It's been like an hour or two and everybody is just sitting in the living room in silence, nobody has come back yet.
"I'm going after them." Andrea says, standing up. "Don't. They could be anywhere." Lori says quickly. "Or do. You may never come back." I whisper. Damien snorts and has to hide his smile.
"And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here." Lori finishes.
The door opens and Daryl and Glenn walk in. I sit up quickly but then slump back down.
Why do I care? Fuck dad, if he dies, he dies.
Everybody stands and turns to them. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asks. "No." Lori says. "We heard a shot." Daryl looks around. "Maybe they found Randall." "Hopefully." Alyssa says.
"We found him." Daryl notes. "Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asks.
"It's a shed? Thats a big shed." Alyssa looks at me. I just smirk and turn back to the conversation.
"He's a Walker." "Did you find the Walker that bit him?" Hershel asks.
"No," Glenn finally speaks up. "The weird thing is he wasn't bit."
How was he a Walker then?
"His neck was broke." Daryl adds. "So he fought back." Patricia says.
Daryl looks directly at me ask he speaks, "The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker," He looks around at everybody. "So he didn't come up behind 'im. They were together."
I lean forward and rest my head on my hands, my elbows resting on my knees. Anxiety causes my heart to pound faster and my hands feel numb but, I don't care. I'm worried about Rick, not Shane.
"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is going on?" Lori pleads, approaching Daryl.
"You got it." Daryl says, beginning to walk out. "I'm going with." I say, standing up.
Andrea, Glenn, and I follow closely behind Daryl as he walks out of the house to go find Rick and my Dad.
When we get out on the porch, the sound of Walker growls fill the air. Thousands of Walkers are stumbling through the yard, coming from the direction of the shed where Randall was. They look like a colony of ants, that's how many there are.
"Oh fuck." I mumble, genuine worry in my voice.
Nobody says anything, we all just stare. Everybody else comes out shortly after noticing that we hadn't left the porch yet.
"Patricia," Hershel whispers, watching the Walkers in horror. "Kill the lights." "I'll get the guns." Andrea says, turning and running quietly in the house.
"Maybe they're just passing like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asks. "Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Daryl smart-asses. "A herd that size'll rip the house down."
Lori comes out of the house quickly, "Carl's gone." She says, panicked. "What?" Daryl asks.
"He-he was upstairs. I can't find him anywhere." She pants. "Maybe he's hiding." Glenn offers. "He's supposed to be upstairs, I'm not leaving without my boy!"
"We're not. We're gonna look again and we're gonna find him!" Carol reassures, running into the house with Lori. "That's weird." I whisper. "What?" Glenn asks.
"If Carl goes, Alyssa goes." I look at everybody. "He must've forced her to stay back."
My heart is pounding, I can feel the blood and adrenaline rushing through my veins. My fingers feel numb and I can't tell it's the Walkers or,
Dad.
"We have to find my dad." I plead. "We will." Daryl says, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"No! 'Will' means in the future! We have to find him now!" "Adrian!" Glenn turns me to face him and puts both of his hands on my shoulders, "He'll turn up. He always does." I nod shakily, my breath heavy and ragged.
Andrea comes running out with the bag of guns and sets it on the floor of the porch. When she opens it, I grab my dagger and a machine gun. My pistol has been holstered in my pants for the past few days already.
"I got the number- this is no use." Daryl says.
"You can go if you want." Hershel says, cocking his shotgun. "You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asks.
"We have guns. We have cars." Hershel says. "Kill as many as we can." Andrea looks up at Hershel. "And we'll use the cars to lead the rest of 'em off the farm."
"Are you serious?" Daryl asks. "This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel puts the shotgun on his shoulder and looks out at the Walkers, breathing deeply.
"All right. It's as good a night as any." Daryl jumps over the railing of the porch.
I grab an extra pistol and shotgun and run inside to Alyssa who is pacing the room, Damien is trying to calm her down. I hand Alyssa the pistol and Damien the shotgun. "You stay with Damien or me." I tell Alyssa. "Do not leave our sight, alright? We'll find dad. We ain't leavin' here without 'im." I assure her.
She nods vigorously and grabs the pistol. "I don't-" "You'll figure out in a second. Pull the trigger, shoot. Boom, one Walker dead." I say without looking at her, quickly reloading my machine gun.
"We still don't know where your dad is?" Damien asks. "No, but we'll see him soon." Alyssa answers. "Yeah," I look at her. "Yeah, we will." I give Alyssa a half smile and stand up, squeezing her shoulder lightly.
"All right, let's go. We need a car." I say, grabbing her hand and my "run backpack" and leading her quickly out of the house.
I send Damien and Alyssa with Glenn and Maggie; I go with Jimmy in the R.V.
"You ready?" He asks me, starting the R.V. "No-" I cock my machine gun and look at him. "Let's do it." He smirks and nods, accelerating the R.V as quickly as it will go.
I begin to fire my machine gun out the window, the sound of it causing my ears to ring.
Be careful of dad, don't shoot him.
Jimmy pants as he drives the R.V, his hands shaking slightly.
He parks the R.V in front of the burning shed.
"What the-" He mumbles, shooting his gun out the driver's side window.
Smoke burns my eyes slightly and the smell of burning flesh fills the air, though for some reason it doesn't faze me. I don't know where anyone else is, but I'm trusting Glenn, Maggie, and Damien to keep Alyssa safe. They're gonna wish they kept her safe if I find her dead. I reach into my backpack and grab another cartridge of ammo and put it in the machine gun.
Daryl drives his motorcycle up to Jimmy's window. "Must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire!" He yells, "Maybe they're trying to get out back! Why don't you circle 'round? Go!" "Got it!" Jimmy yells starting the R.V up again and driving full speed towards the shed.
"You okay?" He asks, noticing my heavy breathing. "Don't worry 'bout me. Worry 'bout everyone else." I fire my pistol out of the window, trying to save machine gun bullets until I really need them.
"Hey!" Rick screams from the top of the shed. "Here! Get in here! Put it right there! Come on!" Carl is next to him, but dad isn't.
We'll find him.
Jimmy pulls the R.V up under Rick and Carl, my bullets piercing through the skulls of multiple Walkers. Blood splatters on my face and neck.
Rick and Carl leap onto the top of the R.V, Jimmy stands up as he hears the sound of their footsteps.
When he stands up, the door of the R.V opens and Walkers reach inside, grabbing him and taking chunks out of his leg. His screams of agony fill the air as he pleads for my help. I grab my backpack and stand up quickly.
"Fuck!" I whisper-yell, running past him and shooting my pistol at the Walkers that are eating him. Bullets kill multiple of them but eventually my gun clicks, and more just keep showing up.
They just keep coming, there's no way I can save him.
I need to make a decision fast, save an already dead man, or save myself?
"I'm sorry." I whisper, running into the bedroom. "No! No! Adrian please!" Tears form in my eyes as I realize that I've just left a man for dead, but I can't go back and save him, he was dead as soon as that door opened.
His screams of pure horror and agony are the only things I can hear other than the sound of tearing flesh. I whimper and close the bedroom door, protecting myself.
I begin to cry slightly after I hear him go silent though the sound of flesh being torn and eaten doesn't stop.
I look around for an escape route, any escape route. I can't hear Rick and Carl's footsteps, so I assume they made it off the top of the R.V. My eyes fall onto the big window across from me. I run up to it and try to open it though it's impossible to open. "Damn it." I whisper, shakily. I inhale a quick, shaky breath and back up. It's either the window or death.
I bite my lip hard and whimper as I shove my gun through the big glass window of the bedroom, glass slices through my hand.
I begin to climb out of the window but a piece of glass slashes down my thigh, my hands getting slightly cut but nothing more than a band-aid can fix. I bite my lip harder to muffle my scream of pain.
I whimper as my thigh gets stuck on a piece of glass. My thigh feels like it's on fire, I can feel the glass cutting through multiple layers of skin. It's probably as deep as T-Dog's forearm was.
I sob quietly as I try to get my thigh un-stuck. "Come on, come on." I plead through gritted teeth. My breath becomes quicker and my hands begin to shake heavily.
"Adrian!" Daryl screams driving his motorcycle up to me. "I'm stuck- AH!" I scream in agony as the glass slices more of my thigh. Ruby red liquid pours out of my thigh and onto my hands and the floor below me.
"Shit! Hold on!" He yells parking his motorcycle and running up to me.
"This is gonna hurt!" He warns. "It already does!" I yell. He nods and grabs my arm, yanking me out of the window. I scream out in pain as the wound extends from the top of my thigh to my knee.
Daryl helps me quickly stand up and helps me onto his motorcycle, his arm under mine, supporting me as I walk. I take my shirt off and wrap it around the wound, whimpering as I tighten it.
"Go!" I yell, wrapping one of my arms around his waist and using the other to hold my thigh.
"Hold on!" He yells, speeding up.
I begin to feel lightheaded as I speak, "Where's Alyssa?" "Probably at the highway, we'll see her."
"Wait!" I say, lifting my head up quickly. "We have to find my dad!" "He'll be at the highway!" Daryl yells, shooting a walker.
"We need to find my dad, please!" I scream. "Adrian focus! You can barely walk right now!" "But what if he's-" "He's not! Now focus!"
I scream out in pain as my hand pushes on a piece of glass stuck in my thigh. An electric shock rises through my leg, the bleeding has slowed slightly, my shirt and hand is the only thing keeping me from bleeding out.
The sun has begun to rise as Daryl and I finally make it where we had set food for Sophia.
All of the cars had just arrived as Daryl and I pull up.
"Adrian!" Alyssa screams. "Alyssa!" I sob, mustering up all of the strength I have and getting off the motorcycle. She runs up to me and hugs me, I use the car next to me to hold me up.
Everyone begins to reunite, I can hear Lori call out as Carl and Rick run to her.
"Oh my god," She sobs, looking at my thigh. "I'll be fine." Damien runs from behind her, "Hey!" He whisper-yells, wrapping me in a hug.
"Thank you." I whisper into his shoulder. "She saved my ass, don't even." He smiles.
I scoff and wrap Alyssa in Damien and I's hug. My eyes widen in realization, I didn't see my dad.
I break the hug quickly and look around.
"Dad?" I whisper, nobody hears me.
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asks. "We're the only ones who made it so far." Lori stands up quickly, "Shane?"
Rick looks at Alyssa and I and whispers, "I'm sorry."
My heart shatters.
"No." I whisper. "No. No, no, no, no, NO!" I scream, a guttural sob escapes my lips as I collapse to the ground.
"DAD!" Alyssa screams, covering her mouth and sobbing.
I lean down and push my face into the ground, "NO!" My mind goes through every single thing my dad and I did together. When we would play Wii Sports and one of the times, we were bowling, and I smacked him in the face with the controller. When we argued about Nick because I was defending him, and my dad wrapped me in a hug as I began to sob and opened up to him about everything.
I scream out as the regrets of me and him fighting for the past few weeks flood my brain instead of the happy memories.
"No!" I yell, standing up quickly. I can't even feel the gash in my thigh as I approach Daryl and shove him backwards.
"I told you to go back for him!" I scream. "Adrian!" Alyssa sobs, wrapped in Damien's arms. "I told you to fucking go back for him! AND YOU DIDN'T!" I shove him hard, he doesn't even flinch. "DAD COULD BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW BUT NOW HE'S NOT BECAUSE YOU HAD TO BE SELFISH!" Another shove. Everybody is staring at us right now but I don't even care, fuck them. Fuck all of them. They never cared about my dad, or me. If they cared, they would have saved him. Fuck them.
"Adrian." He says, calmly. "FUCK YOU!" I scream, shoving him again. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!" I begin to punch his chest as his arms wrap around me into a hug.
The lightheadedness of the blood loss comes back, and I collapse in his arms, sobbing.
I scream out and bury my face in his chest. "NO!" My words mold into a sob. Tears burn my eyes and at this point, all I can see are blurs.
My breath shakes as well as my hands, Daryl's hug tightens around me. "I'm sorry." He whispers.
I continue to sob, my head starts to feel light and eventually the world goes black.
(Third person view:) "Why'd she go quiet?" Lori asks, her voice shaky. "She's out. She 'prolly exhausted herself by crying and the blood loss." Daryl answers, looking at Adrian's sleeping face laying on his chest.
"Adrian?" Alyssa squeaks. "She's okay." Damien reassures her. "She's okay. She's just tired. So are you, why don't you go lay down in our car?" Alyssa shakes her head, "I don't want to leave Adrian, what if she-" "She won't." Rick says, softly. His eyes are watery, as are everyone else's at the sight of Alyssa and Adrian's pain.
Nobody has seen Adrian really cry other than Alyssa. But Ricks eyes are different, they're remorseful.
"We'll make sure she's okay. Go lay down." Lori says softly, putting her hand on Alyssa's shoulder. Alyssa nods softly and Damien slowly leads her to the car. He climbs in with her, and she lays her head on his legs.
"What are we gonna do about Adrian?" Glenn asks. "What if she-" "Check her backpack." Rick nods towards the backpack around Adrian's shoulders.
Daryl slowly takes it off of her and hands it to Glenn, he dumps it out and finds a stretch gauze wrap and few bottle of pills; plus everything else in there. "Jesus, Adrian." He whispers.
"Keep 'em." Rick says. "Why? She could-" Lori starts, motioning to Adrian's sleeping body curled up against Daryl.
"She won't. We won't let her. Those pills could be used to fight an infection or something, especially with her thigh. Bring her to the car and lay her down so we can-"
"No." Daryl shakes his head. "I'm not moving until she wakes up. You guys can wrap her leg here." Rick pauses and then sighs, nodding. "Okay."