4:08
Now that her brilliant and level-headed plan was being put into action, Daryl wasted no time. She allowed those around her, the malleable people that wanted to save the world, jump on the task of moving the hostages. Fighting through the pain in her arm, she stumbled over to the fallen clown's body and stooped beside it, looking down at the corpse as if it had never once been a casing for human life.
With her left arm tucked safely against her side, she used her right hand to systematically pat down his sides. After a few precious seconds, she felt a promising lump. Fishing through his pocket, she retrieved a small, simple knife. Memories flooded her mind, but she ignored them outright. She could focus later. For now, she opened the knife and, with some difficulty, managed to cut the large front pocket of his sweatshirt off. She then pushed his sweatshirt up to reveal the T-shirt beneath it, cutting out a square patch of that garment as well. With her three samples in hand, she stuffed them all into various pockets as she unsteadily stood, right arm crossed over her chest to keep pressure on the still bleeding wound in her left shoulder.
By the time she had reached the entrance, the layer of jackets had made the flames almost a non-issue. People stood on either side of the row helping one another out, passing children and escorting the elderly across. Were she more sentimental, Daryl might have been touched by this display. Instead, she viewed it with the cool precision of a machine: they were helping one another to ultimately help themselves, as being selfish would only mean facing this situation alone. Examining such things kept her from breaking down as she walked forward, trying to ignore the horrid pain in her shoulder and failing to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks.
With her injury, she would be no help to those facilitating the evacuation. So Daryl simply exited the bank with the stream of escaping hostages, stepping out onto the sidewalk and feeling the overwhelming sensation of relief wash over her.