Willow (Daryl Dixon)

~18~

Daryl led me up towards the highway, his hand on my back steadying me as we slowly made it up the hill. My body was aching in every way imaginable. I could feel my legs again luckily, the blunt force of the fall must've just jolted me full of adrenaline. My Head was pounding from the blunt hit Shane got me with, back pulsing from hitting the rock, limbs screaming from running. Up on the highway, nobody had shown up yet, it was just Daryl and I, making me hope everyone else was all alright...

"Sit down," Daryl told me, gesturing to the hood of a random car.

I sat down as gently as I could, flinching as my back roared in pain from the pressure. I felt absolutely crippled, my vision was cloudy and I was terrified It'd never be clear again.

"Daryl, I- I still cant see," I started panicking. I felt a hand grab a hold of my own, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"You're covered in who knows what, tilt your head back," he told me.

I did, and soon felt cold water wash away on my face, I held my eyes open for as long as comfortably possible letting the water rinse away whatever was clinging to me. My eye balls were burning as I rubbed them but I had to admit they did feel better. Once I opened them back up, everything seemed to be clearer. I let out a deep sigh of relief, letting a small smile crack my lips.

"Now lets gets this cleaned up," Daryl said, standing in front of me.

I was confused to what he meant until I felt the rag in his hand gently touch the side of my head from where Shane hit me. I tried my hardest not to squirm around to much but I had to admit he got me pretty good.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked me. my eyebrows scrunched together as I tried to piece it all together.

"I'm not 100% sure really, I just remember Shane hitting me in the head. When I woke up the barn was on fire, the farm over run, and everybody being gone. I ran through the woods and got pinned down, then you found me just in time..." I frowned, remembering how I had nearly shot myself.

"Shane did this?" Daryl asked angrily. I nodded my head yes, regretting the unwanted movement afterwards.

"I'll kill him!" he said aloud.

If anybody was gonna kill that bastard it's gonna be me. Seeing Daryl react like this though gave me a weird feeling in my gut, static almost, why was he so mad? Before I got a chance to ask, a car came around the corner, another one just behind it. Then from behind us, a third car appeared, I could see Hershel and Lori in the front seats. They made it...

Everyone jumped out of their cars and ran towards each other. Rick, Lori, and Carl all hugged each other, then the Greene family reunited. I sat on the car still, to pained to move, but Daryl never left my side as we all gathered around. But not all of us were here.

"Where's Andrea?" Glen asked.

"She didn't make it, we watched her go down..." T-Dog replied next to Carol.

"Shane?" Lori asked next, her face worried. Rick and I locked eyes with each other, we both knew well what happened. What happened after I blacked out was still a mystery though.

"Shane used Randall to get me alone, he knocked out Willow to get her out of the way so he could kill me. It was self defense, I gave him every option but he just kept coming! I killed him, then Carl put him down after he turned..." The look on Lori's face was nothing but terror as she held a sobbing Carl against her chest.

"Willow we tried to go back for you but the herd was to big," he explained to me. I shook my head at him, regretting once again as my head pounded against my skull.

"You had to protect your son," I stopped him, watching him sigh in relief.

The group started going over what would happen next. We had no supplies, no home, and no idea where to go. Rick took it upon himself to step up, but it was no longer a democracy as he put it. Whatever Rick said went and that was final. We were all told to get back inside our cars and follow him to who knows. At this point I didn't care, I just wanted to get moving off this highway, that herd could come this way any minute.

As I slid off the hood if the car, I groaned in pain as my back screamed at me for moving. A hand grabbed a hold of my arm to stabilize me as everybody was now staring.

"What happened?" Hershel stepped forward.

"She took a pretty hard fall against a rock after she rolled down a hill," Daryl explained, holding me.

"She could have damaged her spine, we need to lay her down, and hopefully some rest will do her good," Hershel explained.

I was helped over towards Daryl's truck and probably used every curse word in the book as I laid down in the back seat. Daryl was standing in the open door of the truck, hovering over my head, he actually looked worried.

"You heard Hershel, no moving," he reminded me.

"Trust me, I dont plan on going anywhere," I let out a chuckle, only to flinch as my back tensed.

"You better start hoping this ain't permanent!" he said, sounding a little frustrated.

"Hey," I reached my hand above my head, grabbing his hand that was on the seat. He let out a deep sigh, returning the gesture and giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

"I promised no more running away, remember?" I assures him.

"I remember..." he said in a hushed voice.

Rick started giving out orders that we were moving out and Daryl and I exchanged a final look before he shut the door and got on his motorcycle. I was still trying to figure him out, one minute he hates my guts and wants nothing to do with me, yet now he seems to care about nothing else besides me. My brain felt twisted but it didn't last long when the truck jolted forward and I yelped.

"Sorry!" T-dog yelled from the drivers seat.

I don't know where we're going, but I hope it was somewhere close...