That Redneck (Daryl Dixon love story from The walking dead/TWD)

Chapter 110- A hunter becoming the hunted

Daryl prepared his crossbow as we watched the deer chew on the grass. I took a step forwards and stepped on a twig, making a giant snapping sound.

Shit. The deer turned its head in our direction and bolted. "Dammit Mariah." Daryl swore, angered that he lost a catch.

"Oh shut up, let's keep going." I muttered. We raced forewords through the forest, the tree's towering over top of us.

A large bush to our left started moving and I pointed my bow at the shaking bush.

"It's probably just a coon." Daryl reassured, noticing my bow shaking slightly back and fourth.

My breathing was shaky as my heart pounded in my chest. A second later a raccoon appeared from the bush and I released the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"See nothin' to worry bout." Daryl reassured patting my back. We moved past the bush a little bit then it started moving again.

Its just another animal don't worry about it. Is what I thought as I tried to ignore the bush.

"Mariah!" Daryl yelled and pulled me back, as he stepped in front of me.

"What?! Its just another...." I stopped mid sentence.

A walker jumped out from the bush, the groans echoing through my ears. "Run!" Daryl yelled, pushing me forwards.

I ran forwards with Daryl, the groans increased as we ran. I turned my head to see a herd of walkers charging after us.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! "Daryl, where do we go?!" I yelled, Daryl kept running with me, staying by my side.

"Follow me!" He yelled and I nodded, following after him. We turned completely opposite of the Prison, heading deeper into the woods.

"Where are we going?" I shouted as we neared a pathway. "Just trust me!" Daryl yelled.

It's not like I could run forever, my leg's were starting to burn and my lungs gasped for air.

But the fear of what paced behind us kept me going, the stomps and groans were fading but that wouldn't be enough.

We reached the pathway and we turned sharply right, heading down the worn out path.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, I wanted to just fall down and rest so badly.

But Daryl kept me going, kept me at his pace. "This way." Daryl ordered, panting as he pulled me sharply to the right.

We ran down the steep slope of the forest and I could hear the sound of rushing water.

Daryl stopped me from running and I looked down, over the edge of a small cliff.

It would be just like cliff jumping, what I used to do when I was a little kid. "Can walkers swim?" I asked, panting and checking behind.

"How bout we don't find out?" Daryl asked and grabbed my hand. Almost in unison Daryl and I jumped from the cliff.

We were air-born for a moment then we crashed to the water. The force made me release Daryl's hand, and I couldn't find which way was up or down.

I opened my eyes and only saw the dark water with bubbles around me. I started to panic and I saw up, or what I thought was up.

The oxygen in my lungs started to run out and the darkness started to fade and in replace was light.

I surfaced, choking and gasping for air to return to my lungs. I looked around, we were in the middle of a river, a very large river that seemed to be fairly deep.