Both Eyes Open - Daryl Dixon (under editing)

Hypophrenia.

Lara swung her machete viciously, slicing through the foliage and kicking her way through shrubbery, gripping onto the wood and ignoring the splinters that shredded into her palms. Her back was sore, her feet were aching and her bare arms were scorched under the harsh sunlight filtering through the trees.

"We've been out. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along? You knew." Shane's words to Hershel echoed through her mind as she traipsed through the woods, armed to no ends, blood boiling.

She raked a hand through her messy brown hair, pulling twigs and leaves out every now and then, and rubbed her dirty face with her palm exhaustedly.

"You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy." Shane shook his head and started storming away from Rick, "You handling it, huh?" He called over his shoulder as we walked away.

Lara looked at Rick hopelessly, before rolling her eyes and running after Shane. Catching up she called him out,

"Shane. Shane!"

"What?" He grunted in response.

"Stop." She ordered, gripping his shoulder and forcing him round to face her, coming to a stop. He glared at her viciously, ready for an argument.

Lara heaved a sigh and said, "There's no rewind button here. You'll have to live with the consequences of what you've just done. But Shane- I think that you did the right thing, with the right intentions, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way."

Shane's eyes remained fixed on her, until he lowered his head, with a barely noticeable nod, his hands on his hips.

"Yeah..."

Lara wandered on through the woods, mindlessly piercing the head of an oncoming walker with her knife as it approached her. Stopping every so often and looking behind her, Lara felt the constant gut feeling of being watched, which seemed so commonplace these days, but so unusually different.

Every time she stopped she'd mess up her tracks, to make life more difficult for whoever or whatever may be on her tail, then she'd continue on her way. She had no set destination in mind.

During the burials she had just left the group. She left a note pierced by an arrow on the tree by her tent merely saying that she needed a break to clear her head and that she'd be back soon. That was two days ago. Lord knows what's happened by then.

"They're ready." Lori said, stepping into the RV, where Carol sat looking out of the window, Daryl sat on the counter, and Lara sat in a rather unladylike manner, legs spread apart, facing Carol.

"Come on." Lara sighed, standing up and fixing her tank top.

"Why?"

"'Cause that's your little girl." Daryl told her.

"Closure." Lara added, folding her arms and leaning against the counter next to Daryl.

Carol looked up at the three of them tiredly, and shook her head, "That's not my little girl. That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought... She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago." With this Lori left the RV without another word.

Daryl looked in bother from Carol to Lara, who shrugged slightly. "Go on." She told him, as she sat back down facing Carol, and he left the vehicle to bury their friends. To bury Sophia.