Her body is heavy in his arms. He wonders at that. Why should someone so small feel so heavy?
Unfortunately, he has no answer.
In order to lift her, he had to sidestep the puddle of her blood. It almost made him sick, right then and there, thinking about all the red that surrounds them. It is then that he notices Dawn's blood making its way over to Beth, and it is then that he grabs her to him and heaves her up.
He refuses to let any part of that killer near her.
Carol is sobbing next to him, reaching out to stroke Beth's hair. He wishes that he could scream at her to stop, to leave Beth alone, but he doesn't dare. Right now, it looks as if a single word would blow her over and kill her within a second. Carol has looked frail before, but this is something that Daryl has not ever seen. It scares him.
Rick is staring at him. He knows that his brother sees the tears running down his face, but he doesn't care. Rick is crying too, after all. Daryl hasn't seen him cry this hard since they lost Lori. It makes this all the more real.
In the background, he can hear all the cops and hospital personal leaving the hallway. One of them has already picked up Dawn's body.
Good, he thinks, we need to be alone.
Suddenly, he's outside, and he's not really sure how he got there. He can see figures in front of them, but it isn't until he hears Maggie scream that he knows who they are.
Damn. Should've cleaned her up or something.
Maggie is the last Green left on this earth. It breaks his heart as he listens to her.
Glenn is holding his wife as tight as he possibly can, just like he is holding Beth. He knows that the two of them won't let go for a while.
He's on his knees now, sobbing his eyes out as he strokes the hair out of her face.
You're gonna be the last man standing, Daryl Dixon.
It kills him that she was right.
He sits up suddenly, gasping in the small tent. He's shaking, but he doesn't know why.
Dammit, that was one fucked up dream.
For one brief second, he's so scared it was real. His hand snakes over to the other side of the structure, only to meet warm flesh and small puffs of breath. As he settles back down he lets out a small sigh of relief.
So it was just a dream then. Good.
"Daryl," he hears her whisper, "You okay?"
"Yeah baby," he croons, "Get some sleep."
"Nah," she says, moving over to lay her head on his chest and sling her arm over his waist, "I wanna know what's gotcha so upset."
"It was just a dream," he replies quietly, "A scary, terrifying dream, but still just a dream. It wasn't real."
"It was the hospital, wasn't it?"
He hates that sometimes, the thing that she does where she knows him better than he knows himself. But it's also something that makes him love her.
"Yeah. You didn't make it out."
She grabs his hand and brings it up to the small scar on her forehead. It's silent in the dark except for their breathing, and he strokes his hand over her hair.
"It was just a graze, Daryl. I'm fine."
"But you might not have been," he says in the gruff voice of his.
"I thought we said we weren't doing the might-have-beens or what-ifs any more?"
He sighs because he knows that she's right.
"Alright then," she continues, before gasping slightly.
"What is it," he asks worriedly.
"Nothing. Just moving, that's all."
She brings his hand down to her stomach, and he feels the roundness of her. It's small, small enough that they haven't told the others yet. A part of him loves it, this little secret, and feeling what he's done to her gives him a small rush of animalistic pride. But he's also worried, remembering what happened to Lori. He'd die before it happens to her.
"Hey," she says as she smooths the wrinkles from his face, "I'm not going anywhere."
"I know. After all, I'm the last one, right?"
"Right."
"Yah know something baby?"
"What?" she asks.
"Thank God ya changed my mind."
My first attempt at TWD fanfiction. Let me know how it is, and if I should expand it!