Sorry I updated neither story yesterday, I was going to, but it was my boyfriend's birthday and I got a free cocktail from the place. So, I'm a light weight, and couldn't even type my name, due to no glasses/alcohol combo. So I apologise.
Nobody slept well. It's impossible when you know what's only hours away. Like in the old world and you be waiting for your holiday to start as a kid, but the night before you'd be too awake to sleep although you knew you needed it. Or Christmas. And all those nice things are hard to remember at all.
So the morning saw groggy faces at dawn, all with churning stomachs and a sense of trepidation. It wasn't too late to play coward and make it here, but that was neglecting the others. Everyone was dressed in light clothes, they still had no vehicle to use. The ones at the store had little going for them, dead batteries, flat tires or simply couldn't be awoken by being hot-wired. It would be nice if they got a car expert soon, they were limited by curious discovery, ricks training and old crime films. But going on foot wouldn't be bad, if they avoided herds, walkers were each enough to pick off.
Beth poured out the last of the all-bran between Tyrese's and Michonne bowls, no use taking boxes of cereal, and the plastic sheeting would only let it be crushed to dust. She did the same with the cheerios' and then the frosted flakes, passing the latter two to Kenneth and Sasha. They all ate gratefully, and Beth looked up from the kitchen and smiled at her little family. She did want to think this may be the last time it's like this with all of them, but…
Judith was on Sasha's lap, she was crying loudly, pushing her fists into her eyes at the early start. That was another thing, what happens when Judy cries and there's no wall. Beth came over to the stubborn child, Sasha was trying everything but was at the end of her rope within five minutes. Accepting Beth pulling her, Judith flung her arms around Beth's neck, rubbing her wet face into her shoulder. Beth patted small soothing circles on the little girl's back, who moved to whimpering slowly in annoyance. Her other hand twirled soft curls gently, further helping the cries to lessen.
Daryl knew Judith was getting to that age that only mummy will do. And that caused major problems out there. He fed Beth a spoonful of cheerios', which she happily took. For one, it meant Beth would have to carry Judith, and that in turn meant someone else had Beth's and Judith's bag. He took a spoonful himself. Secondly, the girl was heavy and getting restless, and the crying would attract walkers as much as the soft noises of Beth singing to calm her. Beth took another from him, the others were accustomed to their bizarre telepathy, and Kenneth was the only one who didn't have the joy of knowing how quick its onset was.
They all geared up and waited for them all to convene around the front, like scouts waiting for their scout master. Daryl was helping to tighten Kenneth's backpack, he happened to have the dodgy one he brought with him. Michonne's bag was bigger than the others, she was carrying Beth's things, but she knew she was stronger than most the others- maybe not Daryl, one day she would be, that'd teach him. Beth ran out, knowing she was delaying the group, it was only about half an hour after breakfast. She turned and taped a message to the front of the door.
''BG + DD + SW + TW + MC + JG + new guy- 4 weeks after prison''
Daryl nodded at her, knowing she was keeping the morale alive for anyone who stumbled here now. In her head it was Maggie. Maggie would come here and know her writing before even reading it, and her and Glenn would know that they were safe. And if it was Rick, he'd see only his little girl's initials. Kenneth muttered about being called 'new guy' at an attempt of a joke, and it provided tense smiles from them all.
Judith was strapped in tightly to the front of Beth, and they were about two hours into their journey. The next rendezvous was about 4 days on foot for him, so with Judith and a group it would be a tad longer. They walked systematically. Daryl scouted out front, picking routes and checking for disturbances. Michonne behind him, more or less circling around, picking off walkers like it was sport. Kenneth and Sasha were aside of Beth, there to stop anything getting close to baby, or Blondie. And Tyresse took the foot of the group, helping Michonne take care of any followers.
It was going well, their planning lead to an efficiency, which managed to make zombie land almost a joke. Having left just after dawn, when the sky was at its highest point the group stopped. The settled for lunch in the middle of an empty road. The tarmac was shaded by trees but far enough away that any walkers that emerged from the tree line could be spotted. Not even a burnt out vehicle in sight.
Beth took Judith out the baby sling. She immediately started crawling around, trying to remove herself from the indignant torture she had suffered all morning. She made her way to Kenneth, seemingly to forget he had put her in that device as well. Beth lay down, her legs ached and her head had been full of thoughts at every step, thinking about her family, both dead and alive. A childish part of her wanted sympathy and hugs, but everyone had to have been in the same position now. Rule- everyone loses someone in zombie land.
Daryl threw himself down beside Beth, she looked up a bit startled. She had that look on her face, the look of guilty thoughts. He passed her a bottle of water, and as she sipped, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He could feel her weight lean into him a little, accepting the comfort. There were millions of thing to say, but they would mean nothing. These were problems that would plague her until she died. He felt his throat tighten a little at the idea of a world with no Beth.
The next two days passed much the same, stopping occasionally for sleep and food, but making heavy legs go further. Judith had resigned herself to babbling quietly and sleeping half the day. They followed the road they had picnicked at, the ground was at least even now, but the lack of land scape provided little stimulation. It occurred to them all at different times, that they were little better than the walking dead people. Just wandering lethargically in hope for humans.
The sky was setting slightly, but with no luck finding any form of shelter it would have to be trees or ground camp again. Michonne and Daryl were happy to take watch, but the lack of sleep was slowly getting to them too. Grating down the energy they tried to save. Beth missed looking at the sunset to appreciate the colours and the beauty, rather than cursing them for meaning they would have to sleep in this creepy place again. Judith head was rested against her chest, already happily dozing off, hearing the sounds of Beth's heart.
They had about an hour of orange light left, when the walkers came from nowhere. Michonne whistled loudly after the first few were taken down. More poured form the dark shadows of the tree line, like some fucked up soldiers of darkness, and Daryl started shooting any stragglers. If Michonne was holding them off and there was still this many, that meant danger. Kenneth and Sasha started moving around Beth a bit tighter, holding Judith and stabbing zombies was too dangerous.
Tyresse had joined in, using his hammer and a spare knife to hold off the tree line with Michonne. Daryl looked at the two of them, waiting for them to break ranks and show that they should run.
''Tyresse, behind you- oh fuck-'' Sasha voice was high and frantic, she sprinted to the walker, throwing her knife from metres away. It stuck into the walkers head mere inches from Tyreese's arm. Beth heard herself scream as Sasha fell, but it was only due to the force of her throw. She got up from her overbalance, dumping the backpack to help Tyresse, obviously no longer trusting her brother's life in his own hands.
Daryl was using a machete now, taking out the lone walkers from the opposite side drawn by the sounds. He'd have to trust the others to keep the herd at bay. The walkers had poured out, blocking the road ahead, and they knew the woods were no safer in this light, and the road behind them offered no shelter. They could only run so long, but the reanimated corpses just kept going. More loners on Daryl's side started over whelming even him. Beth's eyes got huge and wide, she couldn't lose him.
''You need to go help him.'' Kenneth heard the small soft voice, but couldn't place it at all. Was he dead? He felt a small push at his arm, Beth looked at him. Wait, she just spoke. He only nodded, slightly dumbfounded. Her eyes had an innocent look of no compromise, but he felt reluctant to leave mother and baby with no protection. Beth was drawing her own knife out, and no walkers had reached as far as them yet. Trusting her, Kenneth ran to help Daryl, taking down his first walker in weeks.
The two sides were holding off the walkers, the herd was thinned out, not half the size of the last they encountered. Memberships still available. But the group were tired and malnourished, their movements slowing. The occasional monster would slip by and Beth would take it out, using Sasha's throwing knife trick. The floor around her held around six walkers now. She felt so hopeless. Judith was whimpering at being jerked around and the obvious air of death, so Beth had to bounce her and mutter soft things, whilst grunting at the ache in her arm.
There wasn't any time to look at the others, just focus. Try and get to that place at the prison. Hit and next one, they were getting heavier, stumbling around the groups and bodies to the back where a single meal and a snack were alone and struggling to fight. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run and give up and cry. But she had Judith, and as much as she was nearly at the point of giving up, Judith needed a future. A mangled hand grabbed her flying pony tail, making her stumble over and ankle, her body going at a 90 degree angle. The floor was coming and she screamed, rolling to take the impact on her side not the baby. Judith cried out, and the walker was leering down. Beth kicked its knee sending it sprawling. The impact on her ankle made her bite out another scream, but she shuffled over quickly to pierce its skull with the knife.
She had to get up. Now, Beth. But her right side was grazed and bleeding from hitting the tarmac, stinging, and with Judith's extra weight. No, don't agree to giving up. Just do it.
Daryl heard her scream. He got the next six walkers, and turned back to glance. She was on the floor, Judith's crying was bringing in more walkers. They had to move. The road ahead was still full of walkers but Tyresse, Sasha and Michonne were making impact, if they focused efforts there they could run ahead. The dimming light was only adding dread. He got close enough to Kenneth to yell the plan, and together they left their front, grabbing their bags. Kenneth headed to tell the others the plan and start helping make a walker passage.
Whilst Daryl picked off the approaching walkers, he was impressed to see Beth had sat herself up and was attempting to get off the floor. When he saw her go down with that walker he thought the worst. But something was wrong as he got closer. She was paler than she should be, blood was seeping from her own bite marks on her lips, holding in screams. She couldn't get herself up. Getting closer he could see her bleeding arms, and she wasn't using her right leg. Shit.
Without asking anything, he unclipped Judith from the baby carrier, looking up to catch anyone's attention. Sasha caught Daryl kneeling beside a body, he jerked her head and she ran over, dodging hands and taking down the walkers. The body was Beth, and she was struggling with trying to sit up. Daryl didn't say anything just passed her up Judith. Sasha pulled the child to her chest, Judith accepted comfort quickly. Daryl scooped Beth up, she gasped in resentful pain, biting her lips. He looked at her and she nodded, no more time wasted Sasha and Daryl ran to the herd.
He whistled sharply, and Michonne glanced back, taking it all in quickly. She grabbed up the bags, and Tyreese took his and Sasha's. Then they knew it was time to run into the thickets of undead, this was a bad idea, but the only one they had. The katana gave them the most purchase, and Daryl and Sasha kept behind Michonne's trail, running quickly. Leaving the other two to deal with the enclosing monsters.
When they broke the ranks to the other side, it was practically dark. But they kept running as long as adrenaline was going to take them. The groans of the walkers behind them was a massive incentive too. They gradually slowed to shuffling walks, knowing his lungs were on fire, Daryl suspected the others were in worse states. There was no choice but when they pulled a bit ahead of the walkers to try and get up into a tree.
Verging off the dark road into the grass ditch by the side of the road, the thin light of the flash light caught yellow. Big and yellow. The old school bus had hit off the road. Its wheels getting stuck in the ditch. It didn't even take a look for the stomachs of the group to drop simultaneously.
Tah-dah! xx
