All of Us (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 11

"Shit," Daryl muttered as he stopped the bike and hopped off quickly, leaving me sitting on it alone.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him, my heart beating fast. What we should have been doing was driving as fast as we could away from the herd right now. I had thought the herd of walkers that we had run into at the pharmacy was big, but this was insane.

"I gotta lead 'em away," he said urgently.

"Why can't we just lead them down that road together on your bike?" I asked desperately as I looked back down the road we came from, not wanting to split up.

He shook his head. "No, that way would lead them to Hilltop. Can't do that. And we can't let 'em follow us back to Alexandria, either. The only way is for me to lead 'em that way," Daryl said, pointing to the woods on our left. He continued. "I'll run in there and make sure they follow me, then I'll circle back around once I'm far enough ahead of 'em that they can't see me no longer and meet ya down the road," he said, pointing down the road leading back to Alexandria.

"But, what do I do?"

"You leave now," he said, taking my hands and placing them up onto the handlebars. I grab them tightly. "I'll keep 'em from following you and lead them away. Ya ever ride a motorcycle before?" 

I shook my head, my breath coming out in short busts, not liking where this conversation was headed. I turned around as I heard the moans getting closer. The walkers were almost to us.
"Sloane, look at me," Daryl said, bringing my attention back to him. "Drive for a minute and then stop. I'll circle around to you from the forest and meet you," he said as he turned the bike back on for me.

I was shaking my head, tears starting to form in my eyes. "I can't do this," I said, panicking. I wasn't scared for myself. I was scared for him, leading a herd of walkers by himself on foot.

"You can do this," he said in a calm tone. "Here's the gas," he said, pointing to the throttle under my right hand on the bike. "The breaks here."

He looked into my eyes. "You can do this, Sloane. I'll see ya soon."

I nodded my head.

"Go!" he said, walking around the bike and taking out the first walker that arrived. I slowly squeezed the throttle and he bike jerked forward. I squeezed tighter, knowing I had to get away fast for the plan to work. I looked back and could see Daryl shouting and waving his hands to get their attention away from me and back to him. He grabbed a gun tucked in his jeans and shot it in the air. He had their attention now. I saw him disappear into the forest as the biggest herd I'd ever seen followed behind him.

I kept riding forward, but I was panicking. All I could think about was Daryl, hoping more than anything that he was okay. Drive for a minute, I remembered him saying. How long had I been riding so far? I decided to slow down so that I didn't go too far.

I was looking into the forest on my left, hoping to see Daryl come out even though I knew he wouldn't be here yet. He had to lead them away and then once he was far enough away from the walkers so that they couldn't see him anymore, he would turn right and then loop back to the road, and the walkers would continue to go straight. I made sure I wasn't going too fast so that I would miss Daryl. I slowed the bike down even more and scanned the woods to my left for him.

I was so consumed in my thoughts, I wasn't paying attention to the road ahead of me. I turned my head forward and screamed as I saw the walker standing directly in front of me. I put on the brakes hard, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop in time. As I hit the walker, I leaned to the left, causing the bike to fall off balance. The bike fell over and I landed hard on my left side as I skidded across the pavement. I came to a stop, my whole body feeling like it was on fire. I froze for a moment, keeping my eyes closed as the world swayed around me.