Ch. 20
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Beth walked into bloody chaos. There was a child on the bed that been eaten. A 'W' carved into his forehead, too. Another child on the floor, but this one had been a walker. This one was responsible for the incoherent ramblings coming from her friend, a family member, hiding under a desk.
The men reached under and fought off his swings as they got him beside the bed. Beth couldn't make out what he was saying at first.
She watched as Merle stood over Tyreese, trying to hold him down. "Stop it," he commanded. "Ain't no one here but us."
Finally he got loud enough to where Beth could hear, and she gasped at his words and felt tears fill her eyes. "I know who I am!" Tyreese was holding his arm as he pointed at the wall opposite wall. "I know what's happenin' and what's goin' on! I don't gotta change!"
"He's hallucinatin'," Rick said as he crouched down beside Merle. "He been like this the whole time?"
"I came in as Sasha left. She was tryin' to put a tourniquet on it, but he kept pushin' her away."
"Hold his arm out," Rick commanded and grabbed his wrist as Merle grabbed his forearm. "One hit, Michonne. Make it clean."
Sasha stared in complete shock and Bob tried to get her to leave the room, but she pushed him away and stepped in front of Beth. Tyreese cried out as the katana made contact with his arm, and Merle and Rick fell backwards as his arm came away from his body.
Daryl dove from his knees to catch him before he hit the ground then they were hauling him out of the house.
It was that moment that Beth noticed the young man who pressed up against the bedroom wall. He had been so still before, but now he was rocking a little. "I'm sorry," he whispered over and over again.
There would be time for answers after, so she rushed out of the house to the yard where the group had stopped.
"Where the fuck are we supposed to go?" Merle asked and looked around. "We ain't got shit here!"
Bob kneeled and started trying to stem the flow of blood, but it was too much, too quick. Abraham and Rosita ran up the same time as Maggie, Glenn and Tara, all of them gaping at Tyreese, bleeding out on the grass.
He was tough and strong. His heart was probably the kindest she had ever known beside her own father, and now he lay there unconscious as his life slipped away.
"What's goin' on?" Carol asked as she pushed through the wall of people.
She gasped and clapped a hand over of her mouth when she saw Tyreese. Her eyes flooded with tears, and she backed away.
"He's gone," Bob said in disbelief. "There was nothin' I could do."
Sasha hit her knees and was taking short, choppy breathes.
"We gotta…" Daryl trailed off, and Beth looked up to watch him shake his head. "Fuck."
"How do we do it?" Glenn asked as he kneeled beside Merle.
"I'll do it," Carol said quietly.
Beth turned her gaze to Carol, and Merle said, "Not a chance in hell."
"Do it before he turns," Sasha whispered. "Don't let him turn."
Rick knelt by his head and held his hand out to Daryl, who handed over his knife. With a swift motion, he put it through Tyreese's head, right behind his ear.
No one moved for a very long time.
It was the first death that they had experienced in months. Despite Terminus and all the running and hiding, they had all survived, but now, Tyreese was gone and the walker had been a child. They would bury him here in this community and probably never visit his grave again. It would be marked by a rough cross that Daryl would put together that would probably blow over in the first storm.
She felt her chest tighten up as her mind went to the prison, and the people they had buried there. The lives that had been lost, and the family members they put into the ground with reverence. The graves that no one even knew where there any more.
How her father didn't even have a grave.
Her breathing turned shaky, and she closed her eyes.
"He was a good man," Abraham said. "I'll find a good spot and start diggin'."
Glenn stood up. "I'll help."
"Me too," Merle said and popped to his feet.
After several seconds of silence, Rick said, "Let's finish clearin' the houses. We'll bury him once we're done. Someone needs to stand guard over him in case there are any walkers that are wanderin' around that we haven't seen."
"There are no walkers in the houses," the young man seemed to appear out of nowhere. "It was just my brother."
Everyone stepped back, and Beth wondered if she wasn't the only one to notice him at the last second or even not notice him at all in the room.
"Your brother?" Rick asked.
He nodded. "Me and my dad left 'em to go look for my uncle outside Atlanta. The fences were strong, so we weren't worried. We ran into trouble, though. I ended up gettin' taken by some people for few months before I broke out, and I came back here. Everyone was dead, and there were a few rotters, but I just went around and came through a hole in the wall. I haven't left my house in a month."
"How'd ya survive?"
"We had stocked up for the five of us, but now it's just me so there's plenty. My mom was killed in the livin' room, my little brother in his bed, and his twin, my other little brother, got left for dead and turned. I'd been keepin' him locked in the bedroom, but he came in," he pointed at Tyreese. "He went into Zac's room first and his room was connected to Zek's room by the bathroom, and Zek got him. I tried to stop him, but it was too late."
"Who are ya?" Rick asked.
"I'm Noah," he said quietly. "I've heard his voice before." He pointed at Merle's back. "When I was in Grady, I swear to God, I heard him on the radio."
Everyone got real quiet and looked between Daryl and Beth. They hadn't given details of that night, and they weren't going to start now.
"That wasn't that long ago," Daryl said then pulled Beth closer to him. "How'd ya get here so fast?"
"I didn't bust out of there until a few weeks ago. I took one of their cars and a few gas cans. I went county roads, and it wasn't so bad. Took a day and half, but that's because I slept for a few hours."
He looked at Beth. "Seems like we were supposed to meet either way, huh?" He shook his head.
"Ya been takin' drugs?" Daryl asked and gripped his bow strap.
"No," Noah said as threw him a look that was full of attitude.
"So, what? Ya were just gonna hide out in that house for the rest of your life?"
He shook his head. "No, I was gonna get out one day. I got a bad leg, so I have to plan stuff out first. This place isn't safe, though. We can't stay here for long."
"You're a cripple?" Daryl asked.
"No, I'm not," he said and shook his head. "I just got a limp is all."
"We?" Rick asked and cocked his head to the side.
"Yeah," Noah said with a nod. "I can't stay here anymore, and y'all can't either. It's hard to miss all the "W"s and the tags all over the place."
Beth looked over at Daryl who was studying Noah. He looked like he was about to say something when Rick asked, "Ya got any cars?"
"They left those," Noah answered.
"Who?" Daryl asked.
"The ones that came through here and killed everyone."
"I realize that we're livin' in a strange world," Tara said. "But why does it feel like this is some trippy hallucination? We met a strange guy who just happens to be from a place where Beth almost gotten taken, and he recognizes Merle Dixon from his voice alone, from a ten second conversation months ago, and we're just like, 'Absolutely. Seems legit."
"Well, the dead have risen up. Why not believe some kid remembers the way someone sounded? Besides he's right," Rosita pointed out.
"I'm good with rememberin' things," Noah said and looked at Beth. "I am glad that you're safe. You didn't deserve what would've happen to you."
Daryl stepped in between them. "What the fuck are you talkin' about?"
"That hospital. Nothin' good happened there."
Rick looked around the group. "Everyone start clearin' again," he said, and Beth knew it was because Noah was starting to unnerve the rest of the group. "I'm gonna talk to our new friend some more."
Daryl grabbed her arm and hauled her away while Noah watched her go with a small smile on his face.
"Ya don't go near him until we know more about him," Daryl whispered.
Beth swallowed hard. "This is crazy. I could have been there months ago with him."
Daryl stopped and looked down at her. "But ya weren't. It didn't happen that way. Merle was there that night. I's there. And now we're all here."
"Just what if, ya know?" Beth asked and shook her head. "I talked Merle outta bein' stupid and you started watchin' him, so he couldn't go to the meetin' with the Governor. What if he was supposed to die there? Then without Merle, you woulda been killed, and those cops woulda taken me to Atlanta—to that hospital."
"No," he said in a firm voice. "Ain't gonna get ya nowhere thinkin' like that, arrow."
"Anythin's possible."
"It ain't thinkin' like that," he said. "I ain't puttin' that up here." He tapped his temple. "Things happened just like they were supposed to."
Beth sighed and got quiet for a few seconds. "You're probably right. It just caught me off guard."
"Just don't go near him. Seems like he's been out here too long."
"Haven't we all?"
"Ya got a soft heart," Daryl said quietly and moved closer to her, cupping her cheek with his hand. "Please steer clear of him."
There was a look of complete concern in his eyes, and for a second, Beth wondered if he was reliving that night just like she had been.
"I won't," she promised as he took her hand again.
She noticed that his grip never loosened from hers the entire time they finished walking the wall.
They buried Tyreese in the backyard of the home he had been bitten in. Noah had kept it up nicely considering the twenty or so walkers that had been wandering the community when they had arrived.
Merle wasn't entirely sure that Noah was sane or that he even cared whether he lived or died at the moment. After watching him during Ty's funeral, Merle figured he was just really lost.
He caught him staring in his direction a few times and wondered what he was thinking. He didn't seem like he would go on a killing spree, but it was always best to hold people at arm's length for a bit.
Sasha was ready to leave as soon as they placed the cross, but it was late and getting dark, so they were forced to stay. They all gathered in Noah's house, eating some of his stockpile and talked about loading three cars with supplies before trying to get to D.C.
Noah didn't speak much, but he whispered at his hands a lot. At first Merle thought he was praying, but he got closer and heard him saying, "I tried to tell them. I tried to tell them."
"Tried to tell us what?" Merle asked quietly, not wanting to spook him.
Noah's eyes snapped up to meet his. "When I was in the hospital, they thought I was weak. I tried to tell them I wasn't."
Merle watched him carefully. "They take ya from your daddy?"
"Yeah, they said they could only save one of us, but I figured out that they only took the ones they could keep in check. I'm not weak. They didn't know me, and they wouldn't have known her either."
His skin crawled as he thought about the two men that wanted to take her and the female voice on the C.B. "Who was the leader?"
Noah started rocking a little. "Dawn."
Merle hummed and scratched his jaw. "Ya close to her?"
"I was her ward."
He nodded. "Well, you're here now, and trust me, I don't think you're weak. Anyone that's made it this long has pulled some shit to make it."
Noah just stared at him with wide eyes. "I've never—"
"Don't matter to me," Merle said and waved him off. Noah snapped his mouth shut. "Ya wanna go along for the ride, that's fine. I better not catch ya makin' eyes at that girl, though. I'll drop your ass like a bad habit." He laughed quietly. "That'd be a first for me."
Noah nodded.
After a few seconds, Merle asked, "Ya really recognized my voice when I's comin' in the house?"
He nodded again.
"You're smart. Ya could go far, especially pretendin' you're crazy when we both know ya ain't. Now," he paused and Noah looked back up at him. "Did ya let that walker loose on Tyreese?"
He shook his head quickly. "Never. I really didn't want him to die. I was tryin' to stop him from goin' in there, but I scared him when I popped up. It distracted him just enough for Zek to grab him. I don't want anyone to die."
Merle clapped a hand on his shoulder lightly. "Ain't a damn thang we can do about it now."
As he walked away from Noah, he sighed heavily. Tyreese was a huge loss. Noah wasn't much of a gain. They were hundreds of miles from the idea of a safe zone.
Things weren't looking good at all.
They stayed at that house for two days as they packed up and rested. Daryl hunted with Beth by his side while the others planned the route that would lead them to D.C..
They had enough gas to get them there if they stuck to the main roads, but Daryl figured with all the detours they would have to take from the interstates, it might not really last until then.
There was a part of him that desperately wanted a safe zone for all his family, but he was a little scared of the small part that wished it was still just him, Beth, and Merle again. Things had been easier when the only people he was with could take care of themselves.
On the day they headed out, they split into three cars.
Daryl, Beth, Merle, Carol, Maggie and Glenn in a big SUV.
Rick, Michonne, Carl and Judith in another.
Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Tara, Sasha, Bob and Noah all loaded into an R.V.
With Beth's feet up on the dash, and her hand wrapped around his, he could almost pretend things were normal and it was before.
All he had to do was block out the walkers that littered the roadway the further they got north.
A/N: I know this is probably something you wanted to see changed, so I'm sorry for anymore heartache. I love Tyreese, and I think his death on the show was one of the best ones ever. I have reasons for keeping some things the way they are in the show, but if I said everything you wouldn't need to read the rest of the story...lol