Chapter 21 – Daryl
The cabin was tightly secured once again. We didn't want to leave, but I knew the faster we got on the road, the quicker we'd get back here to make this our new home. I had my cross bow and pack secured on the motorcycle and Lauren was keeping her pack. A quick double check of our weapons and I was good. Lauren's gun strapped to her right thigh and my knife was at my waist. All easily accessible.
I hopped onto the bike and got it started. Lauren slid in behind me and shifted her weight until she was comfortable. I turned my head to give her a quick kiss and off we went down the muddy drive. The ride started off slowly as I tried to avoid the deep mud and large puddles left after that long storm. When we finally hit blacktop again the bike increased in speed and we flew down the road. We both kept our eyes out for walkers, but so far we didn't see any.
When we were just about coming to the edge of town, I noticed a small herd of about a dozen walkers blocking the road. I started to slow down as we approached and stopped about 100 feet from them. They were wandering and moaning in a strange pattern as some were making large circles and others just kind of shuffling in place.
"Does that look at weird to you as it does to me," Lauren asked.
"It sure fuckin' does."
"How do you want to handle this?"
I pulled my knife out of its sheath on my belt. These non-dead blocked the road, but they weren't approaching us. I just couldn't figure this out as I could tell they saw us, but they weren't coming at us like they normally do. Grotesque arms reached out to grab at me, yet it was like they were stuck behind an imaginary line that they couldn't cross. I had never seen anything like it.
We both stood there for a moment figuring out the best way to get rid of them. "Okay, since they ain't coming at us, let's just take them one at a time and see what happens," I told her.
"Let's do it." Lauren walked up to the first walker and slammed her knife into its head. It went down like a rock. l did the same. A couple of times I'd step back to figure out who do kill next, wondering why these creatures didn't come at me. It didn't take us long to take them all.
We moved the bodies to the side of the road. I was so tired of this existence, having to be on constant watch so that I wasn't bitten by a walker or killed by the desperate people that remained. Lauren took a moment to catch her breath as I moved the last two bodies off the road.
"You okay?" I asked her walking over to her and drawing her into my arms.
"Yeah, I'm just tired of all this." She waved her arm to indicate the pile of dead that we just took care of. "I'm tired of killing them. I'm tired of having to watch my back all the time. I'm tired of having to live this way. I want every day to be like yesterday, Daryl. That's what I want." She put her head on my shoulder and I just held her. That's all I needed and all I wanted was to be with this woman.
"Enough of my whining," she said wiping her eyes. "We have family to find."
"That we do," I said walking us over to the bike. I held her beautiful face in my hands and gave her a deep kiss. "We're in this together now, okay?"
She gave me a big smile, "Okay."
We both climbed on the bike and she grabbed me around his waist. The bike roared to life and just as we are starting down the road, I take another look at the pile of walker bodies. "Damn strangest thing I ever saw," and with a roar of the engine we take off.