"You okay?" he asked, knowing the answer the second he met her eye. "No… no… please…" Carol's eyes were filling with tears as she exposed her shoulder to show him the bite. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't somewhere he could even attempt to amputate. "No…" Daryl said, sinking to his knees at her feet, wrapping his arms around her legs. He could feel Carol's hands in his hair, stroking his head, offering comfort. She was the one who was going to die and here she was offering him comfort. It was absurd, yet he couldn't pull himself together enough to stand. "No," he said again, hugging her tighter and crying against her legs.
It took the threat of another walker to snap him out of his sorrow. Carol pulled away and took the creature down with her knife. "No sense in you risking it, when I'm already…" her voice trailed off and they looked at each other for a long time, neither speaking, neither moving.
It was only a simple run to get a few supplies. They were short on food. Daryl saw a place he thought might have some canned goods. After she got better Carol had been going on runs with him almost every day since they'd ventured to Atlanta to find Beth. She was tough. She could take care of herself. She'd even saved his ass more than a couple times. They made a good team.
But even the best team ran out of luck eventually. There were only 8 or 9 walkers that attacked. But 9 against 2 was never good odds. Daryl thought they got away with it. He thought he'd hit the walker that came at her from behind in time. Just a few seconds earlier… a few seconds and she would have been fine. Why didn't I look up? Why didn't I save her? He screamed in his head.
Several hours later, sitting at her bedside he was still screaming at himself, reliving the memory, blaming himself that she was dying at it was his fault. "Stop doing that, right now," Carol demanded. "I know what's going on in your head. It's not your fault. It just happened."
"Yeah but, I shouldn't have taken you.. I shouldn't have…" he started.
"Stop," she said forcefully. "I don't want my last few minutes… maybe hours… with you to be like this." Carol smiled at him. How the fuck is she smiling right now? "Tell me something good Daryl," she sighed.
The others had all been in and said their goodbyes. Daryl wanted to be with her when she turned. He wanted to be the one who put her down. He wanted to be the one to carry her body to the grave that would be waiting. They were holed up in a town that Abe's group had found when they left for D.C. They cleared the Fire Station where they'd got the truck from and a little shop right next door. There was plenty of room for them all between the two buildings and the town, at least at first, had plenty of supplies.
Tell her something good? What could he possibly tell her that was good? He could only think of one thing that he could tell her. But would it make things better or worse? He'd wondered that the entire time the others were paying their respects. Do you tell a woman who is dying that you're in love with her? Do you let her go knowing that she's leaving with a piece of your heart? Or do you just let her go peacefully, without any thought of what could have been? He had no idea what to do until he looked into her eyes. "I love you," Daryl blurted out.
"I love you too, you know that," Carol replied gently.
They had always loved each other like family, but for Daryl it was more. He wasn't completely sure when it changed, but it definitely did change. "That ain't want I mean…" Daryl started, looking away. "I mean, I'm in love with you. And it fucking took me until you're lying here dying to say something."
"Oh," Carol said softly. "Oh…" she repeated. When Daryl risked a look in her direction her eyes were sparkling. "You do? How long? Why didn't you say something? Are you sure? I… I love you too," Carol finished the barrage of questions with the one thing he really wanted to hear. "Well aren't we tragic?" she joked. He glared at her weakly. "You gonna kiss me or not?" she asked boldly. It was so… Carol. "Grant one last wish to a dying woman…"
Even in a time of such sadness she made him smile. "Shut up," Daryl grumbled, making sure she couldn't talk by covering her lips with his own. For a brief moment he forgot all about the fact that she would soon be gone. He let go of the pain, the sadness, the utter grief and just kissed the woman he loved. Daryl hadn't kissed a woman in years and he wasn't sure he'd ever want to kiss another woman again after this. It was everything a first kiss should be… intense, passionate, a little bit awkward, but there was a familiarity that was building the entire time. He tasted her, explored her mouth with his tongue, probed deeper and deeper until suddenly… Carol pulled back. "What's wrong?" he asked, voice teeming with concern.
She looked at him apologetically, a deep sadness rooting itself in her blue eyes once again, "Do we know for sure that you can't you know… catch it from saliva? I can't risk your life…"
Daryl nodded, she had a point, they really didn't know for sure. As much as he really didn't care at that point he knew it mattered to her and refused to do anything to upset her. "You should sleep," Daryl suggested. Night had fallen and she looked tired.
"I don't want to sleep," Carol whined, but finished with a yawn. "You will be here, when I wake up? If I wake up?"
"When you wake up I'll be right here," Daryl whispered. "You ain't leaving me without saying goodbye."
Carol fell asleep immediately and Daryl sat silently watching her. He was exhausted as well, but he refused to leave her side. He didn't know how much time passed, likely a few hours, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully when Daryl heard a light knock on the door. He stood and unlocked it. "You really should leave it open… in case…" Rick suggested.
"I know what I'm doing. Don't need your advice," Daryl snapped. He instantly felt bad. "Sorry, I'm just… not in the best mood."
"I know," Rick replied. "None of us are." He looked over at Carol, "Any change?"
"Nope, nothing yet. Not even a fever," Daryl replied, touching her forehead lightly to confirm.
"You should get some sleep," Rick suggested.
"I ain't fucking leaving…" Daryl began, before Rick laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
"I'd never even suggest it," he interrupted. "I'll stay for a few hours and you sleep. If anything changes I'll wake you immediately." Daryl looked around the room, wondering where to lay down. He spotted an empty space on the floor and stood. "Hey, it's a double bed," Rick said. "I really don't think she'd mind…"
Daryl hesitated. But something compelled him to go with Rick's suggestion. No one but Carol knew how he truly felt, but they all knew how close he and Carol were. That was no secret. He climbed into bed and lay down beside her. He felt Carol stir, but she didn't wake. It was strange to be in bed with her, though they had slept side by side on the ground countless times. Daryl relaxed and let himself sleep.
When he woke sometime later Carol was looking at him and Rick was still sitting in the chair. "How are you?" he whispered, rolling to face her.
"Okay I guess," she replied. "My arm hurts where the bite is, but that's about it."
"Jenner said everyone's different," Rick spoke, mentioning the scientist from the CDC they'd met so long ago. "Maybe since the bite wasn't too bad, it's just taking longer."
Carol rolled onto her back. "Maybe that's it," she agreed.
Daryl had a strange feeling in his stomach. Something weird was going on, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"You sure you got bit?" Rick teased her.
"Well I didn't bite myself," Carol laughed.
Rick shifted his eyes to Daryl. "Fuck off," Daryl muttered and the three of them laughed. Daryl honestly never would have imagined laughing at a time like this, but that was just how it was with Carol. She knew how to make people feel comfortable and relaxed, even in the worst of times.
Rick yawned and Daryl got out of bed. "I'm awake now, go sleep." When Rick opened the door Daryl saw it was daylight. "What time is it? How long did I sleep?" He asked, bewildered.
Rick looked at his watch, "Almost noon. You slept a while." With that, he was gone. Noon, Daryl thought. It's been almost 24 hours since she was bit and Carol still hadn't even broke out in fever. "Let me look," Daryl said, pointing at her shoulder. He had to see it again. Carol exposed the wound, wincing as she did. There was definitely a bite there. It wasn't deep, but it had broke through her skin. "Maybe we should clean it up," Daryl suggested.
"What's the point?" Carol asked, stating the obvious.
"Might make it hurt less," he said with a shrug. Daryl went to the door and peeked out. Tara was the closest. "Hey, can you get me some alcohol and gauze?"
"Uh, sure..." She muttered, looking at him strangely, but doing what he asked, returning with the items. "How's she... Uh... Ya know..."
"Fine," Daryl said, closing the door rather rudely. But he was in no mood to make small talk.
"Be careful," Carol warned him. "Make sure you don't touch any of my blood..." He took her warning and cleaned her up gently. She bit her lip when he put the alcohol on, obviously in pain. When it was clean Daryl wrapped her shoulder up awkwardly reaching inside her shirt to wrap it around. He was blushing and trying really hard not to stare at her boobs. "You can look Daryl," she said. He knew without looking she was grinning at him. "Probably your last chance."
"Stop saying shit like that," he growled. He knew she was trying to make light of the situation for his benefit, but the fact was, she was dying and he was devastated. He couldn't take any more jokes.
"I'm sorry," Carol said sincerely. He finished wrapping her up and Carol laid back down. "I'm kinda thirsty, hungry too," she said, rubbing her tummy.
Daryl was pretty sure he'd never seen someone eat or drink waiting to turn. But again he went to the door and asked Maggie to get some water and food. He let her assume it was for him and didn't correct her.
The hours passed. Carol got up twice to relieve herself. She walked perfectly normal and didn't seem fatigued. When night fell for the second time Rick returned. "It's been over 30 hours," he whispered to Daryl. "I've never seen anyone last half this long."
"I can hear you," Carol interrupted them. "I'm sure it will start soon."
"Why? You feeling different?" Daryl asked quickly, a sense of dread filling him.
"No… But it has to happen eventually, right?" she said, sitting up.
Suddenly the door flew open and Eugene burst into the room, followed closely by Abraham, who seemed to be trying to stop him. "Eugene, come on… stand down. Leave them be…"
Daryl and Rick watched in stunned silence as he yanked his arm out of Abe's grip and walked right up to Carol's bedside. "Carol Peletier, please tell me you know your blood type and it's O neg," Eugene spoke in that rapid, weird tone they'd become accustomed to.
"How did you know that?" Carol said, looking shocked. "Sophia and I were both O negative."
"Oh thank God," Eugene sighed.
"But how did you know?" Carol asked again.
"It wasn't that I knew ma'am, it was more that I hoped," Eugene stated.
"What the fuck is going on?" Daryl asked, moving towards him. He was ready to punch the fraud in the face if he didn't get the hell out of the room soon. "What are you doing? Get out. Leave us alone."
"I'll go, but you might wanna hear what I have to say first," Eugene replied, holding up his hands in surrender.
"Let him talk," Carol said and Daryl backed down.
"Since this thing started I have never seen or heard of anyone lasting this long. A few hours, maybe. Over night, maybe. But it's been 34 hours and 26 minutes since she was bit and she doesn't even have a fever," Eugene paused and looked around the room. "I believe Carol is immune. And there's a good chance if I'm right…" he looked straight at Carol. "We might be staring right at the cure."