Janie's Got A Gun (A 'The Walking Dead' Fanfiction)

Chapter Fourty-Eight: The Cave

Daryl and Janie stopped their bikes and Carol and Aaron got off their horses as Connie, Kelly, Magna and Jerry appeared from around the corner.
"Let's get to it. Screw these freaks." Magna said. "I say that in Siddiqs honour."
"Thanks for helping." Daryl said to them all and Connie pulled out her notebook and held it up. On the page it read anything for us.

The group walked until they came to the row of sticks that marked off Alpha's new border. They looked around for a moment before crossing it. They continued walking until they came to a valley. Alpha's horde was nowhere to be seen.
"God damn it!" Daryl yelled. "Let's go find Lydia."
"It has to be here somewhere." Aaron said but Daryl shook his head.
"It's massive." Daryl replied. "You can't lose it."
They walked back through the forest until Carol came to a stop, she was just staring through the trees.
"Hey." Daryl called. "Carol, let's go."
"You go on." She replied. "I'll meet you."
"Nope." He said. "We stay together."
Carol started to walk in the direction she was looking and Janie caught up with her. She looked across the clearing to see Alpha, crouched amongst the trees. Suddenly Carol took off running towards her.
"Hey!" Daryl yelled as they all followed. "Carol!"
By now Carol was completely out of their sights and they only had two options. The first was to search the cave just up ahead of them and the second was to continue through the forest.
"Come on." Daryl said, leading them towards the boulders that formed the enterence to cave. "Carol?" He whispered as they stepped into the pitch black and suddenly there was a yelp from down below. Daryl took a step forward towards the noise and instantly fell to the stone below him.
"Arghh!" He yelled. "She's down here."
The rest of the group looked at each other before one by one jumping down to join them, each landing with a painful thud. Just below them was a sea of walkers trying to climb the rocks.
"Hey, guys." Jerry said, pointing his torch at the ledge they had just fallen from. Everyone looked up to see Alpha looking down at them, she smiled for a moment before walking away. This is where she was keeping her herd.

"Woah, woah, woah. Go back." Aaron said as Daryl scanned the cave using his torch, he turned until the light fell on two large stacks of rocks that they could use as stepping stones, the gap between them had to be around 10ft long. "We could use those to jump across."
"Wait." Kelly said and everyone turned to look at her nervous face. "For real?"
Aaron nodded and she sighed and looked down at the floor.
Daryl was the first person to make the jump, he leapt over and when he landed he slipped a little but he made it.
Janie and Carol went next as Daryl jumped to the second rock.
After that Magna and Aaron joined them, stabbing the walkers they could reach as they went.
Once Janie was all the way across, she looked back at their original platform where Kelly and Connie still stood, signing to each other. She recognised one of Kelly's signs to be I'm fine.
She watched as Connie went first, only just making it onto the first platform, then, as Connie jumped to the second, Kelly stepped back to take a runup. She jogged to the edge of the platform and, as she jumped, her foot slipped away from her. Janie looked away, she couldn't bare to watch as she heard a thud and a squeal. Very slowly she looked back up to see Kelly stood on the first platform. She had made it.
Kelly then joined her sister on the second platform ready for the final jump. Janie watched her staring at the walker covered floor with wide, frightened eyes when Daryl elbowed her hard in the ribs.
"What?" Janie asked in an annoyed tone, rubbing her side as she did.
"Help her." He whispered and she turned back to Kelly.
"I'll catch you!" She shouted across and Kelly looked up and met her eyes. "I'm stronger than I look, I swear."
Kelly gave her a nod and took a deep breath before leaping forwards, her feet practically stroking the heads of the walkers below. Janie grabbed her hand as soon as she could reach it and pulled her towards the platform and, as she landed, took her other hand and placed it on Kelly's waist to steady her. She smiled at Janie who was just looking into her deep brown eyes and then, quickly, they both turned away from each other in embarrassment.