The Lucky One//twd

026. Smoke and Silence

Madison's POV

It happened fast.

The walkers came out of nowhere—like they always do. One minute we were pulling supplies from the trunk of a sedan, the next minute Daryl was screaming "Horde!" and Rick was waving everyone down, eyes wide with panic.

Then it was just noise.

Gunshots. Screaming. The sound of glass shattering and flesh ripping and boots slamming against pavement.

Blake grabbed my arm. "In the cars—now!"

Glenn was already yanking open the door of an overturned SUV, motioning frantically. We dove in together—Blake, Glenn, me—and slammed the doors shut just as the wave of rot and death swept over the highway.

I couldn't breathe. I didn't move.

There were so many of them.

Hundreds, maybe more. Their hands scraped against the windows, smeared blood and dirt across the glass. The smell seeped in through the vents—metal and rot and heat.

Blake reached across me and clasped my hand tightly. Glenn sat on the opposite side, eyes locked on the floor.

It was silent inside, but the panic lived just beneath our skin. We were so close we could hear the growls through the metal, feel the van sway when a walker slammed against it.

I looked down, trying not to cry. Then I realized something.

"Sophia," I whispered. "Where's Sophia?"

Neither of them answered.

I shoved the door handle, but Blake held it shut.

"Let me go—Blake!"

"She's gone, Mads!" he hissed. "You open that door, we're all dead."

I froze, heart pounding. My hands were shaking.

She was just a kid.

And we let her go.

⸻

TWO DAYS LATER

The forest was quiet.

Too quiet.

We'd searched for Sophia for hours—days—and the guilt had rotted my insides. Shane was on edge. Rick wouldn't sleep. Daryl was snapping twigs and muttering to himself about trail signs no one else could see.

And then it happened.

We were walking single file near a clearing. Carl was to my left, Rick ahead.

There was a flash of movement.

A deer. It stepped into the light, head tilted, delicate and calm.

Carl smiled, inching forward, like a moment of peace had finally arrived in a world full of death.

I felt it before I heard it.

A shot.

Not ours.

Carl gasped.

But it wasn't Carl that fell.

It was me.

I didn't even register the pain at first—just the shock of it, like fire cutting through my side. I hit the ground hard. Leaves. Dirt. Blake's voice shouting my name.

Rick dropped to his knees beside me. "Madison—no, no, no—stay with me."

Blood pooled beneath me. My chest heaved. My vision blurred. The sky above me spun like it was trying to pull me in.

I saw Glenn's face hovering over mine—white as a sheet. His hands pressed into the wound.

"Someone shot her!" he yelled. "She's hit!"

"Go! Go!" Rick shouted.

Then someone was lifting me.

Strong arms. Blake.

He held me close, muttering something into my hair. My blood stained his shirt. His jaw was clenched so tight I thought it might shatter.

I could feel him running. The world jolted with every step. My hands fisted in his shirt. I wanted to tell him something. Anything.

But my lips wouldn't move.

And everything went black.