Chapter 6

After Sage and Daryl ditched their truck to preserve more fuel to the other vehicles, Daryl rode on Merle's motorcycle since he didn't want to leave it behind, and Sage and Kaylee Jo rode in the RV. Sage much preferred being in the car with the other kids, but she didn't want Shane to know what she knew. She even caught him giving her a cold stare when she went with Daryl and T-Dog to fill up the gas tanks. Even though Walsh didn't know what she heard, he definitely speculated that she had an idea about his affair with Lori ever since she spoke about the red marks on his neck back at the CDC. Now that Sage was there with her daughter in the RV, there was no way to avoid Shane.

At least he focused more on his gun when he took the pieces out to clean it. There were times where he glanced over at Sage to which she noticed before turning his attention back on his gun. Andrea even distracted to Sage's relief when she commented how complicated it looked, so he told her that the trick was getting all of the pieces back in order the same way. He then told her that he could teach her if she liked to before noticing the gun that Andrea's father gave her and letting her know that it held seven rounds.

When Shane noticed Sage not keeping her eyes off of him, she quickly looked away, but it was already too late as he grasped her attention, "What about you, Sage? You wanna learn?"

Even though Walsh asked her, she knew from his stiff posture and hardened expression that he was meeting her head-on. "I'm good."

"Afraid of a gun? Com on, this might be something you could teach Kaylee Jo."

As soon as he brought up Kaylee Jo, Sage's jaw clenched. She didn't want her daughter's name coming out of his mouth. He didn't deserve it. One day, karma was going to catch up with him. It was only a matter of time. For now though, she was not going to allow Shane get his way by trying to make her look like an idiot in front of everyone else.

"My brothers taught me," Sage told him firmly, "Merle thought it'd best if I knew in case I carried a gun around."

"Your brother's a smart man then."

It almost seemed like Shane was intimidating her. If that was the case, then Sage needed to watch her back. From what she witnessed, he was a loose cannon-a time bomb ready to go off any second. What he did at the CDC was proof of it. He was incredibly unhinged by terrifying everyone when he went out of control with his shotgun by shooting everything in sight. One day, he may pull the trigger on her if she wasn't careful enough around him.

"Oh jeez." Everyone turned to see Dale when they heard him. "Aw no."

Sage, Shane, Andrea, T-Dog, and Kaylee Jo went to the front to see a whole bunch of cars on the highway. They were all abandoned with some of their doors wide open or rotten corpses in seats with flies buzzing around them. Dale had to stop the RV though when there was a huge truck flipped on its side and blocking their way.

An engine drew their attention, so Dale rolled his window down to ask Daryl when he drove up to the RV, "See a way through?"

Daryl looked back and nodded his head as he gestured for Dale to follow him. When Glenn studied the map though, he voiced his concern by trying to point out that there was an interstate bypass. Dale, however, reminded him that they couldn't waste their fuel, which was true, but the more they drove through the highway by passing by all of the cars, the more Sage had an eerie feeling about this place. She just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Her worries soon increased though when she heard the RV's radiator hose break, causing it to stop.

Before they all got out, Sage grabbed her bow and quiver just for protection just in case as she was the last one to leave the RV. "Problem, Dale?" Shane asked.

"Oh, just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no hope of-" He stopped himself when he noticed Daryl digging through a car and found a whole bunch of supplies. "Okay, that was dumb."

At least with these cars, there could be a whole bunch of stuff they could find whether it was food or water. Hell, they could even siphon the gas from the cars to refill their tanks. Still, Sage would rather do what they could as quickly as possible when Lori pointed out that they were in a graveyard. That was why Shane ordered everyone to get moving by finding what they could so that they could leave.

The group then split up. Dale, Andrea, and Rick stayed by the RV, T-Dog and Daryl went ahead to get more fuel, Glenn and Shane searched through the cars to look for parts to fix the RV, and Sage and Kaylee Jo were with the other mothers and kids as they ransacked for supplies. Sage made sure that everyone else was ahead of them. She was looking out for the group this way with her bow clutched in her hand.

When the women were digging through the trunks, Sage noticed Carol smiling to herself when she pulled a red dress out and put it against her frame. She must have imagined herself in it because she seemed so happy. Sage never really knew what it was like wearing dresses. In fact, she couldn't stand wearing them. They made her too girly, and she thought she wouldn't be taken seriously enough if she did. Putting something like that on with a pair of heels, glitzing jewelry, and gunk on her face wasn't Sage's style at all. She'd rather go out with jeans, a tee, and leather boots while her hair rode against the wind when she hiked every time she went camping with her family.

Carol's smile quickly faded when she finally noticed Sage staring at her, so she put the dress away while telling her, "Ed, never let me wear nice things like this."

"I didn't say anything about it. You do what you want."

Sage was surprised to see her smiling warmly at her. "We're gonna need clothes."

When Carl tried going off on his own, his mother told him to make sure that he was in her eyesight, so Carol said the same to her little girl. Sage didn't need to say it though since she already knew that Kaylee Jo wouldn't leave her sight. If she got in trouble with some walkers, then Sage had to be there for her to take them down.

As the three women continued to search, Sage took one glance at Lori and couldn't help but think back what happened at the facility. It all made sense why Walsh was acting this way. He lost Lori from the moment her husband came back into her life, so she ended it with him. Now she was paying the price. Honestly, though, Sage thought she deserved it. She'd done it to herself by believing him so easily. Unless Lori actually saw her husband die in front of her, then there was no reason for her to sleep with Shane. She just forgot about her husband because it was easier to forget him.

When Lori caught Sage sneering at her, Sage quickly turned away, causing Lori to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "Did you find anything useful there?"

"What?" Sage turned to her with a dull look, taking Lori by surprise a bit.

"I thought you may have found something, 'cause...you just looked at me."

"No. I didn't."

Lori clearly was a stupid bitch, not knowing when someone gave them a dirty look. Maybe that was why she got herself in a sticky situation by dealing with two men. At least Shane knew when Sage had a problem with him. Then again, he most likely speculated that something went on between him and the cop's wife, which was why he treated her so coldly. Lori, on the other hand, had no idea, and Sage was going to keep it that way for now.

As soon as Lori was the first to go back to business by looking through the car for supplies, Sage did the same until they heard Rick warning them, "Lori, under the cars. Carl, Sophia, Kaylee Jo, get down now."

They did as they were told as Sage rushed to get under a car by herself. She laid flat on her stomach with her bow in her hand. Her head soon turned to see Lori covering Carol's mouth before noticing Rick with a rifle in his hand as he was one car away from his wife. His kid was only a feet away from them by himself, and the poor girls huddled together under a car while holding hands. When Kaylee Jo and her mother made eye contact, Sage brought a finger to her lips, reminding her daughter to stay quiet.

Not long after, a swarm of walkers walked past them. One after another, after another. All Sage did was stare straight ahead while their pairs of decaying feet moved past her. She was going to get out of this with her family. They just couldn't do anything stupid like making noises. It drew too much attention, and it was a sure way of getting bit. On top of that, they couldn't attack them since there was way too many just from how many legs walked past her. That was why Sage patiently waited. However, her hands became clammy, and her heart hammered against her chest every time she glanced back at her daughter.

God forbid if they got her, but Sage never wanted to think about that. Sage would have felt much more at ease if Kaylee Jo was underneath the same car as her. At least Kaylee Jo had Sophia with her so that they could keep each other company, but still, they were only little girls. There was no way they could defend themselves. They weren't properly trained. They never had been out on the streets like Sage or her brothers. That was why all Sage did was keep telling herself that they were going to make it out since hoping and praying never helped anyone.

When the last walkers made their way past them, they all looked around to see if it was safe. That was when Kaylee Jo looked back at her mother and smiled at her. Not long after Sophia tried crawling her way out, Kaylee Jo was about to until she heard Sophia sobbing when a walker growled at her, so she backed up into Kaylee Jo. Kaylee Jo then screamed, causing Sage's eyes to widen when the walker knelt to find the two frightened girls.

A sickening wave of terror welled up Sage's stomach when the walker tried squeezing its way through the car, forcing Kaylee Jo and Sophia to go in the opposite direction by getting out of the highway. Sage was not going to let this happen. Her eldest brother was already lost in the world. She would be damned if her daughter turned into one of them, so she grunted lowly while struggling to get herself out underneath the car before Sophia and Kaylee Jo ran into the woods-away from danger.

Sage then chased after them by jumping over the median barriers. She was careful not to trip when she landed as her feet skidded down the dirt hill. Good thing Sage was used to running after escaping from cops a few times back when she was in high school. She only ever got caught once, and that was because one cop managed to outsmart her by taking a shortcut around a building to cut her off. That night in jail was cold and damp. At least her brothers got enough money to bail her out though.

Now that Kaylee Jo was out there, Sage needed to use her endurance to find her quickly. She heard a mix between panting and screaming nearby, so she ran in the direction of the sound and found Kaylee Jo but no Sophia. They must have been separated when they were being chased by walkers. Nevertheless, she found her daughter, which meant that she needed to protect her little girl, so she took out an arrow and pulled it against her bowstring while aiming at one of the walkers. She waited for the right moment until she released it, hitting it straight through its skull, causing it to fall to the ground.

Kaylee Jo soon stopped when she saw her mother coming out to shoot another walker down. When another one came their way, Sage reached her daughter. Kaylee Jo stayed behind Sage, waiting for her to kill another walker, only for the arrow to go through its jaw. It was stunned for a second before it composed itself and moved forward, so Sage took out her hunting knife and stabbed it directly through its head. When it fell into the dirt, Sage took out all of her fears and frustrations out on the walker by stabbing it repeatedly through its brain until her leather gloves and her knife were a bloody mess before crushing it with her boot.

With the walkers dead, Sage pulled the arrows out of their heads and put her weapon away before going over to her daughter and taking her shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah, but what about Sophia? There were walkers everywhere, and they split us up."

After hearing Kaylee Jo's concern, Sage thought about going after her too, but with Kaylee Jo out here, Sage was too vulnerable. There was no way she could protect her out here in the open by herself, especially with two kids. She needed to take Kaylee Jo back first so that she wouldn't hold her back. This way she could ask Daryl to help her track Sophia in the woods.

"And we'll find her, but right now, we need to get back on the highway."

"But we can't just leave Sophia," Kaylee Jo argued.

Sage's heart clenched when she heard the desperation in her daughter's tone, but her mind was already set. "I told you we'll find her. When we get back, I'll have your Uncle Daryl help, but we can't do that if we're surrounded by walkers, so we gotta move, you understand?"

Even though Kaylee Jo disagreed with her mother's decision, Sage put her bow over her shoulder so that she could pick her up and head back to the highway quicker. Sage's rushed feet passed through every tree and snapped every twig. That was why Sage didn't slow down. She couldn't risk for a walker to catch up with them. It wasn't until when she turned over to a hill that she spotted four walkers, causing Kaylee Jo to gasp.

When the walkers heard her, Sage grunted and turned around while carrying her daughter and cursing to herself. What sucked was that these dead sons of bitches didn't get winded so easily. Even though Sage had great stamina, she couldn't keep up for so long, and she couldn't have her daughter run either since Kaylee Jo wasn't as fast as her. It wasn't until when Sage reached a creek that she tripped over a vine sticking out of the ground.

Kaylee Jo yelped and rolled a few feet away from her while Sage grunted and felt her ankle throbbing in searing pain. At least she didn't hear it snap, but it turned the wrong way. Now, it hurt like a real bitch. Sage though wasn't ready to give in to the walkers as they slowly drew in on her and her daughter, so she got up as quickly as she could and ignored the throbbing sensation when she pressed her foot down.

"Come on. Come on," Sage said, grabbing Kaylee Jo by her shoulders for her support and hurriedly limped forward to get away from the dead. She could've lifted Kaylee Jo up, but Sage didn't want to worsen her injury and slow them down, so they continued straight ahead before reaching a hill that blocked their path. "Get behind me!"

When Sage got herself ready, she aimed her arrow directly at the walker coming straight at them and fired. Kaylee Jo flinched when the arrow released and killed the walker. There was a walker heading straight towards them with another one directly behind it, so Sage made her arrow count by making sure the walkers were very close to each other before firing. The arrow pierced through the walker's skull to hit the one behind it, causing them both to fall down. Sage didn't want to keep wasting her arrows, so when she saw that there weren't anymore, she went over to the dead walkers and pulled out her arrows before heaving a sigh of relief.

Everything quickly changed though when she heard Kaylee Jo whimper, "Mom!"

More walkers emerged from other areas. First, it was one more, then two followed behind it, then four more came out. Sage then cursed to herself, seeing how many there were. She counted at least eleven more walkers before another one crept out of the ground and another one that fell to the ground going down the hill before quickly picking itself back up. They just kept on coming, and Sage knew she couldn't take them all on with Kaylee Jo around her. She needed to get her out of here, and there was only one other way since the only areas to run to were all blocked.

Sage threw her bow behind her and pushed Kaylee Jo over the hill behind her. "Climb! Go!"

She made sure that Kaylee Jo was the first one to go so that Sage could pick out the ones who were too close to them by swinging her machete at the walker's heads. Kaylee Jo was struggling a bit to try to find the right spots to grab so that she could climb, but Sage didn't have time for her to struggle. She shouted for her to keep going and not to look down when she caught a glimpse of her daughter taking a peek at her mother while Sage's adrenaline bursted through her veins to protect her.

When Kaylee Jo yelped, Sage quickly looked to see Rick Grimes at the top of the hill and held her daughter as he got down to her level and asked if she was okay before looking down and noticed Sage. "Sage, come on!"

As soon as Sage saw her daughter up there with the cop, she killed two more and hurriedly put her machete back in her belt and started climbing while the rest of the walkers made their way down to her. One of the walkers though tried grabbing her boot. Its grip was a lot stronger than what Sage thought as it tried to bring her down. At that moment, her heart nearly bursted out of her chest, knowing that this wasn't going to end well.

"Mom!" Kaylee Jo cried out.

Her daughter's plea was the motivation she needed to keep on fighting. Sage glared at the dead prick furiously and grunted. She used her strength to lift her leg to stomp on its head several times right before it had a chance to sink its teeth into her ankle when it managed to bring her closer to its mouth. Thankfully, she didn't feel its mouth on her, so she kept on climbing when its head crunched, forcing itself to let her go and fell to the ground dead.

Those sons of bitches were getting closer to her, and Sage was only halfway when she nearly slipped and cut her knee on a sharp rock. Even though it wasn't the worst injury she ever got, it hurt like a real bitch though as blood slowly streaked and dripped to the ground. The walkers underneath her couldn't climb, but they were growling at her with their arms in the air. They practically shoved each other to get a taste of her.

She then looked at Rick when he encouraged her to keep going. "Come on, Sage! That's it!"

Sage grunted to pull herself up and when she was nearly there, Rick held his hand out for her to take, so she did without any hesitation. He pulled her towards him while Sage practically pushed herself out of danger while her teeth gritted from the pain on her ankle before landing on Rick. They just stared at each other for a brief moment with their breaths quickening over escaping from the walkers. Kaylee Jo gasped in relief with more tears coming down her face when she saw her mother safe.

When Sage got off of Rick right away, she couldn't stop panting when she looked down at the walkers, but she turned her attention towards Rick when she saw him get up. "We gotta keep moving. We can't stay here."

"Wh-What about Sophia?" Kaylee Jo whimpered. "Did you find her?"

"When I heard you screamin', I told her to meet us at the highway by following the path and to keep the sun on her left shoulder while I drew the walkers away from her. Now we gotta go. Come on."

Sage wished she didn't hear Kaylee Jo say, "But Mom's hurt. She can't move her foot."

After listening to Kaylee Jo, Rick turned to Sage. She wasn't going to let him make her look weak by pitying her or something. Sage needed to be strong, so she slowly got back to her feet, and winced at her throbbing ankle, to which Rick noticed.

"I'm fine," Sage told him firmly. "I just twisted my ankle. Let's just keep moving."

Rick stared at her for a moment before going over to her, causing Sage to narrow her eyes at him when he told her, "Give me your arm."

She couldn't believe what he was doing. They needed to get out of there before more walkers came. There was no way she was going to let him help her. He already did enough by pulling her to climb out of the hill and away from the walkers. That was all she needed, not having him help walk her like she was an old lady.

"I'm not asking for your help," Sage seethed.

Rick, however, was unfazed by her attitude as he told her sternly, "And I'm not asking."

One look at his eyes and hearing the determination in his voice made Sage realize how serious he was. His tone warned her to not fight him because he was going to win, and for once, Sage actually believed it. She had to stop wasting time arguing though since they were out in the open. More walkers could come out at any moment.

Sage hesitated to put her arm around his neck. She thought that he was just going to support her to walk, but he took her by surprise. He grabbed her arm and threw it over his neck before taking her legs and picking her up, causing her to suck in a breath. She wanted to tell him to put her down, but Rick was so stubborn like her. That was why she unwillingly let him carry her while her entire body became absolutely still from the shock of his action.

Even Kaylee Jo was stunned as her lips parted in a silent surprise before Rick turned to her to remind her, "Alright. You stay close to me, you got it?"

She agreed and stayed by Rick's side as she followed him. Sage's breaths became shallow the longer he carried her. She couldn't even help but steal a few glances at him. He probably noticed, but he didn't want to pay attention since he knew he needed be focused to get them out of there by staring straight ahead.

No one ever had the balls like this before. For a moment, she felt like slugging him as soon as he lifted her, but Sage decided against it as she remembered her brother's words. She hated to admit it, but she actually needed help. Even though Rick Grimes did some damage to her family by handcuffing her brother to a roof and putting them in danger, he at least had a heart by going the extra mile to protect every member of the group, and it made Sage guilty the more she thought about it while he continued to get them out to safety.

After the walkers made their way past Daryl and T-Dog, he lifted the walker off of T-Dog and helped him up. The blood from T-Dog's arm soaked his shirt, so he did his best to stop the bleeding by wrapping cloth around it. When Daryl noticed how deep the cut was, he knew it wasn't good, but he didn't say anything to him, so he headed back to the rest of the group with him where he spotted Lori comforting Carol over by the barriers.

As Daryl looked at the group, he noticed a couple of important people missing. "Sage? Kaylee Jo?"

"She went after Kaylee Jo into the woods when she was being chased by walkers with Sophia," Lori told him, causing Daryl to harden his gaze at her. "Rick followed after them."

His nostrils flared ferociously. He refused to allow his little sister and his niece to be caught up in this mess. He took his crossbow off his back and prepared himself to go after them until Shane stepped in to stop him, "Woah, woah! Wait!"

"What do you mean, 'wait'? They're out there!" Daryl spat in his face.

"Rick went to go get them! We can't keep losing numbers. We're stronger united than we are splitting up," Shane argued.

Daryl didn't care if the cop went after them. He already lost Merle. He was not going to lose Sage and Kaylee Jo, which was why he got in Shane's face by taking a daunting step towards them. "Get out of my way." When Shane refused to budge, it pissed Daryl off even more as he barked out and practically shoved Shane. "I said get the hell out of my way!"

Lori and Dale tried breaking them up when they saw how heated both of them were getting as they got in each other's faces, but Daryl was not going to back down. He needed to go get his family back before they were killed, and he was not going to let Shane Walsh get in his way. He tried hitting him, which only aggravated Shane as he warned him not to do it, but Daryl kept going at it, not caring how he looked in front of everyone.

Eventually, they stopped when Dale noticed Rick carrying Sage and Kaylee Jo trailing by Rick's side as he slowed down for her to keep up with him. "They're back," Dale said.

Carol sucked in a breath almost in relief while the two men, who were just about to fight, stopped. However, Carol's eyes widened when they got closer to them as she realized that Sophia wasn't with them. Daryl, on the other hand, wasted no time as he rushed over to them and waited for Rick to set her down on the trunk of a car. Kaylee Jo immediately wrapped her arms around her uncle and sniffled back her sobs, who responded by ruffling her hair a bit before turning back to Sage and noticed her grunting when she made herself comfortable by straightening one of her legs out.

"We didn't get bit," Sage panted to ease her brother's worries when he stared at her leg after she touched her ankle and flinched at the pain. "Rick got us out in time."

Daryl first looked at Rick before turning back to Sage. "You good?"

"Yeah. I just fell when I was runnin' while carrying Kaylee Jo and twisted my ankle. Man, those walkers don't stop chasing for nothing."

They all then looked to Carol when she approached Rick. "What about Sophia? Did you find my little girl?"

Rick nodded and gestured towards Sage and Kaylee Jo as he explained, "I told her to hide until it was safe to come out so that I could draw the walkers away from her, then I found them."

"So you left her?"

Carol looked like she was about to cry, so Sage spoke up, "He'll find her."

Everyone turned to Sage, somewhat almost surprised that she defended the cop since everyone knew that she couldn't stand him. Even Rick couldn't stop staring at Sage just as she didn't either with him. It was almost like he was trying to figure her out when she spoke highly of him. Her tone wasn't threatening or malice. It was more of a genuine sincerity.

Rick finally nodded his head when he focused his attention back on Carol, "We will."

He then gave Sage one final nod by acknowledging his thanks before gathering Daryl, Glenn, and Shane to go search for Sophia. Daryl was determined to find this little girl. He thought of it as tracking down Kaylee Jo. If his own niece was lost in there, all Hell would break loose for the Dixons. That was why Daryl made it a mission to find this little girl since he noticed Kaylee Jo's expression when Carol mentioned Sophia.

After hours of waiting, the sun slowly set in on them. Sage didn't understand what was taking Daryl and Rick so long. Shane and Glenn already came back to move some of the cars out of the way so that they could turn around to go through the bypass like what Glenn mentioned before, but they wanted to wait until Daryl and Rick came back with Sophia.

Sage drank some water after Andrea gave it to her, to which she appreciated. She even tried giving it to Kaylee Jo, but she refused since she was still upset about her friend still missing. Kaylee Jo couldn't stop fiddling with the bracelet that she made with her. She hardly looked up to meet anyone's faces.

When Sage looked back at Carol and saw that she hadn't left her spot for her little girl, Sage gave her daughter her water bottle. "Come on. I want you to stay hydrated." Even though Kaylee Jo didn't want to, she did as she was told by having a sip before her mother telling her, "Stay here, alright? I'll be right back."

She jumped off the truck and felt a split second of pain from her ankle. It didn't hurt as much when she was out there in the woods. Resting helped it though for her to walk at least, but her face grimaced a bit when she still felt her ankle throbbing on occasion.

By the time she made it to Carol, she crossed her arms and just looked at her, but Carol didn't bother turning her way. She kept her focus on the woods, hoping that her little girl would come out. Sage knew though that they were going to find her. There was no way she was going to allow Sophia to be separated from her mother any longer.

"It's late. Gonna be dark soon," Carol finally acknowledged her.

Everything Carol had done for her, she felt like she owed her for her kindness, which was why she reassured her, "You know, my brother's the best tracker in this whole group-even better than me. If Rick's got him by his side, then they'll find her,"

When Carol turned to Sage, she smiled gratefully at her. For as long as she stuck around in camp, she always thought that Carol was too weak, but Sage realized at this moment that she was a mother looking out for her daughter just like Sage. Even though Sage was ruthless and would kill every one of those sorry dead pricks, she never forgot the horrible beating in her chest or how her breath went still when those walkers got underneath the car and chased her little girl into the woods. She felt useless, knowing that there wasn't anything she could do in that moment, except telling herself that her kid was going to make it. If it was hard losing Kaylee Jo in that moment, then she couldn't imagine what Carol was going through.

The rustling in the bushes drew their attention, and Sage was relieved to see Daryl and Rick, but she soon got worried when she realized that Sophia wasn't with them as Carol asked, "You didn't find her?"

"Her trail went cold," Rick explained after going over the metal barriers. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

Sage actually pitied Carol when she heard her sad tone, "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."

Even Sage knew the risks of tracking her at night as her brother stepped in to remind Carol, "Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost."

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

Hearing her tone, Sage actually put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her and try to get her to calm down since getting erratic wasn't going to help find more information about her little girl. Sage looked between the two men, wanting them to give Carol something at least for her to look forward to, but it didn't ease Carol's worries. If Kaylee Jo was in there, Sage would tear them a new one and would have to wait for her brother to pull her back. At the same time though, the more information they had on Sophia, the quicker it was to find her.

Rick let Carol know that he was sure Sophia was in the woods as Daryl jumped in by saying that they tracked her down for a while. Sage admitted that Rick was very level-headed on the situation by keeping Carol under control so that she wasn't rattled by her emotions. He even came up with a great plan by having Daryl oversee the woods since he knew it better than anyone, which was true. Sage always led Daryl take the lead whenever she went out camping with her family or even during the outbreak when Merle didn't know where to go when he tried taking the lead, Daryl was the one who stepped up.

"Is that blood?" Carol panted when she noticed Daryl's pants and boots.

When they saw Carol breathing heavily, Rick told her, "We took down a walker."

"Walker? Oh my God."

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."

After Andrea asked them how they knew that, they seemed conflicted at first to say something until Daryl admitted, "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

As nice as it sounded to hear that a walker didn't get to her, it still didn't change the fact that she wasn't with them. Sage had no idea what she could do or say to ease Carol's mind. To be honest, the situation itself made her uncomfortable. Just the idea of a little girl defending herself out there didn't sit well with Sage. She even turned back to her daughter and saw her head hanging low in disappointment when her uncle and the cop gave them the news.

"Oh god," When Sage saw Rick's face, she knew he had a guilty expression from the moment Carol accused him, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"

Rick tried defending himself by saying that there were walkers on them, so he needed to lure them away. Sage understood that he didn't have any bad intentions. He was trying to help this little girl the best he could by drawing them away. However, Sage wouldn't know if she would have left her either like that. If she did that to Kaylee Jo, then her anxiety would increase. That was why Sage went after her daughter, because she couldn't live with herself if anything happened to her.

Even Shane sided with Rick by saying that Rick didn't have any other choice, but Carol made a point by saying that Sophia was just a child and that she couldn't make it back on her own. Rick, however, got down on his knees to tell her that it was his only option, and when Shane told him that no one doubted that, Sage immediately noticed Shane's cold tone and scowled at him before turning back to Rick when he tried to calm the situation.

When Carol sobbed out that her little girl got left in the woods, Lori comforted her by wrapped her arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. No one what to do or say to make the situation better, so they all stayed silent. Rick just nodded his head, acknowledging how serious this was before getting up and looked over at the group. One look in his eyes, and Sage saw that he failed Carol before he walked away from them.

The next day, Rick rolled out an arsenal of weapons on the hood of a car for everyone to take. Sage didn't need any of them though by gesturing to her weapons. Andrea, on the other hand, wasn't too keen to see that there was an assortment of knives and hatchets. She told them that they needed guns, but Shane reminded her that they couldn't keep popping off rounds and attract a herd. If that happened, then the entire group would be in jeopardy.

Daryl then explained the plan, "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick warned the group.

When Sage trekked over to Daryl's side after the group split, he asked her, "How's your leg?"

"Better." When she stayed silent, she thought about what would happen if Kaylee Jo was still lost in the woods. "We're gonna find that little girl."

Her brother turned to her, acknowledging, "Yeah, we are."

The scurrying of feet caught their attention, so they looked to see Kaylee Jo running up to them and carrying a backpack. "I'm coming too."

Sage didn't like the sound of that as she argued with her, "No. You're not."

The idea of Kaylee Jo tagging along didn't sit well with Sage. She almost lost her in those woods, and she didn't want to lose her again. She would feel much more comfortable if Kaylee Jo stayed here with that old man watching over her. Kaylee Jo was stubborn though just like her mother, so she knew she wasn't going to back down.

"But I just heard Carl's going with his family. I can help."

"I'm not his parents. Now, you're staying in that RV so you don't get yourself hurt," Sage scolded after hearing her daughter whine before looking over at Dale and telling him, "Hey, you watch her while I'm gone."

Sage could give a shit to how the old man felt about her for raising her voice at him. She had a kid that needed to be looked after. It took a moment when Sage looked back at Kaylee Jo and stared each other down before Kaylee Jo bolted back to the RV and went inside. Sage didn't care if her daughter was mad at her. She was her mother, so she had to listen to her. Only she knew what was best for her.

"She ain't gonna forgive you for that," Daryl reminded his sister.

"Well, she ain't old enough to understand yet." When the group was leaving, she turned to her brother. "Let's go find that little girl."

As Daryl and Sage went ahead first into the woods, most of the survivors followed them. T-Dog couldn't go with them because of his injury, not like Sage was complaining though. At least someone else could watch over Kaylee Jo while Dale got to work on the RV. Her daughter even spent some time with T-Dog as he tried to play some card games with her in the bedroom while they drove here. Maybe he could make her feel better now that she was pissed off with her own mother for not letting her go with them on their task to track Sophia down.

When Sage looked ahead, she saw a tent and got low a bit, so Daryl raised a hand for everyone to be quiet. Rick and the others slowed down when Sage pointed towards the yellow tent. Everyone then got down while Daryl and Sage got their weapons ready. They thought that perhaps Sophia could be in there, but Sage wasn't so sure. Until they saw her, then they couldn't say it.

Daryl was the first to take the initiative by going forward and pointing his crossbow ahead in case any dangers came out. Sage stayed behind him with her arrow pulled back, but she kept it by her side as she cautiously made her way over to the tent with Rick and Shane directly behind her. Her brother then stopped by giving a signal to them, telling them that he was going inside, so they stayed while Daryl took his knife out, unafraid of the unknown when he crept closer to the tent.

He set his crossbow to the side and readied his knife. The tent was hardly open, so he peeked through to try to get a look inside, but there was no confirmation that Sophia was in there. He then went around the tent to look through the side, to get a better view since there was a small tear, but still no signal. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders at them, not knowing if Sophia was in there.

Rick then whispered Carol over to them. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

The anticipation was written all over her face as Carol called out, "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."

When there was no answer, Sage stayed by Carol's side while Rick and Shane went ahead to Daryl. He slowly unzipped the tent with his knife at the ready. As soon as he opened it halfway, her brother quickly turned his head away while covering his nose with his backhand as he coughed. Sage wanted to see what was inside, but she remained on her spot because she knew that her older brother could take care of himself when he went inside.

As soon as Daryl shut the door on them, Rick and Shane started coughing. Sage imagined that the smell must have been so awful for them to react that way. A part of her was kind of glad that she didn't investigate it herself. Still, she didn't understand why her brother was taking his time in there. All they needed to do was find Sophia, and for some reason, he was still in there.

Sage then called out, "Daryl? Daryl?"

When he finally came out, Sage was relieved to see that he was alright, but his news disheartened the group, "It ain't her."

"Find anything?" Sage asked.

"Some what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

It sucked that they didn't find Sophia. They could've went back to the RV, but it meant that they just had to keep searching for. There was no way Sage was going to give up though, and when Daryl made eye contact with his sister, she knew that he was determined to get her back too.

Bells rang in the distance, and everyone's heads turned as Sophia may have been the cause of it, so Rick pointed in the direction where it was. They all ran towards the sound and speculated who was ringing them. They didn't know if someone rang the bells to call for help, if someone did it to alert the group that they found Sophia, or even if Sophia rang them herself. No matter what the reasoning was, it counted for something, and it was their best shot in finding her, so they trekked on ahead.

When they finally reached the church, Shane told Rick that there was no way Sophia was here since there was no steeple or bells. It didn't matter what he said though as they ran towards the doors. Rick stopped to take his gun out, and he put his finger to his mouth to get everyone to be quiet before opening the red doors.

Inside, there were a few walkers sitting on the benches and soon growled when they turned their heads towards the group. They then rose from the seats while Rick was handed a curved blade from his wife. He then made his way over to one of the walkers and slashed its head before beating it down. Shane then took another walker out by driving his machete through a walker's head. As for Daryl, he crept up to the last walker and made kissing noises to get its attention as it whipped around to face him before he swung his knife at its face.

As soon as the walkers were down, Sage looked over at Rick and saw him panting from the adrenaline rush while he stared at the huge cross in front of the church before yelling out, "Sophia!"

Even though Daryl went over to the cross and joked if Jesus Christ was taking any requests, Sage didn't smile or smirk. It was just awful that they couldn't find Sophia, and the one who was suffering for it was Carol. Shane didn't make the situation any better when he went over to Rick and told him that this was the wrong church. If he was a real leader, then he should be the one to take action. It was almost as if he wanted Rick to call the shots by taking ownership so that he could see him fall, and that made Sage despise him even more.

Their worries soon went away though when they heard bells ringing again, so everyone rushed outside with Sage going ahead of them. When she got down the steps, she went around the corner and turned her attention towards the roof where there was a speaker. By the time Glenn made it to her side, he noticed it too. They both then rushed over to the wall where Glenn got into the power box to shut off the noise.

"A timer," Sage told the group. "It's on a timer."

She wished she had better news for Carol, but nothing was going to make her feel better until she found her little girl, so Carol told them that she was going to go back in for a bit. Normally, Sage thought that praying never helped anyone since if they wanted something so badly, then God wasn't going to help them with that.

This was the only exception she was going to give though as she stayed silent while heading inside with her brother to let Carol pray as Sage listened intently, "Father, forgive me. I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. I prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me and for looking at his own daughter with whatever sickness was growing in his soul. I prayed you'd put a stop to it, give me a chance to raise her right, help her not make my mistakes. She's so fearful. She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance. Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe, alive and safe. Please, lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her."

Sage never got emotional, but hearing Carol's prayer, actually reached out to her. It wasn't like she was going to cry though. She hadn't in a long time since she was a little brat. It didn't mean though that her posture didn't turn stiff or how her neck dropped until her head couldn't bow anymore with her jaw clenching. She swallowed the small lump in her throat to control her emotions. It wasn't until her theatre mind played a film if the roles were reversed between Kaylee Jo and Sophia. That was when her vision slowly became blurry, so she breathed in and blinked back so that the tears wouldn't escape before leaving the church with her brother following her.

When they were at the graveyard, the group waited for Rick and Shane to stop talking until Shane came back to tell them, "Ahem. Y'all gonna follow the Creek Bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." When Daryl asked if they were sure to split up, Shane nodded, "Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

Rick's son then spoke up, shocking his parents and Shane, "I want to stay too. I'm her friend."

Both Rick and Shane looked at Lori for confirmation, so she told her son to be careful. He said that he will, causing her to hug her son and kiss his head. Rick then came over to kiss his wife as he assured her that they won't be long. When Sage witnessed the embrace, she looked over at Shane and saw him avoiding the scene by focusing more on his shotgun. It made Sage not trust him even more, but Sage also believed that he wouldn't try anything in front of the kid, so her concern grew less.

Rick then tried giving his wife his 357 Magnum, but Lori refused by making a point that he shouldn't walk around unprotected. That was when Daryl stepped forward and told them he had a spare by giving her a small handgun. At first, Sage wondered where he got the gun. She soon came to the conclusion though that he found it back at the tent when he told the group that there was a man inside who committed suicide. He never said how he killed himself. It was the only logical explanation Sage came up with.

They then went ahead into the woods with Daryl taking the lead and Sage by Carol's side. She didn't say anything to her, but she thought that maybe if she saw someone by her side, then she would feel more comfortable and at ease over Sophia's disappearance. There were times where Sage couldn't help herself but take a quick peek at her only to find her head low, so Sage went on straight ahead as she watched Daryl take charge to take them to the creek.

When the group reached deeper into the woods, they stopped to catch their breaths. "So this is it? This the whole plan?" Carol asked, sitting down on a fallen tree.

Daryl sighed before telling her, "I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups."

The group then turned to Andrea when she gave Lori attitude. "Carrying knives and pointy sticks. I see you have a gun."

"Why you want it? Take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." Lori held the gun out to Andrea, while telling her off before addressing the group, "All of you." The corners of Sage's mouth curled into a scornful frown when Lori turned to Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody? Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

No one then said anything when she criticized. Sage wanted to say something though. She wanted to tell her off, but at the same time, she knew as soon as she opened her mouth, then it would get her in so much trouble. That was why she kept quiet. However, if Lori continued to condemn them, then she was going to get checked by Sage since she never allowed anyone to talk to her like that.

Yay! That's the end of the first episode of season two! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think in the review section or even what you're hoping for in my story. Stay tuned for more chapters heading your way.