𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 » shane walsh

seventeen. lost little girl

"I'm alive aren't I? I am alive right." T-Dog verbalised with a dreary tone to his voice.

The woman chuckled a little "Yes, you're still alive dont worry."

"Right now I really wish I wasn't, this hurts like a bitch."

Athena delved into her pocket, remembering the pill bottle she scavenged earlier that day. She figured T-Dog would need it the most, even if it wasn't much. She threw the pill bottle down to him. "Here. There's not many left but it might take the edge off until we can find some more."

He caught it and read the label "Thanks, Theen. Let's hope these babies work."

"Oh god, they're back." Glenn yelled, drawing everyone's attention to the the two men walking their way — only without Sophia.

Yet another defeated sigh escaped Athena's lips before she made her way over to the ladder and started to climb down. Once her feet touched the ground, she quickly checked on T-Dog before rushing over to the others.

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again first light." Rick sadly explained.

"You cant leave my daughter out there on her own, to spend the night alone in the woods."

Daryl shook his head as he adjusted his crossbow strap "Out in the darks no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. Most people will get lost."

"She's twelve. She can't be out on her own. You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there. We tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organised effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

"I-Is that blood?" Carol shakily asked pointing to the blood stains on Daryl's vest.

"We took down a walker. There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."

Andrea stepped forward "How can you know that?"

Rick and Daryl glanced at each other, urging one another to explain. Athena dreaded hearing the next words, hoping it wasn't more bad news — they had already had too much of that. "We cut the son of a bitch open. Made sure."

Carol took a seat, breathing heavily as tears started to well up in her eyes. Just the sight of her was breaking Athena's heart. "She's just a little girl. How could you leave her out there to begin with?"

"Those two walkers were on us. It was my only option, the only choice I could make so we would both have a chance."

"My little girl left alone in the woods." Carol choked out, earning the support of Lori and Andrea to comfort the grieving woman. Rick was at a loss for words, Athena could see that from a mile off. So she watched as Rick rose to his feet and walked off in the other direction, leaving behind the rest of them to question what would come next.

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When the next day finally came around, Athena and the rest of the group had set off into the woods in search for the lost little girl. Athena couldn't imagine the way Sophia was feeling, being all alone with the the fear of deadly creatures popping out from every corner. She didn't have any form of weapon or knowledge on how to kill walker, with every minute that passed, it was another minute of Sophia being at risk.

Athena had her knife close to her hand, ready for anything that would decide to make an appearance and threaten her life, as she walked beside Andrea. The woman had never had a chance to really talk to Andrea after the stunt she pulled at the CDC and was desperate to know about how she was coping. Athena and Andrea had formed an unbreakable bond during the time they spent together back at the beginning, they both understood one another, finding they had more in common than either of them would of thought. Ever since Athena lost Thorna, her late best friend, she never in a million years thought she would get close enough to anyone else to even call them a friend. But Andrea was the exception and she wasn't about to let anything happen to her.