The sun dipped and set leaving them in shadows. Sophia had slumped against him earlier and had fallen asleep as the day burned away. He looked down at her small form and thought about what was going to happen when and if her mother showed up. She would be gone and he wouldn't have to worry about keeping her safe. He wouldn't have to worry if she was hungry or cold. He wouldn't have to worry but he would. She was so small next to his larger form and unprepared for this world. Hell by her age he was already hunting and tracking. He was already damn near taking care of himself without even a thought from his old man.
Daryl swallowed thickly at the realization that something could have happened to her mother. Hell her entire group could be dead for all he knew but he didn't think that. There was no cars the girl knew here...there was no bodies of freshly killed people or even fresh blood. No her group was out there and she was separated from her mother.
Daryl stood up and lifted the girl in his arms moving down the line of cars. He wouldn't take them far but he needed to get her out of the night air and out of the open. Daryl had already searched a good portion of the vehicle and knew where the best choice was for them to bed down that night.
Sophia's arms wrapped around his neck and her little body shifted closer to his as she shivered in the cool air. Daryl lifted her more into his chest and her shivers started to slow down as she warmed up. Daryl adjusted them and got her in the back seat as and then climbed in shutting the door. The rest of the doors were locked and he set at the one that was actually facing the road. Sophia was as safe as it was going to get for the night.
He tipped his head back his eyes watching down the road and sighed. He was wore the fuck out and setting in this SUV was better than sleeping in the tree. At least the wind was off of them and he didn't have to worry about her falling from the tree. Daryl closed his eyes and let his body relax and his mind run over things. If he didn't start heading back tomorrow then it was going to put him another day behind his brothers. They had moved by now for sure.
He'd have to leave tomorrow or chance Mac taking off on his own and doing something irrational in his search for him. When he got out there and realized that there wasn't even tracks from him he'd freak out and then things would go down hill. Daryl was miles from where he was supposed to be and said he'd be. He shook his head knowing that Merle and Martinez were going to have trouble reining Mac in when Daryl didn't show up on time. He'd never been late before and Mac was quick to jump to conclusions, fuck so was Merle. Daryl looked over at the little girl next to him and knew that despite his brother's freaking out he'd made the right decision.
Daryl cracked his eyes open and hissed as the sun burned his eyes. It was just high enough to slant through at the perfect angle to blind him. Daryl felt like he was going to melt to death if he didn't get out of the vehicle. The sun was starting to bear down on them and he shifted and stopped suddenly. Looking down he clenched his jaw realizing Sophia had moved to him in her sleep. She was curled up against his side her arms wrapped around him and her little legs thrown over his own. She as using his chest as a pillow.
Untangling himself the best he could Daryl got out of the vehicle and stretched his back and swiped the sweat of his brow. It was going to be a fucking scorcher today. His shirt was sticking to him already and he knew that Sophia had to be just as hot. Turning around he nudged her and she opened her eyes looking up at him.
"Any sign of them?" Her little voice was hopeful.
Daryl looked down the road and back at her, "Still early kid."
Sophia climbed out and her face reddened looking at him and then around. Daryl smirked realizing what the problem was and motioned her to follow him. Sophia slunk to where he pointed and went to the bathroom while he kept watch. It still amused him how delicate she seemed about some things.
Sophia came back and looked at him, "I'm hungry."
Daryl nodded his head and tossed her his hunting pack. She looked at him and then down shaking her head, "Get you something kid."
"I don't wanna go through your things." Her voice was soft.
Daryl looked over at her and huffed before taking it back and opening it up and pulling stuff out for her. Daryl thrust it at her and gave her a look, "It aint snooping or going through my shit when I tell you too."
Sophia nodded at him and walked ahead of him slightly and stopped at the car they had written on. Daryl studied the writing for a minute and looked around. Sophia looked up at him chewing and gave him a sad doe eyed smile before sipping her water.
Daryl squatted and looked at her, "Sophia how long were you in the woods before I found you?"
Her eyes teared up and she swiped at them angrily, "I was running so quick and I got so far away that I couldn't hear them anymore. I thought I was safe and that Rick or Shane would find me while my mama waited." She hiccuped and looked at him her tears coming freely, "I slept under some bushes that night."
"One night? You were out there one entire night by yourself?" He was incredulous. If she had the things chasing her how had she made it when she'd laid down to rest. "You said you couldn't hear them anymore."
She nodded again, "Rick...I could hear him calling my name but the walkers were so close that I was too scared to stop." Sophia looked down and then up and around them sadly, "I was out there three days Daryl before you found me. When you seen me I was trying to find something to eat when they came out of nowhere."
Daryl set back heavily against the vehicle and looked down the road as she talked about being chased. If she had been out there three days and nights and then when he found her things weren't looking good. Daryl blew out a breath and closed his eyes for a second before looking up at the sky. She had been out there almost a week and he had a sinking feeling that the group she was with likely thought she was gone forever.
"They aren't coming for me are they?" Her voice broke the silence after it stretched on.
Daryl looked down at her and shook his head but didn't know what the fuck to say to her. Her body seemed to be caving in on itself for how tight she was pulling her limbs in on itself. She wasn't crying but she didn't look like she was even breathing. He had a feeling she was in shock at the realization she likely wasn't getting back to her mother.
Sophia whimpered when he stood and looked up her eyes locked on him. She stood up and shadowed him as he started getting his stuff situated. She wasn't letting him get more than a few feet away at the most and he would have laughed if things weren't so fucked up. Fucked up didn't even begin to cover things right now and he felt sick for her. He felt sick for himself. He was about to do something that was going to cause Merle and Mac to groan at him and call him the fucking sweet one again. But damn well knew both of them would have done the same shit as him.
Daryl looked down at her when he was ready and grunted something unintelligible as he chewed his thumb and scuffed his boots. She was waiting on something from him but he wasn't sure what it was.
"Listen kid we'll keep looking for your mom but I gotta get back to my brothers." Daryl scanned the area and looked at her before squatting down. She was listening to him and focused solely on him.
Sophia rolled the sleeves of the shirt up he'd given her the other night and nodded, "She's out there my mama is. She wouldn't give up."
"Damn straight." He smirked at her.
Daryl stood and Sophia followed him as they started down the road and cut over the opposite guard rail they came over. Daryl turned grabbing ahold of her arm as they made their way down the hill. She was clinging to his arm just as tightly and watching every step she took. Getting to the bottom Daryl started following the sounds of running water and she walked right next to him her little body almost brushing his.
It would take them all day to get back to where his brothers had set camp up but if he was lucky they were still there. It'd only been two days and he knew Mac and Merle would wait as long as they could. Sophia's little face grew serious the more they walked and she was watching her feet.
"How come you walk so quiet?"
Daryl looked over and then around them, "Comes with time if your out here enough and hunting."
"I wanna learn."
Daryl looked down at her again and seen her eyes watching his feet now. She was subtlety changing the way she was walking to mirror him. He slowed his pace and stopped walking almost completely. She looked up and he motioned to her feet she looked down and he started giving her pointers on how to step. She listened completely absorbed in what he was saying and copying what he was saying.
A couple of hours later and Daryl and Sophia were getting into the woods he knew better. Not that he had trouble in the woods but he had hunted these before. They were getting close to where his brothers were hopefully still camped. Sophia was dead on her feet and he wanted to go keep going but knew she couldn't. She needed a break and he needed to figure out what the fuck he was going to do with a little girl in the middle of all this shit. Luckily they hadn't run into any walkers and he figured it was partly because his brothers and him had dropped all of they had seen and the smell was driving them away.
That had been a stroke of genius as him and Mac had hunted. They had just killed four of the bastards and were standing in the center of the dead fucks when a group of them had started through. They had walked by without so much as stopping and looking at them as they stood right there in the open. Mac and Daryl had both looked down to the bodies at their feet and it hit them like with hunting and scent blocking the dead bodies here of the walkers were doing the same for them. Since then they had left the bodies close to camp and it had shielded them for the most part and they could move a little more freely.
When they started coming across more bodies laying Daryl's body relaxed more as the tension left his shoulders. He was wore down and tired. He was fucking starving at this point since he'd made sure Sophia was eating and drinking water. She was smaller and would wear down quicker than him in this heat. Besides he knew what it was like to go hungry and didn't want to put that on this little girl.
When they stepped out on the asphalt he swallowed not seeing his brothers. Hell even Martinez would have had him in his sights by now once they heard him moving through the brush. They were gone. Fuck. Daryl knew they were out there and where in the general direction they were going but things were going to be rougher making sure Sophia was safe and trying to find her mom. Following his brothers was going to take him further from where her mother. He couldn't do this alone though and moving with a kid wasn't the best of situations if he was going to search for someone. He needed his brothers if this kid a chance at getting her mother back.
Sophia grabbed his hand as she stepped next to him. The sun was hitting her hair throwing a golden halo around her head. She looked up at him smiling, "Are you brothers like you Daryl?"
He snorted, "My brothers are...there something."
"I hope they like me." She made a weird face like she was fighting crying and then met his eyes again her own watering, "You all that I've got now."