A/N: Please review and let me know if this is working out. Enjoy. :)
Chapter VII- Wildfire Part II
Daryl managed to inherit the unfortunate job of transporting the bodies for burial, but again, he didn't complain. Things were the way they were and that was that. But he had a bone to pick about the burial arrangements in the first place.
"I still think it's a mistake, not burning these bodies," he said to Rick and Shane. "It's what we said we'd do. Right? Burn them all? Wasn't that the idea?"
"At first," Rick said.
"Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow along?" Daryl pushed the point. "These people need to know who the hell is in charge here, what the rules are," he said. He knew he was right; they couldn't go on like this; the camp last night had been a nightmare scenario and they needed to have procedures, watches, proper care, or else they'd not survive at all.
"There are no rules." Rick stated flatly.
"Well that's a problem," Lori interrupted. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves, we need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do," she finished. Daryl understood her point of view, and fell silent. But he still knew he was right.
At the burial, Carol watched Andrea struggle with Amy's body. She could feel the intense sadness and unending grief rolling off Andrea's shoulders. She figured that without Dale, Andrea probably wouldn't have made it through the day at all. She stood behind Sophia, watching the other bodies go down, glad that at least Sophia would know what happened to her father and get a chance to say goodbye. She hadn't cried, hadn't given out at being cooped up in the RV all day while everything was cleared up. She hadn't asked nor said anything about her father, and she didn't get emotional at the funeral. Neither did Carol. She was exhausted now, tired in her bones, but she also felt that things would get easier now. The only tension in her life would be caused by walkers and there were people here with her who could deal with them. She found herself thinking of Daryl, and how he'd helped her silently earlier in the day.
She was unsurprised when the group converged to have a long conversation about what to do next. She had arrived to the funeral site just as Daryl pointed out the need for rules and leadership, and he was right about that. Jim was a concern, and Rick made a play that they aim for the CDC. He suggested that there could be a cure, food, shelter, safety. Shane was willing to go with the plan, and everyone was still shellshocked. It was clear that they had to go somewhere, and that plan seemed at least to be cogent and thought through. Nobody else had done too much thinking beyond their grief.
Carol had spent the night worried for her friends who had died and for her daughter's future, and on this day she lost more friends. Morales and his family decided to head for Birmingham; that was a hard blow for Carol because they'd been good to her and to Sophia. Their daughter Eliza had kept Sophia company a lot, and before she left, she gave Sophia her doll. Carol found herself crying a few tears because it was such a lovely gesture, but she wished them all the best with a smile on her face, and hoped that her own future would be alright with Rick. For a second, she debated asking if she could join Morales, but she looked around and saw Daryl, Rick, Dale and Lori, and she couldn't do it.
When Morales decided to leave, Rick and Shane parted with a gun and some ammo for him, which bothered Daryl, but he said nothing. He'd gotten used to Morales, and had no problem with him. Man had a right to defend his family, even if it meant they were losing ammunition.
The group moved pretty much immediately, leaving their dead on the hillside and driving into the afternoon, knowing that they had to beat nightfall and feeling slightly refreshed by the breeze pushing through their car windows.
Daryl drove alone n his truck, with Merle's bike propped up in the back. He hadn't the heart to leave it behind. It was the last bit of Merle he had now. He was near the back of the group of vehicles as they drove, and he relished the silence. It was easy for everyone to forget about him because he didn't endear himself so easily to the group. Nobody had asked how he was or what he was thinking- and he understood why. The truth was that he was just so tired he couldn't think at all. He was tired right down to his soul. His joints ached and his muscles creaked. Various old injuries had started to burn in his body again, and in that moment, he begged in his head for a break. Some small refuge, just for a little while. He liked the quietness of this new world, and he relished the peace as he drove alone, eating up miles. He enjoyed the tremble of his truck under him, and felt a little more free than he had in the past few days. There was just so much to take in, even before he got to thinking about Merle. H caught himself thinking about Carol and Sophia. He wasn't sure he'd done the right thing, letting her work the situation out on her own. He'd stayed there just to make sure she could do what she sought to, and he admired her that she had the strength to pull it off. He had been silent because there was nothing he could possible say to make it better. Even had he explained to her that he understood more than anyone else ever would, it would have made no difference. He knew from experience that different people worked things through in different ways.
Later in the day, after the RV had broken down and had to be fixed, Jim decided what he wanted. Jim wanted to be left behind. The group stood in a circle trying to rationalise it and make a solid decision. Daryl contributed nothing, knowing that Jim and he were finally on the same page. Dying like that was no way to die at all.
Carol, for her part, standing right next to Daryl, was nonplussed. "And he's lucid?" she asked Rick after he explained the situation.
"He seems to be, I would say yes," Rick said quietly.
"Back in the camp, when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood," Dale said. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. I think we have an answer," he finished. Daryl hadn't ever argued that they down a man who stood a chance. But the extra hours Jim had lived had filled him with pain and suffering, and put them all at risk. Daryl couldn't justify that, and he was glad that Jim had reached a conclusion that would bring some peace to his last hours.
They lifted him to a tree and rested him against its trunk. The sun was high in the sky and the breeze was a slice of paradise on his hot skin. For him, it was freedom.
Carol said her goodbyes and then left quickly with Sophia. As it was, she was the last to depart before Daryl, who stood for a moment and looked at Jim before nodding his last respects. Jim looked back at him, and there was no animosity, no vitriol, no hate. Daryl turned and walked away, abandoning him to a hard death.
The CDC towered above them as the sun started to fall away under the earth. It wasn't what they had expected. Bodies were piled for miles around it and the smell was simply horrific. Rotting corpses, dead skin and the pale coppery smell of blood hung in the air.
Daryl found himself at the edge of the group, keeping an eye. This felt wrong and there was no denying that. He gathered that it wasn't quite the panacea solution they had all hoped for. After all, if there was hope, these people probably would have been saved, or at least not abandoned.
He moved the group along, watching Carol and Sophia and making sure nobody got disconnected as they approached the door. Banging for attention there led them nowhere. There was no sign of life.
"There's nobody here." T Dog said, nervous. The sun was going down and they were too close to too many walkers.
'Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked. He rationalized that if they had all fled and there was nobody left, the shutters wouldn't be so carefully put down.
"Walkers!" Daryl called, shooting down one who came too close.
"We made a call!" Shane said, but before he could continue, Daryl's anger burst through.
"It was the wrong damn call!"
"Shut up! You hear me, shut up! Shut up!" Shane fired back at him, incensed. "Rick, this is a dead end." Rick was still banging on the door, drawing more walkers with the noise, convinced that he couldn't have been so wrong.
"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked loudly, feeling weak and exposed. This was far, far worse than the campsite. They couldn't stay here.
"Do you hear me?" Shane said to a wordless, expressionless Rick, "No blame."
"She's right, we can't be this close to the city after dark," Lori interjected.
"For Benning. Rick, it's still an option." Shane pushed. Rick wasn't responding.
"On what? No food, no fuel? It's a hundred miles," Lori said, growing worried.
"125, I searched the map," Glenn said, knowing there was no hope. Walkers were still coming, and though they weren't overtaking the group, the danger was clear.
'Forget Fort Benning, we need answers tonight, now!" Lori demanded.
"We'll think of something," Rick said weakly. Lori looked at him, disbelieving. She felt herself being moved as everyone headed back to the cars on the road. They'd have to move, but nobody knew where to. How could they think of something in the middle of the night on a pitch black road surrounded by the dead? This wasn't an option! Panic started to rise in them as they moved, but Rick stayed behind, looking at the door.
He saw the camera move. He started to shout, even when they told him he was wrong. He roared that they were going to die, that they needed help, that they were desperate. Even when Shane came to grab him and lift him away, he fought it and kept shouting, begging for mercy.
The doors opened, and an unnatural light shone out. Daryl lowered his gun.
