Protection (Rick Grimes)

Chapter Seventeen

Danielle's POV

I wake up to the sound of a ton of moans and groans. I jump to my feet and look around. I see several walking stumbling towards me and Austin.

"Shit." I grumble to myself and shake Austin awake.

"What?" He groans.

"We have to leave. There's walkers." I say. He immediately gets up and helps me gather everything together before running beside me.

We eventually get far enough where we know that we've lost them.

I sigh and lean against a tree. This is continuous game. Settle down then run the next morning. It's tiring. I just want to find another place where we can stay a while. Is that too much to ask?

Austin pats my shoulder making me look up at him. He's looking at me, clearly concerned, and suddenly wraps his arm around my shoulders.

"You okay?" Austin asks.

"I will be." I sigh and slightly lean into his side.

"Let's go see if we can find a road to follow." He says. I sigh with a nod and begin walking beside Austin.

I wonder where Daryl and the rest of the group is at? Are they even okay?

Of course they're okay. They are a very tough group.

I miss Chelsea though. And Daryl. And Carl. And everyone else. And I do miss Rick. But...I really don't want to be around him at all. Im probably taking this in a childish way, but I honestly don't care.

I focus on what is ahead of us and I see a clearing. I nudge Austin and nod ahead. He looks at me before looking ahead. Smiling, he suddenly grabs my hand and pulls me along.

I look down at our hands and instantly think of Rick. And how he use to hold my hand. How he use to hold me at night and tell me that everything would be perfectly fine. That we would get through everything. Rick helped me with so much. He really cared for me. I really cared about him.

I seriously thought he would never hurt me in any way. I seriously thought he would never hurt Lyndon in any way. But he did.

Or what if it was on accident and leaving was a bad idea? What if Rick didn't mean to and really did accidentally miss the walker? What if I made the biggest mistake of my life.

No. I did the right thing. Gabriel would never lie to me. Why would he lie about something like that anyway? He didn't lie. He was right. About everything.

Victor's POV
(SURPRISE!!!)

I can't believe those fucks just dropped me off here. And with only a damn knife. What the actual fuck?

Right now, I'm walking through the woods, trying to find some kind of animal to kill. I seriously need food. And water.

Danielle should have let me in the group. It's not like I would have raped her again. It wasn't even rape. She clearly wanted it. But whatever the bitch says. Then her asshole of a brother. Damn, if only I could strangle him.

I hear walking making me stop and look around. I hear a mumbled voice telling that it's a human. I look around again and see two figures. I quickly get behind a tree and look around it. That's when I notice that its Danielle and some guy. And they're holding hands.

Isn't she with that guy who dropped me off? I wonder if he or any of her group knows about this.

"Are you going to go back?" The guy asks Danielle.

"No. I don't want to be around them anymore. I'll miss them, yeah, but I wouldn't be able to stand being with them anymore." Danielle says.

Which way is that lodge? Maybe I can find it. I'm pretty sure they don't know that she's with him. Let alone planning on never coming back to them. The two of them stop and smile at each other before continuing to walk. They get into the field I was just in and they sit down.