It's Over When It's Over

We left the CDC a day ago. We’ve been driving none stop but then Shane wanted to stop and check out a building see if it was safe to stay at for a while, but then Daryl noticed a herd of walkers coming right at us so Daryl started yelling and honking his horn to warn Shane. If Daryl didn’t notice those walkers Shane would be dead. We all drove off as fast as we could. We all were following Rick and we soon pulled up next to the old folk’s home, where Guillermo and his people are. We got out the truck and followed everyone else.
“How do we know they’ll take us in?” I ask.
“With all those guns we gave them, they’ll probably throw us a party.” Daryl answered. “Good call, for once!” He told Rick. We all walked through a building and jumped out the broken window in the back like I have done before to get to the front doors of where Guillermo and his people kept guard.
“Where are the look outs?” Glenn asked. We all looked around and didn’t see anyone. We walked around a wall and saw walkers eating Guillermo’s men. I grabbed Daniel and held him close as we watched the walkers who have not yet noticed us.
“Son of a bitch.” Shane said. After that the walkers took noticed and all stood up walking towards us. That’s when Rick gave the okay to start shooting. All the men started shooting the walkers as Lori, Carol, and I covered our kid’s faces. Once they were all done shooting we all ran towards the old folk’s home trying to be quite. When we got inside we saw that everyone was dead, and Sophia then started crying; scared over what she was seeing.
“Put a sock in it!” Daryl ordered Sophia.
“Leave her alone.” Carol cried.
“Shut her up or I will!”
“Stop that right now!” I ordered Daryl, “We do not need this!” Daryl was quite. Rick ordered Jack and T-Dog to barrack the doors as him, Shane, and Daryl went to go clear the building. As Jack and T-Dog did what they were told, some of us sat on the floor, but then we heard growling, and groaning coming from outside. So we all covered our breathes so the walker wouldn’t hear us. Sophia’s crying got loud but Carl held her hand and mouthed ‘It’s okay’ and she then calmed down. Soon the walker left and we all got up running back to the men.
“Upstairs is our best bet.” Rick stated. “Cleared a few rooms, we can barracked those if we have too. We’ll be alright.”
“You mean that this time? Or are you lying to us like all those times before.” Carol asked, which I thought was rude. It’s not like Rick meant for all these things to happen. Rick was doing his best to keep us alive; he’s only human.
“That’s unfair, and no help at all.” Lori said.
“The hell happened?” Glenn asked looking at the dead bodies lying on the floor.
“What do you think? They got overrun.” Andrea said. Daryl ‘Pfft’ at Andrea’s statement, “Something to say?”
“Yeah, how about observant.”
“Observant? Big word for a guy like you.” Andrea said. She began to say something else but I cut her off.
“Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? That’s a big word for a guy like you? Daryl ain’t no different than Rick or Shane.” I snapped at her. How dare she insult Daryl like that. Daryl is a really smart guy and for her to say that crossed a line with me. Of course I was going to defend my boyfriend, anyone women would, just like how Lori did for Rick a second ago.
“Ladies let’s calm down.” Rick said, gently putting his hand on Andrea and me.
Daryl then continued to explain his point, “Walkers didn’t do this. Geeks didn’t show up until all this went down. Somebody attacked this place. Killed all these people and took whatever they wanted. They all shot in the head, execution style. Y’all worried about walkers? I’d be much more worried about the people who came and did all this.” Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder, “Get a dictionary. Look it up, observant.” He said then walking off. I was proud of Daryl. He sure made Andrea look stupid.
___
Rick and Shane came back with all the food they had found. Wasn’t much, just a bottle of water, garbanzo beans, and a few bags of chips. Daryl opened the can of beans and gave it to Glenn and me so we can but it on some paper plates and serve everyone.
Shane sat down and pulled out a bottle of sider. “Is that to share?” Daryl asked with a mouth full of beans.
“Seeing as how I owe you my life.” Shane said handing Daryl the bottle to open. “I’m going to go ahead and start being nice to you.” I was glad Shane manned up like that. He has always been mean to Daryl and it always got on my nerves.
“I do think I earn the first drink.” Daryl said opening the bottle with his knife.
“Go easy on that stuff.” I said. “Let’s not forget where we are.”
“Yes ma’am.” Daryl responded.
___
We were all getting ready to head to Fort Benning. Shane and Rick wanted to lose some cars to save fuel.
“Hey we’re gonna take the bike.” Daryl said.
“We’re getting rid of the truck?”
“Yeah. It’d be easier on the bike.” Daryl explained. I didn’t want to see the truck go. The truck kind of started our relationship. The night he drove me home in it, was the night I invited him to dinner. And another time when Daryl took me camping, we slept on the bed of the truck. There are so many memories with Daryl and I that involved the truck, but if it had to go, then it had to go… “You riding with me?”
“Sure.” I said. Daryl got on the bike and then helped me on. I guess it’d be easier on the bike. At least we didn’t need to wear a helmet. I get to let my hair down in the wind. Daryl started the bike and led us down the road. We made our way onto the opposite side of the freeway, where the road was clear. Daryl’s bike roared threw the air and I worried about the noise. Walkers follow where they hear sound, but I guess it wouldn’t be that much of a problem. We got out of Atlanta and as we continued to drive down the highway we saw a graveyard of cars. Daryl drove around them and turned back around.
“See a way through?” Dale asked. Daryl nodded and turned back around guiding the rest of our cars threw the mess. As we were driving I heard a loud sputtering noise. I looked back and saw Dale’s RV having trouble again; probably the hose. We pulled over and got off the bike.
“Problem Dale?” Shane asked.
“Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no home of…” Dale paused as everyone watched Daryl walk up to a car and look through it, “Okay, that was dumb.” I slightly laughed. It was smart of Daryl. All these cars were trying to get out Atlanta, must be full of supplies.
“We can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start.” T-Dog said, walking up to one as Jack followed. Everyone went to a car looking for things so I stayed with Dale to help with the RV, like I had promised Jim.
“Hey Lori can you watch Daniel as I help Dale?” Lori nodded and Daniel ran to her. We opened the door to look at the problem. Hot steam was coming out like crazy.
“Which one?” Glenn asked with a hand full of screw drivers.
“The flathead.” Dale said. “Radiator hose clamp is always a flathead.” Dale handed him the screw driver and told him to do it, he wanted him to learn something.
“So Dale, which one of these cars do you think will have a hose that’ll fit?” I asked.
“Go check out that one.” He said pointing to the van next to Shane. I grabbed an extra flathead and walked to the van Dale was talking about. I looked at and started unscrewing things. Glenn joined me after Shane found a truck full of water.
“Hey see that right there?” I asked Glenn pointing to one of the screws near the bottom. Glenn nodded, “Alright unscrew that and we can get the hose.” Glenn smiled and did want I said. Shane then grabbed my arm and told me to get down. I wasn’t sure why he wanted that but I did what he said and got under the truck with him and Glenn. I then heard groaning and feet sliding on the cement. A herd of walkers were coming towards us. I started to panic. I wasn’t sure were Daniel, Daryl, or Jack was. I looked under the cars from where I could see and saw Daniel underneath a car with Carl, but I didn’t see Jack or Daryl under any cars. I started to hyperventilate. The not knowing where they were was getting to me and Shane smashed his hand over my mouth to cover my cry.