Caught Me With His Crossbow (Daryl Dixon TWD Fanfiction)

Chapter 10 - The Test

The screech of the breaks make my ears hurt. “Theo, what the hell?!”, Shae sighs. “You see that?”, He says pointing ahead. I wince as I try to look at the town ahead. The sunlight blinded me momentarily. We had been driving around for a few days now and only found walker invested buildings. “It’s a fortified town”, Shae gasps. We spot people walking on the wall with rifles. “We can’t enter, there’s aleady people there”, I say.

We drive around in circles for almost a week. I didn’t stop looking for a safe place. I could already feel the fresh chill in the air, without a roof and four walls we would have at least some casualties. We passed another ghost town. I needed a rest from driving, We all did. The driving was making me feel nauseous. I opened the door and hopped out, gun in hand. Theo whistled to get my attention. “There’s a pharmacy over there, we could do with medicine for the group”, He says in a whisper. We close the doors to the car slowly, just in case there were walkers close by. The fact that walkers were attracted to noise pissed me off, it made the whole apocalypse situation a lot harder. I opened the door to the pharmacy and it was safe by the looks of it. I walk inside and rifle through the medicines. I put everything in my bag and went over to Shae and Theo. “I think we need to go back, Bree”, Shae sighs. “Maybe your Dad has a plan now?”, Theo adds. “I suppose we have to go back at some stage, not me though. I’m contiuning the search”. They look at me like I have three heads. “Are you crazy?! We can’t leave you here alone!”, Shae yells. “I can’t let the group down, we can’t lose any more people”, I mutter. “Shae, we have to let Bree do what she thinks is best”, Theo says calmly. “You survived the army, you can survive this”, Shae says with a sad smile. I felt my stomach lurch as they retreated back to the highway. They left my truck for me. I searched the rest of the pharmacy for useful items. One of the items consisted of a pregnancy test. I fearfully did as the insuctions said. I needed to know if I was or not. The constant stomach lurching had to have a cause. The pink plus sign that appeared explained  it. I broke down onto the floor. I cradled myself into a ball. The emotional pain engulfed me. I felt the stream of tears brush off my cheeks. I was going to be a Mom in an apocalypse. This baby was doomed, but it was my job to safe it.

Today is my seventh day looking for a place for the group on my own. I needed to leave because I noticed the herds passing through at night and I wasn’t safe here. Plus, I couldn’t find a place on my own, it was too risky. I changed into a blue button down shirt, black jeans and a my combat boots. I got my bag and ran over to my truck. A few walkers were at the end of the street and looked up as I slammed the door closed. I revved off and went in the direction of the highway. I was afraid to tell my parents, I didn’t know they would react. I was on the highway and a sign was put in place where the RV was supposed to be. It read ‘Sophia, stay here. We’ll come by everyday!’

Oh no! Sophia must have went missing or got left behind. The poor girl was only twelve years old, the same as Carl. But what confused me the most is that my group was no longer here. What was I going to do now?

I drive around looking for any sign of my group. All I can see is a farm and a small town. I hear the ominous chugging of the engine that signals all the gas is gone. I knew I had to leave the truck behind. I grabbed my rucksack and slung it onto my back. I held my gun tightly as I got out of the car. I walked down the road, not knowing where to go. I needed better cover, the forest sounded like a good option. I ambled through the woods in hope of finding someone, anyone.

I saw a ‘no tresspassing’ sign. Maybe a farm was nearby. I could at least set up camp there for the night. It was foggy and quite cold out. The sun descended into darkness as I walked across the crunchy grass. I heard voices, familiar ones. Was I hallucinating? My Dad and Shane stood less than 20 meters away. “I’m a better father than you Rick. You can’t look after the children you have! He got shot because of you, he’s going to die someday because of you!” I desperately wanted to intervene. But how? Did I punch him or kill him? Words wouldn’t work with Shane, I knew that already. “You lured me out here, didn’t you? Why?”, My Dad questions. “Why do you think?!”, Shane fumed. “You want to kill me, I think you’ve made that clear”, My Dad says painfully. The fog becomes too heavy for me to see them. I duck behind a hay bale as I hear a gunshot. I pray in my head that it wasn’t my Dad who was shot. I heard the choked cry coming from the direction of the gun shot. I had to get out of here, the gunshot will probably attract one of the nearby herds. I quickly scrambled to my feet and made a bee line for the tree line. I couldn’t see clearly where I was going. But, I could hear the moans. Coming from each direction. My heart beat rapidly and I felt fear. I kept on running as I heard them cry for food. I wasn’t going to die today. I repeated this in my head. It was my mantra.