Alexandria

Chapter 3

Rachel had gone out two hours after getting back from the drop off. Sleep had refused to take her as her mind had gone back to the day Dwight had gotten the iron. The fact that she'd stood back and done nothing still haunted her. His screams echoing around the Sanctuary, the smell of his charred skin, and most of all the way he looked at Sherry every time he passed her in the corridors.

She'd needed to get out, clear her head. Rachel had been following a trail for the last hour, the sun beginning to rise in the sky, when she hears the sound of a horse in the distance. She looks up with a frown, not sure who would be out this far as most of those with horses stuck to the roads. It was most likely someone from the Kingdom, they were responsible for the stretch of road not far from here.

Stepping out into the clearing, she sees the horse in the distance, running around the field trying to evade the dead. Rachel grabs her bow, taking the two walkers out quickly. She steps slowly towards the horse, holding out her hand.

"Easy, girl," she says softly, slowly stepping towards the horse. It lowers it's head, accepting her hand. Rachel strokes the horse softly before grabbing the reins. She looks in the saddlebags, finding a map with writing scrawled upon it. Placing it back, she pulls out a kneepad, confirming her theory that this horse belongs to the Kingdom.

Rachel places her foot on the stirrup, pushing herself up and onto the horse. Michonne had taught her to ride, and it had taken a lot of lessons, about three months worth to be precise before she had gotten the hang of it, and even then it had taken her a while to become confident enough to ride one out in the open alone.

"Come on, girl. Let's see what we can see," she says, the horse moving along at a slow trot. Rachel looks all around, trying to find any signs of disturbance. After a mile she looks down at the ground with a frown. Rachel jumps off, crouching down as she takes a good look. A lot of prints, maybe a dozen. It's the pattern that confuses her. Some look like walkers, others the living, but if she wasn't mistaken, it looked like the living were scuffling with one another. As she walks further there's blood, and what confuses her more, is the lack of bodies.

Her guess was people were fighting one another for whatever reason, and the dead came along, maybe six of them. But why no bodies? She wishes Daryl were here, he'd be able to read the tracks better.

Rachel grabs the horse's reins, following the mess of footsteps as best as she can. After a mile, she loses them. "Shit!"

As she turns to leave, she hears a rustling in the trees ahead of her. Rachel draws her knife, but she's sure it's living and not dead. Taking a few steps forward, her eyes widen as a man jumps out at her. She takes a few steps backwards, her knife at the ready, but she's not sure she'll need it as he's wearing Kingdom armour.

He falls to his knees in front of her, grabbing at her legs. "The.. the.."

Rachel kneels down in front of him. "Hey, calm down," she says softly.

He shakes his head, his eyes wide as if he'd been witness to some kind of horror. "They.." he shakes his head once again.

Rachel places her hands against his cheeks, looking him straight in the eye. "Hey, look at me. Just breathe."

He nods, but still doing no such thing, his eyes flickering from left to right and his shoulders shaking.

"You're okay now, you're safe. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," she says, and realises how ridiculous it must sound coming from a 5ft 2 woman to what looks like a 6ft man. "Just take a breath, and tell me what happened."

"They.. they were.. talking," he says, his lip trembling.

Rachel stares at him in confusion. "Who was talking?"