As the world crumbles around them the Russell family finds themselves fighting to survive. Their lives are forever shattered and they must work together to survive.
In this tale of resilience and determination, all limits are tested and the depths...
It was already starting to get dark when Rick and Daryl returned.
"You didn't find her?" It took everything out of Carol to stop her voice from breaking.
"Her trail went cold." Rick replied as he stepped over the guardrail. "We'll pick it up again at first light."
"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Her voice broke.
"Out in the dark is no good." Daryl told her. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people would get lost."
"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own." She cried. Theresa wrapped an arm around her. She felt a pain similar to hers because of Levi. "You didn't find anything?"
"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick said.
"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added.
"We have to make this an organized effort." He continued. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."
Carl looked at Daryl's clothes. "Is that, is that blood?"
He looked down at himself, but didn't reply. It only increased Carol's panic.
"We took down a walker." Rick elaborated. "There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."
"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.
"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl replied.
Theresa continued to console Carol, it was all she could do at this moment. Carol's sadness and despair changed into anger and she turned towards Rick again.
"How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"
"Those two walkers were on us." He replied, calmly. He didn't let her anger get to him. "I had to draw them off. It was her best chance."
"I was there. He didn't have a choice." Kyllian promised her. He hadn't been there. He hadn't seen the moment Rick left Sophia, but he trusted Rick's judgment of the situation. He probably would've done it differently than him, and yet his opinion remained the same.
"How is she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child." Carol pleaded.
"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick continued to explain.
"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane insisted.
"My little girl got left in the woods." She bit her tears back. Theresa was still rubbing circles on her back and Lori was at her other side. This was going to be a long night.
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The next morning a bigger search party set off. Dale, Kyllian, Ash and T-Dog stayed behind. Kyllian only stayed behind to watch over Ash. He was supposed to watch Carl as well, but he was allowed to join the search party. He had set Ash up in the RV to play with some dolls.
