Sunshine

9.

Daryl and I saddled up horses. Me on Nelly and him on Maggie's horse. I always forgot her horses name because I paid so much attention on Nelly. It was quiet between us, which somehow worked for us. I've always been quiet. Except when I've been pushed to the limit of screaming, which is not where you want me.

"About yesterday, the story about your dad. Ya know, being shit and all. Mine was too. My brother, he would just pack up and leave all the time." He started as I froze, stiffening on top of the animal. He didn't seem to notice my sudden statue like abilities at the mention of his brother.

"The apocalypse started, walkers got my dad. My brother and I took off. That's when we met these guys, we actually planned on robbing the suckers. But then Rick came along, locked my brother on a roof." He let out a small chuckle at the thought of the past. I was shocked that they were going to rob the group, but I guess it made sense because of what he did to me.

I kept nodding to his story, "losing Merle was tough, that's why I can't give up hope on this girl. I just- can't." He finished. I nodded and wondered by he was telling me this. He didn't have to, he didn't have to be nice to me. He didn't have to talk to me. We were strangers, yet it kind of felt like we've known each other before.

"I get it." We shared eye contact for what felt like a decade before Nelly started to move under me. I pet her neck, shh her and telling her it was all right.

"Wait, I see something." Daryl said jumping off the horse and going to the ledge. In the water below there was something attached to a log. I looked closer and noticed a doll, Daryl looked confident and then hopped back on the horses back.

"Let's go!" He said kicking the horse sending it forward. I did the same.

We went along the creek trying to find a way down but the longer we went, the steeper the hill seemed to get. I watched Daryl in front of me and before I could even keep it from happening, Nelly was on her hind legs kicking forward and knocking me off her. I didn't land on the ground, instead I went down the cliff and into the water. When I hit the water, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I winced as I looked over to see blood filling the water.

My knife had gone into my side. I groaned and tried to move it but it only made the pain worse. I looked up to see a rock wall of climbing and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get up anytime soon. That's when I saw Daryl looking down at me. His eyes were wide and he looked around trying to figure out what to do.

"Are you alright?!" He asked me but when I tried to stand the pain in my side when crazy. I let out a welp and then shook my head, "knife went into my side!" His face was in terror. He looked scared and for the first time, I could actually read it.

"I'll go get someone from camp, don't move!" He yelled but before I could yell back he was gone. I cursed under my breath and wondered what someone else would do. I was down in this little pond. A small waterfall was created by rocks.

I then managed to make it back to hard land to and crawled on my back. I was just going to sit here and wait. Yet after 15 minutes went by, or what felt like 15 minutes, I decided to try to climb. I ripped a piece of my shirt off and tied it around my wound. Then I looked up at the cliff and I knew that this was going to be hard. 

I managed to make it halfway before taking a small break. I looked down at the water and dirt below me but decided that wasn't the best thing to do. I gulped and continued. I was about to take it to the top when I lost grip causing me to fall down. I cried out before everything went black.

What felt like a year was probably only about 20 minutes. I opened my eyes to see someone walking towards me. This is it. I thought. The walker was going to eat me.