Leah Grimes

Chapter 111

We made it to a spot in the cave where we could only go single file up a small incline. I let Connie and Carol go ahead leaving only Jerry and I. "Ladies first." I reached for Daryls hand, and as soon as I was pulled up, Jerry yelled at us to be quiet.

We all stopped to listen and I jumped back as I heard walkers come crawling towards the hole. "I'm stuck," Jerry yelled panicking. Aaron reached his hand down, "No come on, take my hand." I squeezed my eyes shut grabbing onto the wall to steady myself. I felt someone's hands on my shoulder, "just breathe," Magna whispered into my ears. I tried to breathe through their panicked cries but I couldn't. "Look, he's up. He's safe." I took a deep breath turning around trying to steady myself. "I'm sorry," I whispered. She shook her head, "don't be. I'm fucking terrified too."

Magna started to run towards a light, but Daryl pulled her back just as her foot was going over a cave. "Jesus," I whispered. It was a huge drop, almost twenty stories, and beneath was the herd of walkers. "Let's keep walking," Daryl whispered. He held up his light and I followed closely behind. We made it to a spot in the cave where we knew the ground was just above us. Magna sighed, "what are we waiting for?" Kelly pointed up, "we have to be very careful, if we take out the wrong section, this whole cave could collapse."

I bit my lip trying to hide the worry that covered my face. This moment here made me realize how much I wanted to live, I wanted to survive, not because I was scared to die, but because mom, dad, and Carl told me I would beat this world, and I want to. I want to make them proud.

Kelly walked up to us as Daryl and I were inspecting a pole. "Aye, I found a crate of dynamite." Jerry stopped moving, "umm.. that's cool. I need you to put it back very very carefully. Someone probably left it there because it's dangerous." Kelly took a deep breath realizing how dangerous the stick of dynamite she was holding was and slowly bent down gently placing it back on the other sticks.

We continued searching for an exit, and I found I was now nervously biting my nails. "Step back," Daryl whispered. He pulled off a bush that was covering a small hole on the cave. "We need to widen it a little more," Kelly yelled as she poked her head through the top.

Daryl looked at me, "where's Carol?" I looked behind me where she was only a moment ago. I started to follow our trail back with Daryl behind me. "There's a stick of dynamite missing," I whispered. He took off in a jog and I followed moving quicker as we heard a scream. She was over the edge of the cliff. "Take my hand," Daryl whispered offering it to her. I watched as he pulled her up to the edge, and then stopped. "What the hell were you doing?" Carol looked down, "we can take out half of the horde form here." I scoffed, "and kill yourself in the process?" She sighed, "she killed my boy." Daryl nodded, "I know. But you gotta come back with me. Come on."

He started to pull up again and I gasped when I saw the dynamite fall, Daryl pushed my head his shoulder and I stopped breathing until I heard the explosion. "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST." I screamed as the large rocks from the cave started to fall. "I WANT TO LIVE CAROL. I WANT TO MAKE IT OUT OF HERE ALIVE. DONT TAKE ALL OF US DOWN ON SOME SUICIDE MISSION." Daryl pulled her the rest of the way up, and we started sprinting towards the hole. Jerry was under one of the boulders holding our section of the cave up. I let Daryl and Carol get up on ground first, and then I heard Magna scream for help. Connie grabbed my wrist pulling us back toward more skins.

We fought them off as Jerry was begging us to hurry. Between the dust and the rocks falling I could barely see in front of me. "Jerry give me your hand." Aaron yelled. He did as he was told, and I watched as a large rock fell down onto the box of dynamites. Only a second later did the explosions go off, Magna Connie and I were blasted back from the entrance and I watched as the cave collapsed between us and the hole. Rocks were falling all around us and the sounds of them crashing onto the cave floor drowned out my screams. I was begging for them to come help us, to hear us, to know we were still alive.

I let out another loud cry as a rock fell onto my shoulder. It was heavy one, and I tipped my head back as I screamed in pain. "Push," I heard Magna scream to Connie as they both knelt over me working together to get the rock off. "It's okay sweetheart," Magna whispered putting her hand against my cheek. I stared up at her weakly, "I wanted to live so fucking badly." She pushed a piece of hair out of my face using a piece of her shirt to wipe blood off my cheek. "I know, I know."