Quinn, on the road

I quickly wiped away my tears, Aaron and Jesus got Eugene and we were on the run again. I tried as hard as I could to swallow back my tears because I didn't want them to blur my vision. I looked back above my shoulder, I watched Daryl disappear in the mist, which became thicker by the moment. I shook my head, wiped my eyes again, and followed the guys.

We hurried as much as we could, the mist was so thick around us I could almost touch it. We reached a cemetery. We hid behind the fence. The herd was still coming after us. I was scared. What if something happened to Daryl? Why were the herd still coming?

We tried to slow them down by changing our routes, but we could barely see anything. We found the gate, but Jesus couldn't open it, it was too old. I tried to help, him but to no avail. Aaron and Jesus tried to lift Eugene over the fence, but they couldn't, he was too heavy. I grabbed the knife Carol gave me.

"They are here," I warned them. Aaron pulled out his knife and Jesus his sword. I was breathing heavily. Eugene was staying at the fence, shaking. I glanced at him.

"I'm so glad we could see each other again," I told him, tears stinging my eyes, but I fought so hard not to cry.

"Don't say that Quinn, please. We will get out of this. We will," he said, but his voice was shaking too.

I smiled at him sadly, then turned around to face the walkers. I haven't used a knife in ages, so I was worried, but soon I got back into it. It was like riding a bicycle, you don't forget it completely. We started to take the walkers out as they approached us. Aaron was using his machine arm and Jesus used some kind of martial art, to kick them. I felt so useless, I was just stabbing their heads as much as I could. Eugene grabbed his machete too and came to help us, he stepped next to me and we took them out together. They stopped coming, but we heard a lot of growls, we were turning around to see if any were coming towards us.

Then I heard a clap of thunder. I jumped.

Oh no, please, not now, please. I started breathing heavily.

"Quinn, what's wrong?" asked Eugene.

"I panic when I hear storms," I said.

"That's not good," said Aaron worryingly. We all knew it was a terrible situation to have a panic attack. I was fighting against it, I tried.

I took deep breathes. Another thunder, another jump.

We heard a familiar voice, it was Michonne on the other side of the fence. I had no idea how she found us in this thick mist, but I was glad to see her.

I was still breathing heavily. Eugene helped Michonne to open the gate, then two women appeared next to Michonne, I didn't know them. They managed to open the gate, Aaron went to help Eugene walk, Jesus stood behind to cover our backs. I took a deep breath again and again.

Then I suddenly heard his voice inside my head.

"Look at me! Everything's gonna be alright."

"Everything's gonna be alright."

"Everything's gonna be alright…" I repeated whispering. I was crouching on the ground, seemed like they forgot that I was there. Aaron yelled at Jesus to follow him.

Everything's gonna be alright.

Jesus walked towards us, he put out a walker, but another one was going towards him.

I stood up quickly.

Jesus swung his sword at the last walker, but it dodged it and tried to stab Jesus from behind, but I got there at the last minute and knocked over the walker, stabbed it in the head. Jesus and I also fell as I jumped on his attacker. I was still breathing heavily, and it didn't help that I saw the walker was about to stab Jesus.

It was all happening in one second.

I struggled to pull my knife out of its skull, it was too hard. It wasn't a walker.

Aaron and Michonne rushed to us and several other "walkers" ran towards us.

"Jesus, are you alright?" I asked him, he was on the ground next to me.

"It's just a scratch. Thank you!" he breathed, shock on his face.

I looked up, Aaron and Michonne were fighting the others. I heard something behind me, I turned around quickly, but the walker was already swinging his knife towards me, and then an arrow shot through his head. I gasped.

"Daryl!" I leaped to my feet, I was so relieved. "I thought something happened to you."

"Not yet," he said. I tried so hard to hold myself back from hugging him, I felt it would be too awkward, so I just smiled at him, then I turned back to Jesus. I helped him up. Aaron was helping him too.

"Don't worry, the armor took the hit. Just a scratch," he told us. Aaron hugged him suddenly. "Whoa, don't knock me over," said Jesus smiling, hugging him back. I smiled too, I knew I saw that crush.

Daryl called Michonne over, I followed her. He removed a walker skin from one of them and a person was underneath.

These are people, masquerading as walkers.

I was still breathing heavily. There wasn't any time to be shocked, because we started to hear them again. They were whispering to each other, they wanted to kill us. I was trembling so hard it almost started to hurt. Because of cold and because of fear. Michonne killed some of them, Aaron and Jesus grabbed Eugene. Michonne followed us and Daryl closed the gate.

We were running back to the road. The left side of my stomach hurt, but I didn't know why. Maybe because I fell. There wasn't any time to think about it, we had to get out of here.

"Are you alright?" Daryl stepped next to me while we were jogging away.

"Yes," I told him, but I wasn't. I was scared shitless. Somehow, I got over my panic attack, but that didn't change the fact of how scared I was. We were running as fast as we could. Aaron and Jesus helped Eugene, he was still jumping with one leg.

We reached the other side of the field, we started to slow down, but we were still walking fast. Daryl caught up with Michonne. I was left with the two women I didn't know yet, they were talking about how disgusting it was that these people wore dead skin. I exchanged looks with them and I nodded my head in agreement. Michonne and Daryl walked together, they were deep in conversation. I stared at Michonne's back for a little while, I felt the urge to ask about Negan, but I didn't dare. It wasn't the right time and I didn't want to interrupt their heart-to-heart with Daryl. They were talking for a long time.

I turned back to the two unknown women.

"I'm Quinn," I said. They looked at me and both of them smiled faintly.

"I'm Yumiko and she's Magna."

I nodded my head.

"Nice to meet you. I don't know where you came from, but thank you for your help. Really," I told them. They smiled at me.

"Glad we could help," said Yumiko.

We got back to our horses, Magna and Yumiko mounted the one they arrived with. Aaron and Jesus helped Eugene up on the other one and we continued our journey back to Hilltop.

I glanced at Eugene now. He was still trembling. So was I.

Jesus stepped next to me.

"Thank you, Quinn," he said quietly. "If it weren't for you, I would probably be… one of them," he nodded his head in the direction we came from, indicating the walkers.

"It's nothing…" I said embarrassed. I couldn't handle compliments.

"It's everything for me. I owe you," continued Jesus. "You can come to me if anything's the matter with you. Really, I mean it."

I felt like I could trust him. I nodded my head and smiled at him. Jesus turned back to Aaron and they engaged in a deep and quiet conversation.

I looked up at Eugene, again.

"How's your knee? Does it hurt much?" I asked him.

"Positive," he said with a painful face. "It hurts like hell."

I didn't know what else to say. I saw Daryl glanced at me. He was still guarding me for Carol.

"Thank you for coming for me. All of you," said Eugene in a sad voice. "I didn't want to put any of you in danger."

"We don't leave anyone behind," said Michonne. Daryl nodded.

"Of course, we came," said Jesus.

I let out a sigh. I felt so tired. I was still trembling. My legs hurt from running around. I was in bed for so long, I wasn't that strong anymore. Dog started to bark.

We reached a tunnel, some walkers were inside. I started to tremble even more. Maybe they were people disguised as walkers again? We stopped, I stayed with Eugene, I was holding the horse. The others surrounded the tunnel. Daryl shot one in the leg it was a human, he started to scream and the rest started to eat him, they were walkers. I watched the other one, it didn't go there to feast on the wounded, he took out a knife. Michonne rushed at him and killed him. There was one more left, that one raised her hands. She surrendered. Daryl stepped to her and took off her mask. It was just a girl. She claimed there was no more of them, but Michonne didn't believe her. The girl cried, Daryl suggested we take her with us and interrogate her at Hilltop. Michonne threatened her which made her cry even more. I kind of felt sorry for her, but she was one of them, they tried to kill us. Daryl grabbed her, Yumiko stepped to her and tied her hands, then covered her eyes with a piece of cloth. They helped her up on one of our horses. We continued our journey back to the Hilltop.

We found our other horses and Daryl's motorcycle. Daryl stepped to me.

"Comin'?" he asked. I nodded my head, my leg hurt so bad I needed to sit somewhere, and I wasn't sure I could climb up on a horse right now. I sat behind Daryl and grabbed him, so I wouldn't fall off. I glanced back at Eugene, he looked so weary. His knee must hurt and he was worried about Rosita, I was sure of it. Aaron and Jesus kept walking together. I was curious what they might be talking about for so long, but I didn't want to eavesdrop on them. I was still trembling, Daryl felt it too. He looked at me above his shoulder.

"'re you sure you're alright?" he murmured. He turned a little more, to look at me.

"I'm just… whatever. Let's go. Doesn't matter."

He looked at me for another moment, then turned back and started the motorcycle.

I wasn't even sure why I was still trembling. Maybe because of exhaustion and cold and fear. I didn't want to whine, because I was sure all the others felt the same way.

We headed back to Hilltop.

…

Author's note: Listen to "Save the Hero" by Beyoncé. Thank You for reading! ❤