Z

I stood on the big wraparound porch beside Carol who had an arm around a distraught Lori. Hershel, Maggie, Glenn, and Andrea stood beside us, all of our eyes scanned the darkness for any sign of Rick, Shane, Carl, Beth, or Daryl. Dale's death was still echoing across the farm and now half of our group was out there, in the dark, looking for Carl and Beth.

"What would make him run off like that," Lori wondered out loud, again.

"We'll find out when they bring him back," Carol soothed, rubbing the taller woman's back.

"Shh," I said, leaning over the railing of the porch, "D'you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Andrea asked

"It sounds like..." Glenn trailed off and we could all hear it. The groans coming from the darkness and drawing closer.

"WALKERS!" Carl's voice cut through the darkness, he was running full speed towards the house, "THERE'S WALKERS!" Lori ran off the porch and towards her son, enveloping him in her arms, "Mom, there's a lot of them and they're coming-"

"Should we go inside?" Andrea asked.

"They'll tear the house down around us," Glenn said as the moon broke through the clouds, "Holy hell," He said, as the crowd of walkers became visible in the distance.

"I'll get Beth," Maggie said, turning and heading into the house for her little sister.

"We're not going anywhere," Hershel said, following after Maggie, he spoke of defending his farm.

"Fuck," It was Glenn's turn to disappear into the old farm house, Andrea followed him.

"Did you see your Dad?" Lori asked Carl

"Him, Beth, and Shane said something about a distraction and they went towards the barn," He looked back over his shoulder.

"Start packing the stuff!" Shane yelled, getting our attention, his feet were pounding into the ground as he ran, "We're leaving! Get as much as you can!" His shoulder were heaving as he came to a stop, he doubled over, coughing loudly, "Too many of them. We need to get moving."

"Did you see Daryl?" The question - the same one I'd had in my head - came from Carol, Shane shook his head.

"He was with us, but I don't know where he went," He said, breathing heavily, "We ain't got time for this, move your asses! Get everyone you can find together, we gotta go."

"We can't leave Rick!" Lori called as I stepped off the porch. I watched their exchange silently as the walkers shambled nearer to the barn.

"We're meeting at the highway, he'll be there!" Shane said, trying to get his urgency across, "Lori, we're all gonna die if we don't start movin'."

"Okay," She said, composing herself, "Carol and I will get the food, Carl, you get in the jeep and for the love of god, stay there."

"We gotta get Hershel to leave," Carol said, starting towards the house, Shane took Carl by the hand and the two of them ran towards the jeep. Lori and Carol passed me as I stood numbly still.

"Look," I said, finally speaking. I gestured towards the barn, flames were licking at the sides of the old roof. The two women paused to look before continuing past me and inside without a word. I took off running into the dark, towards the camp and towards the sound of the groans.

"T!" I called, pulling open the door to the R.V. T-Dogg sat up from where he was sleeping on the couch.

"W'as going on?" He asked quickly.

"Walkers," I said, "We gotta get this thing running so we can get people out of here. Can you bring it up to the house? Carol and Lori are getting the food."

"Aw, Hell," the man said, standing up. He was shirtless, "How many?"

"Alot," I said, "Too many, we need to go."

"Just when I'm gettin' comfortable," He muttered, grabbing a white tee from the table and pulling it roughly over his head, "Where you going?"

"To - " I opened the door and came face to face with one rotting walker. It growled and reached for me as T grabbed my shirt and yanked me backwards into the camper. We both fell to the floor, I kicked at the dead thing as it reached for my boots. Adrenaline surged through me as T scuffled around, grabbing an item from between the front seats - a screwdriver. I watched as he drove the tool into the skull of the walker, ceasing it's movement. T-Dogg stepped over me and slammed the door shut just as the pounding of dead fists began on the sides of the trailer. I pulled myself to my feet as T settled down into the driver's seat.

"Hang on," He called back to me as he started up the R.V. and dropped it into gear. We sped off, turning in a 360 to head towards the farm house, "I'm gonna pull up so the door is right up against the house." I nodded at him in the mirror, the fear of almost dying had me shaking. We'd been so safe here and that was falling to pieces around us, "You alright?" I nodded silently as we pulled up to the house. The fire from the barn was burning brighter now, I could see Bee and Shane loading supplies into the back of his SUV. Rick was talking to Hershel, who was holding a shotgun and held a grave look on his face. I threw open the passenger door and jumped out of the R.V. and ran to Beth. She turned to look at me, just as I collided with her, pulling her into a hug.

"You okay?" I asked quickly, pulling back.

"Yeah," She nodded, "I followed Carl out into the woods and we saw them. There's so many, Rose."

"T killed one, I- It grabbed me and I froze."

She nodded, "We haven't seen them in a while it's going to be hard, but we'll find a new place," Tears began falling from my eye as she spoke, "We'll find a place. Pensacola, remember?"

"Yeah," I nodded, closing my eyes, "Yeah. Have you seen Daryl?"

"No," She answered as I opened my eyes, "He's a survivor, He'll-"

"We gotta go," Shane said, interrupting.

"Come on, Rose," Bee said, trying to lead me into the car, I looked back and saw Rick and T trying to reason with Hershel.

"I need to help here," I said, watching as Maggie and Beth struggled to load up the pick up truck without their father's help, "they need help."

"Please come," Beth said, "I don't want to lose you." I hugged her and she knew I wouldn't be getting in the car with her, "Okay, we're meeting at-" An explosion boomed in the night, the old propane tanks Hershel had kept behind the barn must have not been empty. My ears were ringing as I spoke to Beth.

"Go, I'll get a ride. Be Careful."

She nodded and said something I couldn't understand and I pushed her towards Shane before running back to the group. The walkers were closer now, their silhouettes and shadows danced along the ground as the flames from the fire grew.

" This is my farm!" Hershel spoke as he stood, his feet firmly planted and began firing into the crowd of walkers, "And I will die alongside it." I saw the taillights of Shane's SUV disappear into the tree line, at least she would be safe with him.

"Hershel!" Rick yelled as I helped Glenn get a sobbing Maggie into a car, followed by Beth. I shut Beth's door and told Glen to drive, hoping he knew of the place Bee had been trying to tell me about. Lori was in the Jeep with Carl, screaming for her husband as walkers circled the vehicle. Carol stood on the porch, crying and shaking at the sight of the Farm crumbling. I reached up and grabbed her hand as Rick shot a walker that had been sneaking up on Hershel. Carol stumbled off the porch as the herd finally reached us.

"The R.V!" I yelled to her, we held hands as we ran through the crowd of the dead, their hands grabbing at us. The smell of them was overwhelming and stomach churning, rotting flesh surrounded us as we heard another engine start, followed by another.

"No!" She screamed, I looked through the crowd and saw the R.V. pulling away.

"T!" I screamed, "Wait! WAIT FOR US!" Our cries mixed in with the noise from the walkers and fell on deaf ears. Carol and I didn't stop moving as I searched for a way out, "This way! Towards the camp." I pulled Carol along with me, a walker grabbed a handful of my long hair and I screamed. Carol grabbed my pony tail and yanked it out of the things slimy, decaying hands, ripping a good amount of hair from my head. In the second we stopped, we were surrounded. I shoved grabbing hands away as a scream came from Carol, we stood back to back, encircled. There was no way out and Carol kept screaming. I didn't have to look to know what was happening to her, I anticipated jaws clamping down on a part of me at any moment. I fought back as Carol fell to the ground - my own screams escaping me now. The gap where Carol had been was empty as her screams quieted and the walkers began to feed. I went down to the ground as well, it was a long shot, but I began to crawl through the legs of the horde. Tears were falling from my eyes as I crawled, as fast as I could, the horde's attention was focused on the body now laying in the middle of them. Once I was through, I stood and began running, driving my feet into the ground hard as I pushed my body forward, the growls of the crowd mixed with my cries as I ran for the broken fence.

"HELP!" I screamed desperately, my lungs burning and feeling as though they would burst at any moment, "HELP ME!" My legs began to cramp as I slowed my run, "Help me," I sobbed loudly, the horde groaned as one behind me, but over the noise I heard an engine, I searched in the darkness for the source and spotted a single headlight barreling towards me. Daryl.

He screeched to a stop in front of me, "C'mon, I ain't got all day." I threw myself on the seat behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist as he took off, just as the walkers began reaching for us. I cried softly against his back as he navigated us through the woods, the loud engine echoed in the silence of the early morning.



Daryl and I stopped at the edge of a river, at my request.

"Only for a minute, they're gonna be on our ass," He warned, the sun was up now. I crouched down beside the cold running water and splashed some over my face, "You know where everyone went?"

"Bee started to tell me, but the barn blew up and I needed to get her out of there," I explained, my left ear was still ringing as I wet my hair down, trying to get the decay out of it.

"Did everyone get away? Did we lose anyone?" He quizzed, stepping off the bike. I stood up and turned to face him.

"Yeah, we did," I said angrily, "Carol. We lost her." As much as I hadn't liked her, I never wanted anything to happen to her. Daryl nodded calmly, "And where the fuck were you?" His stony demeanor was added to my rage.

"I was comin' to get you," He said, birds were singing overhead as he took a step towards me.

"But where were you before?" I demanded, my wet hair hanging loosely down my back, "You ran off with all of them, but you never came back."

"Damn, woman! I saved your ass from gettin' ate up, didn't I? The fuck's it matter where I was?" He asked, raising his voice a bit.

"Don't you yell at me, Daryl," I said, stepping up to him even as my voice cracked, and poking him in the chest, "Don't yell at me 'cause you were scared and ran away." He looked at me with hurt evident in his eyes, but his face solid. Rustling in the woods interrupted as we both searched the trees for the sound.

"Get on the bike," He muttered, turning away from me and reclaiming his seat behind his handle bars. I settled back onto the seat behind him, my hips and legs hurting from sitting on the motorcycle for so long. My arms found their way around him as he started the engine and he began driving again, with no destination.