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Adeline felt the earth tear beneath her rushed footsteps, her heart beating rapidly against her chest. Fear tightened her throat, feeling the cold wind force it's way into her lungs- moonlight peering sinisterly through the evergreen ghouls around her. Dead and forgotten leaves became crushed underneath the shoes she wore, a beanie settled atop her head that fell just above her brow line. And even then, nothing protected her from the freezing cold that cornered her body into a deep corner of her darkest fear.
The midnight glow of the forest haunted her, pulling at every string in her sickened body. A deepened blue marked her figure as it missed every low hanging branch and fallen log, knowing the path she followed like the back of her hand. You visit it every night, you would be a fool to not remember, she thought as the familiar feeling of tears refreshing the trails down her features fell from her tawny eyes. Dark bags of both mental and physical exhaustion involuntary prodded at her tired frame, never failing to remind her of every place and person her family had lost.
Her gloved palm pressed against the side of tree, body stopping abruptly. Adeline breathed heavily, an avalanche of arctic cold air storming down the path of her throat and into her lungs. Her breath reflected against the weather, water vapor falling from her lips and into the open sky above, her fingers curling around the rough bark as she raised her head. There was a break in the forest that remained a yard away, moonlight pouring in from the bushes that protected the visible barrier. All she had to do was get there.
Pushing her hands from the tree, she rushed back onto the path and headed for the light ahead. The same words of, all you have to do is get there, swarmed like a disrupted bee hive in her mind- stinging and infecting her thoughts. The distant pound of fear grew louder the closer she became, slamming against her body and pulling back at any attempt it made to get her to stay in the forests hold. The creaking trees and hidden animals begged her to stay, pointing back to the warmth of the path she had started on.
But all she could do was watch as her body broke from the line of trees, stripping her of any protection from the pain. Adeline felt her knees slam against the ground, palms tearing into the dirt floor of the haunted field. Her breaths became ragged, fingers curling into the surface as her head rose to see the sight before her. She never made it in time. No matter how hard she tried. Around her laid countless bodies, cold and quiet with crimson pooling at each stomach. It was everyone she once knew, and had grown to love.
And in the middle stood two figures.
A knife plunged into the stomach of the other, blood dripping from the blade and covering their hand. The liquid began pouring out of the body of Daryl Dixon, his slumped against the one who had carved the knife into his skin. The person shushed him, distant cries echoing throughout the forgotten field of memories- and with the softest touch, they lowered his body into to the grass; kneeling over his bleeding figure. They pressed their hands into the bleeding wound they had caused, holding him until he faded.
