The Darkest Storm

“Ya sure this is the spot?”

Daryl knelt over the side of the mud-bank, holding onto the roots of the trees that hung limply over the tiny cave Sophia was last seen.

Rick said again, “I left her right here.” He pointed. “I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek.”

“Without a paddle—seems where we’ve landed.” Daryl said.

“She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group.”

Darcy stood by Glenn up and out of the creek, looking down at the mess of leaves and searching for any sign for her to track Sophia. Darcy wasn’t as experienced at being a tracker than Daryl, but any skill was favorable here.

“Couldn’t have gotten far then.” She mumbled. “You told her to stay put?”

“I told her go that way,” Rick pointed at the small path, “And keep the sun on her left shoulder.”

Daryl made his way through the knee-deep mud water and crouched over the small path, proceeding to look around just as Darcy was approached by Glenn.

“You don’t think there may have been more than just two walkers do you?” He asked quietly.

Darcy sighed and shook her head, “No, I’m not seeing any other footprints besides the two…”

“Hey, short round, why don’t you step off to one side? You’re mucking up the trail.” Daryl called out, making Glenn hang his head as he always seemed to be yelled at for being in the way.

Darcy sighed and patted Glenn on the shoulder, “You were fine.” She reassured him, getting a quick forced smile in return.

“Assuming she knows her left from her right.” Shane spoke up, referring back to what Rick told Sophia to do.

“Shane, she understood me fine.” Rick snapped, growing frustrated.

“Kid’s tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Gotta wonder how much of what ya said stuck.” Shane said, trying to be compassionate but at the same time realistic.

“Wait.” Darcy pointed with her bow at the ground which made Daryl scoot to where she was pointing.

“Got clear prints right here.” Daryl looked up at Darcy and nodded before looking back at Rick. “She did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let’s spread out, make our way back.” Darcy reached out a hand towards Daryl, not taking eyes of the small footprints left behind by Sophia and helped pull him up out of the bank.

As she moved away his hand lingered, and Darcy looked back at Daryl thinking something was wrong but he then quickly dropped her hand and moved passed her when he realized what he was doing. It made Darcy stop for a moment, a confused expression and a small matter of her heart skipping a beat as she watched Daryl’s back when he continued to move forward.

She got a pat on the back suddenly from Shane, “Hey girl, let’s go.”

Daryl lead the group with Darcy following off to the side in case there was anything they might not see directly by looking at the prints. Daryl crouched to one knee, making the rest stop and wait for what he was seeing. “She was doing just fine till right here. All she had to do was keep going.” He pointed to the wide right. “She veered off that way.”

“Why would she do that?” Glenn asked.

“Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off.” Shane said, looking off into the trees where Daryl pointed.

“A walker?”

Daryl shook his head, “I don’t see any other footprints. Just hers. Darcy you see anythin’?”

The group looked to her who stood exactly in the area where something had to have come from in order to scare Sophia like it did.

Darcy sighed and stood up while shaking her head. “Nothing.”

“So what do we do? All of us press on?” Shane asked.

Darcy walked over, “We’d be better with more people...”

“No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking.” Rick said as Shane stood up, “Let them know we’re on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm.”

Shane nodded, “I’ll keep ‘em busy scavenging cars ‘n think up a few other chores. I’ll keep ‘em occupied.” He waved a hand, saying it was no big deal. He then motioned for Glenn to follow as Daryl stood up and continued to search out Sophia’s trail.

“Darc,” Daryl called out. “Stay wide like you’re doin’ in case we miss anythin’. Any other footprints or somethin’ like that.”

“Sure.” She said, taking a few steps to the left outwards from him and Rick and looking up, seeing a walker immediately.

Darcy raised her bow and shot without saying anything, an arrow straight to the side of it’s ear. The body fell, causing the two men to look in her direction.

“Would…?” Rick started.

“No,” Darcy shook her head, cutting his question. “It’s too far out from her trail and heading the wrong way. Would’ve kept going for her, picked up her scent.” She nodded.

Daryl nodded towards Rick, and it was enough for them to keep moving. They moved their way slowly and quietly through the forest, keeping on edge and feeling nothing but the sweat that dripped from their faces and the callouses forming on their hands. Darcy continued to stay to the outside until the two men stopped.

“Tracks are gone.” Rick whispered.

“No. They’re faint, but they ain’t gone.” Daryl said, crouching down again and pointing with one of his own arrows. “She came through here.”

“How can you tell? I don’t see anything. Dirt, grass.”

“You wanna lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?” Daryl replied, making Darcy stifle a laugh and bite her lip as she continued to move forward.

Darcy only caught sight of Rick raising an eyebrow in her direction, which made her smile more. When she looked down to the floor of the forest again, her smile instantly dropped as she saw a much larger set of footprints staggering along side Sophia’s.

Darcy whistled, getting their attention and Daryl stood up and looked to where she was pointing with her arrow. These new tracks were very different from the old. They were slower, closer together. The right foot was dragging, and the drag marks were sprinkled with the crimson red she knew immediately to be blood.

The rustling of the leaves caught their attention and they all hunched over the floor of the woods, shifting on both feet and keeping their eyes open for any movement. Daryl waved Darcy over and she moved her feet quickly, now kneeling along side the two as Rick began to point ahead of them.

Over a slight mound, they saw just the top of a walker’s head as it bounced up and down with every step it took. It was grunting, loudly, and Darcy propped herself up to get a closer look to where it was headed. Looking down at the tracks and back to the walker, she knew it wasn’t the one they were searching for.

The walker had stumbled right in front of their path, and Darcy saw a trail of blood that it was leaving behind. Right away she knew something was wrong, the way there was plenty of blood covering the face of the gray rotting flesh. It looked like it had been brought down by wild animals back when he was fully human, most likely attacked by other walkers. His belly was slightly torn but bulging out, and large bite wounds covered its flesh.

Darcy felt a tap on her knee, and she looked over to Daryl pointing her to go back wide while Rick went the other way. Darcy didn’t hesitate and hastily moved over back to where she was and waited for Daryl’s sign.

Darcy was granted the familiar nod and the adrenaline kicked in just as she wheeled around and carefully watched Rick go around the other side. A soft whistle told her to stop, and she saw Daryl take aim several feet away from her at the old man, he hand a bandage on his arm telling them that he must have reanimated not too long ago.

Daryl looked over to Darcy, pointing at his arrow and then making a spinning motion with his forefinger. She nodded, knowing that he meant if he missed, Darcy needed to take the shot.

Rick sprinted in front of the man, giving a loud whistle and getting its attention. The walker roared, making Darcy jump slightly in the bushes. It was the kind of yell that made your skin shiver and want to sulk back into any type of cover you could find. It was short though, as Daryl shot a perfect arrow through it’s half broken skull.

Darcy climbed out, jogging over to her friends and keeping her hands set and ready on bow. Daryl put a foot on the mangled back, lifting his arrow out of rotten body and setting it back in his crossbow with a loud grunt.

Daryl looked around, “Sophia!” He called out.

Darcy rounded the body, taking a stand across from Rick and next to Daryl, watching Rick as he crouched down and pulled out gloves and knife.

Rick picked up the body’s hand. “What’re ya looking for?” Daryl asked.

“Skin under the fingernails.” Rick said, flipping the body over so it was on it’s back and looking into the mouth. “It fed recently.”

Rick pried the mouth open, revealing a chunk of chewed flesh hanging from its mouth. Darcy puffed out her cheeks while she held her breath, putting her hands on her hips and watching with a scrunched up face.

Rick pulled out a small piece, “There’s flesh caught in its teeth.” He said, having the same face Darcy had and holding up the fraction of skin to show them.

Daryl, who seemed un-phased by the whole thing looked closer at it, “Yeah, what kind of flesh?”

Rick sighed, reaching for his knife again, “Only one way to know for sure.” He grabbed hold of the decaying body and moved his hand towards the shirt, ripping it open and revealing the grey bump of it’s stomach. Darcy noticed meat, chewed, pulped flesh bulging from its throat and belly.

Daryl stopped him, “Here, I’ll do it.” He stepped over the body and leaned over, pulling out his own much larger knife. “How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine’s sharper.”

With two hands Daryl held the knife over the body, giving Darcy a quick glance before bracing himself and plunging the knife into the top of it’s chest, dragging the blade down to it’s navel.

The smell hit Darcy’s nose like a tidal wave, and she instantly brought her forearm up to cover he face. She looked to Rick, hoping he was showing signs of weakness too. He had his face in a squint and his breathing picked up. The sounds of the once human body being gutted twisted their stomachs, and the squishing and tearing of the muscles underneath the skin made them quiver.

Daryl took out the blade, but moved over to the left of his already deep cut and thrust the knife again into the body. Rick looked up at Darcy who was closing her eyes and shaking her head slowly, breathing deeply through her nose and out of her mouth to try and keep herself from throwing up.

Daryl glanced over at Rick, completely unbothered at the scene which almost made Darcy laugh it was so ridiculous. Finally, Daryl put the knife down and Darcy breathed heavily again, foolishly thinking it was over and they could go home.

“Now comes the bad part.” Daryl whispered sitting on the body, digging his glove covered hands underneath it’s skin and ripping out it’s intestines. He dug searching through the body for the stomach, and Rick finally caved and gagged at the sight.

Darcy tilted her head up at the sky. “You are so attractive.” She muttered sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips and turning around facing the other direction because she couldn’t take anymore of witnessing a body being torn apart.

Rick coughed a laugh and Daryl made a kid-like face in return, sarcastically laughing at her insult. He wiped the sweat away from his face and reached in the body once more, finally finding the stomach.

“Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there.” Daryl pulled out the stomach, placing it on the ground and looking up at Rick. “Here’s the gut bag.”

“I got this.” Rick said, sticking his knife into the dismembered stomach and tearing it open, flicking the guts of whatever was inside on the forest floor. Darcy turned around with one eye closed and still panting from the smell. She saw Daryl pick up a tiny skull from the mess.

“This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch.” Daryl muttered.

“At least we know.” Rick said.

Daryl nodded and stood up. “At least we know.”

Darcy rubbed the back of her head, “It’s getting dark.” She took a few steps to the side and looked up over the two back towards the highway. “Should be heading back.”

“Pick it up at first light?” Rick turned to the two hunters.

Darcy nodded and gave a tired smile, “First light.”

Rick turned, walking away to lead them all back to the highway with his pistol still ready in his hands. Darcy glanced at Daryl as they walked, and he looked back at her.

“You’ve got blood on your face.” She mumbled pointing to his cheek. Daryl wiped it with the back of his hand but Darcy shook her head when he didn’t get it.

“No right here.” She pointed on her own face, but he missed it again and she sighed a laugh.

Darcy reached up and watched Daryl flinch for the second time, but she gave him a friendly raised brow as she softly wiped the spot with her thumb. He watched her eyes as she did this, glinting slightly as she licked her bottom lip in concentration. Daryl’s eyes were drawn to her lips, the way she was now biting her bottom lip was driving him insane.

“Thanks.” He muttered softly.

Darcy looked at her thumb and wiped the blood on his shirt. “No problem.” Darcy showed a small smile with just her lips and they both turned again to follow Rick out of the woods.
Daryl gave a small chuckle towards her, and accidentally brushed his hand against hers. This caught Darcy off guard as she looked down and then up at him again. When she saw his face it had turned a light shade of red, and he quickened his pace to hide it from her while quietly swearing to himself in the process.

For the second time that day she held her ground and watched him as he stumbled away, narrowing her eyes at his back not in an angered way, but confused and intrigued. And when the three finally reached the clearing that lead them to the road, she began to notice Daryl’s tone had become more shy and awkward.

Darcy decided to hold back more then, being the third to emerge from the woods and look up to the now panicked faces of their group. They climbed up and over the rail as Carol paced back and forth whimpering.

“You didn’t find her?” She looked at Rick.

“Her trail went cold. We’ll pick it up again at first light.” He stated.

“You can’t leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods.”

Daryl helped Darcy over the rail, “Out in the dark’s no good. We’d just be trippin’ over ourselves. More people get lost.” His voice was deep, completely sincere, almost heartbroken for this woman.

“But she’s twelve! She can’t be out there on her own.” Carol said. “You didn’t find anything?” Lori reached out and grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down as her voice cracked.

Rick raised his hands. “I know this is hard, but I’m asking you not to panic. We know she was out there.”

“And we tracked her for a while.” Daryl spoke up.

“We have to make this an organized effort.” Rick said to the group. “Daryl and Darcy know the woods better than any of us. I’ve asked them to oversee this.”

“Is-Is that blood?” Carol stuttered ignoring Rick and looking at Daryl’s covered pants with the crimson shade. Daryl glanced down at himself, closing his eyes knowing she was expecting the worst.

“We took down a walker.” Rick said, raising a hand again.

Carol started to hyperventilate. “Walker?” She paced. “Oh my God.”

“There was no sign it was anywhere near Sophia.” Rick said. Darcy threw a glance at Daryl remembering the tracks she found but he shook his head slightly as to reassure her not to say anything about it.

“How can you know that?” Andrea said, looking to all three of them.

Daryl turned to Rick who turned to Darcy before finally speaking, “We cut the sum’bitch open, made sure.”

Carol’s knees buckled as she grabbed the side of the railing. “Oh God.” She sat down, breathing heavily while Lori sat beside her and rubbed her back. It gave Carol time to re-think everything that had happened earlier, and she sought out desperately someone to blame for her misfortune.

“How could you just leave her out there to begin with?” She flared up at Rick.

Darcy stepped forward, completely taken aback at her reaction and started to defend Rick, “Whoa, wait…remember who went after Sophia to begin with? Rick saved her, Carol.”

“He left her.” Carol told Darcy, narrowing her eyes.

“No, Carol...” Darcy took another step forward.

“Those two walkers were one us.” Rick stuttered, trying to be patient with the woman. “I had to draw them off it was her best chance.”

Darcy could see it in Rick’s face, the incredible guilt overflowing his mind even though Darcy knew he did the best he could to save Sophia. He was, after all, the only one who didn’t hesitate to run after the little girl in the first place.

“Sounds like he didn’t have a choice, Carol.” Shane interjected.

“How was she supposed to find her way back on her own?” Carol cried. “She’s just a child.”

Rick knelt down on the ground to look up at Carol. “It was my only option. The only choice I could make.”

“I’m sure nobody doubts that.” Shane said, sitting on the railing, trying to defend his brother-like friend.

The group looked onward, no one saying a thing as the woman wept. Rick kept his gaze on the ground, clearly fighting himself in his own mind whether he had made the best decision with Sophia.

“My little girl got left in the woods.”