red. maggie greene

02 | WOMAN ON THE HORSE

I WAS SWEATING TO a point where it felt like the skin of my thighs were coated in melted candy, sticking together with every step that I took through this ridiculously humid forest. It felt like we had been walking forever already, and it didn't look like we were getting any closer to finding Sophia, or even any small signs of her. I took a swift swig out of my water bottle, only allowing myself just that little bit, seeing as water was limited right now.

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked someone, making me turn around to see who she was talking to. Lori was a few feet behind us, looking around the woods. She was all paranoid over that gunshot— the singular— gunshot we had heard not that long ago, and understandably so. It was odd.

"It was a gunshot," Lori replied.

"We all heard it," Daryl said.

Lori turned around to face him, growing exasperated as her mind ran wild. "Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker," Daryl offered an explanation with a small shrug. I scoffed, shaking my head, knowing that neither Rick nor Shane would be stupid enough to use one bullet just to take down one, harmless walker.

"Please don't patronize me," Lori quickly bit back. "You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Mom tentatively wondered beside me.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway," said Daryl nonchalantly. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."

"So what do we do?" Lori questioned him.

"Same as we've been," Daryl answered. "Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the R.V.," Andrea offered in an attempt to reassure Lori a bit.

Lori took one last look behind her, before walking forward with the rest of us. Glenn, Lori, Daryl, and I took barely a few steps before we stopped to turn around because Andrea and Mom weren't following us. I bit down on my lip and furrowed my brows, wondering why they weren't moving.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through," Andrea said to Mom. "I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do," Mom replied, a small, weak smile on her face. "Thank you." She looked back and forth for a moment, and I could see she was getting emotional as she thought of Sophia. "The thought of her out here by herself... it's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy."

My eyes widened abruptly and I almost flinched at the words that just left my mother's mouth. Why the hell would she say that? It was such an odd thing to bring up—and really careless. Even for a nervous mother. There was absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to bring up Amy. Especially considering Amy isn't the only person we have lost. All she had to say was I hope she doesn't end up a walker.

Mom's face dropped as she realized what she'd said. "Oh god. That's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea shook her head, a closed-lip smile on her face. "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

Daryl walked over to them, getting annoyed. "I'll tell you what it's worth—not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. 'Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine," he sternly spoke to my mother.

Tears pricked my eyes as I hoped that he was right. Daryl was so confident in the fact that we were going to find Sophia, alive and well, while my hope faded with every hour that flew past us. I was grateful for his determination and keeping the faith alive for Sophia—and Mom's sake—but I knew that we weren't going to find my little sister.