Iridescence

M.I.A.

Daryl paced impatiently. The level of stress was absolutely unbelievable. They had arrived hours ago, the sun setting deeper and deeper into the horizon with every passing second.

Mia should be here by now. She had to be.

Sitting in the backround, everyone watched as the archer paced. "Daryl-" Rick approached him trying to keep the situation calm. "-where are we?"

Daryl was a little short, but he had every reason to be. Without looking the former sheriff in the eye, he answered - "It's the only place she knows. If she got out, she'll come here."

The rest of the group stood in the background not really knowing what to do. He had drug them out here, all cramming into the few cars that they had. Why? To wait in the middle of nowhere. To wait in some empty field.

Glenn had been confused by Daryl's hunch just like everyone else. However, the korean was the first to understand. It wasn't until he had turned around that he stated to get the full picture.

It was a long willow, the branches close to the treeline behind him about 50 yards off. On the other side of it though, a trio of fresh mounds of dirt planted themselves into the hard ground. Each sway of wind seemed to cast the long vines into the picture. Nobody else had noticed, nobody that is but whom he presumed to be a redneck.

"Guys..." Glenn called before stepping towards the Graves. One by one they turned to see what he was looking at. As soon as Daryl knew it wasn't Mia though, he turned back towards the land searching for any sign of her.

They all gathered around. The mothers clutched onto their children as Glenn and Rick inspected the Graves. "Daryl?" Rick had tried again.

It was self explanatory, why the girl knew these graves, but they needed to know.

"This is her family..." Maggie finished for him. "Isn't it?"

Daryl didn't use words. Instead, he sent the group a sideways glance, his emerald eyes peeking at the ankles of his friends. He couldn't look them in the eye, not now. Not when they were about to discover the full truth. With one breath, he had nodded and looked forward.

Rick felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. To the far left was a torn picture of a man. His brown hair wild and eyes bright add he smiled for the picture. In the middle was a woman, one that looked exactly like their Mia. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a spark hidden behind her light skin. On the end, the far right, was someone that they were all to familiar with. It was the boy she had taken from the ban, the boy that they were all looking for, the boy that Mia was trying to save.

Scott was a bright boy when he was alive, eyes wired and cheeks wide. But there were two arms wrapped around him in the picture, two arms that were torn away and missing at the forearms.

It didn't take a genius to put the puzzle together, but if they couldn't, it was sold seconds later

Daryl pulled the torn paper from his back pocket, the crinkled edges folding in his dirty hands.

She was happy, she was smiling, in the picture he held the young girl looked so alive. But that was just a picture, a worn down, faded memory that was just as it was: a memory.

That life was ripped away from her, and now everyone knew it.

The sun was setting, and Mia still hadn't turned up. Daryl wouldn't leave though, not until he had an answer. They left her once, he wasn't about to do it again. Mia would come back, she would find her way to him, or he wouldn't stop until he found her.

She was a 17 year old girl, alone, probably hurt, and as well as she hid it, Daryl knew that she was scared.

Mia was a warrior, a trooper in a young woman's body. But most importantly, their Mia was M.I.A.