RULE THE WORLD | D.DIXON

107

Daryl grabbed the younger teen boy by the shirt pulling him and Lydia into the woods with Connie and Max following as they fought off the walkers. The trio throw off the masks, sprinting through the woods.

Henry suddenly tripped over a branch, landing face first on the ground. The rest of them crouch down beside him, panting heavily.

"Are you okay?" Max asked, wiping away sweat from his forehead.

"This isn't the way back to Hilltop..." Henry panted.

"Tara made a deal with those assholes. We broke it. We ain't going back to Hilltop." Daryl said.

"He's right. There's too many of them. Alpha would destroy Hilltop to get me back now." Lydia says.

"And why didn't you tell us there was that many of them?" Daryl stood up, looking down at the girl.

"You kept me locked in a cage. What did you expect? I wasn't going to betray my own people!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Well, maybe you should go back to 'em." Daryl sneered. "Henry didn't know what he was getting his ass into, but you sure as hell did."

"I thought I could go back. I can't."

Daryl shook his head. "Well, you ain't coming with us."

"Hey, we could run. Me and her. You guys go back, and—and we keep running. They can't blame Hilltop if we just disappear." Henry suggested.

Lydia shook her head. "Henry, we can't. Let me fix this."

"No. There's no way in hell I'm letting you run away with this one. No way. Think of your mom!" Daryl says as Connie standing.

"We gotta go. C'mon." She signs before standing in the direction she needs to go.

"It's this way." His father says, pointing towards the opposite direction.

Connie shakes her head, motioning the three teen to follow her before heading in her direction.

"Dog, let's go." Max says, following after the woman with Henry and Lydia behind him.

"No, no, dog, Max." Daryl tried, before giving up.

***

Breaking out of the tree lines, Max and the four made their way on a road. Connie pointed towards the apartment complex in front of them.

"Us four, in there." She signs before pointing each other them.

"Take the high ground?" His father says, looking at the building.

"Chokepoint." She says as Daryl agreed.

"I don't understand." Henry spoke up.

"They use walkers to protect themselves, right? So we go up someplace the walkers can't go. We separate the living from the dead. They travel in a herd, but there's only like five or six of them in the middle, right?" Daryl explained.

Lydia nodded. "Yeah, but if we go up there, we're trapped. Alpha's not gonna send an army 'cause she doesn't have to. She'll send Beta."