Daryl and I jumped up, throwing the covers off. Ignoring the cold air against my skin, I dressed quickly and threw the bedroom door open. Maggie darted off down the hall, and I followed, Daryl on my heels. Maggie pointed at the front window, and I squinted, looking out into the day light.
"Oh, my God..." I breathed, my brain taking in what my eyes were seeing. Walkers were stumbling across the field. Headed our way. There was no time to think as I ran back down the hall and into the kids room. "Cheyenne, Carl, let's go!"
"W-what's goin' on?" Carl asked, jumping up. I grabbed Cheyenne up into my arms and grabbed Carl's hand.
"Walkers, we gotta go! NOW!" I yelped, pulling him from the room. Lori came barreling down the hall, Rick behind her. Carl ran to his father, and Daryl grabbed Cheyenne from my arms.
"Everyone run! Run for the cars!" Rick yelled to us. I grabbed my bag, and saw the others grabbing what they had brought in. Once at the door, Rick flung it open, and we made a mad dash for the vehicles.
Daryl ran to Rick's vehicle, shoving Cheyenne inside. Rick had the engine started before Daryl had even shut the door. Seeing that Rick had Cheyenne safe, I threw my bag in the trunk slamming the hatch back. Turning my head towards the field across the street, I saw the walkers were coming closer. Dangerously close.
"SPENCER!" I heard Daryl's voice. Running over to the motorcycle, I jumped on, and he started the engine. Taking off, we barely missed the first eight walkers stumbling onto the road. I looked behind me to see Rick's vehicle, and Hershel's, right behind us. Daryl sped up, giving them some distance to drive faster.
Looking ahead, I noticed something coming up, spread out all along the road. Once we got closer, I realized it had been a road block of some sort, empty cars scattered the sides of the road. Blocked off the highway. Shit, I thought, looking around for walkers. I saw two or three up ahead, on the far end of the road block. they seemed to be temporarily stuck, not being able to find their way through the maze of cars.
"Whatta we do now?" I yelled over the motorcycle engine. Looking back at Rick, I saw he had jumped out of his vehicle, and was jogging our way.
"Think we can-" Rick started, but screaming stopped him.
"RICK! GET IN THE CAR! LOOK!" Maggie and Glenn were yelling loudly from their vehicle. I half turned from where I sat on the motorcycle, to see the herd stumbling toward us from the direction we had came.
"FUCK!" I yelled, looking around for an escape.
"TAKE THE DIRT ROAD!" Rick yelled at us, and Daryl turned the bike, veering off from the jumbled snare of cars. Glancing back, I saw Rick jump into the vehicle and take off after us. T-Dog was driving right behind him.
I held on tight as we kicked up dirt, speeding down the unsettled road. It seemed as if walkers were coming out of the woods from every direction. Daryl had to make a slightly sharp turn, trying to dodge a walker, and luckily I leaned with him. The walker leaned forward, reaching out for us, it's fingertips barely brushing my jeans.
"DARYL!" I screamed, holding onto him tighter. Trying to hold it together, I glanced backward to see Rick and T-Dog swerving all over the dirt road, clipping walkers as they drove. I wanted to pull my gun and start shooting, but it was too risky.
Then I saw it. Up ahead was a way out, another road. Speeding through, we hit concrete, and I was relieved to see an empty stretch of highway before us. Looking behind me, I watched as the others came flying off of the dirt road. Daryl sped forward, and I let out a shaky breath. My adrenaline was pumping, my heart pounding.
Walkers seemed to spew from the wooded area. Daryl was speeding forward, the others close behind us. The walkers were far too slow to keep up. Relaxing slightly, I rested my head on Daryl's back, letting out another breath. Too close for comfort. It was like briefly reliving the farm incident.
We rode on, Daryl finally letting off the gas a bit. The icy air whipped through my hair, stinging my face. In all of the chaos, I had forgotten how cold it was. Looking around, I realized that we were on a stretch of highway, nothing in sight. We had no idea where we were going or how to get there. Figuring Rick would be signaling us to pull over soon, I tried to assure myself that everything was going to be okay.
But nothing was okay. The world was full of those things. And those things were constantly trying to tear us into pieces. I constantly worried for everyone, including myself. I never knew when we'd be outsmarted. When we'd be overrun. Overrun to the point of no escape. Trying to shake my fears, I closed my eyes and told myself to stop thinking like that and focus on what was ahead.
I felt as if we had rode a thousand miles before Rick finally beeped the horn. Daryl pulled over, steadied the motorcycle, and turned off the engine. Rick walked up, his eyes wild, yet tired. I noticed that he kept glancing around, like he expected walkers to appear any second. I truly hoped that would not happen. I'd had enough excitement for a lifetime.
"Let's get to the next town. It'll put more than enough distance between us and those walkers. Same rules apply. Scope the area, make sure it's safe. Stay a night or two, move on." Rick instructed, taking another look around.
"How long you think they can keep this up?" Daryl asked, nodding back toward the others. Rick looked back at the other two vehicles, full of our group.
"Honestly, I don't know. But they'll have to. We're gonna find that safe place. Me and you, Daryl. We're gonna find it." Rick's words were sure and firm. I reached up and touched Rick's arm, feeling sorry for him. The sad look in his eyes... Giving us a pitiful attempt at a smile, he stalked off back to his vehicle. Daryl started the motorcycle and we lurched forward, as always, on the road again.
It would be getting dark soon. Daryl pulled off onto a narrow street in the neighborhood we had come up on, and he stopped in front of a big white house. Like every time we started to settle down somewhere, the vehicles were positioned for escape. Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl walked into the house to clear it. I had my gun drawn, my eyes searching the area for movement. The day had ruined me.
Everything had ruined me since the farm. They just kept coming. Nowhere and nothing was safe. No safe haven. No strong structure. Just house after house. We needed stable structure, something that would be able to withstand a herd. Something that was beyond sturdy. Some kind of military building. A school or prison. A hospital. Something. Anything that could keep the walkers out.
Daryl and T came walking out of the house, carrying a dead walker. I watched as the two men carried it away from the house and dumped it in another yard. Rick gave us an all clear, and I scooped Cheyenne up. Walking into the house, I sat down, my legs feeling wobbly from all the riding we had done.
"T, Hershel, watch duty with me." Rick motioned for the two others to follow him. The three men walked away, and I glanced over to see Lori sitting against the wall, her head in her hands. Carol was busying around with making dinner. I walked over to the kitchen window, getting a good look at the back yard. It wasn't quite dark yet, and I noticed a swing set out back.
"Chy, c'mere!" I called, and the little blonde came running. Grabbing her hand, I took her out of the back door. Her eyes lit up and she ran forward. Cheyenne immediately jumped on one of the swings and began swinging her legs.
"Can ya gimme a push?" Chy asked, struggling a bit. Giving her a giggle, I stepped forward.
"Ready?" I asked, grabbing her on the swing.
"Ready!" Cheyenne grinned. I let her go, and when she swung back, I gave a push. It got her swinging at a decent pace, so I sat in the other swing beside her and began swinging. We laughed as we swung higher.
"We're even." I laughed and Cheyenne gave me a grin.
"Look, I'm so high!" Cheyenne giggled as she swung higher than me. Lost in the moment, fear took over me when Rick's voice interrupted our fun.
"SPENCER!" Rick was whispering harshly from the roof in front of us. "GET INSIDE, NOW!" Using my feet to stop myself quickly, I grabbed Cheyenne's swing, jerking her to a stop. Looking behind me, I could see walkers heading my way. It was like the farm, the road, all over again. They just kept coming.
"Go, go, go!" I whispered, pushing Cheyenne toward the house. We ran to the back door, and it opened, Carol shutting it behind us. This time we hadn't even had time to unpack yet. It had to have been pure luck. Daryl was nowhere in sight, so I figured he was out front. Opening the front door, I darted out with Cheyenne, the others on my heels. We were met with more walkers.
There was no time to make any kind of plan. My mind was screaming at me to get to Daryl. That was safe. Get Cheyenne to the car and get to Daryl. Drive away. It was the only plan that had kept us alive so far. The walkers were stumbling toward us, snapping and snarling. Shoving Cheyenne forward, I kept her moving toward the vehicles. She kept looking back, for what I wasn't sure.
"Christ.." I heard Rick mumble as we ran, and I cut right, running toward the vehicles. Suddenly, Cheyenne broke away from me, running toward Carl.
"CARL!" She screamed. I turned, trying to grab her, but my fingertips only brushed her jacket.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Cheyenne ran toward Carl, who was oblivious that a walker was behind him and Lori. Carl turned, dodging the walker behind him, and Cheyenne tried to cut to the right. I screamed.
"CHEYENNE!" BAM! She ran straight into the walker. Panic overtook me as I watched her struggle underneath the walker's grasp. I ran forward, slamming full force into the moving corpse, knocking it straight off of Cheyenne. The walker and I went rolling across the yard, and I caught myself, jumping to my feet. Daryl had Cheyenne in his arms, and he shoved her into Rick's vehicle. I ran toward him, and he grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the motorcycle.
We jumped on and took off, the others behind us. I had no idea who was okay, and who was hurt, if anyone. Looking around in panic, I watched everything disappear as we drove away. Once we were far enough away from the house, Rick beeped the horn and we stopped. Everyone seemed to jump out of their vehicles, and I was relieved to see everyone was fine. But looking around, I noticed someone was missing... Where was Cheyenne?
I walked away from Daryl and headed for Rick's vehicle. I could see Cheyenne sitting in the back seat. Tears were falling from her eyes, and I felt so awful. That must have been the most terrifying experience of her little life. We gotta teach her to shoot soon as possible. I thought, opening the door to her side.
"Come on out, Chy." I coaxed with a gentle voice. She didn't budge, didn't move. Just sat still, staring straight ahead. "Cheyenne, what's wrong?"
"It's done." Cheyenne whispered, and for a moment I wasn't sure I had heard her correctly.
"What?" I asked, touching her hand. She jerked away and jumped out of the car.
"I'm done!" Cheyenne sobbed, pulling her jacket up exposing her side. My heart dropped when I saw a small bite wound, blood trickling from her skin.
To the Guest comment about the generator, you CAN use a generator in a basement as long as it's portable and you have an outlet (such as a washer/dryer pipe leading to the outside of the house) but it is extremely frowned upon due to CM poisoning. But it's the apocalypse, come on, now ! They gotta take what they can get here. And they have people on watch so if something was up, they'd know for sure.
Now I'm hoping I don't lose readers because of my decision that occurred in this chapter. I had to have some sort of event that would completely break Spencer and Daryl...and this was the only solution I could come up with. I know it's sad, but it's TWD. No one is safe.
Readers and reviewers are amazing as always !
~Kaila