I stood next to Carol, waiting for Rick and Daryl to come back and hopefully with Sophia by their sides. The sun was setting and my hope for her return went away bit by bit. Carol tightened her grip on my forearm and whispered, "They're back." Her whisper was so quiet that I could hardly understand what she said but I saw them emerge from the trees without her. We looked at Rick for a moment and he shook his head.

Rick and Daryl got up to Carol and I. "Did you find her?" Carol sniffled.

"Her trail got cold," Rick put his hand on her shoulder. "We'll look again tomorrow at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."

"Searchin' in the nights no good," Daryl informed. "We'd be trippin' over ourselves. More people gettin' lost.."

"She's twelve she can't be out there on her own. . ! You didn't find anything?" Carol looked at Rick with tears in her eyes.

"I know this is hard but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick said.

"We've been tracking her for a while." Daryl chimed in.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody, we'll ask him to oversee this."

Carol looked down at Daryl's pants and started to hyperventilate, "I-is that blood?"

"We took down a walker," Rick informed Carol, but she kept squirming around. "There was no signs of it being anywhere near Sophia."

"How could you guys be sure?" I asked, looking Rick in the eyes to make sure he wasn't lying.

Rick and Daryl looked at each other for a moment and Daryl began talking, "We cut the sum bitch open. Made sure."

Carol let out a shaky sigh and sat down on, "How could you just leave her out there to be killed? How could you just leave her?!"

"Listen, the walkers were on us. . I had to draw them off, it was her best chance."

I sat next to Carol and put my hand on her shoulder, "It seems like he didn't have a choice, Carol. . He had Sophia's best interest in mind."

"How is she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. . She's just a-. . ."

"It's was my only option. . The only choice I could make."

Carol began crying, "My little girl got left alone. . ."

I hugged Carol and rubbed her back soothingly as she cried in my neck. It felt weird that I wasn't the one crying this time, it felt like I've always been crying since I woke up from my coma. How much more could this group of myself can take before we all break? I had no idea but it felt like I was going to give at any moment but we have to try to make things better, we just have to. . When Carol was done crying I took her to the RV and laid her on the bed. I was about to leave but Carol called out my name. I turned to look at her, "Yeah?" She seemed like she was conflicted about what she was about to say next. ". . H-how did. . How did you deal with Kira's death. . . ?"

Her sudden question was like a sharp punch to my stomach and heart. I leaned against the wall and looked out the window, avoiding eye contact with her. "I don't think I've really dealt with it. ." I put my head down, making my hair cover my face. "I-I'm not sure exactly HOW to deal with it. I've cried constantly like a baby but it still hurts. . . probably even worse. Every day the pain gets more and more intense but I guess thinking that she isn't suffering puts me at ease. . ." I looked over at her and she looked full of despair. "I'm guessing that's not the answer you wanted to hear. . " I sighed and smiled weakly, "But it's the truth. . "

She smiled back a little, "Thank you for telling me the truth. . . I just hope my little girl is okay. ."

I hugged her one last time and went out of the RV. I saw Rick sitting on the hood of a car away from everybody. I sighed and decided to get the courage to go over there and talk to him. I put my hand on his shoulder, "Hey. ."

He looked over at me and sighed, "Hey."

I stood in front of him and held his hand in his lap, "You're doing all you can. . You're not to blame."

He looked up from his lap and into my eyes, "I know. . . It just feels like I could do more and I probably should."

I smiled at him, "Rick. . . You put your best in everything and put everybody's best interest in everything so don't feel bad, okay. . .?"

He sighed, "I dunno. . ."

"Don't worry, Rick, we'll find her." I squeezed his hands and kissed him on the forehead. "Get some rest."

I walked back over to the RV and climbed up the ladder to the top of it, nobody was up there. I sighed and laid down to looked up at the stars. After a few minutes of stargazing, I slowly drifted into sleep. I was woken up by Dale, he was fidgeting with something. When he noticed I was awake he apologized. I rubbed my eyes, "It's okay, Dale." I began looking around. "What time is it anyways. . .?" He looked at his wrist for a moment and back to me, "About 6:30. I could wake you up later if you'd like." I shook my head, "Nah. . I'm good."

I got up and headed down the RV's ladder to hear arguing. "You need to get over it," Shane said to Andrea. I went up to Rick's side, "What's going on?" Rick turned his head to me and gestured his hand towards the weapons on the hood of a car, "Everybody's taking a weapon, but no guns. Andrea isn't too happy about it." I smiled, picked up a hatchet and examined it in my hands, "I don't see what the big deal is. A weapon is a weapon." Daryl's voice got my attention away from the hatchet. "The idea is to take the creek over. 'Bout 5 miles turn around come back down on the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. That's our only landmark." "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you and always stay in sight of each other." Rick informed us before we headed out.

We were walking through the trees, keeping our eyes peeled for Sophia. Carl tried talking to Shane but he turned him down. Carl walked beside me with his head down, I looked down at him for a moment and put my hand on his head, "Don't worry about it, okay? After we find Sophia we can do things, promise." He looked up at me and smiled weakly, "Okay." I rubbed his back and we continued to look. Daryl, who was in front, slowed down and aimed his crossbow at a tent. "You think she could be in there?" I whispered. "There could be a lot of things in there." Rick replied as he motioned us to stay behind. We watched as Shane, Rick, and Daryl went to the tent to see what was in there. As we watch Carol grabbed my arm and watched intensly.

We watched as Daryl checked the tent cautiously, Rick motioned Carol towards them. Carol looked at me with eyes full of fear, I knew she wanted me to go with her so I did. As we went towards the tent she tightened her grip on my arm and covered her mouth with her other hand. When we got to Rick he started talking to Carol, "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear." Carol looked at me and then back at the tent. "Sophia. . . ? Sweetie. . ? You in there?" Daryl waited cautiously for Sophia to come out of the tent. "Sophia," Carol continued, "It's mommy. Sophia. . We're all here, baby. It's mommy. . ."

"Stay here," Rick whispered as he and Shane walked over to Daryl, aiming their guns at the tent. Daryl slowly opened the tent flap and began coughing. Daryl stepped into the tent, Rick tried following behind but started coughing and closed the flap. A few moments later Daryl wasn't out. "Daryl?" Carol called out. Nothing. "Daryl. . ?" Daryl finally stepped out, "Ain't her."

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Just some guy. He opted himself out."

We heard bells chiming in the distance and ran towards it. As we were running towards it we tried figuring out which direction it was coming from. "If we hear it Sophia probably hears it too. . !" Carol said with hope in her voice. "She may be ringing it herself, common!" Rick said, leading us to the church. When we got to the church we ran up the stairs, but slowed down and were cautious when we got to the door. When Rick and Daryl opened the church's doors three walkers turned the attention to us.

I pulled out my hatchet and slowly made my way to the female walker. When I got behind her I put my foot in front of hers and pushed her forward, causing her to trip and fall on the ground. Once she was on the ground I slammed my hatched into her skull, making her stop groaning. "Sophia!" I yelled, looking around the room. "Maybe it was a different church." Shane sighed. A few seconds later we heard the church's chimes going off again and we rushed outside. We ran down the stairs and to the side of the building, turns out it was just an automated sound box. I looked at Carol with a worried expression, she looked devastated. "I'm going to go back in for a little bit." She said.

I looked around me and everybody was off doing their own thing so I decided to check in on Carol. "Father forgive me. . ." I heard her whisper. I sat down and listened to her patiently as she talked to God. When she was done she came to me with tears in her eyes and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her. "We're going to find her," I whispered to her as I rested my head on hers.

After she calmed down her and I headed outside with the others, soon after Shane started talking about a new game plan. "Y'all gotta follow the creek then back, Daryl you're in charge. Me and Rick we're just gonna hang back and stay around here for another hour, we're going to be thorough."

"You sure?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah," Shane replied, sighing, "We're sure."

"I wanna stay too," Carl said, "I'm her friend."

Lori hugged Carl, "Be careful, okay?"

I went up to Rick, "I'm going to go with you guys too."

Rick looked down at me, "You sure? What about Carol don't you think you should be there for her?"

I shrugged, "I think she'll be fine with them for a while and more eyes for you guys will make a better chance to find her, right?"

Rick smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Rick went over to Lori and kissed her goodbye and I averted my eyes away from the scene. I walked over to Carl and tousled his hair, "I'm going with you guys if you think I'm man enough for you guys." Carl smiled widely, "Of Course, Jade! I like being around you." Rick came over to us, "We'll start looking soon but I'm going to do something first." He walked into the church and we followed behind, Carl and Shane sat on the stairs as I leaned on the church's door frame and watched him until he came back over.

"You get what you needed?" I asked with a sympathetic look.

"Guess we'll find out," Rick said, leading us the way.

After walking for about 10 minutes or so Rick paused, holding up his hand, and we all stopped. Rick pointed his arm in a direction and we all took out our weapons and started moving closer towards the crunching leaves a few feet away from us. As we inched closer we noticed that it was just a deer wandering around, we watched it for a few moments with smiles on our faces. Shane was about to shoot it, but then Rick whispered, "Shane." Shane looked back at us and Carl started moving closer to the deer.

Carl looked back at us with a huge smile on his face and we all returned it right back on him, I gave him a big thumbs up. Carl stepped on a twig, making the deer snap its head over to him, but didn't move. As Carl inched closer and closer towards the deer it was like it happened in slow motion, a loud gunshot rang through the sky and I watched as the deer and Carl toppled over for what it seemed like an eternity.