Run, turn, shoot. Run, turn, shoot. That was my pattern. I was caught in the middle of Atlanta. A loud explosion earlier in day drew the walkers near us. We just so happened to be less than a mile from there, I was in a small clothing store, gathering supplies with my small group. Now we were running for our lives.
Run, turn, shoot.
"Lil! How many rounds ya got?" Mason asked me. I checked the clip of my Beretta.
"Four. You?"
"Same. Tay?"
"Six," she answered weakly. She wasn't in any condition to be doing this. A toddler attached to her waist, and her body was so frail she could barely stand. Even though, it was the middle of summer in Georgia, she was shivering.
"Liam!" Mason shouted to the man on my right. His face was covered in sweat, his black hair matted from wind and dirt, and his soft brown eyes were full of fear, even if he wouldn't admit it. Not to me, no to anyone else.
"One," he replied.
"Taylor give Liam your gun. Take Olivia to safety."
I knew it wasn't the best idea, but Taylor wasn't the best shot, and I didn't want Olivia to be stuck in this. Plus, we'd be right behind them-I hoped so anyway.
"Mason, what do we do?" I asked frantically. He ignored me and turned to Liam.
"Go hot wire a car," he commanded. "We'll cover you."
OoO
Everything was a blur. Somehow we made it out of the hellish city. I was shocked to say the least. I underestimated Our group. We were smarter than I thought, either that or the walkers were just a lot more stupid. Liam manged to hot wire an older looking station wagon in less than a minute. We drove down the seemingly empty highway, until we came across people. Actual people. They were standing by various cars.
As soon as they saw us pull up, they were on high alert. A dark-haired man aimed a shot-gun, one in a sheriff's hat aimed a python, and another dark-haired man aimed a cross-bow. I shared a look with Mason and Liam. We readied our guns, each one only contained one round, but hell that'd be enough to take out these three, if need be.
"Step out of the car carefully," the one in the sheriff's had said in an authoritative voice.
"In case you haven't noticed, officer, the world has seemingly come to an end. I don't think now's the best time to be giving out tickets," I laughed, hoping to calm the situation. Liam elbowed me. "Ow! Dammit Liam," I cursed him.
"Keep your mouth shut for once, would ya?" Mason gave me the look that told me he meant business. I'd seen it so many times before, so I knew better than to say anything like that again, for now at least. "Listen, we're just trying to get out of the city. Can't we be on our way?"
"Road's blocked," the one with a cross-bow said in his thick country accent. I had to admit, he was rather easy on the eyes.
"Let's go unblock it," Liam suggested with a sarcastic smile. Mason gave him the look now too. I childishly stuck my tongue out at Liam. He elbowed me again.
"We really need to be on our way," Mason said. "One of our's is real sick, we're just trying to get her some help."
"She bit?" the dark-haired man with the shotgun asked. Silence. We knew we couldn't help Taylor in the end, but we had to at least try, didn't we? We owed her that much, since she'd put up with us three for the past fifteen years. And honestly, when you got the three of us together, we combined to make the biggest pain in the ass the world had ever seen.
"We can take care of it, if you want," the officer offered with a softer tone than before. If I had to guess, I'd say he knew the feeling we were all having from experience.
"What do you want, Tay?" I asked her. Her eyes were beginning to change. They weren't their typical honey brown, now they were becoming bloodshot and the iris was getting taken over by white. She coughed up a little blood, only adding to the fact that she was pretty much gone.
"Lilian..." she breathed slowly. "I don't...want...to become...one...of those...things... Take Olive...keep her away..."
We all made our way out of the car. Mason and Liam assisted Taylor from her seat in the back, after setting Olivia on the ground, she toddled over to me. I picked her up. She began to cry, as if she truly understood what was happening. I held her close and stroked her blonde curls.
"Shh...shh...it's okay," I lied.
"Let me...see her..." Taylor said weakly. I carried the small child to her mother. "I love you more than there are bugs in the forest."
"I love you more than there are clouds in the sky," Olivia replied in her childish voice, before latching onto me again. She buried her face in the crook of my neck. I wasn't watching what happened. I couldn't. Taylor was like a sister to me. I tightly held Oliva, waiting to hear the gunshot but I never did. Just, the soft whoosh sound.
Tears burned my eyes. Liam wrapped me in a tight hug. We both cried together. Mason on the other hand, strode off down the highway by himself. That was always the way he did things. He didn't want comfort from other people. He had to work things out by himself.
"I wish I could've traded places with her," I sobbed. Taylor had a daughter to take care of. How is it fair that I get to live and she doesn't?
"Lilian! Don't you ever wish that!" Liam sobbed hugging me tighter. Poor Olivia was sandwiched between us.
"Mommy gone?" she asked.
More tears flooded my eyes. "Yes, baby. Mommy's..." the sobs took over. I couldn't stand any longer. Liam held me up, close to his chest. I ignored the eyes of the other group. There were a lot of them, and I figured if they wanted us dead. We would be. There was three of us, and a child. There were easily ten people in the surrounding group.
As soon as they highway was cleared, and Mason made his way back to us, we'd leave. I would be as simple as that, I tried to convince myself. But, somehow I knew, things wouldn't go so smoothly.
AN: What did you think? Should I continue? Review/fav/follow. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. I love to hear feedback from readers on how I could improve my stories. So ta ta for now!
UPDATE: 9 January 2016, Hi guys, I just looked at this story and noticed that we are nearing the third year anniversary! Oh my God! This was the first Daryl/OC fan fic I ever published and it just amazes me that was THREE YEARS AGO! I feel really old. But then again, I wrote this story when I was fourteen! That is so surprising! If you are reading this and you like it, feel free to check out my other works. My writing has grown so much (especially in my latest stuff and my newest/personal favourite "Pointless"). Thank you all who read this :)