Shadows of the Forgotten

Chapter 10 - Nowhere to Run

I had tried not to, but it was too easy to let your guard down when you were given somewhere safe. After all that time on the road, having to constantly look over your shoulder, it was nice to finally relax. But it also left us vulnerable to the danger we had forgotten.

Moving quickly, I loaded an arrow into my crossbow and stepped in front of Sophia. There looked to be two dozen walkers, if not more, and I had a feeling this was going to turn into one big shit show.

"How did they get in here?" Carol questioned in a panic.

Along with Lori and Carl, she drew her gun and started shooting the walkers that filtered through the open gate. If she was expecting an answer, I doubt she was going to get one. All that was running through my head now was that we had a man with one leg, a pregnant woman, and two children to protect.

"Beth, help your father get up there and close the gate," I instructed hastily.

The second she saw where I was pointing, she turned to Hershel and lead him towards what I had deemed a 'safe area'. By that time, the walkers were starting to get uncomfortably close. When I turned to Lori, Maggie was assisting her towards a door opposite of Beth and Hershel.

I was hoping Glenn, Rick, and Daryl had run back with Maggie, but they were still on the other side of the fence, running to help us.

"That gate needs to be closed!" I heard Dale shout.

"Dale, I'll-" Before I could finish, he ran off towards the open gate.

I managed to take down a walker in his blind spot with an arrow, but not even a moment later, I had to switch to my knives and protect Sophia. I caught sight of Carol covering him though, so he should be fine-

It was his scream of pain that broke through my thoughts though and I turned in time to watch a walker take a chunk out of his neck.

I've heard people say that time slows down in these situations, but for me it only sped up. It felt as if I had the air knocked out of me at the sight, but I wasn't given time to help him or even recover before I felt Sophia tug at the back of my shirt.

I couldn't lose focus now. I had to fight and keep Sophia safe. With that sole intention, I carved a path through the walkers towards the door the others had gone through. I was panicking now though, and the darkness of the hall wasn't helping matters. The only thing I was thankful for at the moment was that there were no walkers in sight. That was about the only good thing at the time.

"Riley, I'm scared," Sophia cried.

Thor leaned into her for support, but she still clung to me for dear life.

"It'll be okay," I cooed. "I'll keep you safe, I promise."

Though the words were supposed to reassure her, they had been for myself as well. I would get her through this though, I had to.

"Stay close and keep quiet."

She nodded quickly, and stayed glued to my side as I loaded another bolt and walked forward. I had no clue which way the others had gone, but as long as we weren't headed towards any walkers, we'd be fine.

That was, until an alarm went off in the prison. I was worried that it would draw in more walkers, but that wasn't what I should have been worried about. The section of the prison we had wandered into was severely damaged and the blaring alarm caused it the start shifting threateningly.

It wasn't until small pieces of rubble started falling did I realize that we were in big trouble. I had tried grabbing Sophia and running back out of the collapsing hallways, but we didn't get far before the big chunks of cement stared to fall.

Here we were, in a zombie fucking apocalypse, and we were going to get killed by inanimate objects. For fuck's sake.

In the next moment, I found myself laying over Sophia with heavy pieces of rubble against my back. It took a second to register what had happened and to feel the warm liquid trailing down the back of my head.

"Sophia... Are you okay...?"

I could hear my voice shake slightly from the strain as I tried pushing away from the ground to give the small girl some breathing room. She seemed to be in good condition, aside from the fact that she was crying.

As soon as she gave me a nod, I tried getting the chunks of cement off my back. Thankfully, they weren't as heavy as I had thought at first, but they were also not as light as I had hoped.

Needless to say, it took quite a bit of effort to get clear of all the debris and help Sophia up. The second I was on my feet though, I felt the world spin and I stumbled briefly. Definitely not what I'd call a good sign... Maybe even a concussion. Just what I needed.

"Where's Thor...?"

Sophia's question made my body freeze and I looked around frantically with wide eyes. The side of the hallway we were heading in was completely blocked off by the collapsed ceiling and there was no sign of my Bernese anywhere. There wasn't any sight of blood in the area, which I was very grateful for, but that only meant that I had lost my dog once more... Maybe this time for good.

"Thor?"

Sophia started wailing as I looked around for him, but I couldn't find him. I didn't want to stop looking and admit that he was gone, but when the sounds of groaning echoed through the halls, I knew I didn't have a choice.

Crouching down in front of Sophia I put my hands on her shoulders and did my best to calm her down. I could feel myself on the verge of breaking down, but I had to hold it together and get her out of this mess.

"Sophia, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, but you have to promise me that you'll stay strong. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded hesitantly and wiped her eyes. The sight of her so distraught pained me, but I could understand how hard this must be for her. Carl had toughened up over the time I had been separated from the group, but I could only assume that Carol continued to coddle Sophia.

"We have to go back the way we came, okay?"

A look of pure fear washed over her features and she shook her head quickly. "They're out there, we can't-"

"We can and we have to. They won't touch you, I promise."

I didn't wait for her to reply, just grabbed my kukris and lead her back through the hall. There were a few strangling walkers around that I had to deal with, but most of them had probably been lead elsewhere. My kills weren't as easy as normal though. My head was throbbing and my body ached, causing my movements to be sloppy.

You could only imagine my relief when we finally stepped outside and most of the group was out there doing a head count.

My eyes had passed over Aleah and Nate before stopping on Daryl. Even as Sophia buried her face into my stomach and started crying again, my attention didn't leave him. My eyes stung, wanting so badly to burst, but I wouldn't let them. Not yet.

No words were spoken as Daryl walked over and pulled me into his arms, keeping Sophia with us as well. It didn't take him long to find the blood at the back of my head and a worried expression to take over his face.

He didn't say anything- correction, he didn't have time to say anything before my head hit his shoulder and I was out cold.

Told you it was going to be a shit show.

"Daryl, is she-"

He was quick to cut Aleah off as he supported Riley's weight.

"She's unconscious." He swore under his breath and turned to the young girl at his side. "Sophia, what happened?"

He hadn't meant for his voice to sound so forceful, but he couldn't help it and Sophia darted over to Aleah before sobbing into her stomach.

Guilt flashed through him at the fact that he made her cry even more, but he had other things to worry about- mainly the unconscious girl in his arms.

"Daryl, bring her here," Hershel instructed.

The older man must have sensed his panic and Daryl made his way over without a second thought.

"The back of her head's bleeding," he informed as he lay her down on an old picnic table.

Positioning her head on his lap, Daryl rolled her onto her side, allowing Hershel to get a better look at the injury.

"Could be a concussion," the older man informed grimly. "And it will most likely require stitches."

A scowl formed on Daryl's lips at the news, but they didn't have a chance to do anything about it before Maggie and Carl approached from inside the building. It didn't take long to see that there was a baby in Maggie's arms and that Lori was nowhere to be seen.

"No... She..." Rick stumbled forward towards Maggie, but she just shook her head, tears streaking her cheeks. "No... No..."

The second Rick's eyes landed on Carl, he all but collapsed to the ground sobbing. Nothing else was spoken out loud, but between the looks the group sent to each other, they knew what needed to be done.

Sensing Maggie's obvious distraught expression, Aleah ushered Nate forward to take the newborn from Maggie. As soon as her hands were free, she burried her face into Glenn's chest and cried quietly. Everyone was starting to feel the outcome of Andrew's attack and no one could deny the helplessness they felt.

Andrew had been the prisoner that Rick locked out of the prison and had been attacked by walkers- or so they assumed. To their misfortune, he was very much alive and let the walkers into the prison as revenge. The group had found him and it had been Oscar that killed him in the heat of a fight. The three remaining prisoners had helped out and proved their worth, but at what cost? Dale, Lori, and Carol were all dead, Riley was down for the count, and they now had a newborn baby to take care of without it's mother.

All these thoughts were swimming through Daryl's head as Aleah stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he looked up at her, he knew what her look meant. She wanted to drop the role of leader onto him.

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary..." She informed quietly. "Rick won't respond and you've been his right hand for a while now."

Her suggestion didn't come as a surprise to him, and he didn't mind, but there was one thing tying him down at the moment- one person he couldn't let slip away.

"I'll watch over her," Aleah told him.

After a moment, he gave in and nodded. As much as Riley needed him, the group needed him that much more right now.

Moving a stray hair from Riley's face, he stood up and made his way to where Rick was kneeling and crouched down in front of him.

"Rick, snap out of it. We still need you," he tried.

Rick didn't budge though, and his eyes didn't even look as if he were seeing Daryl in front of him. Glenn just shook his head and stepped away to give him some space.

"Rick, come on."

His eyes suddenly lit up, but it didn't take Daryl long to realize that it wasn't his words he was reacting to. Daryl tried to stop Rick as he took off into the prison with an axe, but Rick just shoved him to the side and continued on his way.

There wasn't much he could do about Rick now, so he turned to the next thing in line. The baby.

"We need food for the baby," he stated as he ran a hand through his damp hair. "What can they eat?"

Hershel didn't lift his attention from Riley as he spoke, which Daryl appreciated. "We need baby formula. Lots of baby formula."

Daryl turned to Glenn next. "Do we have any?"

The southerner felt his shoulders drop as Glenn shook his head. "We mapped out a few places to check, but we never had the chance to go."

"Let's get movin' then."

Both Maggie and Glenn moved to follow him to the truck, but Maggie stopped Glenn mid stride.

"There's a lot of cars up there, we won't be able to make it in that."

Daryl only paused for a second before directing himself to his bike.

"I'll take just you then," he told her as he hopped onto the bike. "You know the way, right?"

With a quick nod, she said her goodbyes to Glenn, then slid onto the bike behind Daryl. He could only hope they were right about finding supplies at this place. It seemed like that was all anyone could do now. Hope...

It was starting to get difficult to even do that.

Footnote:

I was going to be all 'yay, double digits', but then I remembered what happened in the chap.. heh. When Lori died in the show, I remember a bunch of my friends pretty much celebrating it, but man, that was probably one of the saddest scenes in the season. I mean, sure, she did some stupid stuff, but cut the woman some slack lol

I was really excited to post the next chapter too, but then I realized that it's Friday D: