WILDFIRE -Beth Greene

Search Party

At Rick and Daryl's return hours later, Carol brakes down. There was still no sign of Sophia.

"You didn't find her?" Carol leans into Jessie for support.

Rick shakes his head as him and Daryl exit the woods, "Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own, to spend the night out in the woods."

"Out in the darks no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves, more people get lost." Daryl says as softly as Gwen could believe he's ever spoken.

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own." Sobs lace Carols words as she talks and Gwen's heart breaks for the woman, "You didn't find anything?"

The pain on Rick's face is clear, "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 adds.

Rick addresses the whole group now, "We have to make this an organised effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

If possible, even more worry engulfs Carol's face as she looks down at the red splotches in Daryl's pants, "Is that blood?"

"We took down a walker." Carols breathing gets heavy as she goes into panic mode, "There was no sign it was anywhere near Sophia."

Andrea, a pretty blond woman from the group, asks what Gwen views as a terrible question, only making Carol more nervous, "How can you know that?"

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

Carol takes deep breaths before sitting down and staring at Rick with more animosity than Gwen had ever seen, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us," Rick desperately tries to reason with her, "I had to draw them off, it was her best chance."

Shane, who Gwen has already decided she doesn't like one bit, steps forward, "Sounds like he didn't have a choice Carol."

Carol continues regardless, "How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child."

Rick is kneeling in front of the woman now, "It was my only option. The only choice I could make."

"My little girl got left in the woods." Lori sits beside Carol and holds her as she cries.

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The next morning is an early one, everyone up and ready to look for Sophia.

A variety of knives and such are payed out on the hood of a car, "Everybody takes a weapon."

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need, she says, eyeing Shane, "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that." No guns in the hands of people who aren't trained Jessie had told Gwen was a new group rule.

"Daryl, Rick and I are carrying, we're the only ones trained." Shane counters, "can't have people popping of rounds every time a tree rustles."

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

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. Then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it."

Dick, Gwen thinks, but a reasonable dick.

Daryl relays the plan to the group one last time, "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."