Daryl's Girl

Chapter 144

The two of us just sat in the darkness for a while with only the fire between us. Neither Beth nor I said a word to one another as we let the time go by. Not only that, but it was now I realised that we also hadn't eaten. I'd been so preoccupied with following the trail and making sure Beth was still with me that I hadn't gone out to hunt. It was to dark to go out now as I knew there wouldn't be anything out there, and if there was, I wouldn't be able to see it.

Then, all of a sudden, the all to familiar, sound of walkers filled the air.

As the sound got louder, I glanced over to Beth. She was just sat, holding the handle of her knife and looking back at me with fear filled eyes. I could tell she was terrified, but she did well to hide it. It gave me some sort of new found respect for her and I knew I had to keep her safe. She was my responsibility out here and I knew it was what she'd do.

I was quickly pulled back from my thoughts as I heard a branch snap near by, then another, then another and it wasn't until I slowly stood up that I saw them. From the dim light of the fire, I could see the herd of walkers making their way towards us.

There was no way the two of us would be able to take on that many. Not even if we used guns. Our only choice was to run.

Without any hesitation, I pulled Beth to her feet and ushered her in front of me, where the two of us began running once again. Only this time, it was the dead of night, not knowing which way to run and having to stay close so we didn't lose each other.

Then the soft dirt beneath my feet turned into hard concrete and I looked up to see that we'd ran up onto an old road. That was when I spotted the abandoned car a little ways down and ran straight towards it.

"Go!" I whispered to Beth as I pulled my crossbow up in front of me and stood guard. If we could get it working we'd be able to get out of here and lose the herd.

Without taking a moment to think, Beth climbed into the drivers seat of the car and tried the engine. Nothing happened. She then tried it again. Still nothing happened and the herd was right on us. I knew we didn't have time to kick start the battery so our best shot was to keep running, but then an idea popped into my head.

I quickly ran round to the boot of the car and and opened it. I then whistled over to Beth and nodded down to the space inside. She knew what I was saying and ran over, climbing inside and ducking down. Once she was in, I climbed in after her and bought he boot down with me, tying it off so that it wasn't completely shut, but it wouldn't open whilst we were in here.

There wasn't much room to move inside at all, but I kept my crossbow pointed at the gap and Beth kept her hand firmly on her knife. We both knew that if the herd found out where we went, we were done for.

Then, as the first couple of walkers passed, a storm errupted outside. The thunder echoed though the night and the lightning was bright enough that we could see every walker as it wondered passed the car. All we could do was sit and wait. We had no where else to go.

It was a long and uncomfortable night and neither of us had gotten any sleep. It was yet just another restless night to add to the list since leaving he prison. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember the last time I actually slept and it was starting to catch up with me.

We waited until just after the sun had began to rise before Beth untied the boot and slowly opened it. She then climbed out and I did the same, my arms and legs aching from having been in the same position all night.

I took a moment to stretch as Beth began stripping the car for anything we could use. Wind mirrors, glass, wires, batteries. We took it all. In our search, I'd also found an empty black bin bag and handed it to Beth so she could put all the stuff in.