Chapter 29

The day had started just as he had expected. With walking. Then more walking. And then more walking. But once he had made his way to the roads, that led directly into town, he found the pile up of cars he had been expecting to see.

It was what remained of the confusion and hysteria, that people had gotten themselves caught in. The sight was something he had been faced with dozens of times. Abandoned cars that all got caught up when trying to flee the overpopulated areas. This was where he had been spending his day. Going through car after car, inspecting their ability to move and taking what supplies he could carry.

There were rooting corpses everywhere. They had been there so long that there wasn't much left of them anymore. For the most part he had been ignoring them. He only took a closer look when he saw one from the corner of his eye, causing him to quickly turn in it's direction, fearing a Walker had gotten the jump on him. But as he moved between the cars he could see one lying one the ground and for the first time that day, he took a second glance in its direction, without thinking that it was getting ready to attack him.

The body lay face first on the hot road, smelling like a pile of shit and the closer he got the worse the smell got. The smell of the dead was something he had grown used to, but this one had spent a little to much time under the hot Georgia sun.

He'd held his breath while he heaved the machete from the rotting corpse, then turned the handle in his hand while he examined it.

It was still in good condition and he thought it was worth hanging onto. Whoever had left it there, whoever had jammed in the Walkers skull, hadn't abandoned the weapon because there was something wrong with it.

He thought it might be perfect for Sophia. It was a good length for someone as short as her and the blade was strong.

He'd quickly stuffed it in his bag,… as much as he could anyway, then went back to going through the abandoned cars that were lined up down the road.

Ever since he left Sophia alone with Daphne he'd had a hundred thoughts of all the things that could go wrong. His concern and paranoia helped him to move faster, it helped him get everything done quicker, but it left his nerves shot. It got him to caught up in his head and that was not the right frame of mind when he had to fight of walkers. But no matter how worried he was about the kid, the amount of walkers he had encountered had made him happy that he'd taken the journey alone.

He'd known this wasn't going to be a quick problem with cars was when they'd been left sitting for to long, their batteries went flat. Sometimes the dust and dirt got built up under the hood and it got so thick that it ruined what was needed to make them run. So though there were hundreds of cars around him, finding one that worked had taken him all day.

But when one finally did roar to life, he swore he felt every muscle in his body, instantly loosen with relief.

For the hours of walking it had taken to get there, it took only 15 minutes of driving to get back, but in those minutes, wondering if they were ok, his mind had going overboard, creating a scene of epic proportions. He'd envisioned flames and hundreds of walkers. Blood and chaos.

But when he pulled up to the house, the first thing he noticed was Sophia peeking out from the window.

Before the car had even stopped, he watched her bounce from her spot and seconds later appear on the porch. She took a quick look and he did the same. Once he gave her a nod to continue, her smile grew and she came running down the stairs.

It wasn't until she was jumping into the front seat and buckling herself in, that he noticed Daphne finally make her way out the front door, hopping along to pull her boot on.

"Everything go alright" he asked Sophia, while he eyed the scowl on Daphne's face.

"Everything went fine." she answered confidently, before shrugging slightly. "For me, anyway."

He looked back over to Sophia and noticed a kind of smug smile on her face. Obviously she was trying to hide it by keeping her head turned and looking out the window. But she failed miserably.

He couldn't help but groan and drop back into his seat."Told you to be good. Ya ain't done that?" he questioned quickly as Daphne started making her way towards the car.

"I was good. I did as I was told." Sophia said simply.

It was clear that something had happened between Daphne and Sophia. That was even more clear to him when Daphne dropped roughly into the backseat and slammed the door without a single word.

He didn't ask anymore questions he just settled into the probability that the next few hours would be full of an uncomfortable silence. As usual.

They drove in silence for almost two hours when he noticed that the car was quickly running low on fuel.

Very soon he was going to have to stop. He was going to have to siphon more.

It was getting late and they were hungry, so he would need to hunt before it got dark. And he would have to do it all with both Daphne and Sophia acting as though they were seconds from lighting each other on fire. But he didn't care. He couldn't concern himself with any of that shit once he passed the Welcome to Georgia Sign.

The kid didn't said anything, but he had noticed her sigh with relief and smile to herself when she'd seen it.

For the first time in weeks he could actually see a light at the end of the tunnel. He simply needed to keep going and he could put everything back in it's rightful place. He would find her and everything would be ok.

"We here now. You got a plan" he asked looking into the rear view mirror at Daphne. Her face had finally relaxed and he was glad that he didn't have to look back and see the screwed up expression she had been wearing earlier.

"We stopping for the night?" she questioned, obviously planning something out in her head.

He hummed an affirmative at he and his eyes jumped from her reflection in the mirror, back to the road.

"I need my own car." Daphne mumbled and he could tell she was talking more to herself then anyone else.

He nodded in agreement as his mind quickly devised a plan of action.

"We'll find somewhere. Settle in for the night. Tomorrow, I'll go get some fuel and get you your own car." Daphne nodded and smiled at him and he decided to focus on that for a second before he looked back to the road, rather then looking at Sophia who he knew was glaring at him right now.

He could hear her feather light footsteps behind him as she followed him into the woods.

"We're close. We could be there soon, let's just leave" Sophia faintly whispered. He never had to explain much to Sophia, as far as hunting went. She seemed to figure most of it out on her own or simply by watching him. She was quiet and she trod lightly, she paid attention to her surroundings and she made sure to stay close to him.

"Gonna be dark real soon. Anything could happen." He reasoned with her as he continued scanning the area.

"Gotta be safe" he added, nodding to himself as he chanted the words like a mantra, then repeated then again and again in his own head.

"We gotta get back to mom. But your gonna waste time helping her"

He stopped then and turned to face her. He hadn't meant to scare her, but when he noticed her eyes grow wide and her whole body stiffen, it was clear he had.
He kept still and gave her a second for the knee jerk reaction to ware of. He watched as her shoulders loosened and she looked up and met his eyes.

"Sophia, they aren't just sitting around waiting for us at the campsite. I reckon they close by, but I don't think they're gonna there. So ain't no point in us getting there tonight. Right now-"

Before he could finish talking, he noticed Sophia's eyes suddenly focus on something behind him and her hand beginning to rise, ready to point something out.

He spun around raising his crossbow and releasing the bolt when he found what caught her eye.

Before he even began lowering his crossbow, Sophia wordlessly ran ahead of him to get the squirrel and retrieve the bolt for him.

"Right now, though." he continued as she started walking back over to him. "We got us a house to stay in, somewhere safe. So, were gonna wait and go tomorrow. Then were gonna find em and everything is gonna be like it was. But first were gonna get some sleep and help Daphne out, ain't no big deal. I gotta go get fuel anyway, might as well look for a car while I'm out there." He shrugged and started walking again, listening to her trailing behind him with, carrying her collection of squirrels."Ain't like I'm gonna risk my neck to find her a car, just gonna have a look…see what I can see"

It was the least he could do. Even if he didn't like her. Even if in many ways she had caused him a shit load of problems with Sophia. She had helped them. She had gone on watch at night and she had kept an eye on Sophia when he'd needed. He could at least get her a car so she could make it to her people a little quicker.

"Fine. You're right, I guess- …Walker!" Sophia hissed as she quickened her steps to get close to him, even though the Walker was pretty far off.

He looked down at Sophia and how she was pressing herself into his side. The idea that came to him, was most likely the wrong decision, but he had to start somewhere and this was all he could think of.

He loaded the bolt into the crossbow and looked down at her. "Drop that shit here" he said nodding to the pile of carcasses in her arms, as he tossed his pack to the ground.

Sophia was in far to much of a fright to question him, she dropped their dinner on the ground and then started looking around her, as if a herd was going to appear out of nowhere. He couldn't blame her. It had happened before and there was a good chance it would happen again. But it wasn't happening right here and now. It was just one Walker, one skinny, rotting corpse hobbling towards them.

"We need to go" Sophia whispered firmly, but he shook his head in reply as he knelled down in front of her. "I'm gonna kill it and ya gonna come with me" he said calmly, hoping to keep her calm. It didn't work.

"No. I can- I'll wait here"

He shook his head at her as she stuttered out her words. He didn't want her to be scared and he certainly didn't want to be the one scarring her. But right now she was freaking out over one of them crossing her path and he needed to start working on this fear that she had of them. Even if they found their group tomorrow morning, he was going to keep working on this with her. She wouldn't make it if he didn't.

"Nah Soph, ya gonna come with me"

Sophia shook her head frantically and he nodded back at her, trying to keep his expression soft so that she could see that there really wasn't any danger. It didn't work.

Her face was turning red and her breaths were getting shallow, but it only made him want to push her into this.

"I wont let it get near ya. I swear. I just want you to come with me and have a look at it."

She didn't say yes or no. He didn't give her a chance to. He took her hand and started leading her towards the walker, that was quite honestly, a pitiful looking thing.

He could feel her grip on his hand tightening and she was pressed so close to him, that he was sure he was going to trip over her feet any second. But still, she kept walking.

He thought she was being brave. That she was forcing herself to be brave and he was proud of that. That feeling didn't diminish when she suddenly yanked on his hand and pulled him back.
"No further. I want to stop" Sophia cried out.

The walker groaned and picked up its pace, but was still a safe distance away from them. But now she could see it clearly. Rotting flesh, snapping teeth and glazed eyes, all coming at her.

He looked down at her as she pressed her face into his side, hiding away from it.

"He ain't gonna get ya. I'm not gonna let him. But I want ya to look at it Soph."

Sophia peered out slightly at the monster coming for her. She put herself further behind him, but she kept her eyes on the Walker.

"These things Soph. Their dumb as a bag of rocks. They cant plan how to do anything, because they can't think anymore."

Slowly he could feel her loosening her grip on him and he crouched down, leaning back on his heels to line his eyes with hers.

He let out a hard breath through his nose and kept his sights locked on hers."They're scary. Hell, they scare the shit outta me"

Sophia's brow creased and she tilted her head to the side."They do?"

He let out a humorless chuckle and nodded firmly."Course they do. Fuckin Zombies walkin' around. This shit belongs in movies. I sure as shit shouldn't be standing you in front of one, asking you to look at it. But I am, cause this ain't a movie and I need you to get used to them…I don't want you to get hurt."

He didn't want her to die, that was what he was thinking. But he was sure that talking about her possible death was not going to help her right now.

Sophia turned then and looked at the Walker head on while it approached, trailing her eyes back and forth over it as if she was committing the sight to memory.

Her breaths were still shallow, she was clearly shaking but she held her ground and kept her eyes on the walker, until he lifted his crossbow pulled the trigger.

"So-" he started as he got up and went to retrieve his bolt. "You gonna tell me what happened with Daphne while I was gone." he asked with a smile, deciding it might be a good idea to change the subject. And honestly, he was curious.

Sophia grinned then and quickly turned to cover it. "Nothing happened. She asked me some questions and I gave her some answers."

"Questions about what?"

"About Mom."