In the morning we all left for the search for Sophia, Dale stayed back with an injured T-Dog. We walked in a line through the forest, staying silent so we don't draw any unwanted attention. The group stopped and I looked up to see a tent. Rick, Daryl and Carol went forward. Daryl went and looked through the tent and came back empty handed, no Sophia.
"He did what Jenner said. Opted out" he says
•••
As we were walking, we hear the sound of church bells.
"If she's there. She could be ringing them" Rick says and we all run.
We ran into a clearing where a church stood by itself, the woods surrounding it.
"This can't be it. There's no steeple" Shane says
"We should still check it. She could still be in there" Rick mentions
Daryl, Rick and Shane move in to kill the walkers left. There was no sign of Sophia or anyone still alive. But then the bells are set off again and we were left dumbfounded. We run outside and find a horn on the side of the church where the bell noise was coming from.
"It's automatic. Probably goes off every hour" Shane says
Glenn goes up to it and starts to work on turning it off. Carol walks back into the church and I do the same. I sat in the front pew, across from Carol and closed my eyes. I thought about my family. They were religious but I never really was. But now, I think God was my only chance of me possibly finding my family again.
I felt someone else's presence beside me. I opened my eyes and turned to see Ana, of course.
"Thinkin about your family?" She asks
"Yeah"
"Thought you weren't religious"
"God is my last hope right now"
"We'll find them"
"Alive or dead?" I say raising an eyebrow
"Alive and well" she gives a small smile
We all regrouped outside the church. The sun was on its way down. We had to make plans. Stay here for the night or head back to the RV.
"I'm not stopping now. We still got some sunlight" Rick says
"You can't go alone" Lori argues
"I'll go" I say spontaneously
"I will too" Shane says
"Then I wanna go too, she's my friend" Carl says referring to Sophia
"As long as you stay within their sight and listen" Lori says giving him consent
"You can take this" Rick walks to Lori and hands her a gun
"Keep it. I don't want you out there unarmed with our boy" Lori refuses
I watch as the rest of the group starts to walk off.
"I'll be right back" Rick says and walks in the church
Shane looked at me and I looked at Carl.
"Nice to see you care about your friend" I say to Carl
"Yeah. I just hope we find her soon" Carl responds
"We all are" I respond
"Are we ready?" I look to see Rick standing at the steps of the church
"I think we are" I respond and we start to walk.
This is what we're good at. Walking. When everything else fails we walk. Shane and Carl walked ahead of us while Rick and I were behind.
"I'm sorry about last night" Rick said in a hushed tone
"Did you mean it? When you said you weren't in love?"
"I-I guess"
"Are you happy?"
"I can't put Carl through anything. Plus, divorce papers aren't really a thing anymore"
"Taking off your ring is"
"Well, I'm not gonna do that"
"Then don't make a move on me again" I say and put my hand on his chest, Shane and Carl continue to walk ahead
"I know you like me" he says and leans it
"You don't know me then" I turn around and walk ahead of him.
I took off my flannel as I was getting hot. I was far ahead of Rick and I doubt he'd see anything. But we did stop when we saw a deer. Shane raised his gun but Rick jogged ahead and stopped him.
"Don't" he says and Carl walks ahead.
I walked ahead, in front of Shane and Rick, to see Carl. The deer stood quietly and Carl moved slowly towards it. The deer turned and looked at Carl and Carl looked back. I watched in awe. I turned back to see Rick and Shane watching him too, I turned back. But the moment was ruined when a gun shot rang through my ears. I saw the deer fall to the ground and Carl did soon after. I ran to his side and saw his shirt become soaked in blood. Rick came while Shane raised his gun to whoever shot first.
I saw a familiar figure come out of the woods. His hands raised in surrender.
"I'm sorry" he muttered
"Otis?" I ask in disbelief
"Isabelle" he says and a smile erupts on his face and I hug him.
"Is dad still alive? H-he could help Carl" I say as I pull away from the hug
"Yes. Yes. You lead them. You can run longer and faster than I can"
"Follow me!" I say to Rick and he picks up Carl and we start to run.
We are running for family. Rick runs to save Carl. And I run to be reunited with the people I haven't seen in years.
