Here we go, another chapter for you lovely people! Thank you to deanandjo3ever1 and momoXvolturi for your reviews over the last few chapters and everyone else that has reviewed this story so far, I really appreciate it, keep them coming!
Chapter Seven
The sun was blazing down as Finn drove Daryl's truck behind the RV, he followed on the motorcycle. It was only as they rounded the corner that all of the vehicles came to an abrupt halt, the road was blocked by a herd of broken down, abandoned vehicles. Finn stepped out of the truck, walking towards the RV as everyone exited into the scalding heat.
"RV's down again," Dale muttered, wiping a hand across his forehead.
"We should scavenge for parts, see if we can find any food and water whilst we're at it," Finn replied, shielding her own eyes from the sun.
"We'll see if we can find the problem but I'm willing to put money on it that the hose is gone again, maybe even the battery, I don't know," Dale said and Finn nodded.
"I'll see what I can find," She smiled, each of the group heading off towards the vehicles in a search for any much needed supplies. The group hadn't eaten in days and water was running short, Finn could feel the affect it was having on her body as she jumped up into the back of the first truck she came to, searching through the numerous bags.
"Here," T-Dog came up to her, passing her a half empty bottle of water.
"What's this for?" Finn asked with a smile.
"Just take it, you need to stay hydrated, the heat out here's unbelievable," He replied and Finn gratefully took the water.
"I don't need this anymore than the next person," She said "But thank you." Finn finalised, nodding in gratitude as she gulped down the somewhat warm water.
"You're welcome, yell if you need a hand," T-Dog waved as he walked off towards another of the vehicles.
"Hey, good looking!" Finn yelled as she pulled a large dagger from a clasp at the side of one of the corpses in the passenger seat. Daryl glanced up with a raised brow as she flashed her new weapon.
"Real hunting knife," Finn smiled, running a finger gently along the blade, "Sharp too." She pushed the knife into her own holster at her waist.
"Do you have no respect?" Carol asked as she passed by with Lori, Finn turned to glance at her in shock. Carol had barely said a word to her since Finn had joined the group, never mind a bad one.
"I respect the fact that this'll be more useful to me than it was him," Finn replied as kindly as she could, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Finn added as she jumped out of the truck and walked passed Carol and Lori, feeling slightly guilty for her brash statement.
As she popped the hood of the first van she found, she started rummaging through the parts. Most of main parts of the engine had cracked or rusted from sitting in the humidity for so long but she managed to find a hose that was a little better looking than the one in Dale's RV.
She was distracted momentarily by a call from Dale and a scream from one of the children. She turned around, her eyes widening at what she seen. A hoard of walkers, far too large to fight off, was headed directly towards the group.
"Holy crap," She muttered, glancing around herself as she tried to find somewhere to hide but her mind had gone blank. She seen Sophia panicking as she too looked for somewhere to hide, as quickly as Finn could, she ran towards the little girl and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her directly underneath one of the trucks, Carol and Lori were hiding beneath another vehicle opposite.
"I need you to lie here and be still, okay? Keep looking at your mama and don't make a sound," Finn ordered and Sophia nodded, tears running down her face.
Realising that there wasn't enough space for Finn to hide beneath the same vehicle, she scrambled out from beneath the car and ran towards the truck she'd been in moments before. Finn jumped in the back and covered herself up with whatever junk she could find, pulling the corpse up on top of her with a struggle. The shuffling moved past her and she tried to control her breathing, her heartbeat racing in her ears. It grew quiet and there was another sudden scream, this time she recognised it as Sophia. Without thinking, Finn pulled herself up out of the truck, only to be confronted with at least ten walkers.
"Shit," She managed to whisper to herself, kicking one of the walkers away she made and effort to take a running jump to the roof of the next car, narrowly escaping one of the hands trying to capture her. In a moment of confidence she jumped again, clinging to the side of a large truck before pulling herself up onto the roof and staying there. She watched with terror as Sophia ran into the woods, two walkers hot on her tracks. Finn tried to stop herself, tried to talk herself out of being an idiot but before she could get a word in edge ways, she had jumped down from the truck and ran off after Sophia, cursing her own stupidity.
The woods were eerily quiet as she ran in the same direction Sophia had; in the distance, slightly to the west she could here groans and shuffling, the muffled frightened whimpers of Sophia barely audible. Her legs carried her quickly off after the sounds and she jumped down on top of one of the walkers with ferocious intent, stabbing the new dagger into its temple as she tried to fight off the next one.
"Run, Sophia! Hide by the river bed and stay there until I get you!" Finn yelled, trying to wrestle the walkers head away from her shoulder with all the strength she could muster. Sophia didn't move.
"Go! I'll be fine, GO!" Finn shouted, this time allowing anger to consume her voice, Sophia ran off towards the river and Finn managed to punch the walkers face away from her own. She caught a glimpse of another walker heading her way and used all of her strength to stab the walker on top of her in the eye. It went limp and Finn only just managed to push it from her, dizziness consuming her as the heat belted down onto her skin. Finn made a conscious effort to run away from the river, shouting towards the third, stumbling walker as she did so.
"Come on you piece of shit! Come get it!" Finn jogged slow enough to catch its attention and it turned clumsily to follow her.
"All you can eat, come on," She urged, taking a second to glance back at the river only to see Sophia climbing out from where Finn had told her to hide and running off into the distance.
"Shit!" She cursed, just narrowly escaping the one walker that she'd encouraged to follow her, two more came into sight and Finn realised that with the mixture of dehydration and exhaustion, she didn't have the strength to fight anymore. Cursing herself as she tried to push down her guilt and panic, Finn ran back towards the roadside.
She clambered up the steep side and crawled her way back onto the road, struggling to get to her feet.
"You didn't get her?" Carol whimpered as Finn limped back towards the RV.
"I told her to hide," Finn panted, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, "She must have freaked out and ran."
"You didn't follow her?" Carol cried, Lori's arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
"There were too many walkers," Finn replied, struggling to hold back tears herself, "I couldn't…" She continued, but oxygen wasn't reaching her lungs, "I couldn't fight any more of them…I'm sorry, I just…" Finn babbled, Shane rested a hand on her shoulder momentarily, a silent gesture of comfort. Finn walked away, unable to look Carol in the eye.
"Rick and Daryl went after you, they'll find her, don't worry," Dale said in an attempt to make her feel better.
"I better go tell them where I sent her, she couldn't have gotten far," Finn moved to walk back into the woods but her legs collapsed beneath her.
"No, no way, you're exhausted. You've been driving that truck all through the night, you need to sit down and have some water," Dale said, helping Finn get to her feet as he sat her down next to T-Dog.
"What the hell happened to you?" Finn asked, suddenly feeling more alert in her wave of panic, she took note of the bleeding wound on T-Dog arm.
"Demon car door," T-Dog muttered through clenched teeth.
"Hasn't this been a great day," Finn groaned, taking a mouthful of the water Dale had passed her. She tried not to worry about Sophia, but the guilt and regret was burning into her chest and every time she closed her eyes, she seen that frightened little girl's face.
