-missing case-

I WAS BY MYSELF IN THE RV, the rest of the group were taking this time to move the cars out of the way for when Rick and Daryl came back with Sophia. They both took it in their hands to stay out longer and keep looking. I was taking deep breaths due to the fear of the many contractions I've felt just today.

I walked over to the back room in the RV, pushing my hair out of my face. I turned on the balls of my feet and continued back toward the front. I wasn't sure where I was going or what I was doing. But I just needed to get up and do something.

Damien walked into the RV tossing a pocket knife that he seemed to had found off to the side. He looked at me noticing the change in my emotions. He was always so quick to understand me and know if something was up. He did that with a lot of people. He was really observant.

"What's going on?" He asked. Taking a step closer to me, causing me to come to a stop. It took me a few seconds to respond, I had to ponder over what I was going to say.

I turned away from him walking over to sit back down. He followed behind me and sat next to me, looking me in my eyes, waiting for something. By now he had to have know something wasn't right by the way I was acting.

"I've been having some small, minor contractions." His eyes widened. "But! They aren't anything major at the moment. I promise. Don't tell anyone, especially Atlas. I don't want them worrying. If there is something to worry about I would speak up about it."

I spoke so quickly. He barely had any time to react to all the words I was saying. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself to think it over a little longer.

"I'm not gonna go on and tell anyone. But I think it's best you tell someone. I don't want to be the only who knows this secret." He was so understanding, and was able to make me smile.

"It's not a secret." I laughed a little.

His eyebrows lifted up and his mouth was pulled into a firm line, "Feels like it."

I looked away smiling and shaking my head at the guy. He always was unintentionally funny.

"But, like I said, it is best to let someone else know. It doesn't have to be Atlas 'cause I see where you're coming from. He'll panic." Damien let out a little giggle just thinking about it.

"Alright, alright. I'll think about it. I probably still have a few more days till I actually give birth. So I'll see." I faced back to my best friend. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me." He put his hand on my back and patting it in a gentle soothing way. "Wanna come outside and get some good vitamin D before the sun sets."

I snorted, "Oh my god, Damien. I guess." He helped me to my feet and I followed after him out of the RV.

The sun was real low now, still the guys weren't back, nor was Sophia. Once I was out of the vehicle I noticed Andrea strutting her way over to Dale, arguing about wanting her gun back. He happened to take it and she didn't like that. She argued until Shane stepped in and agreed it's what is best.

She couldn't help but scoff, I looked over to Damien and we shared the same concerning look. Andrea strutted back away, toward Carol.

"Mind telling me what that's about?" Shane mumbled to the elder man.

"Oh god, they're back." Glenn announced. I quickly turned over to see the two men, and just them.

We all made our way over and I can begin to see Carol starting to panic. I joined her side and put my hand on her shoulder in support.

"You didn't find her?" Her voice was so unstable.

"Her trail went cold." Rick stepped over the railing to return onto the road. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own—to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol was near crying. I felt close to too.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." Daryl attempted at explain.

"But she's tweleve. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Her voice was getting louder and now she seemed to be angry.

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick peered closer to the woman.

"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl adjusted his grip on his crossbow.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Her eyes fell down, she didn't like what she was hearing.

"Is-is that blood?" She looked up at Daryl. I followed where she was looking beforehand, at his shoes. Daryl stayed quiet and Carol began to breathe heavily. I rubbed her back a little bit but there wasn't much I could do.

"We took down a walker." Rick calmly said, hoping she'd calm down a little.

"A walker? Oh my god." She was near crying now, she turned away as water pooled her eyes.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia." He attempted to give her any chance at hope.

"How can you know that?" Andrea popped up from behind me to ask.

Rick shared a look with Daryl. Daryl took a moment before saying, "We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

Carol left my grasp and went to take a seat, she wasn't feeling so good after all of this. "Oh god." She mumbled. Lori sat next to her giving her comfort.

"How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?" Carol was now mad and raising her voice at Rick.

I could see the pain in his eyes. "Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. I-It was her best chance."

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane tried to defend his friend.

The Peletier woman shook her head. "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child."

Rick knelt down, his voice started to stuttered and jump. "It was my only option. The only choice I could make."

"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane looked over to Rick. Rick, still on his knee and looking at Carol, trying to get her to understand.

"My little girl got left in the woods." She cried out.

Rick got up and looked around before walking away. I went over to Carol's other side to join Lori in comforting her. I couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain she is in right now.

__________

It was hard for me to sleep at all. Once I closed my eyes, it felt like I was just opening them up again. We were all up bright and early to begin the search for Sophia. We gathered around near the RV. I leaned up against it next to T-dog and watched as Rick laid out a bag of weapons.

"Everybody takes a weapon." He said.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea inquired.

"We've been over that." Shane spoke out, from the other side of  T-dog. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked back to her. She furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. She liked having the safety of a gun but guns cause more damage than good.

They lure walkers from all angles toward us once they are used. That's why Rick had laid out weapons as in knives. I wasn't planning on getting any though. I had my Sai's and I was pretty handy with them.

"Daryl, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane still explained.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about."

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane set it straight. She was over arguing about it.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five minutes, turn around and come back down the other side." Daryl followed through. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." I watched as everyone grabbed a weapon.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick was telling all of us but looked over at me. I nodded a bit to let him now I understand. I could tell a lot of people were worried about me going.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane ordered. Everyone parted ways to prepare to go out.

Just as I was about to depart from as well to go get my bag with my Sai's, Atlas and Damien, along with Aj stopped me in my tracks. I just looked at all three of them waiting for them to say anything. I raised my eyebrows up, "Yes?"

"We thinks it's best if you stay here, Ang." Aj started.

I scoffed, "We?" That was the first thing I noticed. "I can handle myself and I know what's best for me."

Atlas made a sour face knowing I was right. "Well, I-" he started but couldn't finish. He looked over to Damien, maybe hoping he could say something but he just shrugged. Accepting their defeat they all shared looks of disappointment.

"Now please someone go get my bag." I didn't want to have to walk up into the RV and back down.

Both the guys shared another look, deciding who was going to do it for me.

"Oh my god, guys. I got you, gorgeous." Aj playfully winked before leaving to grab it.

Soon enough I had my bag around my shoulder and I pulled out my Sai's to have them on stand by. One on each side of my belt so they were easily pulled out when needed.

I awaited by the RV, returning over to T-dog's side. I watched everyone get their things and assort all their stuff.

My eyes landed on Andrea making her way over to Dale. They were only mere five feet from T-dog and I.

"Andrea, I'm begging you. Don't put me in this position." Dale put his hands up in defense. He wasn't ready to continue her argument from yesterday about her gun.

"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please." Her back was facing me but I can tell she attempted a smile.

He shook his head, "I'm doing this for you."

"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop. What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?" She had now caught everyone's attention.

"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear. But if I hadn't done what I did. You'd be dead now." I fidgeted my stance and T-dog looked over at me with the same uneasy glance.

"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay." Andrea's words were so sharp.

"You chose suicide." He corrected. This conversation was leading up to a bad ending.

"So what's that to you? You barely know me." She hissed, her voice was full of hate and she was repeatedly using it on Dale.

"I know Amy's death devastated you." He brought up.

"Keep her out of this." She was so quick to reply. "This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?"

I watched as Dale's face dropped. "I saved your life." He simply stated.

"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?" She told him.

He shrugged, "Maybe just a little gratitude."

"Gratitude?" She had seemed to be shocked by his suggestion. "I wanted to die my way. Not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took that away from me, Dale." Her voice was now shattered and sad.

"But-" He started but was immediately cutt off by Andrea, "But you know better?" She shook her head. "All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale. And you expect gratitude?"

"I don't know what to say." His eyes were glistening as he yet again shrugged.

"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say." She ended it there, walking away. He stood there in disbelief of what had just happened.

_________

Each step I took I began to think if participating in this search was worth the pain. What use would I come to? Although it was too late, we were long into the search, so I had to push all thoughts about second guessing my decisions to the back of my mind.

Daryl took a lead, whilst I was near behind. I wasn't the last one though my friends were behind me. Lori and Carl were behind them along with Shane. He thought it'd be best to keep up the end just in case.

I kept my gaze on the floor, not wanting to step wrong or trip. I rested my hands on top of each Sai for my safety, in case I was in trouble and needed to act quick. I looked off to my left and end up bumping into Glenn who was stopped in front of me.

"Sorry." I whisper. I look over his shoulder to see what we were stopped for. A tent a few feet away had us all watching and waiting.

Shane makes his way through everyone to see the hold up. "She could be in there."

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl has his crossbow high and ready as he makes his way toward it. Carol goes to follow but Rick puts his hand up stopping her.

The three men go on ahead without us to scout it out. I stood behind Glenn watching them make their way over. Being as quiet as possible and quick as possible. When they've reached the tent Daryl takes his knife out ready for anything.

"Carol." Rick calls her over in a low tone. She follows through swiftly and we all were right behind her. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy." Her voice was breaking as she repeatedly called out for her daughter but there was no sign of anything coming out of there.

Rick walked over raising his gun up, Shane following behind him. Daryl slowly began unzipping the tent and the small buzz of the zipper was so vivid.

He lifted up the flap and was hit with a wave of a sour scent. He coughed in disgust, bringing his arm to his nose to cover it. He slowly entered the tent leaving us to ponder over what was inside.

Both Shane and Rick being hit by the smell too began coughing—letting us know the scent was strong.

"Daryl?" Carol called out. "Daryl?" She said again, awaiting for him to come back out to say something.

He walked out shaking his head, "It ain't her."

I let out a big sigh of relief, "Oh my god." This whole situation was so intense leaving us all agitated. I put my hand on Glenn's shoulder to lean onto him and he just put his hand on top of mine to comfort me, noticing the stress this has been causing me.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl threw his crossbow back over his shoulder.

A loud blaring bell lifted us all up onto our tippy toes. We all spun our heads around in different directions, it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from. But Daryl pointed toward his left and Rick was first to start running. We all were right behind one another following as the sound got louder. Rick came to a stop, losing an idea of where the sound was from.

"What direction?" Shane halted by his friends side.

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." He brought his hands to his hips, breathing heavily from the running.

"It's hard to tell." Atlas abruptly stated.

"If we can hear them, maybe Sophia does too." Carol concluded, which made a lot of sense.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn thought. He looked over to everyone and I nodded a bit, thinking the same.

"Or signaling they found her." Andrea said.

"She could be ringing them herself. Come on." Rick picked up his paste and darted in the direction he said he'd think was right.

We soon were exiting the constant sight of trees and came up on a church. They ringing bells were no longer in our range, they had to have stopped. We all starred at the church looking for any sign of anything.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane examined the place. And even though he was right Rick went running toward it. "Rick." We were all off again, after him.

We made it all the way to the front of the church. Rick ran up the steps and pulled his gun out. Daryl went after, getting his crossbow ready. Shane was last and he was holding his gun up ready to shoot. Rick and Daryl both pushed the doors open. We all continued up the steps behind them and we were able to see walkers inside.

The three men walked in each taking a walker out. I held onto the side railing as I watched them beat and kill the dead. I brought my hand to my forehead, wiping away some sweat.

"Sophia!" Rick shouted in anger.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple." The ringing bells went off again. Everyone was brisk to get back outside and see where the sound was coming out of.

I was last after everyone and I didn't complain because when I finally reached where everyone was stopped. I was disappointed. Glenn walked over to the small box and stopped the loud noise.

Daryl raised his machete up—pointing at the speaker."A timer. It's on a timer." He panted in between his words.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol walked away from the rest of us.

I brought my hands and rubbed my eyes letting out another deep sigh. A deepening pain sprung throughout my abdomen. I bit down on my tongue not wanting to be so vivid with my pain. Everyone was taking a few minutes as Carol was gathering herself.

I let go of my tongue and let out a small breath. My hands were still over my eyes and I finally dropped them down to my side. Once I opened my eyes it was hard adjusting back to the light.

When I noticed Carol walking out with Lori I walked over to them and we met up with the rest of the group. Shane was off to the side talking with Rick, I'm guessing trying to figure out our next move.

"How you feeling?" Damien suspiciously looked around. I furrowed my eyebrows at the guy.

"Fine." I bluntly said. I knew he was concerned because I told him about my contractions but he made it a little obvious.

Shane broke off from Rick and made his way over to us,"Yall gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane said. Rick was at his side agreeing with what he was saying.

"I want to stay too." Carl spoke out. "I'm her friend." Shane looked over at Rick not knowing what to say.

Lori took a step toward her son. "Just be careful, okay?" She made the decision to let him go.

"I will." He looked up at his mom.

"When did you start growing up?" She hugged her son. I smiled at the family and watched as they said their small goodbye.

"Here, take this." Rick pulled out his gun and handed it over to his wife. "Remember how to use it?" She looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Lori refused.

"Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl gave his gun off to Lori. Lori grabbed it and I can hear Andrea scoff from beside me.

We parted our ways and I stuck by the grimes woman. Feeling both safe and cared for by her. Although since she had the gun, she was somewhat behind me for safe keeping. We were times worth deep into the woods by now. The whole way to the church all I could think about was heading back, as selfish as it sounds. The way back felt even worse.

"So this is it? This the whole plan?" Carol took time to sit down on a near by stump of wood.

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl commented.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea sassed.

"Now don't start, Andrea. You know damn well knives and 'pointy sticks' are what's best." I was quick to tell her.

The blonde woman rolled her eyes, her eyes landing on Lori. "I see you have a gun."

"Why, you want it?" Lori shot a look back. "Here, take it." She placed the gun out for her to grab. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."

Andrea's mouth was gaped open at her response but still grabbed the gun.

"All of you." Lori sat down looking at the ground. She gazed up to look at Carol, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did—or made the hard decisions that he had to make—or that anybody could have done it any differently."

She left us all in complete silence. We all were morally speechless because of her words.

"Anybody?" Lori then took a look around at the rest of us. No one was speaking up.

"Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you." She took a sip of her water.

Andrea slowly made her way over with the gun, "We should keep moving." She gave it back to Lori. She got up and swung her backpack over her shoulder and was the first to go ahead.

We were all right after her, trying to make our way back to the RV.

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Word Count:
4096

I think it's the perfect time to start adding memes at the end of each chapter ☺️ so enjoy!

How I feel after writing small interactions with Glenn and Angie but they r so cute:

Angela when Andrea keeps yapping about the guns:

Aj flirting with Angie any chance she gets:

How Angela looks at Lori cause she's a #baddie: