Losing Hope *EDITING*

Chapter 20; Claire Curvel

My hand that wasn't clutching onto my knife held tightly onto the back of Glenn's sweater. I could hardly see with what little light came from the moon and it wasn't any better that it was foggy outside. I kept straining my eyes from left to right, praying a walker didn't show up and try to take a bite out of one of us.

"You okay back there?" Glenn asked, turning his head slightly to look at me.

I nodded, unable to find the words to say yes. I'm sure if I did my voice would crack anyway. I was scared out of my mind. I hated the woods. Nothing good ever lies inside them. Sure you had a better chance of avoiding walkers out here, but you also had a high chance of running into walkers and being surrounded.

Daryl sighed as we continued to move. "Ah, this is pointless. You got a light?" He asked Glenn.

Glenn pulled the flashlight out of his back pocket and handed it to him, Daryl flickering it on. I followed the shine of the light as Daryl shined it around. It was creepy out here and now I was regretting my decision on deciding to help find Randall even if he was my brother.

A twig snapped, making me jump and press myself closer to Glenn. Daryl seemed unfazed by it as he groaned. "Daryl, what did you mean by Randall ain't my brother?" I asked him in a whisper, the question suddenly popping back to mind.

"Boy told me himself. You're mother died when you were 8 and his took you in," he explained. "Come on."

I let go of Glenn's jacket, watching as they began to walk away. What... Randall wasn't my brother. My mother wasn't even my mother. I wasn't even related to either of them. I don't know what to think or feel. Angry? Sad? Confused? No. Randall is still my brother. For all I know Daryl could be lying. He never liked Randall in the first place. Randall is my family. He treated me like a sister since I can remember and I'm not going to let anything change that. I need to find my brother and stick by his side because that is what family does. For all I know Daryl could be pulling up that lie out of his ass to get me to side with him.

I ran to catch up with Daryl and Glenn, a determined look on my face. I wasn't going to let what Daryl said bother me right now anyway. I had to stay focused on staying alive out in these woods and I had to watch Daryl and Glenn's backs like they watched mine.

Any other time, a night out here would be beautiful, but you can't enjoy nature anymore with out something evil coming out.

"We're just back to square one," Glenn whispered, making me notice that he was right.

We went in a complete circle.

"If you're gonna do a thing, might as well do it right."

Glenn stopped for a second as Daryl squatted down to the dirt to track most likely. "You okay? Daryl should have waited to tell you that after-"

"I'm fine Glenn," I told him truthfully. I don't know why I wasn't affected so much by what Daryl told me, but somehow I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I always knew I was different from Randall and his, our mom,and to have confirmation made me feel relieved in some way.

"Come on," Glenn spoke softly, holding his hand out to me.

I felt my cheeks burn red in embarrassment as I hugged our fingers together -thankful for the darkness of the night. Glenn pulled me along with him as we followed Daryl.

"There's two sets of tracks right here," Daryl informed us, shining the light of the flashlight to the ground we walked on. "Shane must've followed him a lot longer than he said."

I followed closely behind Glenn, my hold on his hand tightening. What if Randall is hurt? What if he's struggling with walkers? What if he's bit...

"There's fresh blood on this tree. There's more tracks."

I gulped, my heart pounding in my chest. Why would there be blood on the tree? What was Shane doing following Randall? What did he do to Randall? Where is Randall?

"Looks like they're walking in tandem."

I jumped, running into Glenn at the sound of animal calls. Glenn seemed to jump too, quickening his pace to only run into Daryl. "Sorry," he apologized, holding his hand holding mine up in defense.

"Yeah, there was a little dust up right here."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean something went down."

"What?" I questioned, my voice laced with worry. "Do you think Randall got away?"

"It's getting weird," Glenn commented.

"Had a little trouble."

I looked in the direction of where Daryl pointed the light. My breathe hitched, noticing the blindfold that Rick had used to put on Randall when he got hurt. I bent down, letting go of Glenn's hand and picking it up. I stood back up, clutching the blindfold in my shaky hands.

"Randall!" I shouted.

A hand clamped over my mouth, making me widen my eyes at Daryl. "Shush kid, you trying to draw every damn walker out here to us."

"Sorry," I muttered once he removed his hand.

Something rustled behind us making Daryl and Glenn take off for cover. "Claire, get over here," Daryl whisper yelled towards me.

I panicked, scurrying to a tree near me as I could see a a dark outline of someone. Or something. There's no telling. One hand clasped over my mouth to try to quiet my breathing as my hand with the broken wrist clutched onto my knife, ready to pull it out at any time. I peeked from the tree a little, catching Glenn and Daryl's eyes. Glenn mouthed something to me, but I couldn't understand as my heartbeat drowned in my eardrums.

I turned back around, a scream erupting out of me as a walker fell onto me. I turned my head to the side, trying desperately to push the walker's chomping mouth away from my face with one hand as it almost took a bite into me.

"Claire!" Glenn yelled.

I groaned, sweat already pouring down my forehead and neck as I struggled to keep the walker off of me. Its attention was taken away from me as Glenn stepped out, but froze up as the walker growled out at him. It pushed Glenn to the ground as Daryl shot an arrow into its shoulder.

"Fuck," I shouted. I whipped out the knife from its sheath, rushing to Daryl's aid with Glenn as the filthy walker climbed on top of him.

Glenn jumped onto its back, holding onto its neck as he fell back with it. "Hurry Claire," he grunted out. I brought my arm back and swiftly planted the knife into the walkers skull, the blood splattering out onto my white shirt. Great. I fell to the ground, breathing heavily as Glenn pushed the walker off of him, Daryl helping him up.

The only sound that came from us was our heavy panting. Glenn held his hand out for me to grab, but I shook my head, not trusting myself to be able to stand straight.

"Oh," Daryl muttered. "Nice."

My breathe hitched in my throat, my blue eyes zoning in on the dead walker that I had just plunged my knife into. I could already feel the bitter tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared in horror at my dead brother.

"R-ran-dy," I croaked out, scrambling to my hands in knees to get to him. "Randall!" I screamed in tears.

I didn't care if I was being too loud. I didn't care if I was putting Glenn and Daryl in danger. I didn't care that I was shaking a dead Randall like he would come back to life. I didn't care that I was breaking down in front of these two men. My world was crashing and I honestly had no hope left.