Well, the original plan for this was to have it finished before the episode tonight. That didn't happen. I still have one more part after this. I also want to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Things may seem a little rushed, but I was in a hurry to get it up!
I'm hoping that tonight we get to see Daryl react to Rick's news about Carol by punching him in the face, but something tells me we won't. :(. There's always fanfiction, though, and there are some AMAZING writers on this site! :)
Well, I hope you enjoy this!
Chapter Three
Carol was out there somewhere, unarmed and by seeing the other set of footprints; he knew that she wasn't alone, either. That was even worse.
The obvious signs of a struggle unsettled him and he even began to wonder if she was still alive. What if whoever had caught up with her had killed her? He straightened, clutched his crossbow in one hand and Carol's knife in the other. He scanned the area around and found two parallel lines leaning farther into the woods.
Someone had been dragged and the trails were deep. That someone obviously didn't want to go with them and had fought hard. Despite his uncertainty of her fate, he couldn't help but feel a swell of pride.
Carol was a fighter.
He hadn't been walking long when a gunshot suddenly broke through the silence of the woods. The sound had caused him to jump and curse. That was sure to bring any walker for miles. Instead of heading in the opposite direction of the gunshot, he began to head toward it. Carol was out here somewhere and she may have been the one to shoot the gun...or the one being shot at.
That thought caused him to start running through the trees.
It didn't take him long to find himself in a clearing. His crossbow was in front of him and ready to fire. His eyes zeroed in on a figure on the other side of the clearing, who was slumped over. He recognized the jacket and dread turned his body to ice.
That was Carol over there. She was slumped over. Had she been the one to be shot? His feet were moving even before he told them to and he was by her side in seconds. Falling to his knees, he dropped his crossbow and tilted her chin so that he could see her face.
"Carol? You a'right?" Please be a'right.He swiftly looked her over and didn't see any blood.
Her haunted blue eyes met his. They instantly filled up with tears when she saw it was him. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
She was sobbing into his neck, now. "That's three, Daryl!" She cried.
He pulled back slightly so he could look at her face. "Three, what?" He asked, confused.
"Three people I've killed." Instead of crying into his neck, again, she placed her head in her hands. Tears rolled off them and splashed to the dirt below.
It struck him, then, that she really did kill Karen and David and this was her way of telling him. She was obviously torn about it, but he knew that she had thought she was protecting her family. Too bad it hadn't worked and she now had to live with the consequences.
But he only knew of her killing two people. Who was the third?
"Behind you," she said, as if knowing what he was so silent. "He tried to take me somewhere. Dragged me through the woods and finally, I was able to get the upper hand and I shot him. No hesitation or anything."
Daryl didn't look behind him to see that body; instead he took one of Carol's hands in his and pulled her to her feet as he stood up. "You didn't do anythin' wrong. He as goin' to hurt you and you reacted. Ain't no one goin' to fault you for that."
"I killed Karen and David." She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "They were part of our group and I killed them. I thought it would help stop the sickness, but it didn't and now I have to live with myself."
"Well, you're goin' to have to live with yourself back at the prison. I'm takin' you back." He shouldered his crossbow.
"Rick kicked me out."
"It wasn't Rick's call to make. He hasn't been our leader for months and he can't jus' decide he's goin' to be one again without tellin' anyone." Daryl said, his face hard with the anger he felt for the former sheriff.
"What about Tyreese? He'll demand I leave again if he finds out."
"Which he won't. If Rick's smart, he won't have told him and maybe we'll be able to figure somethin' out."
"Daryl, I-"
"I ain't leavin' here without you," he said, firmly. "I came out all this way to get you and I ain't goin' back without you."
Carol gave him a small smile and then, her gaze flickered to the ground behind him. "I think you might want to shoot him in the head before he turns. I only had one bullet and that went straight through his heart."
He smiled proudly at her aim. He was the one who had taught her to shoot. "A'right." he unslung his crossbow and turned so that he could get a good shot at the man's head. He froze, though, when he got a good look at the man's face. The man only had one eye, the other being covered by a black eye patch.
Carol had killed the Governor.
Some of you may be wondering where Carol got the gun from. Well, I saw a pic from last episode where she's giving her watch to Rick and she has a pistol stuffed into the waistband of her pants.
Thanks for reading! :)
