, waiting for whatever it was to step out from behind the trees. The person jumped out from behind the corner and aimed a crossbow at me.
"Daryl?" I lowered my gun.
"Where have you been, kid?" he asked my lowering his crossbow "I've been looking for you all night."
"Sorry." I told him.
"You alright? You had people worried by taking off like that." He told me.
I nodded. "I'm fine." I felt bad for causing people to worry about me.
"Come on let's go back." He told me and we started heading back I the direction of the camp.
(Carl's Pov.)
I woke up thinking that what had happen last night was all just a bad dream, but when I saw Andrea still sitting over Amy's body I knew that it was real. People were moving the bodies of our people up to where Jim head dug the holes and making sure that they wouldn't come back as walkers. The bodies of the walkers were all to be burned while the bodies of our own people were all going to be buried.
Daryl still hadn't come back with Erin. I began to worry, thinking that she wasn't ever going to come back and that I will never be able to see her again. I felt tears begin to fall down my cheek. My mom was by my side in an instant and pulled me into a hug.
When she pulled away she looked me in the eyes. "Everything is going to be alright; Daryl will find_" The expression on her face changed as she saw something over my shoulder. I turned to see Erin walking out of the forest with Daryl behind her. She looked the same as she did when she took off; still covered in blood and carrying her gun.
I pulled away from my mom and ran to Erin, throwing my arms around her. "I thought I lost you." I whispered in her ear.
She hugged me back. "Don't worry, you're not losing me that easily." She said with a slight smile. "Sorry I had you all worried." She told everyone. Then Sophia came running up and tackled Erin in a hug. Some of the other people came over and also gave her a hug. People also thanked Daryl and patted him on the shoulder for finding her.
"Now don't you go running off again." Dale told her. "You are a part of the group now, and we can't have you go missing again."
Erin smiled at him. "I will try not to, sir."
She glanced over to where Andrea was with Amy's body and frowned.
Mom walked over to Andrea and kneeled down beside her. I think she was trying to tell her that she had to let them take Amy soon. Amy could turn into a walker at any minute, but Andrea wasn't moving or letting anyone take her.
"How many people did we lose?" I heard Erin whisper to me.
"I'm not sure. I know that Amy is gone as well as Sophia's dad. I didn't really know the others too well." I told her.
I saw a tear slip down her face. "So many people; gone in one night. Next time there could be twice as many. What would we do then? It's not safe here."
"It will be alright." I assure her. "My dad will think of something."
"Erin, let's go get you cleaned up." Mom told her.
Erin nodded and followed her down to the cove. I saw her again about an hour later wearing clean close and no longer covered in blood. She walked over to me and smiled.
"I feel better now." She said laughing a little. "I smelt horrible."
"I didn't even notice." I told her laughing as well. "I was too busy being happy to have you back with us."
Erin smiled. "I'm happy to be back too."
"A walker got him. I walker got Jim." Jacqui yelled. We looked over to where Jim who seemed to be nervous.
"Show it to us." Daryl told him. "Show it to us!"
Jim picked up a shovel to defend himself in case anyone tried anything.
"Whoa, put the shovel down." Shane told him.
T-Dog came up from behind him and grabbed his arms while Daryl lifted up his shirt to reveal teeth marks in his side.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." Jim sounding like he was assuring himself more than the others. The others looked on at him with sympathy.
My mom walked over to me and Erin and kneeled down in front of us. Why don't you two go over and play in the R.V." she suggested.
"What's going to happen to Jim?" Erin asked her.
"I don't know yet, sweetie." She replied. "But you shouldn't be worried about it. We will think of something."
"Sophia, I want you to go with them." Carol told her daughter. Sophia nodded and the three of us walked into the R.V. We could see the adults discussing on what to do. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before Erin spoke up.
"I'm sorry about your dad." She said quietly to Sophia.
Sophia looked up at her. "It's alright….even though he was my dad….I was terrified of him."
"How come?" Erin asked her, not knowing about Sophia's past.
"He would hit my mom a lot." She said quietly. "He sometimes even hit me too."
"Oh." Erin said looking down.
"Don't worry, you didn't know." Sophia said smiling slightly. "Anyway, last night, how did you do all that?"
"All what?" Erin asked looking back up.
"You didn't look afraid at all and you shot walkers like it was nothing."
"Yeah how did you do that?" I asked her.
"Oh...believe me I was very afraid, but I wasn't afraid of the walkers…..I was afraid of losing people I cared about." She replied quietly.
We went quiet again for several more seconds before I decided to break the silence. "So where did you learn to shoot?"
She laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "My dad was a marine. He had me learning how to shoot as soon as I was able to."
All of a sudden Dad came in with Jim and let him sit on the bed. "You will be safe in here for now." He told him. "Carl, you guys can come outside now. Jim is going to rest in here for now." We all exited the R.V. leaving Jim by himself.
(Erin's Pov.)
We all stood around where Jim had dug holes to mourn for those we lost. I watched as Andrea carried Amy into one of the holes. I had not seen when Amy had turned and was put down; it must have been when I was washing the blood off of me. Some people were looking on sadly without making any noise while others were crying silently. When it was over people began to head back to the camp. I followed Rick and his family down.
"…..what if it's one of us next time?" Rick asked Lori quietly.
"Shhhh." She told him looking at Carl and then me.
"Are we safe now, Dad; now that we are together?" Carl asked.
Rick kneeled down in front of him. "I won't leave again. I promise you that; not for anything." Carl smiled and nodded. "Now you give me a chance to discuss some things with your mom, okay? Carl nodded and looked back at me wanting me to walk ahead with him. I walked up beside him and we continued walking down the hill.
"Do you think you can teach me to shoot like you?" Carl asked me when we were out of ear shot from his parents.
"I don't think your parents would be too thrilled about the idea." I told him.
"They don't have to know. You can teach me and secret. I would be like the apprentice and you the master."
I laughed. "How will we ever get out of your parents' sight? After what happened last night, they have been watching us like a hawk."
"Maybe we can disguise it somehow, like make it look like something else." He said thinking.
"How can I teach you to use a gun without making it look like I am?" I asked giggling more.
"Maybe we could use Nerf guns or something." He suggested.
Now I was really laughing. "Those aren't much like real guns, but that could work. One question though; how are we going to get Nerf guns?"
"Oh, I brought some." Carl said beaming.
"You brought Nerf guns?" I asked looking at him with an amused look.
Carl shrugged his shoulders. "They're fun."
"Well, alright then. Let's go shoot some Nerf guns." I said smiling. "Hey Sophia, want join us?" I called over to her.
"To do what?" she asked jogging over.
"To shoot some of my Nerf guns." Carl said happily.
"You brought Nerf guns?" she asked with the same amused look on her face that I had a few seconds before.
"Why is that so amusing to you two?" Carl asked looking down embarrassed.
"Because I think it's cute." I said before I realized the words coming out of my mouth.
"Cute , huh?" Carl smiled and looked over to me blushing.
I felt my face heat up and turned away so Carl and Sophia wouldn't notice.
"I think it's cute in a strange sort of way." Sophia said laughing. We all laughed. Carl ran into his tent and pulled out his Nerf guns. There were four in total. He handed one to me, one to Sophia and kept two for himself.
"Let's go do it over here." Carl suggested walking over to an area with not to many bushes. "It would be easier to find the darts over here after we shoot them."
"Alright how about we use that tree as a target; practice aiming." I suggested. The other two nodded and I held up the Nerf gun Carl gave me and shot. The dart fell short of the tree. "Maybe we should move closer."
"What are you guys doing?" We saw Rick walking over with an amused look on his face.
"We are…" I started.
"Shooting Nerf guns." Carl finished smiling.
"I can see that." Rick laughed. "Anyways, Shane and I are going to check the perimeter. Always stay in sight of the others."
"Yes sir." The three of us said in unison. We continued shooting Nerf guns until we got bored, then we went and sat by the others by the fire. Shortly after that, Rick and Shane returned from scouting and sat down with us.
"Now look, I've been thinking about Rick's plan about going to the CDC." Shane told everyone. "Now there're no guarantees either way, but I've known this man a long time; I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is that we need to stay together. Those of you who agree, we leave first thing in the morning."
It sounds like we are going to go to a new place for awhile.