"Come on" Daryl's gruff voice urged you to follow him. You hadn't stopped running from the walkers since noon and by now you figured it was midnight. You were starting to get tired, if you could anymore your body was in a constant state of exhaustion. You were surprised how far you had gotten without collapsing thanks to adrenaline you could probably keep running all night.
Finally you and Daryl reached the end the Forest the dense bush breaking open to the highway. Your eyes spotted a car the headlights reflecting the moonlight. You ran over giving it a quick glance inside before opening the door. You began to attempt to hotwire the car the way you had seen Daryl try so many times. Nothing. You weren't even sure if you were doing it right.
Suddenly You were startled by a tap on your shoulders you grabbed your knife instantly contorting your body to fend off the attacker.
"Hey hey! It's me!" Daryl hissed " You're not going to get that to start come on." You followed obediently looking back at the vehicle, you noticed now that the front was smashed into the tree. Your face got hot with embarrassment, now it looked like you were stupid and weak. Daryl opened the trunk before gesturing you climb in. Instantly your heart beat fastened, you didn't like the idea of being stuck in such a tight space with no escape. But it wasn't like there was any where else to go. Unwillingly you complied squeezing yourself in, Daryl followed suit and shut the trunk the best he could. You grabbed a piece of rope lying beside you and secured the trunk before leaning back and taking a deep breath.
You couldn't see much, anything at all really besides the small bit if moonlight that licked in between the cracks, otherwise it was pitch black you could barely make out Daryl's face. But it was loud, moaning groaning scratching and gurgling you wondered how many walkers were out there.
You couldn't help but let yourself imagine the worst case scenario. You'd be in the trunk and a mass of walkers would pry the trunk open, they'd pull you out their nails digging into you but not before you watch Daryl scream as he's ripped open and bitten into, Walkers taking large chunks of his face and neck, his blood pouring all over the road illuminated by the moonlight.
A hand on your knee brought you back to reality. You jumped and instinctively grabbed your knife. You turned your head to face Daryl he nodded at you. Slowly you lowered the knife and you realized it was his hand on your knee. " it's okay we're safe in here" he whispered. His usual gruff voice was soft now his eyes look more relaxed.
You still felt uneasy biting your lip as his words kept replaying in your mind over and over like a mantra. But you don't know that you thought You don't know what's going to happen.Daryl nudged you lightly when you didn't respond. The sweat on his arm glistened enhancing his muscular arms. You nodded attempting to reassure him, yet you still felt the anxiety crawling up from your stomach into your heart.
You felt Daryl watching you intently as you watched the walkers stumble and drag their was as if he was studying you wondering what to say. You didn't know if you wanted to talk or ignore it, but every time you tried to talk your words got caught in your throat, as if it were blocking you voice from coming through. "It's okay. I'm okay." You finally managed to squeak. Daryl squeezed your hand unsure of what to say, you wanted to tell him you didn't know what you wanted him to say either, that you didn't know how to make it better. but that was okay, this is how it is now. Instead you gave him a weak smile.
It had been a while since one of them had clawed at the trunk but you couldn't relax, not until you were out of that felt so closed in, all you could smell was the scent of sweat and rusting metal acompanied by the faint smell of rotting flesh outside. You gagged as if you had anything to throw back up, you hadn't eaten in days.
Finally day began to break and things had begun to quite down outside. You untethered the rope and forced the trunk open bringing the smell of fresh air and rotten flesh to your nose. You quickly regretted taking such a deep breath but regardless you were out of the placed a hand over you mouth blocking the scent. You figured by now you'd be used to the stench of death, yet you still surprised yourself. Daryl clapped a hand on your back." Told ya we were safe." He said rubbing your shoulder before hopping out of the trunk and pulling you out with him. " Alright let's go." His gruff voice was back and once again you were off running.