CHAPTER FORTY ONE » ACCIDENT
"Well, that was close."

♔

It had weeks since the Woodbury survivors had moved into the prison.

Although I'd had my doubts at first– what with so many new people meaning even more mouthes to feed and more people to watch out for– I'd definitely be proved wrong.

Many of them already had acquired a number of skills during their time at Woodbury, and those who hadn't were always attending mine and Olivia's classes. In no way were they a hindrance, they were in fact a great addition to our group.

An outside area had been created, consisting of tables and benches for everyone to sit and eat food together. It was a nice atmosphere, and I only hoped that it would last.

"Are you going to just stand there and watch me all day or what?" Olivia's voice startled me slightly, and I realised I'd been stood by the walls, staring emptily as she tried to work.

"Sorry, I just came to check up on you," I responded, ignoring the harsh edge to her tone as I knew she was under a lot of pressure. I took a few steps closer to her, looking over to see how she was getting on.

For the last few days, Olivia had been situated in a smaller room, working hard on a formula for bullets and grenades. The room was a mess though, what with pencils strewn about and crumpled sheets of paper littering the floor.

Unfortunately, we were running out of the supplies she'd been experimenting on, and we'd been unable to locate any more of the ones she'd need to even attempt to make the weapons. Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Jade and I had been on countless supply runs, but with no luck. Yet, Liv still persevered with the formula.

"Let's just say, if Daryl hadn't lost that stupid book, things would be a lot easier," she responded bitterly, gripping the pencil in her hand so hard that I heard it snap. "Oh, not again," she hissed, flinging it to the side in frustration.

"Liv," I started softly. "Maybe you should take a break–"

"Nope," she said, leaning forwards to grab another pencil. "No rest for the wicked."

A knock at the door caught my attention, but Olivia didn't even so much as glance up. Jade stepped into view, smiling weakly. "Hey. I just came to see how things were going?"

"Could be better," Liv said, leaning back in her seat with a heavy sigh. "I'm down to my last lot of gunpowder."

"We're going on another run today," Jade said gently before nodding over at me. "Daryl said he wanted to see you, by the way."

"All right," I replied as Jade gave me a weak smile before turning her attention back to Liv. "See you guys in a bit."

"See you later, Blaire," she replied brightly, Olivia following with a low mumble which sounded a little like a "goodbye", but I couldn't be sure.

I left the room promptly, heading out through the cell blocks to the courtyard, where I expected to find Daryl.

"Morning, Blaire," Karen, a kind brunette lady from Woodbury, greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, Karen," I replied with a small wave as we headed past each other. The kindness of that woman had the power to brighten my day, I swear.

It didn't take me long to find Daryl, as I soon spotted him skulking near one of the fences, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as per usual.

Amused by the look on his face, I made my way over to him, a light skip in my step. "Morning, sunshine!" I beamed, flashing him a teasing grin as I came to a stop in front of him.

Daryl scoffed, an unimpressed eye roll following. "You free for the supply run?"

"Only for you," I grinned, laughing lightly at my own joke, despite the fact Daryl still seemed unamused. "Wait, is this the supply run for the big spot? The one we've been prepping for?"

"Yeah, we're gonna make a move in a couple hours," he replied with a shrug. "Ain't no point sittin' around waitin' for it to come to us."

I titled my head to the side, thinking back to last week when we'd first located the shop. It had been surrounded by a bunch of walkers, which was all that remained after the army had appeared to set up a camp there. "All right," I said. "Let's hope that plan of Glenn's worked then."

~

"So they all just left?" Bob, the newest member of our group, questioned, his eyebrows drawn in confusion as he glanced around the empty parking lot.

Sasha shook her head with a small smile. Sasha had been coming on supply runs with Daryl, Glenn and I, and was with us when we carried out the plan to first draw the walkers out. I liked her. She was pretty intense, and didn't crack a smile that often, but she had nerves of steel and I trusted her to have my back on supply runs.

"Give it a listen," she said, tilting her head to the side. Everybody fell quiet, allowing us to all listen to the the faint sound of music.

"You drew them out?" Bob asked, looking impressed as he glanced towards Sasha.

"Put a boombox out there three days ago," Sasha answered, motioning to the building across the parking lot.

"Hooked it to two car batteries," Glenn added, a grin on his face that showed he was pretty damn proud of himself. I shared a look with Jade, the two of us stifling a laugh at the look on Glenn's face.

"All right," Daryl started, drawing in everyone's attention. "Let's make a sweep, make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people."

He nodded his head in my direction, and I took a few steps forwards, taking the lead. I slipped through the fence, pausing momentarily to listen out for a sign of anything. I was pretty certain the boombox had done the job, but it was always better to be cautious.

I glanced back, motioning to Sasha and Tyreese to take a right, as Daryl and I took the left, letting Glenn and the others bring up the rear. The group worked silently, leaving us in a slightly eerie silence. The unimaginably strong stench coming from the rotting corpses suggested that they'd been here for a long time. The place must have fallen early.

With things looking pretty safe, I signalled a few of the others to follow on, still keeping my eyes peeled whenever we neared one of the seemingly empty tents that were littered around.

Zach, a first timer on supply runs, followed closely behind me, seeming completely oblivious to the threat the task involved.

It was Daryl who agreed to let him come. I was more unsure about it, preferring to tackle the bigger and riskier supply runs with people I trusted. So Zach's presence irritated me slightly, even though I was constantly reminding myself he was here to learn.

Once we approached the front doors, I began to slow down, being left surprised when Zach passed me and continued on to the doors.

"Woah, slow down there kiddo," I cautioned, as Daryl and Michonne came to a stop beside a glass window.

"Just give it a second," Daryl told Zach, who had paused in his tracks. Daryl knocked against the glass with his elbow and then leaned back, casually crossing his ankles.

"Okay, I think I got it," Zach said after a few moments. I shared a look with Daryl, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Got what?" Michonne queried, turning her attention to him.

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn," Zach responded, flashing her a smile.

"He's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks," Daryl said with a shake of his head, but an amused smirk played on his lips.

"Yeah, I'm pacing myself," Zach defended. "One shot a day."

"All right, shoot," Daryl said nonchalantly, as I began to lean back against the wall, curious to hear Zach's next guess; they were usually pretty amusing to think about.

"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of... surly," he trailed off slightly as Daryl arched an eyebrow at his words. "Big swing here. Homicide cop."

I found myself bursting into laughter along with Michonne, as Daryl looked at us incredulously.

"What's so funny?"

The look on his face caused Michonne and I to share a glance, both laughing even harder.

"Nothing," I waved off, shooting a glance at Michonne, who was still chuckling.

"It makes perfect sense," she added on, as our eyes met again, making it almost impossible for me to try and control my laughter.

Daryl cleared his throat, as I watched him with an amused smirk. "Actually, the man's right. Undercover."

"Come on, really?" Zach asked in surprise, as I rolled my eyes at Daryl's blatant attempt at lying.

"Yep," he continued, wearing a completely neutral expression. "I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?"

"Dude, come on, really?" Daryl turned back to him with a deadly straight face, which Zach obviously took as a firm no. "Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

Daryl glanced at him with a snort. "Yeah, you keep doing that."

Unexpectedly, a walker slammed into the window, startling the four of us, especially Zach, whose eyes widened significantly.

"We're gonna do this, Detective?" Michonne teased, a slight grin toying on her lips.

"Let's do it."

~

"All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep," Sasha started, her eyes scanning over the group of us. "After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for. Any questions?"

She looked at us each in turn, her eyes finally landing on Tyreese. "Was there ever a time that you weren't the boss of me?" He questioned, the joke causing me to chuckle.

"You had a few years before I was born," she said with a teasing grin, before nodding over to the rest of us.

Daryl and Michonne took the lead this time, whilst I followed on beside Glenn. We walked slowly, my shoulder occasionally brushing against Glenn's as we cleared each aisle.

It took us a while to sweep through each one, and I came to realise just how big the store really was. I wasn't used to working in such a huge space, and our group suddenly felt very small in comparison.

"Got a flashlight?" Glenn asked, beginning to hold his hand out as I rifled through my backpack, pulling one out for him and one for me.

I glanced down the aisle, just about making out through the darkness that it spilt off into two different directions. Simultaneously, Glenn and I turned to face each other, knowing we'd have to split apart to start working on collecting the items on our lists.

"Meet you back at the front?" He said, the statement coming out more like a question.

"Meet you back at the front," I affirmed, leaving him with a small smile as I began to head down my aisle, locating a small shopping cart.

It was a slight blast from the past. It could have been any boring normal day, usually a Friday evening, when I went to get my groceries, list in hand as I exasperatedly pulled a heavy shopping cart along with me. And for a brief, fleeting moment, I felt pretty normal.

Of course, that wasn't going to last.

A loud crash echoed through the building, capturing my attention. I abandoned the cart, rushing back down the aisle in the direction of the sudden noise. I came to a brief pause, glancing around to try and get my bearings until another crash sounded, the ringing noise of bottles smashing to the ground following suit.

My heart was in my mouth as I followed the sounds, hoping to god, praying to god, that nobody was hurt. That Glenn wasn't hurt.

"What happened?!"

I started to slow down. That was his voice, that was Glenn's voice echoing throughout the store.

"Everyone's alright!" I heard Zach exclaim in response, and I began to follow the direction of his voice. "We're over in wine and beer!"

I had no idea where that was.

I rushed down the aisle to my left, feeling completely on edge due to the the amount of noise we'd just made. That smashing sure as hell must have attracted some walker attention.

"Holy shit!" A voice almost shouted as the two of us collided into each other. I stumbled backwards, relieved to see Glenn, who had stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "Which way?"

"Ah, I was hoping you'd know," I admitted, wincing slightly as we both turned our heads, trying to figure out where the wine and beer section was.

A creaking sounded overhead, and I frowned slightly, lifting my head to look up at the ceiling. All of a sudden, the tiles caved in, something crashing through after them.

Glenn jumped back in surprise, his hand curling around my arm. "What the–"

"Come on," I interjected, taking his hand as we rushed towards the huge gaping hole in the ceiling. I squinted slightly as we came closer, trying to adjust to the sudden light flooding through.

"Hey," Sasha said, her eyebrows drawn in confusion. "What's going on?"

"No clue," I admitted, nodding for her to follow. The three of us headed down the corridor, coming to a slow stop at the sight of a walker dangling through the ceiling. I grimaced at the sight, automatically reaching for my knife.

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now," Glenn stated, his eyes widening as he stared up at the walker.

"Everyone okay?" I questioned.

Daryl turned to face us, nodding his head over to a collapsed shelf. Broken bottles and glass littered the floor around them. I didn't ask questions. "Bob's still stuck," he stated, looking towards Tyreese. "Let's get him out of there."

All of a sudden another walker fell through the ceiling, with an unflattering splint, landing straight by my feet. I took a few steps back, looking up through the gap again in shock.

"Holy fu–"

I was cut off by a loud crunch as another walker crashed to the floor. Then another. And then another.

Glenn tugged on my wrist, as I began to stumble backwards, my eyes glued to the huge hole in the ceiling as dozens of walkers began to fall through it. Those few that didn't splat on impact had begun to shuffle towards us, causing screams to erupt from Bob, who was still crushed by the shelf.

I gripped the handle of my knife tighter, stepping forwards to put down the first walker that had stumbled towards us.

But one walker turned into a few, and a few soon turned into a lot.

I found myself struggling to deal with the ones crowding around me, having to keep shoving them backwards every so often to clear some space.

A gunshot ripped through the air, catching my attention. I fought back the temptation to glance behind me, instead focusing on killing the last one in front of me.

Yanking my knife from it's skull, I whipped around, my heart plummeting to see Glenn on the floor, struggling against two walkers. Without much of a seconds thought, I dived forwards, knocking one of them to the side and putting it down immediately.

I heard Glenn let out a sharp breath, rolling over to take care of the final one, before shakily pulling himself up and brushing himself down. "Well, that was close."

I let out a breath, raising my eyebrows. "Tell me about it."

In my moment of distraction, I found myself falling sideways, my heart leaping as I tried to hold off a walker. My back crashed into the shelves, accidentally knocking a few bottles down with me, the impact causing the knife to slip from my hands. My arm began to throb, but I pushed the thought aside, focusing on dealing with the walker sickeningly smashing it's teeth right in front of me.

Glenn shouted my name, but as I cast a quick glance over at him, I spotted him struggling with a couple of walkers himself.

I wrestled the one in front of me away as much as I could, holding it back with one hand as I frantically tried to find a weapon with my other. My fingers grasped a bottle, and I let out a struggled groan as I started to lift it, smashing the end of it against the shelf.

The walker was scarily close to my face now, and I pulled back slightly, wincing as I raised my arm to plummet the broken bottle straight into it's skull.

The walker's body fell to the ground limply, and I leaned back against the shelves, taking a moment to catch my breath.

Glenn had put down the other walkers, and had began to move back, alongside Sasha and Jade, who must have found us in the midst of the chaos, all three of them drawing as many walkers as they could further down the aisle.

Bob's screams still filled the air, which was drawing a lot of them in that direction. Daryl and Zach were doing their best to fight them off, but they were soon becoming swarmed.

I quickly picked up my knife and made my way over, trying to fight my way through the herd. I acted quickly, considering the close proximity of the bodies, but it was becoming impossible to even get near to Daryl and the others.

Gunshots rang out through the air, reminding me of the pistol in my back pocket. I grabbed it quickly, firing quickly to make a path through the bodies. Finally, I started to find a way through, fighting off the bony fingers trying to grasp at my jacket.

Daryl was pushed up against a stack of beer cases, a walker reaching for him. I lunged forwards, driving my knife into it's skull and throwing it to the side.

"The hell you doin'?" Daryl snapped at me, moving back down from the pile he was stood on. "What you tryna be a damn hero for?"

"I just saved your damn ungrateful ass," I bit back, jamming my knife under a walker's chin and pushing it away from me before turning back to him. "Like I always do, asshole."

"Let's get Bob!" I heard a voice shout, I presumed it was Zach, his instruction soon being followed by another round of gunshots.

"Go, I'll hold them off," I told Daryl, whipping back around to face the herd coming our way.

I raised the gun in my arm, for the first time noticing the bright red blood coating it, running down my skin, and dripping from my fingertips. A sick feeling resided in my stomach, my mind jumping to the conclusion that it was a scratch. But then I realised a scratch couldn't have bled that much, and remembered accidentally smashing my arm against the bottles on the shelves.

"Come on, time to go!" Sasha shouted over the top of the noise, as I geared into action and began shooting at the walkers closing in on us.

"Let's go, now!" Glenn shouted, his strained voice laced with panic. "Come on! Go!"

I cast a quick glance behind me, watching as Zach let the shelf fall back down. Daryl began to help Bob through, as they found their way to Sasha, Glenn and the others.

I met Zach's eyes, stumbling backwards so I could follow the others. "Let's get out of here!" He called out, as I continued to shoot down a couple more walkers, making a clearer path through.

"Blaire, get a damn move on!" Daryl shouted over, making his way back to the two of us.

I turned my back on Zach, expecting him to follow us as we started to push through.

"Ah!"

I whipped back around as a walker from underneath the shelf took a bite into Zach's leg. He screamed out in pain, his legs going from underneath him as he was forced to the ground.

I took a step forwards, halting when the walker's teeth sunk into his neck. Blood squirted out, as his strangled screams began to fade.

Daryl was beside me again, and looked like he was going to take a step towards Zach but thought better of it, instead starting to pull me back. "Nothin' we can do."

I let out a heavy breath, my eyes focused on Zach as I raised my gun, sending a shot to his head to put him out of his misery.

Daryl tugged my arm again, rougher this time as he pulled me away from Zach. My eyes watered slightly as we stumbled away, just becoming clear of the ceiling as it completely gave way.

My heart raced with pounding fear, as we started to rush down the corridor, slowing as we reached Glenn. My head rushed, and I found myself stumbling slightly from dizziness as the three of us desperately ran to get out.

Sasha waited by the door, her gun raised, whilst Tyreese held it open, allowing us all to slip through before he quickly slammed it shut. Merely seconds after the door was shut, a walker hurtled into the glass, followed by another, and then another, until cracks began to form.

I'd barely had chance to catch my breath before we were running again, Glenn's hand on my lower back to push me forwards, as I must have been showing signs I was struggling.

We ran between the army tents, my aching legs feeling as if they were about give way in any second. Bob pulled up with the truck, having the engine already started, whilst Jade waited with the car.

With an affirmative nod, the five of us separated to our own vehicles, Glenn and I heading for the car. He reached the doors first, flinging it open and quickly helping me inside before sliding in beside me and pulling the door shut again.

I leaned my head back, my chest rising and falling as I let out my shallowed breaths. Glenn and I sat in silence, the only sounds coming from our heavy breathing, as Jade started up the car, following on from the truck.

I felt warm, really warm, and began to pull my jacket off in a panic, feeling as if I was going to suffocate if I left it on any longer.

The material came into contact with the open wound in my arm, and I involuntarily let out a strangled yell of pain, causing Glenn to look over. "You're hurt?"

"I'm fine," I assured, gritting my teeth together as I continued to shrug off my jacket.

"You're bleeding," he pointed out, his voice wavering as he leaned forwards to get a better look. "Really badly. Blaire–"

"It's fine, I cut myself on glass," I said, straining slightly as I eventually removed my jacket.

Glenn reached out, placing a hand to my forehead. "You're burning up."

"Makes sense," I said, closing my eyes as I lent back against the head rest, still breathless. "Feel like I'm gonna pass out."

"It could have got infected," Jade stated, looking up at us through the mirror. "You should get it checked out by Hershel."

I nodded slowly, squeezing my eyes closed again. "Just take me home."

❃

Words: 3950
Published: 17th August 2017

Sorry for not updating in ages. I literally have no excuse other than I just couldn't get into writing this for some reason.

A nice action packed chapter to return on though as we enter the hell that is season 4 😊