This story is a spinoff of The Walking Dead. Some things are taken from the TV series such as characters and a couple of plot twists but the narrating character is an invention of my own. All characters are above eighteen.
"C'mon, we gotta go" Daryl said. I looked at Beth and we followed obediently. At 22 I was closer to Maggie's age than Beth's but her and I had a lot in common. At the prison, we shared the responsibilities of cleaning and organizing and caring for the children. I did, however, share quite a few interests with Daryl and he had been expanding the knowledge my dad had started me on at a young age. I had always been a hunter and a fisher. Before the governor came, he had been teaching me to track and to be a better shot with the bow.
We wandered for days, being chased by various small herds of walkers. We were pretty quiet. Beth had lost her father, Daryl had lost a friend, and I had lost a role model. In the days we wandered, Beth and I got through to Daryl, who had withdrawn and quite frankly got a little scary. We comforted him when he broke down and our bonds grew stronger. Then Beth was taken at the funeral home. Daryl told us both to head for the road but I took my bow and I went to help him. Beth had only a knife so she headed for the road. Arrows flew from my bow and I was grateful for Daryl's lessons as walker after walker fell beneath my arrows. I was just heading down the stairs when Daryl rushed around the corner. I damn near shot him.
"What the hell are you doin? Where's Beth?" He asked as I lowered my weapon
"She went for the road. I couldn't leave you behind. We wouldn't last a day without you." I told him
Just then we heard the shuffling footsteps of more walkers. "Let's go" He said pushing me ahead of him.
We climbed out the window and headed for Beth only to see her stuff on the road. A car raced away from us. Darryl and I looked at each other and took off after the car. Our pursuit didn't end until the next day.
I couldn't breathe. My bow was like lead in my hand, sweat dripped down my back and between my boobs as the hot Georgia sun beat down on us. Daryl collapsed on the ground and I followed. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to regain my breath.
"I'm sorry" I gasped, "I should have gone with her. I should have been there to protect her. I should have listened to you." I buried my face into my knees and wept in shame. Hadn't we lost enough already? Daryl pulled me into his arms and I cried into his chest. Though he made no sound, I felt his tears fall onto my hair.
This is how they found us. Alone on the road, holding each other. All but one were men and I had a bad feeling about them. Daryl was in the same mindset because he pulled me up and shielded me from the man who was obviously the leader.
"Your girl?" The leader asked
"Yeah" Daryl said, staring him down.
"She's a pretty thing." The man said trying to see around him.
"She's dangerous too." He tried to intimidate
"I see the bow she has. I'm sure you've taught her how to use it. We could use folks like you."
"Sorry man, we're looking for our friend. We're not interested."
Guns raised to point at us. "You ain't got a choice." The man said
Daryl nodded, "Well alright then."
They brought us to an abandoned cul-de-sac with some well-maintained houses. It was obvious that they'd been here a while. There were fences and other lines of defense against both walkers and people. They walked us in and locked us in a room.
"I'm scared." I whispered to Daryl. "There are not a lot of women here and I'm the newest of them."
"I know" Daryl said tersely. "I won't let them hurt you"
"You may not have a choice." I said, "We need to get out of here alive. We need to find Beth and the others. You need to find us a way out of here and to do that, we have to win their trust. I would rather not have to sleep with any of these men but if it means our lives, I will."
"It won't come to that." Daryl said, "I'll do whatever I gotta do to make sure these guys know you're mine."