Deadland

Chapter 120- Horde

He scans them for a moment, "Depends, maybe two." 

I nod, "Okay, 'Nej, you and I are gonna be waitin' for her at each rock, alright? Magna, be at the end, ready to help her." 

Magna nods, "Got it." 

Alyssa's breath shudders as Inejra and I help her up. "Hey," I say, looking at her. "Pain is temporary. But you dyin' here is permanent." 

She nods quickly, heavily limping as Inejra and I slowly lead her to the edge of the rock. "Ready?" Daryl asks us more than the rest of the group. Alyssa nods without saying anything and stares at the Walkers with widened eyes. Her hands and legs are shaking from fear and she's gripping her necklace. 

Once everyone jumps on the rocks, minus Aaron, Magna goes, then me. I leap across the hands of the Walkers, wobbling a bit when I land on the rock. I land wrong and the foot Damien made for me gets knocked off and I fall on my stomach, the foot lands on a rock covered in Walker hands. 

"Damn it." I whisper. "Hold on!" I yell to them, groaning and reaching down to try and grab it. I don't even care that it's my foot, I care that Damien made it. 

I swat Walker's cold, slimy hands off of mine and strain my fingers, barely managing to grab ahold of the "toes" of it. Walkers reach for my arm as I pull it back up and clasp it around the bottom of my shin, securing it tight. I sigh and tilt my head back, standing up and shaking my hands out.

I turn around and wave to Inejra to help Alyssa. Alyssa's face is pale and she's broken out in a sweat while her chin quivers in fear. "Alyssa," I make sure she's looking at me and not the Walkers before saying, "PBND." 

She exhales through pursed lips and nods. Inejra says something to her I can't hear, probably "ready?" based on her lip movements and Alyssa responds with "yeah." Inejra places her hands on Alyssa's hips and assists her when she jumps, allowing me to easily catch her. 

"AH!" Alyssa screams out, holding her knee as I hold her in place. "Inejra!" She screams in horror as Inejra struggles to push herself up from nearly falling into the Walkers. Aaron rushes over to her and grabs her ankles, pulling her back. 

"She's okay," I assure Alyssa, turning back to her and helping her hop to the edge of the rock. "Magna!" I yell, making sure she knows to be ready. I look at Alyssa, my heart pounds heavily in my throat with each scary scenario clouding my mind. "Three, two, one!" I grunt, heaving her up and to Magna, to which she screams out in pain again. 

Once Magna leaps to the next rock, I jump to Alyssa's rock and help her to Magna's again. We repeat this method until we're pressed up against the rock wall as Magna holds onto me. Inejra helps Alyssa climb up the short, lumpy climb into the second cave area just so she can rest her leg. Our attention is drawn to Kelly trying to kick off a Walker. Before any of us can get to it, Jerry slices it's arm off. 

"Hand me that thing." Daryl says. 

Jerry grimaces and grabs the Walker's arm, holding it up to Daryl, "Knock yourself out, dude." When Daryl grabs it, he climbs up and stands next to Alyssa, lighting the base of the arm on fire as a torch. 

Once we're all up inside the second cave entrance, Magna and I help Alyssa hobble through it, her lip quivering with pain. Daryl hands Connie the arm torch and walks a few feet away to see which passage to go through. 

"Should I even ask how we're doing on food?" Aaron asks. 

"Not great." Jerry responds, solemnly. 

"Food? How long do you think we're gonna be here?" Kelly asks as Inejra holds her up through her injured ankle.