In the Shallows

"Sure this is the spot?" Daryl and I peered into the little opening in what appeared to be either a woodchuck's dam or a lonely beaver. My eyes scanned all around me, my mind still slightly spinning. Poor Sophia, she had to be scared out of her mind.

Rick gritted his teeth, unable to control his emotion, "I left her right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." He pointed up the creek, bending down low, his eyes squinting in the direction he just pointed.

Daryl nodded, "Without a paddle, seems where we've landed."

He sighed, "She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder." He pointed towards Glenn.

"Hey, short round. Why don' you step off to one side, ya muckin' up the trail."

Shane looked around him, keeping an ear out for anything suspicious, "Assuming she knows her left from her right."

Rick started getting angry, "Shane, she understood me fine."

Shane shrugged, "Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck."

I walked over towards where Rick told Sophia to go, I motioned over towards Daryl, "There's clear prints right here, look way to small to be any of ours." Back when Daryl had gotten us lost in the woods for a week, he had taught me a few things. I wasn't nearly as great of a tracker like Daryl was, but I knew a few things.

Daryl nodded, "She did like you said, headed back to the highway." We all started to follow her trail before it started getting a little cold. He bent down on the ground, "She was doin' jus' fine till right about here. All she had to do was keep goin'."

I squinted my eyes, bending down slightly, pointing in the opposite direction of where she was supposed to go, "She veered off that way."

Glenn spoke up, his voice soft, "Why would she do that?"

Shane shrugged, "Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off."

"A walker?"

Daryl shook his head, "I don' see any other footprints. Just hers."

Shane pressed his lips, "So what do we do? Press on?"

Rick shook his head, looking at Glenn and Shane, "No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all keep everybody calm."

I started to head in the direction where Sophia went, my eyes keeping a sharp lookout for anything suspicious. I was confused, what in the world did she see that kept her from going straight. I was scared for her, she was just a little girl. Scared, lost, alone? Sounded pretty familiar to me. I was hoping for the best and just prayed to God that we were going to find her but I just couldn't keep a positive attitude. In just a few minutes, Rick and Daryl had quickly joined me. I cocked my head slightly, squinting.

Rick sounded hopeless, "Tracks are gone."

Daryl shook his head, "No, they're faint, but they ain't gone." He started pointing, "She came through here."

We started following Daryl, Rick piping up, "How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."

As if on cue, Daryl's smart ass attitude had decided to make an appearance, I was almost beginning to wonder if he had gone soft, "Ya want a lesson in trackin' or ya want to find that girl and get our ass of that interstate?" Rick and I exchanged glances as we continued on. It had only been about ten minutes of searching when we heard leaves rustling. We all ducked down, our weapons drawn, quietly walking towards the sound, we saw a geek just aimlessly wandering around.

Daryl made notions with his hands to tell us where to go, meaning that we were going to draw the walkers attention and he would take him out. Rick and I scurried down the slight hill and caught his attention, the sound of him hissing and growling made me sick to my stomach. It instantly reminded me of the episode that had just happened hours ago. It got even worse when Daryl put an arrow through its head, I groaned and let the chills run its course before I joined the two of them standing by the geek.

I walked over, swallowing hard and trying to keep my stomach contents down, I looked closely, my body turning numb, this monster couldn't have gotten her, I looked around as Daryl called out for her. Hearing nothing made me sick again. This whole surviving thing was getting old, I couldn't adapt.

Rick bent down, putting gloves on, he started touching it. Daryl spoke up, "What're ya lookin' for?"

"Skin under the fingernails." He flipped the monster over and squinted his eyes, "It fed recently." He opened it's mouth and looked up towards Daryl and I, "There' flesh caught in it's teeth." Rick looked back down, his mouth twitching as he brought the flesh up to our view, I turned away.

"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" Daryl questioned.

I turned back to face the two, all of us exchanging looks. I swallowed hard, my jaw clenched, I quickly reached across Daryl and pulled out his knife from his guard, "Cut that son of bitch open, right now." I held out the knife to him, my eyes watering, I had to know. We had to know. Daryl nodded, taking the knife cautiously from me. Stepping over the dead, he swung his knife upward and slammed it hard into it's chest, tugging at a downward angle, he grunted against the tough exterior of the rib cage. I gagged at the sound and cracking of bones, Rick nodded in agreement.

Once he had open the walker's gut, he gave us both a look, "Now comes the bad part." My mouth dropped open in disgust as both of his hands dove right in to the rotting organs. He grunted as he fished around for the stomach, pulling out bits and pieces of rotting flesh. I was partially glad he knew what he was looking for and I kept telling myself that it was no different than him gutting a deer. Although, my brain and eyes knew exactly what this was. "Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there." I wanted to vomit when he lowered himself closer to the walker, his hands digging deep inside it.

In seconds he pulled out the stomach, dropping it on the ground, Rick spoke up, "I got this." He tore open the stomach with his knife, pulling out a whole bunch of gunk and flinging it away.

Daryl picked up a skull with his and inspected it, it always amazed me that he always knew what animal it was by its skeleton, "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." He looked up at me, "Satisfied?" I knew he wasn't acting smart or anything but the way he said it still made me mad.

Rick clenched his jaw, looking out into the woods, "At least we know."

I nodded, "Yeah, least we know." We headed back to our makeshift camp, it had taken a little less than half an hour and by heart broke for the millionth time today when I saw Carol's face. I slowed my pace, letting Daryl and Rick walk first, letting them deal with an emotional woman. I hated dealing with crying women, I had volunteered at a hospital once and I just couldn't handle the amount of tears that came left and right. I hung back, chewing feverishly on my bottom lip.

I was quite surprised by Daryl's tone when he spoke to Carol, it was soft and sweet, definitely not a normal Daryl tone. "Out in the dark's no good. We'd jus' be trippin' over ourselves. More people get lost."

Carol lost it, "But she's 12, she can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?"

Rick swallowed hard, "I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic, we know she was out there."

Daryl spoke up, "We tracked her for a while."

Rick nodded, turning to face the rest of the group, "We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody and Alex has a pretty good knowledge too. I've asked him to oversee this."

Carol ignored Rick, her eyes glancing down at Daryl's knee that had blood all over it, "Is that blood?"

"We took down a walker," Rick tried to console her.

But her anxiety was proving that it wasn't helping, "Walker? Oh my god."

I spoke up, walking forward, standing next to Daryl, "It didn't go anywhere near Sophia, Carol. I promise."

Andrea narrowed her eyes, "How can you know that?"

Rick and Daryl exchanged glances before Daryl replied looking straight into Carol's eyes, "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure. It was Lex's idea."