Daryl's Girl

Chapter 35

I woke up to the sound of someone mumbling and rubbed my eyes to see Briana still asleep in the back of the truck, shaking. Her breathing becoming more rapid before she began yelling her sister's name.

"Briana." I shook her gently, glancing out of the window. The last thing I wanted was for another herd to pass through and hear her. For us to end up trapped. My experience so far on this highway not a good one. "Briana." I then said a little louder.

She opened her eyes almost immediately, jumping up and looked over in my direction, trying to catch her breath. She was not okay, but I did my best to give her the most reassuring smile I possibly could. She just sighed, wiping her eyes of tears.

"Come on. It's not safe around here. We should head back." I said, opening the door. I knew better than to ask how she was. "There are too many walkers around here."

"Walkers?" She questioned and I nodded, forgetting that I hadn't always called them that. At this point, I'd been using the term for a while, so it was just drilled into my mind. "I think it's better than corpses, don't you think?" 

"I suppose." She sniggered and the two of us slipped out the back.

Together, we made our way over to the abandoned supplies and I took two bottles of water, leaving one remaining on the bonnet, and grabbed two apples. I handed Briana one and she took it graciously.

"How far is the farm then?" She asked, taking a bite.

"It's about roughly an hours walk in that direction." I pointed, looking in the direction that I had originally come from yesterday afternoon.

Briana nodded again and once we finished eating, we took a sip of water each and headed off, making our way past the maze of cars and into the woods. My knife and gun safely tucked into my belt, hoping that I wouldn't have to use them. Not that my gun would be of much use without any bullets anyway.

I just had to push it and everything else to the back of my mind and focus as I lead the way through the trees, walking for what felt like half an hour in silence. My hand gripping the handle of the knife with Briana trailing behind me. The both of us completely on edge. Her relying on me to keep us both safe.

All of a sudden, there was a sharp snap and immediately the two of us froze. Everything around us eerily quiet as we scanned the area around us. Then there was another snap, then another, then another. They were footsteps.

"Stay behind me." I whispered as I stood staring through the trees, keeping my eyes focused on the direction the noise was coming from. I couldn't see anything, but it was getting closer so I pulled my knife from my belt.

Soon enough, a walker stumbled out from behind a large tree and I felt my body relax a little. Walkers I could deal with, but other people would be a problem. There was only a small window to work out if they were hostile or friendly. Luckily, this wasn't one of those times.

I left Briana and made my way towards the walker, stabbing my knife into its head before it could turn and see us. It fell to the floor and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Briana walk over and stand beside me, watching as I wiped the blood on its shirt and slid my knife back into my belt.

"You're getting good at that." She said, resting her hand on my shoulder. The last time we were together, I could barely even hold a knife, let alone use it.

"It's not a case of getting good." I replied. "It's more ignoring the thoughts Tyler had put in my head about not being capable and needing to be protected."

Without him here, it felt like I could breathe and the longer he was missing, the more I learnt about myself. The more I saw how much he'd managed to manipulate me into thinking I needed him in order for me to live. It wasn't true and I was going to prove him wrong.