Author's note: Okay I'll be the first one to admit that this isn't my best of chapter…in fact its more of a filler than anything else, but I'm trying real hard to get back into character with Mara. Plus having a job and going to school now is kind of putting a damper on my writing time, and there's also my new obsession with Robert Downey Jr. to blame. Anyway I would like to thanks Shebangbang and Eminemchick19 for dealing with my insecure self and helping me write this chapter. Anyway I hope to be able to get more out and soon, especially since I'll be introducing a new character in a couple of chapters anway!
Question time!
1. Do you think Mara and Rick will ever have the same close relationship they did before?
2. What about the future of Daryl and Mara's relationship?
3. What will happen next?
4. Out of curiosity, which team are you? Rick and Mara = Mack? Daryl and Mara = Dara? Or Daryl/Mara/Rick harem- I have no name for this one, any suggestions lol?
Well I better go to bed, I have to get up early for class. Oh and on a side note, I am going to try and have this update before next week, but since it's my birthday I make no promises. P.S I DID CHANGE LAST CHAPTER'S ENDING , SO IF YOU HAVE NOT REREAD LAST CHAPTER GO DO THAT OR YOU'LL BE CONFUSED.
~Cassandra
Disclaimer: If I owned The Waling Dead, I wouldn't be counting down for season 4 to come out.
The woods had always been home to Mara. Sure she was no super survival man like Daryl was; hell she probably couldn't even point out poison Ivy for the life of her…however when things at home go too rough, it was always the woods she'd escaped to. There she would climb trees, build forts, eat wild blackberries, and pretend to be a faeries princess. In the woods her life was great-greater than what it was back home. Which was why there was always a fight, when one of her brothers finally came to take her home.
Now however, the whole mysticism and wonder of the forest did nothing but rile Mara up even more so. Who knows how many walkers lurked around the trees in this place. Let alone what Mara would do if she saw one. Currently the only weapon she had was Kindness, and firing her would not be the smart thing to do. Not with that, herd still out there somewhere. "Rick? Sophia?" Mara called quietly.
She listened for a reply, but heard nothing. Biting her lip, Mara tried to recall what her brothers told her about tracking. Granted it really came down to following footprints, but anything was better than nothing. Silently she tipped toed through the vast trees, all the while trying to accomplish a mixture of tracking and stealth. Neither which working all too well, seeing how Mara couldn't find any trace of Sophia. Silently she swore to herself, if only Daryl was there, he'd be able to find Sophia in a jiffy. "Come one Mara, think! Where would they go?" she muttered trudging through a bush.
Another ten minutes passed with no luck. A tired sigh escaped Mara as she turned to look at the way she came from. They were undoubtedly back at the caravan by now…Rick and Sophia. Rick getting the praise he deserved for going after the poor endangered girl, while Sophia clung tightly to Carol. It wasn't a hard sight to imagine. However it did leave Mara wondering one thing…did anyone notice she was gone? Moreover, did anyone care that she was gone? Perhaps they were already moving on to Fort Benning? Sure she had been getting along with the group rather well, but didn't mean Mara was not the odd one out. After all, she was the one with the freaky visions-the harbinger of bad news; something no one liked to get. Especially when the world was already as dark as it could get. "Knock it off, Grayson." She ordered herself. "You'll drive yourself crazy thinking such things. Besides Rick isn't the type of guy, just to leave someone and Daryl promised to protect you. Remember?"
Unfortunately nothing she said to herself reassured her any; except for one small insignificant phrase that seemed to get through hard times. "Remember Grayson, nothing is scary than First Sergeant. Not even walkers." Mara muttered to herself.
There was a sharp crack and Mara spun around on her heel; Kindness raised ready to shoot the perpetrator. But instead of coming face to face with a walker, Mara had her front sight aimed at Rick Grimes. He jumped back out of the way of her aim. "Woah! It's just me, Mar." Rick informed calmly, like she didn't know.
She rolled her eyes lowering Kindness back to a ready position. "I can see that, Rick."
"Well, obviously not good enough if you're aiming at him." Daryl's familiar drawl came from behind. A small relieved smile made its way to her face as she turned to see her friend. The redneck gave her an exasperated look that screamed 'I'm-going-to-kill-ya-if-you-scare-me-like-that-ag ain.' Despite the ferocity though, Mara couldn't help but feel her heart warm at its sight. It just proved that her inner self was wrong. Someone did care about her. "What are you thinking anyway? Firing at walker with that herd so damn close to us."
Mara shrugged. "I was thinking that any walker so close to me, could only be taken care of one way. I think quick with my tongue not my feet."
A soft sigh escaped Rick followed by a small smile of his own. "You're safe that's all that matters."
Daryl nodded, "One person down, one more left. Shouldn't be that hard."
One more left? Someone else was missing? But who? As far as Mara knew only her, Rick and Sophia go ran off into the woods. Her heart sped up as a shaky idea formed; one she didn't exactly like. "Who else is missing?" she demanded.
Rick and Daryl exchanged somber glances, silently communicating with one another. When Daryl didn't say anything, Rick stepped forward. The last thing he wanted to do was tell Mara, that he had lost Sophia. Already enough people blamed him for his poor leadership choice, and the last thing he needed was another one. Especially when that other person, was the one person who's respect and trust he was trying desperately to win back. "Sophia's missing…there were two walkers chasing her when I finally caught up to her. She wanted me to shoot them, but I couldn't…it would draw the herd back towards us. So I had her hide under a small little overhang by the creek, while I went off and took the walkers out one by one." Rick confessed, everything just spilling out. "I told Sophia, that if I didn't come back to head back to the highway-keep the sun on her left shoulder. I took out the walkers and went back to get her, but she was already gone. I thought she went back to the camp-but she never did…"
Mara closed her eyes, taking in all the information. Somewhere out there was poor lost scared little girl probably crying for her mom. A heavy sighed escaped her as she tried to come to terms with everything. They would find her. They had to. This was a TV show after all and dead children were always a taboo for TV shows. So there was no way anything bad could happen to Sophia, or at least…that's what Mara tried to convince herself. "We'll find her." Mara finally said.
Rick blinked at her surprised. Acceptance and optimism were the last things he expected from Mara. He expected her to be mad-to blame him like everyone else, not to be so calm. Mara glanced at him, a smirk forming on her lips. "What Officer Friendly? Did you expect me to shoot you or something? Cause I can still do that, if you want."
"No…thanks, I'm good." Rick replied, still in disbelief.
"Well if we're all done with this reunion now, can we get back to tracking? So we can actually find Sophia?" Daryl snorted impatiently.
"Absolutely." Mara replied, slinging Kindness back onto her back. "Lead the way McGruff."
A small chuckled escaped Rick as Daryl glared at her. "I swear Lil'bit, if we weren't so worried about finding Sophia, I'd take you over my knee and spank you." Daryl muttered annoyed.
Mara just grinned, keeping back the comment about how kinky that would be. As funny as it was, she was sure neither Daryl nor Rick would appreciate it. So she kept her mouth shut as Daryl led the way. They wandered around the woods for another half hour; Daryl and Rick switching places up front every once in a while, though it was Daryl, who did all the leading. Mara yawned trying to keep her mind awake and alert. For whatever reason, being silent in a group was worse than alone and silent. When around people, Mara almost always felt obligated to speak-something that was exactly not needed right then.
A twig snapped and all three of them instantly ducked down as a walker came into view. Rick glanced at Daryl who quickly issued out commands that Mara could barely comprehend. Nodding, Rick disappeared into the tree line. Mara blinked feeling tension rise in the pit of her stomach. She had no idea what the plan was-minus one simple fact Mara could comprehend…Daryl's glare meant 'stay right next to me or so help me, God, woman…' So being a good little girl, Mara did as told and kept close to Daryl. Quietly they tipped toed behind the walker, amazingly not making even a sound. Through an opening in the trees Rick popped out, whistling at the walker. It gave off a loud roar, but was quickly silenced by Daryl's arrow. "Well, that was easy." Mara said, breaking the silence.
"Says the girl who didn't do anything." Daryl grunted, pulling his arrow out of its skull. Mara murmured something under her breath about 'it not being her fault, they didn't let her do anything,' but both men ignored her. Rick crouched down beside the walker and began examining it, while Daryl did a quick scan of the area around them. "Sophia!"
There was only silence. Mara sighed, trying to calm herself. She felt as if she worked at the daycare again and had just lost a kid. Technically it wasn't too different of an experience. Except this time, there was no one to call for help and the fear of death was more imminent. Daryl glanced over at her, catching the worry beginning to etch into her face. He didn't know much about Mara, having only known her for a week, but from little Daryl knew, Mara had a huge soft spot for kids. Meaning she was probably next in line after Carol for worrying about the poor girl. His mind rushed to find something to say to comfort her, but it came up blank. Comforting wasn't his thing. "What are you looking for?" he chose to ask Rick instead.
"Skin under the fingernails." Rick informed, glancing at him. He flipped the body over and continued his inspection. There was flesh under the fingernails, but from what? Sophia? Slowly he opened the jaw of the walker. "It feed recently."
"How do you know?" Mara asked, both curiously and worriedly.
Rick grimaced pulling a discolored piece of flesh out of the walker's teeth. He looked at her disgusted, and pulled out a piece of flesh. "There's flesh caught in its teeth."
She made a disgusted face similar to the one he had on, but said nothing. Besides her, Daryl crouched as if to get a better look that way. He squinted slightly inspecting the flesh, before voicing the question on everyone's minds. "Yeah, but what kind of flesh?"
A frustrated sigh escaped Rick as he reached into his back pocket for his knife. As much as he didn't want to do it, there was no other option. He had to cut the walker open and inspect its contents. If Rick lucky and if there was any sort of God still around, it wouldn't be Sophia in that walker's belly. However with everything that was happening, Rick had a hard time being optimistic. He wasn't Mara after all. "Only one way to know for sure." Rick replied numbly, pulling open the walker's shirt.
He flicked his knife open only for Daryl to stop him. "Here, I'll do it." Daryl said, moving so he was standing directly over the walker. "How many kills have you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine is sharper."
Once again Mara bit back the innuendo threatening to burst free. Fortunately though, that comment was quickly stifled upon watching Daryl drive the knife into the walker. He dragged the knife down its belly, creating loud squishy noises as it went. This caused both Mara and Rick grimace; Mara more so than Rick. She would never understand how Daryl was unaffected by this stuff. Surely, he like everyone still saw the walkers as practically human? Her theory was shot to hell though as he gave her a small smirk. "Here comes the bad part." He warned, reaching into the walker's stomach.
Mara looked away, unable for whatever reason to stomach (no pun intended) the sight of the creature's black insides. Which was rather hypocritical seeing how about four days ago, she walked around Atlanta covered in them. If anything Mara should be more immune to such sights now. Rick shot her an empathetic look , as he too squirmed at Daryl's dissection. It made Mara feeling slightly better, knowing she wasn't the only one on the hypocrite boat. Plus Daryl was anything but subtle. "Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago." He informed, leaning down to reach further inside. "I feel it in there."
"Hooray…." Mara muttered sarcastically. "Now can you please stop showing off and just tell us what it ate already. Some of us are getting sick here."
"As I told you , before Lil'bit, if you're squeamish around this shit, then ya shouldn't be here." Daryl retorted, rolling his eyes. Then he pulled out a large grey colored organ and flopped it on the ground. "Here's the gut bag."
"I got this." Rick insisted, cutting it open.
A revolted groan escaped Mara upon seeing what could only be described as puked up dog food. The men also groaned as they continued to search the gut. Finally after five seconds too long, Daryl discovered a small skull. A skull too small thankfully to be that of a child's. "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch."
"At least we know." Rick justified to himself.
"At least we know." Daryl agreed, picking up his crossbow.
Mara nodded, giving one last look at the walker. Sophia wasn't in it. The fact should have made Mara feel relieved, but all it did was make her more worried. They got lucky this time, but who knew how much longer it would be until their luck ran out. Because as much as Mara wanted to convince herself that killing children was TV taboo, there was one simple truth she could not avoid….The Walking Dead wasn't your average show. It was show about anything but happiness in it.
Special thanks to guest, nightwatchers2, AkiEn, TwilightEclps, Elex Black, Padme4000, Hell Hath No, Bloodember, Eminemchick19, Shika93, RebornRose1992, Tigerlily xoxo, watergoddesskasey, clueless1164, JoselinCastillo'Skywalker, and Jiwa for reviewing last chapter.