The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 10

Meredith

RICK, SHANE, CARL and I left the church and headed off further into the woods. We walked for a while, looking and searching for any signs of Sofia. So far, nothing.

"You think we'll find her? Sofia?" Carl asks me quietly. I nodded my head at his question.

"I think we will." I answer honestly. "You know, you might feel some up and down's while we search, but we'll find her." I say.

"Up and down's?" He asks.

"Yeah, like, you know, we don't see any sign of her for a while, but then we find one and we'll be able to find her." I say. Carl nods his head.

"So, we'll lose hope for a little bit, but we'll find it again, right?" He asks.

"Exactly." I nodded. Carl lightly smiles.

"Did you do that before? Looked for missing kids?" He asks. We stopped in our tracks as I thought about my answer.

"Uh...once." I nodded. Carl nods.

"Did you find them? The kid you were looking for?" He asks. I show him a small smile.

"We did." I nodded. A branch suddenly snaps and we all turn our heads in the direction we heard it come from. Rick and Shane held their hands up to keep Carl and I kept back and quiet. It wasn't until a deer stepped out of the tree line and into the open. My eyes lit up at the sudden surprise and I felt a bit of warmth hitting my heart. Carl stepped further out and he wanted to get closer to the deer. I could sense he wanted to touch it even. The world ended and we all figure the world had gone extinct. But it's moments like these do you take in as much to remember the small things. Lately, we've seen so much darkness that we forget to look at the bright things. And when we finally get to the see the bright things, we have to take a moment to let it sink it.

Sure, I saw the deer when Daryl and I were out hunting it and all. But it was different then. I'm only starstruck with this because Carl is getting to see it. He's not looking at something dark or scary or heartbreaking. He's able to see the good that's left in this world.

My body jumped at a sudden bang. I looked around me for a split second, trying to figure out what the noise was. It only dawned on me that the deer and Carl had dropped to the ground. Rick, Shane and I immediately began running for Carl. Rick had made it first to Carl as Shane and I followed after. I was only three steps away from them when I stepped on something hard and pain immediately clamped down around my ankle. I couldn't help but let out the loudest scream I'd ever let out and dropped to the ground.

Rick and Shane turn their heads and see my state, Shane quickly rushing over to me. I turn my body and sat down on my butt, looking down at my ankle. A bear trap strapped around it. I threw my head back, letting out another scream of pain.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on." Shane says softly.

"Get it off! Get it off!" I screamed. Shane grabs the teeth of the trap and begins pulling it apart. The muscles in his arms popped out as he strained to free me.

"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! I'm so sorry!" Shane releases the trap and he's quick to pick up his rifle, pointing it to a man holding a shotgun. He held his hands up in surrender, continuing to apologize.

"Carl, what do we do?!" Rick shouts.

"T-Turnequette!" I shout.

"What?" Rick asks.

"Lock your belt around his chest to slow the bleeding. Do it! Or he'll bleed out." I demand. Rick removes his belt and begins wrapping it around Carl's chest.