Chasing Amy (Daryl Dixon/The Walking Dead)

Chapter 24 - Goodness

I resumed my position on the warm spot of his jacket that had been created by my cheek, which was pressed tightly against the leather once more. I was about to close my eyes again, the overwhelming desire to sleep taking over every pre-existing thought in my mind.

Normally I would have been questioning when we were going, every little detail of the road we were traveling. But at that moment, I didn't care what happened. After the night I'd just gone through, I refused to let my thoughts flow, because I knew the images would pop back up in my head. And that was something I certainly didn't want to happen.

We turned onto a motorway, breaking from the smaller deserted road, to the much larger, much more populated one that instantly reminded me of the motorway had attempted to escape through when the infection spread. They were just hollow, empty reminders of the lost hope for those people who had attempted to flee.

We passed through a small gap between two dusty vehicles, snaking our way along the lanes. Glenn and Maggie took a while to follow as they had to somehow manoeuvre through the spaces, along with the blue truck, that I hadn't noticed before. Was this planned? Had they all planned to meet here? I sat up lightly, my head spinning.

This place was awful.

There were blood splatters on the window of cars, shards of glass littering the floor in a shiny cluster of the remains of broken windows. There were long trails of blood, as though a body had been dragged from the car, and pulled for metres. Litter had blown from these empty cars, and suitcases, clothes and all matter of luggage pulled from trunks in the madness that must have led to the scene before me.

It was when I saw Carol, Hershel and Rick, did the speed pick up again. Daryl rode straight towards them, followed closely by the two cars behind us. As we became closer, I noticed a smaller figure standing beside Rick.

Carl.

It was comforting to know he was alive, and I couldn't hold back the small smile on my lips when I saw Carol too. I was glad she made it out too, along with Hershel.

Although... I was a little upset that we could have left the farm much earlier if we weren't wasting our time looking for Carl, when he was Rick all along.

They ran to meet Daryl, as he stopped the bike just a few feet away from them. As he ensured the bike was properly off, fiddling with the handlebars, the small group of four crowded around him. As much as my tired body protested, I lifted my leg from the bike, twisting myself from the leather seat so Daryl could get off.

Rick walked straight up to Daryl, taking his hand in what seemed to be a friendly handshake. Hershel turned to the other two card, which had parked at the free space just opposite the pea-green car we were standing beside.

"Oh, thank God!" Lori cried from just across the small area, as Carl ran straight into his mother's arms.

Everyone was ecstatic to see their family members, friends, loved ones. The only sounds to be heard in the whole motorway was the cries of happiness, mingled with the despair over their lost members in a cacophony of sobs and choked laughter.

There were smiles all around as Rick pulled Lori's head to his lips for a comforting kiss. Hershel and his apparent family, Beth and Maggie, were arm in arm as Beth sobbed to her father.

For the first time, I noticed I wasn't the only one without someone to catch up with.

Daryl was still sat at his bike, watching in the background as the families all interlocked with blubbering stories about what had happened to them, that each didn't make any sense at all.

I stood against the trunk of the car, the open door providing shade from the harsh sun. Flies were buzzing around crazily, feeding on whatever lay inside some of the cars around us. I avoided all possible eye-contact with the people in front of us. I was honestly quite jealous of their embraces, of how they still had family to hold, to speak to.