The entire group gathered around to hear Sofia's story. Carol was seated next to her, her eyes still wet from crying the last time Daryl brought her back.
'Where were you?' Shane leaned against a tree, asking the question everyone was thinking.
Sofia's voice remained soft and shy as she spoke.
"After Rick left, I got lost. A young girl saved me and kept me safe. She fed me, too. But she had to leave for two days, then Daryl found me."
Daryl seemed doubtful.
"A girl?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked at her skeptically.
Lori leaned forward, eagerly trying to hear Sofia's soft voice.
"Who was she?" she asked.
"I don't know," Sofia responded in a barely audible tone. "She had curly red hair... but she never told me her name."
Shane spoke in a gentle way, trying to draw the story from Sofia's memory.
"A girl, you said. How old would you say she was?”
"I don't know... maybe 14," she said softly, "She was older than me." Sofia glanced up at her mother, still trying to recall the details of her brief encounter with the mysterious girl.
"Was she alone?" Rick followed up with another question.
Sofia nodded promptly.
"How do you know?" daryl scoffed Daryl didn't believe the story.
"She said she lived alone," Sofia said, her eyes trailing to Daryl, who still seemed skeptical Sofia responded with a little more confidence, though her voice still had a hint of hesitation.
"She saved my baby," Carol interjected, holding her daughter tighter.
Shane took a more pragmatic approach, suggesting against a search for the mysterious girl who had saved Sofia.
"Are we really going back there? To bring back a random girl we know nothing about, not even her name?”
"It's the least we can do," Andrea said, turning her gaze from Shane to Dale, who seemed to be in agreement.
Shane rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, furrowing his eyebrows in irritation.
"We don't even know where to look. It's too risky." He was clearly against the idea of searching for the mysterious girl.
Archie bit his lip, and Daryl eyed him suspiciously, as if detecting a lie or at least a lack of sincerity.
Daryl approached Archie, studying him and his body language. He narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
"You know somthin'?" he asked.
Archie hesitated, glancing briefly at Rick, who was also eying him curiously.
"Think I saw her," he said finally.
Rick followed Daryl's lead, raising his eyebrows curiously.
"When ?" he asked.
"The day you lost Sofia, I was looking around and I heard footsteps. I saw a girl running and I could tell it wasn't Sofia,"Archie said, scratching his curly hair nervously.
Carol looked up from Sofia, a weak smile on her face.
"Do you remember?" Lori asked, curious to hear more details about the mysterious girl who had caught Archie's attention.
Archie nodded resolutely.
"Just a mile or so across the river, Rick left Sofia, and I saw her around there," Archie said. He looked at the group to gauge their reaction, then turned his attention to his younger sister.
"I could bring y'all there," he offered, looking at Mellody in particular as he spoke. The little girl seemed to be waiting for the adults to decide their course of action.
Rick took charge, resolving the issue on their behalf.
"We have it settled. Tomorrow, Daryl and Archie will head out there. Come back with anything.”
Shane's gaze drifted away as he sighed quietly.
-"I know it's risky but it would make it so much easier if we brought-" Archie began, but Carol quickly cut him off.
-"No, I'm not taking any chances for my baby to get lost again." Carol said while squeezing Sofia's shoulder, her voice determined and firm.
"Understandable." Archie nodded in agreement.
Mellody sat in the RV with Carol and Sofia, where Sofia was resting on the bed, with Carol sitting next to her, stroking her hair with her fingers. Mellody was sitting on the floor drawing a picture of Carl, Sofia and herself on the farm, using the crayons Carol had provided. Mellody heard the sound of the RV door opening, and looked up, along with Carol.
Hoping whoever was coming in wouldn't wake Sofia up, Daryl walked up the steps, looking at Carol. Daryl stepped over Mellody to get closer to Carol, leaning in the doorway.
"How she holding up?" Daryl asked quietly in a way that wouldn't wake Sofia but could still be heard by Mellody, who was still drawing her picture. She set down her red crayon and picked up the pink one, continuing to draw the pink details of Sofia's shirt.
Carol replied, "Good, she's been asleep ever since we got here." Daryl nodded, then looked around. Carol must have noticed, because she continued, "I was able to get some cleaning done while she slept."
Daryl added quietly, "For a second, I thought I was in the wrong place." Carol responded with a light chuckle, and Mellody wasn't sure why Daryl was so nice to Carol,
Carol whispered quietly, "Thank you again for finding her."
Daryl nodded and hummed in response.
"You tell her about Carl yet?" Daryl asked, finally speaking up after keeping quiet for a while.
Carol shook her head, and for a moment, Mellody forgot that Carl had been shot. She figured she should check on him later, since he was getting better.
"No, not yet. I'm going to wait until she wakes..." Carol mumbled, looking from the window to Daryl.
Daryl didn't have anything else to say, so he turned and stepped over Mellody again as he started to walk towards the door. Before walking down the steps and outside, he shot Carol one more glance.
