The Hoard On the Road.

After leaving the CDC we drove down the road aways, out of Atlanta, before coming to a stop by the side of the road to discuss our next move.

Everyone was in shock, I could tell, they thought this would be the answer to all of their problems but it wasn't. They all looked to Rick for an answer, and he obliged.

It seems that most of the group have accepted Rick as the new leader, most likely due to his traits.

I just went along with his thoughts of going to Fort Benning, due to the fact that I knew we wouldn't make it there.

This was the part of the show where Sophia goes missing In the woods for like two weeks.

I didn't intend on letting that happen, if it even would. I mean she seemed to be a bit older than her TV show and comic book counterparts, so I doubted she would run off into the woods away from the people who could provide protection for her.

Once everyone understood what was happening we began to drive slowly down the highway.

We needed some gasoline to fuel the cars and so we went to siphon some from the remaining ones on the road to Atlanta.

It was here that we decided to downsize.

Rick decided to leave a car and Shane's buggy behind and the occupants of the vehicle poured into the RV.

Andrea, Amy, Morgan and Duane were settled in the van with me while everyone else squeezed into the RV and one other car which Rick was driving.

The trip was surprisingly smooth for about half an hour after that. It was then that we hit a large wreck which blocked the road.

We inched our way through for all of ten minutes before we were stopped again, this time by Dale's shoddy patchwork on his radiator hose.

The pipe burst, hissing steam out and forcing the caravan to stop, dead in its tracks.

Everyone piled out of the vehicles as Dale threw his hat on the ground in a fit of rage before explaining the situation.

"I said it a million times! There's no hope for this at all." He said before looking around at the myriad of vehicles around them in realisation.

"If you can't find parts to fix it here, you're not looking hard enough." Shane commented as he looked out over the road ahead.

"Can find a whole bunch of things." Daryl chimed in as he rooted through the trunk of a station wagon.

"Siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said as he walked off with a canister and a hose.

Everyone started to fan out between the cars in search of food and water, as well as anything useful.

"This is a graveyard." Lori said in an almost disgusted tone.

I interjected before she could comment anymore, "Or it's a death trap waiting for a victim. Just keep your eyes peeled for any Walkers and stay within shooting distance."

This successfully diverted everyone's attention away from Lori's previous comment as the group readied their weapons and began to search the cars around them.

Most of the group were carrying pistols at this point and had been briefed by Shane and Rick prior to setting off, though I was honestly against arming everyone with guns.

Guns had a tendency to malfunction in tense situations, they would 'accidentally' go off or jam up and cause someone's demise.

Dale and Rick kept a lookout at the RV while Glenn prepped it for a fitting.

Daryl and T-Dog went to siphon some fuel from the surrounding cars and everyone else fanned out to search the area.

I was a little torn on what to do at this point. I know that in the show Sophia ran off and everyone had to go looking for her, but I didn't think that would happen this time as she was older than her TV counterpart and arguably more mature.

I was pretty sure that she wouldn't run off into the woods.

We all searched through the cars and found quite a large amount of food, Shane even found a large truck full of water.

Glenn had managed to find a hose that would fit the RV and everything was looking good.

I spent about twenty minutes walking down the road, my eye on my map to keep watch as I looted cars.

I found a whole lot of things: Good clothes, dry food, lighter fluid, matches, a set of pots and pans, some gold jewellery and even a box of assorted drugs, there was even some acetaminophen and codeine which were some pretty powerful painkillers.

I had copied as much of this as I could before placing everything I had found in a mountaineering bag and walking back towards where Carol, Lori and Amy were.

I headed back as I had picked up the first few dregs of the hoard creeping towards us.

I made my way towards the women to give myself some peace of mind, I didn't know if this hoard had any specialised zombies after all.

It was at this point that Rick came running to us.

"Lori! Get under the cars." He whisper-shouted as he slid under one himself.

I followed suit and slid under a pickup truck not too far away from where Carl and Sophia had just hidden themselves.

I was in sight of them both and had my pistol ready for if the need arises.

I watched and waited as the hoard started to pass us by, bumping into the cars around them as they stumbled along.

I looked across from me and saw Amy under the car beside mine, I gave her a reassuring smile before focusing my senses on the walkers around me and watching my map.

I could see a walker in the RV, most likely fighting with Andrea.

I honestly hoped she would be okay as I didn't want Amy to be hurt unnecessarily.

The hoard was around 80 head thick and was shambling forward at a regular pace.

It wasn't long before the majority of the Walkers had passed us by.

I watched as the last ones were following along behind the rest.

However as they passed me by, Sophia did something stupid. She tried to leave.

I honestly thought she wouldn't do that but human stupidity apparently won against my judgement.

Rick ran off after her and I slid out to follow, or rather I tried to.

The strap of my rifle got caught on the undercarriage of the pickup.

I cursed the plot for a moment before struggling to unhook the rifle and finally getting out from under the vehicle.

I looked around to try and find the direction they went in before mentally slapping myself and glancing over my map.

I saw them running off towards the south being pursued by two walkers, however I also saw something else that made me turn in the direction the hoard came from.

When I turned my head I found two zombies a few metres away from me.

I raised my gun before mentally slapping myself again and pulling my bow out.

I let an arrow loose into the skull of the leftmost one before stringing another arrow and shooting it at the one on the right.

The first arrow hit it's mark just fine, the problem came with the second one.

I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment as my arrow fell to the ground after hitting the zombie in the head.

I strung another arrow and let it loose at the zombie's skull, but that one fell to the floor as well.

The Walker was getting closer to Lori and Carol who were embracing in the middle of the road as Carol sobbed over her daughter.

It was then that I decided to appraise the walker as something was obviously different about it.

/Species: Zombie(Lvl3)

Status: Walker Variant (Defence)

Skills: Heavy Hands(lvl1), Strong skin(lvl2)

Traits: Undead/

/Strong Skin - Level 2 - Gives the user stronger than normal skin. Able to resist small arms ammunition at this point (Skill is passive and so doesn't have energy consumption)/

I widened my eyes as I looked at the skill, it was pretty overpowered for only a level three zombie.

The walker was very close now and I couldn't back away anymore.

I quickly copied its skill before stringing another arrow to my bow and activating the skill I had gained from Daryl, Expert Marksmanship.

As I did my surroundings blurred as I focused on my target.

I felt the power in my arms grow as it was slowly transferred into the bow, the tip of the arrow even glowed slightly.

This all happened in the blink of an eye as the level three zombie moved to less than a foot away before I let the arrow loose.

It landed instantly with a dull thud causing the corpse to fall to the floor.

I checked it was actually dead before turning to the direction Sophia ran in.

I glanced at my map as I shot off into the woods running.

It hadn't taken long to dispatch the walker but it was long enough for Rick and Sophia to have left the area of my map.

I followed my enhanced senses and headed in the direction of the water I could here in the distance.

As I neared it however, I was shocked to see no one there.

It was then that Daryl jogged up behind me with Shane in tow.

"Track stops here, she must've jumped down." Daryl says as he gestures to the water below.

"Rick must've picked her up, the tracks are much deeper before he jumps off." I chimed in before hopping into the shallow waters of the stream below and wading across.

I was keeping an eye on my map as I moved up stream, that was when some one showed up running towards us from the opposite bank.

I looked up in that direction which startled Daryl who was following close behind.

I put an arrow to my bow and raised it (for show of course since I could hear that it was just Rick) before Rick stumbled back into sight and I lowered my weapon.

"Where's the girl?" Shane asked when he saw she wasn't with him.

"I left her right here." he said with a look of bewilderment on his face "Right there under the tree." He continued before pointing his blood-covered hand up the opposite bank where the stream was the widest.

Shane and Rick proceeded to argue over the latter's decision for a minute before I stopped them.

"Guys! Save your rowing for later. For now we have a girl to find." I near-shouted at them incredulously.

This seemed to get their attention though as they stopped the quarrelling and allowed me to speak which honestly surprised me a little bit I continued.

"Alright since me and Daryl have tracking capabilities, we will look for Sophia. You two go back to the group and ensure their safety until we get back. Make sure to keep looting the cars, be ready for when we bring her back."

I gave my orders and everyone agreed to the division of labour before the two officers headed back to the stranded caravan.

Me and Daryl then proceeded to scour the river bank and follow some tracks which likely belonged to Sophia.

My Bestial Senses weren't quite good enough to differentiate senses just yet so I couldn't find her that way, I had to try and level that as soon as I could.

We traversed the forest for a few minutes before we noticed the trail leading off in the wrong direction.

We continued to follow for a good ten minutes, being sure not to lose the trail as we went, before we found a walker with a bloated stomach stumbling beside the trail.

*Whit-Whoo*

I whistled on the zombie's direction to get its attention making it turn into Daryl's bolt through its skull.

I proceeded to check under the walker's fingernails causing a strange look to appear on Daryl's face which provoked me to explain.

"Looking for signs of a struggle," I explained before checking its other hand "If it caught Sophia it would likely have skin under its nails, maybe flesh or hair in its teeth."

I proceeded to open the Walker's mouth which was extremely rancid, this revealed a chunk of flesh between its teeth.

I sighed before opening the walker up.

I know in the show the zombie had only eaten a rodent or something, but I had to be sure.

We proceeded to dissect the corpse in some kind of gross game of Operation before removing its stomach.

Daryl cut it open to reveal the remains of what appeared to be a woodchuck, causing a slight smile to bloom on my face.