IT WAS SILENT IN THE CAR AS THEY DROVE OUT OF ATLANTA AND TOWARDS FORT BENNING,
Jacqui had stayed behind in the CDC, leaving T-Dog and the others devastated. She was a good woman, strong. It was a shame she went out the way she did.
They left a few cars behind. Daryl opted to ditch his truck, and drove his brother's motorcycle while Marcie offered to keep his stuff in Vivian's car. Shane and T-Dog left their vehicles and stayed in the RV with most of the group.
Marcie held Daryl's bag,"Don't your arms get tired on that thing?" Marcie asked the redneck, who was revving the bike,
He just stared at her and she nodded, "Yeah, okay." She sighed before walking away.
Marcie had decided to stay with the group. She was hoping that if there was a refugee camp at Fort Benning, that maybe her parents were there.
She sat in the passenger seat, playing with her bracelet before glancing over to Vivian, "I had to put my best friend down, too, you know." Vivian tightened her grip on the steering wheel, "At the very start, I went to find her so we could go home... and I went into her room and there she was. Dead. But, still standing. Her eyes were clouded over and I knew something was wrong." Marcie sighed, "She never stood a chance."
"'M sorry about your friend."
"I'm sorry about yours too." Marcie sighed, "Lexi wasn't meant for this world. And after seeing what the bite really does to you... I just hope it was quick."
"That's all we really can hope for." Vivian replied,
"How long were you and Jillian friends for?" Marcie asked,
"We grew up together. In Chicago. She was the smart one, she got out. Married a nice man, had a beautiful baby. I was out here visiting her when shit went down." Vivian explained, "Left my family to deal with this shit alone."
"Are they strong?"
Vivian smirked, "Yeah. They're badass."
"Maybe we'll find them one day." Marcie offered,
"'M sure we will." She sighed, glancing back at the sleeping Liam in the rear view mirror,
They had gotten a ways out of the city, only fields and woods for them to gaze at as they drove. Eventually the RV came to a stop and the Cherokee and Vivian's car followed suit,
Ahead of them on the highway was a traffic snarl. There was a panic and people abandoned their cars or died inside them. Either way, it was an issue.
They slowly weaved through the cars and Marcie's stomach turned at the sight of the dead bodies in the seats.
The RV halted once again and they spotted the smoke coming from the engine. Vivian quickly turned the car off and sighed, "That damn RV."
Liam woke up and began to wave his toy around. The three of them exited the car and approached the group,
"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times dead in the water." Dale sighed in frustration,
"Problem Dale?"
"Oh, just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no hope of..." Dale paused and glanced around at all the abandoned vehicles, "Okay, that was dumb."
"Can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane trailed off,
Daryl began to go through the trunk of the nearest car, "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find."
"Can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog stated,
"I'll help." Marcie offered and he nodded towards her,
"Maybe some water." Carol suggested, keeping an arm around Sophia,
"Or food."
"This is a graveyard." Lori spoke up, "I don't know how I feel about this."
Vivian glanced over at her, understanding where she was coming from. But it was survival of the fittest, "Not like they're gonna be needing these things any time soon."
T-Dog handed Marcie a gas can and a tube before the two of them went off to collect gas. They separated to move as quickly as they could,
Marcie stopped at the car nearest to her and opened the gas cap. Once she got the fuel going, she began to search the car. She smiled when she found a butterfly knife in the glove compartment, "Sweet." She grabbed it and stuffed it into her back pocket before moving over to grab the gas can which had some fuel in it.
She kept moving, finding some things that could be useful. She put everything on top of the cars, mentally reminding herself to come back with a box to put the items in.
Vivian watched everyone as they dispersed. Glenn went to help Dale with the radiator and she smirked at him, "Look at you, handyman Glenn."
"Shut up." He muttered, turning back to the engine.
Vivian bounced the toddler on her hip and went through some cars. She found a little boy's backpack and went through it, "Oh, look at that, Liam. There's some toys for you in here."
"Yay!" Liam clapped.
Vivian placed him in the back seat of the car and began putting things inside the backpack. She was glad that there were clothes in the back, clothes for a 36 month old. Liam was going to outgrow his soon and needed bigger sizes.
A hand suddenly grabbed her hip and another covered her mouth to keep her from screaming, "Get in."
Rick pulled his hand away and she turned to him, "What?"
"Walkers. A bunch of them. Get in and hide."
Vivian nodded, getting into the trunk, "We're gonna play hide-n-seek, baby." She whispered.
She grabbed a blanket and brought it over her head, covering Liam, "Gotta stay quiet, baby."
Liam put his finger to his lips and Vivian nodded, "Yeah, just like that."
Marcie was leaning against a blue Toyota, waiting for the gas tank to empty while trying to figure out how to swing the butterfly knife around, when Daryl reached her, "Gotta hide." He muttered,
"Huh?" She put her knife down,
"Biters." He told her, "Too many to take on."
Marcie glanced back down the highway, "What about T-Dog? He's still down there."
"I got him. Just get down." Daryl told her before running down the highway, disappearing amongst the cars.
Marcie got down onto her stomach and shuffled underneath the truck. Only moments later did she see the dragging feet of the corpses. She used her own hand to cover her mouth, trying to keep her breaths quiet.
Dozens and dozens of biter stumbled past. Way too many for them to take on, even if everyone could fight. Marcie could only pray that everyone had taken cover in time.
It was the most intense five minutes of her life. Marcie would rather fail her college finals a million times over than be in that situation again.
Once all the feet had disappeared, Marcie shuffled out from underneath the truck. She looked around for her group, gripping her knife in case of a lone biter.
"Marcie!" Daryl called out gently, catching her attention.
She turned to see Daryl carrying an injured T-Dog, "Holy shit. He bit?" She asked as she moved over to wrap his other arm around her to help Daryl carry the weight,
Daryl shook his head, "Naw, cut himself."
Vivian held her breath, listening for any footsteps while trying to keep Liam calm. Glenn ran over and tapped on the window, "Viv!"
She peeked her head out from underneath the blanket and Liam giggled, "They gone?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
They heard screams and turned to see Sophia running off into the forest, a walker and Rick following. Vivian got out of the car and grabbed Liam before she and Glenn went over to the group, who was all waiting on the edge of the highway,
Lori held Carol in her arms, trying to comfort her until the two came back. Vivian could only pray that the girl was okay. Carol didn't deserve that kind of pain.
"Help!" They all turned to see Daryl and Marcie carrying a bloody T-Dog towards the group,
"Did he get bit?" Glenn asked as they sat him down and Dale went to get the first aid kit,
"Daryl said he cut himself." Marcie explained, kneeling beside him to get a look at the deep cut on his forearm,
"On the damn car door." T-Dog groaned,
Marcie looked over at the group who stood on the edge of the asphalt, "What's going on?"
Dale came over with the kit and grabbed some gauze, "Sophia was chased by biters into the woods."
The brunette stood, "And we're just standing here?"
"Rick went in after her." Glenn replied,
It wasn't long until Rick came back, alone. As he looked around, Vivian could tell he was searching for Sophia. "She's not here?"
Carol sobbed harder at the question. Rick stared at the grieving mother for a moment before moving over to Daryl, Shane, and Glenn, asking them to help search for the girl.
Marcie watched as the men went back into the woods to look for her. She wanted to go with, but knew it was best to stay with T-Dog.
Vivian went to put Liam down for a nap before returning to the group, "Alright, guys, let's clear these cars so we can leave once we get Sophia back." She called out.
She had Andrea help steer the cars while Vivian got into the Cherokee and nudge the vehicles. She wanted to keep everyone distracted, especially Carol, but couldn't get the woman to budge from the side of the road,
Glenn and Shane came back empty handed, but explained that Daryl and Rick were still out there looking. Marcie comforted Carol, telling her those were the best men to be out there.
"Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?" Carol sniffled,
"We have to clear enough room so we can get the R.V. turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map." Marcella explained, "I know the waiting is hard. But we can't have everyone out there, running around searching for her. More people are going to get lost that way. But hey," Marcie wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Daryl is a great tracker and Rick's a sheriff. If anyone can find her, it's them. Just a matter of time."
"Can't be soon enough for me." Andrea sighed, bringing over some water for everyone, "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it."
"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that."
Marcie took a sip of water, "I've seen it before. They join up with each other and just wander, looking for food. They were like that in Atlanta."
Shane nodded, "A herd. That sounds about right. It's like the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer." He sighed, "Okay. Come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it. Let's go, come on."
Carol went back to waiting while everyone else kept busy. Marcie stayed near T-Dog incase he got worse while Vivian stayed near her car, keeping watch over Liam while sorting through the clothes and food they found.
It was nearly nightfall when Daryl and Rick got back. Everyone gathered by the edge of the road, waiting to see if they had found the young girl.
But they came back alone,
"You didn't find her?" Carol's voice broke and Lori wrapped an arm around her,
"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick told her,
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."
"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl said,
"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol questioned, tears running down her cheeks,
"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick tried to calm her down,
"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl stated,
"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick announced,
Carol looked over at the hunter, "Is that blood?"
Everyone's eyes moved downwards to his jeans, where blood stained the fabric at his knees, "We took down a walker." Rick said,
"Walker?" Carol began to panic.
They were not doing a good job at comforting the poor woman,
"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Rick told her,
"How can you know that?" Andrea asked,
"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl answered and Marcie wrinkled her nose in disgust,
"Oh God." Carol sat down on the guard rail, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"
"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick explained,
Marcie understood. He couldn't protect her and take down two walkers. But she knew Carol wound't get it. But that was okay, she was a mother. Her only concern is her child.
"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane defended,
"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol sobbed,
"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick attempted to get through to her.
Vivian placed her hand on Rick's arm, "Nobody doubts that, Rick. You did the best you could."
"My little girl got left in the woods."