A Huge Explosion

“What the hell was that?” Andrea and I exclaimed in unison. The ground rumbled a bit and I instinctively looked over at Rick. It was weird how I turned to him when things seemed to be going wrong; now that Shane was gone, that is. He was looking just a surprised as the rest of us.

“Oh my God…” I heard Andrea gasp and I turned back to look at her. She was gazing out the window with her mouth hung open.

“What is it?” Glenn asked, a little preoccupied with holding the door up and using his last clip to shoot the walkers that were trying to get in. But we both ignored him as we stared outside.

Fire and smoke was rising in the air about a mile from the farm, towards where our group had first come from. Up and up it went, bleeding into the night sky, turning it a foggy grey in the moonlight. It began to cover the full moon and made the night around us even darker.

“Something exploded… maybe a fuel truck or a gas tank?” I guessed out loud.

“Could be…” Andrea agreed, “Look!” she was pointing towards the ground. “The walkers… they’re leaving!”

“The noise must’ve caught their attention.” Rick spoke up.

“But that doesn’t mean all of them.” Glenn grunted, as he strained against the door.

The door splintered more; half a dozen undead arms reached through the hole they’d made which caused both the men to jump back to avoid getting scratched. Against the door they pounded once, twice, three times, and then to our delight, we heard another sound. Gunshots.

“T-Dog? Daryl? That you?!” I yelled, praying they were in the house trying to help.

The four of us stood there, prepared to fight with melee weapons. We had a baseball bat, a machete, the gun I was using and a metal lamp from the table next to the bed. We heard no reply, just more gunfire and shouts. They became louder and closer until, through the hole, we saw a glimpse of what seemed to be our heroes.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

The arms that had been flailing around trying to get in suddenly went limp. Then, through the hole in the door, I saw our saviors; T-Dog, Daryl, and Maggie.

“Maggie, what the hell are you doing here?” Glenn yelled at her as he dragged the door open. The weight of the walkers' arms in the hole caused a couple of them to rip off. They dangled in the door and their bodies slumped over on the floor. Maggie and Glenn embraced and kissed as she explained.

“I heard what was going on from upstairs and as soon as I heard the gunshots from the two guys, I opened the door and helped out. You guys are lucky we were here.” She smiled but it faded quickly.

“Hold on,” She said, looking around, “Where’s Jimmy? Where’s my daddy?” She started to panic.

“They… didn’t make it.” Rick said softly and cringed as she burst into tears.

Glenn fell to the ground with her in his arms as she sobbed. Daryl caught my eye as I glanced at him. He was staring at me. I walked over next to him and he shifted in his spot, fiddling with his gun. I put my hands in my front jean pockets and leaned close to him.

“Didja hear that explosion?” I started a quiet conversation with him.

“Yeah. I saw the smoke outside. Drew the walkers away.” He gave me a half smile, still shocked at our luck.

We stood there awkwardly until I took a deep breath and turned to Daryl. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. I seemed to have taken him by surprise because he stumbled backwards and didn’t put his arms around me.

“Thank you for saving them.” I whispered again. He slowly put his arms around me and hugged back.

“O’course.” He muttered and let me go.

As soon as we separated, I realized I had thanked him for saving them. My friends, the people I had been trapped with. I was ready to die; I was ready to be with Shane wherever his soul had gone. I was happy that T-Dog, Daryl and Maggie had saved their lives, because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have wanted to die.

Andrea, Rick, and T-Dog exited the room first. Glenn eventually got Maggie up to her feet to help her to the door. I grabbed Daryl’s coat sleeve with a shaky hand as we followed them out. Looking at the pile of walkers that lay in front of the door, a frightening thought popped into my mind; what really could’ve happened if they hadn’t have come?

Go Downstairs