Please hold my hand || Daryl Dixon

𝟏𝟏.

Rick runs up to his son and Nina, promptly cutting the woman off as he yanks on both of their arms and runs with them in tow. Glancing back, Nina and Carl are greeted with the sight of what seems to be hundreds of walkers.

Nina heaves for air, going to make a break for the house and Daphne but his large hand snakes around her waist and pulls her closer. Nina fights it, flashes of her daughter being attacked never ceasing in front of her eyes.

Ricks gruff voice speaks to her, "Daphne and Daryl will be fine."

Nina goes to fight it but it seems she's going to need to work out a bit more before attempting that again. She didn't realize how much she needed him to say Daryl would be fine too, but she did, and she calms slightly at the reminder that he's also with her baby.

All of them stood together on the deck, watching in horror as the herd slowly closes in, cascading down the hill surprisingly fast for walkers. Maggie walks out with a- somehow- sleeping Daphne in her arms. Lori runs out the door, "Nina and Carl are still gone."

"What?" Maybe if it wasn't so dark out you could've seen Daryl's heart drop out of his ass. Gone? The hell- they let her leave with Randall on the loose, and Carl? He had half the mind to jump off the porch and fight his way through the walkers to find them- to find her.

"Carl took Nina to find the blanket Daphne sleeps with- they should be back by now." Lori stammers, her eyes wide in panic.

Daryl said nothing as he raised the blanket he was going to give to her before she left so maybe they could talk longer. He drops his head with an exasperated sigh, looking over to Daphne.

"We're not leaving without 'em." Daryl tells everyone. "We're not." Carol agrees. "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find them." She tells Lori, pulling her to look for them.

Hershel comes out of the house with the bag of guns, hastily handing them to the group as they readied to make a break for it. Maggie grabs one for herself and then for Glenn. "Maggie." Glenn pauses, glancing between her gun and the woman herself, having no idea she knew how to use a gun.

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two." She says nonchalantly, readjusting her hold on Daphne.

Rick shuts the doors to the barn and Nina slides a pole into the handles, preventing any of them getting in for a little while.

Walkers ignore the lack of people outside now as they persistently continue banging at the doors, trying to get at them, wiggling fingers reaching through the cracks.

Nina stares in disbelief at the amount huddling around the front of the barn just to get at them, trying to come up with something- anything, to give them time.

Rick had one gun on his person and Carl had one as well, but neither are a match for the growing number of them outside. Could they even kill them at all at this point? Should they even try? With the amount- that was still increasing when her and Carl looked- it would take forever to burn the bodies afterwards. Her eyes widen and the metaphorical lightbulb shone brighter above her head.

It seems Rick had the same idea as he hands Nina a can of gasoline and they start dumping it all over the hay covered ground. "Carl, go up the ladder." Nina tells the boy.

He stops and looks at the adults. "What about you?" He asks them.

"Just go- we'll be there in a second," She splashes the liquid on every surface available, might as well have been praying for the world to burn as she douses the creaking door and the floor in front of it.