The Sharpest Lives

Ace couldn't be more thankful that she actually slept soundlessly through the night. It had to be because of the pills she took last night and after Dale took over watch for her, she crashed. Not one nightmare or one agonizing thought about Sophia that would normally keep her up all night. And now that she's rested she can focus on the search for Sophia.

"Everybody takes a weapon," Rick said, everyone looking down at the line of melee weapons laid out on the hood of Carol's cherokee.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andea started. "What about the guns?" This isn't the first time Ace has heard Andrea blabbing away about the guns when she doesn't even know how to use one. Ace believes that this group is all talk and no game and she can't help but feel a little annoyed. She even cringes every time Carol opens her mouth now.

"We've been over this. Daryl, Rick, Ace, and I are carrying," Shane said calmly, but sternly to her. Ace was surprised when they told her that she could carry earlier, expecting some big thing to come out of her having a gun, but luckily nothing did. Either way, she would not be giving her gun up easily to these people.

"So you're going to let her carry a gun? She's barely even a part of this group and your trusting her over me?" Andrea snarked.

"She's got trainin', you don't," Daryl cut in, saying his first words of the morning. Ace caught his eye, wondering how he knew she had training, but decided to worry about it later. Shane backed Ace up as well, going on to Andrea about how bad it be if people were just poppin off rounds, bring a horde down on them.

"Ace, you seem to have some skills in the tracking and searching department, as well," Rick stated, catching Ace's attention, causing her to look up at him. "I think it be best if you and Daryl oversee this search, you two being the only ones knowing much about what were doin'."

Ace didn't respond, just looked around at the group. Andrea scoffed and Carol was just shaking her head, still blaming Ace, but she ignored them. She looked to Daryl and he gave her a nod, silently letting her know some how that he's fine with it. Ace remembered when Daryl was the biggest asshole to her, but lately they have been coming together. The Sophia thing is one reason, and they're just both loners that take comfort in the other loner.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles. Chances are she'll be by the creek, it's her only landmark," Daryl said once everyone settled down, claiming the small authority he had over this search. Ace only ever had small authority when she was a Marine, ranked higher than some of the newer soldiers that came in. And since she was never one for talking, she is fine with letting Daryl take over that part. She's just his side kick.

After Daryl spoke and people silently agreed, the group dispersed. Ace put her gun in the holster attached to her belt, her knife going in it's sheath, as well, before she pulled her backpack off her back. She had organized it once this morning already, but she still wanted to make sure right now she had everything she needed, ready and acessable. She even dug up the pictures she had lying around on the bottom, putting them in a safer part of her backpack, along with the drawing that Sophia had made for her.

Daryl came up to beside Ace, holding his canteen of water, plus another for her. She knew what he was silently asking and took them, putting them inside her bag before she zipped it back up and threw it onto her shoulders, looking up at Daryl. The blue sleveless shirt he was wearing bringing out his eyes and the tanness of his skin. "Ya ready?" Daryl asked, Ace nodding again, Daryl ghostly mimicing it before they turned, her following next to him as the rest of the group came, too.

After collecting Andrea from her outburst at Dale, the group stepped over the side road railing and descended into the forest. Both Daryl and Ace could already hear the heavy, loud footsteps of the rest of the group. It was nothing unexpected, they were all out here lookin so that was good enough for Ace. At least they're not hunting.

Miles went by under their feet as they silently walking on, the only chatter coming from Carl and his mom or when directions were spawned across the group. They had so far been unlucky, but Ace was determined not to let that get to her. Sophia was out here, probably just tuckered under a bush or something.

It wasn't until a small tent was spotted up ahead that the group crouched down, Ace's back finally giving her a break now that she took those pills. But those drugs also had Ace's throat as dry as the pavement back on the road, itching and aching each time she swallowed. It was only a small side effect, something that Ace could ignore while keeping her mind tight on Sophia.

"She could be in there..." Shane grumbled, looking at the tent.

"There could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl said before him, Ace, Rick, and Shane moved forward. It turned out that inside was just a guy who had done what Jenner said; 'opted out'. Ace didn't get a look at him, but could smell it so clearly in her nose that it was almost painful.

The small hope that had grown in everyones stomachs was put out right up until the sound of bells ringing were echoed around the forest. Someone had to be ringing them, possibly Sophia.. or someone who found her?

Everyone took off, trying to nail down where exactly it was coming from. Rick had the best estimate, so they started running towards that direction. Ending up in an open field covered in leaves behind what looked to be a small church. Not caring if it didn't have a steeple, they still went up to it. There were two big red doors that led to the entrance, Daryl and Ace being the first ones to get up there, they stood on each side of it. Ace had knife tight in her hand as her other one slowly pushed the door open, allowing Daryl and his crossbow to be the first to scout inside.

Three biters were sitting, almost as if they were praying, but got up when they heard the squeaky door open. Rick and Shane were the first ones to shove through, Daryl looking over to Ace once they past. Making a quick decision, Daryl handed Ace his crossbow, her getting the message and trading him her knife. He looked at it as he ran inside, taking in how nice it was before going up to the only woman biter and slashing it across her face, quickly moving out of the way so it didn't fall on him.

Calling out Sophia's name, the group dispersed to look around, Ace waiting for Daryl, them trading the weapons back right before the bells started going off. They all ran outside, Glenn being the first to find the electronic box that was giving out the noise. "Timer.. It's on a timer.." Daryl breathed, shaking his head.

Ace's head bowed down in grief, her knife swinging in her tightly gripped hand. Another spot that failed to have the outcome they wanted. Swallowing hard, Ace regained her strong posture, deciding that she would check out the perimeter of this place while the rest of the group did their own thing.

It wasn't a large building, so Ace walked around it once pretty fast, taking in the details of the building while still making sure everything was safe. She had caught a glimpse of the statue of Christ inside, hesitating a little. Religion had always been a touchy subject with Ace, her beliefs diminishing when she got diagnosed with cancer and then her life slowly crashing to the ground. Especially now, in the apocalypse, she wasn't feeling so sure that God was even real.

Ace shook her head and moved on from the statue, continuing her perimeter check, ending up leaning against the side of the building, fiddling with her knife, replaying what happened with Sophia over and over again in her head.

"Leavin.." Lori's voice caught Ace's attention enough to get her to eavesdrop. "I think it is best for all of us."

Ace pushed herself up off against the wall once she heard Shane's voice, telling Lori he was just trying to be the good guy by doing this. Leaving? Shane's really just gona drop out of the group and disapear? Once the conversation between them stopped, she started walking away from the wall, coming into Shane's line of sight. "Leavin?" She asked when he stopped to look at her.

He ran a hand fast over his head, holding his gun down in one hand as he stomped over to her. "I gotta get out of here, this isn't for me."

Ace stayed silent, squinting her eyes at Shane as she tried to figure out what he was saying. "I'm just puttin the group at odds.. Rick and Lori at odds.. I can't keep stayin around them," Shane explained, just looking at Ace when she stayed quiet again. "You should come too."

"What?" Ace finally asked.

"Look around, Ace," Shane signaled to the group. "We're the odd ones out, the ones that this group could give less of a shit about. They think they'd be better out without us, so why not just give them what they want?" Shane has a good defense for this one, pointing out good things to Ace, but she still wasn't fully taking it.

"Sophia.." was all she put up to offer.

"I ain't sayin we leave right this second.. When the best time comes we can just slip out, no one will look for us," Shane said, trying to convince her. Ace knew this group wasn't very welcoming, but she had grown to like Carl some, Sophia too, and Daryl, who Ace had grown comfortable with. Thinking of this, Ace looked over Shane's shoulder, catching the eyes of Daryl who she saw walk out in the corner of her eye. Shane followed her line of sight, "Dixon?" He ran a hand over his head again. "Why don't we ask him to come, too? It makes sense, he's the only other one thats left out of this group."

Ace looked back to him, studying his face as she tried to decide what to say. "You're thinkin about it," Shane stated, seeing that Ace was. "Take your time," was all he said, leaving Ace standing there, mind running fast again. Maybe it would be better to leave after she finds Sophia? To not get too attached to anyone before her cancer takes over? Maybe even look for Frankie again..

Daryl took this opportunity now that Shane had walked away to come over, holding his hand out. Ace looked at him for a moment, but then understood his signal, taking her backpack off quickly to grab the waters inside, handing one to him and drinking some for herself. Her painfully dry throat relishing in the water. "He say anythin'?" Daryl asked, not looking up at Ace as he did.

"He says he's leavin, want's me to come," she mumbled.

Daryl's eyes snapped up to her, trying to study her expression. "Ya ain't thinkin 'bout it, are ya?"

Ace didn't respond, just screwed the cap to her water back on, putting it in her bag while avoiding eye contact. "What about that little girl?!" Daryl raised his voice a bit, pointing into the forest agrily.

"We're gona find her!" Ace snapped sternly, looking into Daryl's sharp blue eyes, getting a little defensive about how he can just think she'll give up like that. "Not considerin leavin' until we do," she quieted again.

Daryl opened his mouth to say something next, but Rick calling the group over stopped him. "Y'all are gona follow the creek bed back, me and Rick are just gona hang back, search this area another hour or so, just to be thorough," Shane announced.

"I'll stay, too," Ace spoke up. She wasn't gona stop lookin, not when she blamed herself for Sophia.

"No, you stay here, help Daryl lead the group back," Rick stepped forward, holding his hand out when he talked.

"But, I-"

"Oh for God's sake, just give it a rest," Carol cut in out of nowhere, calling out Ace with her words. "This is your fault, my daughter being out there, so you don't get to make anymore decisions. Not before someone else gets harmed because of you!"

Ace was stunned, hell everyone was, but Ace felt pain twinge in her heart with each word Carol spoke. She couldn't even make eye contact again so she just guiltily nodded and moved away from the group, mostly Carol, though. "Carol, you've got to stop blamin her, it ain't her fault," Shane was the only one to speak up for her, but Carol shook him off, even if she didn't know exactly what went down in that forest that moment.

It was decided that Carl was allowed to go with Rick and Shane, then the group started pushing back into the woods, Daryl catching up with Ace. He wanted to say something to her, telling that she was trying to keep herself together, but each word Carol said wasn't helping. He hadn't known Ace long, but she just seemed off after the CDC, then with Sophia on top.. He could tell the girl was losin it, but she seemed to have some skill at keeping that at bay. Daryl wondered a lot about her.

Daryl just ended up giving Ace a reassuring nod, which was enough from him for her to understand what it meant.

They stayed quiet most of the 5 miles back up the creek, except for the occasional chatter from random group members. Ace payed no attention to that, though, staying completely dead silent, lost in her head.

Once they knocked down at least two or three miles, the group trailing behind Ace and Daryl was spent, just randomly stopping at a fallen tree to take a minute and catch their breaths. "So this is it? This is the whole plan?" Carol asked, sitting down on the tree, getting the group to stop.

"Best plan of any," Daryl grumbled, leaning against one of the trees.

Andrea started going off about guns again, but Ace wasn't in the right frame of mind to care, wandering a little bit further, keeping watch around the forest as they blabbed on, Lori now adding to the meltdown. It had gotten to the point where the drama between the women was getting Ace a little angry, but she ignored it as best as she could, bigger problems had been served to her the past few days.

Actually, a lot of bigger problems were gathering on her plate..