This idea was conceived during one of my many discussions with Halohunter89 about people assuming that you can't really grow as a writer if you don't deviate from one ship. This is a popular belief that I roll my eyes at. No matter what our preference is when it comes to shipping, these character aren't ours. Someone else created them and the characters are borrowed. To me, that means that, as a writer, that will only ever ship Caryl, I have to keep you guys on your toes by coming up with stories that grab you from the get go. I try really hard to come up with plots that push these characters, and keep you coming back. At the end of the day, it's all about the story being told. Not the characters in the stories, because these characters are not ours, even though we love them.
With that said, this story isn't like my other ones. It's different. It isn't a terribly long story but I'm hoping that all of you that give it half a shot will like it.
Chapter One
She was falling and this time she wasn't getting back up. The wet earth was rushing towards her face and she was so tired, so very tired, that she almost welcomed it. The rain was a steady drizzle and had been for days but still, if he would just let her lie down, just for a few seconds, she would sleep.
No, that wasn't true. If he would let her lie down she wouldn't sleep. She would die.
"No!" He growled into her ear as he hauled her back up. Despite the rain she could smell the blood. Blood that was coming from her. "Move. Just move. Please move-" His voice, tortured, feverish, higher pitched than it should have been.
She wanted to tell him that this was it. She wanted to tell him that it was over. They had fought and they had succeeded so many times but it was time to give up. She had no more fight in her. He had no more fight in him. God, had they fought though. But it was all for nothing. The others... all gone. No one survived. Only the two of them. And soon, very soon, they too would fall.
"Let. Go." Was that her? It didn't sound like her voice but she felt the words leave her parched throat. It had to have been her because there was no one else.
"No," he growled, his grip on her arm was punishing.
"They're all dead."
"You ain't."
"Not yet." But soon. She could feel it. Something grabbed the back of her shirt, pulling her out of his grip. She landed hard on her back and managed to blink enough rain out of her eyes to see the macabre face, teeth snapping only inches from her. Suddenly it was gone and she could see the sky through the canopy of trees overhead. It was gray, darker around the edges but she had enough wits about her to know that it was actually her vision growing darker, not the sky.
"Get up!" He nearly screamed. There was no reason to be quiet. They were everywhere.
"Just stop," she muttered, her eyes drifting closed.
"It isn't time, mama."
Carol hadn't realized that her eyes had drifted closed until she was opening them, a small smile on her face at the sound of that voice. She had missed it so much.
"Get up," Daryl's voice was low now, no longer forceful.
"He needs you. Get up." Her daughters voice sounded as desperate as Daryl's.
She raised her head and saw him. He was on his knees next to her, his head hung, his shoulders hunched. She couldn't see his face. She was so tired. Why couldn't she be done? Why did she still have to try to make it when lying here would be so much easier.
"Because as long as he's breathing, you need to try. You can't leave him alone out here. You're stronger than that. Get up."
She took in a shaky breath and sat up. A few feet away, right behind him, another walker was coming. She had watched her group fall days ago. She had watched them all die. She wouldn't watch him... She went for the knife at her hip, made it to her knees just as the thing was about to go in for the kill. Adrenalin had her pushing forward, forcing her to her feet. Right before it had a chance to sink it's teeth into his shoulder, she rammed the knife through it's head.
He looked up, eyes glazed over with grief but when they met hers she saw them flash, the grief morphing into grim determination. He pushed himself up off the ground, going for her hand at the same time she went for his. "We can do this," she said breathlessly, even though she didn't believe her own words.
He looked down at where the glass from the window had sliced into her body, his eyes going dark. She knew what he was looking at but she couldn't think of that right now. The cut had opened up and was bleeding freely again. She had to think about getting away. She could hear them now. They were closer than they were even a minute ago. Her legs started moving without her telling them too and he took off like a shot, his longer legs putting more ground between them and the walkers than hers could but he didn't let go. He refused to let go. If she stopped, he would die with her. If she had to keep breathing to keep him alive then she would.
So again, they ran away from the herd that had been pursuing them relentlessly. She was still losing blood. She could feel it. The air was cold, the rain was cold, her skin was cold, but the blood that still seemed to pour from her wound felt hot. She could have been bit. She wasn't sure anymore. She didn't feel pain. Only the warmth of the blood and the warmth from his hand, gripping her own like both their lives depended on it.
~H~
Just a little bit further and they'd be safe. That's what he had been telling himself for hours. He had been sure that Carol had finally given up but then something had happened and she had decided that it wasn't over. Not yet anyway. If she gave up, he was giving up with her. He had watched them all fall, the whole group. The whole town, but he had gotten away. He had managed to save her. Now it seemed like the only life left in the world was in her and if she was gone, it was all over. There would be no point. As long as she was breathing, he would fight.
They broke through the trees and he heard a sob escape her. There ahead was a boarded up farm house. It was decrepit looking but at the moment it looked like a fortress. If they could make it then they had a chance. She would have a chance. He could stop the bleeding. He could stitch the wounds if they needed it. He could save her if only they could stop running.
That was when the ground fell out from under them. Neither had seen the ravine. Both had been staring at the possibility of safety.
Neither of them saw it since the grass was so overgrown but they landed in three feet of dirty rushing water ten feet down. He cursed and felt her hand slip away. The water wasn't deep but it was swift, nearly knocking his own feet out from under him and he wasn't even as weak as she was. She was going under and it took every ounce of his strength to pull her head above water. He gauged the distance to the other end. He had about fifteen feet. Only fifteen feet and then another ten feet to try to climb.
He looked down and she was struggling to stay upright. He wasn't worried too much about the blood loss. Or he wouldn't, if they weren't starving. He was worried about the wounds she had suffered getting infected and he was worried that he hadn't made it to her in time. He still didn't know if she had been bitten when she had fallen earlier.
When she met his eyes he saw her gauge the distance. The rain picked up just then and he glanced behind him just as the first walker came tumbling down the ravine. He struggled to hold her upright as he made his slow way across but soon he stumbled. The walkers were being washed downstream as soon as they hit the water so that was one less worry but it was raising quickly and going against the current while trying to hold on to her was proving to be too much.
He felt her slipping out of his grip. Her eyes were closed and she was dead weight. His heart stuttered and then pounded so hard against his rib cage that he was sure it would bruise him. He had to get her out. He couldn't lose her. It was the first thought he had had when Alexandria had been overrun and all hell had broken loose and it would be the last thought he would ever have.
He couldn't lose her.
He got a few feet and then he stumbled. She went under, the current pulling her out of his grip. He heard a sound erupting from him. It didn't even sound human as he lunged for her, missed and then lunged again, managing to get a grip on her leg. He pulled against the current, aware that her head was underwater but unable to get a good enough hold on her to pull her up. Instead he yanked her along like a mannequin.
He knew she was dead. He could feel it. The loneliness that engulfed him. Even when she had been gone from the prison, he had felt her. He had known she was out there and she was breathing because he could always feel her. But he didn't feel her now.
He didn't feel her now...
He felt something in his mind give. A slow fissure. An audible crack and then he looked up and the muddy wall of earth was there, finally, right in front of him. And so was his dead brother, standing at the top, hands on his hips. Daryl blinked the rain from his eyes but Merle was still there, solid as the day he had found him at Woodbury.
"She's dead," Daryl barked the rain obscuring the tears that briefly warmed his frozen face.
Merle nodded, his eyes shifting to Carol as Daryl finally heaved her up out of the water. She was limp. "We're all dead, baby brother," Merle said, his voice sounding loud and clear in Daryl's mind. Not his ears. It wasn't a sound from outside. It was Merle's voice, right in his brain. It was strange, not that his dead brother was speaking to him but because when Merle's lips moved the sound wasn't coming from his mouth. It was disorienting.
"I ain't lettin' her go," Daryl growled when Merle motioned for him to climb up.
"You can't climb up with a dead body, baby brother. She's gone. Just let her go."
Daryl shook his head. "Fuck you. I can get her back."
Merle sighed and got down on his knees. "Stubborn as the day you was born," he muttered. "Alright. Lift her up."
"You'll help me," Daryl muttered as he hefted her body up and gripped her under the arms. "You ain't like they all thought." He lifted her, struggling against the dead weight, pushing her up with every ounce of strength he had. "I need her, Merle. You know I need her so you're gonna help me."
His own voice caused fear to course through him. It wasn't like his own. It sounded off. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that suddenly, he wasn't holding all of her weight anymore. Merle was there and he was dragging her the rest of the way.
Daryl fell back into the water but he wasn't under for long. A strong hand gripped his arm and yanked him up. Merle was there. The rain hadn't seemed to touch him.
"No time for that. Get up there," Merle growled, his lips moving but no sound escaping him.
"You're in my head. Only in my head," Daryl muttered.
"You're head is a little bit different now. Only so much a man can take," Merle said as he pushed him up the side of the ravine. Daryl scrambled up, digging his hands into the damp earth and heaving himself up higher and higher. He didn't feel Merle helping him anymore but that was okay. He didn't need him right now. When he needed him he would come. That was what brothers were for.
Once he was finally on solid ground he saw Carol a few feet away, lying face down in the long grass. He crawled to her on all fours, muttering something that even he didn't catch. Broken words from a broken man.
He rolled her over. Her eyes were open but all the light was gone, rain pooling in the corners, seeping between lips that had turned blue.
"No," he growled. "No!" The growl turned into a roar. "You're gonna come back. It's what we do. Me and you. We leave and then we come back." He put his head to her chest but just as he thought, there was no sound from within. He tilted her head, brought his lips to hers and tried desperately to breath life back into her lungs. Her chest rose and fell but it was from his breath, not her own. He could hear the sloshing sound of fluid in her lungs. Taste death on her lips. He did compressions, his mind spinning away with morbid thoughts. If she turned, he could still keep her.
"No," he muttered and then brought his lips to hers again, breathing. Rise fall, gurgle. More compressions. He couldn't keep her. If she was gone then she was gone. No more light in her eyes. No more smile reserved just for him. No more warmth from her touch. If she was gone... "Come back," he said, his voice stern. "Quit fuckin' around and breath goddamn it!" He heard a strange keening sound and realized it was coming from him. "Wake up! I need you! I always need you!" He was screaming now, the force of his words seeming to tear his throat. "Please, wake up..."
He felt her chest heave under his hands and then she blinked, her eyes glazed, wet and unfocused. She coughed and water poured from her mouth. He made a sound in the back of his throat, unable to believe that she had actually listened to him for once. He rolled her onto her side and slammed his hand into her back, gripping her upper arm with his other hand. He watched as she gasped for breath, taking in air and then coughing more water up onto the ground. Eventually she was breathing but it was ragged and she winced.
He watched her breathing in and out, her eyes still far away but the life in them unmistakable. He dropped his head onto her arm biting back a sob. She was there. She had came back. The one person in the world that he simply couldn't lose, wasn't lost.
He looked over his shoulder and saw that there were still walkers falling into the ravine. They wouldn't be able to fight the current. Hell, he had barely been able to fight the current. They could stay here for a few minutes but he had to get her to the house. At the moment they weren't being pursued and he felt too tired to even move. He laid down in the grass, in the rain, his body molded against hers. He didn't dare close his eyes. He watched the steady rise and fall of her slender shoulder as she breathed in and out.
Now you know that everyone is gone. There was not one survivor from Team Prison other than Daryl and Carol. Halo and I came up with an idea. What if we both wrote something that doesn't involve these character evolving and coping with the world around them? What if we challenge ourselves a bit and both of us write a story about them devolving. How long can two people that have been through everything that these two people have been through hold on to their humanity? Can they? We wanted to see. So here is my shot at it. I'll update again soon. Thank you all for giving this a shot! It is greatly appreciated!