The world faded back in slowly at first, a blur of colour and sound; and blistering, burning pain. My head felt as if it were on fire. It was the only thing I knew for sure. Every other thought spun in the vast emptiness around me, caressing my consciousness, but remaining out of reach. When things began to return, it was piece by piece. The soft breeze. The stench of smoke and death. The sensation of hard ground beneath my back. The sound of guttural voices and shuffling feet.
Shuffling feet?
The stench of death?
There was something off about that… Brain hurt. No think, please.
Something touched my foot.
My body seemed to jerk into motion before I could even really make the conscious thought to move. I rolled to the side, flopping unceremoniously onto my stomach with the grace of an elephant seal. My face pressed down against the concrete, nose bending painfully to the side. Everything felt sluggish. My brain, my body, my senses. I knew I needed to move but willing myself to do so only sent a flare of white-hot pain through my head.
Shaking free of it as best I could, I groggily pushed myself up onto my elbows.
Something grabbed my ankle again.
I slid my legs up, pulling them beneath my torso and using much more strength that I would like to admit lifting myself onto my hands and knees.
The thing behind me made a uniquely gross gurgling sound.
I awkwardly crawled a few paces forward to get away from it, only for a pair of scuffed, booted feet to take up my field of view. When I turned my head to the side to see the familiar-yet-now-rotting and horribly beaten face of the army guy that had shot me, only now walker-fied, I let out a pitiful, hoarse curse and rolled to the side as it tried to lower itself down to take a bite out of me.
I pulled myself along the asphalt until I was facing where I kind of remembered the gate was supposed to be and I began to crawl. It took me an embarrassingly long time to clear the courtyard. Only when the top of my head pressed against the wire fence did I realise my aim had been kind of off.
Everything was so… weirdly disorientated. I could have sworn I was crawling the right way, but the world seemed tilted, uneven. The ground rolled and shifted like waves on the ocean.
Using the wire fence, I shakily pulled myself up onto my unsteady feet and took a long moment to attempt to take in my surroundings. To give myself credit, I hadn’t been too far off. The fence gave way to an opening a few feet away from where I now clung to the wire.
I began to unsteadily shuffle toward it, though the moment I let go of the fence, I lost my balance and stumbled to the side. The edge of my hip hit something solid, steading me for long enough to reach out with both hands and grasp for something to hold onto. My palms pressed against something hard and cold. I turned my head slowly to look at what I was leaning against, a slow, drunk smile spreading across my face.
“Why hello, Mr Tank. Awfully handsy for a war machine that hasn’t brought me dinner yet, aren’t you?”
Something warm dribbled down the side of my head, curling behind my ear and down my neck in an oddly gentle caress. The sensation made me shiver and I lifted one hand up to press against the area, my face scrunching up in confusion when I saw the wet blood coating my fingers.
YOU ARE READING
The Monsters Among Us ➳ Daryl Dixon
Fanfiction𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯/𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 Not human. She was not human. They all knew it. Could almost feel it, but couldn't make sense of it. That was why they were afraid. Not because of what she used to be Before. But...
