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Turn of Events

The Second Herd

Two days after the unknown explosion they came to a traffic snarl and attempted to navigate through it. Thankfully they'd chosen to leave behind one of their vehicles the day before as they didn't want to use more fuel than necessary. As a result, they were down from four cars, the RV, and Daryl's motorcycle to the RV, the motorcycle, and three cars.

Glenn, Faith, Jacqui, and Shane were in the RV with Dale. Rick, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol were in the white station wagon. T-Dog drove the white van with Amy and Andrea as passengers, and Daryl drove the truck with the motorcycle in the flatbed and Buffy riding shotgun. The two Slayers had deliberately chosen different cars in case there was an emergency and they needed to defend the group from different angles.

The caravan didn't get far into the mess of abandoned cars before the RV broke down for the second time. Daryl and Buffy jumped out and began surveying the area; you never knew what you'd find. Further back Dale and Glenn began trying to fix the old vehicle while the rest of them began to spread out looking for food, water, and whatever else might be needed.

As Buffy and their resident hunter began searching together, Faith interrupted the impromptu search. "Listen up everyone! No one goes anywhere alone. You need to team up with at least one other person; one of you searches for food and the other keeps an eye out for walkers. This is a graveyard and there are still corpses in some of the cars. If you don't see a bullet hole or evidence of them being stabbed in the head then use your knife to make sure."

Buffy added her two cents, "Make sure to look under the cars for crawlers and listen carefully for their shuffling feet and groaning. If you see one, don't scream or raise your voice! We're out in the open and there's nowhere to hide, so the last thing we need is to reveal our position to any herds nearby."

"If you see a walker, stab it. Don't use your guns if you don't have to, they're too loud. If a herd comes in our direction then be quiet and get into the nearest car without making any more noise than you have to. Once you're in the car try and stay still; the walkers are not just attracted to loud noises but also movement, especially sudden movement." They had gone over this before, but some things need to be repeated many times before they were understood and accepted.

Surprisingly, the group accepted the terms and found a partner. Daryl abandoned Buffy to join T-Dog in finding fuel for their cars, so she joined Jacqui and Amy instead. Dale had given Glenn the responsibility of fixing the RV while he went on the roof to keep watch over everyone. Lori and Carol took their kids and went looking for clothes, while Shane and Faith began their hunt for anything edible not far from them. Rick and Andrea remained closed by and explored the cars closest to their own.

The two women had attempted to teach the group how to kill the walkers most efficiently every time they stopped for a longer period, in the hope it would eventually stick. It had soon become obvious Lori, Carol, and Dale were not fighters nor were they really interested in learning. Unfortunately, the two mothers also tried to stop their children from learning. The rest had various skill levels but they were trying, if for no other reason than that they didn't want to die and they realized there wouldn't always be someone there to protect them.

They'd managed to make sure everyone had at least a knife on them at all times. It would've been better with swords or something else with a longer blade to give them more distance, rather than having to go in for a close kill. Which meant they needed to find a sporting goods store somewhere to supply themselves with better weapons. Bows and crossbows would also be a good idea as both of them had given Daryl's weapon of choice envious looks when they'd seen it.

Two hours later and they had managed to find not only several dozen cans of food but also a truck full of water containers, much to everyone's joy. They had also found a number of other useful things in the deserted cars. The scavenger hunt had improved everyone's mood.

"Faith." Buffy's voice was too low for anyone but a Slayer to hear, but she'd picked up the distinct sound of many shuffling feet coming in their direction and her friend hadn't seemed to have noticed. The brunette looked up from the car she'd been rummaging through and listened carefully, and when she heard it she nodded. Soon after they had begun gathering the group and ushering them towards the RV and the van, the two vehicles with the most space. It was also easier to cover the windows so the walking dead wouldn't notice the people inside.

Squeezing 15 people into the RV and the van was a tight fit so the two Slayers volunteered to jump up on the roof of the RV to give the others more room to move. They moved fast before the herd came into view and climbed swiftly onto the roof and got down as flat as possible with Faith facing towards the oncoming herd and Buffy in the opposite direction. Both of them kept a keen eye on the undead as they walked past them to ensure no one decided to remain behind.

The herd proved to be a lot larger than they'd expected, but they didn't seem to have noticed there were live human beings close to them. Instead, they simply shuffled past, with only a few veering off to investigate along the way but they soon rejoined the rest of the herd.

"Should we engage or let them pass?" Faith's whisper was even lower than Buffy's had been earlier due to the lesser distance.

"Let them go. If we start killing them some of the others are going to get out and try to 'help'." The look she got was more telling than any words could've been. "You know how people are, they know nothing about us and what we're capable of. All they see are damsels in distress, it doesn't matter we saved them last time a herd came by. If we engage they're going to come out, guns blazing, to 'save' us from the walkers."

Faith nodded, even if she knew the blonde couldn't see her. They didn't need the words and instead focussed on the undead shuffling past. Ten minutes went by, then twenty. Thirty. Forty. They could still see the back of the herd in the distance, but they made eye contact and went down. If they kept their movements slow they should be okay. Once they were back on the ground they split and each went to a vehicle.

Not long after the rest of their group were standing outside in a semi-circle. "We should stay here for the night and sleep in the cars. Give the walkers a chance to get in front of us so we don't drive right up to them and get surrounded. The last thing we need is to get stuck with walkers all around us."

"What about the supplies we found?" Lori interjected.

"We split it up between all of the cars, in case something happens. Divide it evenly between our bags, so everyone has something in case we get separated."

It was agreed to keep the two children in the RV so they could move around if they wanted to but not get in the way, with Jacqui babysitting. Meanwhile, everyone decided what went where and in whose bag or backpack. Next on the agenda was was who slept where and who would be keeping watch.

In the end, Faith took the first watch and climbed back up on the roof. Rick would take the second three hours later.

Notes

Written for Twisting the Hellmouth's 2018 August Fic-A-Day, Day 14.

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