Daryl's Girl

Chapter 5

The thing was on me quicker than I could scream. It had somehow slipped passed Daryl and was making its way directly towards me. Its teeth snapping down to me on the ground.

I couldn't do anything but back away, my heart pounding in my chest. I had nothing to defend myself with, not that I'd be successful in being able to kill it, and I had nothing to put between us. I was weak and I was useless. The only reason I'd made it this far was because of the people around me. 

All of a sudden I felt something behind me and, fearing the worst, glanced back to find a large tree blocking my path. The gap between myself and the snarling corpse getting smaller and smaller until it lunged towards me. Its weight now on top of me. All I could do was use all the strength I had to keep it away. Its cold rotten flesh beginning to tear away in my hands. Its face getting closer and closer to my own, growling as it fought to take a bite.

It was like my life flashed before my eyes as I sat struggling to keep the thing off of me, but before it could sink its rotten teeth into my skin, its lifeless body fell into a heap on top of me. 

It took me a second to realize what had happened, but as soon as I did, I pushed it off of me and shuffled away from it. My breathing labored and my whole body shaking, trying to keep the contents of my stomach from ending up all over the floor. The whole ordeal lasting only a matter of seconds, but to me, it felt like a life time.

Taking my eyes off of the corpse, I finally looked up and watched as Daryl retrieved his arrow from its head, wiping the gunk off on its shirt. In the heat of the moment, struggling to hold the rotting corpse away from me, I'd forgotten he was there and I convinced myself I was a goner. If Daryl hadn't been there, I knew I wouldn't be.

"You alright?" He asked, offering his hand down to me.

I flinched at first, but nodded. "Sorry. Ye...Yeah." I stuttered, taking his hand. "Thanks." 

Daryl nodded, pulling me to my feet and the two of us looked back down at the thing laying between us. As we did, Rick came running back and appeared beside me. He was out of breath and by the look on his face, he was completely oblivious to what had just happened. 

"What the hell happened? You both alright?" 

I nodded my head slowly and glanced over at Daryl, who was doing the same.

What happened next confused me. 

I couldn't hear what they were saying at first, but I watched as Rick crouched down, putting on a pair of gloves before he flipped the corpse over and began poking around in its mouth, checking its hands. Daryl crouching down next to him and doing the same. The two of them muttering in hushed tones, resulting in Rick taking his knife from his belt. 

"Here, I'll do it." Daryl said a little louder, stopping him. "How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine's sharper."

I had to turn away as, the next thing I knew, Daryl took out his knife and began cutting across the corpse's stomach. I couldn't help but gag at the stench that came from its rotten insides. It had to be the most disgusting thing I'd witnessed since this whole thing went down. So much so that I couldn't stand it anymore. The smell was unbearable and I had to walk away. How the hell Rick and Daryl could still be kneeling there, I'll never know.

"Here comes the bad part." I heard Daryl say. "Yeah, Hoss had a big meal not long ago. I feel it in there."

From where I was standing, I could hear them both mumbling to one another, but I didn't dare turn around. I couldn't. My stomach was in knots. The smell alone made me queasy. 

"Here's the gut bag." Gut bag? What the hell were they doing?

"I got this." Rick then said and the sound of squelching filled the air. What ever they were doing, it was sick and I couldn't do anything but just stand and wait. The nauseous feeling within me getting stronger and stronger.