When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 30 - W....again?

She took off in the direction of the commotion, never once letting her guard down as she sliced through the necks of walking corpse's. Blood flew in every direction, coating herself as well as the handle of her hunting knife and although she was in danger, she took a moment to watch them fall to the ground. And she enjoyed it.

It was three miles to Alexandria and Lou was determined to run each meter of it. Sharply, she dodged a tree on her left and ducked under a stray branch on her right, kicking leaves up as she skidded through the dirt. She was losing momentum but she pressed on. The fog horn continuously grew louder, ringing in her ears and adding pressure to the top of her eyebrows as a migraine set in. How could three miles take this long?

Morgan raced behind her, struggling to catch up with the raven haired female. With each incision she made in the neck of a 'walker' he grimaced and sent a disapproving glare in her direction. And with each disapproving glare came a roll of Lou's eyes. It was a 'dog eat dog world' and it was high time he realized that.

"Keep up!" She shouted behind her, ensuring he could hear her as she jumped over a fallen, moss covered tree and ducked under another branch. By the time they reached home a swarm of dead had laced its way around the perimeter. "You go left"

She yanked the radio from the clip on her jeans as she ran and began shouting into it, careful to hide the panting of her voice "Rick, I'm nearly there"

"What the hell is going on back there?" Daryl's voice ran out, slightly crackled.

"Half of them broke off, they're going towards Alexandria" Rick replied. Although she couldn't see him he, she knew he was hesitant about sending her off on her own.

"Towards you?"

"We ran ahead, there's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping. Lou - Lou and Morgan went after it"

"What? Okay, I'm gonna gas up, turn back"

"We have it, you keep going"

"She's gonna need our help"

"Daryl, I got it. We gotta keep the herd moving" Lou stated

"Not if it's going down, we don't" he snapped back slightly.

"If the rest of that herd terns around, the bad back there gets worse" Rick said "Daryl?"

"Yeah, I heard you" he sighed, clearly irritated.

"Okay, I'm here" She retrieved her gun from the back of her jeans and pulled the trigger twice, giving her a small opening by the tree line and allowing her to race towards the source of the sound. A large lorry stood crumbled against the metal barriers that held her home in place. Surprisingly, the walls managed to remain intact, all except a small opening between two panels ahead of the honking wagon.

Her pistol remained at arms length as she made her way around the vehicle. A frantic 'walker' sat in the drivers seat, snarling in her direction. Dark blood poured from his head, slowly dyeing his shirt. She wouldn't be able to stop the horn without risking a bite, so instead, she pulled her hunting knife from her boot and implanted it in his forehead. Blood squirted from the wound and splattered across her hand. She grimaced slightly, pulled the knife from its site, wiped the blood on her jeans and yanked the keys from the ignition. "I hate trucks"

"Me too"

The voice came out of nowhere, sending a shock through her system and her finger to grasp the trigger on her pistol as she spun in place. "Jesus Spencer, don't do that"

He laughed at the female "Sorry"

"What's going on?"

"They came through the back, used the truck as a distraction and snuck up on us" he explained, hoisting himself into the passenger side.

"Where's the kid me and Daryl brought back?" Lou asked, slightly alarmed "Nicole? Where is she?"

"I think she's with Carl. Ricks kid - think she's with him"

"Where are they?"

"Medical bay with Denise" he said, searching under the seats of the truck.

"Okay" she sighed, climbing onto the bonnet and prying open the small gap between the panels. "You coming?"

When he didn't reply she rolled her eyes and pushed herself through, bracing herself for the horror on the other side. Bodies lay everywhere, bloodied and torn apart. Stupidly, she took a moment to examine the dead enemy beside her, resulting in the detrimental effect of a bullet piercing through her bicep. The sheer impact sent a shockwave of pain through her body but she shook it off and spun on her heel to face her attacker.

A dirt covered man stood a few meters away from her, gun in his right hand and a scar shaped like a 'W' carved into the center of his forehead. "What the fuck?"

She faked left and took of to her right, jumping behind the remains of a bombed jeep to shield herself from the heavy flow of bullets that were directed at her. In her feeble attempt at diving towards cover she had dropped her pistol and finding the valuable seconds to load her bow was time that she did not have the luxury to posses. Running directly towards him was sure to end in her death so instead she chose the stealthy route, carefully crawling across the dried mud and rounding the wall behind him. She didn't know how he hadn't spotted her, subtlety was never her strong point, but she was thankful that she had the upper-hand.

Quickly she jumped upwards, linking her arm around his head so his nose was in the crook of her elbow and dragged him towards the floor besides her. She flipped her left leg over his torso, straddled him and applied pressure to his throat with her left hand, whilst grabbing her knife with the other. His fingers clawed at her bare arms, struggling to find the bullet hole in her right bicep. His face had turned a bright shade of red. He was dying and he knew it. In one swift movement Lou pierce the skin below his chin and forced her knife through the space between his jaw. Quickly he stopped moving. His arms dropped to the floor. Success. 

Really enjoyed writing this chapter guys, especially the squabble at the end!

-Al