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

Part 27 - Squeeze

CJ held a knife in one hand and a flashlight in the other as the whole group scanned their dark surroundings. The rocky cave seemed to allow the groans of the dead to echo so much louder, and the air felt so much warmer. To their backs, was the wall they had fallen down, and all around them was a small drop to the pit the horde was caged into.

"Uh... hey, guys?" Jerry called out.

They all turned to look at him, following his gaze directly upwards. What they saw made CJ's blood run cold, as she found herself staring into the eyes of the woman that had haunted her nightmares since last winter.

Alpha stood way above them, leaning over the surface they had fallen from moments ago. She held a flaming torch in her left hand, which made only her face stand out in the pitch-black darkness. 

Carol let out a raging scream at the woman, and they saw Alpha smile before turning away and disappearing over the ledge to leave the cave. Carol was left panting and seething with anger at both herself and Alpha for being trapped.

Magna tried climbing up the rocks in the hopes of getting out the way they'd come in. Daryl and Jerry gave her a boost, and she almost got a grip on the next high ledge before losing her footing. She yelled out as she went tumbling back down, Jerry barely managing to break her fall before she hit the ground.

"Damn... You okay?" Jerry asked as he helped her up. 

"I almost had it," Magna groaned in frustration.

"Nah, it's too high," Daryl protested. "You'll risk breakin' your neck. We gotta find another way."

Their voices could barely be heard over the horde; they could only just about hear one another as their words echoed off the rock walls.

Daryl held up his flashlight, scanning over the sea of walkers to look across the cave. He could just about see a steady flow of water coming from a gap between two big rocks.

"You got something?" Aaron asked, stepping beside Daryl and following his gaze.

"Groundwater's deeper in here," Daryl replied. "That water's coming from outside."

"I don't see a way across," Carol said.

CJ used her flashlight to look around, trying to ignore the pounding in her head as the walkers only seemed to become louder.

"Whoa, whoa," Aaron caught her arm. "Go back."

She moved the flashlight back over to where she had been pointing, seeing some large boulders in the middle of the horde. 

"We could use those to jump across," Aaron suggested.

"Nice," Daryl nodded simply.

"Wait..." Kelly questioned as she translated for Connie. "For real?" Aaron gave her a sad look and a nod. It was the only way they had.

As Daryl used his flashlight to figure out the best way across, CJ went up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, clinging to the materiel of his vest. He turned around and saw that she wasn't even looking at him; she was looking at the walkers.

"I don't think I can," she mumbled. It was one thing dealing with herds out in the open, but having to somehow jump over thousands of walkers was a big 'nope' for her.

"It's gonna be okay," he said confidently.

"You are way to calm about this," CJ replied, shaking her head. 

"What did you tell me yesterday?" Daryl asked in a voice only she could hear. "If we get stuck in a trap..."

CJ bit her bottom lip, thinking back to their conversation the previous day. "We'll get out of it."