𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

"𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 about our trip to the Grand Canyon with the kids." Casey and Carl both furrowed their eyebrows out their mother. They'd never been to the Grand Canyon before! What was she talking about? Rick was laughing as he remembered the trip he went on with his family. God, it was interesting.

They sat in Carol's jeep now. They were headed to Fort Benning since the C.D.C. didn't work out. Casey was back in the front seat on her mother's lap, and Carol, Carl, and Sophia were in the back row. Rick was driving again.

"I don't remember that." Casey nodded in agreement with her brother. She didn't remember either.

"I don't remember either." She stated, looking at Lori.

"No, you two wouldn't, you were just a baby, Case you were only eleven months. Besides, we never made it past Fort Worth." She said, looking over at Rick, playing with the ends of her daughter's braid.

"No, you two got food poisoning. I never knew two babies could throw up so much." Rick reminisced. Casey's face scrunched up into disgust, she never liked throwing up. Who did? It was nasty! The married couple chuckled looking at each other with grins.

"Ick." Carl joked.

"Yeah, ick. The doctor in Texas said you two would live. Then we turned around and drove home." Mom said, looking at Rick. He nodded his head.

"Well that sucks." Carl said, Casey agreed with him as well.

"No, it was a good trip." Lori smiled, Rick looked at her smiling more.

"The best."

"Can we go see it? The Grand Canyon? I'd like to." Casey looked back at him, then down.

She didn't think they'd get to the Grand Canyon. She was just being realistic. And for an eight-year-old, that was bad...

"I would too. Can we go?" Sophia asked, practically begging.

"We'd never go without and or your mom, that's a promise." Lori patted Sophia on the knee as Rick assured her. Maybe they wouldn't go, but they would stay with the two Peletiers forever. That was his promise.

Casey played with Lori's hair as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. She kissed her on the cheek and sighed. "What about you, babe? Do you wanna go to the Grand Canyon?" Lori questioned, Casey decided not to be a buzzkill and nodded her head.

"Uh-huh! This time I won't get food poisoning." She giggled, making the couple laugh.

Unfortunately, right when they were all in a good mood, bad happened. Their ride came to a slow stop on a highway. There were tons of cars just stopped there, all which the adults assumed were filled with walkers. They were dead silent as Rick carefully drove through, staring at each one.

That's when the RV completely stopped...

Rick turned the car off and opened his door. Lori opened her door, and then the two Grimes ladies got out. Then everyone in the back seat as well.

"I said it, didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale told everyone, walking to the front of his smoking RV.

"Problem Dale?" Shane questioned as Casey stared at the RV.

Dang it.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane trailed off. The RV broke down again, but, who was surprised. That thing's a ticking time bomb.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said, looking through a car.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said, walking past Daryl to look at the other cars.

"Maybe some water?" Carol asked, holding Sophia close to her.

"Or food?"

Everyone found this to be a great idea. Everyone except for Lori. "This is a graveyard." She stated. She looked to her husband, not liking any part of this place. "I don't know how I feel about this." She said.

"Cmon y'all, just look around. Gather what ya can."

So, that's what they did. They all looked around.

Casey walked up to Rick, grabbing his hand. He was looking around with a pair of binoculars, he also had a rifle strapped around him.

"Can I see?" She asked, he smiled down at her, giving a nod.

He handed her them, and she brought them to her eyes. She looked around, seeing cars and everything. "All clear," She stated, staring up at him.

"Atta girl." He smiled, taking them back and looking around again.

Dale walked over, and Rick handed him the binoculars. They said nothing, Dale just climbed to the top of the RV and kept watch. "Casey Q, think you can help mom get some stuff?" He asked, she nodded her head yes. He squeezed her shoulder, and she ran off.

"Don't run!" She came to a stop, and once she thought she was out of his sight, she started running again.

When she saw Lori, she noticed the small basket she was putting together. "Hi, Momma." She greeted, looking at everything in the basket.

"Hey, Baby." She smiled, Casey got on her toes and looked around the place. "Here, found you somethin'." Casey looked at the shirt Lori found, and smiled a bit. It had little sharks all over it.

"Thanks," She smiled, looking at it.

"Carl and Sophia are lookin' for some clothes. If you find something, just give it to me. Okay? Make sure you stay where I can see you." Casey nodded her head yes, and walked toward her brother and friend.

"Okay!"

She walked towards the two, digging the top of her shoe into the gravel when she saw them. "Find anything you like?" Sophia asked, Casey shook her head no.

"Just started-"

"Lori, under the cars!" The three kids looked to see Lori ducking under a car, and Rick Grimes sprinting over.

"Casey, Carl, and Sophia, get down! Now!" Casey and Sophia both got under one car while Carl got under another.

Now everyone was worried.

Rick was motioning for them to be quiet and stay still. Carol was crying, and Lori was covering her mouth so she'd be quiet. Sophia had reached for Casey's hand, which Casey took.

Seeing Rick helped Casey stay calm. She'd taken a deep breath and just kept holding Sophia's hand.

Walkers were walking away past the cars. There were tons of them. They outnumbered all of the group.

They kept walking past, and soon enough less foot steps were there.

They were safe...

Or so they thought.

Rick asked the three kids if they were okay, being quiet. He just gave a thumbs up and they all nodded.

Sophia started getting out from under the car with Casey and a loud growl was heard.

Walker.

All of them weren't gone.

She started screaming loudly, and Casey gasped.

Sophia and Casey got out from under the car and went running into the woods. Rick was quick to follow behind with his gun.

Three walkers followed behind the girls as they ran down the hill together.

This wasn't good.

Everyone got out from beneath the cars, running toward the side of the highway. Carol was a mess, she was sobbing. Lori had tears pricking her eyes, and Carl immediately started sobbing. "Oh, Lori. There's two walkers after my baby!" She sobbed, Lori followed close behind, her hand going onto her shoulder. She tried to shush her, wrapping her arms around the woman in her best attempts to calm her down.

Sophia and Casey went running away from the walkers. Sophia had her doll in one hand, and Casey's hand in the other. Casey was practically dragging her behind as they went through trees and bushes, all that. They kept scratching at their arms, faces, and legs. One scratched Casey right across the cheek, leaving a slightly bloody scratch mark. It wasn't too bad, though.

She just kept running.

Sophia was slowing her down, but she wasn't gonna leave her. She did think about it when Sophia tripped, though.

"Come on!" Casey whisper yelled, helping her up off the ground.

She felt two arms go around her waist, and she immediately started thrashing. "Get off me, ugly motherfucker!" She exclaimed, kicking and elbowing at what she thought would be a walker.

"Hey! Hey, it's me. It's daddy, shh." He whispered, covering her mouth with his hand.

She immediately calmed down, and turned to face him. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking at Sophia while holding his daughter's wrist.

"Shoot them!" Sophia tried to get his gun from his holster, but Rick wouldn't let her.

"No. No! Those walkers on the road would hear it. Then it wouldn't be just two. It'd be hundreds." Sophia whimpered as he quickly let go of Casey and picked her up. He used his other arm to grab his daughter's hand, and she went running. She was much faster than Sophia, Rick knew that. Sophia wouldn't keep up, so, he'd just carry her.

Sophia kept whimpering and Casey was just panting as she came to a stop. "Okay, just hold here. You two stay there. Wait." He whispered. They had stopped in front of a pond, a dirty one. Rick jumped in, landing in his feet.

He reached out his arms for either one of them. Casey went first, he put her on his hip and placed her down. Then he grabbed Sophia. They splashed through the pond, and Rick brought them over to a torn down tree which had a little space for them to hide.

"Casey, Sophia, you have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you guys." Sophia disagreed with the plan.

"No! No! Don't leave me!" She begged, Casey didn't want him to leave, but she knew he knew what he was doing...He was a cop, he protected people.

"Listen, listen, listen, listen. They don't get winded. I do. I can only deal with them one at a time. I wouldn't be able to protect you two. This is how we all survive, you understand." He asked, placing one hand in both of their cheeks. Casey nodded her head, and he quickly kissed her on her hairline.

While he did that, she wrapped her arms around him quickly. He hugged her back. It was unbeknownst to him that she had reached into his back pocket and pulled out his small knife. "Okay? Go, go, go, go." He repeated, and the two girls got into their hiding spot.

"If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to the others straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder." Rick commanded, Casey looked down at her hands, putting up to L's.

"Come on! You ugly son of a bitch! Come on!" He egged the walker on, splashing in the murky water.

"How come he can say it but I can't?" She mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Not the point right now.

The walker did what Rick wanted, it came behind him. Rick ran, and it chased after him. They heard Rick yelling Come On! as he got further and further.

Then, they heard nothing.

"Come on," Sophia whispered, Casey shook her head no.

"No! Daddy said we wait and if he didn't come back then we leave!" She whispered back, not wanting to leave.

"He left already!"

Casey sighed, not knowing what to do.

She got out from under the tree, and followed behind the strawberry blonde. "I'm trusting you," She told her, taking her hand. "Keep the sun on your left shoulder, that's what he said."

That's what they did, until they took a wrong turn...

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

"𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓?"

Casey and Sophia were gone. Rick came back for them, but he didn't find them. He was worried that his daughter and her friend were lost now. He had assumed they went to the highway at first, but when he saw them not there he became worried. This wasn't good.

"I left them right here. I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." He told Daryl, pointing to where he had left.

"Without a paddle—Seems where we've landed."

They stepped away from the spot, searching around. "They were gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."  He was sure of it. He knew Casey knew her left and right. So why didn't she go back?

"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." Glenn did as Daryl told him to, and Shane considered more things that could've happened.

"Assuming they know they're left from their right."

"Shane, they understood me fine. Casey knows her right from her left." Rick was firm, and slightly aggressive as he said it.

"Kid's tired and scared, man. They had a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck. Not to mention, Casey likes doin' what she wants from time to time." Rick glared at him as Daryl walked up to find footsteps.

"Got clear prints right here. They did like you said, headed back to the highway." Let's spread out, make our way back." They all rushed up the small hill from the pond, and Shane grabbed his best friend's hand to pull him up.

"Hey, we'll find her. She'll be tucked out hiding in a bush somewhere." Shane tried to reassure him. Rick only nodded his head, hoping he would find his daughter and Sophia.

They were in fact not in a bush somewhere, and neither was Sophia. What they were doing was walking around the woods together. Sophia had her doll in hand and Casey had her father's knife. Her shoes were a dirty mess, and she had mud splattered all over her face and clothes and skin. She had cuts from branches all over her. Sophia was the exact same way.

They were also hungry, and Casey was in an awful mood since she was so hungry. She was dragging her feet as Sophia led the way, she said she knew where she was going. And since she was older, that meant she was in charge.

Casey rolled her eyes and agreed.

But when they started walking for a little too long, she was losing hope. She figured out that Sophia really didn't know where she was going.

"I told you we shoulda stayed." Casey groaned, hopping over a big log. It was getting darker and the sun was no longer on her left shoulder. "Now we're lost." She told her looking down at her scraped-up legs.

"No, we're not, we'll be back soon. I promise." Casey sighed, stepping into a puddle of mud.

The mud got splattered all over her legs and she groaned. "Gross," she murmured, kicking a rock away from her.

She looked around the woods, making sure there weren't Walkers or anything. She was also checking if Rick or anyone was there. She was worried, scared, and hungry. She wanted to collapse in her parents' arms and just cry. She wanted one of them to play with her hair and whisper nice things in her ear to make her feel better.

But it wouldn't happen. They were in the woods, lost and alone. The only thing they'd see were walkers and maybe wild animals. She wouldn't get comfort from anyone but Sophia, and she wasn't comforted herself. She was more scared than Casey was.

That's why Casey took the lead. She had a weapon. Sophia didn't.

Only bugs buzzing was heard, leaves crunching and sticks snapping beneath their feet as well. She kept flicking the blade of the knife and then putting it back into its slot. She kept doing the same thing over and over again, getting a click every time she did it. She got faint scrapes on her thumb from doing it, but nothing bad.

They kept walking and started playing I Spy. That game got boring since everything was green. "Think we can greet somethin' to eat anywhere?" Sophia asked her, Casey shook her head no.

"I don't know how to hunt. And if I did, there's nothin' to cook anything on." Casey told her, looking back at her as she walked.

"Oh, maybe there's berries or something."

"Probably poisonous."

Sophia was shocked by her negativity. She was usually never this way. But now, she had to find a way back, so maybe that was why she was like that.

"You're bleeding, you know," Sophia told her, Casey nodded her head wiping blood off of her cheek.

"So are you." Sophia looked at her arms, then let out a loud sigh. Great.

It's not like they were gonna bleed out or anything. But, they could risk getting infected. They had no medical equipment, no bandaids, or anything. They were falling down a slippery slope.

"Mommy!" Sophia yelled as if that were a good idea. Yell with a bunch of walkers in the woods.

Casey quickly turned, putting her finger to her lips. "Shh!" She hushed her, Sophia sighed rubbing her eyes. "There's walkers, they'll hear us and then eat us!" She whispered and yelled at her. "And I don't wanna get eaten, so, no more talking." Sophia stared at her as she bossed her around.

"You're being bossy." Casey shrugged her shoulders.

"And? Come on, I'm hungry and tired, and I really wanna get back to everyone. Let's go." She tried to get Sophia to move, but she wouldn't. She only crossed her arms and stood there.

For being the oldest out of the two, she sure was acting like a child.

"I don't wanna get more lost than you already got us." Casey raised her eyebrows, putting her knife in her pocket.

"I said I wanted to stay in the hiding spot, but you wanted to go. I bet if we stayed we'd be back. But no, you decided we had to leave. Then you didn't wanna keep the sun on your left shoulder, and now we're lost." Sophia let out a groan and then sat down on a log next to them.

"What if we just stay here for tonight and keep going tomorrow."

Casey thought about it for a moment. It wasn't the worst idea. They would maybe have more energy. And who knew, maybe they'd find them asleep there.

"Fine, but we leave first thing tomorrow. Agree?"

"Yep!"

They did regret staying there because at night it was very cold. They had no food, blankets, fire. They had nothing. Casey was lying down on her back still playing with the knife she stole.

Sophia was next to her, just not lying. She was on her knees with her hands folded. Her eyes were closed and she was saying things, kinda like a poem.

Then she just started talking.

She was praying.

Casey knew she was praying, she wasn't serious. She just didn't get why. If this God was real, that meant he sent the walkers, and now they're lost because of it. So why is she praying to him because of it?

Casey wasn't a believer in God. She went to church a few times with her friends when she stayed over, but that was it. She never understood why people believed in God, but she didn't judge them for it.

"Please keep me and Casey safe tonight." She prayed and Casey looked over at her. She propped herself up on her elbows, watching her pray. She said another prayer and then blessed herself.

Casey had furrowed eyebrows as she sat down next to her. "What does that mean?" She asked, Sophia didn't know what she was talking about.

"What?"

"The thing you did with your hand." Sophia didn't know how Casey didn't know how to pray. Her mother taught her so much about it! Her father did make fun of her and her mother for it, but that didn't stop her from believing.

"Blessing myself?" Casey nodded her head. "It's kinda when you start and finish prayers. You do the sign of the cross." Casey nodded again as if she understood what she was talking about. "Do you believe in God?"

Casey shook her head no. "No," She answered.

"Why not?" Sophia questioned, Casey shrugged her shoulders.

It was because God didn't make sense to her, not at all. How come everyone believes in him because he does bad stuff? If he's so great, why do bad things happen?

"If God's so great, why does he make bad things happen? Why would he let Walkers come about, you know?" She asked.

Sophia had an answer, a good one at that. She wasn't forcing anything on the little girl, just trying to help. Maybe give her the hope that God gave her.

"Well, if there wasn't bad how would we know what was happy?" Carol always said that to Sophia, even when at times everything felt bad.

Casey nodded her head, she did have a point. "Oh," Was all she said. She didn't know how to answer that.

It was quiet before Casey asked another question. "But how come he sends all the bad things?" She asked, looking at her.

"Mom says things happen for a reason. You just have to trust him." Sophia said, Casey laid on her back and stared up at the sky.

She still wasn't sure.

Rick always said he had faith in family, friends, and maybe even his job. That is where he placed his faith. That is what he believed in.

Dear God, please help me get back to my family.

amen

Casey didn't know if that worked, but, she tried her best. She didn't say it out loud, just in her head. She didn't bless herself either. She just kinda did it and hoped it worked.

Casey got on her side and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, trying to get comfortable enough. She didn't get comfortable.

She didn't get comfortable because she had no blankets. No sleeping bags or pillows. She didn't have Carl, or her parents either. She especially didn't have her shark, Walter was in her backpack all alone...

But she did fall asleep.

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

"𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐘!" The eight-year-old's eyes fluttered open when she heard the shriek come from the girl. She groaned, hearing another high-pitched scream.

That wasn't good.

She turned, seeing a walker walking towards them. She quickly got on her feet, taking the knife from her back pocket. She was barely awake when she was standing up.

Sophia hid behind the younger girl as she stood there. She didn't know what to do. Did she go toward it? Run away?

That's what Sophia did. She just ran away and left Casey.

Casey's eyes widened as she heard her screaming and running.

What do I do?
What do I do?
WHAT DO I DO?

She remembered what Rick did yesterday. He got the walker away from Sophia and her. He yelled at it, splashed at it. So, that's what she should do. She ran in the opposite direction that Sophia went and yelled at it.

"Hey, asshole!" She yelled jumping up and down. "Hey, Shitface!" It looked at her and quickly walked over. Her eyes went wide again and she started running. "Come here you ugly son of a bitch!" She screamed just like Rick did.

She went behind a tree, and let it go past her, letting it sniff around with its back turned.

Then she went up behind it and plunged her knife into its back. It fell over, and she put her knife through its eye over and over again.

"It's gotta be the brain, don't y'all know nothin'?"

She took a deep breath, took her knife back out, and stood up straight.

Her breathing was heavy. Her hand wiped the curly flyaways out from her face, getting blood smeared all over her forehead.

Then she kept moving. She kept moving and moving with nowhere to go. She was as quiet as a mouse as she looked around for somewhere, anywhere to go.

Then, she found a small house. The land was flat, and there were small flowers near the fence there. She opened the door and walked inside.

Ashe lightly shivered, looking around. There was a couch with blankets and food in the kitchen. She sighed in relief, grabbing the blanket off of the couch and walking inside the kitchen.

She didn't eat anything, instead, she walked over to a pantry.

She walked inside of it, and ducked down with the blanket. She brought her knees to her chest and sighed.

That was the safest spot she could find.

So, once again, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

She was a little more comfortable this time.

                       𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

a/n:

not gonna lie i was proud of this chapter but im probs gonna re-read later and think it's awful and ill like..die. but sorry it's been like a week im on vacation rn and I'm currently dying of a frigging sunburn but it's okay...

ENJOY THE CHAPTER