Chapter Fourteen

Daryl's POV

In the morning we started the rescue party for Sophia. Everyone was going into the woods for the search except Dale and T-Dog because Dale needed to fix the RV and T-Dog was still too badly hurt from the cut on his arm. Summer was starting to strap herself with weapons to join us and I stopped her.

"You're not comin," I said.

"Like hell I ain't," she replied, "I'm gonna help you find that little girl."

"No, you're not," I said firmly.

"Why the hell not, Daryl? The more eyes out there the better chances that girl's got of being found!" She said started to get frustrated with me.

"You're about to pop, Sum," I said putting a hand on her shoulder, "I don't want you running around the woods. What if somethin happens to ya? What if you get separated? I ain't letting that happen. You stay here with Dale and T and keep safe, alright?"

I could see it in her face that she realized she was not going to win this argument. And she walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me. She had a number of emotions playing across her face and I just couldn't pinpoint which one she was feeling the strongest at this point. She pushed herself up on her toes and kissed me telling me to be safe and bring Sophia back. I told her I would and went off with the group into the woods. We went back in the same direction Rick and I did the day before. When we reached the spot Rick and I gutted the walker in we continued on in the same direction. I wasn't used to being the one everyone followed. I liked to hunt on my own. Sure, I went hunting with Merle on occasion and I did take Summer out a few times to teach her how to hunt cause she always wanted to learn but for the most part I liked to be alone. It was definitely something I had to get used to, leading a large group of people through the woods in search of a little girl. I wanted to split everyone up but that would do no good. We would cover more ground, sure, but there was always the risk of someone getting lost or getting bit, I wasn't going to risk that.

After walking for a little bit longer we came across a small campsite with one single tent. I put my hand up to stop everyone and looked at Rick, slowly making my way over to the tent. I could vaguely hear Rick tell Carol to call out for Sophia softly because her voice should be the first she hears and I unzipped the tent. I stepped inside and there was nothing there but a horrible smell and a guy who clearly figured killing himself was the best option in a time like this. I grabbed the guy's gun and put it through my belt and could hear Carol calling for Sophia. I walked out of the tent and shook my head. I could see that Carol was starting to fall apart and Rick put his hand on her shoulder to steady her. I motioned for everyone to follow me and we continued on the course we were already heading on.

We had been walking for hours and coming up with nothing and I was about to suggest turning back and starting fresh tomorrow when we heard church bells in the distance. Everyone started running in the direction of the sound calling for Sophia. We reached a clearing and saw the church and ran toward it. Shane was shouting about there being no steeple, there was no way she could be ringing the bells if there was no steeple. No one seemed to care. We made our way into the church and took out the small group of walkers that was inside before splitting up and walking around the area around the church looking for Sophia. As I was making a pass around the church the bells rang again. It sounded like it was just around the corner. Everyone joined me and I noticed a speaker mounted to the top of the building.

"They're on a timer, the damn bells are on a timer!" I said.

I was getting frustrated. It seemed like every possible hopeful lead we had turned out to be a dead end. I could see that Carol was beginning to become weary about all of this and so could Rick and Shane. Shane suggested we go back to the interstate and double back to see if there was anything we missed while him, Rick, and Carl checked the woods around the church for an hour or so just to cover a little more ground because even if Sophia didn't ring the bells she could have heard them and come in the direction of the sound. We agreed that that was probably the best idea. We wanted to make it back to the interstate by nightfall anyway. We split up and headed back toward the interstate.

Summer's POV

Dale, T-Dog and I sat around the RV taking a break from sorting through all the supplies and Dale reveals to us that he finished fixing the RV yesterday and the only reason he keeps pantomiming tinkering with it is to give us more time to find Sophia. I had to admire Dale for his commitment to the group, I really did. T-Dog starts to freak out about leaving and then starts going off about how we were left behind because we were the weak ones, no one valued us as part of the group.

"Oh shut up, T," I finally said, "You're seriously injured, I'm pregnant, and as far as everyone else is concerned Dale needs to fix the RV. Daryl and Rick both know I'm a good shot and Daryl taught me how to track so I would be useful out there. Both of you are also good shots so you would be useful also, but you have to think about it this way. What if another group of survivors comes through and tries to loot our shit? We'd still need someone to stay behind and protect what's ours."

T-Dog nodded knowing I was right and Dale went over and felt his forehead saying he was burning up. He looked at his arm and noticed that the wound was seriously infected. The three of us decided to scavenge the cars again to try and find antibiotics or painkillers or something. The three of us searched for hours and couldn't find anything but some cigarettes and a guitar. At this point all we had left to do was wait around for the group to return, hopefully with Sophia, so we could continue on our way.