A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S2Pt15 - The Herd

Later in the afternoon Daryl and I were walking back over to the shed to take over watch, but once we approached we saw the group standing around the shed.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Randall's gone." Glenn said.
"What?" Daryl said and pulled me close to him.
Rick walked out of the shed with a pair of bloody cuffs in his hands.
"The cuffs are still here. He must've slipped out of them." Rick said.
"But how'd he get out? The door is locked from the outside." I stated.
We were talking when Shane walked out of the woods.
"Rick! Rick!" Shane called out, and his nose was bleeding.
"What happened?" Lori asked.
"He's armed. Dangerous. Took my gun." Shane said and stood in front of us.
"How'd he get your gun?" I asked.
There was something obviously wrong here. Shane was too strong to be taken down by Randall who was young and weak. Something wasn't right.
"Little bastard snuck up on me, punched me in the face." Shane explained.
"Oh." I laughed. "Sure he did."
Everyone looked at me as if they didn't believe me.
"Come on guys. You aren't really believing this bullshit story, are you?" I said.
They looked at me and then at Shane, and completely ignored me. I just threw my hands up in the air in annoyance.
"T-Dog and Hershel, get everyone in the house. Daryl, Kelley, and Glenn come with us." Rick said and walked over to Shane.
"T, you better give me that gun." Shane said and literally took the gun out of his hands.
He stated walking into the forest with Rick following, and we followed them. I grabbed Daryl's hand which stopped him, and he and Glenn both looked at me.
"Keep an eye on Shane." I said quietly to them. "I got a bad feeling about this."
They both nodded and we caught up with them.
"I saw him head up through the trees before I blacked out. Not sure how long." Shane said.
"Well, he couldn't have gone far. Kelley, Daryl, and Glenn, go search that way. See if you can find anything. I'll go with Shane." Rick ordered.
I hesitated but nodded my head and followed his order. We split up and looked for signs of Randall.
We probably walked a few miles, and still didn't find anything by the time it was dusk. Before we were about to turn back, we heard leaves crunching from behind a few trees. I pulled out my gun, Daryl aimed his crossbow, and Glenn grabbed his knife. I stepped around the tree only to come face to face with a walker.
And it was Randall.
I froze in place and the walker grabbed me. I struggled to get him off, and tripped on a log that made me fall. Daryl shot it in the side, knocking it off of me and Glenn stabbed it in the head. I got up and dusted myself off, and tried to catch my breath.
"How'd he die?" I asked.
Daryl bent down and examined the body. "Broken neck." He stated. "But no bites or scratches."
"Then how'd he turn?" Glenn asked.
"I don't know." Daryl said.
"We need to head back, and tell Rick what happened." I said. "This is a whole other problem."
They agreed with me and we ran back to the farm. We made it to the house and ran up the porch. The sun was still setting and we were running out of daylight.
"Have you seen Rick?" Lori asked.
"No. We thought they came back already." I said.
Lori shook her head and I saw the fear in her eyes. At that moment I knew she had a bad feeling like I had the last time we saw Rick and Shane together.
We all stood on the porch and anxiously waited for their return. It was eerily silent and we all felt something bad coming. Then we heard a single gunshot. Lori gasped and everyone looked around. Andrea grabbed a pair of binoculars and scanned the horizon.
"Oh shit." Was all she could say.
"Andrea, what do you see?" I asked, curious about what just scared her.
She lowered the binoculars and handed them to me. I looked through them in the same direction and saw what she feared. It was a herd of walkers. It seemed like a thousand of them, and they were coming our way.
"Kelley, what is it?" Daryl asked.
"It's a herd." I said and looked at the group. "We need to leave, right NOW!" I ordered.
"Can't we just hide? Like we did on the highway." Glenn suggested.
"A herd that size will tear the house down." Daryl said.
"I'll get the guns. Patricia get the lights." Hershel ordered and she nodded.
"What are you doing? We need to get off this farm now!" I told Hershel. "We can't stay here."
"You can leave." Hershel said and cocked his shotgun. "But this is my farm, and I'll die here."
Carl then ran out of the house hysterically. "Carl isn't upstairs." She cried. "I'm not leaving without my boy."
"We won't. We'll find him." Carol said and followed Lori inside.
Daryl grabbed a gun and walked down the steps of the porch and I followed him.
"Everyone get into a car. Let's take out as many as we can and lead the rest away." He suggested.
Everyone agreed with his plan and I followed him to his tent. I grabbed my bag and filled it with supplies. I made sure I had my knife, rifle, and pistols and then looked at Daryl. He started up his motorcycle and got on.
I ran up to him and grabbed him hand.
"Please don't leave me." I begged.
He held my face and I looked at him.
"It's okay." He said. "It's going to be okay. You just stay safe."
I nodded and hugged him tightly.
"I love you." I said and kissed him.
He kissed me back and then let go. He started up his bike and looked back at me.
"I'll find you." He said and rode off.
I watched as he rode away and saw other people get into cars. The best idea I had in my head was to get on a horse. It was fast and I could get through places a car couldn't. I ran as fast as I could over to the stables and saddled up a horse. I then rode out and straight over to the walkers. They were already flooding the farm and getting closer to the house every second. I rode the horse by the walkers and started leading some away, but it wasn't enough. I then started shooting at them and killed a decent amount, but more kept coming. I was riding around killing walkers and saw what was happening to the group. The farm was overrun by the dead and the sound of gunshots filled the air. Cars were getting surrounded and I saw them driving off before they got stuck. Daryl was trying to stay, but the herd chased him off. Carol was running away on foot. Andrea was running low on ammo, and getting backed into a corner. Jimmy drove the RV over to the barn but that was overrun. I then noticed the barn caught on fire and a majority of the walkers went over there. Patricia got bit and Lori had to pull Beth away from her. They got into a truck with T-Dog and drove away with the girls crying. Hershel was standing by the front porch, slowly getting surrounded by walkers. I was about to ride over to him when a group of walkers surrounded me. The horse started freaking out and the walkers were grabbing my legs. The horse reared up in fear and I fell to the ground. The walkers focused on the horse and took it down, but not before the horse stepped on my hand. I yelled in pain and crawled away from the mass of walkers before they noticed me. I ran all the way over to Hershel and started shooting the walkers with my pistol. I was busy reloading my gun when I heard a gunshot behind me. I turned around and saw Rick and Carl looking at us.
I sighed with relief and turned around to call back Hershel.
"No. It's my farm." He said and continued shooting.
Rick grabbed his arms and forced him back. "Not anymore. Come on." Rick said and ran over to a car.
He jumped started the car, and me, Carl, and Hershel got it. Rick managed to drive off just in time. The walkers moaned at us and hit the side of the car. Some even tried to chase us but couldn't keep up. Rick kept driving, and didn't stop for anything, and we didn't look back.