Survive ( twd carlgrimes)

Chapter 51

MADISON'S POV.

Now, standing all alone in the woods, Abbie looks up to me with frightened eyes.
"Maddie, what now?" She asks.
I sigh in frustration, glancing once back up the road and then turning around to face the direction we came from.

"I guess we go back and tell-"
I cut myself off as I hear the crunch of a twig or branch somewhere in the distance. A stray walker wobbles out from behind the trees on the opposite side of the road. I relax slightly. I easily deal with it by reaching back for an arrow, loading my bow and letting the arrow meet its head in one swift motion.

"Let's just go back and tell the others." I amend as I saunter over to the walker to retrieve my arrow.
As I'm bending down for it I catch a movement in the trees ahead of me. I blink twice as I take in the sight before me. A loud groan comes from a herd of walkers heading right for us.

"What was that?" Abbie asks urgently, but I know from her question that she already knows the answer. I tug at the arrow, releasing it and turn around instantly, grabbing Abbie and running as quickly as I can away from the herd.
"Run!" I urge Abbie.

Shit! Oh shit!
Why now?

"How many?" She breathes raggedly while running.
"I don't know, twenty? Give or take."
"Twenty?"
"Uhh Abbie, how well can you shoot that thing?" I point to her gun.
"I just learned how to shoot it." She panics.

I load my bow and get ready.
"Well, lets hope you have good aim."
We keep running but the walkers aren't far behind. Give them 60 seconds and they'll be on our tails but I'm not sure what else to do.

I slow my pace and pull Abbie behind a tree.
"Are you nuts? C'mon!" She tugs at my shirt, pleading with me to keep moving.
"You have to trust me. Okay?" I whisper quickly.
She hesitates for a slight moment before she nods.

"You're gonna run that way, the same  way we came. You run all the way back and you don't stop. Okay? Be as quiet as you can" I say, pushing her along.
"What about you?" She cries.
"Dont worry about me. I'll circle back later. You just worry about getting back to the church, get the others." I kiss her head and signal her to go.

She's fast. She's really fast when she wants to be and it's what I'm counting on right now because I'm gonna need the others help and time is of the essence right now, so I need her to be fast.

I walk out into the walkers view.
"HEY SHITHEADS!!! LOOK OVER HERE! SEE THIS ARM, BET YOU WANT A BITE, COME ON!!" I scream.
They're uncomfortably close now I run for the hills, praying that I don't trip.

I clutch my stomach as I run and try to ignore the pain that makes me want to throw up.
My breathing speeds up as I do and I can hear my own heart in my ears as I run the complete opposite direction to Abbie.

I pick up stones as I go and load them into my bow. I shoot at the walkers, hitting some with enough force to kill them, others just daze them for a minute. They just don't stop running. They never get tired but I do and the pain in my stomach is killing me. I don't know how much longer I can keep going.

As the negative thoughts creep in and my limbs begin to shake with exhaustion, I feel as though I have no other options. I have nowhere to go and no plan to help me. There's no more question of if I can run anymore or if I can ignore the pain. I know I won't last, so I do what I do best and scan around me for the tallest tree in my vision.

When I spot one that looks sturdy enough, I push myself onwards as much as I can and jump to catch a branch to pull myself up on. I cry out in pain as I pull myself up but I force myself to keep going, to keep my head up as I look up for the next branch and repeat the all too familiar process. In no time at all I'm half way up the tree, but the further I go the more I regret this decision.

ABBIE'S POV.

My feet pound against the uneven ground below me as I force my feet forward. My braid whips me in the face every few strides and my brains in racing just as fast as I am, coming up with a million scenarios, half about what's happening to Maddie and the other half about me. What if I come across a walker, I've never had to deal with one all by myself.

Fear drives me forward and my feet throb in pain as I move faster than I've ever ran before. I wipe the tears that are rolling into my hairline and I try to blink them from my eyes to see better. I don't know where I'm going. Finally, I make myself come to a halt and even though I've stopped, my heart races on.
I spin around slowly, deciding which way to go, which way is the direction we came from.

I feel the blood drain from my face as I watch a walker emerge from behind a tree. I can't risk just making a run for it. It's tall and bulky and could snatch my up in seconds. I raise my gun but cringe at how much it moves in my shaky hands as the walker gets closer to me. I take a few steps back and breathe like Daryl told me to.

C'mon Abbie! Be brave. Be like Maddie, what would Maddie do?

I take one more breath and hold it. Point my gun and the walker and place my finger over the trigger, only squeezing on it when I'm ready. I breath out and squeeze. I expect a loud bang to echo through the forest but the silencer on the gun allows minimum noise. The walker stumbles as its shoulder flings back slightly. I squeeze again and this time the walker drops to the ground and doesn't move again.

My heart is beating so fast that I hear it in my ears. A strange sense of pride washes through me but quickly vanishes as another walker follows. I groan, tired of this nonsense already. They're always there. They're everywhere. I make a run for it only to find I was right the first time, not a good idea.

I try to dodge it's arms but it reaches me first. I'm knocked to the ground by the walker. It crawls on top of me and it's viciously snapping it's teeth beside my face. I cry out, knowing I'm here all alone. This is all on me, I can't depend on anyone else.

The walker is a very tall, but not as bulky as the last. The dress it wears is falling off and torn in places. I use my forearms to hold it upright so it can't chew off my face. It's long, greasy hair dangles into my face and I fight the urge to puke. It's teeth clamp noisily together as it snaps at me, desperate to feed. It keeps snapping at me.

Madison is depending on me, I can't waste anymore time and I won't allow this rotting corpse to beat me, no way!
I position my arm so that only one of my arms holds all the weight of the squirming walker. I reach my hand out to where I dropped my gun and I grab it, bringing the chamber of the gun to the walkers head, I pull the trigger and the walker falls dead onto my chest.

I feel the blood splatter all over my face and onto my top. It takes me longer than I'm happy with just to free my arms from under the walker.
How on earth am I gonna get this fat thing off me???

I wriggle and struggle to get the fat lump off me. I free myself and get back into my feet, wasting no time as I flung myself into a sprint again. This time I won't be stopping for any walkers.

After a few minutes I finally recognize the route I am on. It takes me another few minutes until I see the church in view. I push with all my might knowing that if this was my sister she would have wasted no time on my life and there's no way in hell I'm giving up on hers.

I barge through the door of the church and fall to my knees in exhastion. I hear everybody inside lifting and aiming their guns to my head, thinking I'm an intruder. I look up at them, searching for Rick.
"Help!" I plead.

It takes me a minute to realize why they're staring at me like that but if I had to look at my appearance right now I'd cringe too. I glance down at myself, covered in blood. I wipe at the splattered, dried blood on my face as I fight to regain my breath.

Maggie moves first to help me, followed by Nick, hot on her tail.
My chest heaves painfully as I try to form my words so quickly that they tumble out of me in an exhausted sigh. I try again with slower yet still ragged stolen breaths.
"Maddie is stuck... Walkers... Daryl gone...help!"