Lone Survivors

The group moved in a single file, Rick taking the lead, injured Glenn in the middle, and Daryl bringing up the rear. I was surprised at how no one from this town seemed to know where we were. A couple even ran right past us when we were taking shelter in a gap between buildings. As we ducked behind the next building, I glanced back at Daryl. He was looking around, but wasn’t as alert as he should be. His steps were slow, but not cautious. It then hit me he was searching for his brother.

“Daryl, please focus,” I whispered, really fearing for his safety. I hardly doubted that these people would allow him to meet with his brother and talk. They’d probably kill him before he could even say a word.

“I am focused!” he hissed. I just raised my eyebrows at his response. I didn’t believe him for one second. “I got ya back, Mandy. Let’s keep goin’.” I gave him a weak smile. Daryl always had my back, so I had to trust he still had it now.

“We just gotta go straight across there,” Rick told us, pointing towards some vehicles against the wall. “Michonne, you go over first and keep watch, get any Walkers we’ve attracted. Daryl and I will cover everyone. We need to do this as quick as possible.” I now knew the name of the supposedly trusted stranger. Rick was fumbling around in his bag and brought out what I assumed were flash bangs. Males started shouting to our right, so Rick turned and threw out the bombs.

It all happened so fast. One second I was crouching for cover behind the brick wall, and the next I was swinging my leg over the walls of Woodbury. As I was doing so, there was a sudden strong stinging sensation on my right forearm. My elbow buckled beneath me and I toppled off the fence, crashing next to Michonne. She roughly yanked me to my feet as I looked at my arm. There was a huge tear across it, from what I assumed was a bullet. Daryl didn’t have my back after all…

The fear of being shot by humans or eaten by Walkers pumped adrenaline through my body, so I was able to push the pain to the back of my mind and join the group running from Woodbury. It took me a while to realise that we had lost two people: Oscar and Daryl. I stopped in my tracks, turned, then ran back to Rick.

“We’ve gotta go back!” I shouted.

“It’s too dangerous!” Rick countered in a quiet by stern voice.

“We can handle it! I’m sure he’s stuck near the hole in the fence! He was bringing up the rear and… Please…” I trailed off. The leader’s face was stone cold, and I knew the decision was already made. He’d been left behind and it was probably my fault for mentioning his goddamn brother. “It’s Daryl… The whole group needs him…” Rick hesitated and my stomach sank with nervousness from hearing his reply.

“We’ll regroup at the car and then decide if we’ll risk going back,” he breathed before pushing past me. Fortunately, everyone readily agreed with me. Daryl was worth going back for, even if he had chosen to stay to find his brother. The group needed him. Even though I had to stay behind with Glenn and Michonne because of my injury, I really wanted to go and rescue Daryl. I still wanted to have his back.