Chapter Thirty-Three:
"Why'd you bring a shotgun to the party?
Everybody's got one, there's nothing new about it
Want to make a statement?
You should have come without it"
"Why'd you bring a shotgun to the party" The Pretty Reckless
October 2014
One hour earlier
"Stay in th' prison." Daryl pointed towards cell block C impatiently. "If thin's get bad, I'll come get ya."
"No! What if somethin' happens!" Heaven bounced a screaming Beau against her hip. "I ain't leavin' ya. Not again."
Frustrated, Daryl left her to join Rick and the others by the gate. Looking back on it, he regretted this very moment. Glancing back once, he saw her tear streaked cheeks and howling son.
X
"Heaven!"
Beth grabbed the hunter's arm and tried to pull him away from the smoking remains of a place they once called home. She had never seen him so distressed, nor had she seen tears flow freely down his dirty cheeks. He was always so guarded, so solemn.
"Heaven!"
He was screaming her name like his life depended on it. Howling it like a wolf to the moon. Walkers ambled towards them, attracted to the noise. Beth begged him to just leave it and go, that they'd find her. They always did. She was crying, ignoring the tears that cleansed her own pink cheeks.
"Daryl, we gotta go!" Beth pleaded, her tiny arms squeezing his forearm with all her might. "We'll find her but we gotta go!"
She was trying to be brave. Trying to be optimistic like she always was. Then the sight of a female Walker made the two fall silent. The front of her shirt was stained in blood, her limbs limp like she was born without bones. Long black hair veiled her face but the twin piercings on her lips gave away her identity.
"Zoey," Beth whimpered, choking out a sob. "No…"
Daryl took a step back, his heart sinking. If this was what had happened to Zoey, then…
X
"I'm glad he met ya." Merle sniffed, staring out through the gate towards the field of Walkers. "He deserves ta be happy."
"Everyone deserves ta be happy, Merle." Heaven shifted Beau on her hip, one hand gripping the metal diamonds of the fence. "Even an ol' cocksucker like yerself."
Merle chuckled, glancing down at the woman that had given up everything to stay by his brother's side. The girl that used to sneak into their rundown trailer at night just to get away from her own home. The woman he watched his brother cry over while she lay unresponsive in her hospital bed.
"Nah, he deserves it more."
X
Daryl took out all his pent up anger on that pinned Walker. The house they had found the moonshine in reminded him of the shithole he used to live in. After Heaven had moved in about a year after his father died, she had cleaned it up. Merle used to toss sexiest remarks at her while she scrubbed the floors and scrubbed out the fridge with a hose pulled in through the window.
The old moonshine did nothing to calm his grief. If anything, it reminded him that Heaven and Beau where gone. His son's one armed teddy resting on the floor beside the over turned crate they had used as a table.
Beth wrapped her arms around his middle and tried to calm him. He had promised. He promised that he would go back for her if things got bad. But he didn't. His only guess was that Zoey was with Heaven when all hell broke loose within the prison. That she was bit trying to escape. What if…
He choked on a sob, leaning against the side of the house.
X
"Yer bein' slow. Hell, were ya like this with that lil'n in yer belly? Shit, woman."
Heaven turned towards the rough voice, then glanced back over her shoulder towards the smoking prison. Up over the hillside, she watched the last of the remaining survivors scatter out into the woods. Her heartbeat roared in her ears.
Turning around to where she heard the voice of Merle, she saw nothing but trees and dead leaves.
so im trying to get back into the flow- please review! i miss them...