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"HE SHOULD BE BACK by now." Ophelia muttered to herself, her hand still tightly grasped around the girls beside her. Sophia timidly added, "should we go back now?"
"Not yet. We should wait a bit longer."
"I don't like it here. I wanna go back to the highway."
"I do too kid, but we gotta wait. If we're not here when he gets back, that'll cause some trouble."
The two girls stood under the river bank for a while longer, when they heard a twig snap. "What was that?" Sophia had asked, her grip becoming steel.
"I'll go check it out." Ophelia then slowly let go of the girls sweaty hand. She placed a small finger over her plump lips and proceeded to step into the stream to look around. She saw nothing, only the leaves rustling within the wind and the stream flowing past her boots.
"I can't see anything." She mumbled, scratching her head. "Maybe it was a possum or something."
Snap.
She then turned her head again and Ophelia sighed heavily. She reached for her silver knife, when two stray walkers headed her way, coming from behind the stream.
She pressed on through the clear water, never leaving Sophia too far from her blue eyes, and immediately thrust her blade into the first corpse's eye socket. Whilst she retrieved her blood red knife, the second walker had begun to stumble towards the terrified girl in the bank.
She panicked, beginning to scream and scramble her way out of her hiding spot and into the woods. "Sophia wait! Don't run!" Ophelia shouted, but Sophia kept running. And she did not look behind.
Quickly, the brunette pushed the walker to the floor. She then jammed her knife through its decaying skull and cursed, "you son of a bitch."
After wiping her bleeding blade on its ragged shirt, she ran after Sophia. She was able to track her for a while, but when they reached a dead end, Ophelia threw her knife among the crispy leaves and ran her hands through her hair, "fuck."
Even she didn't know where she was now.
❦ ❦ ❦
"SURE THIS IS THE SPOT?"
Rick nodded. "I left them right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek. They were gone by the time I got back here. I figured they just took off and ran back to the group. I told them to go that way and keep the sun on their left shoulder."
To say the group were worried ; was an understatement. When Ophelia and Sophia were not where Rick had left them, he'd immediately fetched Shane, Daryl and Glenn to help find them.
"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're muckin' up the trail." Daryl had asked Glenn. Startled, the young man quickly complied.
Shane sighed, replying to his worried friend. "Assuming she knows her left from her right."
"Shane, they understood me fine." The Sherif growled, running a hand anxiously over his stubble.
"Man, I'm not saying Ophelia didn't. But, that kid, she's tired and scared. She had a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck."
"So then what happened to Ophelia?" Rick had then begun to grow agitated, he knew that Ophelia would not have left, not unless necessary.
"I don't know man, maybe Sophia panicked and Ophelia went after her, I don't know."
Daryl then spoke up, kneeling on the ground as he informed them. "Got two clear prints right here. They did like you said, headed back to the highway."
"Let's spread out, make our way back. They couldn't have gone far. We're gonna find them. They'll be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere."
Daryl shook his head, a heavy sigh leaving his lips. "They were doin' just fine till right here. All they had to do was keep goin'. They veered off that way."
"Why would they do that?"
"Maybe the kid saw something that spooked her, made her run off, then Ophelia tried to find her."
"A walker?" Daryl asked, but quickly he shook his head. "I don't see any other footprints. Just theirs."
"So what do we do? All of us press on?"
Daryl shook his head at the raven haired man. "No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panickin'. Let them know we're on their trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."
Daryl knew that, both Griffin and Carol could be lose cannons at this point. It was important, that they stayed calm.
"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars. Think up a few other chores. I'll keep 'em occupied. Come on." Shane had agreed, and then with Glenn by his side they walked back to the highway.
Once they had left, Daryl carried on tracking the two sets of footprints, Rick following closely behind. He found it interesting, how focused Daryl seemed to be. He had never expected it of him, to be a big asset to the group.
"Tracks are gone." Rick observed.
"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone. They came through here." He replied.
"How can you tell? I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."
"You want a lesson in trackin' or you want to find those girls and get our ass off that interstate?"
And so the cop zipped his lips shut. Silently observing as the red neck shuffled his feet through the crispy leaves, lifting up twigs and brushing away mud.
"Shit."
Rick arched a brow as Daryl had cursed, watching worriedly as he rested his arms on his knees. "They split."
"What do you mean they split? They were together when I left them."
"Right here, the tracks veer of in different directions. I don't know what the hell happened, but they ain't together now."
The mere thought of either being alone and starving within these woods - it sent a shiver down their spines. Daryl knew that, Ophelia would never leave a child on their own, and the chances were that Ophelia was losing herself within these woods looking for the child also. He knew she was stubborn - she would not return without the child. And that was what worried him. It worried everyone.
