DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.
A/N: I'm not very happy with this one, but I had to get through it to keep moving forward. The good news is I was able to speed things up a bit. The OCs are coming next chapter!
Bound To Happen.
Luckily, Daryl had made it just in time. The bolt whistled through the air and pierced the walker through the head, dropping to the ground. Amy had let out a small scream before she turned and ran back inside the RV to safety. Daryl was relieved because even though he couldn't care less about these people, he couldn't picture an innocent girl being killed.
As they drew closer to the group they quickly realized there was more than just one walker they had to worry about. A whole herd seemed to come from out of nowhere, surrounding them.
"Shane!—" Rick called out to the man and threw the bag of guns at him, having already been loaded himself, as well as Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog. Shane distributed the weapons as necessary and it wasn't long before the sound of gunfire ricocheted through the air. It was truly foolish for the fact that it would probably draw in that many more walkers but they didn't have much of a choice.
Daryl joined in on it though, firing a shotgun at any walker that seemed to come near or threaten to take someone else. Since it was dark and there was so much chaos, it was hard to tell what was going on. He noticed Rick and Shane had Lori and Carl safely tucked between them as they fired away. Glenn and T-Dog were back to back while they took out some walkers. Andrea blasted a couple on her way to the RV, throwing the door open and running in to her sister. What technically surprised him though was the fact that Carol and Sophia kept close to him. Apparently they found safety in him—which was a bit odd.
It seemed to go on forever—the screams, the yelling, the gunfire. Daryl could only imagine what this place was going to look like in the morning with the sunlight to highlight everything. It had to be damn near close to something straight out of a horror movie. There were dead walkers galore, scattered along the ground in piles with their dark blood oozing from their skulls. And to top that off, there were the freshly killed bodies of the others who were a part of the group—the people who stuck to themselves and minded their own business, never saying much. They were all dead, their bodies covered in streams of red.
Daryl made out a low snarl as he glanced over and spotted one lone walker that was still breathing, chewing on the flesh of one of those bodies. He grimaced at the image and raised the shotgun, taking the shot and blowing its brains out of the back of its head.
"Oh, my God—is everyone okay?" Lori's voice was shaky as her eyes searched the darkness for any more threats. "Carl, baby, come here." She pulled her son close, bending down to scoop him into a hug as he cried into her shoulder.
It took a moment, but everyone seemed to huddle back together—Rick, Shane, Lori, Carl, Andrea, Amy, Dale, T-Dog, Glenn, Jacqui, Morales and his family, Jim, Carol, Sophia. Everyone was accounted for except for Ed… And without even bothering to look for him, Daryl just knew.
"W-what do we do?" Amy covered her mouth as she slightly shook her head in shock. Andrea put an arm around her and pulled her closer.
"We'll just have to stake out for the night, wait until morning. Then, we'll have enough light to see what we're left dealing with," Shane spoke up, taking his place as the group leader.
"Shane's right. There's not a whole lot we can do until we have the light on our side," Rick nodded in agreement. He gently pulled Lori over towards him and kissed her on the forehead before he ran a hand through Carl's hair.
Daryl rubbed the back of his neck. He was definitely ready to call it a night. Besides, it's not like anything else could go wrong for him. There wasn't anything left to go wrong. He gave it some thought and decided against staying up to keep watch. He was tired and these people had it coming. It was nothing but their own damn fault. They left Merle for dead on that rooftop and now he was nowhere to be found.
So, Daryl minded his own business and he slept in the cab of his truck with his crossbow close by.
It took six months before Elena had dragged Daryl to her sister's house. And here they were, ringing the doorbell to the extensive two-story home where Elena's family lived. Leah huddled between the two of them as Daryl listened to the footsteps approach the door from the other side.
"Elena," the man who had answered the door smiled. "Come on in. Skyler and Hannah have been patiently waiting for you guys."
Daryl allowed Elena and Leah to enter before him as he shut the door behind him. They each kicked their shoes off and slid them over out of the way. Leah had already taken off to go find Hannah. They were cousins and they were only a year apart. Needless to say, they were very close.
"Well, Matt… This is Daryl. Daryl, Matt," Elena introduced them, smiling.
Daryl nodded his head, "Hey, nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Matt extended his hand as Daryl took it in a rather firm and somewhat awkward handshake. It wasn't that he had anything against the man. He just wasn't used to any formality with greetings. And he had already confessed to Elena that he was nervous about meeting her family for that reason. He was just an awkward being.
They walked through the dining room and into the kitchen where Skyler was on the phone with someone. Her face lit up as she took in the sight of her sister and Daryl. "I've got to go, I'll call you back." She hung up and placed the phone down on the counter, a grin spreading across her face. "This is the guy, huh?"
Elena laughed, "Please don't give him a hard time right off the bat. He doesn't know you like I do."
Daryl smiled as he looked back and forth between the sisters. They definitely had their striking resemblances. Skyler had a bit lighter hair color, having more blonde in it with a slight hint of natural red tones whereas Elena's was more brunette. They both had the same slender figure and it appeared that Skyler was maybe an inch or two taller—though still shorter than Daryl.
"Hi, Skyler. It's nice to finally meet you," Daryl offered.
"Yeah, you're telling me. I swear it's like she was trying to keep you a secret from me or something. Had to pry it out of her." Skyler walked over closer to them as she glanced at her husband, "By the way, that was Kathy. She was just calling to remind us that Brian got the promotion."
Daryl could tell from Skyler's tone that she wasn't a big fan of this "Kathy". And Matt's chuckle only cleared that up for him.
"Good for Brian," Matt shook his head, a grin still on his face to hold back from laughing further.
Skyler turned back to Daryl, "Kathy and Brian just like to call us and brag about their lives. So, yeah we're a little sarcastic. But I promise we're not hateful people."
"Yeah, yeah… I picked up on the sarcasm," Daryl forced a laugh. "Some great friends, huh?"
"You don't even know the half of it," Skyler sighed. She continued, "Enough about them. What about you two? Elena? Come on! You seriously didn't even mention him until a few months ago and I'm just now meeting him. What's up with that?"
Elena looked over at Daryl and smiled, placing a hand on his arm. "You know me. I'm picky with my men. Had to make sure he was the real deal and could put up with my crazy sister before bringing him here."
"You don't have a clue what you're getting yourself into with these two, do you?" Matt pretended to whisper behind his hand at Daryl.
"Hey—I heard that. You're the one who married me." Skyler placed her hands on her hips dramatically. "My sister and I are a packaged deal. Just warning you now, Daryl. You get all of this too." Skyler put her arms up at her sides, basically telling him that he was a part of the family now.
At that moment, there was pitter patter of feet across the floor from the next room over before Leah and Hannah emerged through the doorway laughing. Daryl wasn't sure if they were playing some sort of game or what, but the sight of them having a giggling fit made him smile. Elena's family seemed really nice. And thankfully, they were very easy going.
When the sun stretched from beyond the horizon, they learned that they certainly had their work cut out for them. The campsite was just littered with bodies strewn all over and the sight was rather repulsive—blood and guts spilled out from gaping wounds, flesh torn from some of the bodies and exposing bone.
T-Dog and Glenn had started a fire and everyone worked together to do what needed to be done. Daryl helped carry some of the bodies over to the fire and he used a pick ax to make sure that none of those things were going to rise back up.
Daryl walked over to the next body and grimaced at the view. Half of his body had been eaten away from the walkers but his face was still perfectly intact. The poor prick bastard…
Just as Daryl was about to raise the pick ax to his head, Carol stopped him.
"He's my husband. I'll do it…"
Daryl looked at her for a moment before handing the weapon over, her fragile hands grasping a hold of the handle. And he watched as she forced herself to bring the pick ax over her head and into Ed's skull. He figured that was good. Ed definitely wasn't going to come back after that blow. But Carol just kept going. She cried as she slammed the pick ax into his skull a second time, then a third. Daryl glanced back and forth between the damage she was doing and her as he took a step back. Apparently that was her way of letting out all of her frustration. He was a complete dick, after all.
Carol wiped her face and handed the weapon back to Daryl as she walked away to Sophia. Daryl could only hope that maybe she felt better after smashing his skull beyond recognition.
"Jim! He's bit!—Jim's been bit!" Jacqui's shrill cry of words resonated among the camp grabbing everyone's attention in that moment. Daryl immediately turned to see Jim pick up a shovel and take a few steps back in defense.
"I'm okay, really. I'm okay," Jim's eyes searched everyone straight ahead of him who had locked eyes with him.
"Grab him!" Daryl dropped the pick ax and ran towards them just as T-Dog got Jim in an arm lock behind his back. Daryl grabbed Jim's shirt and pulled it up to expose where the fresh blood was coming from. It was clear as day; Jim had been bitten. The outline of the bite was right there in front of him as he dropped his shirt back down and took a step back.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim repeated as T-Dog released his arms. "I'm okay…"
Daryl looked to Rick and Shane, waiting to see what they were going to do about this. If Jim was bit, that was all there was to it. He'd have to be killed. There was no beating around the bush and hoping for him to get better. But of course Rick led Jim over to the back of the RV and had him rest against the bumper.
"If he's bit, we need to take care of it. One shot, clean through the head," Daryl tapped his finger on his temple as Rick returned to the group. "The least we could do it put him out of his misery. He's gonna die anyway."
"For God's sake, no. We're not killing a man," Lori clutched her hand to her heart. "That's just downright cold blooded murder."
"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers," Daryl spat.
"You're gonna tell me that that's what you'd want? You'd want your brains to be… to be blown out of your head?" Shane rested his hands on his hips, cocking his head to the side.
Daryl scoffed, "Yeah, and I'd thank ya for doin' it."
"Maybe Daryl has a point." Dale stepped forward.
"You can't be serious." Lori stared at the man, her eyes wide with fear.
Daryl shook his head as he picked up the pick ax once again, gripping the handle tight in his hands. He got one last glance at everyone before he abruptly turned around and charged at Jim. But before he knew it, he could hear the audible click of Rick cocking the hammer on that damn Colt Python not far from his head as he stopped mid swing with the pick ax. Jim had fallen off the bumper in a clumsy manner, staring up at Daryl in fear from on the ground. Shane casually stepped in front of Daryl to block Jim from him.
"We don't kill the living." The words rolled off Rick's tongue as if it were a threat. Though, the gun shoved in his face certainly was.
"That's funny…" Daryl lowered the pick ax and faced Rick. "Coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."
"Now we may not agree on some things but this here is a serious matter. We are not going to kill Jim." Shane spoke up now.
"Put it down, Daryl," Rick warned.
Daryl huffed and stabbed the pick ax into the ground. If they wanted to do it their way, then that was fine by him. His word was never accounted for much of anything anyway.
There was talk about trying to make it to the CDC. Then there was talk about there possibly being some kind of cure. Daryl thought it was all pointless and he refused to believe any chance of there being a cure. There just couldn't be. Not after… everything.
And it was just that simple. At Rick's words, everyone loaded up and into the vehicles to head off in search for the CDC. Morales and his family decided to hang back, said they had family they were going to go back and look for. Daryl didn't see the point in that either. A good portion of everyone out there had to be dead by now. The Earth's population wasn't that intelligent. Rick handed a couple guns and a box of ammunition over to them before parting, and that action seemed to strike a wrong chord with Shane.
"It's Jim, y'all! I don't know how much more he can take!" Jacqui fled down the few stairs of the RV, running her hands over her head.
They had come to a halt in order to fix up the RV. And while they were taking a momentary break, apparently things only got worse for Jim. He was sick and the fever was definitely taking its toll.
Rick exited the RV after speaking to the man, his head lowered. "He wants us to leave him here."
"What? Is he lucid? That's just suicide." Carol pulled Sophia closer to her, running a hand through her dark blonde hair.
"He's all there," Rick nodded. "But we can't just leave him here to die. It isn't right."
"That's not your call to make," Lori shook her head. "The least we can do is honor his last wishes."
"Now hold on here," Dale held his hands up. "You misunderstood me earlier when I said I agreed with Daryl. I simply meant we should ask Jim what he wants. And I believe we have an answer."
"Is Jim going to die?" Sophia's innocent voice filled the air as she glanced up at her mom.
"He's very sick, sweetie. And there's nothing that any of us can do to make him better," Carol explained.
Rick and Shane helped carry Jim out of the RV and over to the side of the road. They left him propped up against a tree a little ways up a small hill that overlooked the highway. Everyone crowded around him to pay their respects, though keeping enough distance so that they weren't suffocating.
"I just want to be with my family…" Jim muttered. "That's all…"
Rick bent down next to him and offered him a snub nosed pistol. "Do you want me to leave this here with you? It has one round…"
"No, no, keep it. You're going to need it," Jim grimaced in pain. "I'm okay."
Rick slowly nodded before standing back up straight. He took a few steps back to be side by side with Lori and Carl before the three of them turned to head back to the road.
Daryl watched as everyone began to file back now and he stayed put, deciding to be the last one to follow. He looked at Jim one last time, their eyes meeting as he gave him a prompt nod. It was more of an 'I'll see you on the other side' gesture than anything. He could respect Jim for his wishes and wanting to just be back with his family. But Daryl couldn't see going through the pain of it all. And with no way to kill himself, Jim would eventually turn. That was no way to go.
Daryl decided then that if worse came to worse, he'd prefer a bullet to the head any day than to suffer like Jim had.
I actually have the next chapter already finished and I believe I was able to keep it flowing fairly well. Let me know what y'all are thinking so far! I love to read what you have to say! Ahem… All you silent followers out there! ;)
Thanks again for sticking with me; reading, reviewing, favorites, and follows. They are all very much appreciated! xoxo
