"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked as Lori turned back around towards the direction they all heard the gun shot. Everyone turned to look back at Lori, who stood a little ways off from the rest of the group.

Lori didn't turn to look at the woman as she answered, "It was a gunshot."

Daryl glanced around by my side, "We all heard it."

Lori spun on her heel, looking over towards the redneck. "Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

Daryl took a drink of water before answering, gathering his breath. "Maybe they took down a Walker." He shrugged his shoulder, not too shaken up about it. Millie was though; she had an awful feeling in her gut.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one Walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

Millie nodded, looking up at Daryl, "I agree with her. I have an awful feeling about it."

Daryl flattened his lips in a thin line, looking at Millie. Carol turned to Glenn and Andrea then. "Shouldn't they have caught up to us by now?"

Daryl huffed quietly, stepping towards Lori as everyone kept their eyes on him. "There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." He swiveled his head around, keeping his eyes peeled on the terrain, not looking anyone in the eye.

Lori wasn't happy about it, her voice filled with an edge. "So what do we do?"

"Same as we've been," Daryl answered, not letting her tone of voice affect him. "Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

Andrea looked back to Lori, siding with Daryl. "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Lori looked down, not liking the answer but moved on ahead with the others. Daryl gently pushed Millie along again as he led the group back towards the RV. "I'm sorry for what you're going through." Andrea looked at Carol, her voice making everyone stop and look back again. "I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do." Carol agreed. "Thank you." Carol had tears brimming her eyes, "The thought of her out here by herself… it's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." Andrea's face paled and Carol quickly recanted her statement. "Oh God. That's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea shook her head, putting on a fake smile, "We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth."

Daryl moved over to them, that familiar scowl on his face. "I'll tell you what it's worth—not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine." He looked between the two women before moving back towards Millie who was trying to hide her smile. "Am I the only one Zen around here? Good Lord."

Daryl walked up to Millie and motioned for her to continue their trek through the woods. She gave the redneck a teasing smile but he flat out ignored her, causing a small chuckle to leave her lips.

They had been traveling for awhile in silence; Millie was enjoying every bit of scenery that was offered to her. She knew they would all be okay in the woods since they traveled close to each other and Daryl was keeping an extra eye out for any danger. She realized she really liked the woods, the trees especially. She really liked that they just went up and up and if she tried to follow it to the top, the sun would block out her vision and she just imagined they never had a peak. She wished she lived out here, before the world went to shit. Yeah, it was desolate and very few people came around, but in this new world, that was amazing.

She wouldn't mind staying somewhere that's remote and quiet to give birth to her baby. So long as she didn't have to do it in the city where every noise she made, ten Walkers would come crawling. "Daryl, I think we should pick up the pace a bit. We're not too far from the highway but I don't want to worry T-Dog and Dale anymore than we already have."

Daryl nodded, "Yeah, We'll lose the light before too long." He said, turning to the others and speaking a bit louder. "I think we should call it."

Lori agreed. "Let's head back."

Carol turned her head, "We'll pick it up tomorrow?" Her voice was emotionless.

Millie nodded to her, her eyes filling with sorrow. "Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." She looked at Carol, pure determination set in her eye. Daryl whistled for them to move out again and head back.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

It was quiet as the tiny group trekked through the woods together. There wasn't anything to chit chat about as their minds were focused on Sophia. The little girl that was lost in the forest all alone and they couldn't help but ask themselves what the single gunshot meant as well. Why would Rick and Shane only need to fire one shot?

Millie frowned suddenly. She grabbed the knife she had found by the highway and examined it; turning it over in her hands until she felt rough indents along the base of the knife. She smoothed it over in her fingers before bringing the object closer to her eye. The indents were letters, or more specifically, a name. They spelled a name she was all too familiar with. She held the knife in a vise like grip as anger flowed through her. Rex was following her. Rex— the asshole that haunted her every day before the apocalypse and every day since she found his wallet at G's place—her ex.

Lori's voice drew her out of her thoughts, "How much farther?"

Daryl didn't even look behind him as he answered her. "Not much. Maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies."

Andrea sighed as she mumbled, "Too bad were not crows."

The group kept walking, not really in the mood to chit chat. Millie and Daryl both looked around for any sign of an unwelcomed guest as they moved through the woods. They didn't notice Andrea get caught in some spider web and didn't notice the Walker that crept up on the tiny group. The only thing they heard was her scream of terror that echoed through the trees.

The group immediately turned around and ran towards the screaming woman. Millie realized that by the time they would have gotten to her, she would have been dead. Then, almost in slow motion, a woman in shining armor came to Andrea's rescue, an axe in her hand as she thrust the weapon into the Walker's head, knocking him back to the ground. "Lori? Lori Grimes?" She was looking down at Andrea as she spoke.

"I'm Lori." The rest of the survivors came running up to meet the woman on the horse.

The newcomer was in a hurry, with the way she spoke. "Rick sent me. You've got to come now."

Lori wasn't the only one to start panicking. "What?" Millie was completely bothered by the urgency in the woman's voice. Could the single shot have been from Rex? Was he going to kill everyone if he knew she was still alive? Does he already know she is?

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you have to come now. Rick needs you. Just come." Lori was horror stricken. Millie was too, thinking it was Rex. Could he have known Millie was pregnant? She put her hand to her barely swollen belly in fear. Though, Carl had some Similarities to Jack... Could he have mistaken him for Jack and shot him? But Jack was gone; he was wandering in the city. Millie's jaw clenched. She shouldn't have left him like that. She shouldn't have left him at all.

Daryl brushed past Millie to stand by Lori as she started taking off her backpack. "Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse!" Lori ignored his demands as she swung herself up on the horse.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The woman moved up a bit on the horse so Lori could sit comfortably.

Glenn responded with an "uh-huh."

"Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene." She motioned for the horse to get going and they took off back into the deeper parts of the woods.

The zombie that tried to take a bite out of Andrea rose back up, which irritated Daryl as he immediately fired an arrow right into its head; killing it. "Shut up," the angry redneck growled. Millie didn't even respond as he picked Andrea up off her feet and got the group moving again. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts as to who might have fired that one gunshot, that she was a robot void of any emotion as she thought about Rex hurting her fellow survivors.

Daryl was back by her side; or rather she was back by his. Her facial expressions hadn't gone unnoticed by the redneck as he held her arm tightly in his grasp, pulling her along as they all eventually found the highway once again.

Dale met them all when the group returned and immediately noticed Lori's absence, but Millie didn't snap out of her little trance until someone explained that Carl had been shot. "Shot? What do you mean shot?"

Glenn answered him, short of breath. "I don't know Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

"You let her?" Dale directed his question to Daryl who was appointed leader in Rick and Shane's absence. Millie rolled her eyes, she could have been the leader for all they knew; leadership doesn't have to always be a male role.

Daryl stepped over the railing to the highway, Millie still caught in his grasp. "Climb down out of my asshole, man." He waited until Millie was safely over before letting her go. "Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." He moved back towards the RV. Dale kept questioning everyone but Millie escaped inside the living quarters to snag one of her candy bars. She tore the packaging open with her teeth and devoured the almost expired ssnack. She then went back outside and filled up a water bottle with the truck loaded with filtered liquids, not paying attention to the questions that Dale was constantly asking everyone.

Millie wandered around a bit. She saw the majority of her group huddled around in a circle by the RV talking. She assumed they all wanted to move the caravan to the Greene Farm, but she didn't think Carol would want that. She didn't, even if it wasn't her child out there, she felt like she had to find her to make up for loosing Jack. It would never make up for that loss, but maybe it would help bring Millie a bit of closure or at least help her realize that Jack was gone and he wasn't going to return to her, no matter how much she wanted it.

Millie busied herself with looking through cars again. She sifted through the things no one really needed to sift through and held up clothes she took an interest in. She would need new clothes soon and so would the rest of the group. Their first winter was going to spring up faster than all of them thought so Millie wanted to be prepared.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Hey guys! Its been awhile... I know. I'm really sorry. I haven't written in a really long time and that's because my roommates and I are no longer roommates. They are no longer in my life and I need to start looking at the future I will be having there. I don't want to delve too deeply in it but it definitely put me down and broke me. Please forgive me for letting this go without an update for so long. Hopefully I get better soon... Please leave me reviews? They will most definitely help me write more. I need to get back into my world here and I can't do that without you guys..

This chapter is for Vero. Thank you for writing a review! And thank you for liking the story so much that you read it all in one day! I really appreciate it! :)

Keep up with the feedback guys! Please review!