Daughter of the Fallen

Hearts Still Beating

Rick, Aaron, and I walked over to a tiny boat near the pond. It was lined with bullet holes.

"All these bullet holes," Rick observed. "It'll take on water quick."

I looked at the pond. There was a canoe about halfway in between the shore and the boathouse.

I pointed. "We could probably make it to that canoe out there."

Rick nodded. "Probably." He turned to me. "Bree, maybe you should stay back."

I gave him a look. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

I walked over to the sign and kicked one of the boards off for a makeshift oar.

I came back as Rick slid the boat into the water.

"I came with you guys to distract myself," I told him. "You're not about to stop me."

He sighed and nodded.

The three of us jumped in the boat and started paddling.

We started to get close to the canoe as the boat started sinking.

"We're taking on water quick," Rick commented.

"We know," Aaron responded.

As we kept trying to paddle, walkers grabbed the boat and reached for us.

I took the pointy side of my "oar" and started stabbing them.

We were finally able to get to the canoe.

As Aaron reached for it, a walker sat up in it and reached for him.

I managed to grab the walker and stab it before
climbing into the canoe.

Rick followed me, but before Aaron could do the same, a walker from the water grabbed him and pulled him in.

"Aaron!!" I shouted.

"Stay in the canoe!" he shouted as walkers slowly surrounded him. He went underwater and didn't come up.

Rick and I started yelling for Aaron. He couldn't be dead. Not now.

Suddenly he came back up.

"I'm alright!" he yelled. "I'm okay! I'm okay."

I breathed a sigh of relief as he swam to the boathouse.

We met him there. He pulled us on and we all collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

•••

We started searching the place after a bit. We were relieved to find can after can of food and tons of weapons.

I turned as Aaron showed us a piece of paper. It said "congrats on winning, but you still lose" with a middle finger.

"Bit of a sore loser," he commented.

"Huh," I responded. I checked another weapon that was without ammo. "Looks like the only thing he ran out of was ammo. We gotta get this back now."

Rick and Aaron agreed and we got to work.

•••

Once we managed to get the boat back to shore, I was helping Rick load boxes into the truck when he turned to me.

"Back there," he said. "I didn't mean that you couldn't do it. You've proven your capabilities many times over. I just meant-"

"I know what you meant," I interrupted. I stopped and faced him. "Look, I don't think I'll ever really be over what happened that night. What he did to my dad...and Glenn is forever gonna be burned into my mind. But that doesn't mean I can't still help. I'll be on your front line for as long as you need me to be."