This is my take on what I'd like to see in the season 8 premiere. Very long build up but we WILL get to sexytimes in either chapter 4 or 5, I promise. Hope you enjoy this, please let me know what you think!
It was over. Adrenaline still coursed through Daryl's body as he stood shaking and surveying the damage done, but it was over. Negan and the Saviours had fled, and as far as he could tell, not many Alexandrians had been killed or badly injured. Rick startled him by coming up behind him and clapping him on the back. They exchanged nods and looks of relief, though there was a dark undertone in the understanding that passed wordlessly between them. The battle was won, but the war was far from over.
Daryl's chest swelled when he caught a glimpse of Carol. She had, once again, showed up just in time to save the rest of them, this time with the entire Kingdom following her. She was bent at the waist with her hands on her knees, apparently relieved to catch her breath. He kept his eyes trained in her direction while he moved through the wreckage looking for anyone wounded or dead. He started every time she moved into his field of vision, still not used to the idea that she was there. Alive. Willing to fight.
He felt a small hand on his shoulder as he bent down to pluck an arrow from the skull of a dead Saviour. He looked up to find Carol, pale and a little shaky but with the same triumphant, satisfied look on her face as Rick. Daryl stood up and wiped the arrow off, and Carol rested her hand on his back while she caught her breath. Daryl nodded and she returned it. They didn't say anything, they didn't have to. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they stood side by side, chests still heaving with adrenaline, for a moment of blessed calm. Daryl could feel himself coming down from his high and exhaustion began to creep over him. Carol, too, was apparently feeling the same, as she leaned further into his side. Daryl stumbled a little and adjusted his grip, surprised by how heavily she was leaning on him, then his surprise gave way to cold fear when he realized she wasn't leaning into him for comfort. Her legs were giving out and she was collapsing.
He let out a strangled yelp and gripped her under the arms just before she slumped to the ground. Her head lolled to the side and her skin was a ghostly shade of white that made his stomach turn. Something was really wrong. No, he thought, they couldn't have come this far...
That's when he saw it: the steadily spreading bloodstain that was coming from a wound on her side just above her hip.
"CAROL!" he heard himself cry, though the sound seemed far away and disembodied. "No, Carol, no, no, no, c'mon, no, no…"
He looked around in a panic and was horrified to find no one rushing to his aid, hardly anyone taking notice at all. Everyone was preoccupied with their own injuries or with helping others, but Daryl couldn't understand why the world wasn't stopping to help her. He was no stranger to blood and gore, but seeing it come from Carol was making his stomach heave. He let his mind go blank as his hunting and survival instincts took over and he cinched the sleeves of his jacket around her waist and hoisted her up into his arms. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jerry took notice and came rushing towards them. Daryl barked at him to find a truck, a cart, anything to get Carol back to the doctors at the Kingdom. Jerry tried to say something to him but Daryl couldn't focus on anything but the low hum that had obscured his hearing and the dull pounding in his head. He refused to believe that after everything they'd been through, after all of the close calls and near misses and separations and reunions that Carol… that she might…
There was a flurry of activity as someone wrestled her from his arms and tossed her onto the back of a truck along with the other injured people, some conscious but most not. He found himself getting jostled out of the way and could do nothing but stand by helplessly as the truck unceremoniously drove away.