I said Tuesday, it came Friday. I'm sorry. I'm such a shockingly bad uploader. Bet you all hate me. Plus, this is short and rubbish. :/ Y'all can just stop reading it if you like?
Rebecca’s Point Of View.
Carol is the first to enter the RV, tears streaming down her face, closely followed by both Tyreese and Lori. Andrea and I shoot up to a standing position.
“What happened?” I ask, the worry thick in my voice.
“Come outside.” Lori said taking in Andrea’s blood spattered face. We both followed Lori outside to just outside the door. Everyone else was stood still, almost as if in shock.
“You going to tell us then?” Andrea asked, clearly growing impatient.
“Sophia ran into the woods, Rick’s gone to look for her.” Lori explained.
“And I’ll be joining him in three minutes time.” Emilia chimed in.
“No you won’t.”Lori disagreed earning an eye roll from Emilia.
“What? Why?!” I blurted, ignoring Lori and Emilia’s minor tiff.
“She had two walkers after her.” Lori sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’d better head back inside, keep Carol calm until Rick brings Sophia back.”
I nodded and watched her head inside. “Poor little girl,” Andrea whispered, her eyes glazed over staring off somewhere in the distance.
“Maybe it’s best if we continue searching the cars for supplies, are ready to move off if necessary.” Shane said to Dale and Daryl.
“We’re not going anywhere yet; I still haven’t got that hose fixed.” Dale said.
“And we need to look for the girl.” Daryl responded.
“Rick’s going to bring her back though, isn’t he?” I interrupted; it was more of a statement than a question.
As I said that Rick emerged from the forest. Alone.
“Where is she? Where’s my little girl?” Carol wept from the RV entrance, Tyreese stood behind her rubbing her shoulders. She brushed him off and strode over to Rick. “Why isn’t she here?”
“I’m sorry Carol, I hid her up and left her; told her how to get back to camp, I thought she’d be here.” Rick said as softly as he could manage.
“You left my baby in the woods? All alone?” Carol cried.
“I’m sorry, I truly am. I made sure she understood how to get back.” Rick said, almost trying to convince himself.
“Where’s Emilia?” Andrea asked, looking around with furrowed eyebrows. I took a small step forwards and my eyes wondered to the forest entrance. I made a move to go after her but someone rested their hand on my shoulder.
“You can’t, it’s too dangerous.” Daryl insisted, holding me back.
“You were going to look for the little girl, I heard you say so, what’s so different now that Emilia’s thrown into the mix.” I retorted.
“Nothing. You can’t just go running off into the woods on your own though, unarmed at that.” Daryl grunted. I let my arms flop to my sides in defeat. He was right, but we had to do something. Daryl gave my arm a light squeeze before turning to Rick. “She’s right though, we need to look for them.”
“We can’t risk the camp for the few,” Shane commented.
“That’s my daughter out there.”
“And Emilia, she’s saved this camp tonnes; we can’t just abandon her when she needs us!” I joined Carol’s protest.
“Fine, we’ll go find their trail, Daryl, Glenn and I will head out now. Everyone else, stay here. Just until we get back then we’ll all go out as a group.” Rick explained.
“Emilia’s out there, I want to go.” I stood my ground.
“I don’t know--"Rick began.
“Come on, what harm is it going to cause letting her come?” Glenn interrupted.
“Fine, but you stick with the group, no running off by yourself, you hear?” Rick said pointing at me. I nodded; there were no words to say to the man. “Get a weapon and then we leave.” Again I nod and head into the RV to find myself a weapon. There was only Andrea’s hand gun lying on the table in pieces still, but I wasn’t willing to touch it. Andrea’s dad gave it to her, and from what she’s told me they were close. Really close.
I stepped back outside only to come practically nose-to-chest with Tyreese. “Hey, Rebecca, Carl found an arsenal earlier on-err, a set of sharp weapons—“
“I know what an arsenal is, Tyreese.” I laughed.
“Yeah, course. Anyway, if you’re going with Rick perhaps you should take this.” He said handing me a hatchet. “I have a feeling you may need it.”
I look down at the weapon. Taking it in my hands, I admire its beauty. It’s perfectly sharpened and perfectly balanced. “Thank you,” I say, “Now just to hope I never have to use it.” I smile, before slipping past him to meet with Rick at the edge of the highway. Daryl and Rick were already there, waiting on Glenn and Shane, whom had decided he wanted to come too.
“They’d better hurry their asses up.” Daryl grumbled.
“As soon as they get here, we’ll leave.” Rick said through clenched teeth. He was obviously stressed out about having lost Sophia; I suppose he blamed himself that she’s gone. But I still have hope that we’ll find both her and Emilia, we have to.
“We ready?” Shane asked, Glenn strolling almost casually up behind him.
“Yeah, we’re ready.” Rick nodded. He led the way to the point on a small stream that he’d left Sophia. Even I could see there were definite tracks here. Sophia’s tracks. They were leading in the direction of the highway.
“She did what you said. She headed towards the highway.” Daryl said.
“Just didn’t make it all the way.” I mumbled. Glenn gave me a look which told me to keep my mouth shut, but I wasn’t sure I could. Whenever I’ve been worried I’ve always had a habit of running my mouth.
“She was scared and tired; maybe she didn’t listen to everything. Or heard something other than what you said.” Shane said, tucking his thumb in his belt loop.
“She understood me just fine.” Rick replied adamantly.
“Tracks would suggest that too.” I said, following the direction she went with my eyes.
“You a tracker now, Becca?” Shane looked at me, almost coldly but I merely rolled my eyes, refusing to answer to that name.
“Course she is, look who she grew up with.” Daryl responded for me, climbing up the bank of the stream to follow Sophia’s trail. Glenn helped Rick climb up too and we set off.
We kept walking until we found where Sophia veered off track.
“If she’d continued straight she’d have gone right back to camp.” Daryl said as if he was annoyed, more at himself than anyone else. All of them were looking over the trail leading away from the highway; meanwhile I was looking at a separate trail.
My hands hovered over broken pieces of grass and disturbed patches of mud. Could’ve been a walker that’d made its way from the highway. Something glinted in a small patch of grass that caught my attention. I went to pick it up, but then I noticed what it was.
A small golden cross with a primrose engraved in one said. I picked it up and turned it over only to confirm my original thoughts. This was Emilia’s. She’d worn it around her neck since she got in the car all them weeks ago at the hospital. Occasionally even played with it when she was deep in thought. These must have been Emilia’s tracks.
“What’ve you found?” Glenn asked. I looked up to see all four men staring at me.
“Uh, just another set of tracks.” I replied, stuffing the necklace into my pocket as I stood up. Only Daryl seemed to notice this action, however, but I could talk to him later. The others I wasn’t sure I trusted as much, even if we’ve been together since this started. “They lead right up to Sophia’s tracks, figured it could be what spooked Sophia to change her course.”
“Emilia?” Rick asked.
“I Don’t know.” I lied.
He nodded slowly, “Well, we should continue down this track, Sophia could be at the other end.” He looked at each of the faces of the other members in his scouting party. “Glenn, Shane and Rebecca, you all go back to the group. Daryl and I will follow this lead.” He paused, “Tell Carol we’ll find her daughter. She’s going to be alright.”
Both Glenn and I nodded, but Shane clearly objected. He jutted out his jaw before speaking. “Wanna take Daryl as your wingman? Fine. I’ll be waiting when you want me back.” He spat before walking back towards the highway. I shrugged my shoulder slightly before I followed behind Glenn who’d already left too.
“Did you find her? Did you find Sophia?” Carol asked, stumbling towards us, but Tyreese held her back, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
“Not yet, but Daryl and Rick are still following her trail.” Glenn soothed. Carol turned her head into Tyreese shoulders, her sobs were muffled, but even so they caused a silence to fall over the camp. No one spoke, no one moved.
“We should have dinner, start looking in these cars, make the most of the time we have left here before they bring Sophia back.” I said, breaking the silence. This seemed to spring everyone into action. Lori and Tyreese took Carol into the RV while the remainder of the group started looking for anything that could be of use in the cars.
“Here, it’s not much, but it’s enough.” Lori smiled as she handed out bows of stew. “You gonna come and grab one, Rebecca?” She asked politely.
I looked up from where I was picking at my nails, giving her a blank look. I hadn’t been paying attention; I’d been too busy thinking of why Emilia would have spooked Sophia into running in a different direction. The only solution I could think of was that Emilia had turned into walker, but it was too soon for that. Those tracks weren’t more than half an hour old; that’s too short a time for Emilia to have been bitten, died then come back to life. But why else would Sophia have run like that?
Lori repeated her question and this time I responded, “Sorry, erm...sure. Thank you.” I smiled. Reaching out my hand I took the bowl from Lori, but I didn’t eat, I just continued my train of thought.
“Listen, hon, I know you’re worried about Emilia, but you’ll get sick if you don’t eat.” She coddled sitting beside me and taking my hand in hers. “You need to keep up your strength so you can find her.”
“Lori, I think Carol’s gone into shock or something, she’s just sitting there. Staring into space.” Andrea called from the RV.
Lori sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Eat.” She said as she stood up to walk to the RV. Andrea shortly came out and sat next to me.
“Lori tells me that if you don’t eat anything I’m to force feed you. And I’m not exactly gentle, so if I were you I’d have finished the stew by now.” She smiles.
“You think I can’t handle being treated roughly?” I replied, being mock offended.
“You’re not exactly the toughest person I’ve ever met.” She laughed, “Look,” She punched my arm lightly. “There’s nothing on you but skin and bone.”
“Take a look around, Andrea, everyone’s skin and bone.” I laughed.
“That’s why you need to eat.” She said, bringing it back round to eating. So I did, I slowly brought the spoon up to my mouth, making a point that I was going to fill my stomach.
I'm sorry, but I get Andrecca feels all the time, okay? Even when I'm not writing I suddenly think awh, I love them two when they're together. (': Just me? Okay.