I swore violently as I jumped in the back of the blue truck. T-Dog and Andrea were inside the small cab as I stood in the bed, my backpack next to me by my feet. Other miscellaneous bags were tossed in the bed as well; our mad scramble to prepare a bug out if need be left us in disarray. I pulled my Glock out and quickly checked the clip.
Daryl was on his motorcycle at the very front, leading our attack. Glenn and Maggie had jumped into Shane's car while Jimmy started up the old RV. Herschel and the other women had remained back at the house, awaiting our return. As T-Dog started up the truck and followed the RV, I swallowed heavily.
My eyes scanned the area for any sign of my missing companion. My search proved fruitless, and I forced myself to focus on the problem at hand. As we neared the undead army, the smell worsened, as did the growls and the fear rising in me. Then I saw the barn.
It was an inferno, the flames licking eagerly at the dry tinder and hay. I felt a bolt of hope dart threw me, and I tapped the glass on the back window. Andrea slid the glass aside and looked at me through the tiny opening.
"You think Rick and Shane did it?" I asked.
"It's possible." Andrea replied. "A distraction, maybe?"
At the sound of shots, Andrea turned away from me and opened her own window. Leaning out, she shot three nearby Walkers. Following her lead, I added to the gunfire. T-Dog maneuvered us through the horde as smoothly as he could, but the rough and uneven terrain caused some difficulty.
I pulled the trigger 6 more times before hearing a click. I reached into the pocket on my flannel shirt and pulled out an extra clip, sliding it into the gun before resuming my shooting. Glenn and Maggie swerved in front of us, taking out the Walkers on our left. My face felt numb from the constant wind blowing against me, and I was glad my lower body was sheltered behind the cab of the truck.
Just then, a sudden impact nearly threw me off the back. I latched onto the cab and steadied myself as T-Dog struggled to control the truck. We fishtailed and I saw the Walker he had hit squirming on the ground. Struggling to control the nausea roiling in me, T-Dog spun the truck around and continued on his previous path.
"They're all over the place!" Andrea shouted. "We'll run out of ammo before we even make a dent!"
"We need a new plan." I told her grimly. "We have to leave."
Andrea nodded at me and turned to T-Dog. "Take it back around towards the house."
As we swung back, I shot a gaze out over the land. Walkers had already swarmed the farmhouse. Lori, Carol, Sophia, Patricia and Beth were fleeing towards the red truck. I felt my heart sink as I noticed Carl wasn't with them. I looked away for a brief moment, but when I looked back up I couldn't see them anywhere.
Then I heard the screaming. Carol and Sophia were running towards the wood shed while Lori had Beth by the wrist, pulling her away from a group of feasting Walkers. Andrea must have seen the same thing.
"I'll go get Lori and Beth!" She yelled at me, jumping out of the car. "You get Carol and Sophia!"
I quickly grabbed an extra clip before jumping over the side of the truck. I immediately felt vulnerable as T-Dog tried to follow Andrea through the mess. My feet were a blur as I darted past Walkers, shooting only the few I had too. I reached the mother and daughter just as they got pinned in. Firing 3 bullets, I dispatched the immediate threat.
"Alice!" Carol sobbed.
I did a quick 360 until I spotted Glenn and Maggie's car. The blue truck was nowhere to be seen. I turned back to the panicking duo.
"Listen, Carol." I demanded, hoping the quaver in my voice wasn't too noticeable. "Get to Glenn and Maggie. Can you do that?"
"What about you?" Carol asked frantically.
"I'll be behind you." I assured.
As I spoke, another gurgle was heard from behind me. I turned around and shot the approaching Geek in the head. Glenn and Maggie were closer now, Glenn trying to clear a path for us.
"I got your back." I told her. "Get your girl outta here."
Carol grabbed Sophia by the hand and immediately took off towards the green car. I followed at a distance, trying to make sure no Walkers caught them from behind. They reached the vehicle first, Glenn ushering them in. I was still quite a distance away when a large group of undead stumbled between me and the vehicle. I grimaced in distress as Maggie frantically honked the horn at me, only managing to attract more Walkers to claw at the car.
I shook my head at them and pointed to the road that led off the farm. The green car jerked forward a few feet in hesitation before finally having to depart, or risk being stranded in the ocean of decaying bodies. As they drove off, the Walkers turned on me hungrily.
My plan from before became apparently flawed as I scanned the farm for any sign of life. All the trucks were gone and I saw no one else. I was alone. I began running towards the road, hoping that if I could just get off the farm, my odds would be better. The breath I wheezed into my lungs was freezing, making my chest hurt as I struggled to outrun the undead.
"Fuck, shit, damn." I muttered under my breath.
I raised my gun and shot off a round right into the face of a Walker that had come up alarmingly fast on my left. I pulled the trigger once more and heard the dreaded, ominous click. Of course I was out of ammo. It was my luck.
The roar of a motorcycle caused me to look up in disbelief. Daryl was driving over towards me quickly, a few Walkers tailing him. He slowed down a few feet in front of me.
"Come on!" He snapped. "Move your ass!"
I stared in disbelief for only a moment before skirting the barbwire fence and running up to him. He scooted forward in the seat to give me room. As I hopped on behind him, I pulled his gun from his pants and shot the closest Walker. He drove the bike forward and I had to give up covering our asses to grab onto him. I'd never ridden on a motorcycle before and I had to really concentrate on keeping myself balanced.
I clicked the safety on his gun before stowing it in the pocket of his vest, hanging onto him tightly as he sped down the dirt road and through the throng of Walkers. If I wasn't cold before, I sure as hell was now.
The faint glow of the rising sun was a welcome sight as we made our way down a secluded back road. We'd been driving all night and I felt fatigue and grief pulling me down. I was jolted awake from a half-comatose state when Daryl slowed down to a complete stop, cutting the engine. He pulled himself off the bike and did a quick stretch.
I copied his movements before sitting back down on the bike, weary to the bone. My fingers were numb and my back ached from the constant upright position I'd been in for the past 5 hours that consisted of driving and doubling-back to lose the unwanted attention of the Walker hoards.
"You hurt?" Daryl asked me, piercing blue eyes scanning for injury.
"No." I said quietly. "You?"
He shook his head.
"Where are we going?" I queried. "We have to find the others."
"Highway. We'll meet where we broke down." Daryl told me.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and blew hot air onto the frozen appendages. My mind was racing despite my exhaustion. Where was the group? Were they okay? Who died? Who was hurt? Where was Riddick…
My throat tightened as I thought of my lost companion. Burying my face in my hands, I let out a soft moan of grief.
"He'll never find us." I whispered to myself.
"Your mutt?" Daryl questioned.
"No." I snapped. "Riddick. Not mutt, or dog. His name is Riddick."
Daryl didn't react to my outburst; instead he turned around and did a quick survey of the area. I straddled the motorcycle once more as he approached. He plopped down in front of me, but didn't start the engine.
"He'll find ya." Daryl told me. "I've seen the two of you together. That mu…Riddick would find you if you were half way 'cross the world."
"Maybe." I muttered, unwilling to admit that his rare optimism was making me feel a little more hopeful.
"Ain't no maybe about it." Daryl grunted, turning the key.
The loud purr of the motorcycle drowned out the songbirds and crickets as he revved the engine. I locked my arms around his waist as he started the bike back up, continuing down the dirt road towards the highway.
The sun was way above our heads when we saw a green car swerve out onto the road in front of us. Daryl slowed down the bike as he followed it through the jammed highway. I pressed my cold cheeks against the back of his vest, his large frame acting like a windbreaker.
"That Glenn?" I could feel the rumble of his voice through his back.
"Yeah. Maggie, Carol and Sophia are with him." I said loudly, trying to be heard over the bike.
Daryl sped up a little to drive next to the green truck. The passenger side window rolled down and I saw Maggie's anxious face. Carol and Sophia were in the back and Glenn sent us a brief wave.
"Thank God you're alright!" I thought I heard Glenn said.
I sent them a weak smile and strained to hear what they were trying to say.
"Where too?" Maggie called to me, the wind nearly ripping her words away.
"Daryl says where the RV broke down!" I called back.
With a nod, Maggie flashed us a thumbs up and rolled her window back up. The green car took its place in front of us once more as we continued on our way.
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
"Oh thank God!" Lori cried as she ran towards Carl.
A mass of greetings and hugs ensued as loved ones reunited. I stood off awkwardly to the side with Daryl, accepting the hugs and handshakes as they came my way. Rick, Lori and Carl were embraced while the Greene family clung tightly to each other. Shane stood off to the side, his head on a swivel.
"Where did you find everyone?" Rick asked.
"Well, this guy's tail lights swerving all over the road, figured he'd have to be Asian to drive like that." Daryl joked.
"Nice one." Glenn conceded with a smirk on his face.
"Where are the rest of us?" I asked, noticing the reduced numbers.
"We're the only ones who've made it so far." Rick said grimly.
"Andrea?" Glenn asked.
"She went after you and Beth." I said, looking at Lori.
"She got us to T-Dog, but then we lost her." Lori said quietly, her eyes on the ground.
"Patricia?" Herschel pondered.
"They got her too." Beth said, tears filling her eyes. "I had her, Daddy. They took her right from me."
"Jimmy. What about him?" I asked, thinking about the young man who had taken the initiative to jump in the RV to protect his family.
"He got overrun." Rick told me.
"You didn't see Andrea go down, though?" I asked Lori. "I mean, did you see her get…"
"There were Walkers everywhere." She said reluctantly.
"I'm going back." Daryl spoke up, heading towards his bike.
"No." Rick said.
"We can't just leave her there." Shane said, speaking up for the first time.
"She isn't there." Rick said. "She either gone or she's dead. There's no way to find her."
"So we aren't even going to look for her?" Glenn demanded.
"We've got to keep moving. There are Walkers all over this place." Rick said.
I shivered at the coldness in his voice. I casted a glance at Shane and my jaw nearly dropped. He looked like he had gotten pummeled. Busted lip, black eye, swelling cheek. What the hell had happened out there? The most disturbing part of it was the almost submissive look in his eyes. Rick had tamed whatever demon that had been rotting inside of the ex-police officer.
"We clear?" Rick turned his gaze onto Shane.
"Yeah." Shane muttered, shifting his shotgun in his hand.
"I say head east." T-Dog put in.
"We head east, we'll be trapped against an ocean." I responded. "Plus, the east is more populated."
"Whatever we do, we need to stay off the main roads." Daryl grunted, reaching for his crossbow. "The bigger the road, the more the Walkers, more assholes like this one."
The Geek had gotten decently close to us without our knowledge, making me uneasy.
"I got it." Daryl said, shooting a bolt into the undead bastards head.
As the body hit the ground with a thud, Rick addressed the rest of us.
"We'll leave behind the pickup. Take Shane's car and Herschel truck. Daryl's got his motorcycle." He shot off, making us move in preparation for our departure.
I pushed off of the car I'd been leaning against and watched as the group scrambled to vehicles, trying to claim the best seats before others did. I walked over to the blue truck and peered into the bed, relieved to find my backpack lying on the metal surface. I pulled it out and handed it to T-Dog.
"We got some stuff." I told him. "A few canned foods and some blankets."
He nodded and took the objects I handed him, delivering them to Herschel's truck.
"You still gonna ride with me?" I heard Daryl ask.
"Sure. Better than being squished between Carol and Lori." I joked.
We had driven for a decent amount of time when a honk from behind us made Daryl slow the bike to a stop. Our feet hit the pavement simultaneously as we swung ourselves off. Slamming car doors echoed through the late evening air as we waited for our leader to meet us up front. The air was still bitterly cold, causing me to tug the borrowed flannel tighter around me.
"You out of gas?" Daryl asked.
"Running on fumes." Rick confirmed.
"We can't stay here." Maggie said, holding her gun nervously in her hands.
"Well, we can't all fit in one car." Glenn said.
"We'll make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick instructed.
"Spend the night here?" Carol asked, pulling her jacket off to drape over Sophia.
"I'm freezing." Carl muttered.
"We'll build a fire." Lori reassured.
"You go out looking for firewood, stay close." Daryl warned. "I only got so many arrows. How's everyone doing on ammo?" Daryl asked.
"Not enough." Rick sighed.
"I'm out. Used my last bullet back at the farm." I replied pulling my virtually useless gun from my waistband.
Shane grunted and reached in his pocket, producing a clip. He tossed it at me.
"It's full." He informed me.
"Thanks." I said.
I slid the new clip in my gun and tucked it back in its home.
"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie snapped.
"Watch your mouth." Herschel scolded. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."
"We'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies." Rick said.
"Glenn and I can go now, maybe scrounge up some gas." Maggie offered.
"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people are stranded without a car." Rick snapped.
"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn seethed.
"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." Rick reasoned. "I wasn't sure, I really wasn't, but we did. We're together. We keep it that way."
I let out a huff and watched as my breath ghosted in front of me in a cloud. The temperature was quickly dropping as we stood there arguing. Every tiny sound of a twig snapping or the rustling of a branch had me tensing in fear and aching with hope.
"We'll find shelter somewhere. There has to be a place." Rick continued.
"Rick, look around." Glenn said slowly. "There's Walkers everywhere. They're migrating, or something."
"There has to be a place. Not where we just hole up, but that we can fortify. Hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other!" Rick ranted. "I know it's out there, we just have to find it!"
"Say we do find a place," I spoke up quietly, unwillingly to have Rick turn his newfound wrath on me, "We think it's safe, maybe it is safe, but we can never be sure for how long."
"Look what happened with the farm." Maggie agreed. "We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe."
"We won't make that mistake again." Shane told her, sounding a bit more like his old self.
"We'll make camp tonight," Rick paused to look around the area, "Over there. Get on the road at the break of dawn."
I followed his finger to the small rocky structure, precariously put together and extremely vulnerable. At that moment Carol walked up to Daryl, tugging Sophia behind her.
"Does this feel right to you?" She demanded the hunter.
Beth took a few steps toward Rick, surprising all of us. "What if more Walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" She demanded.
"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl told Rick. "He'd turned, but he wasn't bit."
A nauseas look passed over Rick's face as he turned away, taking a few pacing steps.
"How's that possible?" Beth asked.
"Rick, what happened out there?" Lori asked.
Silence. The calm before the storm, so to speak. Nerve-wracking and anxiety filled. We stayed in that uneasy limbo for such a long time that when Rick finally responded to us, I jumped.
"We're all infected." He said plainly.
I spun towards him in disbelief and I wasn't the only one. Mouths hung agape as they stared at their leader with looks of betrayal and anger. The only face that seemed impassive to it was Shane.
"What?" Daryl demanded.
"Jenner told me at the CDC." Rick explained. "Whatever it is, we all carry it."
I'd never felt more dirty and violated in my entire life. It felt as if the very blood in my veins were filled with the black sludge the Walkers bled. I almost wanted to take my knife and find out. A shiver of disgust wracked my body as I sat down on Daryl's bike.
"And you never said anything?" Carol asked accusingly.
"Would it have made a difference?" Shane asked the mother, coming to stand by his friend's side.
I narrowed my eyes at the two. Something had happened out there between them. Something bad, altering.
"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked, his voice shaky.
"How could I have known for sure?" Rick demanded. "You saw how crazy that-,"
"That is not your call." Glenn told him pointedly. "When I found out about the Walkers in the barn, I told for the good of the group!"
"I thought it best if people didn't know." Rick spoke with a tone filled with ice.
Nobody challenged him after that, allowing him to walk off. I felt a hand touch my shoulder lightly, causing me to look up. Lori stared down at me.
"Can you watch Carl for a second?" She asked, her eyes darting towards where her husband had walked off to. "I have to talk to Rick."
The anger in her voice was strongly present as she pushed Carl towards me. The kid looked at me, his face pale and his body shivering. I opened my arms slightly.
"Wanna share some of the heat?" I asked.
Carl hesitantly pushed into my embrace as his mother departed. Automatically, everyone turned to Shane, recognizing him as the second in command. However, the ex-cop merely dipped his head to study the shotgun in his hands. Daryl let out a growl of annoyance.
"Ok, people. Move it." He ordered, jerking his head towards the precariously built structure. "Women and kids stay near base. T, you and me are gonna scope out the area, make sure there isn't any unwanted company."
"I'll go look for some firewood." I offered.
"I'll go with her." Glenn volunteered.
"'Kay. Let's get this place locked down and ready for nightfall." Daryl grumbled, hoisting his crossbow.
And that seemed to be the end of the Reign of Walsh.
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
As expected, nighttime brought an unbearable chill to the makeshift campsite. I was huddled underneath a scrappy blanket we'd found in the back of Shane's car, Glenn and Maggie sharing the small piece of fabric with me. We sat as close to the fire as we could without burning ourselves. I had given up my own blanket to Carl and Sophia.
T-Dog and Shane stood on top off one of the crumbling walls, guns in hand, scanning the darkened woods. Lori walked into the semi-shelter and took as seat with the children just as a gust of wind blew through, sending our teeth chattering. The fire stuttered for a moment, sending everyone leaping towards it to make a human shield. As the wind passed, we fell back on our butts.
Daryl crouched next to the fire and added more wood. He seemed practically unfazed by the temperature, for that I was jealous. Carol kneeled next to him, leaving her daughter with Lori.
"We're not safe with him." She whispered. "Keeping something like that from us."
My eyes darted towards her in disbelief. If I wasn't so cold, I probably would have tried to slap some sense into her. Carol looked over her shoulder quickly to see if Rick was near before turning back to the hunter.
"Why do you need him? He's just pulling you down?" She questioned.
"Rick's done alright by me." Daryl nearly snapped.
"You're his henchman." She insisted. "And I'm a burden."
Maggie stiffened next to me and I scoffed under my breath. Our eyes met with the same amount of exhaustion and irritation. Was Carol really trying to pull this now?
"What do you want?" Daryl finally asked.
"A man with honor." Carol said decisively.
"Rick has honor." Daryl growled.
"I think we should take our chances." Carol continued.
"Don't be foolish." Herschel chided. "There's no fuel, no food, no ammo."
A sudden rustle from our left caused everyone to freeze. Daryl slowly rose from his crouch and pulled his crossbow from his back. I rose to my feet as well, automatically missing the warmth of the blanket and my fellow survivors.
"What was that?" Beth asked in a panicky voice.
"Could be a whole lot of things." Daryl muttered. "Raccoon, opossum…"
"Walker?" Glenn asked.
The rustle sounded again, this time closer. Daryl raised his crossbow, finger ready on the trigger. A shadow appeared around the corner…followed by a whimper. I sucked air so quickly I almost choked.
"Daryl." I managed. "Don't."
The group watched in amazement as the shadow limped around the corner, the shape quickly forming into that of a dog.
"Riddick!" I exclaimed.
Daryl lowered his bow quickly as I darted forward. Riddick let out a low woof at my voice and limped towards me before I fell to my knees beside him. I couldn't believe it, the chances he would have found us were so thin that they were nearly transparent.
"Told you." I heard Daryl mutter.
The fire provided enough light to see the glistening of liquid on his rear right leg. I skimmed my hands across it and felt my body tighten in anger. As my fingertips came back crimson, I forced my friend down onto his uninjured side.
"Is he alright?" I heard Herschel ask.
"I think he's shot." I replied grimly.
I have done it! I have finished Season 2! HOLY BATFISH BATMAN! :D Anyways, I want to give a big thanks to all of my viewers and my reviewers and my followers and my … favoriters? Yeah. THANK YOU!