All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 40

"Ah!" I cried out in pain. 

"Rosita, get me somethin' to make a sling with," Daryl ordered. He looked back down at me.

"I thought you were going to walk me through the process," I laughed as I wiped away a lone tear with my good hand. I took in a few deep breaths, telling myself that the worst part was over.

He shrugged and gave me a small smile. I was glad he had done it that way, though. It was like ripping off a bandaid on the count of two when you were counting to three.

Rosita brought over a towel and Daryl wrapped it around me, gently placing my arm in the makeshift sling. I was glad it was my left arm at least so I could still hold a gun.

Daryl helped me stand up and I breathed through the pain in my back. 

"All good to go?" Rosita asked.

I nodded and looked at Daryl. "Did you get those men?" I asked, remembering the men we had been shooting at before.

He nodded. "I got 'em."

I was impressed. I reached out my hand to Daryl who had picked up the guns off the floor.

"What?" he asked.

"My gun," I said, my voice sounding hoarse.

"Sloane," Daryl said slowly as he gave me that look that meant no.

"Daryl, I'm not going out there without a gun. My right arm is fine."

"Oh, give her a gun," Rosita said and gave me a small smile. Daryl glared at her and reluctantly handed me my gun.

"Stay behind me," Daryl ordered me after he stuck his head out the door and checked to make sure no one was there.

Daryl took the lead and Rosita stayed behind me. I felt bad they had to slow down for my benefit because I was struggling to keep up.

Daryl led us down the hallway until we were back to the place where Daryl and I had separated from Rick and Michonne. We peeked around the corner to the large room where multiple men were laying dead on the ground. Rick and Michonne must have gotten them, but they were nowhere in sight. That worried me. I heard shooting from upstairs.

Daryl nodded his head towards where the noise was coming from. We ran across the room and found a door that opened to a set of stairs leading to the second floor. We quickly ran up to the second floor but stopped before opening the door. Daryl must have sensed my struggling so he gave me a moment to catch my breath. I took in deep breaths, pain shooting down my back each time.

I cleared my throat. "Okay, I'm good," I croaked. Daryl eyed me for a moment in worry and then nodded his head. He slowly opened the door and peeked through the crack. He turned back to us and motioned for us to follow. He slowly opened the door the rest of the way and we all snuck in quietly. There were gun shots going off to our left around the corner.

"We should split up," Daryl said. "One of us go 'round to the other side and we cut them off and shoot from both sides." I nodded my head.

"I'll stay with Slaone," Rosita said. Daryl immediately glared at her.

"It's okay," I said to Daryl, even though I hated to separate from him. Daryl and I locked eyes for a moment. We didn't need to say anything to each other, I could tell by the look he was giving me that he wanted me to be safe.

After a moment, he said, "be safe," and then turned to leave. He went right, away from the shooting, so that he could try and loop around and get them from the other side. We would cut them off from both ends and they would be stuck.