Hey you guys I know its been a while since I've uploaded, but I wanted to say I should hopefully be putting out more chapters more frequently, and that I did not like the way I wrote the last chapter, so I'm rewriting it, thanks.
I all but forget about the death of my favourite shirt as I grab Carol firmly by the arm and drag her up the stairs, Daryl in tow.
I head straight for the room where I saw Carl and Maggie used to get to the roof is. The window is wide open and there's a walker trying to get through it. Before I even have time to make it number fourteen, an arrow goes through its head and Daryl walks up and rips it back out. I give him a quick glare and try not to act too smug when his gaze drops to my on display chest, and jump through the window.
On the roof, Carl is hovering behind Maggie, and Lori aims her gun at me, only to lower it once she sees I'm no walker. I give her a tired smile and motion for her to follow us. Daryl leads us around to the edge of the roof and, after checking that no walkers are waiting around the bottom, uses the verandah railing to slide down onto the deck. I step back and let Carol, Maggie, Carl, and Lori off first, before finally following suit.
We all start running towards the caravan and it isn't long before a small gathering of walkers are making their way over. I quickly look up and see T-dog is already inside and starting up the van and then Maggie, Carl, and Lori are getting on. But wait... wheres Carol? I look across to Daryl, we make wide-eyed contact with each other for a breif second before turning around, and looking to see Carol being grabbed by two ravenous zombies who bite into her neck and stomach and a broken scream comes out of her throat.
"NOOOOO!" I scream as a third comes over and sinks it's teeth into her arm. I start running towards her, and so do about three other walkers. "Carol!" I shout, tears in my eyes as I race to reach her. I grab my axe, getting ready to to swing but something grabs me. I assume it's a walker, but when I hear Daryl's husky voice in my ear telling me " We have to go Kara, don't go over there, it's too late."
A broken sob escapes from my throat and my knees buckle and the fact that I can practically hear the tears and pain in Daryl's voice as he says it breaks my heart. I know I need to get up, to look away from the gory scene in front of me, but I can't. There must be at least ten now, swarming around Carol's small lifeless body and I'm being dragged away, getting taken away from her, so I start thrashing around.
I can't leave her, I don't care what anyone says, and I won't. "Let me go!" I shriek. "Karolina stop! You can't go back, we have to go, everyone's on the caravan, and I know it's hard but we just have to!" Its then that I feel another pair of arms grabbing me, I'm not sure whose, that I realize Daryl's right. So I just let them drag me away, watching as the sight before me gets smaller and smaller until a big white door is being closed shut in front of me and I'm not quite sure but I think we must be moving because when I look out the window the large farm house we had been planing to sleep in is blurring past us.
Everything is silent except for a few pained cries that are ripping through the air. Mine is one of them, and I'm not sure whom else but I can't bring myself to look. All I can think is about Carol, who was counting on me to protect her, and I failed. I cling close to Daryl until there's no space left between us, and cry myself to sleep. It's around three o'clock in the morning when I finally make my decision. I get up from beside a sleeping Daryl and start collecting my things.
The van is still moving along at a steady pace, Glenn driving, as the green countryside passes us by. I have no idea how I'm going to leave unnoticed, but even if they do, they can't stop me. Carol's death did more than just make me numb with a sadness I knew well, it made me realize how precious every moment is and how at any moment, especially in this world, life can just slip away. It was a wake-up call.
I could almost slap myself for getting so distracted, for letting somebody else take up the importance in my life. I only have room to worry about myself, and my family. I remembered being so scared, after that walker had attacked me in that van on the first night, for Daryl's life when I walked inside. I remembered my first instinct in the woods earlier, was to protect Carol. Hell I'd risked my life in perhaps the most reckless thing I'd ever done when I rescued the group at the supermarket.
Well no. No more ties to people who don't matter. No more guilty self-conscience and no more stupid feelings for Daryl. I had to leave, that was my only option. I grabbed my jacket, double-checking I had all my knives, got my axe off the table and my gun from where it was wedged into the mattress where I'd been sleeping. Seeing Daryl's crossbow lying so carelessly next to him gave me the sudden urge to take it, like I'd wanted to do ever since I'd seen it. But I resisted the urge and set off to the front of the van.
Glen heard me coming up and slowed down a bit so he could turn his body to look at me. "What's up Kara?" he asked tiredly. poor guy had been driving nonstop ever since the house was attacked, he really needed sleep. "I uh... need to pee. Could you pull over for a few minutes?" "Pee? But we have a toilet in the back...?" I could see the confusion on his face and mentally cursed for not having that thought of a foolproof wayoff this thing without questions.
"Well, I don't wanna flush and wake everyone up y'know?" "why have you got all your stuff with you?" he asked changing the subject. "Oh uh well I-" "Kara what's going on? where are you going?" well so much for whispering. "Nowhere just, shh, just pust pull over and let me off." "No way, what aren't you telling me? Where are you going?" "Look Glen can you keep it down? Just pull over quietly and let me off!" I hissed.
"Let you off where? What's going on?" Oh great now Rick's awake. Fan-fucking-tastic. Apparently, it was completely beyond Rick to keep his voice down too. "Karolina answer me, where are you going?" "I-" "You're going?!" Carl shrieked. I'm pretty sure waking up every single person as he did so. Everybody sat up to look and a light was flicked on, illuminating the small cabin. "Carl go to sleep!" Both Rick and I snapped at the same time. "Answer the question" It was Daryl this time who spoke, looking at me with an unreadable expression.
I took a deep breath. I really didn't want to do this, the whole point of escaping in the middle of the night was that I didn't have to say any awkward goodbyes or more importantly face Daryl. "Look, I'm really sorry, but I can't stay here. I've got a family to find and I need to do that alone. If I stay with you guys, it"ll mean I'm putting them last..." "Kara, you can stay with us and we"ll help you find your family." Lori said softly.
I shook my head. "No, I've gotta do this alone. What happened last night... with Carol. It made me realize that I'm getting too attached, and I can't do that. I'm sorry, but you have to understand" "So that's it? You were just going to sneak out in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye?" Daryl says and now I can see hurt and a twinge of anger spreading across his face.
"No I... I just thought-look does it even matter? I'm going okay, don't try and stop me." "look I understand what you must be feeling right now, Carol meant a lot to all of us, but don't make this decision now, it's a dangerous world out there-" I cut Lori off. "Yeah and I was doing perfectly fine before I met you, in fact if you recall I'm the one who saved your life!" "Yes I remember but-" "Lori forget it, this is her decision, she's a big girl. Let her leave if that's what she wants." Andrea spoke this time. "Yes," I said confidently " It's what I want."
Everybody seems to sigh and bow their heads slightly, honoring my decision. Everyone except Daryl, who kept staring at me with that expression of hurt. I had to leave now before his stupid face made me change my mind. I walked up to Rick and shook his hand. "Thank you for letting me stay. Good luck with everything." He nodded and shook back.
"You too Karolina."
Next, I went to Lori, putting a hand on her stomach and rubbing it gently.
"Good luck with this one" I said softly.
Then I went to Carl who was blatantly sobbing and begging me to stay as he buried his face in my shoulder.
"Please Kara; you're the only friend I have..."
And hell, now I was crying too.
Stupid emotional bastards.
I chocked out a sob, the emotions hitting me hard after just losing Carol and now saying goodbye.
I looked around to everybody else, saying a silent farewell before my eyes landed on Daryl.
I couldn't bring myself to go over to him, it would be too hard and I'd prefer a more private place to properly let him go. Therefore, I wiped my tears and turned around as the van came to a halt on the side of the road.
I took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping off into the chilly night's air and walking into the forest without looking back.
The plan in my head was just to find a high tree, strap myself in for the night, then go back to the road tomorrow morning, and try to work my way north.
I knew this was dangerous; all my guards down like this. I didn't have any weapons ready in my hands, my vision was clouded with welled up tears, it was nighttime not to mention I'm not exactly being quiet.
After about five minutes of aimless wandering, I hear it.
It's hard especially over the sound of my loud crunching footsteps, but I hear it. the sound of something walking behind me.
Hey guy's sorry it took so long getting another chapter, I have just been pushing it off. since the last chapter I have graduated, so that happened. Also, I've moved since the last chapter was posted, so that was stressful. If you guys liked it let me know, also let me know if you guy's want longer chapters or not.
