Hero

e i g h t

Lenora was unbelievably tired. Even though all they had done was drive, and she wasn't even the one doing the driving she was exhausted. They were on their way to Fort Benning. It was 125 miles away and they didn't have much. 

They had to ditch Daryl's truck along the way, and he was now riding his brother's motorcycle. She was now stuck in the RV with some of the others, and was now forced to make awkward conversation with people other than Daryl. At least the awkward conversations with him felt normal, they were both people who didn't talk much.

She kept an eye towards the front of the RV, where Daryl's bike could be seen. It was reassuring knowing the person she was 'closest' to was doing okay. Carl and Sofia were both in a separate car and she had to deal with some weird tension going on between Shane and Andrea.

"Oh jeez" Lenora's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Dale as they approached many cars blocking the road. The engine of Daryl's bike could be heard as it approached the window. "See a way through?"

Daryl didn't say anything as they started to creep forward slowly through the maze of vehicles, just left and abandoned. In some cars, there were still bodies of people and Lenora jumped as something from the front of the RV made a loud popping noise before they slowed to a stop. 

"I've said it? Didn't I say it?" Dale asks as everyone exits the vehicles. "a thousand times dead in the water." 

Lenora slowly found herself wandering away from the group and peeking into the windows of cars.

"Problem Dale?" She could hear Shane ask. As Dale explained what was wrong with the RV, she opened the door of a car only to find a walker lurch out towards her. She yelped and slammed the door shut as it bangs it's body against the window trying to get to her. 

A hand placed itself on her shoulder and she quickly turned around with her arms raised. Only to find Daryl staring back at her. 

"Just me kid." He spoke gruffly pulling out his knife to kill the walker in the car. "Heard ya yell. T-dog and I are siphoning fuel, be careful, take this." 

He placed his knife into the girls hands and she stared at it blankly. "Thank you." she spoke softly. 

Daryl nodded and went back on his way to get gas from other cars. Lenora opened a car door and began to search through it, finding a grey sweatshirt that was soft and a pair of tennis shoes that were in better shape than hers currently. With a smile she realized they were the same size as her shoe size and quickly put them on. She also found a backpack that she could now call her own and stuffed the sweatshirt inside of it. While she wouldn't need it now, the winter was bound to get chilly.

As she exited the car she realized that everyone else seemed to have disappeared and it was oddly quiet. Did she get left behind? Again? No, they wouldn't do that to her. She was one of them now. Maybe she was just further down than everyone else, that had to be it.

Looking around, she saw a herd of walkers coming down the highway. There were so many, and she didn't know where they came from.

Rick came running by her eventually. Telling her to get under a car. She dropped to her knee's and slid under the car holding the knife Daryl gave her close to her chest.

The young girl was alone with nobody near her as multiple pairs of feet shuffled by her. She held her breath as much as she could. Afraid to make a sound. Was Daryl okay? She wondered. Lenora shook her head. Of course he was okay, he was the strongest person she'd ever met. 

Her heart stopped as a walker fell to its knees right next to the she was under and looked at her hungrily. It began to slowly make its way under the car and she whimpered quietly. She aimed the knife at it's head and thrusted it into it's skull giving out a sigh of relief as it stilled, dead for good this time. As she yanked the knife out, the blood of dead thing in front of her splattered all over her face.