Chapter 26

Playing bait

Black danced nervously on the dirt road between two fields as she waited for the walkers to catch up.

"Easy." She told the gelding. He snorted in response.

Emma covered her eyes to block out the glare of the sun as she counted the group of dead rustling up the road. It seemed that the biters were getting slower every year. When she first played 'bait' she'd really had to push the horses to stay ahead. Now, she found it was a lot of hurry-up and wait.

Black tried to spin away from the walkers, but she held him firm. They weren't close enough yet.

"Hurry Up ya buncha hosers!" She yelled. "Nice tasty horse here. Let's go!" That got them. They picked up speed a little. She turned Black and trotted him down the roadway.

"Pied Piper, come in, over." Glenn's voice came over the two-way radio.

Glancing back to make sure her followers were at a safe distance she reached for the radio attached to her belt. "I'm still on route 9. Getting close to the funnel, should be in visual in ten. Over."

"How many? Over."

"Around a dozen." She stopped spotting movement in the tree line on the other side of the field. Another walker appeared, followed by second, and then a third. "Hold that thought. Some late-comers have just arrived. Over."

"What's the new count? Over."

She peered across the field. There was definitely another pack of them there. It looked like she just doubled her numbers. She relayed that information back to Glenn.

What had started out as a dull day of clearing was just starting to get interesting. Now she had to ensure that she and Black stayed close enough to the two herds to get them to pack together at the funnel without getting caught between them.

Black skittered underneath her. She could feel his heart beating on the inside of her calf. He really hated playing bait.

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"Did she say Twenty fuckin' walkers?" Daryl was pissed. He was starting to see why he'd never been sent out on a clearing crew with Emma before. If he'd had any fuckin' idea of how they used the funnels he wouldn't have let her go.

"Yeah." Glenn was scanning the road ahead, waiting for Emma to appear. "Should be here soon." The Korean was unconcerned. After his mall-clearing idea this winter, he'd been put in charge of the clearing teams. Daryl was pissed that Glenn had failed to mention Emma's role in the funnels.

"Fuck it, I'm going out there." Daryl started to move forward but the frenchie, Guy, placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Eez okay. She done it before. Saw 'er bring in forty last year." There was pride in Guy's voice. "No deader gonna catch dat girl."

"There she is!" Glenn called. "Get ready people!"

Daryl climbed up to his post on top of the bus that flanked one side of their bottle neck. He surveyed the scene before him.

Archer's people had built a large V shaped funnel out of old fencing and pike lines to funnel walkers into a kill zone. At the end of the V was a fence a foot high marking the start of a deep trench they'd dug. The general idea was that the horse and rider would jump the pit, but the walkers would stumble into it. Once they were in the pit, it'd be easy work to pick them off.

For added safety, there was a bus on one side of the "V" so that shooters could thin out the herd and provide cover for the horse and rider if needed.

Daryl had to admit, it was a good idea. He just wished that the bait wasn't his Emma.

That really just set his teeth on edge.

"C'mon you lazy buggers." He heard Emma's voice in the distance. "You'll never catch me if you don't hustle up!" If he wasn't so damn worried 'bout her, he'd a laughed. He peered at the black horse skittering across the road. The walkers were close, too close. He didn't like it. Not one bit.

"In the back!" Someone yelled, Daryl turned away to see four walkers straggle up behind their lines. They needed to be cleared or Emma'd have nowhere to run.

"Hold on." He could hear Glen signaling to Archer on the radio. "Gotta clear the back lines. Over."

"GOT IT!" Guy and his brother left their posts alongside the fences and started bustin' heads with their hockey sticks. Daryl'd never much cared for sports but he definitely saw the appeal of that one.

"CLEAR." He heard the Frenchman yell. Glenn relayed the message back to Emma. Daryl saw her horse turn around and speed up. She was comin' in.

"Hep, Hep, Hep" He heard her yell as they came towards the kill zone. The horse's ears flicked back and forth as they approached the fenceline.

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Black pulled at the bridle as she held his pace, it would do no good to speed up and loose the take-off spot. She needed him to clear the ditch cleanly.

As she felt her gelding gather onto his haunches she balanced herself for the leap. Black shot over the ditch and landed on the other side. Emma stretched herself up in the saddle and brought Black down to a walk. It was important that the walkers still see her on the other side of the trench.

Black sighed and shook his head. He'd done this many times before and knew his job was done. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" She hollered back as the dead pressed forward, falling into the pit. The clearing crew started jabbing at them, ensuring that at least half of what went into the pit wasn't moving anymore.

She let Black have his head and walked him down the road to cool him out. It was a good thing that Sal had brought the young gelding with him when he first arrived at the fort. Black was quick and agile, perfect for dodging walkers.

When they circled back, Emma saw the crew had started clearing the pit, pulling out the downed walkers and crushing the heads of the ones that were still active.

"Damnit Emma." Daryl spat.

Shit. Emma thought. Daryl wasn't supposed to be there. "Hey Daryl! Fancy meeting you here."

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me this is what ya were doin'?" She saw Daryl come down off the top of the bus. They must've needed another shooter.

She pursed her lips. "I told you I was on clearing crew this morning." I didn't tell you I was bait because I knew you wouldn't like it.

"Didn't tell me ya were tha goddamn bait!" He marched over to where she and Black stood.

"I didn't want you to worry." She said, dismounting and turning her back to Daryl as she loosened the girth. "It's not my first rodeo."

Daryl came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her stomach, pulling her to his chest. His stubbled chin scratched behind her ear. "I know. I just…" he sighed. "I don't hafta like it, but I wanna know."

She leaned back into him a little, enjoying the feel of him behind her. "Okay."

He placed a kiss behind her ear before turning back to help the others clear out the pit.