Three Against One

We were sprinting down the road, the sun scorching my skin and soaking me with sweat. This asshole was making me run. We took off after Jesus, while he still sped away in our truck. Rick and Daryl, insisted that we follow his trail as he headed off in the direction we had left our own vehicle anyway. My boots hit the pavement with a thud, irritating the blisters on the backs of my heels that had only just healed. If we found him again, I was going to hurt him.

We slowed our pace upon reaching the vending machine stranded in the centre of the road. One of the links of the chain smashed to pieces and detached itself from the truck. Rick did a quick check of the vicinity as we each caught our breaths. Daryl placed his hand out in front of me, motioning for me to hand him my crowbar. He took the metal bar from me, smashing it down on the glass of the vending machine. I watched as he pulled out two cans of soda, holding them up to show us.

"This was a special request from the doctor," Daryl said, finally explaining why it was so important for him to see what was inside of it.

"Hey, whatever she wants," Rick responded, still heaving in deep breaths. "She saved Carl's life." The last thing he could do was be mad or annoyed because Denise was the only reason Carl was alive right now. Daryl picked up the third soda, taking a sip from it before passing it over to me. "We didn't know her, and she turned out to be alright," Rick said, trying to make a point about coming across new people on these runs. I handed the soda over to Rick once I was done. "If there are still people out here, and they are still people, we should bring 'em in."

"What, like this guy?" Daryl asked.

Rick's face scrunched up, "No, not this guy," he answered.

"Do we still have a trail?" I asked, hoping to God Daryl would say no so we could head back home. All I wanted to do was take a cold shower and lay on the bed in the comfort of my air-conditioned room. I rested my hands on my knees, hunched over because that seemed to help me catch my breath.

"I still see the skid marks of the tiers," Daryl answered to my own disdain. I huffed out, in simple terms that meant yes we still have a trail.

"Let's go," Rick nodded, tossing the now empty can of soda back into the vending machine. I shook my head and took off running again.

Rick and I followed Daryl's lead, the skid marks in the road seemed to disappear but he still managed to spot things here and there that told him we were still following Jesus' trail. Rick and I were only two steps behind Daryl, taking a hard turn to the right when Daryl pointed down to the pavement a couple of feet in front of us. Sure enough, like someone had painted it in black on the road the freshly made skid marks reappeared. Daryl raised his left arm up in the air, motioning for us to slow down as we approached a hill. I stared down at the tread marks carved into the pavement, creating an S shape, leaving us to believe something had gone wrong. We crept up the hill we were on, peering over it in the slightest to ensure we remained unseen. Our eyes landed on the truck just down on the other side, poorly parked in the middle of the lane as Jesus attempted to change out a tire that had blown.

Rick got our attention, nodding his head towards the woods so we can come around the side without being seen by Jesus. I followed closely, yanking my gun from its holster as we weaved through the bush. We approached the treeline, watching Jesus closely, searching for the right time to make our move. He was just finishing up with changing the tire, returning around the back of the truck to put his tools away. This was our chance. We exited the forest, creeping up the length of the truck and ambushing Jesus around the back. Rick took point, he glanced over his shoulder at Daryl and me and motioned for us to cover him around the other side.

I pushed Daryl along in the other direction, having his back as the three of us cornered Jesus. I could hear Rick surprise him, their bodies colliding together as he spat out, "Hold still and maybe we won't hurt you."

"Sure thing," Jesus replied before the sound of Rick taking an elbow to the gut caused me to jump. There were three more hits to the torso as Rick grunted out in pain before Jesus came running around the corner to the driver's side.

Daryl instantly stepped forward towards Jesus, swinging his right arm back to punch the man in the face. Jesus simply deflected it, slipping his head underneath Daryl's arm and grabbing ahold of his backpack with both hands. I've never seen anything like it before, Jesus looked like some sort of trained escape artist. What the hell was I supposed to do to stop him that Daryl and Rick couldn't? Jesus used all of his strength to swing Daryl around by the backpack, slamming his body against the truck and jumping away from him. I took this as my only opportunity. As Jesus leaped backwards, I kicked my leg out, hitting his calf as hard as I could with the top of my foot and causing him to fly backwards and onto his ass. I yanked out my gun, pointing it down at him to keep him in place before Rick and Daryl joined me, copying my actions.

"This is done," Rick spat out, the three of us staring down at the man as he huffed out in defeat. The sound of a single walker approaching from the woods caught our attention. The ruckus we created drew it out of the trees and toward us.

Jesus propped himself up on his elbows, sighing, "Do you even have any ammo?" he asked. Without looking at one another the three of us simultaneously shifted our guns, shooting the approaching walker in the head to prove that we very well did. "Okay," Jesus breathed out, nodding his head as the guns pointed back towards him. "You gonna shoot me over a truck?" he asked.

"There's a lot of food on that truck," Rick answered.

"The keys, now," I ordered.

Jesus looked up at me, "I think you know I'm not a bad guy."

"Yeah? What do you know about us?" Rick threatened. "Give me the keys," Rick ordered before he locked the round of his gun into place, "This is the last time I'm asking."

Jesus reluctantly handed over the keys before Rick got to work on tying him up. I knew we weren't going to kill him, we knew he wasn't a bad guy, but he definitely was a nuisance. He had no weapons and he only fought us in self-defence. All he was, was an irritating pick-pocketer.

I was watching the perimeter as Rick finished tying off the last knot around his ankles. In the meantime Daryl sifted through his bag, cursing under his breath as he removed the two soda cans that had exploded when he was thrown up against the truck.

"You're gonna leave me here like this? You're really gonna do that?" Jesus attempted to guilt trip, Rick.

"Eh, the knots aren't that tight. You should be able to get free… after we're long gone."

"Hey, maybe we should talk now," Jesus suggested. Rick stood back up, jingling the keys in his face before walking over to the driver's door.

"Nah," Daryl declined. "Here," he said, shaking up the last bit of soda left in the can and tossing it at his feet, "In case you get thirsty."

I slid into the middle seat and Daryl followed me in not long after, slamming the door behind us. I looked at Rick smiling as he twirled the keys around his pointer finger in victory. He put the key into the ignition, starting up the engine once again. I looked over at Daryl, laughing as he yelled out, "So long, you prick!" With his middle finger held up high out the window.

I giggled, leaning over Daryl's legs to stick my head out of the window as well, "Thanks for changing our tire!" I shouted as Rick took off down the road.

-------

We had the music blasting again, cruising down the road in the direction of Alexandria as we snacked on the melted chocolate and chips Daryl snagged from the vending machine.

"It still worked out. Today is still the day," Rick was optimistic, popping another chip in his mouth. Daryl simply turned up the music before handing me another bar from his Kit-Kat. "Hey, look at that," Rick pointed up ahead.

"Yeah, a barn," Daryl perked up, taking his feet down from the dashboard and clutching onto the handle as Rick veered from the road and into the open field to cut across it.

I groaned, "Can't we just head home--" my sentence was cut short by the sound of a loud thud coming from on top of our roof as we drove over the bumpy terrain.

"You hear that?" Rick asked as we all listened to the thuds from above continue.

Daryl cranked down the music a paused for a moment, "I think that son of a bitch is on the roof!"

"Hold on," Rick ordered as he slammed down on the breaks, bringing the truck to a screeching halt. I watched as Jesus' body was thrown down the front windshield, his body rolling in a circle like a limp ragdoll before he hit the ground with a loud grunt. We waited eagerly to see what he was about to do next, straightening up our posture to try and spot him over the dashboard. Jesus got to his feet, staring us down straight on as we sat there baffled at how persistent and insane this guy was. Within a flash, Jesus turned and took off running. Rick pursed his lips, slamming his foot down on the gas and accelerating the truck after him.

"Mother--" Daryl began to curse out before he whipped open the passenger side door.

"Daryl! Daryl!" I called after him as he leaped out of the moving vehicle, chasing Jesus down on foot. I slid over into his seat, gripping onto the handle as Rick sped up and swerved the truck around in front of Jesus to cut him off.

"This guy is fucking insane!" I yelled out as Rick slammed his hand down on the wheel when Jesus bounced to the side, running around the other side of the truck to disappear from Daryl's line of sight. As frustrated as I was to still have to deal with this guy, a small portion of it was almost comical, watching Jesus upstage Rick and Daryl with nothing but his bare hands and quick wits. I steadied my left hand down on the dashboard, bracing myself as Rick put the truck into reverse and sped backwards to give Daryl a view of Jesus once again. He stopped the truck just before we reached the pond on the property, putting it into park and jumping out to help Daryl.

I could see the two of them up ahead, Jesus bouncing back and forth to try and fake Daryl out while Daryl attempted to copy his movements. "We've come to a conclusion, asshole!" Daryl yelled at him.

"Rick!" I called out, pointing to our left where five walkers had been tired up to an old pickup truck. The withered-down ropes wrapped around their waist tore loose as they pulled against them at the sight of food.

"I got him!" Daryl called out, letting us know we were good to handle the walkers as he continued to chase after Jesus.

I went into a run, pulling the crowbar from my belt loop and smacking my first walker across the face with it. While that one lay on the floor I jammed the end on the metal bar down on the base of another one's head. I then returned back to the first one, gripping the bar with both hands and jabbing it down like a spear through the centre of its face. Rick and I both huffed out, breathing heavily as my eyes scanned over the dead walkers. Now, I only counted four. Both Rick and I looked over towards the ruckus Daryl and Jesus had been making. One stray walker staggered up to the two of them as they wrestled one another inside the truck. Rick and I both took off in a sprint toward their direction, seeing Jesus lay flat on his back as Daryl stood on the sidebar trying to drag him out of there.

"Come here, you little shit!" Daryl yelled, not hearing the walker behind him as he tussled with Jesus.

I watched through the front windshield as Jesus now had the gun Daryl left in the front seat, pointing it at Daryl's head. My heart dropped, pressing me forward into an even faster run.

"Duck!" Of all things, Jesus yelled at him. Daryl instantly crouched down before Jesus shot the approaching walker in the head, killing it.

Rick and I slid to a stop when we finally reached the driver's side door. Daryl turned his head to look at the dead walker. "Thanks," he grunted, before turning back around and punching Jesus hard across the jaw, "That's ma gun," he said with gritted teeth as he continued to struggle to yank him out of the seat.

All of a sudden, the truck began to roll backwards, one of them hitting the gear into drive. The wheels caught the slope down to the pond quickly, picking up speed as it headed towards the water.

"Get out of there!" I yelled as they both took notice of their sudden movement. The two of them jumped from the front seat, hitting the ground with a thud and rolling in the grass. Jesus, fortunately, didn't jump out far enough, the open truck door clipping him in the head on the way down and knocking him unconscious.

Once Daryl got back on his feet, the three of us stood there, watching as the truck submerged into the pond. Within a mere couple of seconds, our jackpot of food and supplies was completely underwater, only air bubbles surfacing as it sunk to the bottom.

"You alright?" Rick asked Daryl as he flipped Jesus over from his stomach onto his back to make sure he was still breathing.

"Yeah," Daryl sighed, "Law of averages. That's bullshit, man. Let's check the cars, and get the hell outta here."

"What about the guy?" I asked.

"What about him?" Daryl grunted, still trying to catch his breath from the chase.

"Well, he helped you," Rick stated.

"Maybe."

"He ever pull a weapon on you?" Rick asked.

There was a pause for a moment, both Rick and Daryl staring at one another. Daryl then looked at me like he was waiting for me to help him out with an answer. I softened my face, shrugging my shoulders at him like it was his decision to make. After all, Deanna did appoint him as the recruiter. She knew that Daryl could tell the good ones from the bad ones. And no matter how annoyed or pissed off he was at this guy, we all knew that Jesus was not a bad guy.

"Fine," Daryl finally agreed.

Jesus was coming home with us.