Author's Note: I'm as surprised as you are, I'm sure! I didn't think I could get this chapter out this quickly, but I guess the writer's block has given me a bit of a break. Thank you to any new followers/favorites! I also want to thank the reviewers again, because as I've said many times before you guys just brighten my day! I get a notification that I've received one and my whole day turns around by your kind words. C: Special thanks to Lila-Renee whose little surprise is in this chapter, love you dear! And also thank you to darylisperfection and ReadWriteLove715 who both always have lovely things to say, and are just wonderful people all around. Enough of my ramblings, here's the newest chapter. The lyrics at the end belong to Taylor Swift, who I don't really listen to, but the song was just too perfect for the ending. The song is called "Safe & Sound", I listened to it on repeat while writing the last scene, so listening to it while you read might just make it better? This is the longest chapter I've written so I really, really hope you like it. Love you guys!
xoxo ~
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.
BACK IN BLACK.
"He's too heavy," Lori whined as she continued to push Rob's legs forward while Taylor pulled both his arms with all the strength she could muster. Rob was solid muscle, and now simply dead weight. Both women paused for a break, something they didn't want to do since they were dragging a body through the tombs. They weren't stupid, they knew it was dangerous, but if they carried him through the front there was no way they wouldn't be spotted.
Although they were both equipped with guns and knives, and Lori was attempting to balance a flashlight under her arm, they were still unnerved in the space where they knew walkers could be looming. Lori dropped his legs and moaned loudly from the growing ache in her arms.
"We can't stay here much longer." When the blonde spoke, the brunette shone the flashlight directly into her eyes, causing her hand to come up and shield her sensitive orbs.
"But he's so heavy. I shouldn't be straining myself," she let her free hand fall to her belly with a small frown tugging at her lips. Taylor stifled an eye roll and took a deep breath through her nose, suddenly remembering why they hadn't been friends before. Both girls took a seat on the floor, being sure to avoid the corpse. Lori spent her down time trying to catch her breath that she couldn't seem to gather no matter how hard she tried; the baby was literally sucking the life out of her.
"I know Lor." She sighed and finally swatted the flashlight away from her eyes when it seemed to get closer, "and no offense, but this wasn't my doing."
"Right," she cast her glance away and gasped loudly as the light fell on the horrendous sight developing before her. "T-Taylor?"
"Hm?" She looked towards the illumination and felt her blood run cold. "Get up!" Taylor sprang to her feet in an instant, quickly helping the struggling Lori afterwards. Both girls drew their weapons as a horde of hungry, growling, dirty walkers began to approach the fresh meat. Their growls and moans grew tenfold as they got closer, the awareness of their next meal becoming very apparent.
"We won't have enough bullets!" Lori whisper-shouted at her companion. Taylor mentally performed a head count, coming to the terrifying conclusion of fifteen, and more were beginning to show up, making the number grow to seventeen. Lori was right, even if they both got perfect head-shots with each bullet, which was unlikely, they would still only be able to kill ten; five bullets for each of their small handguns. Their knives could be effective with one, two, maybe even a small group of four, but this was way out of their league. Not to mention the pregnant woman wouldn't prove to be a whole lot of help when it came to hand-to-hand combat.
"We're so fucked."
Milton and Vanessa exchanged a worried look. They, along with the Dixon brothers, had discovered a new sick twist in the Governor's demented mind. All of the townspeople, and most of his lackeys, lay dead on the side of the road. They had all been shot mercilessly in what looked like a hail of bullets. It was not a good sign, and definitely didn't bode well for the prison crew.
"What happened?" Vanessa's hand covered her mouth and nose as the sickening smell of cooper and death hit her nostrils. She immediately averted her gaze from the destruction that lay before her, Milton protectively wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him. He made sure she was protected from the gore, hiding her face in his chest.
"Killed 'em all," Merle rasped, surveying the damage while he rubbed the growing stubble on his chin. "Must 'ave really lost his marbles."
"Lost 'em a long time ago," Daryl mentioned quietly, referring to the night in Woodbury. Merle nodded in understanding, letting the comment hang in the air before examining some of the bodies a little closer. He could tell the Governor just went off, shooting wildly with no care in the world.
"Well, now," the elder Dixon began scavenging some of the guns and bullets from the deceased, "he's bat shit crazy."
After getting over her initial nausea and disgust of the situation, Vanessa began helping her three counterparts collect some supplies. One of the trucks had food, water, blankets, and clothes in them; they had come to an agreement that apparently the Governor and his group were going to be staking the prison out if they had extra supplies on hand. Vanessa and Milton took turns taking items to their 'pile of supplies' just to have something to do, they didn't want to get in the way. That was Merle's first and only rule for them tagging along, "fine, but keep quiet." They decided to respect his request so they weren't left stranded on the side of the road.
They both glanced up when they heard the roar of an engine. Merle had hot-wired one of the abandoned trucks.
"Less go!" He called out while slamming his fist on the horn a few times for added effect. Daryl, Vanessa, and Milton loaded everything they had gathered and climbed in silently. Even in a world where the dead were walking it was still a grim sight, one that truly left an impact on someone and caused words to escape you.
After twenty miles of awkward, tense silence Daryl glanced in the backseat to see the pair asleep. He turned back to Merle and the corner of his lips twisted up into a smile. He punched his brothers shoulder softly making him turn over with a glower.
"What?" He scowled, furrowing his eyebrows before turning his attention back to the road. "Tha fuck ya hittin' me for?"
"Do ya miss 'er?" Daryl smirked at Merle, knowing he would pick up what he was trying to hint at.
"Cherokee?" Merle gruffed out, his grip on the steering wheel suddenly tightened. He let out a low whistle and kept his eyes on the road so little brother wouldn't see the faint tears forming in the back of his eyes; the tears he would deny until his dying day. Dixon's, especially Merle, didn't love another human being, it was driven out of their genes long ago. And damn it all to hell if he couldn't stop picturing her face now.
"Maybe," he shook his head slowly, he didn't want to think about her long dark hair, the feathers weaved through it, braided down her tanned back. Damn, he couldn't think that way, not when he left her behind the way he did.
"Then what was all that shit with Beth?" Daryl broke Merle's intense concentration with the question. "Just tryin' to piss everyone off?"
"Nah." He chuckled and for the life of him couldn't stop the grin that broke across his face, it humored him that that was what everyone had thought. They really all do think I'm a piece a shit, huh? "Juss wanted ta get sum ass 'fore leavin'. That a crime?" Instead of verbally answering, Daryl just snorted, his brother always had to be a smartass.
"Probably hurt tha kid, everyone was startin' to think ya liked her." Daryl waited as Merle mulled his thoughts over.
"She's okay. Nuttin' like muh Cherokee though..."
Merle took the growing unease and falling sun as a sign to pull over for the night. They camped out on the side of the road, Daryl taking the first watch and Merle falling asleep to dreams of feathers and dark hair floating around him.
Maggie knelt in front of the grimy toilet bowl with a grimace. She clutched onto the sides as her dinner emptied from her stomach all over again. Unfortunately, it looked the same going out as going in, which only made her feel more nauseated. When she felt the vomiting was all done she sat back on her heels and wiped the remaining mess off her face. Silent tears started to roll down her clammy cheeks and she quick to cover her mouth to hide the sobs when she heard the door open.
"Babe?" Glenn gently knocked on the bathroom stall with his knuckles. "Mags?" When she didn't answer he gingerly pushed the door open, the rusty hinges squeaking. "Are you okay?"
"I'm... I'm... fine." She used the back of her hand to clean her mouth a final time.
"You know," he extended his hand and helped her to her feet, "this has kinda been happening a lot lately." He didn't want to point it out, but it needed to be said. It was obvious something was wrong, and he knew he wasn't the only one to see it. The dark thoughts had been hanging over both of their heads like storm clouds for weeks now.
"I know," Maggie finally whispered, keeping her eyes away from his. She couldn't stand to look at him, not when she was bawling like a baby. She didn't want him to see her tear-soaked face.
"Hey." He placed two fingers under her chin, forcing her to bring her gaze to meet his. "Everything will be okay. We can get through this." He brought his left hand up to massage lazy, comforting circles on her back as he spoke, "just look at Lori and Shane."
"Yeah! Look at them!" Maggie screeched, her cheeks filling with heat as her voice rose. She took a step back from him and sniffled. "They're falling apart Glenn. Ever since I started to think..." she glanced down at her flat belly and her mouth pinched into a flat line. "I started watching them. Shane is stressed to no end, and Lori..." she ran a hand through her short locks, "she's going out of her mind with worry."
"Well, we can do better," he breathed, trying to catch her before she ran out on him. "This is me and you, us, we've been through so much together. We can do this."
"I'm not even sure yet." She gripped her stomach that started to churn again as all the thoughts made her head spin.
"We'll get a test on the next run, just to be sure? " She nodded slowly at his words, a delicate smile beginning to transform her features. Glenn took this as a good sign and clasped her hands in his, giving them a gentle, reassuring squeeze before leading her back to the cell-block. They could do it, they would do it, no matter what this new, hellish world threw at them.
The sound of the last bullet rang through the air. Both Taylor and Lori knew what the sound meant, and they both gave the other a troubled glance. The darkness seemed to amplify as they both silently accepted that they weren't making it out, that this was their last stance. The guns fell unceremoniously to the floor and they instantly switched to their knives.
"This it?" Lori gulped hard, trying to avoid crying even though that's all she wanted to do at that very moment.
"Looks like it." Taylor peered over at her partner's protruding belly and felt like the wind was knocked out of her. She cursed under her breath, "damn it."
"What is it?" The taller woman barely choked out. The tears had started when she just couldn't hold them back anymore as Shane, Carl, and the unborn baby flashed before her eyes.
"Go!" Taylor spat out, shoving one of the crippled walkers away.
"What?" Lori's eyes practically bulged from her head as she quickly realized what her counterpart was suggesting. "No!" A walker that seemed to move quicker than the other startled them as it lunged towards the two. Taylor struck its skull with her knife, using one leg to kick it back and let gravity extract the weapon back into her hands as the corpse fell. It knocked a few others over, but in moments they were up on their feet again growling and advancing. They were slow and kind of stupid, but they were tough little buggers, that much was obvious.
"Fuck Lori, you have a baby... JUST GO!" Lori didn't have time to say thank you, she just used the realization of her 'friends' sacrifice and made a run for it.
"I'll get help!" She promised as she sprinted away. The flashlight had fallen from her hands and luckily landed in a position that gave Taylor enough light to see her impending death. She knew Lori would keep her promise, but it would be too late. There was no way in hell she would be able to take all the walkers down by herself, she just wasn't trained or skilled enough for the task. Since there were really no good outcomes no matter what she did, Taylor took a deep breath and charged into the group, taking out the first biter with no problem. That's when she tripped over a dead one.
"Are you kidding me?" She couldn't believe that she had fucking tripped, something so stupid to get killed over. It was probably a good thing that no one was here to see the way she would go, in such a cliché, horror movie, dumb blonde way.
Three starving zombies sprang at her the second she went down, a perfect meal just sitting before them. When she dejectedly realized her knife had slipped away in the fall she closed her eyes and began to accept her fate; her life flashed before her eyes and she didn't even care anymore. She had lived a pretty horrible life anyway, even before the dead started walking and eating the living. And besides, this was really no life to live, in all honesty. Always having to look over your shoulder, never knowing if you'll have food the next day, being abandoned by your loved ones. Fuck this place, fuck this world, and fuck everyone in it!
"Holy shit." She knew the voice the instant she heard it. She may have not seen the person, or heard the person, for months... but she knew. Her eyes fluttered open, bewilderment taking her features over. All of the walkers were dead. Every. Single. One.
And that voice, it was him?
"Alexander?" He helped her to her feet and she had to shake her head to make sure she wasn't just dead. Had the walkers torn her apart and she was on the other side now? Heaven or hell, she couldn't be positive if he was here.
"It's me, Tay." He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so sorry." She stepped back to look him up and down, touching him gently at first to make sure she was one hundred percent sure it was all real. Suddenly she slapped him across the face.
"What was that for?" He rubbed his cheek and knitted his eyebrows together, confused by her behavior. "That ain't no way to treat your fiancé."
"You left me in that godforsaken house! I don't even want to look at your face." She started to storm off, until she remembered that she couldn't see three feet in the other direction. She ran back over to grab the flashlight and started to walk off towards the cell-block.
"Hey!" Alex chased after her with a frown. Once he was able to match her speed he tugged on her arm. "I just saved your life. You at least owe me a minute."
"Yeah, get in line with all the other guys that save me and leave me." She snubbed him and yanked herself out of his arm. She couldn't believe any of this was happening, she was having a hard enough time grasping the fact that she was actually alive. Then to add her fiancé coming back on top of everything just really made her wish she had died in the walker horde.
"Other guys? What are you talking about?" He jogged back up to her and stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop. "Don't you even want to know how I get here? Why I'm here?"
"Okay, please enlighten me. How the hell did you find me?" She crossed her arms under her chest, glaring up at him as she awaited his response. He rolled his eyes at her typical behavior, even in the apocalypse she hadn't changed much.
"Oh, like it would have been so terrible if your fiancé was looking for you? You're still a spoiled brat." Before she could back away he struck like a rattle snake, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards him.
"Don't touch me!" Taylor writhed in his grip, trying to escape, but he was too strong. It reminded her of when Shane lost his cool and had done something similar, but he had never done it again after that; she was used to Alexander putting his hands on her.
"What the hell's going on?" Rick kept his gun trained on the stranger. "Who's this?"
"None of you business," Alex spat angrily, forcing Taylor to stand beside him. His temper was getting the better of him, and he was even more unhappy about it; nothing was going according to plan.
"I'm the one with the gun, I think it's my business," the former sheriff remained calm and cool like he always was.
"Rick it's fine," Taylor whispered. "It's Alex..." she waited for him to put the pieces together but he wasn't seeming to pick up on it. "My fiancé."
"Your... oh?" Rick was taken aback for a moment, apparently Taylor wasn't the only one stunned by his arrival. "How'd you get in here?" He finally lowered his gun, keeping his eyes on him since he was seconds from to manhandling Taylor. He barely knew this Alex, but he certainly didn't like him.
"You guys have a breach in the back wall of the prison. I came in to snoop around, didn't even know Tay was in here." He made her stand closer to him, feeling slightly intimated by Rick's presence. Suddenly he looked between the two with a smirk. "The Governor sent me."
"Well I was supposed to stake you guys out. Sort through everything, the in's and out's. But now that I know you're here..." Taylor vaguely listened to Alex as he explained everything. How he'd left her at the house to find help when he ran into the Governor's group, then when he returned to get her she'd already fled. He promised he'd looked for days, weeks even, but she didn't buy it. She was having a hard enough time just listening to the bullshit that was coming out his mouth because something was forcing her towards the fence. There was a small stretch of space where no walkers took up residency, they were all closer to the gates where all the activity and noise was happening. She kept her eyes focused there, just waiting, even though she had no idea what her instinct was telling her to watch for.
"Taylor? Did you hear me?" She shook her head to clear the fog that had formed over her senses.
"No, sorry." Alex's hand fell to her face, letting the fingers brush over her cheekbone.
"You're still beautiful." She rolled her eyes and batted his hand away.
"You think I'm going to forget how you treated me?" Her arms went up to their usual defensive position over her chest. "I know better now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He put both hands on her shoulders, the contact forcing her to look at him.
"I just know it's... it's not okay." She sighed and he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She felt herself surrender to him all over again; just like in the past, he would apologize and she would go right back to him. She couldn't fathom why it kept happening, maybe she didn't have anyone to show her that she could have better. Better than getting hit, or feeling stupid. She felt the sensation of needing to be near the fence happen again and she shoved him off.
"No, Alex. You've done enough damage. I'm done." She went to turn away, but before she left she narrowed her eyes at him with a small smirk. "I meant I know better because I've found better, better than you."
"You been sleeping around on me?" His eyes turned a darker shade, the demon in him becoming apparent again. The look sent shivers down her spine, she knew she shouldn't push the subject, but he wasn't going to back off. He was a like a hungry wolf that would stop at nothing to get what it wanted.
"For christsake Alex, I didn't even know what happened to you." She threw her hands up in exasperation, he couldn't possibly have been serious in her mind. He left her for dead and she was supposed to hold onto hope of them getting back together for the rest of her miserable life?
"So you thought it was okay to just fuck another guy? Why am I not surprised?" Alex rolled his eyes, his tone becoming dangerously venemous.
"Screw you, you cheated on before any of this happened."
"You belong with me," he grabbed her hand and examined it, scoffing when he noticed the lack of ring. "Whadya do with it?"
"I threw it in a lake," she answered defiantly, it had been a long time since she'd spoken up for herself, and it felt good. Taylor remembered throwing the ring into the lake and feeling instant relief wash over her.
"It doesn't matter. I don't care who this person is, you're coming with me. We're leaving this shit hole and going back with the Governor. You're still mine Taylor, ring or not." He reminded her by taking the hand he was already holding and attempting to drag her away.
"No," she vehemently shook her head, using all her strength to break away from him. "You can go back by yourself. You and the Governor can kiss my ass."
She felt the tugging at her heart-strings and she knew she needed to go to the fence now, she didn't care what Alex was going to do, she just had to do it. As soon as she spun around she knew why she had felt that way, why there was such an urge within her to go there.
He stood with the same old leather jacket, the same old crossbow, the same old shaggy hair, but he was wearing something new; a small crooked smile when she finally noticed him. He clutched onto the chain-link fence and nodded to her.
"Daryl!" She ran over to the fence, knowing full well she should alert the others so they could take some walkers out and open the gates, but at that moment she couldn't. He had left, and he had come back, and he was sincerely happy to see her; the complete opposite of the reunion with her fiancé. Taylor slowed down to a jog when she was only a few feet from the fencing, extending her hand to touch his lightly.
"You came back?"
"'Course," he rose an eyebrow and smirked at her, "who the hell else is gonna save yer ass all the time?" He asked, repeating the line from when they had been reunited after Woodbury. She grinned and let her hand fall to his other, just feeling that he was here too. She was really alive, and he was really back.
The whole time he was gone he had regretted not just saying what she needed to hear, but he had a second chance. Right here and now he could make her happy, he wouldn't pass the chance up again after how heartbroken she'd been before.
"I came back 'cause I love ya." He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled at himself for a moment. There. He said it. It sounded so foreign to him, but the smile that it caused her reassured him that it was right. It took him months to face it and accept it, but he wasn't going to be defined by his asshole father, someone else cared for him and he could accept it.
"Don't be exceptin' no flowers n' candy though," he reminded her as tears started to streak down her cheeks. "Yer s'pposed to be happy." He felt the smile he'd been wearing break into a frown.
"I am happy," she sniffled as he reached through the holes in the fence to wipe the tears away, "you have no idea."
Before Daryl could get a reply out a shot rang through the air. It was as if every being -living and dead- stopped at the sound. Taylor's breath hitched in her throat as she watched him slump to the ground opposite her. She noticed the blood begin to ooze from the hole in his side. All the walkers immediately came towards the sound, intrigued by the interesting noise and the smell of blood in the air. Taylor was frozen in terror as they all made their way towards the motionless Daryl and her throat went dry. She was separated by barbed-wire and a mile of fencing.
"Problem solved," Alex appeared from nowhere and whispered in her ear, holding his gun up next to her. She punched him in the face so hard she was pretty certain that both his nose, and her hand, were broken from the impact.
Taylor began to run to the gate as the walkers on the other side took off in Daryl's direction. Rick was outside in a flash, hearing the commotion and already at the gate.
"OPEN IT." She called out to him. He responded by rapidly flinging the fence open. There were no walkers there anymore to take care of. "Give me your guns."
"I... can't?" She noticed Vanessa, Milton, and Merle approaching in a beaten-down truck that seemed to be driving on a flat tire. She ignored them all and turned back to her friend.
"Give me them, Rick!" She shouted with her hands out, he noticed the panic in her voice and actions so he handed them over with no more protest.
"Where are you going?"
"It's Daryl." He tried to ask her to elaborate but she was already gone.
Taylor ran until her lungs felt like they were going to shrivel up and she was going to puke them up. Her heart felt like it had been ripped in two, and now it was as if it blew up from the constant running. She couldn't recall the last time she ran so hard, even in high school when her gym grade counted on it she hadn't run so fast. She had taken biters out one by one as she went along, shooting and running. When she finally made it to the patch of grass of he had been laying in she was floored to see it was unoccupied.
"Daryl!" The blonde yelled out to him in hopes that he'd hear her and call back, or walk over, or anything really. She just needed to see that he was okay. "Daryl!" She heard another gunshot and ran towards it, stumbling over a few dead walkers along the way. When she finally found him he was sitting perched against a tree trunk. His eyelids were half-open and he was surrounded by biters that he'd taken down himself. She dove towards him, falling to her knees in a puddle of mud. When had it even rained? She couldn't be sure, the past few weeks had been such a blur she wasn't sure of anything anymore.
There was a single moving walker near him that he'd managed to fend off, it groaned as its fleeting moments of life slowly passed. She picked up a nearby rock and smashed its head over and over until it no longer made noise. It lay lifeless next to them both, its brains, teeth, rotting flesh splayed everywhere.
"D-Daryl?" She crawled back through the muck, kneeling beside him. His eyelids fluttered open and closed a few times after she spoke his name. "We have to get you inside... uncle Hershel can fix you." She glanced down at the wound, "he can fix that up, no problem."
"No, Tay." He shook his head, an action he quickly regretted when it throbbed like his brain was loose and shaking freely in his skull.
"What do you mean no? Let's go! There'll be more walkers soon." She tugged on his hand but he stayed seated. "Why..." she felt her body go numb as his refusal suddenly made sense. "No."
He grimaced as he lifted his sleeve to reveal a shiny, bright red, fresh bite mark; a small chunk of forearm missing. She felt her throat tighten already knowing what was to come. His breathes were suddenly shallow and short, more jagged as his eyes closed again.
"No." She shook him awake and he locked eyes with her for just a second before shutting again. "We can fix you. Look at me!" She screeched, the tears falling freely without any recollection of even beginning to cry. His eyes snapped back open as she shouted, but his body began to shake slightly, like he was cold, though it was hot and humid out. Taylor felt her own shake with sobs. "You're going to be okay... you're going to be okay." She heard herself repeating the words continuously on a loop, leaning down to put her hands underneath his head. She could see the light start to drain from his shocking blue orbs.
"Tay?" She was surprised he was talking.
"Yeah? I'm here," she whispered, choking back the sobs to talk to him. Her voice was so hopeful, but she knew the ominous thoughts playing in the back of her mind were where the truth was.
"Sing?"
"What?"
"Sing, like you did 'fore. Jackson..." he let his sentence drift off, it was becoming increasingly hard to speak. She nodded, practically gasping for air.
"Okay..." she took the handkerchief out of his pocket to wrap around the bite. The sorrowful blonde scooted behind him, adjusting their positions so his head was in her lap. His lips shut and his head lolled to the side so she whispered loudly, "Daryl."
"I'm 'kay. Sing." His slurred words came out in a meek mumble. She nodded again and brushed some of the tears away, pulling all the strength from within her to sing to him, as his final request. She sniffled a few times and pushed his hair out of his face, watching his bright eyes slowly shut again.
"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you. When all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said, don't leave me here alone. But all that's dead and gone and passed, tonight." She watched his chest rise and fall slowly, in an erratic pattern. She looked up to the sky, silently praying to a God that she wasn't even sure existed at this point. He grumbled, shivering slightly in her arms, his skin starting to turn to fire. "Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound."
She fumbled to reach over him and get the gun out of his holster. She'd stupidly dropped both the ones Rick had given her on the way over. Taylor held it firmly in her hand for a few moments, taking the same slow, uneven breathes as he was, but for a much different reason. She checked the chamber for bullets, just two left. She held it and rocked back and forth while trapped in her own thoughts.
"Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music gone. Gone." She squirmed out from under him. She could have sworn his moans were becoming less like a human in pain and more like one of the things that had bitten him. She stood up and brought the gun with her, taking a few steps back. Taylor stood in that moment for what seemed like an eternity but was merely seconds; just pondering what to do. Panicking over the decision she had to make, the heart-aching, gut-wrenching decision. The decision to end it all, she couldn't let him turn into one of those lifeless monsters, could she?
He had told her so long ago at the quarry, burying the bodies of their group... he said he wanted to be put down if he was going to turn. She had to do, she had to shoot... Daryl.
She felt her body quake with the sobs again, a fresh stream of tears falling rapidly.
"No... please no."
Rick, Merle, Vanessa, and Milton were running in the general direction they'd seen Taylor leave in.
"You're telling me they're immune?" Rick panted as they continued to sprint, he was in awe at this revelation. Milton nodded and continued to jog with the group, Merle heading them off since he knew his baby brother was in some serious trouble.
"Essentially."
"If they're bit, it's our belief that with proper care they'll rebound-" all their heads snapped to the right as they heard two shots fire off. One quickly, the other just a few seconds after. Their stomachs sank when they realized they were too late.
BOOM.
BOOM.
