Chapter 4: One Step Closer to Home

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My eyes fluttered open. As they adjusted, my hand smoothed over the hard surface I was on. It felt like... dirt. What?
I sat up, getting a clear view of where I was. I was in the middle of fucking nowhere. Looking around I took in what the land was like, and that I was completely alone.
"An-" I tried to call the twins, my twins, but my voice turned into a fit of coughing.

I was completely alone. I lay an arm across my knees as I put my head in my hand. Thinking over -probably yesterday's- events, reality slapped me in the face when I remembered getting bit in front of Angel.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, looking at my left leg.
I stiffened. Currently all I wanted to do was crawl away from the piece of flesh that was marked with a walker bite. But that was the thing, if I tried it'd just follow me. The damn thing was still attached. My heart raced. I couldn't die here. I couldn't. CJ and Angel would have to grow up never knowing what happened to their mother. I couldn't do that to them.
I pulled up my jeans, to find something more shocking. My leg was perfectly fine. My fingers had a mind of their own as they traced where the bite had been. Then they made their way just below my knee where I had tried to cut off the leg.

What the hell is this? Better yet. What the hell was happening?

That was when I heard the whinny. My head shot up, and my eyes met with Blackie's. I stood up, able to walk normally, and stroked the horse's neck. Then I got on him, ready to turn around and find my children. Motioning for Beauty to go, he did, but as I pulled on one rein for him to turn around, he kept going straight.
"Beauty." I scolded through gritted teeth as I kicked his sides and pulled on the reins. Again, nothing happened. The stubborn horse was unaffected by my attempts to get him to turn around, and he picked up into a trot.
I was confused at first, but slowly, I figured there must be a place this horse was taking me, so I just held on.

For a while, Beauty led himself to wherever we were going, but soon it was up to me for steering. My heart was heavy at the possible loss of the two people that had kept me going on for so long. I pulled up on the reins pulling Beauty to a stop. Jumping down, I kept a hand on his neck, as my eyes scanned the streets. No walkers. No people. Again. I walked away from Beauty. No point in calling him Blackie since the kids weren't here. My heart dropped at that very thought, and I hit my knees. That was when two men rushed me. Each took ahold of me on either side, I couldn't get a good look at their faces. I struggled, but maybe not as much as I should have. What was the point? They were probably going to win. I lost CJ and Angel, and it was beyond hope that I would ever find Alexandria again.
A single tear trailed down my cheek as I hung my head. What was the point of fighting? Of living?

That was when it happened. My eyes caught movement in an alley across the street, as the two men wrestled with my arms and argued over who first. I squinted, finding a much larger man simultaneously holding off walkers and several more men. My eyes widened when they recognized the design of the angel wings on the jacket. I thought of the Angel wing necklace that hung around my neck that Angel Reeves had given to me. There, fighting off the living and dead. Was my reason to live. I shot to my feet, throwing one man to the ground. My fingers wrapped around my knife, only seconds later for it to be lodged in the second man's skull. Just as quickly as I killed the first, I did the same to the last man. I grabbed my crossbow and bolts, and sprinted to where my brother was.
"Daryl?" I called out. "Daryl!" I rushed into the building to find everything dead. Almost everything. "Daryl!" I rushed over to him, finding my older brother barely conscious, and underneath a shelf. Blood covered his face and clothes. The shelf was damn heavy, but I eventually got it off my brother. Taking what was left of my water, I helped him sit up and let him drink the remainder.
"Sunny.." He mumbled, before his eyes shifted to me.
"Yeah? I'm here." Daryl closed his eyes smiling, with a weak chuckle.
"I guess I'm dyin." What?
"No your not." He thought I was dead... "I'm really here. Daryl, I'm here." But before I could tell him I was alive, Daryl went limp. "Daryl? Daryl?" He shook him, before putting my ear to his chest. I let out the breath I had no clue I was holding, when I heard his heartbeat. I sat there with him for a while, waiting for him to wake up. But when he didn't, I lead Beauty into the building, and somehow, I managed to drag Daryl onto the velvet black horse. "Damn it. Your much heavier than you look big brother." I huffed, catching my breath. After I was breathing normally again, I tied Daryl to the saddle so he didn't fall off. There was just enough room in the saddle for me to ride too.
I found a map in the bag Daryl had. Looking at it once for a good two minutes, I put it back, and we headed off.

The next few days weaved all together in an endless routine. Kill any walkers we came across, if any,cor if I was able to handle them. I'd stop to set up camp every other night. When I did, I got Daryl out of the saddle, only for in the morning to maneuver his ass back up there. I was soo going to get him back for this one of these days. Maybe I almost already had. All the hell I gave him those few years ago. I laughed thinking of back then, before my heart ached that I had lost the little girl who had acted so much like me. And her twin brother that was just like his father. That was when I shook my head hard enough to cause the world to spin.

Stop thinking. Stop thinking.
I stood and packed everything up. The sun was hardly even peaking over the horizon, this was early for me to pack up, but I just needed to get home. I needed to get Daryl home. He was in and out of consciousness every so often, but mostly out cold. He was never awake enough to carry out a conversations. And at times, he'd talk in his sleep, either to me, or Merle. I had used an old shirt I had with me to tear up and tie around his wounds. All I wished was that he'd just wake up. Then, there was a static sound.
"...D...a..r..yl... Daryl... You copy?" I couldn't fully recognize the voice since there was so much static. Instantly I started going through my brothers stuff until I found the walkie-talkie.
"He's okay, just not awake." I paused. "Don't worry. I'm bringing him home."
"Who is this?" The voice asked. They seemed to be trying to recognize my voice too, but like me, they couldn't. This person might know me, but can't tell, or they know nothing about me at all.
"I'm a friend. A friend to Alexandria. And I'm bringing Daryl home."
If I would have been at least 90% positive of who it was, I might have said my name. But there was too much static, and too many possibilities. The radio was silent for the rest of the night.

I took a deep breath, which I instantly regretted, the smell was so bad I wanted to throw up, even with nothing in my stomach. There was an area that seemed like a small canyon. Walkers infested the bottom. There was a narrow path I'd have to ride across, some of that path looked like it was about to crumble. But there was no way around it. Taking out the black handkerchief, I tied it around my face so it made the smell a little more bearable. I didn't need to hurl up what I didn't have. I was running on fumes as is. With a small sigh, I squeezed Beauty into a gallop. One of my hands was gripped on the saddle horn. The other keeping a tight hold on my brother, just to be safe. I was tossed around in the saddle as Beauty regained his footing after part of the edge crumbled under his hoof. I had just regained my balance when it happened again, tossing me to the side. My hands gripped the saddle as only one of my feet were in the stirrups. If I let go, I'd be walker food within milliseconds. Keeping a tight hold on the saddle, I pulled myself back into it, just as Beauty galloped off the path and onto normal, solid ground. I glanced over my shoulder at the death trap that was getting further and further away. There were no words that could even be formed to even begin to tell how terrified and happy I was as we just kept moving forward.

It was several hours after noon, and clouds blocked the sun enough to make me a black figure moving on the road. I led Black Beauty with Daryl still passed out on his back. Tears lined my eyes as I came to the top of the small hill before the gates of Alexandria. Blinking them away, I knew moving closer to home. One step closer, closer to home, to the place I had been searching for for so long. Glancing up at the guard post, I saw a familiar face just getting up there and looking over. When I got to the gate, I had a gun pointed in my dirt and blood smeared face. The man who held the gun was Spencer. I had talked to him once, and it wasn't a very long conversation. I think it was more of an argument. Eugene stood next to him. Their eyes went from me to the knocked out person on the horse.
"Who are you?" Spencer demanded through the gate. "Is that Daryl?"
I nodded, right as Rick rushed up behind them. "Open the gate." Spencer hesitated, so Eugene followed the order, letting me in. Several people rushed up and carried my brother off to Denise. I watched for a moment, still holding Beauty's reins, before I looked at Rick. His blue eyes held a smile, before he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around me.
"What happened?" He asked softly.
"I don't know. He was attacked. I was in the area and got there right as he passed out." I paused. "He might be dehydrated. His canteen was empty when I found him." My voice was quiet, but cracked from not having water in a few days. Rick pulled away, keeping a hand around me, as he led me to the house.
"C'mon Sunny."
I told him and Carol what happened when I found him and how I managed to get him here. They had given me water and a little bit to eat. Standing, I pushed my chair back under the table.
"If you'll excuse me. I want to go see how my brother is doing." Carol looked as if she would try to give me a reason not to. "He was there when I woke up. So I want to return the favor." Rick nodded, and I swiftly made my way to the infirmary. I needed to be by my brother's side. He needed to know that I was alive.

A/N
So Sunny's back in Alexandria! She helped out her big bro. Definitely gonna get him back for that. I wonder what will happen when he wakes up... And how much longer it's gonna be for Carl to reunite with her... Geeeez. - I was gonna have something like that happen in this chapter, but I think it might make things interesting to split the homecoming into two different chapters -
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut
Is it all too good to be true?
Is Sunny really home for good?
Will she be reunited with Carl?
And one more...
What happened to the twins?!

Please vote and comment what you think/predictions/ideas, and
Find out in the next chapter! Thank you for reading!