Didn't See That Coming | The Walking Dead(1)

Part 28 (Highway Reunion)

"Couldn't let them get you," Carl murmured, looking up at her. "You're like my best friend."

CJ tilted her head with a small smile and held her arms out to Carl, pulling him into a tight hug which he returned. "You're mine too," she whispered, taking his hat off to kiss the top of his head.

A couple of hours later and there was still no sigh of anyone else. The four of them were still waiting but it was becoming dangerous. Lone walkers kept passing them down the road and they were forced to hide behind the cars and truck to avoid being seen. They all had their guns slightly raised just in case. CJ had her pistol on one hand as she continued to use the shotgun as a crutch.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here," Hershel whispered as another corpse passed them.

"I'm not leaving without Mom," Carl shook his head, looking up at Rick.

Rick sighed, looking around the car they were behind to check on the walker before replying. "So we're just gonna walk away?" he asked Hershel. "Not knowing if my wife, your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?"

"You only have one concern now, just one. Keeping him alive," Hershel replied, nodding to Carl. "Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true."

"Rick... we don't know if they made it," CJ said regretfully. "Hershel's right. I'm sorry," she whispered.

Rick looked at her for a moment before turning his head to look around the highway. The look on his face said it all. He didn't want to give up, but he might not have a choice. He got down on his knees and looked up at Carl, who already knew what was coming.

"Carl..." he began before taking a long pause, hating what he was about to tell his son. "It's not safe here. I'm sorry-"

"Do you guys hear that?" CJ asked, cutting him off. They all went quiet as they heard the faint hum of an engine, growing louder as it seemed to be getting closer.

Rick stood up and they all looked over to see two people on a motorbike: Daryl and Carol. They were closely followed by Maggie's car and T-Dog's truck. The four of them shared a look of relief and made their way over to where the group had pulled over on the road.

"Oh thank god!" Lori cried as Carl and Rick rushed over to hug her, the three falling to their knees as they embraced each other. Beth and Maggie ran over to Hershel. Daryl and Carol climbed off his bike and Daryl came over to CJ, noticing the way she walked with the shotgun.

"What happened?" he asked, taking her free arm and helping her stand straighter.

"Sprained ankle," she shrugged. "It's good to see you," she breathed out as she smiled up at him.

"Yeah, you too," he replied with a small smile. He lead her over to the others and helped her sit down on his bike, subconsciously keeping his hand on her shoulder as everyone broke apart from their hugs. "Where are your swords?"

"Ugh, dropped 'em at the farm," she frowned. "I don't wanna talk about it," she pouted as she crossed her arms dramatically, making Daryl chuckle quietly at her antics.

In all honesty, she didn't care about the swords that much... okay that was a lie. She was annoyed. But the fact that the group had survived and reunited certainly made up for it.

"How'd you find everyone?" Rick asked,

"Taillights zigzagging all over the road," Daryl replied. "Figured he had to be Asian, drivin' like that," he said jokingly.

"Good one," Glenn chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.

"We're the only one who made it so far," CJ answered.

Lori stood up next to Carl. "Shane?"

Rick looked to the ground and shook his head. CJ didn't ask about Shane during the car journey from the farm. Given the whole thing with Randall, she had a pretty good clue that something serious went down. She didn't need to know, or want to know, the details.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol informed them.

"We saw her go down," T-Dog said.

"Patricia?" Hershel questioned.

"They got her too," Beth said quietly. "I was holding onto her, Daddy, but she just..." she trailed of and cried for a seconded before looking around at the others again. "What about Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV," Rick told her. "It got overrun."

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere," Lori said.

"But did you see her?"

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment. "I'll go back," Daryl announced as he went to pick up his crossbow.

"No," Rick said sternly.

"Cant just leave her," Daryl argued.

"We don't even know if she's there," CJ countered.

"She isn't there," Rick said. "She's either somewhere else, or she's dead. There's no way to find her. We gotta keep moving."

"There have been walkers crawling all over here since we arrived," CJ added. "We need a plan."

"I say head east," T-Dog spoke up.

A walker growled as it  began to make its way over to the group and Daryl reached for his crossbow again. "Stay off the main roads. Bigger the roads, the more walkers. More assholes like this one. I got him." He raised the crossbow and shot an arrow into the walker's eye.

Everyone agreed to the plan and started piling into the cars as Daryl retrieved his arrow. As CJ went to get off of Daryl's bike, he came over and pushed her shoulders and she sat back down.

"You're ridin' with me," he said.

"I am?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Yup," he responded simply as he climbed onto the bike to sit in front of her, turning on the engine.

"Aww, you missed me that much, huh?" she joked as she wrapped her arms around him.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "On second thoughts, maybe you should walk," he shot back, the smirk clear in his voice although she couldn't see his face. "Or limp, pegleg."

"Wow, rude," she chuckled.

"Hold on tight and don't fall off," he said as they slowly started moving.

"Sir, yes sir," she replied sarcastically.

With Rick leading the way, the group began their convoy in the hope of finding somewhere safe, or at least safe enough, to spend the night.

An hour or so into the journey, CJ felt herself getting tired. The events of the last twenty-four hours paired with the throbbing pain in her ankle, shooting it's way up her right leg was finally getting to her. It was as if her body knew that this was a really bad time to fall asleep, being on the back of a motorbike in the middle of nowhere wasn't exactly a safe place to take a power-nap.

She had a battle with her eyelids in an attempt to keep them open as her grip around Daryl's middle began to loosen. Noticing this, he took one hand off of the handle bars to grab CJ's wrists. "Hey, you good?" he called out over the hum of the engine.

CJ's eyes opened widely and she quickly tightened her grip around Daryl when she felt him grab her. "I'm awake, I'm awake," she yawned.

"Yeah, seems like it," he said sarcastically, taking his hand off of her wrist and holding the handlebar again. "You fall asleep back there and fall off, I ain't turnin' around to pick you back up."

"Hmm, what a gentlemen you are Mr Dixon," she shot back, rolling her eyes with a smirk.

"Just stay awake for me, alright?" he replied softly, ignoring her comment. "Hopefully we'll find a place to crash soon, before it gets too dark."

"Alright," she responded quietly as she rested her head on his back and sat up straighter on the seat.