A teenage girl by the name of Ayla Meadows is held against her will and experimented on by a crazed scientist. Although she manages to escape the horrors with the help of a sheriff and his group, she is forever haunted by the memories of her torture...
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"A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside." - Winnie The Pooh
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Carl and Ayla wake the next morning to find that Sophia wasn't found and had to spend the night in the woods. Although Ayla had prepared herself for the disappointment, it still felt like a punch in the gut.
The group gather around to discuss different tactics on how they are going to find her. They decide to walk up the creek for five miles and then circle back on the other side with them all staying in each others site. Dale will stay behind to continue fixing the broken down RV and T-Dog will stay with him to recover from his injury.
Carl and Ayla watch as the adults pick up their weapons and make a silent deal with each other. "We're going with them right?" Carl questions.
"Hell yeah." Ayla responds.
"And if they don't let us?" He asks.
"Then we'll just follow."
"Damn right." Carl agrees with a smile.
Ayla gestures for Carl to follow her and they move over to where Rick and Lori are standing talking to Dale.
"Good luck out there." Dale is saying. "And bring Sophia back." He adds importantly.
Rick nods and then gestures over to where Carl and Ayla are approaching. "Keep an eye out for them while we're gone." He requests but Carl quickly shoots him down.
"We're going with you." Carl states. Not a question, but a fact.
When Rick looks weary, Ayla races to add, "You need people right?" With a slight pleading tone to her voice. "In order to cover as much ground as possible."
Rick groans and turns to face Lori but she quickly shoots down his questioning glance. "It's your call. I'm not always being the bad guy."
Dale quickly adds, "Well, they'll be in good hands, they have all of you guys." He shoots Ayla a wink which makes her smile brightly, realising he's pleading their case for them.
Rick sighs inwardly, "Okay. Okay." He accepts. "But always within our sight you two. No exceptions."
Carl and Ayla turn to face each other with massive smiles plastered across their faces and they quickly share a sneaky fist bump as they follow Ricks lead.
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The group walks through the woods in a single file line (the only exception being Carl and Ayla who are walking in the middle side-by-side). Their topic of conversation is Carls new weapon - an axe - which his parents let him carry for safety reasons. Ayla's still got her switchblade which Rick let her keep after seeing how she used it to save herself when fighting the walker by the creak.
After Carl excitedly mentions another feature of his axe, his eyes widen comically as if suddenly remembering something. "Oh my god, i've got to show Shane!" He exclaims loudly and Ayla laughs at his excitement. The duo quickly fall back to where Shane is towards the end of the line. "Shane, look!" The boy starts happily. "Dad said i could carry it, and mum said-"
"Keep it down." Shane says sternly, and Ayla is taken aback by the forcefulness in his voice. "We're out here looking for Sophia. You need to focus on the task."
Ayla sees how the interaction completely crushes Carls spirit and so she links her arm with his and pulls them forward and away from Shane, being sure to throw him a dirty look before they leave. "Whats up his arse?" Ayla says disgustedly.
"I don't know." Carl responds sadly. "It's just- lately he's been so short with me. I must've done something to make him mad."
Carl begins to look towards the ground regretfully and so Ayla elbows him in the side, emitting a small 'Ow!' from him which she quickly apologises for as she didn't realise she elbowed him that hard.
"You have done nothing wrong Carl, don't be silly." She begins. "That man has obviously got his own egotistical problems to worry about, I'd just ignore him for the now."
Carl nods quickly, and they continue on with the search.
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After finding a tent and a church with nothing but walkers inside, the groups hopes of finding Sophia deplete significantly. They all just sit quietly around the church graveyard while Rick and Shane discuss something intensely. Shane seems to agree with whatever Rick said because they both begin to walk over to the rest of the group.
"Y'all are gonna follow the creek bed back. Daryl, you're in charge." Shane orders. "Me and Rick are gonna hang back, search a little while longer."
Daryl looks at him uncertainly. "You splitting us up. You sure?" Shane nods assuredly.
"Yeah we'll catch up to you."
Carl and Ayla look at each other and quickly come to a silent conclusion. "We wanna stay as well." Ayla says.
"We're her friends." Carl confirms.
Rick and Shane share a long debating look before deciding to let the kids come along. However, not before Lori gives them another safety speech (which Carl rolls his eyes at).
The two groups part ways and the small group of four head deeper into the woods. Without the company of the rest of the group the search feels a lot more serious and so Carl and Ayla talk little while they trek through the forest behind Rick and Shane.
Ayla feels uncomfortable in the open woods. She feels like there's almost something, or someone, watching them and she doesn't like it one bit.
Rick and Shane are on constant vigilance mode as they lead the children through the woods, making sure there's no walkers in the area.
The woods make no sound. It's quiet...so quiet...too quiet...
SNAP
Carl and Ayla jump at the sound and Rick quickly holds a hand up, instructing them to stay close as they check out where the noise is coming from. Rick leads them forward through the trees until they reach a bend and can see a beautiful deer in the opening of the forest.
Carl and Ayla turn to each other with amazed looks as they slowly walk towards the deer in order to not scare it. The creature truly looks magnificent in Ayla's eyes. It's so pure and innocent. It looks so unaware of its surroundings and the savage, bloodthirsty beasts which are always lurking in corners, jumping out when you least expect them.
She wishes she could watch it forever, but unfortunately her time with the animal is cut short as a loud gunshot suddenly occurs and a bullet pierces its body.
It seems as if time moves in slow motion. She has a millisecond to register that the bullet did not get lodged within the deer, but instead went straight through and is headed right for her.
The last thing she remembers before her body hits the floor is Rick's ragged scream of "NO!" from behind her.
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1099 words.
super short one sorry! but here comes the farm!!!! i'm so excited to get to later seasons because the shit i have planned there is so much more interesting.
