Alone Together

The sun had risen exactly thirty two minutes ago, the time Val had taken to pack her things from the camp she had set up for her and Max to spend the night. They had spent the rest of the previous day in the woods, trying to get as far from Alexandria as they could and hopefully find a town to scavenge and spend the night. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been successful at the last one.

“Okay,” Val spoke to herself, map in one hand and machete in the other, trying to figure out where exactly they were. She stopped, studying the map and looking around for several seconds before glancing down at her dog with a sad smile. “Well, we’re officially lost.”

She removed the military canteen from her belt, using a nearby tree stump as a chair, and took a large drink of water. Her whole body was still stiff from the cold, and she still felt her toes numb. Although days were getting warmer, nights still felt cold, especially when spent deep inside the woods. Val removed the nested canteen cup from her canteen, filling it halfway with water for Max. She knew she needed to save water for later, when heat would start to rise. Her dog needed the water more than herself; his body had been made for heat preservation, not dissipation.

After another couple of minutes they resumed their search for a place to scavenge. Val knew they were running low on food, having probably only another day worth of it, so skipping breakfast had been mandatory.

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Val glanced at the partially clouded sky once more, guessing they had been walking for at least a couple of hours. They had reached an area where an incredibly big fire seemed to have burned for a long time, leaving nothing but charred bodies and burnt wood scattered on the ground. The smell of ashes still clung in the air and with every step they took, Val grew unsure if it was a good idea to remain in that area.

They stopped for a moment when Val saw a small shack that hadn’t been completely destroyed by the fire. She figured they needed to eat, it had been over twenty four hours since their last meal.

She took from her pack the first can her hand found, pouring half of it to the ground for Max. Val didn’t know exactly what it was, it had some kind of meat in it, but the label had already been ripped off when she found it. Still, it was food, so it was good enough for her and Max.

She knew she was not going to find any game in that burnt area, so she had started to consider the possibility of following the nearby road instead. It could be dangerous, if strangers came into their encounter they wouldn’t have the hiding places the woods normally offered, but a road also meant a greater chance of finding some sort of town to scavenge.

Val checked her map once more, deciding which way to turn in order to leave the woods, when the loud noise of an engine made the already few birds that inhabited that place fly. She knew it was a big vehicle, a truck of sorts, as the roaring sound was loud enough to reach them without showing itself.

Val jumped behind two trees that had fallen on top of each other, placing her army pack between her and the now also hidden Max.

“Stay,” she ordered, digging through her pack’s contents and removing a white rope. “And keep watch.”

Val took slow but large steps, eyes carefully scanning the ground before her feet could rest on it. The truck still couldn’t be seen, but the sound of branches snapping and being crushed under its wheels indicated that Val was getting closer.

“Let’s end this.” The male voice made her hide behind a black tree, rope in one hand, gun in the other and the long machete firmly against her body.

“It's ours. We earned what we took.” The answer came from a woman’s voice, trembling from the evident fear. Val held her breath, her body glued against the dead tree as her eyes tried to find the woman who had just spoken.

“You're gonna return what you took. You're gonna pay for the gas it took to come out here and for all the time these men took out.”

The man speaking didn’t seem to be happy with whatever that woman had done, but Val could tell that she was beyond scared and that was all she needed. With one swift motion she threw the rope around one of the thickest branches of the tree she was standing against, giving it a few strong pulls when the end fell to the ground, before starting to climb the tree.

“It's over. You know the rules.” His voice echoed again.

“Your rules are batshit!” Val heard the woman reply in frustration. She sat on the branch, her legs hugging it tightly, and the rusty truck suddenly became clear for her to see. Several men stood in front of it, but as her eyes carefully studied the surroundings, she came to realize that she couldn’t see the woman who was speaking to them, and probably neither could they.

“We're not going back, Wade. We're done kneeling!” This time it was a male’s voice that replied to the men in front of the truck and Val relaxed a fraction, knowing now that that woman was not alone.

“Don't change the subject, asshole.” A whistle followed his remark and the truck moved forward. Val finally caught a glance of the man and woman hiding from the truck, as they changed from one hiding spot to another, and realized they weren't the only ones hiding. She counted three, maybe four people, but she wasn't sure.

Val removed the silencer from her gun, counting on the sound of the shots causing more scare than damage, seconds going by too fast as the guys from the truck got closer to the place Val thought the others to be. She aimed at the rock if front of a fatter guy, waited another second, and finally fired.

A shot echoed throughout the woods. Jerking his head back, Daryl looked around, knowing that the noise hadn’t come from them or the guys that were after them. His muscles tensed, realizing now that they weren’t the only ones in the woods. The guy closer to them fell on the ground, obviously surprised by the shot and how close it had been to him.

Another shot was fired and then another one, injuring one of Wade’s men on the left chin. “Let’s go!” Wade yelled, while all his men that were scattered around grouped together and got inside the truck.

Val aimed at the tree next to a guy with a blue shirt, but the pistol’s slide had locked back, not allowing her to pull the trigger.

“Shit,” She whispered, realizing she was out of bullets. Quickly climbing down the tree, she ran for Max, checking her pack for more ammo and getting even more upset when she found there wasn’t more.
Val cocked her head from where Max had been waiting for her, realizing that the truck was gone. A few more minutes passed, and when Val felt like it was safe again they resumed their journey.

Now all they had to defend themselves was a machete. It wasn’t a bad weapon against the dead, but she knew the problem didn’t reside in them. All she wanted now was to find a place where they could take shelter. Not having many weapons only made being out in the open even more dangerous.

Max stopped before her, his body tensing up when Val caught the faint sound of people talking. “Relax, buddy.” She patted his head. Max had grown accustomed to always consider strangers as enemies, but he never attacked without Val’s order.

As they got closer to the voices, three people came into their view and, to Val’s surprise, she recognized the motorcycle one of them was pushing. It was the same motorcycle she had seen yesterday, driving away with the herd of undead.

She studied them for a while. She remembered Rick mentioning that besides Glenn, two men and a woman were missing. Val narrowed her eyes. Daryl, Sasha and Abraham. Maybe those people were them. To Val it made perfect sense. They were three and the guy with the crossbow had an accent she remembered from Rick’s radio transmissions.

Val took short steps, always making sure they wouldn’t see her and Max from where they were standing. She tried to listen to what they were talking about. Maybe that way she could get the confirmation of who they were after all.

She stopped after only a few seconds, wondering if that was really the best idea. Max looked at her, waiting for Val to do something, but she just stared at the ground.

Why was she following them? What would she benefit from that? Even if she showed herself and told them she knew Rick, what good would that do her? It was not like they would give her food and ammo and send her on her merry way. No, they would probably question her, doubt her and she would end up either heading back to Alexandria or running away from them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the blonde guy stopped and pointed the gun at the guy with the vest and bleeding arm. Val tensed.

“I’m sorry. Give her the crossbow.” The blonde man ordered.

“You gonna go back? You gonna be safe?”As the man with the vest spoke, Val grew more convinced that he was one of Rick’s men. But what about the others?

“Shut up.”

“Ain’t nowhere safe no more.”

“Give her the crossbow.”

“You gonna kneel?”

Val jumped when the blonde guy fired at the tree right next to the other man, making him finally surrender his crossbow.

The guy in the shirt handed the gun to the woman and grabbed the motorbike lying on the ground.

“Patch yourself up.” The woman threw him some bandages, gun still pointing at him. “We're sorry.”

“You're gonna be.” The man grunted, watching them leave.

Once they were out of sight he finally picked up the bandages, looking around. Val observed him for a while, seeing that he was only carrying a hunting knife with him.

"You should really do what she said." A female voice made Daryl spin on his feet. "You should patch that up."

His blue eyes met her green ones. Silence settled around them. He saw the gun on the holster and the dirty machete on her hand. Her eyes travelled to his hunting knife and then back to his eyes.

If you wanna do something, do it now. Her eyes narrowed.