Jane ran through the forest panting from exhaustion. She heard the snarls and moans close behind her and forced her legs to keep moving. She clenched her teeth and pushed forward. She dodged and ducked under branches trying to escape the walkers running after her. Jane was faster than them, but they seemed to have a never ending stamina. From the last time she looked back at the zombies she saw about ten, she only had six bullets left in her pistol and she couldn't take them all on with just her pistol and ax.
After she knew she had put a considerable distance between herself and them so she leaned against a tree and sucked in a much needed deep breath. She couldn't keep running like this, she looked around thinking of what to do and saw a tree that looked easy enough to climb. She knew the walkers must have closed a lot of the distance between them and she sprinted to the tree. Adrenaline pumped in her veins as she huffed and puffed to pull herself up. She managed to get up about 10 feet from the ground when they started to surround the tree.
They moaned and frantically clawed at the tree seeing their meal so close. She closed her eyes and evaluated her situation. She pulled her pistol out and carefully aimed at one of the walker's heads; she couldn't afford to waste her ammo. Her finger pressed against the trigger and the bullet plunged into the skull of the zombie. Its lifeless body fell to the ground with a soft thud as dark blood oozed from the hole in its head.
Jane continued to take out the walkers, but she soon ran out of her limited bullets leaving four walkers still surrounding the tree. She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.
"Shit." She muttered to herself. She remembered the two hunting knives in her boot and pulled them out. She didn't know how good of an aim she was at throwing knives, but didn't really seem to have a choice. She whipped one of the sharp knives at a walker, hitting it in the neck. She mentally hit herself for missing. Jane pulled out the last knife and took aim again at the same walker. She drew her arm back and launched it at the walker, this time hitting it in the head. She knew what she had to do and cautiously lowered herself on the branches below her. She pulled out her ax and jumped landing on her feet. Before she had time to recover a cold hand grabbed her arm. She yanked it back and thrust her ax into its head before hastily pulling it out of its skull. She turned around in time to kill a walker who was about to bite her neck. She easily took out the next two with adrenaline pushing her body past its limits. She leaned against the tree and slid down to the ground.
She heard a hiss and found a walker round the tree and lunge at her before she had any time to react. Jane yelped and the walker landed on top of her. She wrapped her hand around its neck keeping its mouth at bay. Her arms grew weak from fatigue and its face inched closer until she smelled the horrid breath of the walker and felt it against her cheek. Just as her arms gave way an arrow punctured its skull and the snarling stopped as the body slumped on top of her. She stared confusingly at it before her eye lids became heavy and she slipped into unconscious.
.
Everyone circled around the girl that Rick and Daryl had found in the woods. Jane's eyes fluttered open and she shot up immediately reaching for her pistol, which wasn't in her holster.
"It's okay, you're safe now." Carol cooed. Jane's memories flooded back to her as she remembered what happened.
"Do you have a group?" Rick asked. Jane slowly shook her head.
"What's you name sweetie?" Lori asked. Jane looked up and saw the pregnant woman looking at her with concerned eyes.
"J-Jane." She managed to choke out as she stared at the group surrounding her.
"I'm Lori, that's Carol, Carl, Hershel, Maggie, Beth, Glen, T-dog, Rick, and Daryl." Lori said pointing to each group member. Jane nodded and stood up, but swayed before hitting a small stone wall. A hand reached out and steadied her, but she recoiled at the touch and looked to see that it was just Carol.
"You were completely exhausted when they found you, passed out and all." The old man, Hershel, said.
"How'd you guys find me?" She asked questionably.
"Well I heard gunshots and went to find out what was happening with Daryl. We got there just in time to, right before that walker got you." Rick said. Jane stared intently into his blue eyes, processing all the information.
"Um… thank you." Jane said softly looking to Rick and the other man Daryl. Rick smiled.
"No problem. No one should be subjected to that kind of death." Rick said. Jane noticed that the man known as Daryl didn't say anything and she nodded.
"Here". Maggie said extending a bottle of water. Jane slowly took it and realized how thirsty she actually was. She uncapped the bottle and gulped about half before stopping to take a breath and finish the bottle. She heard a chuckle and turned to see the Asian man, Glen. She raised her eyebrow and he immediately stopped.
"I noticed that you don't have any supplies with you." T-Dog said. She held back tears as she remembered exactly why she didn't have any.
"My brother had everything… when we were attacked. They came out of nowhere and got him before we could escape. He told me to run and after I realized it was too late I did. I've been running for the past two days. It was a huge horde, but most stopped… to eat Joey." Jane tried to hold back her cry, but failed. Lori put a hand on her back and soothingly rubbed it trying to console the girl.
"I'm truly sorry to hear that. We all know what it's like… to lose someone." Rick said looking at the teary-eyed Jane. She smiled and shook her head.
"It's impossible not to anymore." Jane replied bitterly. She wiped away her tears and quickly composed herself.
"Where are my weapons? As soon as I get them I can get on my way."
"You can't just leave!" Glen exclaimed.
"Glen's right, we were going to ask you to stay with us. You couldn't last long out there by yourself." Rick said with authority. Jane sighed knowing what he said was true.
"I just don't want to burden your group." Jane replied.
"We need the muscle. We've lost a lot of people." T-Dog said with a sigh as he looked at the ground.
"I don't know…" Jane trailed off not knowing what to do.
"Your best chance at survivin' is with us." Daryl finally spoke frustrated and annoyed that the girl just wouldn't accept their offer. They rarely accepted strangers. Jane looked up at the man shocked at the tone he used.
"Fine." Jane replied flatly glaring at Daryl.
"Great. We were just about to try and find a house to hold up at." Rick said.
"Alright." Jane replied. Rick handed her pistol, ax, and knives back. "Thanks." Jane muttered placing them in their rightful places.
"You can ride with Maggie, Glen, and T-Dog." Rick said motioning to the green Hyundai. Jane nodded and followed Glen to the car.
"Uh you can sit in the back with Maggie." Jane nodded and opened the car door to step in when she heard a loud roar. She turned to see Daryl on a motorcycle. She shook her head. Why would he draw so much attention to himself? She got in next to Maggie and shut the door.
The group sat in silence for the first 10 minutes.
"So how old are you anyway? You look awfully young." Glen asked gripping the steering wheel. Jane chuckled.
"I could say the same for you, but I'm 20." Glen nodded.
"Where are you from? You don't sound like you're from Georgia." T-Dog asked.
"Uh, Chicago."
"What brought you all the way out here when… all of this happened?" Maggie asked turning her head to look at Jane. Jane felt uneasy with all the attention on her; she was never a fan since she was incredibly shy.
"Well Joey lived out here and he was coming home from Afghanistan so I came to welcome him home. We were going to fly out to Chicago to meet up with the rest of our family… but all the airports shut down when everything went to shit so we've been stuck here." She shoved back the thought of Joey just like she did with the rest of her family.
"We're really sorry… about your brother." Glen said. The car became silent and everyone was uncomfortable. Jane nodded and looked out the window.
Everyone pulled up next to a house and got out. Jane followed the group.
"Daryl, T-Dog, Carl, and I will take the interior and the rest of you get our supplies and watch outside." Rick said. Everyone nodded and Jane pulled out her ax while standing next to Maggie and Glen.
Jane watched as Rick walked in and shot a walker with his pistol and T-Dog shoved a fireplace picker into a walker's eye. They split up and continued into the house. Jane helped Carol and Lori grab the bags.
"I can give you some of my old clothes. They don't fit me anymore." Lori said smiling and rubbing her belly.
"Yeah, I could give you some too." Maggie added. Jane smiled at their hospitality.
"Are you sure?" Jane asked.
"Of course. You can't just keep wearing those." Lori said motioning to Jane's outfit. Jane was wearing a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt which were covered in blood and dirt.
"Wow… thanks." Jane said. They nodded and walked through the double doors into the house. Everyone took their places sitting around in the living room. Jane stood at the entrance awkwardly not knowing what to do. Everyone sat and their faces grew grim. Carl walked in with two cans of dog food. Jane watched as their faces grew hungry. Daryl walked down the stairs carrying an owl while he was plucking its feathers. Jane watched as he made his way down and couldn't help but look at his defined muscles. She looked away before she found herself thinking about him. He seemed like an ass anyway.
Carl rummaged through one of their bags and pulled out a can opener. Jane watched confused seeing that they were willing to eat dog food. Rick walked up and took the can from Carl. He looked over it and whipped it at the fireplace. Everyone jumped a little surprised at what he did. He rubbed a hand through his hair, frustrated. There was a tension in the room that made Jane shift uncomfortably.
"Pssst." T-Dog whispered beckoning Rick to the window. There was a huge group of walkers coming towards the house. Everyone sighed and gathered their belongings. They headed out to the cars through the back. Jane followed after them. She turned the corner and felt a cold hand grab her shoulder. Jane tumbled to the ground with the walker. Its jaw chomped frantically trying to get her skin. She grunted and shoved it off. She was about to get her ax when Daryl came and stabbed an arrow through its eye. He hastily pulled her up and shoved her in the direction of the car. Jane gasped and ran to the car. Everyone was already inside so she jumped in and locked the door. A walker lunged at the car making Jane jump. They pulled out of the driveway onto the road. Jane sighed, her breath shaky.
"Are you alright?" Maggie asked noticing Jane's hands shaking.
"Yeah… I-I'm just a little freaked out." Jane said. Maggie nodded and they continued to drive. They heard one of the truck's beep their horn and the line of trucks stopped. Everyone emptied out of the cars. They walked up to Rick who pulled out a map and unrolled it on the hood of the car.
"We got no place left to go." T-Dog said pointing to all the red dots on their map.
"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie said motioning to the different locations. "We'll never make it south."
"What'd ya say? There's bout' 150 ahead?" Daryl asked leaning against the truck, crossbow over his shoulder.
"That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn said.
"This river could have delayed them. If we move fast we may have a shot to tear right through." Hershel said.
"Ya, but if this group joins with that group, they could spill out this way." T-Dog argued.
"So we're blocked." Maggie said running a hand through her hair.
"We could double back to 27, swing through there." Rick added.
"Yeah, but we've been through that already. It's like we spent the winter running in circles." T-Dog said frustrated.
"Ya, I know, I know. At Newman we'll push west, haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. We need to find a place to hold up for a few days." Rick said staring off at Lori who was sitting in the red pickup truck.
"Hey is it cool if we go by the river? We need to refill our water. We can boil it later." T-Dog asked grabbing his bag.
"Knock yourselves out." Rick said nonchalantly. Everyone walked off into the forest leaving Jane standing by Hershel and Rick.
"She can't take much more of this moving about." Hershel said motioning towards Lori.
"What else can we do? Let her give birth on the run." Rick said.
"You see a way around that?" Hershel asked walking away.
"When is she due?" Jane asked. Rick looked over at her.
"Real soon. Could be days, or maybe a week… but real soon." He said.
"I can help deliver the baby, if you want. I was studying to be a paramedic at the University of Michigan." Jane said. Rick nodded.
"We could always use the help. Hershel has some medical background as well. He was a vet before all of this." He said.
"Alrighty then… Thanks for taking me in and all. I really appreciate it." He nodded and smiled.
"We couldn't just leave you by yourself. It wouldn't be right." He said. Jane nodded and stared into his blue eyes.
"Hey, while all the others wash their panties, let's go hunt." Daryl said loading his bow. Rick nodded and started to walk off.
"Do you want to join us?" Rick asked which made Daryl glare at him.
"Uh sure." Jane agreed hesitantly. She really didn't want to be left alone. Daryl grunted and walked past them.
"Better not slow me down." Daryl grunted.
"Don't worry I won't." Jane said overly sweet. He turned and glared at her with his icy blue eyes.
"Do you know how to hunt?" Rick asked while trying to break the tension between the two.
"Yeah. I caught all the food… for my brother and me." Jane said, her brother was still a touchy subject.
"Okay, here this fell out of your pocket when Daryl was carrying you back to camp." Rick said handing her a picture. Daryl carried her? She smiled and took it from him.
"Thanks… uh I don't have any ammo left for my pistol." She said.
"Here." He said handing her one of his pistols.
"Thanks." She mumbled and took it. They walked in silence and she spotted a rather large bird in a nearby tree. She took aim and shot surprising both Daryl and Rick. She had great aim from her father teaching her when she was younger. It fell with thud and she walked over to hit holding it up. She wasn't familiar with the types of birds in Georgia, but it was pretty big. She walked back over to the men.
Rick was staring at it with wide eyes and a smile. Daryl just huffed and kept walking.
"Wow you've got great aim." Rick said.
"Ya well my father took all the precautions to keep my brother and I safe, whether it was martial arts or shooting guns." He nodded and they walked along an abandoned railroad. Daryl had caught several squirrels which impressed Jane. She wouldn't admit it though; she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"Damn shame." Daryl said stopping and staring at a prison below a large hill. Jane nodded and stared at the walkers in their prison uniforms.
"It's perfect." Rick said with a smile on his face. Jane and Daryl looked at each other confused.