SKIN AND BONES | THE WALKING DEAD

Chapter Three: Start to Finish

"We can't save everybody." Daryl told Nate once they were a few feet away from where they left Dwight, Sherry, and Tina. Nate only barely got to throw a glare towards him before they heard a truck braking and the two of them hurried to duck behind a tree. Men were walking alongside a military grade vehicle and Nate's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Let's end this." The man at front said, Nate could only see his knees, and the guns attached at the thighs of the men.

"It's ours." Sherry's voice called out. Nate could tell from her tone just how scared she sounded. "We earned what we took."

"You're gonna return what you took." He empathized. "You're gonna pay for the gas that it took to come out here and for all the time these men took out. It's over, you know the rules." By the man's words, Nate assumed that he wasn't talking about making them pay with something as simple as money. He also wondered what the hell Dwight, Sherry, and Tina got themselves wrapped up in.

"Your rules are batshit!" Sherry shouted, Nate still couldn't see her but he wondered how far back they had stayed for her voice to carry as far as it was. He glanced up at Daryl helplessly, wondering if there was anything they could do at all. It seemed like there was only three or four of them, something they could take care of easily but from Daryl's hard stare back, he clearly didn't agree with him.

"We're not going back, Wade! We're done kneeling!" Dwight called.

"Don't change the subject, asshole." Wade replied, and then he let out a whistle as an engine revved up and Daryl stood up but with one look at Nate he swore silently and then went back to them as they tried to make a run for it.

"Hey, come on, we're goin that way." Daryl said as Dwight and Sherry helped Tina up and they moved quickly. They found a wall of branches they could hide behind, Sherry helped Tina down to the ground and Nate crouched behind them. He looked up as Daryl held out a gun for Dwight, the man glanced at him in shock and he had to insist that he take it.

"What was that you were saying earlier?" Nate said under his breath and Daryl threw a glare towards him. They waited as one of the men came into their sight and hadn't noticed a walker that was stuck behind a large boulder. Daryl reached forward to grab a branch and as it rustled, the man looked around and his arm got caught in the walker's mouth. He cried out, stumbled onto his knees and called for Wade. They watched as Wade came to him and the man begged for his arm to be cut off. Wade tied a strip around it and then Nate flinched as the man screamed and Wade didn't even hesitate to slice off his arm.

Nate glanced down at Sherry as she was prepping Tina for her insulin. The girl had been mumbling to her sister before, but neither men had noticed them. The guy's moans of pain had them fully distracted and he went over his walkie to tell his men it was time to go home.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Wade replied. "He only wants ass that's willing, you know?" Nate pressed his lips together as he heard that line and then Wade helped Cam walk away. Once they were further, Dwight turned towards Daryl.

"We thought you were with them." He said, "We knock you and him over the head, tie you up, threaten to kill your kid, why the hell did you come back?" Daryl looked down at him and then once over at Nate. He shook his head.

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have." He replied.

Once Tina was okay to be moved, the five of them began to walk in the other direction.

"So you knew 'em?" Daryl asked. "And you still thought we were with them?"

"Well we were. We were there since the beginning. We still didn't know anyone. Back when we first threw in with them." Dwight replied. "It was as good as place as any." Nate briefly thought of the prison, the people who had been there before and how they had tried to coexist with them but by the end, none of them had survived. "Then things got harder and people got harder. Human nature kicked in and it became a truly unique kind of shitshow." The more Dwight talked about it, the more Nate was reminded of the governor and how nobody was allowed to leave Woodbury.