"This way! Move!" Merle's voice was already hoarse from shouting.
He swung the metal blade on his right arm in a vicious horizontal strike, cleanly shearing off half the head of a walker that had lunged out from the bushes.
Thick, foul dark-red fluid splattered across his grim face, but he didn't care, just wiped it off roughly with his left hand.
Calista and Leah stayed close behind, back to back as they fought and retreated.
Gunshots rang sharply through the dense forest, deafening in the enclosed space, but they also burned through their precious ammunition at an alarming rate.
"Bang! Bang!"
Calista fired two controlled shots, precisely blowing apart the head of the nearest walker.
The body dropped backward.
"Ammo!" she called out urgently.
Without turning, Leah pulled a spare magazine from her tactical vest and tossed it accurately into Calista's hand, while continuing to fire with her other hand.
Muted thuds echoed as her bullets dropped two walkers closing in from the left.
"Last full magazine!" Leah said quickly.
Even between shots, Leah instinctively angled her body, positioning herself between Calista and Merle as much as possible, shielding her.
Calista swapped magazines swiftly, her arms already aching from the constant recoil.
So this is what The Walking Dead world is really like.
An endless, suffocating tide of the dead.
She had thought she had things under control.
But now, she felt as insignificant as an ant.
"Shit! It just doesn't stop!" Merle cursed, knocking aside a walker's grasping arm with his metal limb, then firing his pistol point-blank under its chin.
"Bang!"
The blast shook loose a flurry of leaves.
"I've only got six rounds left!" he roared.
They had strayed far from the road and completely lost their sense of direction.
The main body of the horde seemed to have been drawn away by the massive noise from the three vehicles that broke through earlier, most of them surging southwest.
But dozens of walkers still chased them relentlessly, closing in from all directions.
"We can't keep using guns!" Calista gasped, holstering her pistol and pulling the dagger from her thigh. "Save the ammo!"
"Works for me!" Merle barked, almost excited as he charged a staggering walker. The metal axe blade flashed coldly as it split the skull clean open.
Leah smoothly switched to her military knife, cutting down the approaching walkers with swift, efficient movements.
Suddenly, Calista spotted a walker circling out from behind a large tree behind Leah.
There was no time to warn her.
She lunged forward, grabbed Leah's vest strap, and yanked her back hard. At the same time, she stepped in and drove her dagger straight into the walker's eye socket.
"Sis, right side!" Calista snapped, releasing her grip and turning back to her own front.
Leah staggered from the pull, just in time to see the walker collapse under Calista's blade. A jolt of shock ran through her, followed by a surge of warmth and lingering fear.
The three formed a tight triangular formation, pushing slowly and with difficulty deeper into the forest.
Calista's dagger plunged into the skull of another walker in torn pajamas. She twisted hard.
When she pulled it out, foul, viscous fluid splashed onto her hand, making her frown.
"This won't work!" Leah growled, dropping another walker on her right. "We'll get worn down here. We need a way out or somewhere to hide!"
Merle panted heavily, shoving a walker into a tree trunk with his metal arm before stepping forward and finishing it with a swing of his axe.
That metal arm of his really did boost his combat ability.
He paused and scanned the surroundings quickly.
"Stick close to me!" he suddenly shouted, pointing in a direction with certainty. "This way! The trees are thicker here. They don't seem to be pushing in this direction!"
"You sure?" Calista asked quickly.
"I was running through woods like this when you were still playing with dolls, Calista!" Merle snapped. "Trust me!"
His tone was rough, but he still shifted his position instinctively, moving closer to Calista and placing himself between her and the direction he judged most dangerous.
There was no time to hesitate.
"Go!" Calista decided immediately.
Merle turned and charged in the chosen direction.
As he moved, he shouted back, "Stay close, Calista, Leah! Don't fall behind!"
Sure enough, the further they went, the fewer walkers seemed to be chasing them.
The denser trees slowed the walkers' clumsy movements.
The growls and footsteps behind them became more distant, muffled by the forest.
None of them dared stop. They pushed themselves up a slope with everything they had.
At a steep dirt incline, Merle climbed up first, then immediately turned and reached down with his left hand.
"Quick! Give me your hand!"
Calista grabbed it, and with a strong pull, he hauled her up.
Leah climbed up on her own, agile as ever, though Merle still instinctively kept his metal arm behind her as a guard in case she slipped.
Finally, they reached a relatively open rocky slope. At the far end was a shallow recess in the rock wall.
Merle got there first and leaned against the rough stone, breathing hard, sweat pouring down as the muscles in his arm trembled from overuse.
Calista and Leah arrived right after him.
Leah held her saber across her body, watching behind them cautiously.
Through the gaps between the trees, they could still see the distant shapes of walkers shifting, but they were no longer closing in as tightly.
Safe... for now?
Calista finally relaxed a little. She glanced at Leah and Merle in their battered state, then down at herself, filthy and worn.
She took a deep breath and suddenly burst out laughing.
"What's gotten into you?" Leah and Merle looked at each other, completely confused.
At that moment, something clicked for Calista.
The mental strain caused by her fever was just gone.
Who cares about side effects? She was still standing here.
Still alive in this damned apocalypse.
If she could survive a horde like that, what was there left to fear?
Whatever came, she would deal with it. She would always find a way forward.
"I'm fine. I just think... being alive feels pretty damn good."
She shook her head, smiling at Merle.
"Merle, you did great."
Merle froze for a moment, then broke into a wide grin.
"Ha! Told you! Stick with Merle, you won't go wrong! Though..."
He shook his metal arm.
"Kinda rough on the arm. The spare blade's still back in the truck..."
Calista and Leah both looked at his metal arm.
The axe blade was caked with foul, blackened chunks of walker flesh, jammed into the joints. It clearly needed to be taken off and cleaned properly.