The two of us ran through the school's hallway as the walkers chased after us. They'd gotten through the shutter. I feel my heart pounding in my ears. We turn as we come across a chained shut door in front of this, and go down another hallway. How do we both get out of this alive? How do we get out of here in time for Carl to live?
Down that hallway is another door, one that isn't chained shut. We run through it; it's a gymnasium.
Quickly, I turn around and shut the doors, locking it behind us.
"Come on!" I yell to Otis.
I run over to the folded up wooden bleachers. I hopped up, and used my arm strength to pull myself up. I help Otis up with some struggle, but get him up.
Right as he's up, the walkers burst the door open. The rush over to where we are now standing, and they bang on the wood and growl at us.
"Those windows," I pant, pointing to some windows that were on the other side of the gym with my flashlight. "What's on the other side?"
"About a 20-foot drop with nothing to catch you. Maybe some bushes. Then the athletic field," Otis tells me.
"We just need enough time. We can get up there, get 'em open and get out."
"Not me. Maybe you."
"Hey, hey, hey," I start. Why is he saying this?
"Come on, look at me. You think I can squeeze through one of them tiny windows? They'd be all over us. Look, we lay down some fire to get a head start. You stay here. I hop down, draw them away. That gives you the chance to get up the bleachers and get out the window."
"And where do you go?" I counter.
"Locker room. Down those steps."
"Looks like a good way to get trapped," I say.
"It's got windows too, and more my size," Otis assures me. "I get out through one, I double back, we meet up out on the field."
"You're a crazy son of a bitch, ain't you?" I ask. I adjust the strap of the backpack on me.
"Just tryin' to do right for that boy."
"You take three shots and you go. After that I fire. I'll lay down a cover for you. I'll get you a lead," I say. No way the both of us aren't going to make it out tonight.
"All right," he agrees.
He takes the three shots at three walkers, killing them. He walks over, and jumps down, landing on his stomach. A walker grabs at his ankle, and I shoot it with the shotgun. Otis gets up, and heads toward the locker rooms, the walkers following. I shoot some of them as they follow, and hop down. I walk up the stairs to the window, and break out the glass with the butt of the shotgun.
Noticing three walkers following me, I grab my katana and stab them through the head, conserving the bullets, and put the katana back in its case.
I poke my head out the window. Okay, big drop... I throw the backpack down, and take the katana and shotgun and chuck them down too, attempting to get the best landing to refrain from any injury. Any injury and I'm screwed. I climb out the window, and take a quick breath prepping myself. I get as far down as I can, and another walker pokes its head out the window. I let out a startled breath, and quickly grab my pistol, shooting it.
I let out a loud startled gasp as I almost lose my grip. Okay. I look back down at the fall, and let go of the windowsill.
I feel myself falling through the air for a few seconds.
With a silent grunt, I land on my feet fairly roughly, but nothing is injured. Thank you for the tips, Merle.
Three gunshots ring out from somewhere before it's silent again. I feel my heart skip. What if Otis didn't make it? He also has Carl's stuff... I quickly grab everything and put it back on.
I make my way around the high school and see walkers. I duck down, as stealthily press myself against the concrete wall, inching around below them, diverging to the left. I run through the gate, and a walker comes at me. I grasp my katana again, stab at it, hitting it's forehead and put it back. The other walkers near didn't notice anything, and I turn around quietly and walk back. Coming across another wire fence I close the gate. A few walkers are here, just two. I stab those two with the katana, and looking forward, I see Otis come into view.
"Shh!" I say as I run over to him. The walkers were gone, for now.
"Man I thought I'd lost you!" I whisper as we sprint.
"I'm out of rifle rounds," he states.
"I've got a few shotgun. Almost a full pistol," I state as we inch along. "Trade."
I hand him my pistol so he has some bullets and he gives me Rick's pistol. I shove it in my waistband. He now has what's left in my pistol and I have my shot-gun and katana if needed.
Eventually, we end up at another fence.
"Alright. We need a way out." We lean against the fence, trying to catch our breaths. The walkers bang against the fence, startling us both, and we go back the way we came. "Save bullets. Don't shoot unless needed."
He nods.
___________________________________
Otis trips as we make our way back. I stop and kneel down.
"Go back to the street, double back to the truck."
"No. You're coming to," I shake my head.
"You gotta try."
"Come on, get up," I offer my hand, ignoring him. He takes my hand, and I faintly hear the walkers growling.
"How many rounds you got left?" I ask.
"Five. You?"
"Five. And one in the chamber," I respond.
I quickly pat myself down. There has to be more on me. Somewhere. Come on, come on...
I breathe in relief as I feel some in my large hidden inside coat pocket. There's actually quite a few in here. I sigh in relief, thankful to have found these.
I use both hands to pull out what's in the inside pocket.
"And whatever's here. We're both gettin' out of here. Not dyin' today," I offer with a smirk. He smirks back, taking the bullets for the pistol, and I the bullets for the shotgun.
We start sprinting again, though it's not very fast as we use what little energy we have, as the walkers come into view again. We turn back while sprinting, shooting some as we go along. We put in more bullets as we go along.
After a little, I can faintly see the blue paint of the truck in the night.
"There it is!" I shout, giving a small chuckle. We start running faster, running on pure adrenaline of seeing the truck, and the walkers start falling behind.
Quickly, I throw my stuff in the back, Otis doing the same. We both throw open our doors, hopping inside, this time me in the drivers, and Otis gives me the keys. I start up the car.
We tear out the high school area, laughing through our panting. Carl could be okay, and we both made it. My face falls a little... What if it was already too late? We'd been gone way longer than expected.
"Ah," I pant. "We did it. Okay, hurry up. We need to get to Carl," I state.
"Yeah," he agrees.
Quickly, I speed through the roads and soon the paved roads turn to dirt roads. I stop at the gate, with the Greene mailbox which Otis gets out to open. I drive through it, and Otis gets back in. I fly even faster down the dirt road.
Eventually the house comes into view. I slam on the breaks as the headlights shine through the windows and then into the field beside the house, alerting others of our return.
People come rushing through the front door as I rush to the bed of the truck. I notice T-Dog, Glenn, and Lori are here as well. Peeking in the back, I grab both bags, even though together they are quite heavy.
"Carl? Is he...You have to tell me he's going to be okay." I question anyone desperately.
"There's still a chance," Rick says. I let out a long breath, and Otis takes the bags from my hands, and leads Hershel inside.
"Thank you. Thank you," Rick whimpers, pulling me in a hug. Awkwardly, I hug him back.
"They kept blocking us. Every turn... We were down for less than twenty rounds. But we did it. We covered each other. And we made it." I smiled at Rick, then at Lori and Maggie who were still out here.
Rick and Lori head back inside, and I walk alongside Maggie.
She gives me a smile, and puts an arm around my waist. I put mine on her shoulders, feeling slight pain creep up in my muscles from today's work.
"Darcy-Ann is that you?" she asks as we walk up the steps.
"Yeah. How've you been, Mags?"
She shrugs, and leads me to the kitchen, where Glenn sat.
Maggie pours me a glass of orange juice, which I accept gratefully. I stand up from the chair and make my way out to the porch where Rick, T-Dog, Otis, and Lori all sat.
I sit down against the railing.
"So... what happened out there?" Glenn asks, breaking the silence.
"Glenn, I don't know if..." Lori begins.
"No, no. It's fine. Um... So we got to the high school around, at, dusk. And we hid behind some police cars. We, uh, found some flares in the cars so we used them, and we drew the walkers away for a moment. So we, uh, we made our way in the medical trailer, and we found what we needed. We got what we needed, and when we opened the trailer the walkers were no longer distracted. They started coming at us. All of 'em at once. So we made our way into the high school, the gym. We climbed up on some bleachers, made a plan. I'd, uh, get through the windows, Otis would draw them away, and we'd meet up. So that's what we did. We were shootin'. At one point, we thought we were gonna run out of bullets but I found some more in my jacket... We used those. Once we were down to less than 20, we saw the truck. Made a break for it... It was a narrow miss more than once," I say, leaving out some details in the story. An accent came out stronger in my tiredness.
For a while after that, people just sit in silence.
Hershel comes out the front door.
"He seems to have stabilized."
I sigh in relief and Rick lets out an audible exhale. Lori smiles, covering her mouth.
Rick hugs Hershel.
"I don't have words," Lori says.
"I don't either. Wish I did," Hershel responds.
"Thank you, Hershel. Really," I say. We all walk to Carl's room.
He looked pale but better than before, and he had some color in his face.
Everyone stays silent for a moment.
"I-I'm gonna go take a shower," I say to the room.
"I'll get you some clothes," Maggie says. I nod and we walk out of the room.
She leads me to her room, and offers some of her clothes. I smile at her and head to the bathroom.
I step into the bathroom and peel my clothes off slowly.
The silence is unnerving, and I can feel my eyes are heavy.
I wonder what my brother was doing in this moment, what was he thinking?
I step into the hot shower.
Quickly I put soap in my hair, not caring to take in the shower. I just want to get back to Carl. I wash it out and put in the conditioner, then wash that out too.
Once the hasty shower is over, I step out and clear the fog on the mirror.
I look at myself in the mirror. Really look at myself.
Despite everything, it is going to be okay. Because Daryl is okay. And because Carl is okay. And because of that, everything is going to be fine.