The half-moon glimmers high up in the sky, I scan my surroundings for a moment to make sure no one is around. Nothing. When I know the place is safe I walk towards the nearest rock and plunge onto it with a sigh. I hold the gun in my hand. My finger shakes against the trigger like I'm hyperventilating.
That's when Daryl jumps me over. He thrusts his crossbow in my direction in attempt to knock me out, but I dodge it and throw a knife at him. He bellows a curse when it cuts his forearm. It causes enough distraction for me to get away but I don't get too far.
"N-n-no." I mutter but it's too late. The arrow shoots straight into my shoulder and blood begins to soak my clothes. I can see the tip of the arrow that just went in-and-through my shoulder and start to panic.
I realize I'm lying face-forward on a pile of leaves as the pain gets to me and I let out a painful moan. I'm breathing rapidly, my head throbs and my back aches so much I'm not sure I can get back on my feet any time soon.
He slurs a curse under his breath, steps in and crouches beside me. "Glenn!" He calls out for his friend. "Glenn I just shot her!" The scrawny guy appears a few seconds later.
"Is she dead?" He asks. Concerned, Glenn walks closer to see for himself. I can see him swallowing his disappointment. "Why did you think this was a good idea?" He asks.
Daryl turns around and throws him an angry glare. "She might know where Sophia is." He insists.
"Why are you so sure I know where your girlfriend is?" I ask in between breaths.
He leans in closer and I can clearly see his facial features, I can even see the reflection of my eyes in his blue ones. Daryl takes a good look at me and furrows his eyebrows as he does. "She isn't my girlfriend, she's just a little girl." He grabs the arrow that's stabbed into my shoulder and tries to gently take it out but I let out a shriek that makes him think twice about it.
"Don't. She'll only bring more walkers by screaming like that." Glenn says as he comes closer. "Listen, if you could just tell us if you've seen this girl. Her name is Sophia she's eleven, maybe twelve years old. Short blonde hair."
I stare at him in a loathing approach and grit my teeth as I do. "You just shot me, with an arrow!" I yell in anger.
"Just tell us, please. And if you help us we'll get you to a doctor." Glenn suggests. He tries to negotiate but it doesn't work.
I let out another moan as I try to sit up. "Thanks I think I'll do just fine on my own." I can feel the warm blood soaking the sleeve of my shirt. I try my best not to let out another shriek and instead I let out a less noisy cry. "Plus, I haven't seen a living kid in more than a month." I try to remove the arrow myself but its buried too deep. My breathing picks up and I know I'm losing too much blood.
"I don't think that's going to work." Glenn says, discouraging me to pull out the arrow myself. "We should take her to Hershel." He turns to Daryl who disapproves of the idea.
Daryl rolls his eyes, "We don't know her Glenn, and we can't just bring anyone to Hershel, that guy's a hard-ass. Hell, he might even throw us out if we bring another wounded person to his farm." He says.
"Well, we can't just leave her here." Glenn argues.
"Hell yeah we can."
"She could still know where Sophia is." He adds in my defense.
I extend my intact arm to reach out for anything that might be used as a weapon and the only thing I find is a broken twig, sharp enough to cause minor damage, but if I could go for the eyes I'll probably be able to cause enough distraction to get to my gun. I grab the twig but before I can wrap my fingers around it, Daryl steps on my wrist.
"Stop trying to get yourself killed." He says and looks at me smugly. He doesn't step off my wrist.
He calls out Glenn. He obeys, steps forward and looks down at me with pity.
"Hold her down, from her wrists, right here." He commands his friend. I try to wriggle out of his grip but it only causes more pain in my shoulder.
Glenn didn't seem to agree with that thought but he did it anyway. "What are you going to do?" He asks.
"What does it look like I'm doing; I'm getting my arrow back." He replies. "Can't waste any more arrows."
I look up at Daryl and give a faint shriek, "No, please." I say in a petrified tone. "Please don't do this, I'll bleed out." I feel sickened and terrified.
He exchanges glances with his friend and nods, but before I can say anything else I feel the arrow as they rips it out of my flesh. My body reacts before my mind does and I involuntarily scream from the top of my lungs. The blood is pouring profusely from my shoulder and arm and I begin to lose the sensation of my feet.
I stop crying, my voice is almost gone, my muscles relax and my heart rate slows down. The thought of being left alone in the woods and getting eaten by biters has me quivering with fear.
I try to speak but choke on my own words. I never thought I'd beg for my life. But they both walk away; only stop once to look back at what they did. The sound brings more biters and they start to get closer to me, I hear their deadly moans as they advance towards me. I try to rest my palm against the ground and force myself to straighten up but my head feels too heavy and I can't balance my body but stand up eventually.
Glenn turns around, glances at me nervously and pauses for a moment as if he's deciding something, then he double backs to me. His friend's head snaps to the side and he clenches his fists in anger before striding behind Glenn and into the tick of the argument, "She's as good as dead, we can't help her."
"We did this to her!" Glenn exclaims, before he gently grabs my undamaged shoulder and pulls me back on my feet. My legs are wobbly and I almost fall again but Glenn puts my arm around his neck and wraps his arm around my waist. "Try to run as fast as you can, alright?"
I nod.
Surprisingly, Daryl heads to grab my things and rushes behind us, killing a few biters as he follows Glenn and I to their camp. I keep trying to inhale and exhale slowly to prevent myself from fainting or being sick.
It feels as if we have been running for miles before a barn comes into sight and wherever I look there were fences and plenty of greenery, a house with lit lights comes into view then starts to get blurry. We run rapidly for a while before I force Glenn to stop, we both stagger.
As we get closer to the farm, Glenn slows down our pace and Daryl picks up his to open up a gate, and as we get in Glenn drops everything he has been carrying and lets me lean on him, I don't hesitate to stop when I feel the need to lie down. I lean my head forward a bit and throw up all the canned soup.
"She can't go on much longer." Glenn informs Daryl.
Daryl and Glenn exchange looks and then Daryl take my weight off of Glenn. I don't think about it before I shift my weight to him. "Go tell Rick and the others to hurry." He yells.
Glenn nods and starts running towards the house and I see him approach blurry silhouettes of his people. A couple of his group members start to run towards Daryl and I, while the others rush back inside the house.
I barely keep my head up and I can no longer stand on my feet, even with all my weight against Daryl. I find myself continuously collapsing on the grass before Daryl pulls me back up, he would've fallen on top of me but he stands his ground. I hear him curse again as he pulls me back on my feet for the third time, "Just a little further." He says encouragingly.
He puts my arm around his neck and holds my wrist to keep me from falling again. He wraps his other arm around my waist and pulls me up; his grip grows tighter as I begin to lose the feeling in my limbs. There's obviously no use of making me walk all the way to the house and I'm not in a condition where I can stand on my feet, so Daryl reaches his free hand to the back of my knees and carries me the rest of the way. I'm only conscious enough to be aware of the voices that surround me. I can't see anything except a bright yellow light and then everything turns dark, worse than the darkness of night.