My Hope

Chapter 32

Rick's POV

I was shaken awake by a strong hand. I rubbed the tired out of my eyes and stood up.

I had been sitting in Sarah's room, waiting and hoping for her to wake up. I must have fallen asleep, seeing that it was daylight outside.

"It has been a long night," Hershel spoke.

"Yeah." I murmured. It had been a very long night.

I leaned on the inside of the doorway, talking to Hershel when we heard whimpering coming from Sarah. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but Hershel walked over and put his hand against her forehead.

"She has a little fever, probably from the malnutrition." he said. It pained me to see Sarah like this and what made it worse was that she was alone. Daryl just turned and left, walking straight into the woods. I chased after him, but he ignored me.

I walked over to the bathroom and grabbed a wash cloth, tabbing it under the sink. I walked back over to Hershel and handed it to him.

He tabbed her forehead with the wet cloth. I heard a knock on the door, hoping it was Daryl. In walked in Carol and Lori, who at first glance of Sarah, both covered their mouths with their hands.

I walked over to Lori who then wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her, watching as tears began to form in Carol's eyes. The thought of Sarah running into the herd reminded me of how Sophia and how we lost her.

I guess we all had given up on finding Sophia, even if we were still searching. For Carol, this must have reminded her of Sophia, but instead this time Sarah had somehow found her way home.

Lori looked up at me with a look of horror on her face. "What happened to her?" she asked. I looked over to Sarah, her bruises were defiantly man made. Just the thought of something like that happening to someone in my group made my blood boil.

"I don't know." was all I could say. Lori let go of me when Carol walked over to Sarah, her eyes full of tears, and leaned down. She kissed Sarah on the forehead. She turned and stalked out of the room, not making eye contact. Lori followed after her, leaving Hershel and I alone again.

"What happened to her?" I asked Hershel.

"Nothing good. From the bruises I can tell that she was beaten, but by whom I can't tell you." he replied.

I just nodded. I didn't know what to say. I left the room and walked out of the house. I saw that almost everyone was talking to Carol and Lori, who were most likely talking about Sarah. I walked over to Daryl's tent and searched for Daryl.

He was sitting around a little fire, working on his arrows.

"What you want?' he stood up from where he was and grabbed his crossbow.

"Wonderin' why you haven't come to see Sarah." I said.

"Why would I care 'bout Sarah?" he replied.

"Why wouldn't you?" I asked sternly. He turned and started to walk away.

"She was beaten." I put it out there. Daryl stopped in his tracts and looked down at the ground. He murmured something to himself before taking a step forward.

"I thought you cared." my anger now showing.

He looked back to me and glared. He stalked away into the tree line, leaving me wondering why he had just lost all interest in Sarah.

Sarah's POV

My eyes fluttered open and I looked around. I realized that I was in a all to familiar room. The feeling of the bed sheets over my injured body made it easier to just relax.