The Last Dixon

Tᴇɴ- 𝙰𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝙽𝚘 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎

"What's that?" Carl questioned. As we got closer, we saw a brightly colored tent.
Hope began to swell in my body, even if Sophia wasn't in there, maybe somebody who saw her was.

Rick and Daryl stepped forward, telling the rest of us to stay back. They called out to Sophia before having Carol call out to her.

"Ellie?" Rick asked, but I couldn't. I swallowed deeply. Carol was enough, and if Sophia hadn't come out yet, then she wasn't in the tent.

Daryl opened the zipper, and a foul stench filled our noses. I held my breath, refusing to let it get to me, but then I felt a tickle in my throat.
I tried to hold it back, but the cough ripped through me like a tidal wave. It shook my lungs and made my ribs ache horribly.

When it stopped I looked up to see a few worried eyes on me, but I cleared my throat, rubbed my sore ribs, and waited for my brother to emerge from the tent.

When he did, I didn't pay much attention to the conversation as the itch had come back. Worried, I tried clearing my throat, even stepping away for a moment to try and figure out what was wrong with me.

"Ellie, you—" before my brother could finish, a bell rang out. All of our heads turned in the direction. My breath momentarily got caught in my throat before I began to sprint off into the direction of the bell.

It could be Sophia.

"Ellie, wait!" I ignored their calls as I brought out my inner track star.
It felt like all my long-distance and sprinting training had all happened for this moment. It had to be Sophia, it had to be.

When we approached a graveyard, I didn't slow down. My eyes scanned the area for a steeple but I didn't find one, and the bells had stopped.

"Ellie!" Someone screamed. This time I listened, but not because they screamed at me, because I knew . . . Sophia wasn't here.

"Fuck." I choked as my hands flew to my knees. My breathing became labored as I greedily sucked air in, the itch coming back tenfold.

A hand made its way to my back soothingly, but I swatted it away. I didn't want to let my emotions out of my grasp, I didn't want to lose control of myself.

More coughs wracked through my body as I tried desperately to breathe, but my body wouldn't allow it.

"Is she okay?" I heard a small, worried voice ask. I hadn't even realized that the group had surrounded me, staring me down with terrified eyes.

Once I finally sobered up, I angrily pushed past them, heading straight for the church. Even though I knew she wasn't here, I had to try.

"Christ—Ellie, stop!" My brother shouted as he jogged around. "You can barely breathe just sit the fuck down for a second, will ya?" The group was standing awkwardly behind us, but I didn't let the determination from my eyes fade.
"We'll check it out, you stay out here."

He didn't leave room for argument as he, Rick, and Shane all stormed the church.
I sat outside under a tree with Lori and Carl standing by me, neither of them allowing me to move.
Carl and I looked around just in case we could see Sophia running away, or even running toward the bell.

I kept expecting to see her strawberry blonde hair hiding in the leaves, but all I saw was a sea of green.
The way the trees would sway in the wind mockingly, moving around, showing me she really wasn't there was driving me insane.

There was a pause where only the cicadas dared to speak, and then suddenly the bells began to ring again. All of our eyes snapped toward the church, and once again I was the first to take off. I came to a halt when I noticed Glenn run up to a little box on the wall, and yank something out of it. The ringing stopped, and my heart once again dropped.