A Broken World

Twenty-Three

YN

“Great, you've gotten yourself fucking lost,” I whispered to myself. I had decided to just stay still and lean up against a tree. I kept my ears open for any movement or the sound of the dead. I was hoping someone would notice I wasn't back. I hoped it was Daryl because I knew he would be the one to find me out of everyone. But on the other hand I didn't want him to be the one. I knew he would be yelling at me and calling me a dumb bitch or something. Hell, I feel like a dumb bitch. I should have brought a flashlight with me.

Something to my right rustled, making me stand straight and grip my knife tighter. My eyes were kind of adjusted to the dark enough that I could see some shapes and shadows. The moon cast a small glow through the canopy of the tree. I stepped out into the middle of the trail when I heard a very familiar snarl. A walker slowly shuffled towards me, one arm extended out in an attempt to grab me. Walking forward I grabbed its arm with my left hand and drove the blade of my knife into its head. Just as I pulled the knife out and let the walker fall, three more showed up.

I kicked the leg out from under one of them while stabbing another through the eye. The third came up grabbing at my shirt while the second held tight to my leg. I swiftly stabbed the one grabbing my shirt, pushing it away, and went to take care of the other when a bolt went through its head. I looked up to see Daryl standing a few feet away. “I had that handled.”

“You also have getting fuckin’ lost handled?” I glared at him and pulled his bolt out of the walker's head. “I was retracing the trail we found and took yesterday. I thought maybe I might see something we missed,” I said. Surprisingly he didn't comment.I handed him his arrow and he snatched it out of my hand.  “Come on, we'll walk the trail for a little bit before headin’ back.” He took the lead as he pointed the light towards the ground. Awkward silence fell between us while we walked down the tree lined path.

“I remember the story you told me about when you were younger. You got lost in the woods for nine days.” Daryl didn't say anything, just continued to walk. We heard rustling to the left of us. Daryl held his hand out, bringing his crossbow up to aim towards the noise. My grip tightened around the handle of my knife anxiously waiting. The beam of light from Daryl's flashlight panned up and landed on the cause. Andrea came out from the brush, half tripping on a tree root. “The hell ya doin’ out here?” Daryl asked, in an irritated voice. “I wanted to help,” she sassdd back. “Don't need your damn help.”

Andrea looked over at me and I raised my eyebrow. “Where were you?” She asked. “In the woods obviously. I wanted to retrace our steps,” I said. She looked like she wanted to say something cock back but didn't. “Did you find anything?” She asked instead. I shook my head and the three of us continued on the path. “I heard you talking about Daryl getting lost,” she said. I nodded my head, “What happened?” She asked, walking beside me. Daryl was ahead of us but didn't say anything. “Did they find you?”

“Nah, I was stuck out there for nine days eating berries until I eventually found my way home and made myself a sandwich,” He told her. “Oh, and he also ended up wh–” Daryl stopped, turned, and looked at me. “Don’t.” I gave him a devilish smile. “He whipped his ass with poison ivy!” I laughed. “That's horrible,” Andrea said, trying not to laugh. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Daryl grumbled.

We came upon a tent shortly after. It was clearly abandoned a while ago. Looking over to the tree I see something dangling from it. “What’s that?” Daryl panned his light over to where I was looking to reveal a walker hanging in the trees, his legs completely eaten away by other walkers. I looked at a piece of paper nailed to the tree and read it out loud.

Got Bite
Fever Hit
World Gone To Shit
May As Well Quit

“He wasn't smart enough to shoot himself in the head. Look at him hanging up there like a big pinata,” Daryl said. We both walked away when Andrea stopped us. “Aren't you going to…” Daryl looked at her and up at the walker. “He ain't botherin’ no one.” In the end he made her a deal. She answered a question for an arrow. He asked why she wanted to stay behind at the CDC, she gave a vague answer and he put a bolt through the head of the walker before we headed back to the highway.

When we got back Carol was on the roof, but when she saw us she got upset at seeing we didn't have Sophia and went back into the RV. Andrea walked away from us and went to the ladder as Dale was coming down. They had a short talk before she went up onto the roof to keep watch. Dale came over to Daryl and I, looking right at me. “What were you thinking going off on your own?” I raised my right eyebrow. “I was looking for Sophia. I'm a grown adult, Dale, I don't need someone to babysit me.”

The next morning we made sure to leave a bunch of supplies on the hood of a pale yellow mustang with a sign on the windshield for Sophia. Then we made our way to the Greene farm. When we got there we were told everything that had happened. Carl had been shot, not on purpose, but the man, Otis, was out hunting and shot a deer. The bullet went through the deer and into Carl. Luckily Hershel was a doctor.

Well, he's not a people doctor, he's an animal doctor. He was a veterinarian before the outbreak. He was able to save Carl. Shane and the man Otis went to a FEMA shelter at the school to get what he needed. Unfortunately, Otis never made it back. We had a small memorial for him. The story Shane told just didn't sit right with me. I had taken notice of his new hair and the way he didn't hold eye contact with anyone for too long. He wasn't telling the real story of what happened.