We're The Ones Who Live | The Walking Dead (2)

Part 9 - Evolution

The group of four (plus Dog) had made it out to where Aaron and Jesus had found Rosita the previous day. There were tracks that they were able to use to follow the way Rosita had come, so they chose to leave the horses and Daryl's bike somewhere safe, and travel on foot to get a better look around. 

Daryl led the way, and CJ walked several feet behind him with Dog trotting along by her side; Aaron and Jesus were following on behind. As she watched Daryl walking ahead, CJ had a faint smile on her face. His old vest had aged and worn over time, and one of the angel wings was completely gone now, but it was still a familiar sight, and it made CJ happy to see. 

It may have only been one morning so far, but it felt like she was really getting him back. She saw him glance at her over his shoulder, and she instantly felt caught out for staring, looking away with a blush. In the corner of her eye, she saw him smirk and turn back around. He was secretly glad to be back too. In fact, it only made him mad at himself for waiting so long. He planned on sticking around this time, not intent on leaving his wife again.

Dog sped up and started leading the way, and Daryl slowed down to wait for CJ to catch up. The couple shared a soft smile as they started walking side by side, and Daryl was about to speak when Jesus called out, and their convey paused. 

"Hey. You guys here that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Daryl replied.

"Just listen a sec," Jesus mumbled as he looked all around.

Waiting a few moments to listen out, the others all began to hear what Jesus was hearing. The wind was carrying the moans and groans of nearby walkers, and it sounded like a lot of them. 

"Dog!" CJ called out. He immediately barked and sniffed around for a moment before running off in the direction of the sound. 

The four of them jogged after him, finding themselves leaving the woods and coming out to a large field. Down near the bottom was the herd of walkers they were hearing, only this herd seemed different from any other they'd seen before. The walkers weren't moving in any direction; they were just roaming around aimlessly, sticking to one spot. 

Daryl walked around the field to try and get a rough headcount of the herd, though it didn't seem super big. When he returned, Aaron, CJ and Jesus were all crouched behind a fallen tree branch, just watching the herd move around.

"There's about a hundred-thirty/hundred-forty of 'em," Daryl told them.

"They're just walking in circles," CJ muttered.

Her eyes were fixed on the walkers as the aimlessly roamed around. It was as if there were invisible barriers surrounding the herd, preventing any of them from wandering off. An uneasy feeling was creeping up within her, only, she didn't know what the feeling really was.

"You ever seen them do this before?" Jesus asked.

"No," Aaron shook his head. "Never."

"Rosita's backtrail goes right through 'em," Daryl said. "We should get the horses, circle around, then we'll pick it upon foot."

Aaron turned to glance up at the redneck. "What about them?"

"What about 'em?" Daryl asked.

"They're just milling around," Jesus shook his head in confusion. "That's not normal."

"No... No, it ain't," Daryl mumbled, his gaze set on the strange herd. A gust of wind whistled through the greying sky. "We should go. There's a storm comin'."

He called out to Dog and started walking away, closely followed by Aaron. As Jesus got to his feet after crouching, he noticed CJ was stood frozen on the spot, just staring down at the dead roamers.