Lone Survivors

We found Tyreese and were shown the startling discovery he had made. Rick was hardly given a chance to tell him the news about Carol when an explosion went off. No words needed to be said as we urgently ran outside, only to see a tank and six vehicles waiting outside our fences. The Governor made it painfully obvious that he not only had a lot of force behind him, but that he had the leverage of Hershel and Michonne. The second I recognised those two I almost threw up. My body was paralysed with shock and fear as I only saw this ending badly for them, if not all of us. Daryl linked a supportive arm around me until Rick began making his way down to the Governor. As Daryl took command of the few of us gathered at the gate, Maggie firmly embraced me. She was trembling and couldn’t take her eyes of the scene, the same as me. This threat was scarier than the Walkers.

When Daryl passed us the guns, Maggie snapped back into focus, but I still shook with panic. Maggie steadied my hands so I could actually load the gun, and soon enough we were all lined up and aiming at the enemy. I was in the process of repeating the calming words ‘everything’s gonna be fine’ in my mind when Hershel was taken down. Everything then happened in a blur. I fired without care at the Governor’s people, feeling absolutely destroyed that Hershel was gone. He was one of the kindest people I had ever known, and he had just been unjustly executed.

And then they broke down our fences. The tank bowled them over as if they weren’t the robust pieces of metal that had kept us safe this whole time. As they advanced, our home was destroyed piece by piece by the tank’s fire. Though some of them were dying, I knew that we weren’t winning the battle. Daryl and I were forced to our left, which was in the opposite direction of the bus we were supposed to be heading for. There was sufficient cover behind metal tables that had been propped up, but then the tank pulled up in front of us. We both ducked behind the metal filing cabinet and reloaded, knowing that there was a group of people that were walking behind the tank for protection. I stole a look at Daryl and saw that he wore a hard expression instead of terror like I was.

“We’re gonna be okay,” he said while the bullets pounded against our shelter. I felt the tears forming in my eyes as I took in his features for what could be the last time. His hands came onto my wobbly ones as he performed the final reloading step for me. Daryl then roughly grabbed the side of my face and pulled me into a kiss. “I love you, Mandy.”

“I love you too,” I breathed and he shifted to prepare himself to pop back up and fire at the enemy. Instead we both noticed the Walkers approaching. We were surrounded, and neither way proved a happy ending. After we exchanged glances I mustered up some confidence. “I’ve got your back.” With my promise, Daryl jumped up and continued firing at the human invaders. I shifted to a crouch and aimed for the Walker’s heads. Despite my shaking hands, I still managed to eventually hit the head. I was slowly defending us, which was better than nothing. Because my nervousness was making me waste bullets, I had to reload again and I fumbled with the new magazine and it fell onto the ground. Cursing, I picked it up and attempted to put it back into the automatic gun, stealing a look at the Walker that was too close for comfort. My heart raced as I failed to click the magazine in place. The Walker growled and its rotting hands slid over the barrel of the gun and onto my own arms. I screamed as the monster pushed me down.