My Damaged Protector

Chapter Forty-five ~ Thank You

"Rick!" Daryl took the walkie from me. "What's going on back there?"

"Half of them broke off, headed back towards Alexandria." Rick sounded out of breath, like he was running.

"Towards you?" Abraham asked into his walkie. I held Daryl tighter knowing Jasper was back at Alexandria and a couple hundred walkers were headed that way.

"We ran ahead. There's a horn or something." I could faintly hear a few other people yelling behind Rick. "Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping."

Daryl revved the engine and I held tighter. "Im gonna gas it up, head back."

"We have it. You keep going." Rick said back.

"You're gonna need our help." I defended, taking the words from Daryl.

"Gotta keep the herd moving."

"Not if it's going down, we don't." I could feel how tense Daryl was and I knew he wanted to head back to help, I did too.

"The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse." I knew Rick was right. If this half turns as well, Alexandria may fall, and we could all die. "Daryl?"

He nodded slightly. "Yeah, I heard you." He dropped one of his hands from the handlebar and held my hand gently.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked. Finally, the air was silenced of the horn and all we could hear were our engines, the walkers, and our pounding hearts.

Daryl shrugged but continued on our path forward. I pressed my forehead to his back and took a deep breath. Merle was heading back, and he would find my brother. Carl was back at the house protecting Jasper and his little sister, I knew it. He wouldn't leave either of them alone when they needed him.

Daryl pulled closer to the car and shouted through Abraham's open window. "Hey! We gone five miles yet?"

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

Daryl nodded. "Next intersection, I'm gonna spin around and go back."

Sasha shook her head. "The plan is to go fifteen more."

"Yeah, I'm gonna change that. Five's gonna have to work." Daryl was worried about our family back at Alexandria and I was sharing the same worry.

"The magic number's twenty." Abraham argued. "That's the mission. That's makin' sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives instead of us."

"If you wanna go, we can't stop you." Sasha said. "But without you, they could stop us." She jerked her head behind her to the walkers. We all fell silent then as Daryl considered the options but as he faced forward, we started passing a sign advertising houses for sale in Alexandria.

"Nah." Daryl shook his head. "I got faith in ya!" He pressed the gas harder and we sped forward as the two in the car yelled for him to go back.

He floored it down streets, winding through the roads as he tried getting back as quickly as he could. We had gotten a radio message for Rick from Glenn over the walkie saying that the herd was coming towards him quickly and that he was going to try and start a fire. He said if we didn't see smoke, it meant he didn't make it. How Glenn was talking made my anxiety skyrocket even higher than what it had been.

Rick had been trying to get on the radio with anyone. Glenn didn't answer and neither did Tobin but when my walkie went off for Daryl and I, we immediately responded. "We're here." Daryl yelled over the wind.

"Won't be long now, they're almost here." Rick was panting yet again. "I'll send them back your way soon."

"How 'bout that you guys." Sasha had sarcasm in her voice. "He's gonna be coming our way." I rolled my eyes and focused on the road ahead.

"There's gunfire coming from back home. They're gonna have to sit with it. I think they can, they have to." I could hear the faint sound through the radio. "We keep going forward for them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid."

"We ain't afraid." Abraham's voice trailed through the speaker.

"This is for them." Rick continued. "Going back now before it's done, that'd be for us. The herd has to be almost here." Rick went quiet as the words sunk in. I could hear static coming through like someone was holding the button down but not talking just as gunshots went through the speaker.

"Rick!" Daryl yelled into the walkie. "Rick?" He pulled over to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes, making us screech to a halt. Daryl tried calling him two more times, but he didn't respond. I looked around us to make sure we hadn't drawn any unwanted attention from walkers in the surrounding woods. Daryl hesitated in what we were going to do next. He looked around for a while and tapped on my hands as he thought about what to do.

"I'm with you, no matter if we go home or back to the herd. You decide, I'll go no matter what." I told Daryl, hoping I could help him make up his mind.

"Your little bro?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at me.

I sighed. "Carl's with him and Carol knows how to protect people. She'll keep him safe and I'm sure Merle headed back with the rest of the two teams. He's safe, I know it." Daryl nodded. "We're no help stopped here. Where are we going?"

He didn't need to be told again. Daryl twisted his throttle handle and turned the bike around and floored it back, passing so much empty land and wooded area that it all blurred into one big green blur. We had one more intersection up ahead and I could see the small red car that Sasha and Abraham were in.