Safe Haven

Chapter 14

Daryl ran as fast as he could, full force towards the lake. Even still, he felt like it took him forever to get there. His heart was racing which had begun even before he started running. He felt helpless and afraid, something he didn't feel very often and he hated feeling that way. The edge of the lake came into focus and the only thing he saw was a walker. He started to struggle to breathe but stopped dead in his tracks, took aim and fired…..

Eve turned around and saw the walker lunging at her. Fear ran through her body as she barely had time to react. She pushed up off her knees with her feet as hard as she could but lost her balance and fell backwards into the lake. She felt like she was falling in slow motion. She heard herself splash into the lake with such force the sound was deafening. Panic was all she could feel as she saw the walker lunge into the lake after her. The edge of the lake was fairly shallow but Eve struggled to get her feet back underneath herself. She heard a loud scream and then realized that the scream was coming from her own mouth. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought it would beat out of her chest. Her lungs tightened and she felt like she was suffocating. She kept flailing her arms backwards trying to clear enough space between herself and the walker to get back up to her feet. The walker charged at her, hissing with it's arms outstretched towards her. Somehow Eve managed to lean forward and to the right avoiding the walker's grasp. At this point she was able to get her feet back underneath her and she clawed her way to the edge of the lake and pulled herself back out onto the ground. She felt like she was trying to crawl through wet cement. She tried pushing to her feet to head up the hill towards camp when she felt the walker's hand wrap around her left shoe and pull her back towards the lake. Eve completely lost her footing and felt herself sliding towards the clutches of the walker. In a last desperate attempt to save herself she twisted over to her left side, raised her right leg, drew up her knee towards her chest and then kicked the walker in the face as hard as she could. The walker stumbled back freeing it's grasp on Eve. Eve scurried back to her feet and attempted to run. Her legs buckled underneath her and she dropped back down to her knees. While still attempting to crawl away she looked over her shoulder to see how close the walker was to her and at that moment an arrow came cutting through the air above her head and plunged into the walker's head through it's eye. The walker became quiet and still, falling backwards, motionless.

Daryl rushed down to the bank of the river towards Eve. She jumped when she saw him but stopped when she realized who was next to her. She stopped trying to struggle to her feet and just laid on the ground for a moment. Her heart was still racing, she tried to get her breathing under control. She felt as if she could vomit. That was too close. Way too close. Daryl dropped to his knees next to her.

"ARE YOU HURT?" Daryl yelled at her. She just stared at him. She couldn't even speak.

"EVE!" Daryl yelled at her again and leaned in closer. His voice sounded as if he was in a tunnel. It echoed in her head and she tried to focus. She didn't even know if she was hurt or not. Her whole body had become numb. She put her hand on her chest and closed her eyes. Daryl panicked. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Eve opened her eyes and managed to spit out "Leg!". Daryl looked down at her legs but didn't see any blood or any torn areas in her jeans. He frantically felt down her leg, pulling up each pant's leg looking for injuries. He looked back at her face, this time her hand had moved from her chest to over her mouth and she was staring up to the sky. Daryl reached out to her torso and felt around her sides and her stomach. He couldn't see anywhere she could be hurt.

"I don't see anything!" Daryl said frantically.

Eve took in a deep breath and her heart rate was starting to calm. She slowly sat up. With Daryl kneeling next to her just waiting anxiously for some kind of response from her.

"I….I…..think I'm…ok" Eve replied.

"You think you're ok?" Daryl stood up, he began to get angry and his voice grew increasingly louder. "You think you're ok? YOU THINK YOU'RE OK! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING? WHY WOULD YOU COME HERE UNARMED?WHY WOULD YOU COME HERE BY YOURSELF UNARMED? DON'T YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS WAS? WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKIN' ?"

Daryl just stood there staring at her wide eyed. Eve had seen him irritated and angry before this but certainly not this angry. Eve managed to get to her feet and stand up. Her legs still felt weak but she felt like she could walk now if she tried. Rick, Shane and Andrea came running down the hill towards them. They were a few feet away when Daryl held up his hand to stop them from coming any further. Eve reached down to grab her clothes. She began to feel light headed and slightly stumbled. Daryl retrieved his arrow and stomped back off towards camp. Eve trailed slowly behind. Shane just looked bewildered and Andrea gave a frustrated smirk and turned back towards camp. Rick walked towards Eve.

"Are you alright Eve?"

Eve still felt like she could hardly talk but was able to answer "Yes, I think so" as they began to walk to camp.

Eve suddenly felt very stupid and embarrassed. She made a stupid mistake. She couldn't even think straight, was beginning to slightly tremble and felt a splitting headache coming on…

"Daryl….what happened?" Dale asked looking concerned.

"Fuck you old man!" Daryl snapped and started kicking whatever objects were closest to him that he could find. He headed towards his tent.

Dale decided it best to steer clear from Daryl at the moment and saw Andrea and Shane returning.

"Well, what happened? Is everyone alright?" Dale asked them.

Andrea had a slight smirk on her face "Apparently, someone isn't as invincible as they thought they were."

Shane shook his head "Come on Andrea, now's not the time and you of all people should be more sensitive to that….everyone's alright Dale but it was definitely an ordeal."

Andrea's expression looked as if Shane had slapped her. "What? Are you her new biggest fan now too?". Andrea marched off to her tent with Shane following rolling his eyes to Dale as he trailed after, calling out to her.

Lori approached Rick looking concerned but before she could ask Rick spoke up. "Everything is under control, Eve is getting cleaning up in the RV. She had a bit of a scare, well a big scare. But the threat is gone. Thanks to Daryl"

"Well I wouldn't mention anything to him about it if I was anyone, he just blew through here like a tornado looking none too happy." Dale pointed towards the wrecked camp.

Rick looked at Lori and with his right hand and rubbed his chin, shaking his head. "I swear I don't understand that guy." Rick put his arm around Lori and they walked over to Carl, hugged him and went back to their tent...

Carol handed Eve a change of dry clothes and a towel as Eve began to change and dry herself off. Carol could see Eve was visibly shaken. Neither said a word. Once cleaned up and dry, Eve started to exit the RV to head to her tent.

"Eve…" Carol stepped towards Eve. She stopped and looked at Carol. "I know it's hard when people don't react the way you would expect them to in a situation. Daryl is one of those people. He just needs a different type of patience than most…..he's doing the best he knows how."

Eve stood there for a moment in silence. "Actually would you mind if I stayed here a bit? At least until everyone goes to their tents for the evening? I don't feel much like dealing with anyone."

"Of course…." Carol stepped closer to Eve and put her hand on her arm. "Stay as long as you need."