NICOLETTE

"Nicolette" Sarah's voice made her turn from the woods, just before her sister crushed her into a strong hug.

"You ok?" she asked checking her as Nicki nodded her head.

"I'm good, but Sophia..." she said pointing at the woods. Nicolette heard her sister gasp as she looked over to Carol, still sobbing in Lori's shoulder.

"Dad has gone to find her" Carl said not far from them as Glenn and Shane ran to them starting to ask Lori what had happened.

"We should go check" Glenn said but Shane shook his head.

"We need to wait Rick and Sophia here" he said "That's the best thing we can do now".

He was right they couldn't risk someone else to walk in the woods right now. They needed to stay together. Nicki noticed that there weren't all of them there so she turned to take a look. She saw Dale getting down the ladder of the RV with laboured breaths just before seeing Andrea getting out from the camper covered in blood.

"Lori..." she said catching the attention of the woman who gasped "Carl, stay with Nicki" she said before running towards the woman, that was clearly shaken up.

"What the hell happened?" asked Nicki. Has she fought with a walker? She hoped Andrea was alright, that she wasn't hurt or bitten.

"Hey!" they all looked around as they heard a voice.

"Is that Daryl?" asked Sarah looking around. Nicki got on her tip-toes to try and get a better look to spot Daryl.

"Here" he spoke again. Nicki saw an arm moving in the air with difficulty, before she saw Sarah and Shane running in that direction. Nicki looked down at Carl that nodded his head at her, before the both of them started to follow them. They hadn't gone far, they had to move around a few cars, to see Daryl putting down an almost passed out T-Dog. Nicki's eyes widened at what she saw; T-Dog had his shirt covered in blood and he was getting paler, but the blood was so much that she wasn't sure where it came from.

"Are you ok, man?" asked Shane kneeling down in front of T-Dog, who moaned in pain.

"What happened?" asked Sarah from next to Daryl.

"He got his arm open pretty bad" said Daryl pointing at the man "Tried with a rag" T-Dog was holding strongly a rag against his forearm.

"You might have saved his life" said Shane helping T-Dog getting up "Come on, man"

"Are you hurt?" asked Sarah turning to Daryl, who started chewing his lip before shaking his head. Sarah nodded her head before starting to walk away, but she stopped when Daryl spoke again.

"You?" Nicki saw her sister looking at the man with an almost surprised look before shaking her head.

"I'm good" she said "But Sophia..."

Daryl frowned.

"The girl?" Sarah nodded once again.

"Nicolette told me she ran into the woods" she said crossing her arm over her chest in worry "Rick had gone after her" Daryl took a breath before starting to walk where everyone was crowded looking at the woods. Nicki gave a little push to Carl with her shoulder before gesturing to him to go where the others were.

Lori had told them that Andrea had fought a walker that got inside the RV. She was fine, but she was a bit shaken up and now she was changing from the bloody clothes. Carol was sitting on the guard rail shaking as Lori and Sarah sat next to her. Shane and Glenn were taking a look at T-Dog as Daryl was pacing back and forth in front of the woods observing everything around him. Dale was keeping watch as Nicki and Carl sat on the hood of a car in silence. The air was so tense and Nicki could see Lori getting anxious too since her husband wasn't getting out of those woods.

She looked over to Carl that was moving his leg up and down, to relieve some anxiety. Nicki took a breath setting her bow next to herself to turn towards her bag, opening it.

"Here" she said taking one of the red strings of licorice and splitting it in two. Carl looked between her and the candy.

"I need to chew when I'm nervous" she said putting her piece in her mouth.

"We should save it" Carl said with a little frown, but she handed him the candy.

"No one's going to notice" she said, before he finally took the licorise, starting to eat it. She had to say that she felt better, maybe just because she was doing something else other than wait.

"What you did, with the arrow" said Carl after some moments of silence "You saved my dad. Thank you" she looked at the bow next to her. She still couldn't understand how she managed; she still felt her sweaty hand shaking as she nocked the arrow. She had been lucky, but at least she had helped Rick.

"Don't mention it" she said just before they heard a rustling noise.

Both Nicki and Carl jumped down from the hood of the car as Shane and Daryl put themselves before everyone with riffle and crossbow ready. She tried to look closely at the leaves to spot whatever was making that noise.

Nicki swore everyone let out a relieved breath when Rick came out of the woods running; his breath laboured and his clothes all wet, but it wasn't clear if it was because water or sweat.

The moment of relieve soon disappeared when Sophia didn't come out of the woods like the man.

"Where's Sophia?" Rick asked out of breath looking around hoping to spot her. Carol let out a cry as her hands moved to cover her mouth. That sound made Nicki's heart clench. Carol cheeks were wet with tears as she sobbed against Lori shoulder.

"She didn't come back?" Rick asked with terrorized eyes. Nicki had trouble to look at his expression, so desperate.

"What happened?" asked Shane as Rick tried to calm his breathing down.

"I... I found her in the woods" he started to explain looking behind his own shoulders "There were two walkers behind us and I... I had to lead them away, so I made her hide" Carol sobbed once again making Rick turning to look at her with sad eyes.

"I told her" he said "I told her the way to come back here"

Nicki looked again towards the woods, in hope that maybe Sophia would walk out. But not even a faint rustling noise could be heard. Where could Sophia be?

She turned to Carol breaking down in front of them as she saw Sarah with her hands in her hair turning away next to Glenn. The silence fell between all of them. It was terrorizing. It was like a feeling of waiting, but with an unspoken fear.

"Was it far?" asked suddenly Daryl, making them all turn to look at him. Rick's eyes were still wide.

"No..." he said shaking his head.

"I can follow her traces" Daryl said as Carol sobbed again.

"Really?" asked Sarah stepping closer to Daryl who nodded his head.

"It's like huntin'" he said.

"Alright" said Rick.

"I'll come too" said Shane as Glenn made a step forward.

"Me too".

When Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Shane went in the woods all of them tried to find something to do to take their mind off of Sophia. The only one was Lori who stood next to Carol waiting near the guard rail. Nicki had to move away from there, she didn't like the feeling that she had. The thoughts that she was making. She had heard Carl say that he was sure that his father would have brought the girl back. Nicki wasn't that confident. Rick said that they weren't far, that he had explained to her how to come back. She hadn't spoken many times with the girl, but Sophia wasn't a stupid kid. Then why hadn't she come back yet?

"Nicolette, please help me" Sarah's voice made her look behind her to see her sister knelt down in front of T-Dog that was moaning in pain, trying to help him with his bad injury.

Nicki went immediately next to her sister that had took off Daryl's rag from around T-Dog's forearm.

"Oh..." Sarah said taking a look.

"Is it bad?" asked T-Dog weakly trying to take a look, but Sarah covered it up again trying to flash a smile to him.

"No" she said "No, no. It's... it's actually ok"

"It hurts like a bitch, though" Nicki saw her sister take another look under the rag.

"Yeah" she said looking at T-Dog "But don't worry, alright?" then she turned to Nicki gesturing to her to get closer.

"Go in the RV" she said "See if you can find some gauzes... maybe Dale have something" Nicki nodded her head before opening the door of the RV and getting inside.

As she stepped in, she started to look around to find what Sarah had asked for. She went to the sink, opening the drawers. But there, there were just forks and knifes. Even if those could be useful too. On the table there were some rags that Andrea and Shane were using before stopping the RV, to clean their guns. They weren't exactly clean, but if she found nothing else, it could be useful. So, she took one of them. When she turned Nicki noticed a big blood stain on the ground.

"One of them entered in here" Andrea's voice made her look up.

"So I've heard" Nicki said turning to look for the gauze again "You ok?"

"Define ok" said Andrea as Nicki shrugged her shoulders.

"Alive?" Andrea scoffed making Nicki frown.

"Have I said something funny?" she asked opening another drawer.

"I think it's very different being alive and being ok these days" Andrea said leaning her back against the sink.

"People got depressed even before all of this"

"I'm not depressed" Andrea exclaimed as Nicki turned to her with a small frown.

"Sorry then" she said walking towards the bathroom looking around. She could hear Andrea scoff.

"You think you are brave, don't you?" asked Andrea appearing on the door, making Nicki look up at her not answering.

"How old are you?" Nicki frowned.

"Fourteen" she answered. That made Andrea let out a fake chuckle.

"You never speak that much, but you're always looking, judging" Andrea said making Nicki just stare at the woman "You're all looking and judging"

She was talking about the CDC. And it was true, since they had come to know that Andrea had decided to stay with Jacqui and Jenner, but got out thanks to Dale everyone observed the woman. As for Nicki, she had always observed, but she mostly felt sorry for Andrea.

"You wanted to die?" asked Nicki making Andrea blink her eyes with a frown.

"Yes" answered Andrea making Nicki nod.

"That's your choice" Nicki said finding some gauze in the drawer under the bathroom sink.

"Yes, it is" said Andrea as Nicki walked pass her to go out.

"I respect that, but I find it stupid" Nicolette said simply noticing how Andrea was glaring at her in disbelief. If she wanted to die for real, she would have not fought against the walker or during the journey she could have found another way to end it, but she didn't. Because she wanted to survive, like they all had wanted to survive inside the CDC. Forcing herself to not find something, even tiny, to keep going just to excuse herself to blow herself up, Nicolette found it stupid.

"Where have you been?" asked Sarah once Nicki walked out of the RV handing her the gauze.

"Sorry, got trouble finding it" she said sitting next to T-Dog.

"Your sister is an angel" said T-Dog weakly "She cleaned my arm"

"With the water Shane had just found" mumbled Sarah as she put the gauze over the slash, taking some black tape and tear a piece with her teeth, before putting it to stop the gauze from moving. Then she repeated it.

T-Dog chuckled.

"Sweet, sweet" he said as she finished

"Yeah, T" said Sarah patting his shoulder "Thank you"

"Oh god" Carol panicked voice made them turn to see Glenn and Shane getting out of the woods.

"Where's Rick?" asked Lori.

"And Daryl?" asked Sarah as the two sisters walked towards them.

"It's ok" said Shane in a calm tone "They are looking for Sophia. Daryl had found her traces. They're going to find her" Nicki observed the man as Shane started to walk towards the RV saying that they needed to move the abandoned cars so that they could create a passage.

"Did Daryl really find the traces?" Nicki heard her sister ask to Glenn.

"Yeah, yeah he did" Glenn said.

"Then what is that look?" Sarah said with a little frown.

"What frown?" Glenn said nervously.

"Glenn, you're my best friend and I adore you" Sarah said "But quite frankly, you are a terrible liar" Nicki couldn't help but snort. Indeed, Glenn could not really lie.

"Alright" he said taking a breath before whispering "Daryl found her traces; she was doing good but then she walked towards another direction" Nicki frowned a bit.

"A walker?" asked Sarah with a worried tone, but Glenn shook his head.

"Daryl said that there were just Sophia's footprints"

It was quite impressive how Daryl was able to follow some traces and knowing that Sophia hadn't been followed by a walker was something closer to good news.

"Glenn! Sarah!" called for them Shane "Come here, we need help".

It was almost sundown and they had spent many hours moving cars around. T-Dog was sitting down, still a bit delirious. Nicki had walked around trying to find something in the cars, it hadn't been a bad research. She had found three bottles of water, few shirts and a fever thermometer.

"What's the matter?" she asked when she noticed Carl with his back leaned against a car. He looked up at her before looking down again.

"You're not answering, it must be bad" she said sitting down, putting her bow next to her, then she looked up at him.

"I think Shane is mad at me" Nicki couldn't help but frown. Shane adored Carl. At first everyone thought he was his father. There was literally nothing he could do to make Shane angry at him.

"He is just worried" Nicki said looking towards Shane who was moving out of the way another car. He surely was worried about Sophia. Shane had always taken care of all of them, being some kind of a leader. Now, Rick had become some kind of a leader, but they could all count on Shane to watch their backs. Lately she had noticed him getting more silent than before, but they weren't in an easy situation. Even the quarry seemed like a home compared to where they were now.

"It's getting dark" she heard Sarah say as she walked with Glenn. They had plastic basket filled with cereal in their hands. Nicki felt her stomach grumble just looking at those. Starving over cereal. It wasn't getting good.

"They'll be back soon, don't worry" said Glenn nudging her shoulder.

"You didn't find her?" as she heard Carol's voice Nicki got up looking at Carl.

"Dad..." he said before the both of them start running towards the other. They were all gathered around Daryl and Rick, but still no Sophia.

"Her trail went cold" explained Rick trying to calm Carol down "We'll pick it up again at first light".

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods!" exclaimed Carol crying as Lori get closer to her.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost" stated Daryl softly. It was the first time she had heard such tone from him.

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own" Carol argued back "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard" said Rick trying to keep a calm tone "But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there"

"And we tracked her for a while" Daryl said.

"We have to make this an organized effort" said Rick "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this"

That wasn't easy. They couldn't risk to lose more people. But Sophia alone at night in the woods... they were in the middle of nowhere.

"Is that blood?" at Carol's panicked question all of them looked where she was pointing. Both Rick's and Daryl's pans were dirty with blood and they got some sprays even on their shirts.

"Are you both alright?" asked Sarah from next to Glenn. Rick nodded his head before turning to Carol.

"We took down a walker" but his explanation only made the woman panic more.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia" Rick said again. Nicki frowned just before Lori asked how they could be sure. Apparently, they had taken down a walker and cut it open. Nicki and Carl shared a look. The image in her head wasn't very pleasant and for as much as the two men wanted to make things better it didn't help Carol who seemed close to faint as she set on the guard rail.

"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Carol accused Rick "How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us" Rick tried to explain "I had to draw them off. It was her best chance"

"Rick..." said Sarah softly
"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own?" Carol interrupted her "She's just a child. She's just a child" Carol cried as Nicki observed her sister share a sad look with Glenn.
"It was my only option" said Rick "The only choice I could make"
"I'm sure nobody doubts that" Shane spoke making Nicki turn to him. Rick had helped them since he arrived, he had led them, protected them. She was sure he had done all he could.
"My little girl got left in the woods"

But still Sophia was out there alone. They could just hope that she had found some safe place for that night.