We Can Sleep Now

Chapter 10

"Shit!" Rick curses as our vehicle comes to a stop.

"What's goin on?" Utterly confused about problem, we had half a tank of gas when we left.

Rick climbs out, along with the rest of us, and allows a strin of curses to float into the air from his lips.

The tire is flat, Glenn quickly checks around back for a spare, while Rick kicks the van.

"Calm down, its got to be only a day or twos walk from here." I say, wonderin why he was so angry.

"We can't carry everythang." He says, lookin at me, holdin my gaze.

"Yes we can, we didn't bring that much." Sasha adds in, lookin around at the seemingly settled forest. I know her hopes about visitin Tireese had been diminished.

Glenn had retreated from his hopes of findin a spare and joined our circle.

"We can lock it up, leave what we don't need, although I doubt there's much of that, and come back with a new vehicle and get them."

Glenn's idea seemed smart so we all get our weapons, coats and a bit of water that we have and head out.

Rick covers the back with a blanket, makin it seem as if the vehicle was empty.

"You took somethin." I whisper standin next to him and he turns to look at me in surprise.

"It better have been worth it." Now I move my head to narrow my eyes cooly, targetin his baby blue ones.

Lickin his lips, and returnin to his normal stance, "I don't know yet." He breathes, again returnin his attention to me.

"I sure as hell hope you know soon."

We all march down the road, the ever continuous feelin caught between the brokenness and swellin darkness in our minds, and the nasty part of our selves settlin into its intended home.

The air was damp and warm as always, our skin shinin slightly in the beamin sunlight.

My mind likes to wonder on its own sometimes, there are memories or Grady or the Farm that resurface. Sometimes my dad, mom, brother. But lately of Daryl.

It like I'm watchin the memories I first lived, our first kiss, the house we burnt down, and the feelin you get when you miss someone so bad it hurts.

I felt that a lot at Grady, with everyone, not just Daryl.

I can't help but look at him, when he doesn't know I'm watchin. His eyes move in all directions as he thinks and he gets really still when he's honest or serious.

Speaks a lot more when he lies.

"Shh-" Daryl rumbles sharply, placin his hand to his lips than his ear.

We all freeze, holdin our breaths, strainin to here a sound other than birds and bugs.

The hoarse and scratchy growls of walkers is so faint, I am unsure how Daryl managed to her it at all.

Our footsteps were louder

"How many?" Rick questions, panic drippin in his voice.

"A lot, more than fifty." Daryl answers.

I suck in a breath through my teeth.

"Do you think they'll come on to the road?" I ask.

"We should head north, circle around them, it will take longer, but we'll avoid them." Sasha says, observin the amount of ammo loaded in her gun.

"If we do that, we could get lost-" Rick starts.

"We won't wonder that far." Glenn quickly interrupts.

"We gotta move." Daryl states, just as a walker breaks through the trees into the highway, followed by another.

So our feet are on flight as we trample at high speed through the forest, desperately trying to escape death.

My legs didn't have feelin in them anymore, there were a few stragglers, which we sure to take out with our knives.

Slowly our speed ceast and we all heaved and huffed, lookin back to see if they had found us.

"Its quiet." I say between breaths, movin away hair that was stuck to my face from the sweat.

"Up ahead." Daryl says, "everyone climb the trees, now." He damands, my lungs are tight and my stomach is doin summersaults and all I think is.
They can't see me, I won't die, but Daryl, the rest of them.

I see Sasha in a tree by herself, she secures herself as close to the trunk as possible.

I sit in a tree alone as well, quite high off the ground, parallel to Rick and Daryl, who are also both in different trees.

My ears try to here the treat, but it seems so quiet, so I stand, lookin to see these walkers.

I'm not sure if time slowed down, or my heart stopped beatin.

There was more than five hundred, probably more than six hundred, limpin in a large spread oval.

They went across the road, they looked like bugs, swarmin, slowly movin towards us to infect our bloods.

I sat back down on the branch, not allowin myself to cry, unblinkin.

I held up a hand, showin five, then curled my fingers into two zeros.

Daryl and Rick both tensed, and Sasha left her head fall and eyes close as if embracin the end.

"Our father, who art in heaven, hollowed be your name by kingdom come." I couldn't help but recite the prayer to myself.

"It shall be done on earth as it is in heaven," the noises got louder, and the first two walkers stumbled by our trees. "Give us this daily bread." I close my eyes and my lips shake just as the tree does. Walkers swarmin the area slowly. "As we, forgive those who trespassed against us." The word caught in my throat as I hugged the trunk of the tree, tears streaming out.

"Leads us not to temptation" I breathed the words, they wheezed out of my lungs.

I didn't dare open my eyes, only when a loud crack jolted them open in time to see Daryl's tree fall to the ground with him in it.