Never Ending (TWD / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 3

*Madison's POV*

"No, no, no!" I muttered under my breath, my heart racing. "We need to find her before we go back to the highway, Carol can't know." Rick asserted. I nodded, running a hand through my hair. Footprints line the ground, leading west. They were small and slim, which could easily belong to Sophia. We had a lead. Rick pointed to the ground, clearly sensing my thoughts, gesturing me to follow him. We crouched to create less noise, not wanting furthermore attention from walkers and  to concentrate on the noise of the nature, not the constant crackling and snapping of branches beneath our feet. I scooted along the trail, inspecting every footprint we came across, for a sign. For anything. "The footprints stop here, the ground's too dry. It's hopeless." Rick stated, anger flaring in his voice. "What are we going to tell Carol, it's our faults, she'll never forgive us." I replied, stuttering over every word. "I don't know! Who cares about forgiveness right now, all we need to do is focus on finding that little girl, whether Carol hates us in the process or not." Rick snapped abruptly, I stared at the ground, too embarrassed to make eye contact.
Why do you even care if Carol hates you? You're getting too attached Madison.
Now is not the time for mind games. The walk back to the highway was deadly silent. Rick twiddled his thumbs clearly nervous about confronting Carol. Quite frankly I was too. The clearing to the highway was in sight now, my heart pounded inside my chest. "I..." I stuttered, the words unable to leave my lips. "You don't have to do this." Rick stated, his eyes burning into mine. "Do what?" I asked, puzzled. "Tell Carol." Rick rolled his eyes. "I think I at least owe her an explanation." I mumbled, my words just audible. Rick nodded understandably.  We both slowly strode onto the highway, immediately becoming visible to the rest of the group. I hid my face, behind my hair, ashamed. I couldn't make eye contact, especially with Carol. "Sophia! Where's Sophia? Is she dead? You left my baby girl out there alone?!" Carol bombarded us with questions. "We left her to hide in the bed of a stream, while we dealt with the walkers. If we we're gone too long, we told her to head back to the highway. It was our safest option. We led the walkers away, put them down. When we reached the stream again, Sophia was gone. She left. We tried tracking her, but her footprints ran out after about a mile. We did all we could; Carol." Rick tried to softly explain. Tears slipped down Carol's cheeks. "If you did all you could, my daughter would be here right now! But you left her, my Sophia, alone in the woods. What do you have to say for yourself Madison? Do you think you can just leave my Daughter alone in the woods, and get away with it, because you're the new girl? Because you think you have nothing to do with this group?! I'll tell you something, the minute you joined this group, it was your job to keep this group safe, like it is for all of us; Yet you've already failed, why are you even still here?" Carol spat, her eyes ablaze.
"Don't you think they've done enough, they tried to keep her safe, the led the walkers away, more than you have ever done for this group. My husband has done nothing but try to keep this group safe, he tried his best to keep Sophia safe, him and Madison. I didn't see anyone else trying to rescue your daughter, and Madison, she saved our entire group, don't you remember? So be damn grateful they tried." Lori stepped in, giving us both an asserting nod. Carol looked down, her eyes welled with tears, brimming to the edges. "Are you sure you explained clear enough to Sophia?" Shane questioned further, his head tilted to the side. "She understood me fine." I stated. "We're find her. She's gonna be tucked out hiding in a bush somewhere." Shane assured. I rolled my eyes. "Daryl I'm gonna need you, you're the only expert tracker around here." Rick commanded. Daryl nodded, grabbing his crossbow. "Shane, Glenn and Madison, I'm gonna need y'all too. The rest of you stick tight, gather what extra supplies you can, any aid you can find for T-dog's  arm" Rick asserted, acknowledging the tear on his arm, which was caking his shirt with blood, wincing a little at the sight.