Deadland

Chapter 101- Actual Happiness

Tara nods in understanding, "Need help..." Her voice trails off. "Listen," She whispers. 

My ears perk up at the faint sound of crying just past the line of the woods. Not dangerously deep but deep enough that she can't be seen. 

"Damn it. Go tell Inejra I've found her." I order, running into the woods. 

"On it." She replies, running the opposite way.

"'Lyss!" I call out, cupping my hands on the side of my mouth as a makeshift megaphone. 

"Adrian, I just wanna be alone." I hear from the distance. 

I follow the voice and find Alyssa hunched over on the ground, trying to get herself to throw up. 

"Woah, woah," I say gently, pulling her hand away and sitting her up. 

"Adrian, please." She cries, her blue eyes now reddened and puffy from tears. 

I've found something out from dealing with this. Alyssa hates talking about her feelings. She hates seeming like she can't only ever be happy. 

I pull her into a hug, both of us still sitting on the ground. "Damien and Cato are like... inseparable. There has to be somethin' there." 

Alyssa scoffs tearfully, "How long until they're together?" 

I shrug, hugging Alyssa a little tighter. "Better be soon or I'm callin' in some reinforcements." 

Alyssa looks at me confusedly, "Reinforcements?" 

I nod, "You, me, and Inejra may need to step in." 

Alyssa smiles, "Sounds like a plan." 

I scoff without a smile and stand up, helping her up too. "Did you throw up?" 

She shakes her head, "No, you came just in time." 

I roll my eyes and begin walking back to camp with her, "My bad." 

"Alyssa!" Inejra groans as she and I make it out of the woods. "Dude, Gabriel and-" She fake gags. "Gabriel and Anne are-" Another fake gag. "They were holding hands." 

Alyssa's eyes widen, "What?!" 

Inejra nods, "Come with me to beat Gabriel's ass." 

Without another word, Inejra grabs Alyssa's hand and they run off, presumably to chew up and spit out Gabriel. 

"Why're you doin' labor with us?" Daryl asks, sawing a limb off of a tree." 

I shrug as I throw some unneeded sticks into the woods to give myself some room to cut a bit off of my tree. "I was bored." 

"You decided to do what all of us wish we weren't because you were bored?"

I nod and begin sawing a limb off of my tree, "Hell yeah. And Damien and Cato were here and Alyssa requested me to...see if chemistry is brewing." 

Daryl scoffs, "Of course she did."

The horses freaking out behind Daryl catches both of our attention.

The sound of Walkers growling then brings our attention to the opposite side of the horses. 

"Got 'em." Daryl says, grabbing a sharp limb and walking over to the Walkers. 

After he kills a few, I notice more and more walking out of the woods. "Damn it, Daryl!" I yell, pointing to the herd when he looks at me. 

He quickly turns to the workers and yells, "A herd's comin'! Bug out, now!"