I open my eyes to find the sun poring in the crack through the blinds. I stretch and turn over, finding the bed empty. I shoot up and start looking for her.

"Isabelle!"

"I'm down here!" I rush down the stairs, almost falling as I go, and go to the kitchen. Belle's sitting at the table with a box of cereal. I let out a sigh of relief as I see her.

"You scared me, baby." I kiss the top of her head before looking through the cupboards and finding another box of cereal.

"I'm sorry. I thought I'd be a big girl today and make my own breakfast." I sit across from her and smile.

"You did good." She smiles as she pulls the flashlight from upstairs out of her pocket.

"I was going to put this in the bag when we left, but I think we should leave it for Sophia. She's really scared of the dark." I smile at her eager state and nod.

"That'd be a good idea." She smiles brightly as I finish eating. I take the cereal bag out and put in our bag, doing the same with hers.

"Why didn't you bring my bag?"

"I thought it'd be best if we didn't carry so much." She nods and I pull the bag over my shoulders. As I place my hand on the door, I feel it starting to turn. I push Belle behind me as I step back, pulling my gun out. A man steps in, his gun pointed at me as well. He has a little beard with a mustache and he looks like he's had a rough day.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I furrow my eyebrows at him as he puts his gun on his hip slowly and raises his hands. "I'm just looking for a group."

"You're not going to find one here." He looks behind me and I turn my head, finding Belle peeking out. She keeps her hands on my hips as she barely sticks her head out.

"Just you and your daughter?"

"More or less."

"What happened to her dad?" I stay silent and he looks down, seeming sad. He looks back up and lowers his arms. "Maybe we should team up, find a place and lay low. The government will be coming for us any day now." I laugh as I put my gun up. He's not harmful, he's got false hope. People like him are never harmful. They're just stupid.

"I'm just looking for my little girl." If I mention Sophia to be Carols, he'll know I've got a group. He looks at me with wide eyes.

"She's alone?" I nod and look down at Belle, seeing sadness cover her eyes.

"We're heading out now to find her, feel free to follow." He nods as he walks out. I stop Isabelle on the porch and crouch down, looking in her eyes. "Do you have your gun?" She nods as she pulls it out, showing me she still has the safety on.

"Wouldn't leave without it." I smile as I stand up.

"Knife?"

"In my boot and on my hip." I nod and look back at the man, who has huge eyes.

"What?"

"You let her carry weapons?" I nod.

"You're never too young anymore." He nods as I extend my hand. "Madison Grimes." He shakes it.

"Blair Williams." He kneels down and extends his hand to Belle. She takes it and shakes it.

"Isabelle Walsh." He smiles before standing up. We walk away from the cabin, consuming ourselves in conversation.

It's been hours since we left the cabin and there's still no traces of Sophia. We found the path Daryl found a few days ago, but nothing other then that. I'm trying to keep hope for her, but we all might have to face the facts here very soon. She's been gone for days. A child only has 24-72 hours before the worst is thought of. Kids now have much less chances.

"Huh?" I turn to Blair and hum, making him smile. "You didn't hear me, did you?" I shake my head as I watch Belle a few feet from me. "What happened to her dad?" He's quiet, trying not to let Belle hear. I see her ears perk, probably so she knows how to play it. I've been thinking about adding him to the group. He's nice and seems harmless. He hasn't tried to hurt or steal anything from either of us. As I go to answer, a walker appears.

"Got it!" Belle says over her shoulder before advancing on the small walker with her knife. I pull one of my throwing knives and ready myself, in case she can't do it. She takes it down faster then you can blink. I smile as I grip the knife in my hand. I feel a vibration in my bag, making me shiver a bit. It's the walkie. We advance on a house and I take this as my opportunity to check in.

"Belle and I will go inside. You check the perimeter and come in when it's clear." He nods as we walk in.

"What's going on? We've been taking perimeter the whole time." I smile down at her.

"It's the group." She nods as we walk to the farthest room. She stands by the door as I pull it out. I turn it up and hold the button down. "Hello? This is Madison, what's wrong?"

"Where the hell are ye?" Daryl's voice rings through.

"Looking. We've got this. You can look on the east side of the house to cover more ground. Meet us back there at sun down. We've got another survivor." I hear him grunt.

"Ye're lucky yer daughters cute." Belle walks to me and grabs the walkie.

"Love you!" The other end is dead for a second. Oh no, she scared him off.

"Love you too, Lizzy." I smile as she bounces with glee.

"Gotta go, bye!"

"Bye." I turn the walkie back down and put it up as we hear the door close. We finish the house before leaving. Hours pass and the sun starts to set.

"We better head back, it's getting dark." I nod as Blair looks to me for answers. We walk in silence most of the way to the house. Belle runs in the house, probably looking for Daryl. I turn to Blair.

"There's going to be a man in here. He's a good guy, don't hurt him." He furrows his eyebrows.

"I thought you were alone." I just shrug as we go in.

"We're with a group, I was just trying to see if you were capable of joining it." He nods and we go in, finding Daryl holding Belle.

"Look!" She exclaims, pulling at the beard that's slowly starting to form. He grunts, putting his walls up since there's a new addition to our small group.

"Blair, Daryl; Daryl, Blair." Blair sticks his hand out for Daryl, who just brushes against it and looks to me.

"Did ye find 'er?" I look down, telling him all he needs to know. He huffs before putting Belle down and walking away. I run out and stop at the end of the stairs.

"You can't look for her in the dark! You could hurt yourself!" He turns, anger evident in his face.

"And she won't?" I sigh, crossing my arms. He storms off before I get another word. I walk back in and walk upstairs, the two following me.

"We'll sleep now, look tomorrow, then go back to camp the day after." They nod as I slump onto a bed and throw my shoes off. Belle does the same before lying next to me. Blair throws his shoes off before laying on a twin bed next to ours.

The next day is quiet. We look for Sophia, but don't find her. There's not even any prints. If she were alive, we would have found something by now. Maybe it's time to face the facts. Once the sun sets, we go back to the house. We go back to our beds and lay down, watching as the candle slowly flickers away.

"You want me to stay on watch?" Blair asks from the next bed over. He's quiet so he doesn't wake Belle. I shake my head.

"No, I've got this. You get some rest because we're going to camp tomorrow." He nods before turning over. The rest of the night is just as quiet as yesterday, with the occasional walker slamming into a pole on the house, making a really loud noise. Once the suns up, Blair wakes up. He stretches before turning to me.

"Get a few hours, we don't have to leave early." I lay down with caution. Daryl should have been back by now. What if something happened? I keep my eyes closed, but don't fall asleep with my only thought on his safety. Snap out of it. He's fine. He's going to find Sophia and bring her back to Carol. Stop worrying. Once Belle wakes up, I do the same. We eat breakfast and pack up the few things we left around.

"When are we leaving?" Belle asks, jumping from her seat. I smile at her.

"We'll look a few more hours then head back, so make sure you have everything." She nods before zooming upstairs.

"You raised a good one." I smile.

"Thank you."

"Is Daryl her dad?" I choke on the water I was currently drinking and take a second to recover. He looks at me with wide eyes. "What?" I laugh a little.

"No, her dad is at our camp. Daryl's a, uh, good friend." He nods before getting up. I throw my bag on as Belle runs back down.

"Ready!" We look for a few hours, looking for anything. Once coming up with nothing, we start back to camp. "Can I lead the way?" I smile and nod. After about half an hour, the Greene's house comes in view.

"Welcome to our happy home." I smile as I extend my arms. Belle takes off towards the gate, yelling.

"Carl!" He looks up.

"Isabelle!" I smile as she practically jumps the fence to get to her cousin. I open the gate and let him through, closing it behind us. I look at the camp and notice one tent missing, Daryls'. I look around and spot it, a little ways from the group. What's he trying to do? Be the first one to get eaten? As we pass it, I notice he has a pit set up as well. I sigh and turn back to the group. He's thrown all of his walls back up. He knows Sophia's not coming back.

"Madison." I hear Rick breathe out as he wraps me in a hug. I hug him back, happy to be with my family again. Once we pull away, Glenn's fast to hug me, squeezing all the air from my lungs. I don't mind, though, I'm too happy right now. Once the hugs stop, Rick sends me a questioning glance. "Who's he?"

"This is Blair. He's been with Belle and me for the last few days, helping to look for Sophia." Rick looks down, sadness in his eyes. I look around the group, seeing all their eyes anywhere but mine. "What happened?" Before anyone answers, Isabelle jumps into my arms crying. I rub her back as she cries.

"Sophia's dead, they found her in the barn." My heart drops. What? I feel myself getting dizzy, but I try to play it off. I feel a hand on my back, stabling me. I turn and see Blair.

"A-are you serious?" He nods.

"We're about to have the funeral." That explains the gunshots we heard earlier. We were going to come back, but Sophia was more important. I nod and we all walk to where Otis had his funeral. Everyone says their goodbyes and throws a handful of dirt into the graves of the people we used to know.

Belle stays by my side the whole time. I noticed Carol wasn't here a while ago, Daryl told me it was because she doesn't see this form of her daughter as her daughter anymore. It breaks my heart to think about it, but if it were Belle, I would have to come. I couldn't just mope around the RV. Once it's over, everyone goes their own ways. Belle hold my hand with her left hand, while holding Carl's with her right.

"I'm going to go with dad. He was the one who had to shoot her." My eyes widen. Rick must be in so much pain right now, he searched everywhere for that little girl.

"We'll go with you." Carl beams at this and nods fast. We walk over there and the kids fly into Ricks tent to play. I walk to the side of the tent and find Rick.

"Hey Mads." He says with a forced smile. I try my best to give him a genuine one before opening my arms.

"Come on." I don't even finish before he's launched himself at me, silently sobbing on my shoulder. I rub his back as he cries, letting him know I'm here. "It's not your fault, you tried your best." He sniffles.

"My best wasn't good enough." I nod a little.

"None of our bests was enough to find her." It's quiet for a minute. He stops crying and lifts himself from my shoulder, wiping his tears away. "We have to go on, for Sophia." He nods.

"For Sophia." He whispers. Maggie rushes out of the house and runs to where Rick and I are.

"Have y'all seen daddy? He's not in the house and no ones seen him around in a while." Maggie says fast. Rick and I shake our heads. "Oh on." She whispers.

"What?" Rick and I ask in unison, taking a step closer.

"No, no, no." She keeps whispering as she runs her hands through her hair.

"Maggie, what is it?" I ask, grabbing her hands.

"I know where he is."