Sophia...come back..

They hit the highway and leave Atlanta behind them. They drive for a couple of hours, trading stories, cleaning the guns, anything to keep themselves busy. They drive until they hit a car pile; hundreds of cars left on the road, doors thrown open, from where the people had abandoned them trying to get away from the Walkers. Unable to get through and with the RV broken down again, they scatter and look for anything of value.

Carol finds some nice clothes that she thinks might be her size, her minute smile disappearing when she sees the look Lori gives her. An empty first aid kit that she pulls out of the glove box in hand, Lori places it on the roof of the car, turning around with her hands on her hips.

"Ed would never let me wear clothes this nice." The Omega tries to explain her actions to the Beta woman as she folds the three-dollar Wal-Mart t-shirt and puts it back where she found it; like she was scared to be punished for looking at something her Alpha hadn't said she could. Typical of a Traditionally born Omega to act. Looking at the pups though, "We'll need clothes."

Lori places a pitying hand on her shoulder before moving onto another car.

"Sophia don't wander off to far, always in eyesight, ok?" Carol reminds her daughter.

"You too, Carl. Stay where Carol... or I can see you." Lori adds like it was an afterthought.

A Walker herd had followed the group, causing them to lose Sophia in the woods. Rick goes after her, and two Walkers, while the rest of the Packs stays on the highway, praying for a miracle, all of them trying to drown out the sounds of Carol's sobbing.

"You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asks as he stands up, water from the creek weighing his feet down as moves towards Rick.

"I left her right here. Walkers followed me that way, up the creek." Rick shakes, as he points in one direction.

"Without a paddle; seems we've landed there too."

"By the time I got back here, she was gone. Figured she had headed back to the group. I told her go that way." Rick points to the sloped bed creek where Glenn was standing guard. "I told her to keep the sun on her left shoulder."

"Hey short round, why don't you step off to one side? You're mucking up the trail." Daryl huffs, adjusting his grip on the crossbow and observing the ground for tracks.

Stiles moves quickly with a few apologies, "Sorry Daryl, didn't mean to be in the way."

"You're good, man."

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane scuffs, his relaxed stance indicating that he found this to be a waste of time.

"Shane, she understood me fine." Rick growls loudly at the other Alpha. Stiles steps forward, ready to defend his Alpha when Shane straightens up, teeth bared at the Prime in open challenge.

"The kid's tired and scared man. How much do you think of what you said stuck, really?" Shane scowls when Daryl turns to the two Alphas, his hand on the crossbow.

"I got clear prints right here. Looks like she understood just fine, she headed back to the highway. Looks like she knew her right from her left just fine too." The four men follow the trail until it split away.

Stiles and Shane head back to the highway, while Rick and Daryl continue to track Sophia. Shane keeps the group busy with chores; raiding cars and moving the ones near the RV so they can turn around later. Daryl leads Rick further into the woods, following a trail only the alpha can see. When they come across a Walker that had fed recently, they gut it, looking for any sign it had been near the Omega pup. Once it starts getting dark, the two men make their way back to the highway. Carol starts sobbing as soon as she sees them without her daughter, blaming Rick for leaving her alone. The Alpha walks away whimpering in the back of his throat, guilt and shame clouding his smell. His Pack and Daryl want to comfort him, and at the same time want to strangle Lori.

As soon as Rick walks away from the group, Lori leave Andrea to comfort the distressed Omega and follow the grieving Alpha. "Rick! We need to talk about Carl and Shane. As well as your little "Pack". You know, the one your WIFE.... and son aren't a part of."

"No. You had the divorce papers already filled out, and that Mark on your shoulder means Shane has claimed you as his Mate. We are done, we raise Carl together but that's it. And our pup is part of my Pack. What do you want to talk about?" Rick glares at the Beta.

"Rick...."

"Glenn, can you go get Shane, Carl and the Pack. We're going to settle something right now."

"No need." Shane comes over with the others, Daryl, Carl and T - Dog stand by Glenn, "What's going on?"

"Lori said we needed to talk about you and our pup. Let's talk." Carl walks over to his dad, standing in front of him, facing Lori and Shane.

"Rick this isn't funny anymore. You're my husband and Carl is our son, not a puppy. And our son isn't listening to me anymore." Lori crosses her arms over her chest, ignoring the growls of surprise from everyone, including Shane. Calling out the pup in front of a group of Alphas and Omegas was shameful, like a piss on their culture. And Carl was old enough to understand just how much his mother, in that one sentence, didn't care about their family.

Rick rumbles loudly and holds out his hand. "There's no ring on my finger anymore! You had the papers ready not long after I slipped into a coma and Shane's Mark is on your shoulder, not mine. But now that you're not getting your way, you want to ignore all that? Fuck you!"

Carl runs towards Stiles, hiding his face in the Omega's stomach. When the man feels his shirt getting damp with tears, he starts purring softly. Glenn and T - Dog pull the two down on the tailgate of a nearby truck, standing in front of them on instinct. Stiles pulls his brother into his lap and wraps the red jacket around him. Carl pulls it tighter around himself with rumbled thanks.

"I know you don't want to hear this pup but-"

"They need to get it out of their systems." Carl sniffles, "Dad never yelled at mom, not even when she hit him or threw things. He did it once when I was little, because mom didn't know where I was. She went to the store without me and I went to my babysitter's house next door to get something to eat. A few hours later, we could hear dad screaming at mom. Mama told everyone that dad was an Alpha with a temper and they almost lost me to Social Services. Dad never fights with mom anymore and she hates it."

"You wanted me to fight back, fine! I'm fighting back cause you're not going to blame our son just because YOU don't want to watch him!" Rick yells at Lori. Stiles focuses on taking care of Carl, because the pup was right. Their dad needs to get this out. "Just because you're a Traditional Beta doesn't mean Carl is going to be one. Stop acting like everyone else is beneath you! It wasn't Carol's job to take care of the pups when we lost Carl at the CDC, and yes I'm calling you out on your bullshit because I was married to you for a long time and I knew that look you gave her when she came out without him."

Rick laid into her about everything he had noticed since the quarry. The rest of the group comes over having heard the commotion. Carol wanders over to Rick's Pack and jumps up next to stiles and Carl. The pup shifts in between them and leans on the woman, allowing her to seek comfort in caring for a cub. The Omega woman lays her head on stile shoulder, seeking peace in his soft, gritty purrs. They stay quiet as everyone watches the Prime scold the Beta woman, who frequently tried to talk over the Alpha, and was put back in her place with a slightly raise in Rick's voice and hardness in his tone. He yelled at her about Before, the beating he took at her hands to keep his pup, the inability to talk about anything besides the Beta was of life, like their bonding ceremony and Mating. He talked about the way his family withdrew from him because of her, all the friends he lost that were too Alpha or Omega to keep around Carl because she said it wasn't safe. Rick laid all their garbage from Before, for the Packs to see. Then he started in about after his coma; finding the papers, the way she acted when he returned to camp. At this point he was going after Shane too, laying out all his feelings about the betrayal they did, and then blamed him for.

By the time he was done, panting and dehydrated, it was dark and Carl was asleep. Dale suggest that they move closer to the RV, and everyone else could get to sleep if they were done. The group walk back to the cars, silent, Glenn giving Rick some water to help his throat. Stiles carries Carl in and lays him down on the bench with a throw pillow and sheet.

"Thank you, stiles, for staying with me." The pup whispers.

" always baby brother..." stiles said as the fight continues outside.

Daryl walk into the smell of distress and discomfort...

And walks back outside.

The voices raise again, and Carl continues to cry. Daryl looks out the window and notices two Walkers almost to the RV. Daryl passes Carl to Carol and makes his way over, throwing the window open and whistling. Muffled cries from the two behind him, plus the scent of distressed pup and Omega was enough to send the hunter into protection overload. Once the Walkers were dead, Daryl took one look at the others and cut the head of one of the Walkers off and stabbed it again, pulling the head back in with him. As soon as Carl starts chirping, Daryl snaps. Slamming the window closed, he tells Carol to stay with him and goes outside. Being careful not to slam the door too, Daryl throws the head at Rick. Shane covers Lori's mouth so her screaming wouldn't draw attention, at the same time though he was breathing heavily, his fear keeping his jaw clenched shut. Rick stumbles back with a curse, ready to lay one in on Daryl, until he saw the Omega's face.

"The next time ya'll wanna have it out with each other," Daryl hisses, "don't fucking do it when, one: we're in the open, so anything can hear you. Two; you're arguing so loud ya can't hear the Walkers on the other side of the R.V. Three; you're next to people trying to sleep. And four; you're next to an open window so your pup has heard every fucking word out of your mouths and thinks it's his fault y'all're fighting! And you're doing it so loud ya can't even hear him chirping for ya."

Daryl's voice never raises above a murmur, but each word cut into them with intent. The second the archer stops talking, Carl's chirping deafens them. Rick whines. 'How could he have not heard him?'

"If ya'll're done comparing knots like fledglings," the Alphas flinch, even Glenn who just happened to come up to them with T-Dog after changing the bandages on his arm, from when he cut it on a car door hiding from Walkers, "Rick and his Pack need to get in there and have a bit of bonding time. The two of you can do it later once he's done being scented."

Lori gets up in Daryl's face, "I'm his mother and I will go in there if I feel like it. I'm not going to let some Beta, redneck trailer trash, tell me what I can and can't do with my CHILD!" She tries to push past him to get in, but Carl's voice stops her in her tracks. The pup was standing in the doorway of the RV with Carol.

"I want dad." He sniffles, "I want dad and his Pack, and Daryl." Carl chirps again and Rick has him in his arms, scenting him, in seconds. Rick and his Pack pile into the RV and Shane goes to do a perimeter check while Lori leaves in tears to go sit with Andrea in the jeep. Daryl doesn't move until Carl chirps again; people will never change it seems.

Stiles watch his family sleep his father and brother curled up together as the pack laid around the on the floor in a puppy pile it reminded him as the time scott and derek would call for a bonding night and they would send all night in a puppy pile and watch tv... Daryl was close to carl and sophia as they sleep stile was on the couch he couldn't sleep....

Tomorrow a group of people would be going out to look for Sophia...

.......

It was a deer, a fucking deer! Carl was shot over a fucking deer!

The Flock had gone to search for Sophia at first light. Dale and T - Dog stayed behind in case she showed up back on the highway, and everyone else had gone looking. They use the kit Carl found since silent weapons would be better than loud guns that could pull a herd down on them. Daryl makes sure Lori gets the hatchet she scolded Carl for, with a little smirk. As they head out Daryl turns to the pup, holding one of the knives from the kit.

"This was a good find kid, they were well taken care of." Carl preens under Daryl's praise, "Next time though, have someone with you when yer gettin 'em. You got lucky the guy was only dead and not a Walker. Keep an eye out for anything else, k?"

"Yes sir!" Carl smiles and runs up to stiles, asking how to clean them. The Alpha could hear Rick's approving purrs and feel Lori's glare on his back.

Carl stayed close to Rick and Lori, but only seemed to want to talk to Daryl and stiles, or comfort Carol with all the things they we going to do when Sophia got back or talk about the project he had done for class on the Grand Canyon.

Lori scuffs every time he talked to someone else but when she herded him back to her, he wouldn't say anything. They found an old camp where someone had opted out and got a new gun from it. They found a church with a timed bell and three Walkers. Daryl led the group back to the highway with some reluctance, while Shane, stiles, Rick and Carl search for another hour. Rick tries to give Lori a gun, so the group had one and she was the only one who knew how to shoot even though she didn't like to. Daryl ends up giving her the one he found when she refuses to take Rick's, nodding at his Alpha -cause if he had to have one, Rick was the better option- and they split up, Andrea scowling and throwing dirty looks at everyone about not being able to have her gun on her, even though she didn't know how to shoot.

.......

When Carl goes down Rick screams and falls to his knees, putting pressure on the wound. stiles shift and goes into protection mode, standing over them, shane has his gun drawn, waiting for the son of a bitch to show himself. An older, heavyset male Beta comes out of the woods, panting, a rifle in hand. He freezes when he sees the two Alphas with a downed pup and puts two and two together when he sees the deer in between them.

"Oh God, did I kill him? I'm so sorry I-"

"How many? How many of you are there?!"

"Just me, it's just me." Rick growls loudly at the two; at the man for shooting his pup and at Shane for almost killing the man who might be able to help. "I know someone who can help! My Alpha, he has a degree in-"

"Take us there NOW!"

"What's your name?!" Rick's eyes were almost black with rage, the only thing keeping him from going into Rut was the bleeding boy in his arms.

Shane places himself between the two, knowing that if it came to it, he would have to take Carl to get help while Rick murdered the man in cold blood. "Tell 'em yer name." stiles Growles his warning

"Otis."

"You better pry he makes it, because I won't be able to defend you from my Alpha if something happens to him." They run. They sprint through the woods and open fields, Rick carrying Carl and checking his breathing every step. When Otis starts slowing down, Shane attacks him, "HEY keep moving shit head! Come on! You move!"

"How far?! HOW FAR?!" Rick roars.

"Another half mile, that way. HERSHEL! Ask for Hershel!" Rick and stiles takes off, leaving Shane to deal with the Beta. He panics, readjusting his grip, feeling his son's blood soak into his clothes. He hears someone call for their dad. Carl? No, still unconscious. A woman. Rick rumbles softly as a Pack comes out of the house, the Alpha was an older man like Dale, but not the Elder.

"Was he bit?" The man calls out. Rick runs to the porch steps.

"Shot. By yer man Otis-"

"Otis?!"

"-please help him. Help my pup please!"

"Bring him in, I need my full kit!" The group goes into a flurry of movement, but Rick doesn't notice anything, continuing to plead for help. He lays Carl on the bed when told and asks if he's alive. Hershel's response was asking for a pillowcase. Rick gets pushed to the side, waiting as they set up an IV. When the older Alpha asks for his name, he stutters, "R-r-rick-Rick. I'm Rick."

"Rick we are going to do everything we can, but you need to give us some room. Now." Rick walks out of the room and steps out onto the porch just as Shane and Otis reach it. Rick starts sobbing and whining loudly, needing his brother to comfort him.

"He alive? He still alive?" Otis pants. Rick wipes the sweat his forehead, and it gets worse, wetter. Carl's blood.

Shane pulls Rick into his Scent glands, and the man breaks down. Shane wipes the blood from his face and hands him the bandana to wipe away the blood. They follow Rick back inside and into the room Carl was in.

"Ya know his blood type?"

"A-Positive. Same as mine."

"I'm going to need you then." Hershel turns to Otis. "What happened?"

While Otis explains, Rick turns to Shane. "The others don't know. Lori-his

mother doesn't know."

If was a few hours later, while Shane and Rick were talking that Carl wakes up needing blood. The oldest daughter, an Alpha named Maggie, sends them back in. Carl was screaming and crying while Hershel tries to get the bullet fragments out of his wound. Rick's eyes never leave the boy as he sits down and gets ready to give blood. Hershel has Shane hold the pup down as he calls for his father. The longer it goes on the more agitated Rick gets, until he snaps, growling loudly at the threat to his pup, eyes black.

"Rick! If I stop, he dies! Do you want him to live?!" Hershel snarls. Rick lets Patricia, Otis's Beta wife, hook him up to an IV. When Carl stops crying, Hershel calms both Alphas by saying that the pup had just passed out from pain but would be fine. They patch him up after the first piece is dug out, and then send Shane and Otis to the high school that a FEMA camp was set up at. Maggie goes to get Lori and the others

stiles was pacing the ground outside to on edge to shift back he, he wanted to rip into something, Liam and Peter had left the pack and group Liam said he had to do something and peter didn't want anything to do with him he sat down on his hunches when the door open again.

......

Daryl was leading the group back to the highway, everyone was on edge after the gunshot they heard. Andrea had wondered a little way away from the others when she was attacked by a Walker. The others rush to her, but Maggie was faster.

She hits the Walker with a bat and sends it flying. She turns around and addresses the woman on the ground. "Lori Grimes?"

"What the hell?" Daryl stops next to the woman on the horse. Lori answers her.

"Rick sent me, you've got to come with me. Now. Carl was shot, but he's still alive. You need to come now, I will explain on the way." Lori shoves the backpack off and gets on the horse. Daryl grabs the hat off Glenn's head and the rag out of his pocket, he hands it to the woman.

"If Carl's been shot then Rick's going to need these. The smell of his Pack will keep him calm enough to deal with once the shock wears off. Glenn's hat, T - Dog's do rag." The Alpha, because she was definitely an Alpha, smiles and thanks Daryl before turning to Glenn and giving him instructions on how to get to the farm, before taking off. Daryl shoots the Walker and the group moves on.

They meet back up with Dale and T - Dog and told them about the run in with the Alpha on a horse and Carl being shot. They decide to leave to go to the farm and leave some supplies incase Sophia returns. Daryl decides to stay the night on the road, give Sophia a chance to show.

"Glenn you have to go, reconnect with our people." Dale waves away any complaints from the Alpha, "We need to get T - Dog there. The cut is getting worse, he has a serious blood infection and if we don't get him help, he will die."

"Why'd ya'll not say anything." Daryl huffs, throwing a rag at Dale, "Keep your oily rags off my brother's bike. Besides I got Merle's stash."

He puts a bag of pills on the truck hood and starts digging around. Shane's Pack gathers in amazement and disbelief. Why would Daryl keep this medicine a secret? Then he starts naming stuff off, "Crystal, X. Don't need that."

Drugs, it was drugs. Andrea huffs, of course Daryl had his brother's drugs. The alpha tosses a bottle to Glenn. "Got some kickass painkillers."

He pulls out another bottle and hands it to Dale. "Oxycline. That first class, not that generic shit. Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl shrugs and takes the bag back to the bike.

"What so you're just going to hide your drugs to get high later unless we have another emergency?" Andrea growls at the Beta, "Why was it that none of us knew about any of this, huh?"

The Beta woman tries to grab the bag from Daryl's hand, but he snarls thrusting the bag behind him. Glenn takes it from him and backs away, towards the bike. When Andrea tries to follow, the Alpha cuts her off, teeth bared.

"What is your problem?!"

"The people whose two scene I give a shit about knew; Rick's Pack and Merle. The rest of you can't be trusted, but T - Dog needs them and you were just in the right place at the right time. Fuck you, blondie." Daryl growls.

"Daryl, why can't we be trusted?" Carol asks.

"Cause he's-"

"Shane." Daryl speaks over the Beta woman, "You're part on Shane's Pack, and he's a Traditional Alpha." Daryl walks to Glenn and locks the pills in the seat of the motorcycle.

"I catch anyone but Glenn and T - Dog in here and there will be hell to pay."

.....

Carl was still asleep, and no one had gotten back yet, so Rick went to sit on the porch and wait. Hershel follows him out to talk.

"This place is beautiful." Rick looks out at the fields, watching the sun set.

"It's been in my family for some 160 years, passed down to each Alpha heir." The old Alpha replies. Rick nods; a Traditional Pack then. An old one too.

"It looks like it got by untouched. You're lucky."

"We lost friends, neighbors. It took my wife and stepson." The man's shoulder showed a faded Mark, but he had said wife. The situation was either like his and Lori's or the second wife was a Beta. Still, Rick apologies for his loss. "God spared my daughters and I'm grateful for that. This Pack here, we're all we got left, just hanging on until there's a cure. This- this will pass as all plagues do. It's just nature's way of correcting itself, restoring balance."

"I wish I had the same strength in belief that you do." They watch together as Maggie comes up with Lori. The Beta woman jumps down, crying and hands shaking when she goes to put her hand over the bloody shirt Rick was wearing. The Alpha leads he into the room where their son laid, Lori pushing passed him to cradle her son's head in her hands.

"Mama's here baby." She sniffles, "Mama's here." She curls up next to him and prays he wakes up. Maggie walks in quietly, handing Rick the Pack things and leaving again. Lori grabs his hand, wanting comfort, and only that. So, Rick gives in, holding her hand and smelling his Pack to ground him. Glenn from his hat, T - Dog from his bandana.... and Daryl, from a chain with a rabbit's foot. His Pack was with him, they prayed for their pup with him.

Stiles was finally let in when the greens pack decided that he wasn't shift back any time soon. He follow the alpha female to the room his little brother was in as he step in lori growls at Stiles...

"Why is he here" lori sneer.

" his carl older brother"Rick growls.

" Half brother.... for a bitch you knock up" lori said...

Causing stiles growl a warning...

He follow a beta woman name clary from the room she wasnt part of the greens family but they had taken her and jace in as pack...

Stiles walk out the door and laid by the porch.