A Fresh Start

Chapter 11

Further into the trees we ran. Coming across more walkers on the way.

"Let's go!" Daryl screamed.

We kept running deeper into the woods.

"Come on," Daryl continued.

He came to a sudden stop then.

"What's wrong?" I asked catching my breath.

"Hold up," he replied while he reloaded his crossbow again.

There was some rustling in a bush nearby. Bob, Michonne and I were fully alert looking in the same area Daryl was. Two walkers emerged. Right when Daryl was about to fire, the walker on the right fell to the ground revealing Tyreese.

"Tyreese," I said.

He was covered in walker blood and collapsed to his knees out of breath. Michonne took out the other walker while Daryl and I went over to help Tyreese to his feet.

"Come on," Daryl said again.

We were running once more. After an endless amount of running, Daryl stopped. I looked around closely to see what was it that had made him stop. I could faintly hear the sound of water nearby. He looked at me. I nodded and he led the way. There was a creek we came across. I went over to get my knife cleaned. Tyreese took off his shirt to clean the walker guts that had managed to stick. I knelt down and quickly washed the blood off my knife. I then grabbed a handful of water and pressed it against my neck. An instant relief as it trickled down my back. I dried my knife and put it away. I wet my hands and went up to Daryl.

"Here," I whispered.

I placed my wet hands on his neck and rubbed them up to his cheeks.

"Feels good," he said.

"Glad to hear it," I retorted.

He pulled me in and kissed me. Once we parted, he started cleaning his crossbow and its arrows.

"This is Turner Creek, so Barnesville must be a few miles downstream," Michonne said looking at one of the maps we had brought.

"Sounds like our best chance at finding a new ride," Bob said.

"We need to find one and fast," I said.

"Yo, Ty. Come on, let's go. Vámonos," Daryl called to Tyreese.

He folded the map and put it away. He held out his hand to me and I took it and he led the way. Michonne followed. Bob stayed behind to make sure Tyreese came along. We walked and walked. Silence once again. Daryl suddenly let go of my hand and got on his knees. He picked up what looked like a rock.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Is that Jasper?" Michonne asked.

"Mm-hmm," Daryl said licking his fingers to get the dirt off.

"It's a good color. Brings out your eyes," Michonne said.

I chuckled. Daryl looked at me and then her.

"When Miss Richards went into A block, when we were leaving. Asked me to keep a lookout. I'm gonna use it for her old man's marker," he said.

It suddenly hit me that Daryl did indeed know every one of those people waiting back home for us. There were a few who I didn't know by their names. And here he was, picking up something for Miss Richards. A sweet old lady if I ever saw one. I smiled at this. He was so selfless. It's a wonder how I ended up with such a wonderful person.

"You know all of them back there?" Michonne asked.

"You stay in one place more than a couple hours, you'd be surprised what you pick up," he replied.