Plotted starter for @betaofthedead
Joan was out. Not 'in the hospital parking lot' out, no, she was actually out. In all honesty, Joan hadn't had hopes of making it this far, not after what had happened, this wasn't her first attempt, and the previous one had ended quite badly for her. But not this time, whatever hopelessness had filled her before was gone now.
Who would have thought killing a man could fill her with such determination?
She didn't give it much thought, focused on putting as much distance between herself and that hell of a place as she possible could. Joan's legs ached from the exertion but she pushed on, her right arm hooked into a sling she'd improvised with a jacket she'd stolen from Dawn's office, more as a way to stop herself from reaching for things intent on grabbing them with a hand that was no longer there than to offer any relief. Her good hand gripped the scissors she'd used to kill Gorman tightly, blood having dried on them, and on her clothes too– hospital clothes, because she hadn't even stopped to find herself anything better.
If it wasn't because the world had gone to hell, Joan would probably be mistaken for someone who'd just escaped from a mental hospital. Good thing there wasn't anyone around to see her.
Or so she'd thought.
Eventually, her limbs refused to take her any further than they already had, and so she had to slow down, that allowed the corpses roaming the woods to catch up to her, and her scissors proved less useful against them than they were against a living but distracted individual. She'd been left with no choice but to climb onto a large fallen log, barely making it and panting hard due to the struggle of climbing it only one arm. But she managed to stay out of reach.
Now she was in trouble. As she looked around frantically for something– anything, to use against them, she spotted a large figure in the distance. At first, she cursed because she thought it to be another walker, but then she realized it was just standing there, not getting any closer, unlike the one walker that did come stumbling out of the bushes, joining the other three already trying to grab at her.
"Hey!" she called out. "You there, help me!"