In the morning, we all got right back to business; to finding Sophia. Early enough that I was still half asleep and popping my back. Sleeping in an abandoned car was never the most comfortable thing. Correction: anything that is not specifically designed to be slept on (like a bed) is never the most comfortable thing to sleep on (unlike a bed).

Rick unrolled an arsenal of weapons on the hood of a car. Carl claimed he had found them.

"Everybody takes a weapon," he ordered, looking at all of us. I looked at the assortment. There were things like knives, machetes, hatchets, and things similar.

I immediately went for something that looked like a hook-knife-thing. It looked unique and deadly. Like a strong female lead in an action movie. I strapped the holster it had to one of my belt loops, tugging it to test whether it was tight enough.

Glenn opened up his own weapon, and saw that it was something almost identical to mine. He smiled at the funny shape. But when he caught me looking at him, he stopped and put it back in its holster.

"These aren't the kind of weapons he needs," Andrea said, jutting her hip out. "What about the guns?"

I had never seen her this bitchy before.

"We've been over that," Shane said. "Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people poppin'; off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea instantly replied.

"Say someone 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 said firmly.

Now, I know I had the guns under my shirt. I put them back on this morning.

And I did know that I should be handing them over. But I felt like I would be embarrassed, after all this discussion about how we can't all carry guns, and only now would I be handing them over. I felt like a school kid who hadn't handed in their homework, and hoped their teacher would just think they lost it.

I had told no one of them. I just needed to keep them there - for insurance.

Daryl cleared his throat from beside me. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down to other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet, stay sharp. Keep spaced between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick said, finally.

"Everybody assemble your packs," Shane ordered.

We all assembled our packs. Meanwhile there was a slight dispute between Andrea and Dale (which we all watched awkwardly), and on whether Carl was allowed to come. They decided that he was and I was thrilled.

As if on instinct, I immediately followed Daryl. Having to walk a little faster due to his strutting pace.

In the woods, we soon formed a single line through the tall grass. In the order of Daryl, Rick, me, Andrea, Carol, Glenn, Carl, Lori, then Shane.

All you could hear were the puffs of everyone, we were already exhausted, and the ruffling of grass. I worried it was too loud, that if Sophia made a slight noise, then we wouldn't hear it.

I had to readjust myself every few moments or so. It just looked like I had a broken bra on. The shirt I had on wasn't the most comfortable thing either. It was scratchy, and the collar was incredibly stiff, also the sleeves only rolled up so far. The guns were heavy, and the straps pressed into my skin in

the most awkward places. I was starting to severely regret carrying guns I probably wouldn't use.

"Marley!" someone called from behind me. I instantly recognised the voice to be Carl's.

He ran up beside me, holding a weapon from the arsenal. He didn't say much else, just smiled at me. It seemed he just wanted to walk beside me, and closer to his dad.

"What you got there, young sir?" I whispered.

He looked up at me excitedly. "Dad said I could carry it, and Mom said as long as I was careful, I could practice with it later," he whispered.

"I'll practice with you too then," I whispered back, hooking my arm around his shoulder, ruffling his sweaty hair in the process.

It seemed that Daryl had spotted something, because he was slowing down. He put a finger up to Rick, silently ordering us to hold up.

I recognised this silent order from experience... but it wasn't that hard to decipher honestly. I automatically dropped to the ground, hands on the ground. I always did this. It was automatic.

Daryl looked over his shoulder and at me, knowing what I had just done.

His eyes lingered on me as I hastily stood up, brushing the dirt off my jeans.

Rick and Shane came up by him, all now eyeing the what was up ahead. I squinted my eyes, and saw a dirty green tent amidst the foliage.

Shane said the obvious, "She could be in there."

"A whole bunch o' things could be in there," Daryl counteracted. He lifted his crossbow just a bit higher.

Rick gestured for us all the stay put, as the three of them made their way forward. I hoped that Sophia was in there, so we could all go back and rest.

I stood by Carl, my arm back around his shoulders, slightly crouched down to his level.

"I hope she's in there," he whispered in my ear.

"Me too, young sir," I whispered back.

Rick soon called Carol the come forward. Something about Carol's voice being the first Sophia

should hear. We all followed her in curiosity.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol called out. "Sophia, it's Mommy. Sophia. We're all here baby. It's Mommy."

I watched as Daryl was tensing his arms, holding them up. His grip on his knife was deadly. He silently, and surely started to unzip the door to the tent. The three men coughed into their shoulders, and I soon found out why as the stench reached me. I crinkled my nose in disgust.

Despite the stench, Daryl went inside the tent. It was silent again.

"Daryl?" Carol's voice interrupted the silence.

Daryl came back out. "She's not in there."

"What is in there?" I asked, stepping forward. Carl's hand was now grasping mine, as I stood up straight.

"Some guy," he replied. "Did what Jenner said, what'd he call it?"

"Opt out?" I looked him in the eyes and he looked back at mine. He nodded before looking away quickly, like I was the sun or something.

Just as all of our hopes were being crushed, church bells started ringing. I tensed up for a moment, as I think everyone else did.

'she could be ringing them' I thought, 'she could still be alive'.

Rick pointed in the direction, and was off like a rocket, seeming to have the same thought as me. I took no hesitation in following our leader.

Rick and, surprisingly, I were at the front. We tuned in our ears, desperate to follow the chimes.

"What direction?" Shane asked, as we slowed down a bit. "Man, it's hard to tell out here."

"If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too," Carol states.

"If someone's ringing those bells they may be calling others," Glenn says.

"Or signalling that they found her," Andrea interjects.

"Or could be ringing them herself," Rick says, rushing forward.

We all followed him until we came to a clearing in the woods, with a church and cemetery nestled inside.

"That can't be it," Shane said. "Got no steeple, no bells." Rick took off anyway. "Rick."

I honestly hating all of this running. As I did, the guns under my shirt slightly tapped against my ribs. I guessed that these type of gun holsters were made for running. Then again, I got it off a male corpse taller than me.

As we come closer to the doors, Shane, Rick, and Daryl take the lead. They come up to the doors of the church. Rick signals us all the be quiet. He gently opens the doors.

I walk up a few more steps to get a closer look, and I see three walkers inside. One of them had a veil on their head, obviously she was a bride. Clearly not the best day of her life in the end. It reminded me that things really did turn badly that quick. I remember it taking only a night and half a day to turn Sedalia into a ransacked mess, full of fresh walkers.

They all turn slowly and growl at us, ready to have a meal and standing up. The three men in front of me look on at them, Daryl with his crossbow raised up ready to shoot one of them.

Rick reaches behind him to his wife, who gives him her machete. He steps into the church to kill the walker on the left. Shane already had a silent weapon, taking the one in the middle. Daryl turns to me and I hand him my weapon, exchanging it for his incredibly heavy crossbow. I hold it awkwardly in my arms as he takes the bride walker.

I keep my eyes on Daryl. He creeps up the walker, who sniffs the air desperately. He makes kissing noises, which catches its attention. As soon as she turns to him, he wipes her face with the hook of my weapon. It falls to the ground, and he backs out of the pew. The bride walker was down.

All the men finish killing their walkers. It falls silent as we realise Sophia is nowhere to be.

"Sophia!" Rick screams, and he opens another door to the outside.

I huffed in anger. Where was Sophia?

Sophia was so young, and so kind. She used to always plait my hair, telling me all the time that she loved my hair. She was too good. She was too sweet.

Although I didn't believe that what people were faced with had anything to do with what they deserved. Or what they deserved every came to them, because they deserved it. I didn't think Sophia deserved what she was getting. Neither did Carol

"Yo, J.C, you taking requests?" Daryl asked, walking up to the crucifix statue as the end of the church.

I didn't think Daryl believed in any higher power, so I think it was more of a mocking statement.

Just then, bells started ringing. The sound was loud, and annoying. Daryl pushes past me, followed by the other men. I follow them to the side of the church, where I see a speaker at the roof. Glenn wastes no time in ripping out the wires that work it.

"Timer," Daryl huffs. "It's on a timer."

"I'm gonna' go back in for a bit," Carol says, doing as she said she would do.

I readjust the crossbow in my arms, trying to find a stance where it is lighter. I fail. It's heavy in all positions. And with it in my arms, I can't fiddle with straps of my holster, which I realise it too tight around me.

I get so lost in my thoughts, that I get shocked when someone on my right places they're hand lightly on my hip. I jolt away from them automatically, but they pull me back just as quick by my belt loop.

I look and see it's Daryl, carefully putting my weapon back in my holster. He does that, then quickly takes the crossbow from my arms.

He goes to walk away, but my voice stops him in his tracks.

"Daryl?" I ask. When I see everyone else go back into the church and he turns around the face me, I proceed to ask him what has played on my mind. "What happened at the CDC?"

His eye twitched for a moment, and he went from foot to foot. But he didn't reply.

"I don't remember what happened" I confessed, walking closer to him. "I mean, I don't have a high tolerance, and I got pretty drunk."

"And it seems I did something bad, because nether you, Glenn, or Lori have talked to me properly since then."

He looked to the ground for a moment before looking back up to me. "I don't know wha's with Lori. It's best if you don' know what happened."

He went to walk away again, but I grasped his shoulder. "No! You don't get to decide what I get to know."

"Get off me girl," he growled. I immediately took my hand away from his shoulder, but he didn't move away.

"Don't baby me, Daryl," I seethed, looking him directly in the eyes. "What happened? What did I do wrong?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, contemplating on whether to tell me. "You tried to kiss me, Marley" he admitted, looking away from me.

What? Did I just hear that right. I tried to kiss him.

"Glenn walked in on it," he continued. He looked embarrassed to be saying it. "That damn boy left in a huff, obviously not likin' it."

"Why would he be angry at me for that?" I asked, mostly talking to myself.

"Ain' you seen him. He's like a damn schoolboy. Hearts in his eyes every time he looks at ya'" Daryl ranted, seeming angry himself

"Yes okay, Daryl," I stopped him before he could go any further.

It was silent between us.

Daryl walked up to the church doors and I let him.

I looked to my shoes awkwardly. I had really embarrassed myself, and I didn't even remember it.

Why had I tried to kiss Daryl? Did I succeed? Do I really feel that way for Daryl?

The last question really bugged me.

I thought of Daryl as my friend. But I obviously saw him differently to everyone else, since we had known each other for longer and we had been through some bad incidents. We looked after each other.

I was confused at myself. I wasn't resenting the fact that I tried to kiss him. It was a strange thought.

Daryl was not typically someone you would fall in love with. He wasn't societies version of Prince Charming, but I wasn't necessarily societies version of a Princess. We both seemed to be people that others would automatically resent. Either by our lifestyle or job. But the group didn't see the truth about me, so I was quite lucky.

I also didn't fret in thinking that Daryl was a handsome person. It was quite plain to see.

Wait! Do I really see him that way?

My stomach twisted at my own thoughts. These were not things that were important in this day and age. But they seemed important to me.

Where were these thoughts going?