A Broken World

Twenty-One

Rick, Daryl, and I went deeper into the woods, following the direction Sophia had gone off in. “How do you know where to go? I don't see anything,” Rick said after a few minutes of walking. How is he a cop and not know the basics of tracking. “You want a tracking lesson or do you want to find that little girl?” Daryl said in annoyance. “The tracks are there; they're just really faint. Did they not teach how to track suspects?” I asked. 

“Wasn't a very big town. We mostly had traffic violations and dealt with drunks. The most exciting thing that happened was a few months before the world went to shit. There was a robbery in the town and they headed our way. Shane and I  along with two other of our officers blocked the road. There was a shootout and I got hit twice. One caught in my vest the other landed me in a coma.”

“You done chit chatting?” Daryl asked even more annoyed. We kept walking until the sun started to disappear more, letting night take over. We had come along a walker which we killed then Daryl and Rick cut it open just to make sure Sophia hadn't been attacked. Luckily and fortunately the only thing inside It's stomach was a woodchuck. “We should head back. It won't do us any good looking in the dark,” I said. They both agreed and we made our way back to the highway.

“You didn't find her? You didn't find anything?” Carol cried. “It won't do us any good running around in the dark,” I told her gently. “Is that blood?” Andrea asked, looking at Rick's shit.” “We came across A walker,” Rick said. Carol started to panic until Rick said, “There was no sign of it being anywhere near Sophia.” Everyone looked at him in a questioning manner not sure how he would know that. “How could you possibly know that?” Andrea asked. “Cut the son of bitch open,” Daryl said. That seemed to help Carol a little bit but not much. She looked at Rick and started to blame him for her daughter missing. “How could you just leave her? She’s just a little girl. She’s just a little girl. You can’t just leave her out there” It wasn’t hard to see that Rick was blaming himself for what happened but he had no other choice. He told Carol he was sorry and walked past her and everyone else and started to walk down the highway.

Carol turned towards me as I stepped over the guardrail. “You're a detective, can't you f8nd my little girl? That's your job!” She cried, grabbing onto my arm. I gently took her hand and pulled it off, holding it between both of mine. “I was a homicide detective, Carol. I felt with murderers and serial killers not missing persons. But we will find your daughter. We just need to wait for morning when the sun comes up. We can organize a lot better so no one is running around in the woods at night. We don't need more people getting lost,” I told her gently. “You can't just leave her out there! She's just a little girl!” She cried more and I walked away. I couldn't even begin to imagine how she was feeling right now.

The next day we got up early; just as the sun was coming up and made sure everyone had water and a weapon. Shane and Rick went over the rules and plan of what was going to happen. Everyone would be going besides Dale and T-Dog. Daryl and Rock led the way, Glenn and I stayed in the middle, and Shane brought up the back. It was the safest way. The five of us knew how to fight and deal with the walkers better than the rest of them. Carl was also with us. I don't know why Lori and Rick agreed to let him come along because it was definitely not a good idea, but I have no place to say anything.

After walking a few miles in we came along a tent in the middle of the woods. Rick, Shane, and Daryl checked it out. Daryl went inside but before he did that Rick had Carol quietly call out for Sophia in case she was in there. After a few times of her calling for Sophia and telling her it was okay and there was no response, Daryl went inside. When he came back out he explained that there was some dead guy in there. “What'd Jenner call it? Opted out,” he said. We were talking about our next options when a church bell rang in the distance.

Without even thinking or listening to anyone Rick ran towards the sound leaving no choice but for the rest of us to run after him. Eventually we came to a break in the trees, coming out into a cemetery with a church sitting in the distance. Except this couldn't be the right place, this church had no steeple, no bells to be rung. But the bells rang again and we were rushing to the church. Unfortunately the only thing we found inside were a few walkers. The bells were set on a timer, which Glenn disconnected. Carol and Lori went back inside to sit, giving everyone a small break until we could figure out what to do next.

After twenty minutes we gathered in a group to talk about our next options. Rick and Shane decided they would keep looking for a little while and catch up to us. Daryl and I would lead everyone back to the highway. Of course Carl Went with Rick  which again I didn't think was a great idea. The three of them went off in a different direction and the rest went back to the highway.

On the way back we took a small break, Carol started to blame Rick for what happened and Lori tried to calmly tell her it wasn't his fault and he did what he had to do. There was a lot of apologizing and saying Sophia would be found before moving on. Andrea bitched about how far we had to go while getting separated from the group. We didn't take notice until we heard her screaming. Before any of us could get to her a woman on a horse came riding in and hitting the walker with a bat. “Lori…Lori Grimes?” She asked. Lori stepped forward and the woman told her she needed to go with her. “Rick sent me. Carl's been shot. He's alive but you need to come with me now!” Without questioning it Lori got on the horse and took off with the woman.