I was squished in the back seat in the middle when we finally set off. My body was forward to give them more room and my knees were squished against the box in front of me. I had to put my axe on the ground in front of me to give Bob and Tyreese more room than we would have if I'd left it attached to my holster. I lost to Michonne, who made sure to remind me every so often, asking me if I was comfortable.
Other than that, the ride was silent. I was just worried about everyone back home, which made everything worse. My mind was buzzing and I had to refrain from continually asking how long until we get there? I also had to stop myself from telling Daryl that he should be driving 55 miles an hour to conserve fuel because really, I wanted to get there faster.
This was for Glenn and Isaac.
They had to be okay when I got back, because I was one bad thing happening from having a meltdown. If something happened there while I was gone, there was a good chance I would just drop dead from an aneurysm.
"Hey, I know you weren't running off," was the first thing I heard in a long while. Daryl talking to Michonne. "The thing is, that trail went cold. You know that, right?"
Michonne made no sound, gave no answer, and didn't even turn her head to look at him. Her eyes remained fixated on the road in front of her. Daryl glanced her way for a second but then turned back to look ahead.
"If it was any different, I'd be right out there with ya."
Again, no answer. This time, she did tear her eyes from the road to look at Daryl for a long second, before her gaze returned to the windscreen. I clenched my teeth together, trying to look anywhere else to avoid the awkwardness.
I guess Michonne was still upset or offended by that, but we talked about it. I thought I helped. Apparently not.
Daryl reached forward, resting his arm on top of the wheel as he turned on the radio. There was just general static from the device trying to pick up frequencies that didn't exist anymore, so Daryl waved his hand to the dashboard.
"Would you hand me one of them CDs right there?"
Michonne leaned forward and grabbed a small, black CD case. She started flipping through the file as the static noise changed, and it almost sounded like there was some other noise in the background that I couldn't make out.
"—find sanctuary—"
"Was that a voice?" Bob asked.
Daryl shushed him and started messing with the volume knob as the voice continued in broken sentences.
"—to survive—keep alive—"
"This reminds me of something," I said. "Remember that night in the storage units?"
Daryl gave a nod and continued trying to get the voice clearer for a second. After a while, he and Michonne glanced at each other, which was when I decided to look up from the radio and out of the front window.
"Daryl!" I screeched, pointing at the walker we were driving straight for.
He flinched and spun the wheel to miss the walker, the tyres screeching against the ground. I hoped that would be the end of it, until I saw three or four more walkers in the road and Daryl had to keep swaying the car from side to side to avoid running them over.
There was a bump where one hit the side of the car but Daryl kept driving. My heart pounded against my chest as I remembered the day Rick ran over a walker, the bone had burst the tyre and we were lucky to find one that fitted the car.
We didn't have that luxury today, because as the car slowed and Daryl raised his hand, I saw the problem ahead of us, the reason the car lurched forward as we pulled to a stop. There was a herd on the road ahead of us.
Walkers surrounded the car, banging on every window as they tried to get to us, and I could see no way for us to get out of this. We were dead, we were dead and we would never get back to the prison with the meds.
"Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me," I mumbled.
Far in the background, I could see the Tech College, the one we came here for. But not before almost a thousand walkers blocked our path, almost grouped all the way down to the building in the distance.
Daryl threw the car into reverse and placed his arm over the back seat. "Grab something!"
Everyone did so, and I leaned to the side so Daryl could see. I heard the banging as he reversed, knowing that he ran over about five or six walkers before the car slammed to a stop. I couldn't tell whether he stopped the car or whether the pile of bodies that most definitely gathered underneath did it for us.
"Go to the left!" Michonne said, pointing at an opening ahead of us.
Daryl slammed his foot on the accelerator and I could hear the engine and wheels trying to pull us forward, but the car didn't move. Daryl spun the wheel around trying to get the car to budge in any direction, and the tyres scraped from side to side against the ground but it became obvious very quickly that we were stuck here.
"It's jammed up!" Daryl yelled and tried putting his foot down one more time. "You'll have to make a run for the gaps right there! Make a run for the woods and you don't stop for nothin' ya hear me?!"
Michonne slammed her door into one of the walkers and stepped out before swinging herself around. Daryl slammed his hands up into the skylight and then climbed up through the car, and I saw some of the walkers falling down with bolts in their heads.
When Bob struggled with his seatbelt, I grabbed my axe and followed Daryl, climbing up through the skylight. Daryl reached a hand down and helped me up until I was standing on the car.
"Jump down and follow Michonne!" He told me. "Ya stay close to her!"
I nodded, my heart pounding in my head.
Daryl shot one of the walkers in front of the car and slid down the window, grabbing his bolt back from the body before it hit the ground. I looked for Michonne again, and when I saw her, I jumped down off the roof of the car and ran after her, staying clear of the sword that was still swinging around.
As I passed one of the bodies, I saw a bolt in the head and reached down to grab it for Daryl. A walker came my way, and I used the bolt, swinging it down in the same way I would have with a knife and stabbed it in the head.
"Ace!" Michonne yelled, closer to the tree line now. "Come on!"
I nodded, running after her.
Daryl was behind me, stabbing one of the walkers with his knife and then hitting the next one in the head with the front of his crossbow. He shoved his hand against my shoulder and pushed me forward towards the treeline.
I ducked under another set of arms, spinning around and slamming the bolt into the back of the walker's head.
"Daryl!" I called, pulled the bolt out and held it his way. He took it from me and we continued past another group of walkers.
Michonne swung her sword around, taking out two of the walkers blocking herself from the treeline, and then I ran past her, scouting ahead to make sure there were none left ahead of us before I turned around.
I heard gunshots next, and saw Bob out of the car, shooting the walkers in front of him. I wanted to pull out my gun to help him through, but arms came around the tree and grabbed the strap of my backpack, pulling me back against the bark.
I tried swinging my pick around behind me, and the blade thudded into the tree instead and I could hear the walker still growling.
"Ace!" Daryl called.
But I wasn't done.
I wasn't going to let myself die here.
I pulled myself using the axe stuck in the tree, pulling my bag away from the arm that grabbed me, and grabbed my knife. When I saw the head of the walker that was still reaching for my back, I shoved my knife into the bottom of its skull and it let me go.
He was going to come to check on me, but I pointed towards Bob who was running our way and stopped at the last walker between us and him. Daryl aimed his bow at it and shot the walker before it could grab Bob.
Daryl made a turn for Tyreese, and I could hear him yelling from the big hers that gathered around him and the car. "Come on! Come and get me!"
I couldn't tell whether he'd been bit already, but I couldn't see a way that he got away from that many walkers without getting bit. I holstered my knife and pulled out my gun to shoot the walkers around me, but Daryl placed a hand on top of my gun and pushed it down.
"Come on," Daryl said, hopped on his feet and started running backwards.
I felt awful leaving him, and I almost tried to stop them and get them to help him, but a group of almost ten walkers had gathered in front of us, more from the herd down the road seeing as as they followed the sounds of the yelling and the shots, and if we tried to save Tyreese, we would not make it out alive.
The three of them ran into the trees, and I was close behind.
Nothing got better as we ran through the forest. Walkers came at us from all directions, though it was much less of them seeing as they were distracted by Tyreese. I had cold sweats as I thought about him again, and had to push leaving him to the back of my mind. I couldn't think about losing another person right now, or it would probably kill me.
Michonne jumped up as she swung her sword into one walker, killing it instantly. Daryl sent a bolt of and chased after it as the walker died and Bob slammed the back of his gun into another's head, and it fell to the ground.
As another went to grab him, I swung my axe down and killed it. Bob gave me a look, but I just waved my arm and yelled, "Go!"
Bob followed Michonne and Daryl out of the treeline into a clearing, where it quietened down for a second. We continued into more woods until Daryl stopped us, "Hold up a second."
He had his crossbow on the ground and loaded it, and I heard the rustling sound that made him stop and wait. I panted, leaning over with my hands on my knees, getting whatever air I could before more walkers found us.
Then I looked at the trees. Two walkers stepped out, and I sighed knowing that the others could easily take them out. Until, one of the walkers fell dead, and behind it was Tyreese. He was covered in blood, his shirt ripped in certain areas and he panted. He was exhausted, I could tell. I wasn't surprised with the amount of walkers he must have killed to get here.
The second one turned back around as Daryl and Bob ran over, and Michonne sent her sword into its head. Bob and Daryl grabbed Tyreese's arms and lifted him up as five more followed him out of the tree line, and they helped him away. Michonne took a few steps back until she was at my side, and we waited until the others had gotten far enough away before running after them.
We had to find a small shed to stay in for the night, which filled me with anxiety. A whole night spent not getting to the university, not getting the meds to the prison. It was killing me, and Michonne tried to help and talk to me to get my mind off of it, but I knew there was nothing else we could do. Not with the herd on our doorstep.
The next morning we stopped for a few minutes so Tyreese could clean himself up and get a drink, preparing for whatever the next shitstorm was that we encountered. He hadn't really said anything since we got him back.
Daryl, Bob and Michonne started checking the map. They wanted to find out where we were and if there was a town nearby so we could get on the road with another car. I leaned back on the railing of the bridge and waited for them to work it out. We didn't have the time for me to mess around trying to read a map.
"This is Turner Creek," Michonne said, "so Barnesville must be a few miles downstream."
"Sounds like our best chance at finding a new ride," Bob said.
Daryl looked down from the wooden bridge we were standing on and called out to Tyreese who was wringing out his shirt. "Yo, Ty. Come on, let's go. Vámonos."
As Daryl and Michonne walked ahead, I followed after them, ignoring Bob who was still trying to get Tyreese's attention. They caught up to us eventually, but I walked with Daryl and Michonne in silence.
After a while, Daryl stopped and leaned over to grab something off the ground. A small rock or gem covered in the orange-brown dirt from the path he picked it up from. He licked his thumb and wiped at the small rock, revealing a green colour.
"Is that jasper?" Michonne asked, and Daryl hummed. She smiled, "It's a good colour, brings out your eyes."
"When Miss Richards went into A block, we were leaving, asked me to keep a lookout," he said. "I'm gonna use it for her old man's marker."
"You know all of them back there?" Michonne asked.
"You stay in one place for more than a couple hours, you'd be surprised what you pick up," Daryl said and walked ahead.
We continued walking for a long while until we came across something that resembled a building. I had to look twice at how overgrown it was, but from the large sign on a tall pole, it appeared to be some kind of garage.
As we walked closer, I looked around for a vehicle so we could get back on the road as quickly as we could, but I couldn't really see anything of use. Daryl had a different look though, and he slowed and stared in one direction for a short while.
"You see something?" Bob asked.
"I dunno," Daryl said.
He pulled back some of the leaves and I could see the reflective surface of a car window
"Get these vines off of it," Daryl ordered. "I'm gonna try and jumpstart it."
He opened the passenger door and climbed inside as Bob and Tyreese got to work pulling away all the vines. I waited for the sound of the car to start, but it didn't even try and after a moment, Daryl stood up.
"We gotta find us a new battery." He turned to the window behind him and went to wipe away the dirt to look inside, but there was a bang and I could see the shadow of a walker on the inside. "Got some friends inside. Come on."
He walked us around the front of the garage and grabbed some of the branches and leaves. When he pulled his arm back it looked like he had a whole branch, one that must've come down from one of the trees, and he threw it backwards.
"Let's clear a path, see how many we got," he said.
I grabbed my axe, hooked it underneath a large group of vines and started yanking backwards. Either I would pull out some of the mess in front of the building or my blade of the axe would cut at the vines and they would fall away.
Down the line, I could see Tyreese slamming his machete tool into the vines and trees, wasting energy and making a lot of noise. After we lost a day, he seemed to lose any hope that we would get back to the prison in time, and that made him angry.
He was starting to frustrate me.
Daryl and Michonne looked over at him and then glanced back at me, but I shrugged. Then Daryl turned to Tyreese. "Hey, man, go easy. We don't know what we're dealing with."
Tyreese didn't listen, though. He continued making too much effort at this job until his tool got snagged into something, and he tried pulling it back but it just got stuck. When he finally got it back and stumbled over his feet, the hook of his tool was tangled with wires that were knotted together. Daryl stared at him, partly trying to work out what it was and partly unsure about what to do with Tyreese.
And I was too late to call out the arm.
It grabbed Daryl and then a walker groaned as it pulled him closer to its teeth. Michonne swung her sword down and cut off the arm before Daryl could get bitten. One reached out for Bob then, grabbing him. Bob pulled almost its whole body out as he took a step back but the walker was relentless.
I went to take a step back when I felt an arm around my ankle, and I tripped backwards. I screamed and kicked at the vines when another, different arm grabbed my other leg, and I reached back to grab anything to pull myself free.
"Daryl! Michonne!"
Arms wrapped under my own as I was yanked back, and I heard Daryl grunt as his foot slipped and hit the ground behind me. He pulled me back further until my back was against his, and then he pushed himself back to stand up and help me.
"Michonne!" He yelled, "Cut her out!"
Michonne swung her sword straight down, slamming it into the ground and cutting both sets of arms that had my legs. She helped me to my feet and I squealed as I kicked the arms away, shaking and cringing as I spun around.
Daryl went back to the vines and killed one of the walkers, and Michonne ran over to cut the head off of the one that had Bob and he fell back on the ground. I swung my axe down into the two that had a hold of my legs, and then there was only the sound of one walker left.
"Tyreese!" Bob yelled.
Tyreese had his arms on a walker, pulling it out from the vines.
"TY!" Daryl yelled.
"Let him go!" Michonne said.
He ignored them, and I clenched my teeth and watched. He pulled and pulled and pulled when the walker came loose from the vines and landed on top of Tyreese. He gasped and pushed it away when Daryl rushed forward, grabbing the walker and pulling it away, but he had no weapons on him to kill it. Bob rushed over and shot the walker.
Daryl shuffled on his feet and went to help Tyreese up, who panted and started walking away. Michonne stood in his way before he could get too far and he stopped.
"Why the hell didn't you let go?" She asked, annoyed.
He didn't answer, which just pissed me off. It was taking everything for me to keep my mouth shut, before I yelled at him to wise up his act and pull himself together, because if he did something that stopped me from saving Glenn, then I would kill him.
After a second, Michonne walked away and left him.
Daryl took a second to make sure all the walkers were looted.
"Alright," he said. "Me and Bob are gonna take a look inside. You three stay out here and keep watch. Holler if you see anything."
"You too," Michonne said.
I walked away to take a moment to calm myself down and watch out for walkers. I needed to get away from Tyreese mainly before I started yelling at him. Tyreese would probably get mad at that, and I didn't want to risk picking a fight that I couldn't win. After Glenn was ready to shoot Merle when I yelled at him, I stopped before I could make a habit out of it.
After standing on my own for maybe ten minutes, I heard footsteps behind me and looked back to see Michonne heading my way. I was angry for a second, thinking it may be Tyreese, and was happy to find out it wasn't.
"Take a breath," Michonne said. "You know why he's angry."
"We almost died," I reminded her. "I almost died."
"I know," she gave a nod. "And I know you're upset about Glenn and how long it's taking to get those meds. I talked to him, told him to cut it out. You need to take a breath or you're gonna be the same way."
"What did you say?"
"Angry makes you stupid, stupid gets you killed," she repeated a small snippet of what she told Tyreese.
My nose stung. I took a deep breath, blowing it out through my mouth. After a second, I nodded, feeling a little better. It was mainly that she'd told him to stop whatever attitude he had because I didn't have the patience to tell him calmly to stop whatever he was doing.
"Good?" She asked.
I nodded again.
"When we get some time, you want me to show you how to swing that thing around properly?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's almost like a barb," she said. "You get caught on something and you're gonna have to leave it behind. You can move your arms in the right way to pull it back right," she said and moved her arms in whatever motion she was talking about. "I can show you how to use it better."
"You know how?" I asked.
"I can work it out," she nodded. "It's almost like a sword, you should be able to move it in a similar way so long as you make sure the pick is always on the right side. It'll help with walkers, but it might be better if you know this stuff in case we come across more people."
I nodded and thought about it. Michonne was almost expert with her sword, and I really liked having my axe. I didn't want to lose it. If there was a better way I could use it to kill walkers, then sooner or later, I'd have to figure it out. With Michonne's help, it could be sooner.
"We have some time now," I suggested sheepishly.
Michonne chuckled breathily before she held out her hand. "Let me take a look at it," she held out her hand.
I pulled the axe from my belt and held it out to her as she messed with it for a second, turning it over in her hands. "The grip is good. You're able to spin it around easily enough to keep the pick in the right direction."
She swung it out to the side, pulled it back over her shoulder with both hands and spun the axe around while it was over her head so that when she slammed it down, the pick was facing straight ahead of her, and then down.
"And the spikes on both sides are helpful, you don't have to adjust as much as I thought you would," she said and started another demonstration.
She swung the long pick out again, like she was taking down a walker, and then swung it back in the opposite direction, twisting her arms up and stopping the small pick just ahead of her forearm, closer to her body. I didn't even realise you could have it that close.
Then she stepped back and looked at me. "Okay, you ready?"
I nodded, kind of eager to learn how to do any of that.
"It's all about the way you move your hips," she pulled out her sword and turned on the balls of her feet to show how it should be done. "You don't want to get locked up in a position you can get caught in."
"Okay," I nodded.
"We'll start with some basic swings, just try and get the axe back so you can move it again," she said, swinging her sword as another demonstration.
We practised for a little while before Michonne started showing me how to properly turn the axe around in my hands so I could pull it back in the right way. I did some swings as practice, only really getting stuck a few times, but the axe felt much easier to wield, taking multiple hits in one movement.
"No, see what you did there?" Michonne asked. "Your arms got locked up and you couldn't get away."
"Yeah," I mumbled. "It's hard."
"Sure is," she agreed. "But you're picking it up, definitely better."
"How'd you get to be so good?" I asked.
"Just being out there," she answered solemnly. "You get a lot of chances to kill them. After a while, it gets easier. And it will be for you, too. You just need some practice."
I nodded and looked down at the axe in my hand.
"I'm gonna check on Tyreese," Michonne said.
"I'm going to see if the others are done," I said.
I walked over to see Daryl and Bob talking by the car, the bonnet open. When Daryl saw me, he gave me a wave and I walked over to where they were. Bob pushed himself from against the wall he was against and gave a small smile.
"Ace, get in there and try the engine," Daryl said. I nodded, taking a seat inside and catching the red and the green wire together. Nothing happened, so Daryl called out, "Give it some gas!"
"Okay," I tried again and the engine lit and revved.
Daryl clapped his hands, coming around to the door. He looked back over his shoulder for Tyreese and Michonne and whistled, getting their attention. I pushed myself over the middle of the car to the passenger seat as Daryl continued talking to Bob.
"Let's go," he said, and the others caught up.
They got into the car, and Daryl drove us away from the buildings. He promised it would only be another short drive until we got to the university.
We made it to the university and left the car outside one of the fences. The metal spiked fences were knocked down in one area, so I climbed up onto one and jumped over, looking around for walkers before the others followed.
"It's clear," I called.
Daryl nodded and moved past me, and then I followed after him. He seemed to know what way we needed to go, like the others, so I let them lead me there.
All of the buildings were made of red brick, old-timey and extremely tall.
"Looks like we're getting closer," Daryl said.
"The building we want is just up ahead," Tyreese agreed.
We entered the first door that opened and quietly made our way through a library we were in. Daryl stopped at a map of the university before making us follow him through the library and into the next building across the outside area.
Everyone was silent, praying that there would be no walkers.
The first room we came to had an animal sign, Daryl stopped and entered the room. "Alright, let's make this quick."
I grabbed any medicine bottles I could find and shoved them into my open bag that hung at my side. Michonne did the same on a table up ahead, and when I was done, I noticed all the empty cages in the rooms, forgetting that this was a veterinary classroom.
When Daryl left the room I followed him out, and he turned into another. I went into the opposite one when I saw brown cabinets covering every wall, each of them full to the brim with pills. I walked over and one of the first ones I saw was penicillin.
"I hit the jackpot!" Everyone came in behind me and saw what I had found.
"This has to be everything we need," Michonne said in awe.
"Bob, help them find the pills," Daryl said. "We'll get the other stuff on this list."
He and Tyreese left.
Michonne came over and started looking for bottles that she thought we needed. I remembered some of the things Daryl read out and grabbed them first. I was so happy that there were this many things left, knowing that Hershel was right and no one else thought to raid a veterinary school for medication that we could use. It didn't matter.
Everything here was ours now.
I was there for maybe five minutes until I had grabbed everything I recognised on the list. After that, I started looking for signs that might've just said antibiotics or things that would let me know what else we needed. The pill bottle rattled in my hand as I grabbed it.
I moved onto the next cabinet and started grabbing stuff. I shone my torch through the door I opened, and started digging around the back. Most of them were names that I couldn't pronounce, but I grabbed some of them anyway.
Bob came and stood next to me, checking bottles. "Anything ending in cillin or cin, C-I-N, grab it. We'll dissolve the pills in the IV's put them right into the bloodstream," he explained. "Dosage will be tricky, but considering the time we lost . . ." he trailed off.
There were steps behind me as Daryl and Tyreese entered the room with bags full to the brim of whatever they were looking for.
"How'd you do?" Bob asked.
"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors," Tyreese said. "Everything on the list."
I was happy that he seemed a little better since Michonne had spoken to him, and maybe hoped that he would have some faith that his sister was still there when she got back. I believed she was, her, and Glenn and Isaac. They had to have made it.
"What about y'all?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah, we got it all," Bob said.
"Yeah, we're good," Michonne agreed.
"Alright, let's roll," Daryl said, grabbing his crossbow from the table and walking out of the door.
Daryl pointed his torch down the darkened hallway. We walked silently behind him, as he checked the doors that we came across. One of the rooms had the door come off, and it had fallen over to the side. Daryl leaned back and pointed his torch into the room, and I heard the quiet growls from the walkers.
They jogged off down the hallway quietly, so they didn't alert any more walkers. I saw an exit sign above one of the doors and ran down to that one.
"Up ahead," Michonne called, and we entered one of the doorways at the end of the hall.
In the next hallway, there was another room of cages where they would have kept animals from the school. They tried blocking off the door behind us, but Bon knocked it a few times and it wouldn't close.
"Hey, door's busted."
"Oh, hold on." They moved some of the cages in front of the door as Michonne walked down the hallway.
In the darkness, a walker grabbed Tyreese. He slammed the hammer down into it three times before letting out a loud sigh. He moved up the hallway to join us when walkers behind a chained door started trying to reach through. And then the ones back down the hall started pushing the cages away from the door, getting into the room we were in. They were blocked from walking any further by the junk we piled up.
"We can take 'em!" Tyreese called.
"No!" Bob stopped him. "They're infected. Same as at the prison. We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick."
"How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?" Tyreese asked.
"We don't," Michonne said.
"Our luck's gotta change sometime," Daryl said and started breaking one of the chairs.
I kept my eyes on the infected walkers, looking at the blood that was coming out of their eyes and nose. Just like Patrick. My chest began to tighten when I saw one of the walkers slip into the room under the chair and stand up.
"Guys! What the hell are we supposed to do?"
"Ready?" Daryl asked, had his shoulder to the next door.
"Do it!" Tyreese yelled at him.
They broke the chain as more walkers came out towards us. Bob shot the first one and Michonne sliced the second two, and afterwards, I was happy to see that none of them had the familiar blood coming down their faces.
"Come on!" Daryl ran into the room first. We sprinted after him and started running up the stairs.
Great, I thought sarcastically, there'll definitely be plenty of escapes up here.
As Daryl made it into the first hallway upstairs, I heard more walkers coming across from our left. A walker came out of the door on the right and Michonne took a long long at it before swinging her sword back.
As we ran down the hall, Bob started trying to block the walkers' path by pulling cabinets and chairs into the middle. I ran to the end, but there were no fire escape doors like I had been expecting, and I was now starting to panic.
"Still don't have an exit!" Michonne said.
"Then we make one!" Daryl jumped up onto a windowsill to look outside.
Tyreese grabbed a fire extinguisher and yelled, "Get down!"
The window smashed, making me cover my eyes with my arms. When I opened them again, Daryl was reaching an arm down to help me up onto the windowsill before I even realised what his plan was.
"Ace, you first!" I saw how big the gap was between our window and the walkway. "Jump down to the walkway below."
"You're fucking crazy!"
"You have to!" Daryl yelled. "Use the axe, slam it through the metal and hold on. Go!"
I held out the axe and jumped, swinging my arm down and holding onto it for dear life when one of my legs slipped down the side. I pulled myself up onto the path, got my axe free and moved out of the way for Michonne to follow me.
Daryl was next, and then Tyreese followed by Bob. When Bob jumped over, he went too far and tripped, his bag falling over the edge. They ran back to help him. He tried to fight for the bag against the walkers as Daryl and Tyreese grabbed him and tried pulling him back.
"Bob, let it go!" Michonne said.
"Let it go, man!" Tyreese agreed.
Daryl was next. "Just let it go!"
"Bob!" I yelled. "Come on!"
"Let go of the bag, man!" Daryl yelled again.
When he yanked it free, the bag flew off to the side and landed down on the walkway with a clang that almost sounded like glass hitting metal. I looked down and saw the familiar top of an alcohol bottle sticking out from under the flap.
Daryl moved over and pulled it out from the back, turning it in his hands as Bob stood up. "You got no meds in your bag? Just this?"
I was mad, clenching my teeth together as a breath escaped me. I could feel my face turning red as I stared at him. I snatched his bag from the ground and looked for any medication, any pill bottles, but there wasn't any.
"What the fuck?" I mumbled.
"You should have kept walking that day," Daryl said.
As Daryl made a step to throw the bottle off the roof, Bob stopped him. "Don't."
He held his hand over his gun as a threat that he would shoot him, and then I was furious. I dropped the bag on the ground and pulled out my own gun, stepping to Daryl's side. His eyes moved down to my gun, and I just barely kept myself from pointing it at him.
"Fucking try it," I said.
Daryl gave a nod to me, before he stormed forward, his face so close to Bob, pressing his head against his. He continued to push against Bob, pulled his gun from his holster and continued standing as close as he could to intimidate him. Then he grabbed his vest with one hand, and Bob would not look him in the eyes.
"Just let it go, Daryl!" Tyreese said. "The man's made his choice. Nothing you can do about it. Just gotta let it go."
Daryl released his vest and took a step back. My heart was pounding in my head as I stared at him, but I couldn't even think of the words to properly make him realise how badly he fucked up. I could see in his face that he knew it.
"I didn't want to hurt nobody," Bob said, not looking at any of us. "It was just for when it gets quiet."
Daryl stepped close to him again and shoved the bottle against his chest. "Take one sip. When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me?"
"He doesn't have to," I stepped in, talking to Bob. "I'll kill you myself."
We stopped out by the car to get everything ready to take back to the prison. Daryl muttered something about it being a long drive to get back, which didn't fill me with confidence. Michonne went to the boot to get the pills all in my bag so she could get to the map.
I stood at the front of the car with Tyreese. Bob was standing against the wall, smoking. He hadn't touched the bottle since putting it back in his bag, which made me feel a little better, but I was still pissed.
"I'm sorry," Tyreese said after a moment.
I glanced his way. "About what?"
"Just some of the things I said," Tyreese continued. "Punching Rick and I pushed you over."
"I don't normally pick fights I can't finish," I said. "You look like a weak one."
Tyreese laughed, and I smiled at my own joke. The day me and Tyreese got into an actual fight was probably the day I'd be pummelled into the ground, seeing as he was an ex-NFL player and everything.
He nodded and continued. "You do a lot for these people, and you've done more running this group than I ever could. I'm just pissed, you know? I really miss Karen."
"We're going to get back," I said. "Everything is going to be fine. Sasha is going to be fine."
"I know," Tyreese said. "I just wanted to apologise for the way I've been treating you. All of you. And I could see you were actually gonna shoot him."
"He's not off the hook yet," I muttered.
Tyreese nodded. "I'd hate to be in that position."
"Keep pissing me off," I smiled. "There's still time."
Michonne stepped beside me and pulled out the map. "Got it. And all the meds are in the back."
"What's the best way back?"
"That's where I was travelling, Highway 100," Tyreese pointed.
"Then it will take about seven hours to get there," Michonne said. Seven? "We're gonna need more gas."
"But we'll get there," Tyreese nodded.
I walked around and sat in the back seat behind Daryl. His feet were up on the dashboard and he was playing with the jasper in his hands.
"Taking Highway 100," Tyreese said as he moved to the back.
"I heard."
Michonne came around to the driver's seat and sat down. It took her a second before she finally started talking to him. "You were right, what you said before. About the trail going cold. I don't need to go out anymore."
"Good," Daryl nodded, closing the door. He sat up, and waited for everyone to get in. Michonne started the car and drove off.
I hoped everyone was okay when we got back.
Here we go.
I've been using bing AI which is my new favourite thing in the world to make photos for this book. I'll add some when they seem relevent, and I'll see if I can make some that go with some of the next chapters.
Also been thinking about making a TikTok for the edits I make because I got nothing else to do with them otherwise so lmk what you think about that.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought :)
