Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Walking Dead, AMC or anyone/anything else. This is purely for entertainment purposes and is fiction created by me. This story does not reflect the actual series and doesn't claim to be anything but me having a bit of extra time on my hands getting the mental dialogue from my make believe stories in my head on paper (or computer that is). Any and all original characters created by me are not and do not resemble any known person(s). If you have any concerns or questions about what I've written please contact me and I will be happy to discuss anything. I'm a reasonable person.
Last On Earth
Chapter 1
Daryl barreled down the road on his motorcycle. The chill in the wind felt like pins and needles in his face. He knew with winter practically on top of him that he would need to find some sort of permanent shelter. At least until the cold weather subsided. He had been drifting from place to place, never content to stay still for any length of time. The longer he stayed in one place the more the memories caught up with him. Daryl was running away just like he always did, retreating from anything that involved feelings. It was the only way he knew how to be.
It had been three months since he had left the group. He hadn't traveled too far from them. Initially he debated with going back but every time he tried to head in that direction he felt a debilitating aching in his chest. Finally he accepted he couldn't go back. There was no point. All it would do would remind him of how he had failed. That day at the barn was burned into his brain. All the sounds and smells of that day, and of course the sights were always with him. For the longest time, all he cared about was surviving and killing those things. Those walkers, things parading as people, inhabiting what used to be a living, breathing human being. But these creatures were not human. They were monsters, and a little girl who he fought so hard for, whom he never gave up on, was destroyed by one of them. He didn't want to think about that day anymore but no matter how hard he tried not to, he often found his mind wandering towards it.
If he closed his eyes and focused, he could still feel Carol in his arms from that day, just weeping uncontrollably. He wanted to cry with her but he fought back the tears. He didn't deserve to cry for Sophia no matter how much he wanted to. He had promised to bring her back to Carol, a promise he whole heartedly believed in. He should've known better there was no sense in hope. He had gone his whole life without hope. What made him start believing in it then he may never know but he realized now he was wrong in doing so. His life had been full of promises from people that would never be kept. He had vowed at a young age never to make a promise he couldn't keep. Even he failed at that, he even failed himself.
Carol had begged him not to go, cried even that it wasn't his fault. She pleaded with him to stay "….I can't lose you too…." She wept. "I need you, the group needs you…." She told him over and over. He didn't want to hear it. He couldn't stand to look into her face, into her eyes and see the loss of Sophia every day. The loss he put there. Carol was the first person to ever treat him like he was worth something. He knew she would never admit how wrong she was.
"Daryl…..please…..I can't lose you too. You have to stay!" Carol chased after Daryl as he went to pack up his things. He told the group he was done, he couldn't stay with them any longer. He had other things to do. Maybe he would try to find Merle. He didn't know for sure, but what he did know was he had to get away from all of them.
"Daryl, this isn't necessary, you don't need to go. We need to stay together as a group. We all need one another. This especially isn't the time to run of f on your own." Rick told him.
"I don't need shit from you!" Daryl angrily told him "And that goes for all of ya! I don't need shit from nobody. What I need is to get away from ya'll!" Daryl barked back.
"Daryl….please….don't leave me too! I can't bare it!" Carol cried out to him as she wrapped her arms around him in a desperate attempt to keep him from leaving. She held onto him so tight he almost couldn't breathe. He felt his whole body baulk at her touch. It physically pained him for her to be holding him. He feared for a moment that he would just break down and become a wallowing mess in her arms. He wanted to just hold her too and cry. He grabbed her tightly by her arms and shoved her off.
"GET OFF ME WOMAN! YOU NEED TO STOP! I CAN'T…YOU….JUST LEAVE ME BE!" Daryl yelled at Carol. He turned his back to her and all he could hear after that was the loud beating of his own heart. He had to get away. He couldn't face Carol for another day, not after all of this.
Carol collapsed to the ground and wept. Lori rushed over to her to comfort her. "You're an asshole Daryl! How can you be so cruel?" Lori asked him.
"Well good then! Ya'll be happy when I'm gone!" Daryl replied. He finished gathering up his belongings and packed them on his motorcycle.
Rick approached him and before he could say anything Daryl cut him off "Don't start this shit with me again! I ain't having it!"
"You know how we feel Daryl, I'm not going to say anything else about it. But if this is what you are choosing to do then here." Rick handed a rifle to Daryl.
"What the fuck you giving me that for? I told you I don't need nothin' from you!" Daryl shook his head at the thought of taking anything from the group.
"I'm not taking no for an answer on this Daryl. You're taking it, I know you can defend yourself just fine with that crossbow but you never know when you might need it." Rick still stood there with his arm extended holding the rifle.
Daryl looked in silence at Rick then at the rifle. He knew he should take it, Rick was right. The more he was armed, the better off he'd be on his own. "Fine…." Daryl mumbled as he snatched the rifle from Rick.
Daryl snapped himself out of it, he had replayed that day in his mind over and over and there was no sense in continuing to do that. Daryl focused back on the road just in time to see a deer run out in front of him, directly in his path. Daryl swerved to avoid hitting it with the motorcycle and overcorrected. As soon as he did he knew he was in trouble.
"You dumb son of a bitch!" Daryl thought to himself as the bike tilted too far to the right slamming him down hard on the concrete. Although it was a split second, Daryl felt as if he was falling in slow motion. He slid along the roadway and at some point his head striking the pavement. Everything went black.
