SOME THINGS LAST - CHAPTER THREE - THE UGLY TRUTH
After she had told them what happened to her the last few days and told them that she is Daryl's fiancée. They looked at her with a quite shocked expression on their faces. Lizzy assumed Daryl never even had said a word about her, but she wasn't bothered about it. He never was the person to talk about his thoughts or feelings. Maybe he had moved on, maybe he really thought she was dead, maybe he had given up, something she couldn't do. Ever since the outbreak, she couldn't think about anything else but Daryl. She wanted to find him, she had to find him. She tried to track him down, before the outbreak he had taught her how to track someone or something. She wasn't quite as good as him, but the outbreak had made her even a better tracker.
Suddenly she got pulled back to reality when Herschel cleared his throat. ''I'll make sure Maggie will bring you some fresh clothes. Just take some rest, you'll heal soon enough.'', Herschel said. Lizzy gave him a nod before he left the room. ''If you need anything just let us know.'', Rick told her, before he and Shane both left the room. Now it was just her and Daryl.
''Take some sleep, you'll need it.'', Daryl spoke. She looked at him and shook her head. ''You ain't telling me you're still thinkin' 'bout leavin'!'', he spat. She let out a sigh and stood up from the bed. She walked toward the window and looked outside. They had a quite big biter free land, but for how long? ''Yes, I need to leave.'', she replied. She turned around, to face Daryl. She could already see by the look on his face he wasn't agreeing with her. ''I need my stuff. They're still back in that town. I want them back.'', she explained. She was sure Daryl wouldn't understand and he probably wouldn't let her go. ''Hell no.'', he spat.
Once again she let out a sigh and her eyes looked out of the window again. She could see people walking around the farm, doing their chores probably. In the back of her mind she knew she couldn't win this discussion. He simply just wouldn't let her go. While she was thinking about a way to get out and get her stuff, she could feel a pressure on her leg building up. She bite down her lip and looked at her leg. She was still wearing the half teared apart dress she had been wearing for a few days now. She could see the bare skin her leg was showing and she could see a glimpse of her stitched wound. Daryl must have noticed her wound started to hurt again. ''Why don't you go and some rest?'', he told her in a softer tone. He was right. She nodded in agreement and sat down on the bed once again. ''You don't have to stay.'', she said as she pulled the blankets over herself. ''I ain't leavin' you Liz!'', he spat out, while he was standing across the room. ''You've left me before, or have you already forgotten, huh?!'', she spat back at him. Maybe she should have thought twice about saying that, she knew she had hurt him with these words. ''Sorry.'', she quickly mumbles as she looked down to the blanket. ''Don't be.'', he replied. ''You're right, I shouldn't have left you. I won't leave you again Liz.'' He walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked at her and their eyes met once again. ''Promise me.'', she whispered after a moment of silence. ''I promise you. I will never leave you again Liz'', he whispered back and the end of her lips curled into a small smile.
Daryl stood up from the bed while keeping his eyes on her. ''Just go to sleep.'', he said. Even through it was the middle of the day and she had just woken up, she still felt tired and exhausted. Daryl knew. He could always see when there was something wrong with her. ''Only if you're staying.'', she replied. Daryl nodded. He wasn't quite surprised by the fact that she wanted him to stay. He sat down in the chair next to the bed, the chair he had been sitting on before, when he was waiting for her to wake up. Before he could sit down, Lizzy grabbed his hand. As he looked at her she shook her head in disagreement. ''No, not there.'', she softly said. She patted with her hand on the empty spot of the matrass next to her. Without complaining he sat down next to her, above the blankets.
Even through they didn't touch each other, she was glad he was staying with her. He was the only one she trusted here. ''You trust these people?'', she asked. Daryl sighed while pulling his hands behind his head. ''Jus' go to sleep Liz'', he said. She turned her back toward him while pulling some more blankets along with her. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall asleep.
''I thought you were dead.'', she could hear Daryl mumbling. Her eyes went open again and she turned around to lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. ''You just assumed I was dead?'', she frowned. Why would he think she didn't had a chance to survive? She could take care of herself and he knew that. He had even taught her. ''I went back for you. When I saw your house it was burned down to the ground, together with a few burned bodies. One of them was your ma, one looked like you, a lot. I really thought it was you Liz. If I knew you'd still be-'', he mumbled. ''I know.'', she mumbled back to him. She could feel her eyes become watery and she turned her back to him once more. She knew her mom had died. She had seen it happen with her own eyes and there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes again and she could feel a tear rolling down her cheek. She quickly wept the tear away and sniffed. After that she felt quickly asleep once more.
When she woke up again, Daryl was gone. He probably must have left the minute she felt asleep. She sighed and sat up straight in bed. She looked around the room and noticed some clothes laying on the chair across the room. Apparently someone had brought her some fresh clothes. Thank god, she felt dirty wearing the ripped apart dress. She stood up and walked over to the chair to grab the clothes. A skinny jeans and a simple black t-shirt. That would do just fine.
''If you want, you can take a shower. Be easy on the water.'', she heard an unknown female voice say. She turned around to face the woman. She might be just a few years younger then her. The woman had short brown hair and hazel colored eyes. ''A shower?'', she mutters. She couldn't believe it. She haven't been able to get a shower ever since shit hit the van. ''Yeah, we don't have a lot of water to use, but I think you can use one.'', the female smiled. Lizzy nodded in agreement. It would be good for her to clean herself up. ''If there's anything I can do for you, just call me.'', the female said before she left again. ''Wait!'', Lizzy said and the female stopped walking. ''Can you get Daryl for me please?'', Lizzy asked. ''Sure.'', the female replied. ''Oh and by the way, I'm Maggie. I'm Herschel's daughter.'', the female continued. ''I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy. Everyone does.'', she replied. Maggie nodded with a smile and left the room again.
In the time before Daryl had appeared, Lizzy went to look around the house. Soon she stumbled upon another bedroom with a young blonde girl laying in bed. Lizzy wondered what was wrong with her. She knocked on the door before she entered the room. The girl looked straight at her. Lizzy noticed the girl must have been sixteen or seventeen years old. A few years older then her little sister, Charlie would be. She looked away from the girl when she thought about her sister. She bit down her lip, to stop herself from tears coming up.
''Who are you?'', the girl asked. Lizzy looked at the girl again. She had been lost in her own thoughts again. She swallowed before she answered. ''I-I'm Lizzy. Who are you?'', she mumbles while looking at the girl. ''I'm Beth.'', the girl replied.
Maggie walked in and saw the two talking to each other. ''I've been looking for you.'', Maggie said while looking at Lizzy. Lizzy looked up, her eyes moved away from Beth and went straight into Maggie's eyes. ''I see you've already met my baby sister.'', she continued. Lizzy walked back to the door. ''Sorry, I should go.'', Lizzy spoke with her head down while she was on her way out. ''It's fine. The both of you can use some company.'', Maggie told her, blocking her way while looking at her. Lizzy looked once again at Maggie and nodded in agreement. Maybe she was right. She sat down on a chair in the room and looked at Beth. ''What happend to you?'', Lizzy asked her. Maggie left the room once more and she could hear her walking down stairs.
After fifteen minutes, Maggie came back with some food, for the both of them. It wasn't a very huge meal, but it was enough. Beth had told her that she wanted to give up. That everyone was dying, that she was tired of losing beloved ones. Lizzy couldn't disagree with her. She was right about some part, but there were still some beloved ones left and it was worth it to spent more time with them. Lizzy wanted to ask a few questions, like how they ended up here and how they keep things safe.
Before she could ask anything else, she noticed Daryl standing in the doorway. He looked at her and made a gesture with his head to come with him. ''I'll see you around.'', Lizzy said to Beth before she got up and left. Following Daryl back into the room where she had been sleeping before. She sat down on the bed, taking a rest. Her leg was still hurting. ''What's wrong?'', he asked. Lizzy looked down at her hands before she replied. ''Maggie told me I could use the shower.'' Lizzy noticed Daryl was carrying his crossbow. Ofcourse she remembered his crossbow. It brought back a lot of memories. Like the day he got the crossbow, his Uncle Jess had gotten it for his fourteenth birthday. She had never seen him so happy before. A small smile came upon her lips. ''So?'', he replied and Lizzy was drawn back from her thoughts to reality. ''Could you help me? I'm afraid I'll slip out or somethin'.'', she said. He nodded. ''Yeah sure.'', he said while setting his crossbow down on the ground. She got up again and grabbed the fresh clothes Maggie had given her. She walked her way to the bathroom, with Daryl following her.
Even through her wounds Lizzy could get out of her own clothes. It wasn't that hard to take off an half ripped apart dress. The dress dropped down on the ground and she got under the shower before she turned the water on. Daryl was looking at her, no, he was staring at her. Even through she was standing with her back toward him, she could feel his gaze on her. He was staring at her back. She could feel the hot water on her, making her bruises and cuts hurt. She closed her eyes. ''What the 'ell did they do to ya?'', she could hear Daryl ask. She let out a sigh before she replied. ''I told you they wanted information from me.''
Daryl walked over to her and looked at her back. He ran down one of his hands over her back, stoking her scars with his fingertips. He remembered all of them, but there were a few he had never seen before. She didn't had as much scars as him through, but he hated the idea of her getting hurt. He wanted to know what they did to her, everything, but he realized it would only make him more angry then he already was. He bite down his lip, looking away while he got his hand from her back.
''Why did ya even wore a dress? I thought ya only wear them at church.'', he said, trying to change the subject. ''If I told you, you'd think I'm crazy.'', she told. He grabbed a sponge and carefully cleaned her back. ''Try me.'', he said while continuing cleaning her back. She grabbed some shampoo to wash her hair before she explained. ''Whenever I'm going on a supply run, or go somewhere I think people might be. I change my clothes, mostly I put on a dress, it looks more innocent. People won't hurt you as much they'd when they know you can take care of yourself. If you look innocent and scared, they won't rob you or something. But if you carry guns around, they won't hesitate to shoot you. Trust me, it works most of the time.'' She had already washed the shampoo out of her hair and turned off the shower. She didn't want to waste anymore water. She felt cleaner already and that was enough for her. ''Sounds logical.'', he said before he grabbed a towel and handed it out to her. She dried of her dirty blonde locks before she dried the rest of her body. Daryl helped getting the fresh clothes on which Maggie had given her.
When they were done, they got back to the bedroom. She looked at him, right into his ice blue eyes. She wanted to kiss him so badly. She wanted to reunite with him, like it was before. Before he had left her and the world went to shit. There was still a reason why he had left her. She turned away from him. ''I gotta go.'', he mumbled before he left. She could hear him walking down stairs while she took a seat on the chair which was standing in the room. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. Her leg still hurted. She had to go back to town, but she wasn't able to go to town today. She wouldn't be back before dark, so Daryl probably wouldn't let her go. Maybe tomorrow.
Suddenly she could hear voices raising from downstairs. Someone was arguing, she could hear. She stood up and went down stairs. She found the people in the living room. Probably everyone from the camp was there. She silently walked in and stopped next to Daryl. She could hear them talk about Randall, she found out they had safed him and kept him prisoner every since. They wanted to get rid of him that was for sure. They had already tried to set him out on his own feet, but he knew Maggie, so he knew about the farm.
''What about the body?'', some black dude said.
''Hold on! You talk about it like it's already decided.'', an old guy with grey colored hair and beard said.
''You've been talkin' all day. Jus' go around in circles, you jus' wanna go 'round in circles again?'', Daryl said.
''This is a young man's life!'', the older guy replied again. Lizzy could see he was getting frustrated about it. ''It's worth more then a five minute conversation! Is this were it's come to? We kill someone because we don't know what else to do with him?! You saved him!'', the guy said while looking at Rick. Lizzy expected Rick to be the leader of the group. ''Now look at this. He's been tortured, he's gonna be executed. How are we any better then the people we're so afraid of? ''
A small silence fell in the group. Most people were looking down, not knowing what to do or say. ''We all know what needs to be done. Look at her, that should be proof enough.'', Shane spoke while pointing at her. She wasn't very fond of Shane, but she agreed with him on this. ''No. Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here.'', Rick replied.
''We haven't come up with any other solution yet. I wish we could, but-'', a blonde female said. ''So let's work on it!'', the older man annoyingly interrupted. ''Just stop it!'', an woman with short grey hair spoke. Lizzy hadn't noticed her before now. ''I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide. Either or both of you, but leave me out.'', she continued. ''Not speaking out or killing him yourself. There's no difference.'', the older man said again.
''A'right that's enough.'', Rick interrupted. ''Anybody wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance. ''
The older man spoke up after a couple minutes of silence. ''You once said we don't kill the living.'', he said. ''That was before the living tried to kill us.'', Rick replied.
''But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were-.'', the older man said. ''The world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's... Harsh. It's-. it's survival of the fittest and that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't-. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?''
''He is right.'', the blonde female said. ''We should try to find another way.''
''Anybody else?'', Rick asked while looking around at the group.
''Y'all gonna watch too?'', the older man said again. ''No, You'll go and hide your heads in your tents and try to forget we're slaughtering a human being. I won't be a party to it.'' The older man left the room and walked outside, he stopped next to Daryl and spoke to him. ''You're right. This group is broken.'' After that the man walked out. Lizzy's eyes followed the man outside.
Rick had agreed for letting her come along. She wanted to watch. She wanted to be sure he was dead. Just like they would have done to her. He was one of him. Ofcourse he needed to suffer. Lizzy was going to get her revenge.
Randall was tied up and Daryl brought him inside the barn. ''Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Wait, wait.'', he started to beg.
''Put him there.'', Rick ordered Daryl.
'' Oh, hey-hey!'', Randall started again.
''It's all gonna be over soon.'', Shane told him while he was blindfolding him.
''What? What's gonna be over soon?'', he replied confused. He obviously didn't know what was going on.
''Relax.'',Shane said.
''Hey- hey. No, no, no, no.'', Randall begged again.
''Would you like to stand or kneel?'', Rick asked him.
''Oh, no, please.'', he started again. ''Ple- Ah-ah-ah.'' Daryl had grabbed him by his hair and forced him to go down on his knees. He let go when he was on his knees. Their eyes locked for a minute before she looked back at Randall. He had started to cry.
''Do you have any final words?'', Rick asked while pointing the gun right at the boy's head.
''No, please. Please don't. Don't.'', he just kept on begging. He was truly desperate. It didn't surprise her. He was about to die. The only thing what she was asking herself, how the hell could he survive in his former group? He didn't fit in at all, he wasn't like the rest of the group. Rick was about to pull the trigger.
''Do it, dad. Do it.'', a child voice said. Lizzy's head moved to the entrance and she could see a kid about twelve years old standing in the opening of the door. She frowned. What the hell was that kid doing in here? Rick and Shane shared a look before Shane walked over to the kid and led him back outside. ''Are you kidding me? What'd I say to you? What did I say to you?'', Shane said to the kid. Rick let out a sigh and pulled his gun back. ''Take him away.'', Rick ordered. ''Take him away.'' Rick turned away from the boy, turning his back to him. ''Get up.'', Daryl spoke while getting Randall on his feet. Shane stormed out of the barn, he wasn't pleased about it, that was for sure. She helped Daryl getting Randall back where he was locked up. ''You're lucky. Just this time.'', she whispered into Randall's ear before she left him. She still wanted to see him dead. Someone had to pay.
She helped Daryl with getting Randall tied up. It was easy to do, he didn't protest a lot. He must be glad he is still alive. She made sure he was tied up very tight. Suddenly she heard screams from the outside. She looked at Daryl, waiting for his reaction. She wasn't sure what to do.
''Stay 'ere.'', he told her. She shook her head and followed him. ''Hell no. I'm not staying with him!'', she replied. She didn't want to spent any more time with Randall if she didn't need to. '' 'ust get inside Liz. I don't know what's out there. Ya can't run, not with ya leg.'', he said and she knew he was right. She let out an annoying sigh and went back to the house. She could see Glenn running toward the same direction as Daryl was. She didn't go inside, she just waited on the porch, looking around in the dark in hope to see something. Maggie did the same thing and stood next to her. She also didn't know what was going on.
''Help! Over here!'', she could hear someone yell, it sounds a lot like Daryl.
Immediately she shared looks with Maggie. She walked toward the screaming and yelling sounds while Maggie got inside to get Herschel. They caught up on her pretty soon. She wasn't that fast with her stitched leg. If she walked faster, she was afraid her stitches would break and her wounds would get open.
''Get Hershel!'', she could hear someone say as she got closer.
When she got closer, she could see someone laying on the ground, with everyone around him.
''Hershel! We need Hershel!'', she could hear Rick say. Herschel arrived and looked at the body. ''What happened?'', Herschel asked. A few seconds later, she arrived and could have a better look at the body. It was the older man, who had disagreed with having Randall executed. There was a lot of blood and she could see his guts. A few feet away, she could see a biter. The biter was dead for real now. It didn't took long before she found our the biter must have attacked the older guy. It wasn't safe here either way. It wasn't safe anywhere.
''What can we do?'', Rick asked Herschel. Nothing, she thought.
''Can we move him?'', Rick asked. ''He won't make the trip.'', Herschel replied.
''You have to do the operation here.'', Rick told Herschel. ''Glenn, get back to the house.'', he said.
''Rick!'', Herschel interrupted. Herschel shook his head, Rick knew he wouldn't make it. ''No!'', he screamed.
''He's suffering.'', the blonde woman said through her cries. ''Do something!''
Rick waited a few seconds before he grabbed his gun and pointed it to the older man's head. ''Oh, God.'', the blond woman said at the sight of the gun. She looked away from him. Rick hesitated, she could see.
Then Daryl grabbed the gun from him and pointed it to the older man's head. ''I'm sorry, brother.'', he said before he shot him.
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