Hello readers! Here's a new story of mine titled "Enemies All Around." This first part is just the prologue so it won't all be this fast paced. And please bear with me on this. I've never written anything for The Walking Dead, but I'm going to try my best. Feedback would be greatly appreciated and follow me on here or my tumblr to find out about updates. Thank you! 3
It had been days since she went missing and we had no leads. The odds were against us, but despite that, we found her.
She started off as a figure off in the distant. She was just some unfortunate person hanging off a tree over a group of walkers. But as we drew closer, we recognized her. It was my little girl. It was Sophia. Of course, I immediately opened my mouth to call out for her, but Daryl acted fast and put his hand over my mouth. I looked over at him as I tried to remove his hand. With a finger to his lips, he slowly removed his hand from my mouth. Gesturing towards the group of walkers that reached up desperately for Sophia, he began slowly creeping forward, but not before handing me a large knife.
I took a deep breath and began quietly following Daryl, who now had his crossbow out and ready. We paused behind some trees that were close to the walkers. I could hear the growling sounds from the walkers and the struggling sounds from Sophia, but I dare not sneak a peek around the trees for fear of attracting them. I'd made it that far, but stealth was not my specialty. Daryl, however, had no troubles with that. He was looking around the tree he was hiding behind, carefully assessing the scene. I began to grow more and more anxious. We had no idea how long Sophia would be able to hold on to that branch. If we didn't act fast, it could be all over. And I couldn't lose her, especially not when we were right there.
Just when I was about to try and get his attention, Daryl looked over at me. He must have seen the urgency I felt on my face because he quickly (and quietly) came over to the tree I hide behind. It was wide enough that we could both go unnoticed behind it. Leaning in close to me, he whispered, "I think we need ta draw them away from her."
"You can't just pick 'em off with your arrows from here?" I asked.
"I could." He said with a shrug. "That worries me though. What if she loses grip while I'm taken 'em out?"
He was right. The first priority had to be getting those damn walkers away from Sophia. What I did next wasn't smart, but we didn't have time for a fancy plan, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I took a step forward, away from the protection the tree provided and started running towards the tree Sophia hung from.
I felt Daryl's hand brush against my own. "Carol!" He said gruffly. "What the hell do ya think your doing?" But he wasn't quick enough. I was already right near the tree Sophia hung off of. I ran past it a little bit and then stopped.
"HEY!" I stomped on the ground as I yelled. Desperately trying to get their attention and thankfully, it worked. The walkers glances shifted towards me. I heard a yelp and then saw Sophia slid down, closer to the ground. With their food at an easier reach, the walkers lost interest in me and started reaching for her again. Thinking quickly, I held up my arm and cut a small portion of my arm.
"HEY!" I shouted again. I waved my arm around. A few of the walkers in the front of the group began stumbling towards me. Their interest intrigued the rest of the group and then they all slowly started their way to me. I backed up, still waving my arm around and biting my lip to try and cope with the pain. Behind the group I could see Daryl coming out from behind the trees, his crossbow up and ready for use.
"D-Da-Daryl, you get her first. Hear me? You make sure she's safe, okay?"
Daryl just nodded and then shot a walker in the head. The blood from my wound was dripping down my arm. It slid down my wrist and across my palm before dripping down my finger tip and landing on the forest ground. This really got them going and all of the sudden they were lunging at me.
I took off running as fast as I could. I heard the sound of a few more walkers hitting the ground before I glanced back one more time to see Sophia dropping from the tree safely into Daryl's arms.
Clutching tightly onto Sophia's hand, Daryl and her took off running after me. They caught up in a matter of minutes and we began to kill them. Daryl picked off the majority with his arrows while I took three down with my knife.
As the last one hit the ground with its guts hitting a nearby tree, Sophia and I ran towards each other. I pulled her close to me, not ever wanting to let go. I opened my tear-filled eyes to see Daryl standing off to the side awkwardly. I'll never know for sure, but I swear I saw the corners of his mouth turn up into some small form of a smile. I had no idea how I could ever possibly pay this man back for all he did those few days. But there would be time for that later. For starters I decided to stick with giving him a big smile and mouthing, "Thank you."
When he nodded at me, it felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Everything was as good as it could possible get during the apocalypse. But worse was right around the corner. Finding Sophia was just the beginning.