That Valley Girl || Daryl Dixon

[ 012 ] Before

We were still walking. We heard a gunshot in the distance not too long ago, making us all anxious. It was just one shot, that's it.

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked Lori, who was lagging behind a bit.

"It was a gunshot." Lori said.

"We all heard it." Daryl spoke.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori questioned.

"Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl guessed.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane, they'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl said.

"So what do we do?"

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the highway." Andrea said.

-

"How much farther?" Lori asked.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards." Daryl guessed. "As the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea said.

We continued to walk until we heard sudden screaming. Andrea.

We ran to where the screams were coming from, Andrea wailed loudly while being attacked by a walker.

Suddenly a horse came through and the walker fell. I noticed there was a woman riding the horse, she was holding a baseball bat.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The woman asked around. She had short brown hair and was wearing a pink shirt with a floral flannel.

"I'm Lori." Lori spoke, walking up to the mystery woman.

"Rick sent me, you have to come now. Carl's been shot." She said. We all looked at each other with a loss for words while Lori stared at the woman in disbelief.

"He's still alive, but you've got to come now." She urged. "Rick needs you, just come."

"Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl." Daryl protested as Lori climbed onto the back of the horse.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The woman asked. "Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene." Lori held onto her as the horse began to run in the opposite direction. So much happened so fast, we were all dumbfounded.

The walker the woman had taken down got up again, groaning.

"Shut up." Daryl said, shooting an arrow into it's head.

-

"Shot, what do you mean shot?" Dale asked as we got back to the highway.