10 chapter 10 : Saving Sophia
They had over 200km to go to Fort Benning so they set out and Cal was still refilling his water or fuel reserves whenever the opportunity presented itself.
He, Reyes and Kim had made an agreement, he told them that they could leave when they recovered and the two expressed the wish to stay with him, Cal agreed but on the condition that they follow his orders and work.
They were soldiers so he planned to train them to fight against walkers when they arrived in more stable areas.
The convoy continued on its way to a highway clogged with abandoned vehicles; they were still able to make their way through.
Kim, who himself drove the army's heavy trucks, was seriously impressed by the perfect mastery of King's driving by Calvin, who controlled the truck's movements down to the millimeter.
However, they had to stop because Dale's engine took a knock. As Dale began to introduce Glenn to mechanics , Cal and everyone else went down to start inspecting the abandoned vehicles.
Reyes and Kim vomited while looking at the bodies in the cars and looked for clothes or other things for them.
Cal saw another van and opened it to discover that it was actually carrying large cans of mineral water and he began loading them into King's hold as the others came to drink.
Suddenly, as Reyes showed them the things she had found in the converted truck where they were having a beer, Cal felt something and asked her to be quiet before seeing through the window downstairs a horde of walkers who was passing.
Luckily for them, King's door was closed and fresh air was coming in through an opening on the back roof.
Reyes and Kim immediately ducked down when they saw the walkers downstairs but Cal reassured them because the windows were tinted and even humans from outside couldn't see them.
He just asked them to not make any noise and relax while waiting, he looked ahead and saw several people from the convoy hiding under the vehicles so he hoped none of them would act stupid before going. lie down on his bed and start a nap.
Later, someone knocked and he woke up to Christina apologizing for sleeping with him. She didn't know why but she felt safer being around him.
The person outside knocked again and Cal came out to find Daryl at the door.
"We have a problem" Daryl said and Calvin followed him near the others where he saw Carol in tears.
He was briefed on the situation and apparently Carol's daughter Sophia had disappeared into the forest.
She had been surprised by two of the last walkers in the Horde and had run towards the forest to escape.
Rick told Carol how he went to rescue Sophia but she disappeared after Rick dragged the two walkers away to kill them.
Daryl and Rick had just returned from the forest where they tried to track her but they lost track of her.
Now it was getting dark and it was too dangerous to search in the forest. Carol started blaming Rick for leaving his daughter alone in the forest and Cal didn't let it go.
Cal: Because you would have wanted him to let the two walkers eat your daughter ?! She only had two things to do while he put himself in danger for her and that was to wait for him or come back following his directions. What were you doing when Rick went to save your own daughter for you?
Carol:…
Lori: Enough, she was just a child.
Cal: I didn't ask you that question. Do you think this world is still the same to spit out a "She was only a child" ?! He asked her for simple things though. The other bitch doesn't even have enough balls to protect her child herself but comes to piss Rick off because her stupid daughter got lost in the forest. I'm hallucinating.
Shane: He's rough but he's right Carol, Rick saved Sophia's life but we don't know what she did.
Carol started crying and Cal looked at her with disdain before walking off towards his truck.
Daryl: Are you serious?! We have a serious problem here dude ...
Calvin ignored him and left to carry his equipment, Reyes asked him what was going on and he told him that a child was lost in the forest and he was going to look for her.
Reyes: I want to come…please
Cal: I'll go much faster alone.
Reyes: I'm not going to slow you down. Let me help you please.
Cal: You do what I tell you and when I tell you. Understood ?
Reyes: Understood.
He gave him a silenced P90, a dagger and some protection. Christina was seriously shocked by Cal's arsenal as he only took a silenced pistol, his katana and a backpack.
They explained the situation to Kim who was still far too weak to follow them, they agreed that he would stay there until they returned, it was a direct order from Cal and he closed the door leaving with the key for Kim's safety who fell asleep.
The others saw Cal and Christina coming out with weapons and they were intrigued.
Rick: Calvin?
Cal: We're going to get the little one.
Shane: It's getting dark, it's too dangerous.
Daryl: I'll come with you, I could spot clues to his passage .
Cal: You already lost his leads, remember?
Dawn: Lincoln, let me come with you.
Cal: Damn, let me go! Rest up and resume the search tomorrow if Reyes and I haven't returned with the kid.
"Thank you…thank you so much" Carol said but Cal looked at her with some contempt before leaving.
They went deep into the forest as Cal completely surrendered to his intuition to follow the girl.
They searched for almost three hours for the child until they arrived near the crevice of a waterfall where Cal went down because he saw something, it was Sophia's doll and they heard noises.
Reyes: I hear noises.
"Me too" Cal said before running back up the slope with the agility of a cat and they ran towards a small house in the distance where they heard the bright cries of a girl and they moved quickly to see Sophia running limping with 6 walkers behind her and they were catching up to her.
Cal took out his pistol and shot the walker closest to her in the head, taking out three other walkers when Sophia exhaustedly entered the old house.
Cal killed the two last walkers and went into the house to call Sophia and found her when she was already upstairs and hiding under a bed.
She saw Cal approaching and she started to whimper sobbing from fear but he called her softly and bent down so she could see his face, the girl recognized him, crawled away crying and Cal lit a lamp in the room.
« It's okay, it's over now. The monsters are dead. » he reassured her and the poor child came crying in his arms but Cal immediately noticed the intense fever she had.
He was alerted and looked to see if she had a bite mark on her and saw nothing except a very large sprain on her right ankle and several gashes on her body.
Cal: Did you do this to yourself by falling into a pit near a waterfall?
"Yes…where is my mom ? I'm scared…" she said in tears.
Cal: Your mom is waiting for you with the group, everything is fine and we will take you back to her. All right ?
Sophia: (nods)
He turned around to see Christina looking at them with watery eyes because of the girl.
Cal: Reyes, lock the bottom door please, there must be a back door too.
Reyes: I have them both locked already.
Cal thanked her and looked at Sophia again.
" Are you hungry ?" he asked her and she quickly nodded. Cal brought out food, water and medical supplies for Sophia who started eating.
Cal: Reyes, there's an antibiotic and some other stuff. Please treat her sprain, this little girl escaped death for hours with hunger in her stomach and she fell into this crevasse to pull it back up with her ankle in this state to continue running.
"You're the bravest little girl in the world...will you let me fix your ankle?" she asked Sophia who nodded.
Cal: It was not courage but terror that used these resources deep within her. If he hadn't been found then one of them would have caught her. The cries I heard upon entering here would not have escaped the ears of a walker.
Reyes: Still, that's a feat that even some adults couldn't replicate.
Cal: That's right. Whether it was out of courage as you say or out of terror, this little one nevertheless has physical and mental resources made for survival.
Reyes: His fever is really high.
Cal: Do what you can. (To Sophia) Little one, are you tired? You are sleepy ?
She nodded and Cal rummaged through a closet for some girls' clothes, apparently it was a girl's room too. He threw the clothes on the bed towards Christina.
Cal: Change her clothes, I can smell the mud and urine on the ones she's wearing and they're wet.
He went down and stood guard in the dark, cold while Reyes held Sophia tightly in a blanket as the child shivered. Sophia could not be moved and her fever lasted three days during which Cal hunted to feed them.
