Hey folks! Sorry about the prolonged absence. Life got in the way, and then I decided to re-write the whole chapter in first person present tense, which I'm still not sure how I feel about. If anyone wants to let me know how it reads, I'd appreciate it. I think in the future I might stick with past tense for first person and only use present tense for third person narratives. But if you think is sounds better (because of the tense change) than previous chapters I'd really love to hear from you.
I didn't want to have to do this, because I really feel like chapters are like thoughts and they aren't as powerfully expressed when they are broken up, but I don't think it's fair to keep anyone waiting any longer.
I would like to personally thank Jasmin Jade xx and itsi3 for not giving up on "What If." Hearing from you two was definitely what motivated me to finally get this up.
Chapter 23 - The Longest Day: Part 1 - Carol
"We gotta go, there's a herd coming this way. Let's go!" Shouts Amelia.
Daryl wastes no time with surprise or questions, he just straps his crossbow across his back and hurries down the ladder. I follow close behind. Halfway down he jumps to the ground. As soon as he lands, I jump too. Before I can land he tuns and catches me. He knew I would jump, despite my injuries, just as I knew he would catch me, so I wouldn't make them worse. It is seamless, thoughtless, the way we move together as a unit when we hunt.
He grabs my hand to tow me after him knowing my injuries are still slowing me down and I let him. We are beyond the pride of independence. This is about survival, and I need help.
Amelia waits for us at the barn door, keeping an eye out for the oncoming geek army. She is stabbing the first of the herd in the eye as we reach her.
We all take off at a run.
"Rick and the others got back empty handed a little while ago," says Amelia. "When we realized you hadn't come back, Carol was missing and I'd never found Shane, we knew something was wrong. That's when we heard the gun shot and stepped out onto the porch. We spotted the herd right about the time I realized the barn was the only place I hadn't checked yet. I just took off, knowing I had to get to the barn before the geeks if anyone was in there."
"You ran right up to a herd of geeks on the chance that we were in there?" asks Daryl, voicing the question I, myself was too winded to ask.
"It was that or take the chance on you getting eaten alive," she answers with a wicked grin before kicking it into high gear and leaving us in her dust. I was impressed, the girl was fast. On my best day I couldn't have kept up with her - and that was twice she'd risked her neck to save my ass.
When we reach the porch, Rick, Hershel and Andrea are distributing our collective arsenal out to everyone.
Maggie hands Glenn a double barrel shot gun just as we come into ear shot.
"Maggie!" says Glenn, a little taken aback.
Maggie is all business as she loads up a rifle for herself. "You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two."
"They got the numbers, it's no use," says Daryl, looking back at the herd.
"You can go if you want," says Hershel as he loads up his shot gun.
"You're gonna take them all on?" asks Daryl with equal measure respect and incredulity.
"We have guns. We have cars," says Herschel cocking his shot gun.
"Kill as many of them as we can," agrees Andrea. "And we use the cars to lead the rest off the farm."
"Are you serious?" asks Daryl with a little bit of nervous laughter in his voice.
"This is my farm," says Hershel. "I'll die here."
"All right," says Daryl pulling his crossbow off his back. "It's as good a night as any."
I squeeze his hand where ours are still clasped. He looks down at me and I tilt my head as if to say, 'not you, not today.'
He understands me as always and nods his head almost imperceptibly.
It was a promise we both know he might not be able to keep, but it is a comfort and a kindness in a way that is so quintessentially Daryl. I let go of his hand and he places it on the rail of the porch before vaulting over it to head for his bike.
I turn on my heal and head into the house to find Sophia.
I grab the handle to my bedroom door and am not surprised to find the door locked. I rap my knuckles gently against door and call out my sister's name.
I hear one set of foot steps approach the door, far too loud to be Sophia's. The door opens slowly to reveal Carl and Sophie holding hands. Carl has his pistol drawn and Sophie has the little folding knife Daryl gave her open and ready. They step aside to let me in.
"Why was the door locked?" I ask as I grab my new crossbow from under the bed.
"There was a bad man on the loose," answers Sophia simply.
"Yes, there was," I say softly, thinking of Shane. "The bad man has been taken care of. Now we have a new threat, and we can't hide from this one, we have to run. Is all your stuff together?"
She nods.
"What's the new threat?" asks Carl as the gun shots start outside.
"There's a herd of geeks outside and they're headed this way," I answer. "Sophie, where's your stuff."
She trots to the closet, bends down to pick something up and when she stands, she is slinging a backpack over her shoulder.
"That's everything?" I ask.
She nods.
"All right," I say, walking to the corner to grab my own bag. "Let's check in with everyone else but then I'm going the need both of your help loading as many supplies as we can before the herd gets here.
When we get back outside, it's chaos. All but one of the cars have been commandeered to fend off the flood of geeks. Most of the group is driving back and forth picking off geeks one at a time, but it's like trying to hold the tide back with your bare hands. It won't be long before the cars are in too deep to be to be able to get out, which means that we have to hurry. Hershel holds his position between the herd and his home like the last sentinel, making a final stand. He fires. A geek drops. He cocks his shot gun.
Fire. Drop. Cock.
Fire. Drop. Cock.
Fire. Drop. Cock.
He isn't even making a dent, there is always another geek. The Huns are at the gates. All they can hope to do is buy us some time. The farm is lost, has been from the jump.
"Alright Sophie, let's throw our packs in the suburban so they doesn't slow us down, but keep your little knife on you," I say, ushering her down the stairs.
As we throw our stuff in the SUV, Lori bursts out the front door.
"Carl where have you been, you were supposed to be upstairs. You had me worried sick. I thought you'd run off, again!"
Carl frowns at his mother's hysterics, "Mom, I had to stay with Sophia," he says as if it's obvious.
When it's clear she doesn't follow, he adds, "to protect her... from Randall... He was on the loose and everyone was out looking for him. What if he came back while they were all gone?"
Lori's jaw is slack and the crease between her eyebrows is as deep as the Grand Canyon.
"We're wasting time," I say. "We're going to load as many supplies as we can into the Suburban. We could use your help."
Lori looks at me as if just realizing I was there and notices the crossbow strapped to my back.
"Why do you have Daryl's crossbow?" She asks.
"It's mine," I say.
She laughs, "Do you even know how to use that thing?"
"Yes," I say flatly before brushing past her into the house. We don't have time for this.
I hear three sets of foot steps following me.
Night descends quickly, the barn is burning like a funeral pyre, and the herd is pouring through the cars and brushing past Hershel.
I see T-Dog and Andrea speeding towards us from the frontline.
"Let's go! Leave the rest! We're out of time," I scream through the front door to Lori, Carl and Sophia. Lori is shouldering two heavy bags and has a firm grasp on her son's hand as she runs through the door.
I point out the F-100 that has just stopped maybe 20 yards from the front steps. She nods and keeps going.
I grab Sophie's hand and run to the side of the porch.
"Hershel! Hershel come on it's time to go!" I scream but either he can't hear me doesn't care. If I wasn't holding Sophie's hand, I'd be tempted to jump the railing and drag him to the cars kicking and screaming, but I have to think of my sister.
I tighten my grip on her hand and run for the stairs.
Screams cut through the air and I look up to see Patricia being torn apart. Beth is still holding onto her hand and Lori is trying to pry Beth away.
The smell of blood and the sounds of death attract all the nearby geeks right to us.
Sophie and I are cut off from both the others and the Suburban. I run for it, pulling Sophie behind me. We turn a corner at the edge of the house and find ourselves trapped. Our backs against the wall, we face down the swarming walkers.
I know we'd never be able to cut through all of them, not with just ourselves and our knives but when I hear someone shouting my name, I look up to see Andrea running towards us, her gun drawn.
I pull my knife and see Sophie do the same out of the corner of my eye. We stand out ground, keeping the wall at our backs as Andrea shoots her way to us. That way we at least don't have to watch our six, and we can all fight our way out together once she reaches us.
I stab an oncoming walker in the eye, then look up to check Andrea's progress. She's just downed the last two geeks between us but she doesn't seem to notice the geek coming up behind her. I scream, "Look out!"
She spins around and shoots the geek in the face but he falls on top of her.
"No!" I scream, grabbing Sophie's hand sprinting though the hole in the herd she'd made for us.
When I reach her, Sophie helps me roll the mammoth geek off Andrea.
"Andrea!?" I ask, shaking her shoulders. When I don't see any bite marks, I press my fingers to her neck and feel - a pulse!
Maybe she hit her head and got knocked out from the fall?
Panicking, I slap her and she shoots up into a sitting position.
Laughing manically I stand, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. When she is steady, I drop her hand, replace it with Sophie's, and start sprinting for the tree line. Maybe without a clear line of sight, we can lose the herd in the woods.
We are halfway across the field when I realize we aren't gonna make it. Sophie's little legs can't run fast enough, my injured body can't carry her long enough and Andrea is exhausted and possibly concussed. The geeks are on our heels and I am about to tell Andrea to save her last three bullets for us when I hear horse hooves behind us.
I spin around to see Andrea and Daniel riding up behind us on two horses, smashing in geek heads as they pass them.
"Get on, hurry," shouts Amelia.
She holds out her hand to Andrea and pulls her up behind her.
I lift Sophie up behind Daniel who then holds his hand out to pull me up, but I shake my head.
"You'll never be able to outrun the geeks with that much weight. We'll meet back at the highway where Sophie got lost. Andrea knows how to get there."
He opens his mouth to argue but there's no time.
"Go!" I shout and slap his horse's hind quarters and then do the same to Amelia's horse.
I can hear Sophie's wailing fade as I put everything I have into running for the tree line. This may be the end, but if Sophie is going to survive this, I have to try, I can't leave her alone if there is any other way. We have fought too hard to live to give up on life now.
I feel dead hands graze my back and I scream, pushing that much harder, fear induced adrenaline surging through my system.
That's when I hear the most beautiful sound in all my life, the roar of a motorcycle.
I look up to see Daryl rolling towards me. My vision narrows to that man and the pain and exhaustion and burning lungs fade away.
I nearly collapse when I reach him but lift my shaking leg to straddle the bike behind him.
"Hurry up," he growls. "Ain't got all day."
I squeeze him tight and start laughing and sobbing.
I'm alive and so is he and I have never been so happy to hear his gruff voice saying something rude.
"Where's Sophie?" he yells over his shoulder.
"The highway, where Andrea and Dale found the three of us. We're meeting them there."
He didn't question, just gunned the engine and sped even faster.
We're comin' Sophie.