𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃

𝟐𝐱𝟎𝟏

THE CDC had been a dead end, well more like a fiery end cause it blew up. We were gonna try for Fort Benning like Shane's original plan. I mean it was going to take us a while considering it's 125 miles to get there. We were all taking different vehicles again but Daryl was leading the way this time on his motorcycle. I was in the RV with Andrea, Dale, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane.

Glenn was sitting in the passengers seat while I was with T in the back cleaning my sword. T and I were just talking about things we missed before all of this, until we heard the RV coming to a stop. We saw a bunch of cars blocking the other side of the rode. I walked up to the front in between Dale and Glenn when Daryl had rode up to the window to talk to Dale.

"See a way through?" He asked. He didn't respond back, but just made a gesture with his head. "Uh, maybe we should just go back. There's an interstate bypass-." Glenn suggested holding the map in his hand. "We can't spare the fuel." Dale said cutting him off. He was right, it's not like gas stations are open anymore and just happen to have fuel hanging around.

Daryl had found a way for us to get through some of the deserted cars. "Jeez." Glenn muttered beside me as we saw all of the deserted cars and trash lying around. "Can we get through here?" Glenn asked skeptically. "I have no idea." I muttered. Then the RV made a clanking noise and the engine hissed as smoke came out of the front.

We got out of the RV and Rick, Carl, Lori, Carol, and Sophia came up to the RV too. "I said it didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale said in frustration. "Problem Dale?" Shane remarked. "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-." He answered before cutting himself off as he saw Daryl dig through the back of one of the abandoned cars. "Okay, that was dumb." Dale said.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane trailed off. "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said. "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog offered. "Maybe some water." Carol chimed in. "Or food." Dale suggested. "This is a graveyard." Lori said. We all just looked back at her. "I don't know how I feel about this." She continued sounding unsure.

"All right, all right, here we go. Come on, y'all just look around, gather what you can." Shane told us. We all went off in separate directions to scavenge for whatever we could find, food, water, fuel, whatever. I was helping Glenn with the RV the way that Dale had shown us to. We were working on the car when Shane had come over to where we were and inspected a truck. "Glenn. Ara." He called out. We turned around to look back at him.

"Were we short on water?" He asked as we both saw the big jugs of water he found in the back of the truck. "Holy shit." I mumbled under my breath. Shane then opened one of the jugs of water and simultaneously drank it and poured it over his head. Glenn started laughing beside me and shoved my shoulder. I began to laugh with him. "Hey, save us some!" He exclaimed gleefully.

"Y'all, it's like being baptized." He told us continuously drinking and putting the water over his head. Shane then abruptly grabbed us and pulled us under the truck. "Ow." Glenn groaned. "Watch the hell out, you dick!" I scoffed. He then shushed us as we then heard the sounds of something growling. Walkers. Well shit we just can't catch a break. I grabbed Glenn's hand giving it a squeeze before he returned the gesture and squeezed my hand back.

We looked around to see if we saw anymore feet dragging against the pavement or if we heard any snarling but the feet seemed to depart and the sound started to fade. We waited a second before getting out from under the car and looked for the others in our group. We rushed over when we heard Carol call out to Lori. "There's two walkers after my baby." She cried out hysterically while Lori came up behind her and shushed her and held her.

Then a few minutes later Rick showed up back on the highway to show Shane, Daryl, Glenn, and I where he left Sophia to hide away from the walkers. T-Dog couldn't come because he had sliced his arm open. "Sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked. "I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." Rick replied feeling pretty sure about himself. "Without a paddle, seems where we've landed." Daryl said.

"She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." Rick said while pointing the the small pathway where Glenn was. "Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? Your mucking up the trail." Daryl told my brother who rolled his eyes and moved to the side.

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane commented. "Why are you such an asshole?" I asked while raising my eyebrows at him. He just scoffed in my direction. "Shane, she understood me fine." Rick disagreed. "Kids tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane remarked.

"Got clear prints right here. She did like you said. Headed back to the highway. Let's spread out. Make our way back." Daryl announced. Daryl and Rick got up from the pond and Daryl led us where her prints led. Daryl stopped and bended down and said, "She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Daryl then pointed in the other direction in which her prints led to. "Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"When we find her we'll ask." I responded. "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane suggested looking back at us. "A walker?" Glenn questioned. "I don't see any other footprints. Just hers." Daryl answered. "So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked.

"No, better if you, Glenn, and Ara get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm." Rick told us. "I'll keep em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep em occupied. Come on." Shane said before turning to Glenn and I.

As we were going to walk I called out Daryl and Rick. "Don't die okay? Either of you." I told them. "We'll try not to." Rick said while Daryl looked up at me with what looked like surprise in his eyes at the thought of me caring about his well-being. He sent a nod my way before leading Rick deeper in the forest. I caught up with Glenn and Shane walking behind them.

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We had gotten back to the highway and Shane went ahead to tell Carol that Rick and Daryl were searching for Sophia. He had also set us up with "chores" like he said he would. Currently my chore was helping Andrea move this big red van out of the way so Shane could get through it. Then, Andrea and I went over to help the others with scavenging the other cars.

"We're not going anywhere until my daughter gets back." Carol said to Dale. As we came back towards the RV. "Hey, that goes without saying." Lori told Carol reassuring her that leaving without Sophia wasn't an option. "Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay? Just a matter of time." Shane said. "Can't be soon enough for me." Andre quipped while throwing Glenn and I water bottles. "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it." Andrea continued.

"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that." Glenn wondered. "A herd. That sounds about right. We've seen it. It's like the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer. Okay. Come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it. Let's go, come on." Shane explained before ushering us off to do our tasks.

We had heard it. Clear as day. The sounds of someone speaking on the radio had filled our minds. "The office of civil defense has issued the following message: Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency." The radio ordered. "Is that a local signal?" Glenn asked as Dale, Andrea, and I had walked over to a car where the voice on the radio had been coming from. Turns out Lori and Shane were by the car, alone.  I still didn't trust him, especially not alone with Lori after what happened at the CDC. "It's gotta be within 50 miles of here." Dale responded.

"Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way. The emergency alert system is been activated." The radio said. It had repeated the first sentence we had heard before Shane cut it off. "Asshole." Shane uttered. "Okay, let's get back to work." Shane continued while sighing.

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We had been packing shit we scavenged away for hours waiting for Daryl and Rick to come back with Sophia. Carol had been waiting by the railing for at least some sighting of Sophia. We have to find her, she's just a kid and she shouldn't be out there by herself. I was carrying some stuff to the trunk when I heard Andrea getting into it with Dale about her gun. Whelp, that's not my business.

I just returned to the task at hand until my brother knocked me out of my head. "Oh god, they're back." Glenn said while putting down a crate he had in his hands. I looked up to see Daryl and Rick but not Sophia. We had walked closer to them to hear what was going on.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked tearfully. "Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick responded. "You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol chocked out. "Out in the darks no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl told her.

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol wept. "I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick assured. "And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added. "We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick continued. "Is that blood?" Carol asked while gazing at Daryl. She started to breath heavily and looked as if she was going to pass out at the thought of that being Sophia's blood.

"We took down a walker." Rick reassured her. "Walker? Oh my god." She breathes out before making small paces. "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Rick said. "How can you know that?" Andrea questioned. Rick then looked like he was about to answer but then looked towards Daryl asking him to. "We cut that son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl said.

She seemed to relax a little before sitting down and taking a breath. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" Carol questioned directing it at Rick. "Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick tried his best to explain.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane backed him up. "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol ranted hysterically. "It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick told her. "I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane said. "My little girl got left in the woods." Carol trembled while Lori held her close and rubbed her back.

Rick then got up from in front of Carol with a look of guilt on his face and walked away. Tomorrow was most definitely going to be a long day searching for Sophia.

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We had all woken up getting ready for our search for Sophia. Rick had laid out a whole thing of weapons onto the hood of the car. "Everybody takes a weapon." Rick announced. "These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea questioned. "We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane dismissed her. I hate to admit it but Shane was right, those walkers are attracted to sound and shooting up the place is going to attract them.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea quipped. "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane told her. She remained silent after that but looked like she still had more on her mind. "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." Daryl explained the plan. I looked over beside me to see Glenn looking at the weapon he had chosen with a grin on his face.

"Weirdo." I whispered to him. "Oh come on it's cool and you know it." Glenn whispered back. "Yeah, yeah, don't hurt yourself." I whispered. "I know what I'm doing." He mumbled. "Mhm." I hummed. "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick told us. "Everybody assemble your packs." Shane ordered. "Dale keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move." Rick added on.

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back." Dale told Lori and Rick. Carl was over there too they were having some kind of conversations until they walked away and Andrea walked up to Dale. Probably to ask for her gun that she was very adamant on having. "You chose suicide." Dale argued. "So what's that to you? You barely know me." Andrea retorted. "I know Amy's death devastated you." Dale said.

"Keep her out of this. This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?" Andrea demanded. "I saved your life." Dale responded. "No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands. And that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life affirming catharsis?" She questioned. "Maybe just a little gratitude." He remarked.

"Gratitude? I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took that away from me, Dale." Andrea stated. "But-." He started before getting cut off. "But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live everyday. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale. And you expect gratitude?" Andrea asked him. "I don't know what to say." He said.

"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say." Andrea told him before walking away and we all followed her to go out and find Sophia. We were walking further into the woods in a single filed line, only leaving some space between us like Rick said to. Daryl then stopped us as we saw a tent in the distance. Daryl knelt down followed by Rick, Carol, and Andrea. "She could be in there." Shane said. "Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl said before standing up to go and check it out. Carol was about to go with him, Shane, and Rick but Rick stopped her.

We saw Daryl, Rick, and Shane walk over there before Daryl checked by himself before shrugging . Rick then whispered for Carol to come over and we followed her. Carol rushed up to Rick and they were talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The rest of us stood backed away until we were allowed to walk closer. "Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy." Carol called out.

Daryl has stood by the tent with his knife in the air just in case it was a walker instead of Sophia. He started to unzip the tent slowly while some of us had our weapons out just for precautionary reasons. He opened the tent and looked inside before he coughed and entered it. Rick and Shane were coughing outside of the tent so it must of have smelt horrible in there. "Daryl? Daryl?" Carol called out. He hadn't replied back so I was kind of worrisome until he came out of the tent.

"It ain't her." Daryl announced. "What's in there?" Andrea asked. "Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl breathed out. Then we all stopped what we were doing as we heard church bells ringing in the distance. Rick pointed in the direction of the church bells and we all ran after it. We were running until we hit an intersection. "What direction?" Shane asked.

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." Rick responded while panting. "Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Shane sighed. "If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too." Carol said hopefully. "Probably." I told her. "Someones ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn said. "Or signaling they found her." Andrea added on. "She could be ringing them herself." Rick thought. "Come on." He ushered us before running himself. We were pushing through a bunch of bushes until finally, after almost a century, we found a church.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane said. Rick was completely ignoring him and started to run towards the church. "Rick." Shane called out. We started to run with him towards the church, maybe Sophia was in there. We reached the door and stopped before Rick pulled out his gun along with Shane pulling out his and Daryl raising his crossbow up in the air. Daryl and Rick pushed open the doors and three walkers turned around at our intrusion. Shit. Good thing I had my sword out and ready to go.

Rick turned to Lori and Lori handed him a knife. Glenn gave Daryl the weapon he chose while Daryl gave Glenn his crossbow to hold. Shane, Rick, and Daryl took out the three walker unfortunately. I would've loved to kill at least one of those slimy assholes. "SOPHIA!" Rick shouted before looking out the door to check for her. "I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane told Rick. Then we heard the bells again. We ran outside to the source of the sound only to be disappointed. Glenn shut off the timer for the bells ringing over the horn. "A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl informed while breathing heavily.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol stated while walking back into the church. Some of us went back inside while Lori, Shane, and Andrea were outside I stood near the door to hear what they were saying. If he even so much as tried to lay a hand on her, I would be there to do worse than punch him in the face. "Are you really leaving?" She asked him. Why the hell do you care Lori? I feel like I'm on a damn telenovela with these two. "Don't you think it's best for all of us?" He asked.

"I think it is. What made you decide?" Lori questioned. "Gotta back away. Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori, even if you don't see it. None of this was intended. I hope you know that." He replied. Pfft. Good guy? Really? You forced yourself on top of her in a god damn rec room, you're not a good guy, you're a dick. This would go great with popcorn. If only we weren't getting eaten by dead people, well living people turned into dead people.

"Well, don't matter. As long as I said it." Shane continued. "You're just gonna disappear? Your not even gonna tell Rick?" Lori questioned. Of course he's not gonna tell Ranger Rick. He's a pussy Lori. "He'd only try to stop me. No, that's on you. You tell him what you want. Or tell him nothing at all. You're his wife." He ranted. "And Carl? We dragged him into this." She said. "I love Carl." He told her. "He thinks you hate him." She informed.

"I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier. This ain't easy on any of us, least of all me. I'm the one who loses you." He said. She remained silent and I heard nothing else until she walked through the open doors and saw me. "You good?" I asked looking her over. "Yeah." She tried reassuring me and put her hand on my shoulder before walking away towards Carol who sat up front. Carol was praying, praying for Sophia to be alive and well. She was tearful the whole way through, and asked God to not punish Sophia for her sin of wanting her abusive ex husband, Ed, to be punished. When she finished her prayer she sat down by Lori and leaned her head on her shoulder as Lori kissed the side of her head. We had to find Sophia, like sometime today.

We had all gathered up our stuff after sitting in the church for a while and brought our stuff to the front. Rick and Shane were having their own conversation while the rest of us were double checking our stuff. Shane had walked up to us and announced, "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, your in charge. Me and Rick we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked sounding not so sure of the idea. "Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane replied. "I want to stay too. I'm her friend." Carl chimed in. Shane and Rick just looked at each other not knowing what to say. "Just be careful, okay?" Lori asked him. "I will." He promised. "When did you start growing up?" Lori questioned while holding his cheeks in her hands. She then hugged him and kissed the top of his head. Rick walked up to Lori and they kissed and hugged each other.

"Here take this. Remember how to use it?" Rick asked before giving her a handgun. "I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Lori declined. Daryl than took the gun out of Rick's hand and held it out to Lori before saying, "Here, got a spare. Take it." Lori took the gun her hand before we split into our two groups. Daryl was leading us while I walked beside Glenn and Carol, Andrea was behind us along with Lori.

We walked further and further into the forest with each passing minute. It was quite among us until Carol had spoken up. "So this is it? This the whole plan?" Carol questioned as she sat down on a log making us all stop with her. "I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl added. "Carrying knives and pointy sticks. I see you have a gun." Andrea directed at Lori. "Why, you want it? Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks your giving me." Lori told her while holding out the gun. Andrea just stood there astonished. "All of you." Lori continued.

Not me, she must mean everyone else cause it isn't me. "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." Lori ranted. Andrea then held out the gun for Lori to take back and Lori took it.

"We should keep moving." Andrea suggested. Lori walked ahead while Daryl and the rest of us followed. This was going to be a long walk.

Anddddd that's another chapter of Desolation. I've literally been neglecting my other books right now for this one but I've got a bunch of ideas and while they're still fresh I'd like to write as much as possible. Next chapter we officially meet some new editions to the cast aka the Greene family which I'm excited for. Anywho that's all at the moment this chapter was 4K words. I love you guys, vote and comment and smell ya later.
-brayla❤️❤️