A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
Chapter Eight-Savior
Carol listened to the sound of gunfire start outside. They could hear muffled yelling and more gunshots. Hershel appeared to be praying. When the gunfire stopped, Carol got up and walked to the door and waited. Carl stood up and grabbed the keys.
"I'm going out there."
"No!" Beth grabbed him and Maggie took the keys. Carol kept her eyes on the door. She heard footsteps running outside and Glenn's voice calling for her and Maggie.
Outside, they could see shadows on the ground by the front gate and could just make out a shape beyond the open gate picking up something from the ground.
"Glenn!" Maggie called for him, unable to see him.
"Bring the lantern! Hurry!" Maggie ran back inside to get the Coleman lantern and both she and Carol ran towards the group.
The first thing Carol saw was Oscar walking back through the gate carrying the body of a child. Glenn shut the gate and quickly locked it. The child was a walker and had been shot through the head. Recognizing the picture that Danielle had shown her, Carol knew it was Abigail. As she and Maggie got closer with the light, they could see three people kneeling on the ground. Danielle's back was to them and Rick knelt on one side of her. Carol started to ask where Daryl was when she realized he was kneeling in front of Danielle. One hand was clenched in a shaking fist on his leg and the other was on the back of her head, pressing her forehead to his. Carol could hear him talking to her and knelt beside him.
"I'm sorry Dani. I'm sorry. Please. I'm sorry," He repeated over and over. Hesitantly, Carol touched his arm and he jerked away from her.
"Daryl." When Carol said his name, he looked at her. His eyes were wet and he looked scared.
"Help her." Carol held up the lantern and saw Danielle's face. Her eyes were blank and staring straight ahead. She was breathing rapidly and shaking.
"Danielle? Dani, are you ok?" Carol tried shaking her shoulder but didn't get a response. She looked from Daryl to Rick. "She's in shock. We have to get her inside, now." Daryl stood and picked Danielle up, cradling her head against his chest. She still didn't move. Daryl walked quickly back to the prison with Carol right beside him. Maggie watched them go inside. She felt Glenn's arms around her and turned to hold him tight. After reassuring herself that he was still there, still alive she looked at Rick.
"What happened Rick? What's wrong with Dani?" Rick was visibly shaken and it took him a moment. He motioned towards Oscar, who was covering Abigail's body with his jacket.
"Merle showed up. He brought Abigail with him, like she was a gift to Danielle from the Governor," Rick looked at the body on the ground and caught his breath before continuing. "Only I don't think Danielle saw her as a walker. I think she saw her alive. She ran to the fence and begged me to give her the keys. Abigail reached through the fence for her and Daryl ran over to pull her away. Then Merle walked up to that little girl and put his gun against her head. Danielle was begging Daryl to save Abigail and Merle pulled the trigger. All Danielle saw was her little girl getting shot in the head and dying all over again." Maggie put her hand over her mouth.
"What happened to Daryl? Why was he like that?" Rick ran his hands through his hair and shook his head.
"I don't know. We were all in shock. After Merle and his crew pulled out of here, Daryl started pacing back in forth in front of her, yelling at her to get up. He threw his gun down and tried shaking her but she wouldn't move, wouldn't say nothin'. Then he just dropped down in front of her, telling her he was sorry." They turned as Carl called to Rick. They started back in, all except for Oscar. He sat down beside Abigail's body.
"Y'all go back in there. I'll stay with her so she's not alone. Her momma don't need to see her like this." Rick nodded his thanks to Oscar and the rest of the group hurried back inside.
Once inside the prison, Daryl refused to take Danielle into one of the cells.
"She gets scared in small places. I ain't putting her in there." He looked at Carl. "Grab one of the mattresses and bring it out here." Carl hurried to do what he was told and with Beth's help dragged it out of the cell. Daryl carefully laid Danielle down and Carol covered her with a blanket. She helped Hershel to the ground so he could look Danielle over. He felt her head, checked her eyes and felt her pulse.
"Her heart's beating fast, too fast. And her breathing is shallow. She needs to come out of this. Keep her warm and try to calm her down. If we don't, she could have a heart attack and die." Daryl shook his head.
"No, that's not happening." He sat beside her and pulled her into his lap. He wrapped the blanket around her and pulled her to him. Carol helped Hershel up and they sat back at the table, watching and praying. Maggie, Rick and Glenn walked in and Carol motioned for them to be quiet as Daryl started talking to Dani.
"I'm sorry Dani. This was my fault. But I'm gonna fix it. I don't know how yet, but it will get dealt with, don't you worry about that. But you can't stop fighting. You're stronger than that. If you quit now, that son of a bitch wins. Just don't quit. Do you hear me? Don't you dare quit." He looked at everyone and didn't know what else to do or what more to say. He wasn't about to lose anyone else so he held her. Carol wiped the tears from her face and Maggie leaned on Glenn. Finally, Danielle blinked and her eyes seemed to focus. She took a deep breath and her face crumbled as she finally let loose all the tears, grief, and anger that she had bottled up for days. She screamed, cried and fought Daryl but he held her until she finally buried her face in his shoulder, held onto him and let everything go. He helped her to her feet, still holding her as she cried. He looked at Carol who walked over and put her hand on Danielle's shoulder. Dani turned and Carol embraced her. Maggie joined them and both women helped her walk to the table. They got water to wash her face and while she was cooperative, she wouldn't speak.
Daryl waited a moment then went outside. He was confused about what was going on in his head. He had never cared what people thought of him before. He was always the white trash punk, Merle Dixon's younger brother. Never expected to amount to anything. A mouthy little shit was what his dad called him, when he'd acknowledge him at all. Just like his brother. But his brother was the one who'd gone to juvie, not Daryl. Daryl had raised himself and he was responsible for who he was now, not Merle. Being around this group, he'd found his purpose and was finally out from under Merle's shadow. But Merle was still there, still telling him what to do, still ordering him around and he was done listening.
He sat down in the dirt, wiping the tears from his eyes with the heel of his palm. He wasn't about to start crying again. He thought about Dani and wanted her to be ok, to be the fighter she had been when she dragged herself through that field of walkers. Carol was the first woman to ever show him any affection and while he cared about her, it was more friendship than anything else. The two women Merle had set up for him years ago so his little brother "wouldn't be no queer" meant nothing to him and he couldn't even remember what they looked like. Danielle was the first woman he'd ever felt anything for and he still didn't know how to process it. He just wanted her to be alright. Hearing a noise, he took out his flashlight and shined it around. He saw Oscar sitting by Abigail's body, got up and walked over to join him.
"How's Danielle?" Oscar asked, looking shaken.
"She's better, I guess." He started to lift the jacket Oscar had placed over the body when Oscar stopped him.
"You don't want to see what they did to her." Daryl looked at him.
"Is it bad?" Oscar nodded.
"That was your brother in charge out there wasn't it?" Daryl nodded. "I had a brother like that once. He was shot dead five years ago robbing a gas station up near Alpharetta." Daryl didn't respond and lifted the jacket off of Abigail. He looked away immediately.
"Ah shit. No."
They had pulled out all of her teeth and had pulled out her fingernails. There were surgically removed pieces of her skin and large needle marks on her arms. The skin on her wrists and ankles were shredded, probably from where they had her tied down while they experimented on her. He covered his mouth and closed his eyes as he couldn't help but imagine what had been done. Oscar glanced at her and quickly looked away.
"Monsters did this to her," he said. "Those people in Woodbury, there's no way they know what the Governor is doin'. People, good people, wouldn't let them do this to a child." Daryl opened his eyes.
"And my brother's one of the ones that did this." Oscar reached over and pulled the jacket back over Abigail's face. Daryl stood, his hands clenched in fists. Oscar looked up at him.
"I'll get her buried in the morning, before y'all get up. Before Danielle can see her." Daryl nodded.
"Good idea. I'm goin' back inside. You need help digging that grave in the morning, you come get me." Oscar shook his head.
"Nah, I can manage one this small. You just take care of things in there." Daryl turned and walked back inside.
Rick and Hershel watched as the women took care of Danielle. She was still pale but she was no longer sweating and appeared to be breathing steady. Her pulse was still high but not as dangerously high as it had been. She still hadn't spoke.
"Hershel, is she going to be alright?" Hershel shook his head.
"Physically, yes. Mentally, only time will tell on that. It bothers me that she won't speak." They looked back when they heard the outside door close. Daryl was hanging back in the doorway. Rick walked over and put his hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?" Daryl nodded.
"Oscar's gonna bury Abigail tomorrow morning, before Dani can see her. She doesn't need to know what those bastards did to her little girl." Rick looked over at Danielle and then at Daryl.
"Are you ok?" Daryl brushed it off.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He stepped into the room. Carol looked over when he called her name.
"How's she doin'?" Carol shook her head and pulled the blanket higher over Danielle's shoulders.
"She needs to rest. She'll be better in the morning." Carol and Maggie helped her to her feet and walked with her to the landing. Maggie spread out Danielle's bedroll and helped her lay down. She pulled the blanket over Danielle's shoulder and turned to see Daryl walking up the stairs. Maggie stood and passed him on the stairs.
"Talk to her Daryl. She'll listen to you." He nodded and sat down next to Danielle. The silence was broken by Judith's cries. Danielle sat up suddenly, her eyes wide. Daryl put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, it's alright." She turned and looked at him.
"Merle killed my little girl." Daryl squeezed her shoulder and she lay back against him. This was definitely outside of his comfort zone but it felt right. And if this was what it took to make her better, he'd do it. He put his arm around her and pulled her to him.
"I know he did. And I'm sorry I couldn't stop it." Dani shifted closer.
"She was already dead when he did it, wasn't she?" Daryl nodded.
"You know she was. She didn't feel a thing." She sat up suddenly and looked at him, anger and pain in her eyes.
"I want them dead. I want them all dead. I want them to hurt like they hurt me and like they hurt Abigail. I want to watch them suffer before I kill them." She started to get up and Daryl pulled her back. He held her chin and forced her look at him.
"You're not goin' anywhere, you hear me? I know what you want to do and trust me, I want to do the same thing right now. The only thing that's keepin' me from goin' to Woodbury and killing every one of those bastards is knowin' that things need to be done right and the right way is to have a plan or we're all dead." Dani reached up and touched his face. He flinched but didn't pull away. She leaned over and gently kissed the corner of his mouth.
"What was that for?" he asked, his voice barely over a whisper. She shook her head and moved over to her side of the landing.
"Good night Daryl."