I Need You

Detour

Beth

"Whereee arreee theyyyy?"

My body shakes and my eyes are wide, I slap a hand over my mouth to keep quiet. More whispers float above us.

"We're almost thereeeee."

"Stayyyy. Find themmm. Don'ttt lettt themmm get awayyyy."

The herd passes us but Aaron and I stay glued to where we are. Too terrified to move. Eventually I will myself to sit up. I glance around and keep my ears open to make sure nothing or no one is around. Aaron sits up too. I hear a twig snap. I gasp and look in the direction of the noise.

"Beth..." Aaron says cautiously.

"Yeah?" My gaze meets his.

His face is kind and his eyes are understanding. "It's gonna be okay." He hesitates before he adds. "I heard them too."

I nod even though I'm unsure as to why he said that. Maybe he's just trying to let me know I'm not crazy. Or maybe he's checking to see if he's not crazy. Whatever the reason, it's good to know I'm not hearing things. I don't allow my mind to wander. We gotta move. "Stay low and follow me."

It doesn't take me long at all to locate the tracks of the herd. I follow them until I see them split off into two different directions.

"Some went that way." I point to our left.

Aaron confirms my suspicions. "That's the way to Alexandria."

I point to our right. "The rest went this way. They're probably circling around to find us."

"What do we do?" Aaron asks.

"I don't know." I shrug and wonder aloud. "If they can speak, who knows what else they can do?"

Daryl

We pull up on a bunch of cars blocking the road. "Shit dick." Abraham huffs.

There ain't no way around them unless we go on foot. Ain't no way that's happenin'. It's clear this pile up was intentional. Wonder when the wolves coulda pulled this off? With no way through, we take a detour.

We have to backtrack five miles to get on another road that'll take us home. When we get three miles out, we hit another blockade. Instead of cars, this time it's walkers. They're strung together by their intestines, three rows deep. Eight total lined up side by side in each row. It reminds me of those paper cut outs my art teacher showed us in school. She folded some paper made a few cuts and then unfolded her creation to reveal people holdin' hands. Cept, now, the walkers in front of us ain't holding hands. Their arms have been cut off, the only thing connecting them is their insides all knotted together. The walkers on the end are held in place by ropes and chains to the nearby trees.

Abe stops the truck and we all just stare ahead at the walkers for a minute. "Bitch nuts."

He turns to us. "I say we make like Moses and part the literal dead sea." Glenn, Sasha and I look at each other and come to the silent conclusion that it probably is our best option. We nod to each other and then to him. He smiles wide. "Let's dance."

We get outta the car and pull our knives. Abraham takes the left, I take the right and Sasha and Glenn take the middle. We dispense of the first eight walkers easily. The next row is a lil more rowdy than the first and try to get at us. The sounds of groans and blades and grunts fill my ears as we finish clearing the obstacle. Some walkers stumble outta the woods toward us. They ain't close 'nough to be a problem but Abraham goes to take care of em anyway.

Glenn yells after him. "Just leave them."

Abe hollers back. "Loose ends make my ass itch."

I roll my eyes and get back in the truck with Sasha. A few minutes later, Abe is back in the driver's side smilin' like a deranged idiot. More than annoyed, Sasha digs at him. "You ready now? Can we go?"