First and Last

15/27

It had to be a damn nightmare.

One might think that after the biggest herd of walkers broke loose before it was planned, nothing could get worse, but it seemed it could. Daryl was leading a big part of the herd, along with Sasha and Abraham, away from Alexandria, but he knew there were groups that weren't following him. He had to trust that Rick and the others would manage, would stop them from getting to Alexandria as they had planned.

He was riding slow, silently repeating to himself that everything was okay, the herd wouldn't reach Alexandria, Carol was there to look after Y/N and Jane in case some stray group might go to the walls, and yes, they had walls too, it'd be alright. Just some kilometers more and the herd would be far enough...they had reviewed the plan again and again...

But then, a honk had pierced through the air.

A honk coming from Alexandria.

Daryl didn't know what the hell was going on, but he knew that it wasn't good. It'd bring all the walkers around to the place, attracted to the noise. He could already see part of his herd turning their heads towards the sound, but Sasha slammed the honk of the truck, catching their attention again. The honk from Alexandria wasn't stopping, though, and that couldn't be good either. Why wasn't anyone stopping it? Something must be wrong...

All the worst scenarios were running through his head and he barely heard Rick through the walkie, saying he was on his way to Alexandria and to not stop leading the herd away, until the walkie went dead and Rick stopped answering to his calls. Something must be definitely very wrong.

Daryl's heart was beating hard, hard, the sound loud in his ears, almost muffling the growls and moans of the dead. He needed to go to Alexandria, see what was happening, help around, stop whatever was going on. He needed to see that everything was okay. Y/N...he should have made sure she and Jane knew how to handle themselves, but if they were attacked by walkers, that would be the end for them, no matter Carol and Aaron where there...and what if that honk was sounding for something worse, even worse than walkers? Daryl speeded up, looking for a detour to go back to Alexandria without needing to cross the sea of walkers, though he would if he needed to.

"Daryl!" Came the voice of Sasha through the walkie. "No! I know you want to go back, but we can't! They'll be okay, we have to keep going, we're not at the mark yet!" Daryl ignored her, he'd already spotted a path that would take him to Alexandria, and he rode to it. "Daryl! If you don't help us leading the herd, they're going to split! They'll go back to Alexandria and we won't be able to stop it! They'll bring down the place!"

Daryl stopped the bike. He didn't know what to do. Damn it. Sasha was right, he could already see some of the walkers beginning to stray from the herd, they couldn't let the whole thing, or even just a part of it, turn back and reach Alexandria. But something bad could already be happening there, everyone could be in danger already, and he wasn't there, he had to do something...but what...

"Daryl!"

Sasha slammed the honk again, trying to attract a group of walkers that were already turning back. He had to help her. He had to trust the others would fix whatever was going on in Alexandria, he had to trust Carol would keep Y/N and Jane safe from whatever it was...hell, maybe it was nothing at all, just a random honk going off at an inconvenient moment...

Turning around again, he speeded up until he was in front of the herd again, slowing down, leading them towards the mark.

*

It had worked, his part of the plan at least, they had led the herd to the point where Rick wanted it, and then gotten rid of them, speeding up back towards Alexandria. He was trying not to go so fast that he'd lose Sasha and Abraham on the truck, but it was being hard, he needed to reach Alexandria and see that everything was okay, that everyone was safe...