Inferno

thirty four.

The thing that kept her going was the hope that Shane was somewhere there. Samantha could see the smoke rising from the air, and she hoped that he was not caught in that crossfire.

Skinny fingers grabbed her arm and she whipped around. She screamed her lungs out as a female walker brought its jaws to her shoulder-

There was the sound of a familiar engine, a gunshot going off and brain matter spattering across her face.

There he was; his crossbow resting on his bike and his gun raised up, his mossy blues hard as he stared in disgust at the corpse.

"We ain't got all day!" Daryl snapped. "Get on!"

As much as Samantha wanted to be led to safety and as much as she wanted to be with Daryl, she couldn't. She had to find Shane. He was her brother, her responsibility. "I can't, I gotta find Shane!" She cried.

He looked utterly dubious. "Wha'? Don't be a stupid bitch and get on!" Daryl said harshly.

"I can't!"

"If you don't get on this goddamn motorcycle-"

Hands were placed on his shoulders, the words stopping in his throat, his body going tense as her chest almost touched his. Her face was wet from both brain matter and escaped tears, but she was too busy looking at all his details to even notice. The chaos was just their background music, their words the story that sung the lyrics.

"Go, you need to go, I'll be okay," Samantha whispered. "I need to find my brother, he's all I got."

Daryl searched her face, going from her eyes, to her nose to everywhere. He was trying to figure her out, trying to find out why.

"I'll find him and when I do, we'll go on that road trip," She forced a smile. "we'll go see the smoky mountains and everything."

Samantha cared for Daryl, she just didn't realize how much she did until this very moment. He wouldn't have believed it, but he was one of the most selfless people she's ever met. She knew of the possibility that finding Shane might get her killed, so she had to look at all of him one last time.

A loud sobbing broke through the sea of the dead and met her ears, and Samantha recognized them to belong to Carol, the mother who lost everything. The young woman wouldn't let her lose anymore, not this time. "Carol needs you, go," A walker neared them and she pulled back, raising her gun and quickly firing at it. "Just go! I'll be okay."

Daryl looked at her more, but as Carol released more sobs into the night, he cursed loudly. He knew Carol needed him, he cared about her whether he liked to admit it or not.

He revved up his motorcycle, his eyes never leaving Samantha Walsh's face. "You're a stupid, reckless girl sometimes, you know that?" Daryl grunted.

The words that he once used against her made her chuckle. "It's my specialty."

They shared another long look. Samantha wondered if he thought of the possibilities of her dying as well, that he had to look at all of her too.

His eyes slowly slid from her face and he kicked his motorcycle into action, riding away.

Samantha could see the angel wings on the back of his vest, and the fading sight of them made her heart crack, everything crashing down as cries left her throat.

She had to keep going.

━━━━━

Daryl and Carol had been riding for what seemed like hours. For a second, he thought he had lost everyone - until his eyes tagged tail lights zig zagging on the road.