Not Alone ✔

Ch. 42 - The Herd

Anna

I walked away with Daryl, I didn’t want to leave his side for a second, but when I stopped to look in this one car he kept walking and I lost sight of him. I just sighed and went back to rummaging through the car after noticing he was gone. “Find anything,” Carol asked walking up beside me as she, Lori, and the kids joined me. “Not a thing,” I said shaking my head then looked around for Daryl again. “He’ll be fine,” Carol said smiling and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I knew he’d be fine, I was worried about me not finding him. I lost him once to this apocalypse and was on my own for a while, I’m not losing him again to this damn apocalypse. “I’m gonna walk a bit further up this way,” I said and nodded in the direction I figured he’d went. Carol and Lori nodded as I turned and walked away from them.

I walked a little ways away from everyone, and came to a stop at another car. When I looked inside, I was horrified by the sight before me. In the backseat, there was a car seat. I looked away after seeing the splatter a blood that seemed to have the seat as it’s center point. I looked away, closing my eyes tight, trying not to see the car seated surrounded by blood in my head, but it was no use. That image just wouldn’t leave my head. I jumped when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me at my shoulders. I looked back to see Daryl, he was staring at exactly what I was trying not to see. “C’mon,” he whispered and pulled me away from the car, walking away from everyone else even more.

“Daryl I don’t want to bring a baby into this world,” I said after a few minutes with my hands tucked away in the back pockets of my jean shorts I was wearing, “this isn’t a world for children anymore. I don’t want my baby to have to grow up scared about every noise it may hear.” It was quiet between us, and when I looked over at Daryl I could see he was deep in thought. I knew he understood why I said that out of the blue, because of that car seat in that car back there. “I know,” he whispered finally, “I feel the same way. But are ya alright? Ya haven’t been the same since Jenner pulled ya out of the room that night back at the CDC.” “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, even though that was a lie.

What Jenner told me back at the CDC scared the hell out of me. He said he found something in my blood, something that he didn’t think should have been there to start with, at least as far as he knew because he didn’t know my personal life. My problem, how was I supposed to tell Daryl about what he found?! This is the first time he’s bringing up Jenner and the CDC since we left and I figure he was just waiting for us to be alone before saying anything. “Ya sure ya alright,” Daryl said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Yeah,” I whispered as we came to a stop and I started digging through another car to keep my mind from wandering to what I had just been thinking about. “C’mon let’s head back,” Daryl said after a few more minutes and held his hand out for me to take and began leading the way back.

“Shit,” I heard Daryl mutter as I looked up to where he was looking. “Oh God,” I said as I stared at a herd of walkers, headed right for us. “Down under the car,” he whispered shoving me towards the closest car, “stay here till I come back.” “You’re not gonna be with me,” I squeaked out in fear. “I’ll be back don’t worry,” he said kissing my forehead before pushing me towards the car again. “I’ll hold you to that Dixon,” I said as I ducked down and climbed under and watched his feet disappear, only to be replaced by countless more feet of stumbling walkers. I placed my hands over my mouth to keep from letting out a sound as they passed by, tears streaming down my face as I forced myself to keep my eyes open.

I could see Carol and Lori under a car, Lori holding her hand over Carol’s mouth to keep her quiet. On the other side of them I could see Carl and Sophia each under a car of their own. I was scared for the children, I wanted to know they’d be safe. But there was nothing I could do and Daryl would have my ass if I left out from under this car where he left me. Daryl, I hope he’s okay. I let out a quiet and shaky breath as I watched the last of the walkers pass by the car I was under. I looked around me and went to crawl out from under the car when I heard a scream that caused my blood to run cold. Sophia.