I woke up on the sofa bed in the RV. I wondered how in the world I'd gotten here. Last I remembered, I was sitting on that car on the road.

As I got up, I realized I was wearing a flannel, and I was positive it wasn't mine.

I then started fitting the pieces back together. I'd been out on the car, thinking. Daryl came and talked to me and he gave me the flannel so I wouldn't get cold.

I was touched by his concern for my well-being…but I was more worried about my sister.

Before the world went to hell, cops usually had a 48 hour window to find missing children. After that window closed, they were looking for a body. And that was before the dead rose up, outnumbering the living by a long shot.

I noticed no one else was in the stuffy RV; not that I blamed them. It was an oven in here.

Voices from outside made me get up and greet the day. The morning sun was already doing her job of cooking the earth and us as well.

Shane and others were all gathered around a car. Quietly, I joined in and listened to what the group had to say.

"Everyone takes a weapon." Rick said, gesturing to the weapons on the hood of the car.

"These aren't the kid of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Miss Wanna-Be-Badass Andrea pouted, cocking her hip to the side.

"We've been over that." Shane said, like a father reprimanding his child. "Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." She argued.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a heard happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." He said, ending the argument.

I couldn't help but smirk. She was just pissed and wanted to prove she could run with the boys.

"Something funny?" She questioned, looking dead at me.

"Nope." I said, popping the "p". "Just waiting for you to quit bitching so I can find my cousin and Carol can find her daughter."

She glared at me and went back to sulking over not having a gun. I stepped up and grabbed a nice sharp machete. I was perfectly okay with using these instead of guns.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles; turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are they'll be by the creek. It's their only landmark." Daryl said before walking off to loot a car before we left.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick advised.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane told us.

I un shouldered my backpack and loaded it up with enough provisions for me and Sena, if we found her.

"No, dammit, you're gonna find her. She ain't dead!" The voice in my head reminded me.

I took a breath and gathered my thoughts. We would find Sophia and Sena. They would be just fine, and in a day or so we'd be on the way to Fort Benning.

Just then I noticed Dale and Andrea arguing.

I rolled my eyes at the sight and went to where Daryl, Carl, and Austin were. So far, they were the least dramatic people in this group.

"The drama queen's at it again." I mumbled.

"I'd do her if she didn't have that damn mouth on her." Austin said bluntly.

I looked at him, laughing. "You're horrible."

He smirked. "Hay, I'm just telling the truth."

I flipped him off as he walked away to talk to his sister.

I then took this moment to thank the man who was selflessly leading us to look for my cousin and Carol's daughter.

"You don't have to do this." I told him.

"You wanna let those girls starve out there?" He retorted.

I sighed. "No, I mean you don't have to lead the search. It means a lot that you are though."

"You're acting like we already found them." He grumbled.

"We will. They couldn't have gotten far and like you said, the only land mark they have is the crick."

He noticed the way I said "creek".

"Virginia born and raised. Parents were real southern." I explained.

Daryl then looked around the group and nodded to Rick. Wordlessly, the group started off into the woods. I followed Shane, with Glenn behind me.

As we walked, Autumn caught up to me.

"Just think, today—maybe tomorrow, we'll be on the way to Fort Benning. The girls will be with us and someone at the base will give us some fucking answers for all this mess." She rambled on.

I did my best to ignore her and focused on walking.

"Look, I know I screwed up. I should have gotten that walker away from her; but honestly, it happened so fast. I thought for sure we'd both be dead."

Again I ignored her, but it was getting harder to do so. She was my best friend after all.

"I know you're mad at me. I—I just want you to talk to me; tell me how to make things right."

I sighed and finally talked to her. "I'm—I'm not mad at you. I mean yeah, yesterday I was. I was pissed, but today—today let's just focus on finding the girls. They could be hiding anywhere."

She acknowledged my reply and we continued stalking through the woods.

After a while, Daryl and Rick found a campsite. I waited beside Andrea.

"They could be in there." Shane admitted, smiling a bit at me.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl shot back.

Reluctantly, I had to agree with Daryl. Who knows what could be in that tent.

Daryl and Rick started forward; Rick signaling us to stay back. Shane took off with them too.

I stood up with Carol and waited anxiously while Daryl checked the tent over.

"Carol! Lyla!" Rick hissed, waving a hand for us to come over.

Immediately I shot forward with Carol right behind me.

Rick walked us close to the tent. "Call out softly. Carol, you go first, then Lyla. If they're in there, your voices are the first ones they should hear."

Carol looked at the tent worriedly as she called out. "Sophia, sweetie. Are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy."

The woman looked saddened and stepped back as I stepped up to call out.

"Sena? Sena, baby come on out. It's me, Lyla. We found you." I mumbled out, feeling my heart beat faster and more erratically with every second that went by.

There was no reply to either of our voices. There was no movement, no sign of life in that tent.

I held back the tears, praying they were just too scared to answer or sleeping.

Rick and Shane backed Daryl up as he unzipped the tent.

I bit my lip to keep from running head first into the damned thing and finding out who or what was in there.

I noticed Daryl cough before he went inside the tent. Rick and Shane also gagged as they held the flap open.

From where I was standing, I caught a whiff of something nasty…like something rotting.

"Daryl?" Carol called out.

My dwindling hope was dying, and officially passed on when Daryl stepped out of the tent, childless.

"It ain't them." The redneck told us.

Carol gave me a sorrowful look and then turned her eyes to Lori.

I just closed mine. I focused on breathing and not letting these damn tears fall.

"You're stronger than this dammit! Lyla, get your shit together! We WILL find Sophia and Sena. They will be just fine…"

I cursed my weakness to the news that my cousin wasn't in there.

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Autumn.

I gave her a grateful look and held her hand. We may not be biological sisters, but dammit she was more family to me than most of the sorry pricks I was related to.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked in a solemn tone.

"Some guy." Daryl informed us with indifference. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

Just then, we heard…CHURCH BELLS! I recognized that sound anywhere.

Without hesitation, I sprinted towards the sound, inching ahead of Rick and the rest of the group.

After running for about half a mile, I stopped and listened. I needed to find out where exactly those bells and that church were.

Not far off, I heard the rest of the group.

They finally caught up to me.

"They're close." I told Rick before running off in the direction I believed the sounds were coming from.

"Lyla!" I heard someone yell, but I was too concerned with finding that church to really give a damn. I've pissed people off before and most of the time, they lived.

As I ran, the bells' sounds grew louder. Eventually, I came to a clearing and tripped over a moss-covered rock.

I swore as my ankle throbbed in pain. My hands felt their share of pain as well. Turns out, they'd landed in a small briar patch. Just my luck.

The bells tolled again and I got to my feet, attempting to stabilize myself. I looked around and frowned.

There was no steeple here. There were no visible bells.

I decided to wait on Rick's group before venturing further. I didn't want to get into trouble I couldn't outrun or outwit. There was no telling what or who was in the church.

I started picking the briars out of my hands while waiting for the group.

It didn't take them long to catch up to me, but I barely noticed…until someone grabbed my arm.

"The hell you think you are, girl? Huh? Just taking off into the woods like that? Coulda brought a whole group of walkers on our asses!" Daryl growled at me.

He looked disgusted.

"You see any? No, that's cuz there aren't any. Now let me go, and fuck off for' I chop your dick off." I replied, angry.

Daryl didn't reply, but released my arm and returned to the group which was now running for the church.

I started running with what little steam I had left. This heat and humidity was taking its toll on me.

Rick led us to the entrance of the church with Daryl and Shane backing him up. Together, the redneck and small town cop opened the doors.

From what I could see inside, corpses were lurking; about three or four of them.

I shed my pack and threw it to Autumn before grabbing my machete. Daryl handed his crossbow off to Glenn while Rick accepted a knife from his wife.

Rick took the left, Daryl went to the right, and I went straight down the middle. Shane took out a second dead bastard on the right.

I could tell the person I was about to kill, used to be beautiful. Their hair was still a light shade of brown and she had a pretty Sunday dress on.

But the second she charged at me, I sank my machete in her brain. She dropped to the floor, but it wasn't good enough. Full of adrenaline, I swung my weapon several more times, getting covered in more and more gore each time.

When I'd finished turning the walker's head into play dough, I stepped back and looked around. Realization set in. Sophia and Sena weren't here.

I looked down at the mushified walker at my feet as Rick screamed for the two lost children.

Daryl asked the Jesus statue if it was taking requests, then looked at me before walking away.

Feeling drained, I walked towards the entrance/exit of the church.

Suddenly, more bells chimed. This time, everyone knew we were at the right church.

Daryl shot forward, shoving past me. I started running too, trying to find out where the bells were.

That's when we saw the sound system…and the timer.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl said, breathless.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said quietly. I didn't blame her.

This was just another dead end.

I frowned as I took my bag back from Autumn.

"You need me, I'll be up a tree." I told her.

She nodded, knowing exactly what I needed.

Whenever I needed to be alone or was upset, I'd climb a tree and just sit and soak in everything. It was how I coped.

Since trees surrounded the church, it didn't take me long to find one that I could climb.

Nimbly, I climbed up the tree and kept climbing till I was about 20 to 30 feet off the ground. I found a sturdy limb and rested on it, admiring the bird's eye view I had of this place.

That's when I remembered the pain in my hands. I glanced at them and noticed they were torn up and bloody.

I removed some alcohol and some bandages from my bag and went to work treating my wounds.

The antiseptic reminded me of my piercings. I needed to clean them before they got infected.

As I did, I really sat and thought about my lip ring. I'd been wanting my lip pierced since I was 15, but now that the world was gone…I didn't know if I wanted it anymore or not. If I fell or if someone hit me there, I could rip my lip open or it could get infected or whatever.

On impulse I fiddled with the ring and threw it into the grassy oblivion below me.

Just then, I heard a pair of feet walking towards my tree.

I looked down and saw Daryl.

"What're you doing up there, girl? You ain't no damn bird." He commented.

I rolled my eyes and flipped him off.

"No, I'm a freaking fish out of water." I growled.

He remained silent for a while, just holding the strap of his crossbow.

"There something you want, Daryl? If you didn't get the hint, I want to be alone." I said honestly.

He continued looking at me. "Yeah, I got the hint and it don't mean a damn thing. Rick and Shane are gonna stay here a little while longer; see if the girls show up. The rest of us are heading back to the highway. That means you too."

I growled to myself and threw my bag.

"Heads up." I said as he caught it.

Then I maneuvered myself down the tall tree and back onto solid ground.

I won't swear to it, but I thought I saw Daryl look…impressed.

He then handed my bag back to me.

"Thanks." I told him, shouldering it.

The walk back was long, disheartening, and tiring.

Daryl allowed us to stop near some fallen trees and catch our breath.

"So this is it? This is the whole plan?" Carol asked.

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl observed.

I had to admit, this group did have a habit of spreading itself thin.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea bitched. She then noticed Lori's gun. "I see you have a gun."

"Why? You want it?" Lori shot back, obviously irritated. "Here, take it."

Now that she was being handed a gun, Andrea looked scared. I wanted to laugh at the irony.

"I'm sick of the looks you're giving me; all of you." Lori finished, sitting down.

She then spoke to Carol. "When those girls ran, he didn't hesitate did he? Not for a second! I don't know that any of us would have gone after them the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently."

I sighed. She was right. This group had to pull together.

"We should keep moving." Andrea said, handing Lori back her gun.