My Secrets In The Apocalypse

Chapter 8

When Riley woke up all she could feel was pain. Her head felt like it would explode if she moved too quickly and her whole body felt sore. She gingerly rolled onto her side her muscles protesting the movement. She slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position her head throbbing painfully. A wave of nausea rolled over her and she immediately began heaving, nothing really coming up since she hadn't eaten since breakfast back at the CDC. As she looked around she noticed that it was almost sunset. She cursed, realizing that she had lost the whole day.

She crawled over to the tree and used it to steady herself so she could try to stand, but as soon as she did the world was spinning and she was stumbling back down. Sighing she settled against the base of the tree taking deep breaths to help push back the nausea. She gently rubbed her head wincing when her fingers grazed over a large cut on the right side. When she pulled her hand back she noticed the blood on her fingers from the cut.
"Can't catch a damn break," Riley mumbled to herself. She leaned her head back against the tree looking around, trying to figure out which way she had come from. Nothing looked familiar of course, it was pitch dark when she had made her way through this area. If she could remember which way she came from she might be able to find her way back to the highway, but it was hopeless. She hadn't spent a single day of her life in the woods before the end of the world, she was completely out of her element here. It would be a miracle if she survived through this.

Hearing a twig snap in the distance jerked her back to reality. The sun had almost set now and visibility was seriously limited, she had to get up and get moving. She had already been in this same damn spot all day and it was pure dumb luck that no walkers had come across her while she was unconscious. Bracing herself against the tree again she stood up slowly, taking care not to strain her injured leg.

Once she was up and the world had quit spinning she pulled out the pocket knife holding it at the ready just in case something tried to sneak up on her in the dark. As soon as she felt steady on her feet she started off in a random direction, hobbling slowly on her injured leg.

As she ambled along she heard another twig snap behind her. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she quickly stumbled over to the nearest tree, leaning against it for support. The familiar smell of death and sounds of moaning put her on high alert as she strained her eyes in the dark. She watched as the walker shuffled through the trees aimlessly, not realizing she was even there. Not taking any chances she waited for it to move past her then, as quietly as possible, she snuck behind it plunging the knife into the base of it's skull. The walker immediately fell to the ground in front of Riley as she sighed with relief. She grasped the handle of the knife to pull it out of the walkers skull, but it wouldn't budge. She pulled harder then the handle suddenly broke apart from the blade sending Riley falling backwards. She landed on her butt, surprised for a minute, before looking at the broken knife handle in her hand.
"You no good, sorry ass mother fucker!" she cursed the knife. "Been nothing but bad luck since I found you!" she tossed the broken handle at the dead walker in frustration.

Huffing she began crawling over to the nearest tree to repeat her process of standing up. She was still too unsteady on her feet to attempt standing up without holding onto something sturdy. Once she was on her feet she took a minute to figure out her next move. She was alone, injured, and hopelessly lost and now to top it off she had no weapon. She wanted to smack herself for forgetting her hatchet back on the highway. She swore to herself if she survived this, she would carry that damn hatchet everywhere with her from then on. Like how Daryl was with his crossbow, she thought.
She chuckled at herself. What she would give to have Daryl here with her right now, this was his area of expertise. He would have known the way back to the highway, no problem. She sighed quietly, this was no time to start zoning out. The truth of the matter was that Daryl wasn't there. She had gotten herself into this mess and now she would have to get herself out of it. There was no other option.