I am sorry for too many slow chapters in a row. And the way this story turned out in the last chapters. I feel like I kind of lost it. Writing all emotional is maybe not the best idea I had in the last weeks … But I'll try my best to get back on track. Feel free to complain, comment or anything. Above all, have fun reading!
Daryl's POV
I was driving pretty fast. We needed to get the antibiotics asap. When we had left prison, ill ones had died quick. It were already ten people down after the incident in cell block D. I was afraid when we would come back there would be more dead people. I looked over to Michonne who came with us even she hadn't been exposed. Did she come because of Ella? Ella … this girl … no woman ever arose such feelings inside me. I had felt dead for years and suddenly this female came in my live. I had never thought about a woman so much, had never cared for anyone but me and my brother. We needed to get back fast. She had looked pretty ill when I had left her.
Looking ahead a walker stood on the street. I hadn't been concentrated. I shook my head to get clear. It was just like last time. Thinking too much will do damage and thinking about her will kill me some day.
Michonne hadn't said a word since we entered the car. "Hey, I know you weren't running off." Her eyes were still on the road. "The thing is, the trail went cold." Merle watched me in the rearview. Back then, when Michonne had set out for the governor the first time, he had wanted to go with her. And if she had at least liked him a bit, they would have gone together. And if Ella hadn't been almost dead. "You know that right?!" I looked at her again, but still no word from her. "If it was any different, I'd be right out there with you." She looked at me sighing, her eyes not giving away her thoughts. I didn't really know her the way Ella did. Ella … her last words to me … Love you … no one had ever said these words to me. Not my mother, never my father. And I never had said these words myself. Hadn't ever loved myself. So why should she? And what could I have told her?
"You need to stay back at the prison for her." She finally said. "If you would go out there, she would definitely follow." She emphasized her every word.
"Sounds like a Deja-vu to me." Merle chuckled in the backseat.
"When she is fully recovered, she will go out there too. You know that, right?" She said and all of a sudden it hit me: She was right. I looked at her again, her eyes piercing through me.
"This badass will stay put in the prison." Merle cursed. I wondered who had suddenly spat in his breakfast. "She won't go anywhere soon."
"What the hell are ya talkin' about?" I turned slightly back, but he didn't look at me.
"Nothin." He crossed his arms. "Better look ahead!" He told me and I turned.
I was about to talk back, when Michonne tried to put on the radio. "Maybe she won't leave the one place that is safe the most."
"The prison isn't safe anymore." Tyrese said a little absent. I didn't like the look he was wearing. Karen's death seemed to have devastated him.
"I wasn't talking about the prison." Michonne threw back and looked at me.
What the hell was she telling me? "Terminus …." Did that just came out of the radio? "… determined to survive …" A voice was speaking on the radio.
I checked the frequency, when a shadow made me look up. That's when I saw walkers on the road. "No!" I screamed. Knocking some of them over.
Back at the prison
I had tried to stand up, but it wasn't possible. My legs hadn't been working the way I wanted them to. I should better be in cell block D where Doctor S was. Hershel had checked on me. Seeing me lying on the floor all wet of sweat and breathing heavily, he had finally told me I got the flu. Happiness had flushed me and I knew it hadn't been right to be happy to be deadly ill. But it was better than the other option that would have killed me sooner or later. I was too weak to go to Cell Block D so I had to hold out here. Hershel couldn't help me walk. He had left telling me he would fine a way to get me to the others. But now … Being alone, sitting on the floor with a rifle in my hand was maybe not the best idea. Fear took hold of my heart when I felt my skin burning.
"Hey there." I must have fallen asleep. My eyes were heavy and it was hard to open them. Suddenly Jess was close next to me.
"You shouldn't be here." I had grown weaker in a few hours and sweat like hell. "I have the flu." I could almost feel life dripping of my skin.
"It's okay." He looked like a gangster with the scarf over his mouth. "How are you feeling?"
"Beyond shitty." I laughed weakly, trying to stay conscious.
He put a hand on my forehead. "You have a high fever. Drink some tea." He handed me a cup. "Hershel made it. Everyone is drinking it to kill the symptoms." The cup felt heavy or was I just losing control over my body? Jess helped me holding it.
"Where is Hershel?" I drank half the cup not minding that it was damn hot.
"In cell block D. Helping Doctor S …" He looked helpless and sad. Maybe the children he had been with were now ill too. "You need to fight through it. It's the symptoms that kill you, not the flu." He grabbed a wet napkin and handed it to me. "Put that on your forehead."
"This sucks." I sighed heavily. "How are you feeling?" I asked him, drinking the rest of the tea. When I finished the cup I coughed. Looking into my hand I saw blood. Quickly I rubbed the blood into my jeans hoping Jess didn't see it.
"I'm fine …" He didn't look that happy about it.
"What's wrong about being not ill?" I asked. My voice sounded strangely weak.
He looked to the ground. "Just when I found you … when I had you back in my life … you get ill."
"Jess …" He should be cheering me up, not making me feel worse. "I am still here." At least for now.
"Do you remember the last time you were ill?" He sat down right next to me. Our legs were slightly touching.
I nodded. "You stole the meds from work." Jess had many jobs when he had been a student. One of the jobs had been at the local hospital. My eyes were closed now. Even I wanted them to open I had no energy nor will to do so. Why was it always me to fight the thin line between dead and being alive?
"I never got caught." He laughed. I could just breathe, I didn't want to move, didn't want to talk. I just wanted to sleep or lay in cold water. "Come on, I'll get you into D."
It was dark and warm. I felt like being in the tropical rain forest just the trees were missing. I blinked, but my surroundings were mere forms. Everything felt strange. And above all, I was alone. Again. Jess seemed to be gone. I tried to get up, but fell back hard. Blood tasted in my mouth. I took another look around and dimly saw my surroundings. I wasn't in the tower no more, but in a cell. Had Jess carried me here? A Coughing. Someone was coughing outside my cell, it echoed from the walls. I must be in the moribund cell block. The door was closed, maybe locked. I tried to sit up, this time more careful, trying to not hit my head again. Every movement was straining torture.
A gnarling. Where there walkers outside my cell? I stood up, making my way to the door. It felt like hours before I reached the bars. Looking out, there was a walker in the cell opposite of me. Someone must have died and was now trying to push himself through the bars to get out.
Looking down on my arms my skin was all red. As if it was burning. Another gnarling. A walker roamed the room. It was pitch back inside the prison, maybe it was night. Damn it … I recognized him, it was Sam. He was so young … or had been. "No …" He looked my direction and made his way towards me. I stepped back from the bars. He couldn't hurt me in here. I was looked away in safety. He stretched out his arms through the bars to grab me. I walked backwards until my back met the wall. The gnarling grew louder as if he tried to talk me into coming closer.
Suddenly an electric buzz echoed the prison and all the doors swung open. "What the …" Dead Sam approached me with a hungry look. The cell was small and beside me was the bed. I had no place to escape or run right threw him. Nor did I think I had the strength to fight him. But I had to. There was nothing in here I could use to kill him. Sam grabbed my shoulders hard. When his nails pierced my skin I cried out loud. His eyes were all bloody red, the blood was dripping from his eyes as if he had cried. His face was close, too close, he opened and closed his mouth, making an awful sound. I tried to push him away, but the fever made me weak. His once perfect teeth came closer sharp. I wanted to resist, I wanted to fight, but my body didn't work the way I wanted it to. With one last move, I wanted to push him away and try to run for the open cell door. But my arms suddenly went limp and Sam crushed into me, his teeth digging into my neck. It burned, it all burned.
I screamed in agony, but when I opened my eyes again, Glenn looked into my eyes. "Glenn?" I breathed heavy. It had been a dream, just a dream. No, a nightmare … a fucking nightmare. I wasn't dead, I was lying in a bed.
"You just can't try to keep it simple, can you?" He laughed weakly. He was pale and under his eyes were dark circles.
"How're you feeling?" I breathed.
"As fucked up as I look." He coughed. "Do you have any pain?"
"I am thirsty." I responded slowly. I felt like my mouth couldn't be as fast as my thoughts. "I feel like I am burning from the inside." Glenn stepped back, behind him on the table was a thermos. He handed me a cup of tea. "Where are the others?" I tried to drink, but my arms wouldn't lift the way I wanted. Glenn helped me so I could drink it, like Jess had done before. Jess …
"Sasha is helping Hershel with the ill ones." He took the empty cup from me. "Hershel and this guy … Jess, they are crazy. They are the only ones not ill in here and trying to fight the flu." He sat down next to me on the bed.
"He had been working at the hospital. He knows some stuff." I sat up slowly. A wet napkin fell from my head.
"You are not talking of Hershel, are you?"
"No … Jess. I know him … he was a friend." I went quite. Outside the cell somebody was coughing again. It felt as if it was emphasizing the silence instead of a chirping.
He took the wet napkin out of my hands. "He is helping a lot." Sweat was all over his face.
"And you helped me?" I looked from the napkin in his hands to his eyes.
He nodded. "You were all twitching and mumbling in your sleep." He put the napkin into a bowl of water. "These people need help, we can't let their hopes down." Again he gave me a smile. "They see us keeping on, maybe that helps …" He was talking as slowly as me. We both needed rest, sleep, meds.
The last time I had seen Glenn was at the graves. We had been digging graves. I weren't so wrong after all. They should keep a hole for me. "What about Maggie?"
"She is fine, looking after the others. Someone needs to stay strong." He sighed and stood up. "I need to help Hershel."
"I can help too." I said, trying to get up.
"If you feel okay to help, come help, but if you feel like lying down, stay here." He wasn't even able to stand by himself. His right hand was on the wall to steady himself. Yet he helped.
"I can help." I finally stood up and dragged myself after him. There was almost no light outside my cell. "Where is Hershel?" The walking was tiring and speaking at the same time was grueling. And where was Jess? I didn't dare to say it out loud.
He didn't answer. I looked into the cells left and right. The people all looked as fucked up as Glenn and probably me. Some of the people were just lying in bed, some weren't moving. Were they dead already? A metallic sound made me look ahead. Hershel was shutting the cell doors.
He came closer, closing every cell door he passed and calming the person inside. "What are you doing?" Hershel asked me.
"Helping." I tried a smile. "Don't waste your breath Hershel."
He sighed. "Glenn, go help Mikey breathing. Sasha collapsed and is now resting in her cell." Glenn nodded and walked upstairs slowly. On his way he coughed too. Did he spit blood? "And you go to Sasha, someone has to hold her IV Caleb had made."
"Who is Caleb?" As if it mattered right now.
"Doctor S!" He put a hand on my shoulder. "Talk to her. Sasha is no giving up. Just like you." He took the hand from my shoulder and touched my forehead. "You have fever. Drink the tea. There is a thermos in Sasha's cell." He pointed behind him. "Hang in there. They'll be back soon." He passed me.
"Hershel …" He turned to me again. "Where is Jess? I mean ... is he okay?"
"Yeah, he is fine." He stepped closer. "He is getting the dead outside." Hershel whispered. I nodded in understanding and he patted my shoulder. He walked on and talked to the next patient in his cell.
There were more dead people … we were still dying in here. I dragged myself along the corridor, looking in every cell. They were all closed, but one cell was open. It must be Sasha's. A few more steps and I was there. Sasha was lying on the floor, a pillow under her head. "Hey pretty." I smiled and tried to look as healthy as I could. She looked up to me. "Hershel said I could help." Hershel had already put up the IV. I took the small plastic back and held it up so the infusion could work better.
"Thought you were knocked out." Her words came in piles and her eyes were closed again.
"I'm all roly-poly." I sat down on the bed. "Stay with me."
She smiled with eyes closed. "I don't intend to die." Her breath was uneven. "Tell me something … I need to hear someone talk." I was thinking hard what to say. "How do you met Daryl?" She asked.
Sensitive topic. "At the road. He was with his lovely brother." I laughed lowly. I tried to recall the moment I had met Daryl, the moment I had seen him for the first time. I told her about all the people I had met there, how we had set up a camp. About Amy, Andrey and happy moments. The words came out slow and low. It was hard, the holding and the talking, but I would stay with her until I cant breathe no more.
A scream made me stop talking. "Stay right here!" I stood up and walked to the door, closing it behind me.
"Hershel." A girl screamed.
"Ella, don't …" Sasha tried, but she needed to rest.
"I'll be right back. Keep up!" I winked at her. But after I turned around I felt my heart beating fast. It wasn't because of the scream but of my body moving. It was too straining.
Looking ahead I saw the back of a women, who threw herself at Hershel. Walker! "Everyone stay in your cells!" Hershel shouted. He was still caring more for the people than for himself. I tried to walk as fast as possible to him, but I wasn't fast at all. A cell opened at the end of the corridor and a man with a gun stepped out. Another door opened right next to Hershel and a woman kicked the Walker away from Hershel. I was almost at his side, when I heard another snarling. A young zombified boy came out of a cell fast, biting the man with the gun. The man cried out loud and shot my direction. The bullet flew through the air, I could feel its power next to my head, when the woman who had helped Hershel cried out loud and fell to the ground.
I threw myself to Hershel. "Are you okay?" He nodded bewildered.
I took a look around. The boy was noshing at the man who was screaming loudly. To our other side were two female walkers. "Doctor S has guns in his cell." Hershel told me.
"Come on boy!" I looked up to see a girl luring a walker to follow her.
Hershel gave me a knife and pushed me to the stairs. "Go help her, I'll get the guns!"
The stairs looked as if they had grown. I had to get to the top of this long flight of stairs. I grabbed the handles and pulled myself up the stairs. When I heard the girl screaming in panic, I saw her lying on the floor, the zombie on top of her. I had to hurry, I ran all the way and ripped the walker away from her.
Hershel was behind me to push the walker over the gangway. "Are you okay?"
The girl was talking fast, while my head swam from the run. I just heard Glenn's name. Hershel seemed to have it all under control. He grabbed the girl and put her in a cell. I looked back and saw Glenn lying on the floor. "No …" I whispered, making my way towards him. "Glenn, hold on. Glenn!" Blood came out of his mouth and he was wheezing lowly. But at least he was alive … still alive. "Hold on Glenn!" I kneeled down beside him and felt his pulse. "Hershel!" I cried. Looking into the corridor I saw Hershel fighting with hands coming out of a cell. "Hershel!"
"It's okay Ella." I heard cracking bones.
I turned my attention back to Glenn. "Come on brother. Don't leave me alone." I sighed in frustration. A wave of helplessness came crushing down on me. Suddenly Glenn opened his eyes, began to wheeze loudly and rolled to the side. Blood came out of his mouth. "Oh no …" What could I do?
Hershel was back at my side. "Glenn!" He saw the blood. "We still have something." He stood up and ran. Another wave of terror flushed me. My whole body began to shake uncontrollable. Screams and shots resounded throughout the cell block. Suddenly I felt as if some had knocked me down and I fell to the ground next to Glenn. I looked into his horrific blank eyes. I couldn't move but stare at him. There was a movement outside the cell and I tried to look up. Did I really move? The screams around me were getting louder, I looked to Glenn again. But it wasn't Glenn lying opposite of me, it was my brother. It was just like back then, when we had the motorcycle crash.
He was smiling at me. "Does it hurt?" I had missed his voice.
"No." I now realized I didn't feel pain no more and I didn't sweat. "Am I dead?" He didn't answer, but kept on smiling. He stretched out his hand and touched my cheek. Before I had felt fear and horror, but now I kind of felt relieved. "Is it over now?"
"I hope so." He pulled away his hand. "You need to hang in there a while longer. It will be over soon."
"Mhh…" I breathed enjoying the feeling of freedom. There was no need to worry anymore. That was it. I was feeling one with myself and closed my eyes. All at once my body began to shake again. The peaceful feeling was gone and spasms went through my whole body.
If you made it till here: Thanks for reading guys ;) Have a great day and see you soon!