We are here! Still technically on episode one but we are coming to the end of it. But we are close to meeting the Greene family. I do apologise for not posting as often but college was hounding me, I'm now planning it or on my final pieces now, so more time for writing. But anyways we should get started! Disclaimer I don't own The Walking Dead just my ocs and plotlines.
Summer's PoV
Summer was walking to the store, her, her father Lee, her mother Karen, her 15 year old brother Nathan, and she was bored. She wanted to be at home, texting her boyfriend Matt, going to a group sleepover, watching movies, not going on this stupid camping trip that her parents wanted to go on.
Yes, she may have known about this camping trip for a while and said yes to plans, and had to bail because of her stupid parents wanting 'family time'.
"You alright back there munchkin?" Her father, Lee, asks her.
"Yeah." She mumbles. Perfectly fine... ugh not.
They heard a groan and look at a person, a woman walking funny, their hair was matted, coming up behind an old man.
The old man realises that the woman was coming to him.
"Miss, are you okay?" He asks her. She was groaning a lot, is she alright?
That's when she bites into the man's arm and Summer screams.
"Kids, get back in the truck!" Her mom screams.
Summer grabs Nathan's hand and they run to the truck, their parents following behind them.
Summer's hand reaches the door handle but a hand grabs it and she sees a person, well, what was left of a person snarling at her. She screams but it was thrown off of her.
She sees her dad wrestle with the per- no the thing. It bites into his shoulder and he lets out a cry.
"Dad!" Nathan cries.
"Lee!" Their mom sobs.
"Go!"
That was the last time they saw their father. After that, they were on the road for some time, before they got separated in a town, Macon, which was where she last saw her mother and brother. So she travelled to Atlanta on foot for about a day. That's when she saw it was overrun, and knew her family was gone. She didn't know if they were alive or dead, so she knew, that she had to think that they were dead, because it was easier.
Callie's PoV
They slow down, after a little bit of running. They need to get their bearings, they could get lost out here.
"What direction?" Shane pants.
Rick points in a direction. "I think that way. I'm pretty sure."
"The bells could be anywhere. They are echoing all over these woods." Jeremy points out to the group and Callie might agree with him on that one, they had no idea if it was near or not.
Shane nods his head. "Jer's right. It's hard to tell out here."
"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too." Carol offers.
Good point. But we need to be prepared for anything.
"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others?" Glenn suggests.
"Or signalling they found her." Andrea adds.
"Or she could be ringing them herself." Callie points out and the group pales at that thought, walkers could be coming from miles away. Even though it could be a good thing if she was there, they need to get there, now.
"We need to go." Amy says determined, clutching a hood of an axe tightly.
It was weird. To see people who didn't hold a weapon back at the Quarry, carrying one now. If they used weapons from the beginning, maybe half the people that died wouldn't die. Or would it have stayed the same?
"Come on." Rick urges and the group picks up speed.
Tabby's PoV
She looks through the first aid kit that they found, which had hardly anything in it. Anything worth it. There's bandaids, a couple of bandages but no needle or thread.
"Hey." She hears Josie greet and looks up to her holding a bottle of vodka. "I found this." She sees how much. A quarter of a bottle.
"Better than nothing." Tabby mutters and takes it off her. "Thank you." She looks at the pregnant woman, who looks nervous and worried. "You okay?"
"I just feel like something bad is gonna happen."
"A mother's instinct?" Tabby asks the older woman.
"Yeah." She murmurs, looking to the woods where the others went. Where her son went. Maybe she should have Connor stay here but he was old enough now, plus he has the whole group with him.
"Ain't you suppose to be fixing that radiator? What if they come back with Sophia. And Rick wants to move on right away?" T-Dog asks Dale.
Dale was on top of the RV, keeping watch for walkers. Just in case another horde passes by. "I had it fixed yesterday." He reveals.
"What?" Josie asks the man.
"What was all that rubbing and sanding for then? That's just bullshit." T-Dog raises a brow at the man. Was he insane? Josie gives the man a pointed look. "Sorry." He apologises when he sees Maya looking at him.
"Yeah, that's one word. Another word would be pantomime-- just for show. No one else needs to know that." Dale says.
"Pantomime." T-Dog repeats in disbelief.
"If the others know we're mobile, they'll want to mobilise and move on." Dale points out and Tabby understands where the man is coming from.
"So you don't think they'll find Sophia, that it?" T-Dog asks him.
"I'm just guarding against the worst. Sooner or later, if she's not found, people will start doing the math. I want to hold off the needs of the many versus the needs of the few arguments as long as I can." Dale explains.
"When you mean 'people', you mean Shane?" Tabby asks the man. She could feel all eyes on her.
Dale nods his head after a moment of hesitation. "It's not the first time he's left someone behind."
She remembers the argument him and Callie had, it felt like a lifetime ago, when in reality it wasn't even a week. How he was going to leave the group behind because they were stuck in the city. And Merle. She feels terrible at what happened. She couldn't even imagine what Daryl was thinking right now.
"Would he leave Sophia behind?" Maya asks the old man, squinting in the sun. It was such a bold question from someone so young. It was... blunt to say the least. But it was the question in the back of people's minds. A question Tabby didn't want answered.
The thing was, they couldn't answer the young girl, because they didn't know. What Tabby knew, was if it was Carl, they wouldn't leave him behind, because of Rick, Shane has had an affair with Lori, so he's in that pool. Rick has proven he was a good man, a better man than Shane is, so he would stay and look for Sophia, the same with Callie.
But the question was, would everyone else? How long will they keep looking for? They're stuck on a highway, where walkers could come at any moment, or a new threat, people? Would that argument weigh in against searching for Sophia? Probably, and Tabby knew that Shane will bring it up.
"That is one tricky hose, huh?" T-Dog changes the subject by looking at Dale.
Dale smiles. "Very."
Callie's PoV
They come through a clearing where they see a church.
"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane lists off and Rick takes off running. "Rick!" He hisses. Callie runs after him.
She hears the grass rustling behind her and knows that everyone is following after the leader, who is very desperate at this point to find Sophia.
They approach the doors of the church, slightly taking a breather when Rick and Callie make eye contact. Callie could read that he was ready.
They open the doors of the church and see four walkers sitting idly, staring at the statue of Jesus, kind of ironic in Callie's opinion. Callie unsheathes her machete, and Shane, Rick and Daryl grab manly weapons from the group. Callie walks forward first, heading straight to a walker, with dark matted short hair, a suit that would be in good condition if the man was still alive. Then the white collar reveals itself, and she realises it was a pastor. The white collar staring at her, mocking her.
It snarls at her and she brings the machete down into its skull. She pulls it out and notices the collar has blood splattered on it.
Callie just stares at the collar as the guys kill their walkers. Was the collar symbolising something for her and for the group? She didn't know. Would she have to kill people, dirtying her clear conscience? Removing her innocence to the horrors of this world? This was most likely.
"Sophia!" Rick shouts and she looks away from the walker. The group was walking in the church, looking at the mess of walkers, and the church. Blood spilled in God's house. It felt wrong. Even though Callie isn't religious or believes in God, she knew that this was wrong.
"Yo, J.C, you taking requests?" Daryl mocks.
"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane points out to the man.
That's when bell rings just to contradict what he was saying.
Everyone runs outside, a rush to see what was ringing. Callie manages to push herself to the front and sees Glenn rip the wires out.
"A timer." Daryl pants and points at the machine. "It's on a timer."
Callie closes her eyes in frustration.
"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol says before heading into the church. Everyone falls silent, another dead end.
The group disperses, no one knowing what to do. All they could do was wait for Carol to finish.
Summer approaches Callie. "We'll find her. She can't be far from here."
Callie appreciates the comment from the teenager. "Yeah, it'll take time." She sits heavily on the stairs of the church and sees everyone disperse around the church.
"Look, I know I haven't been here long enough to be best buds with you all. But I can see that you're a good group. That you're a good person." Summer tells her.
"How so?" Callie asks the girl. She knows that she's a standard person. She doesn't trust people and has a hard time doing so.
"You could have ditched the little girl and her mother and be on your way. But you didn't. You. You ran after her, followed by Rick. Not many people do that." Summer admits before walking to Connor, who's a little aways reading a tombstone.
Callie realises that she was right. Not many people now would go after a little girl. If she was lost, she'd have to find her own way back. She heads inside the church, spotting Rick leaning against the wall, with his head down guiltily and sits down on a pew. She is looking at the back of Carol's head.
"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." Callie closes her eyes at that. "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." Carol emphasises on the words. "Please, Lord, punish me however you want, but show mercy on her."
Lori was sitting next to Carol at that point and Callie couldn't believe that she didn't notice. She gets up and walks out determined. She's not done yet. She needs to find Sophia.
Shane approaches her and Rick. "Got to move here, guys. These people are spent. There's only so many hours of daylight left. We still got a long way back."
"No."
"No?" Shane repeats, looking at Callie like she was crazy.
"We can't stop yet." Rick backs the girl up. This stranger who was becoming his... friend? Somehow at the end of the world, Rick is making friends which does bewilder him. It was the end of the world, and here he was trusting strangers.
Shane narrows his eyes at Rick. "We still got a lot of ground to cover, whole other side of the creek bed. So we search that on the way back." Shane was pleading with Rick to stop the search. But to him it was a dead end. There was no way in hell they would find this little girl. It wasn't like the old- the dead world anymore, they had no one else doing search parties, missing posters or anything like that. That little girl was dead and he was the only one that saw it. Everyone in this group was stupid. Rick and Callie were naive and stupid to go after this girl.
"She would have heard those church bells. She could be nearby." Rick tries to tell his best friend.
"Anything could have heard those bells." Callie adds.
"She could be a lot of things." Shane points out and Callie clenches her jaw.
Rick looks at him. "I can't go back. Her being out here is my fault."
"And mine." Callie mutters.
"That's great." Shane mutters darkly. "Now they got you two doubting yourselves, huh?"
Rick sighs. "What about you? You doubt me?"
Shane stays silent for a moment. "Hey, we can assign all kinds of blame."
"This means something, finding her." Rick presses, urging Shane to follow his side of things.
"Oh man." Shane mutters, annoyed.
"It would be a miracle we need. We can't give up."
"We won't give up until we find her." Callie says.
Dead or alive. Hopefully alive.
Shane looks at the two, his head going back and forth before he sighs. "Mmm. Ahem." He catches the attention of the group who were a little ways by the three. "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, Jeremy, the both of you are in charge. Me, Rick and Callie, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."
Daryl narrows his eyes at him. "You're splitting us up, you sure?"
"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane tells him and he nods.
Jeremy looks at Callie and she gives him a nod. You okay? Yeah. A silent conversation that they learned. That no one else could pry or intervene.
Carl steps forward. "I want to stay too. I'm her friend."
Rick looks at his wife for her word. Lori kisses Carl's head. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will."
"When did you start growing up?" Lori jokes with the kid.
An apocalypse. That's what made him grow up.
"I'll be along soon enough. Here, take this." Rick has his gun in his hand. "Remember how to use it?"
Lori doesn't even reach for it. "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed."
Daryl hands a gun over to Lori. "Here, got a spare. Take it."
Andrea scoffs and everyone ignores her.
"Can I come?" Connor asks Callie.
She sighs and shakes her head. "I want you to stay with Jeremy, okay? You'll need to go back to the RV where your sister and mother will be." She looks at Lori who was watching her carefully. "Plus, Daryl and Jeremy will need the extra muscle."
He smiles gently at her before nodding his head.
Callie watches the group walk away, back to the direction of the Highway.
"Give me a minute?" Rick asks Shane and Callie and they nod.
"Yeah. Come on." Shane urges the young Grimes along and they all sit on the steps outside of the church, waiting for their leader.
Rick's PoV
He walks into the church, feeling nervous by doing this. He's not religious in any sense, but now, it feels like the good time as any.
Rick looks at the statue.
"I don't know if you're looking at me with what?" He sighs. "Sadness? Scorn? Pity? Love?" He lists and he finds it hard to continue. He feels silly doing this. "Maybe it's just indifference. I guess you already know I'm not much of a believer. I guess I just chose to put my faith elsewhere. My family, mostly. My friends. My job. The thing is, we- I could use a little something to help keep us going. Some kind of..." he pauses, "acknowledgement. Some indication I'm doing the right thing. You don't know how hard that is to know." His voice falls to a whisper. Afraid that if he raised his voice just slightly, maybe he wouldn't get this sign. "Well, maybe you do." He walks away before snapping back at the statue. "Hey, look. I don't need all the answers. Just a little nudge. A sign. Any sign will do."
He just hoped that he could get something that shows him that he's doing the right thing. If he didn't, maybe Callie could help. He is going to ask her if she wants to co-lead with him. She's a good leader, got a good head, got a good heart. She is what this group needs. More so than him. She is the one that believes in him, better than his own wife.
Jeremy's PoV
They come to a stop for a quick break, now that Rick, Shane or Callie ain't here, they are taking their sweet time walking back. Which is annoying Jeremy.
"So this is it? This the whole plan?" Carol asks in disbelief.
Jeremy understands that she is angry, but she was being unreasonably annoying, blaming Rick and Callie, giving them dirty looks. He was ready to snap at the woman.
"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl mutters, clearly not agreeing with Shane's plan.
"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea gives Lori a dark look. "I see you have a gun."
"Oh for fuck sake." Jeremy curses angrily and Carol gives him a dark look which he ignores. "Why do you want one so badly? Do you want to blow your brains out right here and now?"
Lori shakes her head. "Jeremy, it's fine." She clenches her jaw. "Why you want it? Here, take it." Lori holds out the gun for Andrea, who looks surprised before taking it. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She hisses before she looks at 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 he the way that he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody?" Lori stops and everyone stays silently.
Jeremy was waiting for her to finish to finally saying Callie was there too.
"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." Lori takes a sip of her water.
Andrea holds out the gun for Lori to take back. "We should keep moving."
Everyone starts heading off and Jeremy holds Lori back. "Good speech. But you forgot one thing."
Lori looks at the man confused, the smile was vanishing off her face with every passing moment. "What's that?"
"Callie." He says before walking off, missing the look of annoyance on her face.
Callie's PoV
The four of them were walking, Carl showing the girl his knife, which he was quite proud of holding.
"Do you have any kids, Callie?" Carl asks her, she could feel Shane and Rick's eyes on her.
"No. Never had the time. Plus I'm only 23. Don't rush me yet." Callie jokes at the kid and he grins.
The hear a branch snap and they stop. That's when they see a deer, stopping directly in front of them. It was beautiful.
"Shane." She hears Rick warn and looks back at Shane lowering his gun, after watching Carl. She grabs Carl's hand and walks him forward slowly. She wanted to be a safety net for Carl, in case the deer spooks.
She hears a soft snap and slows down. The deer looks directly at her, it's ears wildly turning. Carl was slightly to her left, just behind her, gripping her hand tightly.
Callie feels connected to the deer, like they were suppose to see this. Maybe it was a sign to find Sophia? Maybe it was a sign to find peace in this world.
She feels pain in her side as she hears the gunshot and she feels Carl slip his hand out of hers as his body falls to the floor, and she clutches her side in pain.
She turns to the boy, who was collapsed on the floor, a big patch of blood that was growing on his shirt. She quickly applies pressure to the wound, noticing the blood quickly covering her hands. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
"No, no, no, no, no!" Rick roars as he falls to his knees next to her.
What the fuck happened?
I wanted to keep writing but realised that this chapter would have been ridiculously longer, so I left it there! I was so shocked at watching this scene for the first time. I hope you guys like Summer's flashback/story! I want to do little flashbacks of any new ocs just so you could get an idea of what they are like. Anyways, let me know what you guys think! Write a review! I am grateful for those :D