Both Eyes Open - Daryl Dixon (under editing)

The Runaway.

It was a test.

Obviously.

It was a long, hard, excruciating test of strength, character, will power, endurance, loyalty, and on and on.

The group had been walking for hours. Both cars had been through hell and high water and gave up on them a couple hours back on the highway. The sun above them scorched the group mercilessly.

Lara had taken some time to cut Fergus' fur down a bit. Dogs don't sweat like humans do, and she hadn't had a change to cut the hair on his body, and with the dog still wearing his winter coat, he must have been burning up.

She walked with him on the edge of the forest, which offered some spattered shade from the sun, as well as a different textured ground to walk on. Although for the most part she had been walk no on dried up dirt, the patches of grass were more forgiving than the scorching concrete that everyone else chose to walk on.

Daryl and Carol had detoured into the forest a while back, in search of food or water. The group were in desperate need of nutrition if they were to hold their own against the growing herd tailing them about two miles back.

The group started slowly nearing a stone bridge, at which point Lara had conjured up a plan of action. She hopped off her own little path along the edge of the forest and sauntered up to Rick and Judith.

"Hey, Gandalf, can I talk to you a minute?" She asked, falling into place with the leader.

"Gandalf?" He asked with a lighthearted scoff, looking over at her with a sardonic expression upon his dirty, bearded face.

"The grey, going by your beard hair but that's for another time-" she joked, earning an actual chuckle from the man who hadn't smiled in days. Lara couldn't help but be internally pleased with herself.

"-it's about our groupies a mile back." She began, and immediately felt the conversation darken involuntarily.

"Yeah?" Rick grovelled, looking behind himself briefly, before looking down at little Judith in his arms.

"I hate to sound like Sasha right now but we could deal with them."

"We can't risk-"

"Mr Grimes, you might wanna hear me out." She interrupted, smirking as his eyebrows raised up an inch on his forehead as he let her continue.

"We can deal with them without having to, to quote Sasha, "take them on". A maximum output for minimal effort so of thing." She shrugged, and Rick gently nudged his elbow against hers, to make her go on.

"The bridge up ahead there. Looks like a pretty steep drop on either side doesn't it?" She asked, looking at him head on, watching the plan fall into place in his own mind.

He started nodding before looking up at her.

"Sounds like a plan."

~~~

Rick, Glenn, Lara and Michonne stood on the left hand side of the road, by the first pillar of the bridge, as Abraham, Maggie, Sasha and Fergus stood to the right. Lara had commanded Fergus to sit nearer the back of the group. The rest of the group were out of harms way on the other side of the bridge, watching in agonising real time as the walkers crept closer and closer, snapping and snarling their disease ridden, decomposing jaws at their potential meals.