The start

Good luck, dumbass

"Tobin, it's not stopping. Light it up. You hear me? Tobin!" Rick yells through the talkie. Only static came through. Walkers were leaving the herd as they started to scatter.

"The radio." Daryl says. I hand it to him as I get off the bike. I start shooting my gun in the air trying to get what was left of the herd.

"Rick!" Daryl yells through the walkie.

"I'm here." Rick says.

"What's going on back there?" Daryl asked.

"Half of them broke off. They're going toward Alexandria." Rick tells us.

"Towards you?" Abraham's voice came through.

"We ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping." Rick says out of breath.

"I'm gonna gas it up, turn back." Daryl revs up the engine.

"We have it. You keep going." Rick breaths.

"They're gonna need our help." Daryl says.

"Gotta keep the herd moving." Rick yells through the talkie.

"Not if it's going down, we don't." Daryl response.

"The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse. Daryl?"

"Yeah, I heard you." Daryl gives in as I get back on the bike.

"I got a few back I think some others are coming. We just have to keep going." I load up my gun.

"We gotta make this work." He mumbles as we continue to ride.

After what felt like a few minutes, Daryl pulls the bike up to the car. Abraham rolls down the window.

"Hey, we gone five miles out yet?" He ask them.

Give or take some yardage. You got a reason for asking?" Abraham says.

"Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back." Daryl tells them.

"The plan is to go 15 more." Sasha recalls.

"Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work."

"The magic number's 20. That's the mission. That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of any of us." Abraham points out.

"They are having trouble back home. Someone's gotta check it out." I tell them.

"You want to go, we can't stop you.
But without you, they could stop us." Sasha says.

"Nah, I got faith in you." Daryl speeds off.

"Daryl! Harley!- Don't do it, man!" Sasha and Abraham try to stop him but it was too late.

"Rick, it's Glenn. We're in a town five degrees east of the green marker. If you get around on Redding in the next 20 minutes, you should be good. I think that's how far we're ahead of the herd. I'm gonna try to set a fire and distract them. If you don't see smoke, they're still coming your way. I got to go. Good luck, dumbass." Glenn says through the talkie.

"Dumbass?" I questioned. Why would Glenn call Rick a dumbass?

"When they first met. That's what Glenn called Rick." Daryl says over his shoulder.

"Oh." I said quietly. That's cute.

"Glenn. I'm in place by my best guess.
You guys make it back yet? Glenn.
Tobin, you there?" Ricks voice comes through the walkie.

"Daryl?"

"I'm here." Daryl says.

"Won't be long now. They're almost here. I'll get them going your way again." Rick says.

"How 'bout that, Daryl? He's gonna be coming our way." I laughed as Daryl reaches back and pokes my side.

"Ouch you jerk."

"There's gunfire coming from back home. We gotta sit with it and hope they can handle it. I think they can.
They have to. We keep going forward for them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid." Rick states.

"We ain't afraid." Abraham says.

"This is for them. Going back now before it's done, that'd be for us.
The herd has to be almost here." Rick says. The radio was silent. I pick up the talkie from Daryl.

"Rick?" I asked.

"Rick? Is Jay with you?" I asked. All I got was silence. There was static as if he was about to answer then there was gunshots.

"Rick?" I call in the talkie.

"Let me see it." Daryl takes the talkie from me.

"Rick? Rick?" He didn't pick up. We pull over to the side.

"Rick? Rick?" Nothing.

"We got to get to him. He's in trouble." I say.

"We can't go to him. He said stay on track." Daryl says. We drove past a few cars we put there.

"Stop." I tell him. Daryl pulls over to the side as I get off and walk over to the car. No keys. I open up the wire box and hot wire the car.

"Harley, what are you doing? We have to get back on track." Daryl asked.

"I'm gonna go check on Rick. You go catch up with the others." The car starts as I walk up and hug him.

"You and your stubbornness wanted to stay with me. Now your leaving?" He says.

"I have to check on him. You heard the gunshots." Daryl nods his head then presses his lips to mine.

"What happened to 'where you go I go'?" Daryl says.

"Not this time, hun." I kiss him one last time.

"Be careful." He tells me.

"You be careful." I walk back to the car and roll down the wind as Daryl gets ready to ride off. I shift into Drive.

"Hey!" I yell for his attention.

"Yeah?" He looks at me.

"I love you. If things go south, I wanted you to know that I love you." I didn't wait for his response. I drove off to Rick's point. If he didn't love me back I'd rather die knowing he liked me at least. I could see in the review mirror Daryl driving in the opposite direction from me. Heading to the intersection to meet back up with Sasha and Abraham.