The Woman at The End of The World. (Daryl Dixon)

thirtysix.

I drive up next Daryl, Old Abe is at his other side, rolling down the window. Against my better judgement, I cut the music. M. Shadows voice is replaced with the chorus of moans and groans of the dead behind us.  A bad feeling dances through my blood. 

"That noise might be pulling half of the herd." I moan, hitting the handlebars in frustration. 

Daryl ignores me, shouting frantically into his radio, "Rick!"

"I'm here." Rick's voice finally comes through. I bring my own walkie talkie close, listening intently.

"What's going on back there?" Daryl demands.

"Half of them broke off. They're going toward Alexandria." I fucking called it.

Cold fear slices my soul. Charlee. Wren. Kelly. Jordan. My family... "Again, what the fuck?" I peer over to Daryl and Abraham. "We have to go back." Daryl holds up his hand, telling me to wait.

"Towards you?" Abraham inquires.

Rick's tone comes again, "we ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping."

"I'm gonna gas it up, turn back." Daryl grunts.

"We have it. You keep going."

"They're going to need our help." I chine in, radio close to my mouth. "I can't-"

"Gotta keep the herd moving." Rick orders, interrupting my worries.

"Not if it's going down, we don't." Daryl's face shows the discomfort we are all feeling.

"The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse. Daryl?"

"Yeah, I heard ya." Daryl grumbles.

"I can run back on foot. Abe can take my bike." Panic sets my blood on fire, "Charlee and Kelly can handle themselves, but Wren..." I've seen what Charlee is capable of. Some bitch got froggy and decided to bully me in school. One day she took it too far. I got injured in one of her pranks. Charlee wiped the hallway floor with her. They both got suspended while I had to be rushed to the nurse's office. Like her brother, she knows how to handle any type of combat.  Like me, she's not someone to underestimate.

Daryl shakes his head, "Nah, you're stayin' with me. I need ya. Jordan's ex-military, I'm sure he's keepin' his girl safe." Like what he's trying to do, I realize. I cock my head at him. He knows I can hold my own. Though, I remember, we have a herd between us and home. I might not make it on foot. He faces our friends, "Hey, we gone five miles out yet?"

"Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?" Abraham narrows his light blue eyes at the redneck.

"Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back."

"The plan is to go fifteen more." Sasha barks.

"Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work." Daryl argues.

Abe's eyes widen, watching him. "The magic number's twenty. That's the mission. That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us."

Sasha sighs. "You want to go; we can't stop you. But without you or Vanessa, they could stop us." She gestures to the party trailing after us.

His beautiful Georgian blue eyes find me after considering the weight of her words, I nod without hesitating. "Nah, I got faith in ya." Their shouts follow us as we speed off, veering into the intersection.

Charlee and Kelly are somewhere with Rick and company. Knowing that the back half of the herd broke off, my heart sinks; they are in danger. Wren is back home. God knows what is going on back there. This shitshow just went from bad to worse. I need to get to them. Daryl knows me well enough that he's trying to get me back to them.