Ch. 7
The following days were a blur for Daryl. He no longer cared whether or not the Governor punished him. The man could kill him, for all he cared. If anything, Daryl would consider it a blessing. This wasn't life - being tied to a bed for 23 hours a day and raped several times each week. It was torture, and Daryl wanted out.
Most of the time, Daryl slept, and when he was awake, he trudged through his routine wordlessly. He didn't even talk to David anymore.
Just looking at the kid made him feel resentment. Sure, the kid was helping the Governor to protect his own ass, so he was trapped in that sense, but at least he got to go home at night. He got to see his little daughter, and he got to go outside and feel the sun and talk to other people.
Daryl's anger also extended to the others who had left him behind. He wondered where they were. Still at the prison? Maybe it had been overrun, and they'd had to leave. He kinda liked the thought of that - the group running, scared, from a massive group of walkers. The only one he didn't want to suffer was Carol. Everyone else could go die, though.
And then there was Merle.
Daryl didn't feel angry at Merle. He felt hurt. Confused, too. Merle had always been kind of a jerk, but he always came around and helped Daryl out in the end. What had changed now? Why had his brother suddenly given up on him so completely?
On top of that mix of emotions, Daryl also had to deal with something else. Every day, he was still getting sick.
At first he thought that maybe he'd gotten some type of stomach virus, but when the nausea didn't stop after a few days, he began to wonder if he'd been poisoned.
The thing was, he only got sick in the mornings. After that, he tended to be fine. It was almost like clockwork - he would wake up, feel sick, call for help, throw up, then fall back asleep, if he wasn't forced into the shower to clean up. Thankfully, the Governor seemed to expect his calls and he always came running.
00
Two weeks after the incident with Merle, something changed.
Daryl had always felt weak, but this one particular morning, he outright collapsed. The last thing that he remembered was walking to the shower. David was nearby, and was tying his chain to the wall. Then he felt light headed and dizzy, and his vision started to go black. Next thing he knew, he was falling.
00
When Daryl woke up, David was still there. The Governor was there as well. Daryl could hear them talking.
"...out back in the handcuffs and I'll finish this," came the Governor's voice.
"Sir, it might be a good idea to take him to get checked…"
The Governor mentioned something about Daryl being a waste of space, oxygen and food, and Daryl wanted to agree. He was a waste and if the Governor wanted to put him down, then he was fine with that.
David kept protesting, though.
"If they can cure him, you can use him. Use him for chores or whatever. Or sex. And if he's not gonna get better then give him to Milton. He can use him for an experiment."
Daryl wanted to tell them to stop, to tell the Governor to please just end it, but he couldn't even open his eyes, let alone his mouth.
He heard the Governor sigh in annoyance, and then everything once again went black.