RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

all over again

"WE CAN'T STAY HERE-" She steadied herself on the railing of the never ending staircase. "There's nothing left."

"That couldn't have been the camp." Ash shook his head, the both of them out of breath from running. "It's here, I know it is."

"Ash, listen!" Willow said, the both of them silent. "I know you hear that. This place isn't safe. We can not stay here!"

The pattering of the walker's footsteps and their groans echoed throughout the stairwell. They may have gotten a lead on them, but it wouldn't last for long. Atlanta was a bust. Maybe they arrived too late, or maybe it was never there, but the refugee camp had fallen and the city was already owned by the dead.

Ash gripped the railing firmly before ruffling his hair, creases wrinkled in his forehead. "Fuck!"

Willow shut her eyes, bouncing Sienna on her chest as she began to cry again. "We need to leave."

The footsteps got closer, and they could smell the death the longer they stood there.

"Come on-" He said fast, grabbing her arm. They ran down the staircase, reading the large numbers at the bottom of each one. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

They barged through the door, partially blinded by the sunlight, their eyes taking a second to focus on the alley they came into. One end was already crowded with the dead, and the other began to be.

"This way, we'll push through!" Ash directed her, the both of them holding a tight grip on their knives.

He picked up his speed, throwing himself into a few of the dead, allowing a small opening for them both to slip through. They crashed together in the middle of the street, standing back to back as they looked at their surroundings. Through the fresh smoke of the napalms, they could see hundres of the dead in every direction.

"We're gonna have to fight our way out." Ash muttered, their backs pressed tightly to each other. "See anything?"

Her eyes darted around, looking for any detour they could take. "There-" She pointed down the street to another alley she was somewhat familiar with. "Plenty of buildings we can get into down there if shit gets messy."

He took a second to look before nodding, giving her hand a slight squeeze before breaking off from her. She watched him for a second, studying the way he gripped his knife and followed through with it, the dead dropping one by one.

She took a deep breath, adjusting the grip on her own knife, and throwing herself in. She raised her arm and brought it down blindly, her eyes shutting as instinct before fluttering open again, her knife lodged in the dead's neck. She stumbled back as it continued to lunge at her, her eyes wide.

"Ash!" She screamed, backpedalling more until her back was against a car. The dead continued to press on towards her, its jaw snapping at her. Her fear consumed her and froze her in place. She didn't want to die, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She stared the dead man in the eyes in shock, waiting for the inevitable.

But the odds said screw the inevitable.

The body dropped, Ash standing behind it with a horrifying amount of blood on his clothes and skin.

"Run!" He yelled at her, throwing her knife to her and attacking another one.

Her feet moved before her mind could tell them to, and before she knew it, she was in the heart of the swarm. She could hear Ash behind her, his blade making contact with skin and bone. She willed herself to fight, slicing her way through the herd.