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❝ chapter two — cries in the woods ❞

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     BIRDIE COULD SEE three Walkers among the branches, hobbling over the foliage. One was lagging behind due to what looked like a missing foot. She couldn't see Sophia, but Walkers were nothing if not stubborn. She ran in their direction, keeping a couple of yards of distance between them. Low-hanging branches scratched at her face and neck and the undergrowth threatened to trip her. The Walkers didn't seem bothered by such problems, for they stumbled on, rather quickly for things called "Walkers." Though, she supposed "Joggers" didn't have the same ring to it.

     She nearly collided with Sophia as the girl turned sharply, revealing that Birdie had caught up to her. She feared she might have run right past her if not for Sophia spotting her first.

     "Woah, hey," Birdie soothed, trying to get a hold of the girl. She struggled in her grip, grabbing for the gun hidden in a holster underneath the folds of her jacket. A revolver Birdie hadn't even considered because of its danger.

     "Kill them!" Sophia screamed, nearly pulling out the firearm. "Birdie, shoot them!"

     "No, no, no," Birdie hissed. She held her by the shoulders and knelt before her, forcing the girl to look her in the eyes. "It makes too much noise, okay? That huge herd of Walkers'll come right for us." She scanned the forest behind them, seeing the Walkers come into view. "C'mon."

     Sophia gripped her hand and Birdie ran, all but dragging her through the trees. It was only a few seconds later that the girl tripped, her hand slipping from the young woman's. The girl yelped in surprise and Birdie skidded to a halt. "Sophia!"

     She dragged the girl to her feet and scanned her for any sort of injury as quickly as she could. "I can't run as fast as you," Sophia cried.

     "That's fine, that's okay," Birdie breathed. "I'll carry you." She turned around and bent over, motioning for the girl to jump onto her back. Sophia clung to her, arms wrapped around her neck, and she took off running again, shifting as she moved to get her more secure. "Now, don't let go, okay?"

     Sophia nodded, pressing her cheek against her shoulder blade. Birdie locked her arms underneath her legs, already starting to feel her legs burn. She was lucky Sophia was so light.

     Birdie pressed on, searching for any change in terrain that would give her an advantage against the Walkers. She had to come to an abrupt stop as they reached a small ridge over a river that had carved its way through the trees. To her left, a tree had fallen, creating a small cave of dead branches, leaves, and mud. She dropped Sophia gently and turned to her.

     "Okay, okay," she panted, pointing to the fallen tree. "There's a little hidey-hole over there. I want you to stay there while I take on the Walkers, okay?"

     "You're gonna leave me?" The little girl squeaked, tears mixing with the dirt covering her face.

     "No, Soph, I'm not gonna leave you," she promised, leading her down into the stream with a firm hand clasped around her smaller fingers. "But I need to get the Walkers away from you, 'kay? So stay there. Can you do that for me?"

     Sophia nodded vigorously and turned away, crouching underneath the cover of the tree. Birdie ran upstream a few feet, kicking up the water as she scanned the short ridge for the incoming Walkers.

     "Hey!" She shouted, pulling out her knife. "Fresh meat over here!"

     Two of the three Walkers emerged from the trees, stumbling and crashing down the ridge and into the water. Birdie skipped back a few paces to the edge of the river, whistling to keep their attention on her. "This way, stupid-head!" She yelled, grinning despite the danger. The adrenaline rushed through her veins, making her almost dizzy.

     She continued walking backward, shouting and mocking them as she did so. Once she hit the opposite bank she tripped over a jutting rock. She crashed into the mud with a grunt, then scrambled back up and over the bank. She ran into the trees, making sure to keep her pace slower so that the Walkers could keep up.

     Birdie skirted a tree with a larger trunk and gripped her knife to her chest, chest heaving. She could hear the Walkers coming, groaning and snarling as they searched her out. She risked a glance towards them and, once she registered how close the first one was, pounced.

     She had a lucky angle, she decided as the blade sunk into the temple of the Walker. It snarled and spit in her face, then fell to her feet when she ripped the knife out. She sized up the next Walker, glancing around to see if the third one would appear from the forest shadows.

     A scream ripped through the trees, turning Birdie's blood to ice. She whipped her head around, towards the river, and the Walker lunged for her, slamming her into the earth.

     "Oh, sonofa — " she yelped, swinging the blade up with as much force as she could. The knife dug into the Walker's neck, right below the jawbone, so with a scream through gritted teeth she twisted it and shoved it upwards. It went limp as she ripped it out, allowing her to shove the rotting body off of her. She rose to her feet and took off back towards the stream without a moment of hesitation.

     It took her a few moments of searching to find the exact place she'd left Sophia, only to find that the girl was nowhere to be found. "No, no, no," she breathed, looking up and down the river. That third Walker hadn't followed her, she realized with dread. She looked downstream, the way they had first come, and then upstream, and then back. Maybe...maybe —

     Birdie took off running again, scrambling over the fallen tree and out of the river. She didn't shout, for fear of attracting more Walkers. She scanned the leaf-strewn ground, imagining what Daryl Dixon would do in that moment. He'd track her down in an instant, panicking mind supplied, rather unhelpfully.

     Footprints, she realized suddenly, staring down at the mud. Birdie blinked, her mind screeching to a halt. They were small and not very deep, heading down the river until they left the bank, veering right into the trees. Mr. Dixon could track footprints, right? She knelt for a moment, tracing the air around them with trembling fingers. How hard can it be?

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     IT WAS THE SCREAMING THAT LED BIRDIE to Sophia after thirty minutes of running in wet shoes. She drew her blade and plunged it into the back of the Walker's head, right as it had grabbed Sophia's ankle and was dragging her toward its snapping jaws. It went limp and the girl crawled back, kicking her leg free.

     "Birdie!" She stared up at the ragged blonde for only a second before leaping into her arms.

     "Oh, Sophia," she breathed, wrapping her arms around the girl. "Why did you run? I told you to stay put!"

     "Mr. Grimes came lookin' for us," Sophia explained, gripping the blonde's off-white t-shirt. "Said to run back to the highway."

     Birdie pulled away and brushed the little girl's hair out of her eyes, where the ends of the blonde strands had stuck to the sweat and tears. "And you got lost," she finished gently. Sophia nodded, fresh tears gathering in her eyes.

     "He told me to keep the sun on my left shoulder, and I did. But then there was a Walker, an' —and I had to go the other way," she explained through gasps and hitching breaths.

     "Shh, it's okay," Birdie promised, giving her a smile. "You did the right thing." She rubbed Sophia's back as she looked around. The forest looked the same in every direction, the sun filtering through the trees like some idyllic painting of the past. "Now, Mr. Grimes said to keep the sun to which shoulder?"

     "Left," Sophia said, craning her neck up to look at the sun. She squinted, then turned around. She pointed south. "So it's that way?"

     "Pretty sure," Birdie said with a shrug, recalling to mind everything Gen and her father had taught her about navigating using the sun. "If you want to go North, make sure the compass spells 'we'," her father had once explained. Of course, neither of them had compasses on hand, but Gen had added, years later, that all she had to do was keep the image of one in her mind and remember that the sun rose in the East and set in the West. Or, at least she thought that was the case.

     She felt a tug on her hand and looked down, drawn out of her thoughts. Sophia was staring at her with that same look she and Carl had given when she was reading the Book of Judges, albeit more worried. Birdie's smile grew sheepish before she nodded. "Definitely sure."

     She lead Sophia southbound for what felt like hours. The sun reached its peak in the sky and started the slow climb back down to the horizon. Still, they hadn't found the highway. Every so often Sophia would look at her, but she didn't mention the fact that they were well and truly lost; she just clung to Birdie's hand.

     At some point, Birdie had shrugged off her cotton jacket and realized that it was muddy and blood-stained. There were jagged holes in it where branches had tugged at it or the Walkers had ripped into it with rotting fingers. She found a young tree to drape it across, fixing the sleeve to point in roughly the same direction they were heading.

     "It's so the others know which way we went," she had explained with a smile. Sophia had only nodded.

     Birdie tried to keep the girl's spirits up, speaking softly about whatever came to her mind. How when Birdie was sixteen she'd had three jobs over the summer, one as an ice-cream scooper (oh how she missed ice-cream), one as a diner waitress, and one as a house-sitter. How Sophia's favorite movie was The Emperor's New Groove, because she liked the character who could talk to squirrels and how the villain turned herself into a cat ("My little sister Elsie liked that movie, too."). How both of them had really wanted a dog before the world ended, but neither of them had ever gotten one (Sophia wanted a Golden Retriever; Birdie wanted a Beagle).

     How they both missed their mothers.

     "What happened to your mom?" Sophia asked as they approached a bubbling stream.

     "She's still out there," Birdie said with confidence, lifting their joined hands so Sophia didn't have to get her shoes wet when she jumped. "My daddy's super strong and brave. He's protecting her and my brother an' sister."

     "Why weren't they with you and Miss Gen when you first joined us?"

     "'Cause they're in South Carolina, and we came from Texas."

     "Why?"

     "I moved to be with my boyfriend."

     "What happened to him?"

     "He was a big fat liar who decided that the girls from his college were prettier than me," she grumbled, then looked down at Sophia and giggled. "But I'll tell you a secret, 'kay?" She leaned down to whisper, "he dropped out of college, and none of the girls liked him back."

     Sophia laughed, leaning into Birdie's side. "He was dumb. You're super pretty."

     "Aw, thank you, Soph," Birdie beamed, squeezing her shoulder. "You're real pretty too, you know that? When you get older, you'll have all the boys runnin' after you."

     "The only boy is Carl," Sophia whined, wrinkling her nose.

     "That ain't true," she encouraged, smiling as she scanned the trees. They seemed to be thinning. "There are plenty of boys still in the world."

     "You mean like Glenn?" Sophia giggled.

     Birdie's mouth dropped open and she squeaked in offense. "Well, I guess so. He is a boy."

     "A boy you like."

     "I do not — wait," she paused when her eyes caught a flash of white. Birdie squinted, finding that the white was the color of something manmade. Wood-paneled walls, surrounded by an unkempt lawn.

     "Houses!" Sophia said with excitement, tugging on Birdie's hand.

     "Hey, wait a second," she warned as they approached the tree line. "We can't go rushin' over there. Could be Walkers. Stay close to me, okay?"

     Sophia squeezed her hand as they left the trees into the open backyard of a small, single-story house. The hairs on her bare arms stood on end as they entered the open air; she felt exposed. She moved quickly across the lawn to the back porch, releasing Sophia's hand so she could grab her knife and open the backdoor at the same time. It opened outwards, swinging with a painful creak.

     Birdie peered inside the dim space, finding an oddly clean space. Whoever had lived there had left in a hurry and had done so with some degree of organization. "Stay right here," she whispered, then entered the house.

     She entered the kitchen, all the blinds of the windows drawn shut. She disregarded the furniture and the cooking tools, but took note of what could have been a pantry door. There were few doors, all of them open, and she could hear no sounds. She checked the bathroom and the two bedrooms, moving through an empty living room with carpet to soften her steps.

     It was empty.

     She moved back to Sophia, sheathing her blade, and beckoned her in. They made sure the doors were locked, dragged the kitchen table in front of the back door, and pulled the living room sofa in front of the front door. Birdie was correct about the pantry, and while she collected what food was edible, she tasked Sophia with gathering a few blankets and pillows.

     "Are we gonna stay here?" She asked, dropping the blankets onto the kitchen floor as Birdie laid out a row of canned food. There wasn't much, but there was enough for a few meals. "We gotta get back to my mom."

     "We'll find our way back to the road tomorrow," Birdie promised. "And we'll find your momma and the others in no time. It's getting late. Traveling in the dark is too dangerous."

     Sophia nodded, holding the doll closer to her chest. She waited patiently as Birdie cut open some canned beef and beans, not saying a word of complaint as they shared it with some forks they found in the drawers.

     Night descended on them and Birdie managed to find a flashlight, a few candles, and a Zippo to light them. She set them out on the counter as Sophia set up a suitable place to sleep in the pantry.

     "Birdie?" Sophia asked in a quiet tone, after they had both settled into the blankets. She sounded afraid to break the silence.

     Birdie looked down at her, shifting to meet her eyes. "Yeah, Soph?"

     "Can...can you sing a song?"

     She let a small smile tug at her lips. "What kind of song?"

     The little girl shrugged. "I dunno...Momma always sang to me when I got scared at night."

     Her smile fell as the image of Mr. Peletier flashed in her mind. She hugged Sophia a little closer. "I can sing you a song," she said, tapping her fingers against her shoulder. "Hmm...y'know, my grandpa taught me a bunch of folk songs he used to really love."

     "Like what?" She asked, curiosity filling her voice; she dropped her head into Birdie's chest, looking up at her.

     "Well, there's the Battle Hymn of the Republic." Birdie deepened her voice and lowered her brow, tilting her head up to sing, "my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord — "

     "No!" Sophia giggled, shaking her head. "Not like that."

     Birdie grinned. "Oh, you mean like a lullaby."

     "Yeah."

     "Okay, okay, I think I got one..." she sighed, pretending to be disappointed. But her voice grew more gentle, and she ran her fingers through Sophia's short hair. "Oh, Shenandoah, I hear you calling. Hi-oh, you rollin' river. Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you. Hi-Oh, I'm bound away...'cross the wide Missouri..."

     Birdie felt Sophia's breathing even out as the girl relaxed more fully. "That's a pretty song," she mumbled, snuggling deeper into Birdie's embrace.

     "Missouri, she's a mighty river. Hi-oh, you rollin' river. When she rolls down, her topsails shiver. Hi-oh, I'm bound away... 'cross the wide Missouri." Birdie found her vision blurred and her throat closed up. She took a deep breath through parted lips, then rested her cheek atop the girl's head.

     "Farewell, my dearest. I'm bound to leave you. Hi-oh, you rollin' river. Oh, Shenandoah, I'll not deceive you. Hi-oh, I'm bound away... 'cross the wide Missouri..." She watched the sunset, letting it blind her with its brilliant light as it set the sky ablaze. They were too far hidden for the dying hands outstretched to provide any warmth. They only provided the vague memory of flames bathing a growing night in light.

     And even as Sophia drifted off, Birdie closed her eyes but did not sleep.

a/n: it was pure pain writing this 😭 this hurt. But I hope y'all got some insight into Birdie's character. Discovered that Chloë Grace Moretz has a wonderful singing voice so I thought I could incorporate that in some way :)
This ended up being about a thousand words longer than I expected lol, but I think it's important. Not sure if the conversations between Sophia and Birdie are clunky or not...I'm not fantastic at writing slower scenes. Hopefully this is as smooth as I think it is 😅
Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed <3 Please don't be afraid to let me know what y'all think! Us writers thrive on feedback