Chapter 7:
She awoke to someone yelling downstairs. She sat up from her spot in the corner of one of the small bedrooms that she shared with Carol and Andrea. She slipped out of her sleeping bag and ran downstairs, curious to see what was going on. She wasn't too surprised when she saw Shane pacing around, screaming. But what took her off guard was the steady stream of blood running from his nose and hands.
"That son of a bitch!" He screamed at the forming crowd. "He has my gun!" He screamed, pointing at the dense woods. "Okay, everyone except Shane, me, Glenn, and Daryl, go into the house!" 'I'm coming too," Desiree said stepping forward. From the look Daryl gave her, she could tell he wasn't too ecstatic about her decision to join them, and made a mental note to ask him why later.
She ran and grabbed her crossbow and a pistol. She secured the pistol in the back of her pants and loaded her crossbow. "Aright, Shane and I will go North, Glenn, Daryl and Desiree, go west." Everyone nodded and walked into the dark forest. "I have a bad feeling about this…" Glenn whispered. Desiree could see his hands shaking as he gripped his hatchet. Daryl, on the other hand looked as calm as ever as he looked for tracks.
The further in they got, the more confused Daryl looked. "What is it?" She asked quietly. "They were walking together… Doesn't match up with Shane's story… Something's fishy he-" He was cut off by the sound of a twig snapping. They all ran behind some trees as the shuffling and moaning got louder. She turned to Daryl and he nodded back at her.
Glenn tip toed around the tree, but the biter caught him off guard, pushing him onto the ground. It then lunged at Daryl, who missed his shot. The biter fell on top of him, his teeth snapping and growling at Daryl. Unsure of what to do, she grabbed the collar on the zombie's shirt and threw it backwards. She went to grab her gun when Glenn's hatchet slammed into the back of its head.
They all stood there for second, just trying to catch their breath. Desiree noticed that she could see her breath in the air, a cruel reminder of how close winter was. "You okay?" She asked Daryl as she helped him up. "That was too close…" He answered curtly. "I'll say," Glenn said, still breathing deeply, "You guys, it's Randall." Glenn said, shocked.
"Do you see any bites?" She asked, kneeling next to the lifeless biter. "No…" Daryl said, investigating around the body, "And look, his neck is broken. That's how he died." "But how'd he turn into a zombie. And who broke his neck?! " Glenn asked, shocked by the discovery. "Don' know…" Daryl answered as he retrieved his arrow, "We better go find Rick, something don't feel right…"
Everyone nodded and headed back towards the farmhouse. No one said a word, mostly because they didn't want to attract anymore zombies, but also, they were trying to figure out how Randall turned, something was not adding up.
As they emerged onto the farm, they heard a gunshot in the distant. "What was that?" Glenn asked with a gasp. "I'm going to make sure everyone inside is okay," Desiree said. She began walking to the house, her heart racing faster than usual. Carol met her at the door. "Are you okay?" She asked pulling Desiree into a hug. "Yah… we found Randall. He turned… but we're still not sure where Rick and Shane are." "Why don't you come inside, I'm sure they'll be back any minute…" She shook her head quickly, "I'm gonna stay out here for now. Make sure everyone is ready to move if necessary, who knows what that gunshot attracted."
Carol nodded and rushed back into the house. As she walked around the house, she saw Daryl looking at something in the distance. She ran up to him to see what he was looking at. She opened her mouth to ask, but the sight before her made her silent. It looked like a wave emerging through the tree line. As it grew closer she saw what it really was. There were at least a hundred biters stumbling towards the farm.
"Why are there so many?" She gasped, tightening her grip around her crossbow. "Not sure, but we need to go," He said turning but Desiree didn't move, she just stood there staring at the dark mass, "Now!" He yelled, grabbing her harm and pulling her towards the house. Finally snapped out of her trance, she began running alongside Daryl towards the house. "Lori, Carol! Get everyone into the cars!" She shouted into the house.
"Where's Carl?" Lori screamed, running out of the house frantically, "He was just in the bedroom, but he's gone now." "He must have gone after Rick and Shane," Carol ssid, "I'm sure he's with Rick. He'll be safe with him." "I can't leave him, what if he's not with Rick!?" "Lori, if we don't leave now, we'll all be goners," Desiree said loudly.
Maggie, Beth, and Glenn began hauling out as much as they could before gathering around the porch. The biters were close enough to see each of their nasty, decomposing faces. "This is my farm, I'll die here," Hershel answered, loading his shotgun. "Alright, as good a night as any…" Daryl said calmly, jumping over the railing.
"Everyone, grab as much as you can and head towards the cars!" Desiree shouted as she grabbed a shotgun for herself. She ran down the porch steps and began shooting as many biters as possible. "Look!" Glenn said pointing to the barn, which was now on fire. She saw the silhouettes of Rick and Carl, and she let out a little sigh of relief, knowing that they were safe.
She stabbed an incoming biter and threw it off to the side. Its thick blood spattered across her face and arm. She saw the RV rolling up to the barn and Rick and Carl jumping on top of it. She shot a few more, and turned to see Carol, Lori, Beth, and Patricia running towards the truck.
Out of nowhere, a biter grabbed Patricia's hair and pulled her neck into its mouth. "No!" Beth screamed, refusing to let go of Patricia's hand. Carol and Lori managed to pull her away and Patricia screamed out in pain, 3 biters now ripping into her flesh with their teeth. "You guys need to leave now!" Desiree yelled to them. They nodded and hurried to the car, along with T-Dog. She saw Glenn and Maggie get into the green Hyundai, and Rick and Carl were now gone. She spotted Andrea of in the distance and Hershel near the front porch, both still shooting.
She ran around the house looking for Carl and Rick, but by the time she made it back to the front, Hershel was gone and Andrea was nowhere to be found. "Crap," Desiree muttered, running away from the horde. She made it to the other side of Hershel's property, but a quarter of the biters were still following her. She was out of breath and exhausted. She stabbed one biter that was gaining on her with an arrow and ran further.
And it was when she knew she couldn't run much longer that she saw a large light moving down the road. As it got closer she realized it was Daryl's motorcycle. "Come on! We don't got all day!" He yelled. Gasping for air, she jumped onto the seat behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, clinging to him for dear life. He spun and took off down the road again.
She began feeling lightheaded and her vision kept blurring, but she managed to stay awake as he drove. "Did everyone make it out?" He asked over the roar of the engine. "I saw everyone but Andrea, Rick, Carl, and Hershel make it out." He nodded and slowed down a bit. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon when she looked around. She heard a honk, and saw the truck and Hyundai driving past them. She could see everyone smiling towards them; glad more people had made it. Daryl pointed in the direction they were headed and pulled to the front of the line of cars.
They continued driving again. She wasn't sure where they were headed, but Daryl seemed to know where he was going. She closed her eyes and put her head against Daryl's back, praying that all of this was a dream and she would wake back up in her sleeping bag in the farmhouse. Instead, she fell asleep.
After an hour or two, the motorcycle slowed down, causing her to wake up. She saw that they were on a large interstate as Daryl weaved through all of the abandoned vehicles. As they came around the corner, she saw 3 figures crouched behind an overturned truck.
They all turned towards the incoming cars, smiling and waving. It was Hershel, Carl, and Rick. "My son!" Lori screamed, jumping out of the truck. She ran to them and hugged them tightly, all three of them sobbing. Hershel hugged his two daughters, kissing them each on the forehead. "We shouldn't stay on this main road…" Daryl said loudly, getting everyone's attention, "Another horde may be comin'."