A Broken World

Twenty

I had my arms lightly wrapped around Daryl's waist, just enough to hold on and not make him uncomfortable. I could already feel how tense he was now with the light hold I had on him. He wasn't as tense as he was when we left the church parking lot but he was still tense. The road was clear for miles before we got to a huge traffic jam. Cars were packed tight. It was easy for Daryl to weave in and out of them, but Dale wouldn't be able to get through without us moving some cars out of the way. Just as Daryl went to see if there might be a way he could get through the RV broke down.

Now we were stranded on the highway while they fixed it. Shane and Glenn went off to look through the other cars for a radiator hose for the RV, Rick stood guard, Andrea went back into the RV, Dale started to work on it, and the rest of us started looking through the cars for supplies. Lori was against it at first saying we were in a graveyard. Technically she wasn't wrong, but we needed food and water. I walked ahead of everyone else and started to look through some of the cars further ahead.

I found a pack of unopened and opened cigarettes with a lighter in one of the cars. The owner still sat in the driver's seat, skin dried And sunken in. There was a single gunshot to the temple on the right side. The driver's side and back window, along with the seat, was covered in the aftermath. There was a bandage wrapped around his left arm. This person knew he wasn't going to survive. He knew what happened when he got bitten and the fever hit. The gun he used, a revolver, laid on the floor by his feet and I picked that up too, sticking it into the back of my pants after checking it. It was only missing one bullet, leaving five left. Checking the car more I found a couple boxes of ammo to go with it.

I was about to move onto the next car when a hand covered my mouth from behind. I gripped the person's wrist about to break free when I heard Daryl's voice. “Get under the car and keep your mouth shut.” With that he was quickly but quietly making his way down the highway. I started to follow him but then saw it…the large group of walkers shuffling and stumbling through the cars. “Holy shit.” I ducked down and crawled under the closest car.

The sound of their groans grew louder and the smell grew stronger the closer they got. I pulled my knife and laid on my back watching the dead shuffle slowly past. I waited five extra minutes after they had completely shuffled past to come out from under the car. When I got back to the group Carol was crying, T-dog was holding his arm while Andrea bandaged it up. “What happened?” I asked. I noticed Rick wasn't there and started to think the worst. Daryl walked up to me and pulled me back away from everyone.

“The little girl ran into the woods; Rick went after her,” he told me. “Sophia? Oh, my god. And T? Was he…” he shook his head. “Nah, cut ‘emself real bad.” I put my hands on my head and let out a long deep sigh, closing my eyes for a second before I remembered the cigarettes I found. “Oh, here.” I pulled the lighter out of my front pocket and the cigarettes out of my back pockets. “Found them in a car and figured you'd like to have them,” I said, handing them to Daryl. He chewed on his bottom lip, nodded his head  and took them from my hand.

We all waited for Rick to come back with Sophia. The afternoon was starting to turn into evening, the sun slowly starting to go down. Carol, Andrea, and Lori were all gathered around the guardrail anxiously waiting for Rick to show up with Sophia safe and sound. But when he ran up the small incline, breathing heavy, with no sign of the little girl Carol started to cry more while pacing. Rick looked around at everyone confused. “Where's Sophia?” He asked and that made Carol panic even more than she already was.

Rick explained what had happened, how he told Sophia to hide and wait for him while he led the walkers away. He told her if he didn't come back to head back to the highway and keep the sun on her left shoulder. When he was done taking care of the walkers and went back where he left Sophia  she was gone and he assumed she made her way back to the highway. Now Rick, Me, Daryl, Shane, and Glenn were at the creek where Rick had her hide.

“Sure this is the spot?” Daryl asked. He and Rick were standing in the water looking at the space behind the fallen trees' roots. “I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek,” Rick said. “Without a paddle- seems where we've landed,” Daryl commented. I was looking down at the ground at the footprints. “She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder.”

“Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail,” I heard Daryl say and turned my head to see Glenn moving out of the way while he stepped back up onto the trail. “Assuming she knows her left from her right,” Shane said. “Shane, she understood me fine,” Rick argued. “Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck.” I rolled my eyes and looked at Daryl. “Daryl.” He walked over to me and I nodded to the ground.

“Got clear prints right here. She did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back,” he said. Rick nodded his head, “She couldn't have gone far. Hey, we're gonna find her,” he said, mostly to Shane. Shane sighed, “She'll be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere,” he said. The tone of Shane's voice didn't settle right with me.

We walked along, following the small footprints until we came to a Y in the trail. “She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way,” Daryl said, hunched down closer to the ground. “Why would she do that?” Glenn asked. “Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off,” I said. “A walker?” Glenn asked. Daryl stood up and shook his head, “I don't see any other footprints. Just hers.”

“So what do we do? All of us press on?” Shane asked. Rick stood there looking around, his hands on his hips. “No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm,” he said. Shane nodded, “I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on.” He and Glenn started their way back to the highway. Daryl, Rick, and I stayed and continued looking for any signs of Sophia.