They were on the road for quite a while, had to do a few gas stops. On the last one the group made the decision to leave behind two vehicles, being Daryl and Shane's. Leo managed to get Daryl to give in and let him ride of the back of Merle's bike.
Leo was very happily sitting on the bike when Daryl drove past the rv, Leo grinned as he pumped a fist in the air and looked at Dale, "Whoo!" he seen the older man chuckle with a shake of the head. Daryl smirked and sped up causing Leo to almost fall right off the back, "Shit!" the teen lurched forward and took a firm grasp of his shoulders.
He heard Daryl chuckling so he lightly punched his arm, "I fucking hate you" Daryl just laughed some more.
It was quite a peaceful drive until Dale came to a stop, "What's this for?" Leo asked, Daryl shrugged and rode the bike around to the front. There were was a large hold up of cars from when the breakout started. Daryl went over to Dale's window.
"See a way through?" Dale asked so Daryl pointed his head towards the cars, indicating them to flow him.
They weaved through cars slowly until they heard Dale stop, Leo looked back to check what was wrong, "Hey, stop. Somethings busted with the rv"
The two hopped off the bike and walked over to the rest of their group. Daryl looked into a car trunk for a second before sticking his hands in a searching through. Everyone had agreed that it would be best to have a look around the cars for supplies.
T-dog went off to start siphoning fuel from the cars, others went about to pick up whatever they could find.
Leo looked around but didn't find much, one car he looked through had a box with some still good food, "Sweet!" he dug through and loaded it into his backpack. On the floor of the passenger seat he saw a bag of tools, things that could be very useful, "These guys were loaded!" he smiled and was about to walk back when he seen some shimmer in the sun, "No way" he picked up the pistol and checked it for bullets, "Fully loaded too... Thanks guys!" he joked then shook his head with disappointment and started walking back with a quite mutter to himself, "Why the fuck would I say that?"
He thought he heard some groaning so he hesitantly looked around the area to see a large amount of walkers. His eyes widened and he tried to find somewhere to hide. Leo couldn't find anywhere in time before a couple started chasing after him, "Fuck. No, no, no, no"
The teen ran and weaved his way through the cars before making it to a grassy area, he knew the gun wasn't an option; it would attract too many. With a glance back and seeing that the walkers were right on his tail the boy started to panic and dropped his tool bag so he could run faster.
Leo ran. He ran as fast, as far as he could-
A faint scream sounded through the woods.
The teen spun around, he was completely engulfed by the forest now and the walkers were no longer there. He heard someone running, "Hello?" he whispered and walked towards the footsteps.
Someone ran around a tree and bumped into him, "Woah!" the other body screamed so Leo quickly put his hand over their mouth, "Shh. It's okay, it's okay" he was able to see that it was Sophia looking back at him and let his hand fall, "See? It's just me, just Leo" he smiled softly at her to try and calm her down despite his own fear.
The girl didn't give him a response but flung herself into his arms, "I'm scared. I don't know where my mom is"
"I know, I know. We'll get back. Don't worry" Leo accepted her and hugged her back, looking around for any walkers that were close by; he couldn't see any.
"Okay, let's go" he said and pulled the girl to her feet, "We need to keep moving, come on"
The two kids walked with each other for a while, neither remembered the way to camp so they just walked in a chosen direction. Night was starting to fall and Leo knew they had to get back now or their night would be hell.
"Hey, look" the boy pointed out and went over to a small patch of pink flowers with a smile, "They're cosmos... they were my moms favorite"
Sophia walked over to him, "They're pretty"
"Yeah, they are. Here..." he picked a couple and handed them over, "See, because of the pink, it represents love- mothers love, more... take some, to keep you safe- make you feel better, like you're still with your mom" he told her then stood up and started to walk away, taking a glance to the girl, "Come on, we need to keep going"
Sophia smiled at him and pocketed the flowers before following behind him. They walked for a couple minutes more.
A low growling got both of their attention. Leo pushed Sophia behind him slightly and squinted his eyes to see through the dark. A walker emerged from behind a tree, Leo flew his hand to the knife holster at his side, "Stay behind me"
The boy jumped forward and sliced the knife right through it's eye. His eyes widened and the scared whimper he heard from Sophia, Leo turned around swiftly but came face to face with a walker, "Shit!" he stabbed that one too.
Out the corner of his eye Sophia ran away, two walkers close behind, "No, Sophia!" with a grunt the teen shoved the dead walker to the ground and ran after the other three bodies.
"Leave her alone" he sneered, bringing his knife right through the crown of a walker's head. He struggled to get the nice out it's head but heard the horrifying groan of another walked, "no, no, no, no!"
He spun around and the thing must have been inches away because both of them went falling to the ground. Leo used all his strength to hold it and arms length away- it's jaw snapping desperately at him. He didn't have his knife, he didn't have anything. Leo Campbell was going to die out in these woods all alone to some brainless walker.
No. Leo wouldn't accept that. He found a new strength and used one arm to hold its head away and patted around the forest floor before a large twig graced his finger tips. He picked it up and smashed it right through the geeks head and it, not so gracefully fell right on top of him. He quickly shoved it off of him and wiped himself down.
When Leo glanced back up Sophia was no longer in his sights, "Shit! No, no, no" he spun around multiple times but could find the girl. He pulled his hand up to the top of his head and grasped onto his hair, "Fuck!" Why couldn't he just have killed them faster? Then Sophia would be here and he would be sure she was alive to bring back to her mom.
Leo sniffled away a tear and shook his head to himself as he brushed the rest away, willing himself to stand up and keep going.
The teen walked around for a little longer Sophia just wasn't there. Maybe she found it back... maybe she was out there all alone waiting for Leo to show back up. With a sigh and shake of the head he chose to call it a night and looked for a tree he could climb up far enough to sleep out of reach for walkers.
☆彡💫----🪐ミ☆
Leo didn't sleep— too scared to, and he watched out for Sophia maybe running back. Morning came by very slowly but Leo couldn't bring himself to get down from the tree, not with all those walkers lurking around the woods.
After a short while he heard church bells, his head snapped to the direction. He looked around for a quite scout, "Fuck it" he hopped down and ran towards the sound.
On the way he heard another threatening gross but just pushed his body to go faster. He wanted to be back with his group.
Leo got to an opening. He broke through the tree line and seen a beautiful white building, the boy smiled at the sight and ran over. As he got closer some people came into view, "Hello?" he called out.
Someone came sprinting out of the building, "Who's there?" it was Rick.
Leo's heart dropped and he ran faster towards them, coming to a stop just outside, "Who is it?" the teen glance behind Rick and immediately ran towards Daryl, "Leo?-" the man was cut off when Leo crashed into him.
He clutched his arms tightly around Daryl and started bawling into his shoulder, the rush of it all flooding back to him, "Woah. Hey, you're okay. You're okay" the man soothed and hesitantly wrapped his arms around the crying boy, "you're okay"
Leo shook his head, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry" he cried, muffled by Daryl's shirt, "I- I'm so sorry... I- I left... I-"
"Hey, calm down, kid. Calm down..."
It took a few minutes for the teens crying to stop and his breathing to calm down. Slowly he pulled away from Daryl's hold and looked around at everyone, they had all gathered around the two. Leo wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt.
Everyone silently looked to him, his eyes locked with Carol's and he stood up, walking over to her, "I'm sorry" it came out near a whisper.
The woman looked between his eyes, "Wh- What?"
"I... I-" Leo glanced to his feet and took a deep breath then met the mothers eyes one more, "... I found Sophia. Some walkers chased me into the woods and I bumped into her. We- we walked around, trying to find the highway again but it was getting dark... some walkers came up behind us, I- I tried to fight them off; got 3, but when I looked back up... she was... I couldn't see her no more"
Carol whimpered and looked around all of the group, Leo brought his voice lower, "she was just gone... but- but none of them were there. She could have gotten away, maybe... I'm sorry" the woman shook her head.
She stepped closer to the teen and pulled him into a hug, "You protected her, for as long as you could. Thank you" he nodded and smiled to her when she pulled away and walked off to sit back in the church.
"How'd you get through the night?" Leo looked over to Rick.
"Well, I walked for a little longer; to find you guys or- or Sophia, but the sun went down so I climbed up a tree"
Rick nodded, "alright, glad you're safe. And we will get Sophia back, alright?" and walked past the teen, giving him a soft pat on the shoulder. Carl smiled up at Leo but moved to follow after his mom.
Leo turned back to Daryl as embarrassment flushed through him, "Hey... Sorry 'bout that"
The man shook his head with a look a some form of weird understanding that Leo didn't really know what meant, "Nah, don't be. It must have been scary, being out there all night. I'm glad you're back" he ruffled up the kids hair and nodded his head to the side, "Looks like we got a meeting, come on"
Everyone was gathered around under a tree as Shane and Rick talked. Shane walked over to them, "Ya'll gonna follow the creek bed back. Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough"
"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked
Shane sighed, "Yeah, we'll catch up to you"
"I wanna stay too" Carl said and stepped forward, "I'm her friend"
Rick and Lori looked to each other before the mother walked up to Carl, "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will"
"When did you start growing up?" She said and pulled him into a hug. Rick came over to say goodbye to his wife.
The rest started walking back into the woods but Rick stopped and took a glance back, "Wait, up" they all turned around, his eyes were set on Leo, "I've seen you with that knife, you're good. You mind coming to help? "
The teen looked Rick, "Uh.."
Rick gave everyone a once over then back to Leo, "You don't have to but I think it'd be best. The last person Sophia seen was you, you protected her, might make her feel safer if we find her... if you're up for it"
Leo glanced at the people around him who just looked back at him, his eyes catching Daryl who gave a small nod, Carol put a hand on Leo's back, "Please go, help my girl. I trust you" the boy smiled with a nod and stepped back towards the smaller group.
"Okay. I'll come"
Everyone set off again, Rick went to have a moment by himself in the church as the other three waited outside on the stairs, "Get what you needed?" Shane asked when Rick came out.
"Guess I'll find out"
☆彡💫----🪐ミ☆
The four were walking through the woods, a branch snapped and Rick brought them to a stop. He listened out then pointed to the left, when they got closer they could see it was just a deer.
The animal stepped out into the clearing in front of them. They all smiled at it, watching the peaceful creature mind it's business, "Shane..." Leo looked to the man and watched him lower his gun at Rick's word, Rick gestured to Carl who was stepping forward towards the creature.
The older three watched him slowly approach the deer with a big smile on his face. He got up real close to it and stood still to take it all in, there was a calm, peaceful silence—
A loud gunshot tore through the moment. Both the deer and Carl fell to the ground. Leo jumped at the loud bang and looked to the little boy with wide eyes. Carl had been shot.
"Oh, no. No, no, no! Carl!" Rick shouted and ran to his unconscious son.
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