YEARNING - Daryl Dixon

FIFTY SIX.

PANTING.

Bonnie ran as far and as fast as her feet could take her, away from the incoming herd from the quarry.

Her feet padded through the woods, sticks and dry leaves crunching under her boot cladded feet, muscles aching, throat burning as she gasped for air.

The adrenaline wearing off slowly.

After what felt like hours of running, Bonnie arrived at the checkpoint, coming to a stop as Rick, Michonne and Morgan caught up with her.

The four of them stood behind the parked RV and the fortified wall.

"Hey Bonnie, did you eat my last peanut butter protein bar?"

The blonde scrunched her face up in disgust, looking over the the stick wielding man "No, I'm not a fan of peanut butter."

\/

"My team, we seen it awhile back on a scout." Bonnie's eyes rested on a guy who had returned from a long run, Heath, as he spoke.

The blonde leaned against the bookshelf beside Daryl, arms folded across her chest as she processed what Rick had told them.

A herd, a big one, in a quarry not to far from Alexandria was threatening the community.

"It was a camp." Bonnie bit her lip as she tried to imagine what they were up against.

She could feel the countless eyes on her.

It had been a few days since she last slept properly, the incident from the run still haunting her.

"No one's been back since?" Maggie looked up at Heath as he finished speaking and he shook his head.

"So all the while the walkers have been lured by the sound, they make more sound, yet they draw more in." Michonne sighed and looked back at Rick.

"It all makes sense now." Bonnie spoke up, her eyes looking everywhere but the people for a moment, before she finally looked up.

"Why this place hasn't seen a herd, or, why you all have little to no training or experience out there." Bonnie paused, lifting her hand and scratching her now healed cut on her forehead "All of 'em are down in there."

She dropped her arms by her side, and she felt Daryl nudge her gently, causing her to look down at him as Rick started speaking.

"Now what I'm proposing, I know it sounds risky, but there are walkers slipping through the exits."

Bonnie smiled softly at Daryl, letting her fingers barely brush his bare shoulder, a small gesture to let him know she was ok.

"One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now."

Bonnie looked back at her leader, the man she had viewed as an older brother after all this time.

"Maybe after one more hard rain." He paused as his eyes roamed all the people in Deanna's house, as she stood by a window.