Self Inflicted

20

We made a small camp in the woods to eat, catch some food, and rest for a while. We decide to go check the snares and Rick is taking us with him to teach us how to make a snare. We walk out to the snare and there is a small rabbit dead in the rope. "It's a small one, but it'll do," Rick stuffs the dead rabbit into his bag.

"It's a simple slip knot, tie one side to a branch, the other side is loosely over the ground. The ground is shaped into a funnel, that way an animal runs by it has to run through here and then-" he yanks on his hand that is inside the noose and it pulls tightly around his hand.

"HELP!" Someone shouts over and over again. We all grab our weapons but Carl takes off sprinting in the direction of the yelling. "Carl!" His father shouts after him but we take off running in suit. Carl stands at the clearing of the woods into an open field where a man is holding a branch and surrounded by the dead. Carl raises his gun to shoot but Rick drags him back beside a tree. He continues shouting and the dead come closer, tearing and biting into his skin, ripping him apart in a bloody massacre.

"We can't help him," Rick pushes. The herd brings him to the ground devouring him as he continues to scream and one walker notices us, leaving the pack and other begin to notice too.

"We have to go!" I whisper and we turn and run, finding the tracks again and running. We come to where the tracks cross a road and we have a herd following us and four dead ones eating something in front of us. We pause and then sprint at them, each taking one and killing it.

-

We ran for awhile but followed that road to get off the tracks, looking for anything. "I figured there had to be some houses through here, some stores," Michonne breathlessly admits.

"Some food, anything would be nice," I add.

"Hey look," Carl gestures up ahead to a blue truck that sits torn apart on the side of the road. Michonne takes care of the dead one laying beside it and we check out the truck, it's been ransacked but it's in good enough shape to spend the night in, which will be here in no time.

-

Night has fallen and Carl is asleep beside me in the backseat of the truck, tossing and turning. Michonne and Rick are sitting on the road in front of a fire talking quietly. I close my eyes, trying to sleep, but I can't. I don't feel safe enough to sleep now. I feel quite disgusting right now, dirty, sweaty, and my black hair is greasy. "Whoah deary me, you screwed up, asshole!" I hear a man's familiar voice say from outside the truck and my eyes shoot open as do Carl's. Then a familiar face appears in the window next to Carl's side of the truck holding a knife, and I know exactly who I'm dealing with. The voice counts from ten down to eight when another familiar voice rings into the air and my breath stops.

"Yo!" Daryl. "Hold up."

"You're stopping me on eight, Daryl," the leader calls out.

"This is the guy that killed Lou so we got nothing to talk about," a man holding a gun replies angrily. I glance back at my sword that is laying behind me but I can't reach it without stretching back for it and if I do, that guy will kill me.

"Thing is about nowadays we have nothing but time, say your peace, Daryl," the man interjects.

"These people, you're gonna let em go," Daryl grumbles and you can hear the worry in his voice. "These are good people," he insists.

"Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll of course have to speak for him and all because your friend here strangled him in a bathroom."

"You want blood, I get it," Daryl drops his crossbow and puts his hands out to the side. "Take it from me, man."