To Keep You Close to Me

Everyone started screaming as they noticed the walker sink its teeth into Amy’s flesh. Andrea’s head whipped around to see her sister fall to the ground, screaming in pain. Shane immediately jumped up from his seat and started to run to her, but he was stopped by another oncoming walker. The commotion and screams from the group drew all the walkers to camp. There were at least a dozen making their way towards us.

Andrea, who was the only woman with a gun, ran over to her sister, taking out the walker that was now attacking her neck. Shane pointed his rifle at walkers and started shooting them. Dale joined in on the shooting. Jim and Morales began beating the walkers with whatever objects they could find. I looked around in panic. I didn’t know what to do, I had no weapon. There were too many walkers by my tent so I couldn’t run over there to grab my machete.

Suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and pulled me behind them. My hands grasped at Shane’s shirt as he stood in front of me, shooting walkers. Where could they have come from? We’ve never had this many walkers up here.

“Shane, over there!” I yelled as a walker came to our left. He quickly shot it in the head and then shot the others coming from the woods. His efforts barely made a dent on the herd.

“Get to the RV!” Shane directed. As he maneuvered closer to the RV and I followed closely behind, a hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. Terrified, I screamed for help, but was quickly shushed by Daryl. His crossbow was slung around his shoulder and he had a rifle in his hands. He turned around and continued shooting. I was too concerned with what was going on around us to ask where they had been. Of course, the minute most of the men leave is when we need them the most. I didn’t even see Merle in the chaos so I knew Daryl would be upset.

The last walker had fallen to the ground and the group was silent except the sobs coming from Andrea. She hovered over her dead sister. Blood covered most of Amy’s face and neck and some splattered onto her shirt. Andrea’s hands were also covered in the crimson liquid. One by one, we all turned our heads towards the two on the ground.

My hand shot up to my mouth as I choked back a sob. I really liked Amy, much more than Andrea, but I wouldn’t wish this on Andrea, not on anybody. This was a terrible way to die. I promised myself that I would set aside our differences and I would comfort Andrea, whenever she was ready.

I heard footsteps walking away from the group. I turned my head to see who it was and saw Daryl walking towards our tent. Being curious about Merle and not wanting to see the emotional scene in front of me, I followed Daryl. He unzipped the plastic door and tore through.

“Where’s Merle?” I asked.

“Dunno,” he answered.

“What do you mean? Wasn’t he on the roof?” I questioned. “And what took you guys so long?”

“He cut off his hand to get outta the cuffs,” he explained. I mentally facepalmed myself. How could Merle be so fucking stupid? All he had to do was wait.

“Where did he go? How’d he get off the roof? He’s so fucking stupid!” The last part I mumbled to myself rather than tell Daryl. That was the last thing he needed to hear.

“I don’t know, Val,” Daryl pronounced. “All I know is he’s gone.”

“He could have bled out.” Daryl said nothing as he kneeled down to pick up Merle’s scattered blankets. I walked over to him and put my hands on his shoulders.

“Daryl, I really am sorry about your brother,” I told him. Again, no response. Daryl tossed the extra blankets onto our pile. Daryl knew that I often got cold during the night. I was happy to get more blankets, but sad because the original owner was gone. I was sad for Daryl as well.

“Let’s go to bed,” I insisted, rubbing Daryl’s shoulder. Before I could crawl under the blankets, Daryl rearranged them so that we had more to lie on. Once he had everything just right, he settled in under the blankets. I followed after him, snuggling close to his body.

It felt like hours had passed as I tried to get to sleep, but I knew it was only a few minutes. I was jumping between thoughts of Amy and heat flashes. I suddenly got really hot and found myself sweating under the many layers. I threw the blankets off of me, immediately feeling the cool air against my pale skin. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed.

“What?” Daryl snarled.

“I just got really hot,” I replied. I could feel his body shift beside mine. The small lantern by our heads lit up the tent. As I opened my eyes, I saw Daryl staring back at me.

“What?”

“Were you bit?” he asked.

“No.”

“Scratched?”

“I don’t think so. There weren’t any walkers that got close to me,” I explained.

“Let me check for scratches,” Daryl ordered.

“Daryl, I wasn’t scratched.”

“Take off your shirt,” he ordered.

“Daryl,” I tried to say, but he repeated his order. Sighing, I pulled my shirt over my head and sat there as he inspected my back and arms, gliding his fingers along my skin. He circled his way around me, checking my chest and torso.

“You’re good.”

“I know. I told you I wasn’t scratched,” I retorted.

“Can’t lose you too,” he mumbled quietly. Daryl laid back down and pulled the blankets over his body. Sensing that he was emotionally hurting, I curled up beside him and laid my head on his chest.

“You know, you never told me what took you guys so long,” I pressed.

“Got caught up gettin’ those guns,” he told me.

“What happened?” He quickly explained how another group tried to take them and how they also kidnapped Glenn. I was worried about it, but Daryl assured me that he was never really in any harm. These people ran an elderly home. The whole situation was a misunderstanding. I was glad that some people were generous enough to take care of the elderly.