... Chapter 63 ...
Daryl expelled a deep breath, not really surprised to find himself standing alone in the depressingly familiar setting. Despite knowing exactly where he was, his stomach still constricted in knots for what was about to happen. The walkers around him began to groan in the distance and he tried to take a step back as the solid wall of noise they made got progressively louder. The sound assailed his ears but he still couldn't see anything for shit. There was a dense layer of fog obscuring his vision and as he labored to peer past it, he could hardly believe he was having to go through this nightmare yet again.
It didn't take long for the gloom to dissipate and when it did, he felt his shoulders drop for gazing upon the usual and customary participants. There was the decapitated walker from CDC, looking decidedly more grisly than the last time it had been seen. It was followed by multiple ones in orange jumpsuits, all of whom gave way to a very deteriorated Patrick. The kids glasses still hung on his decomposing face giving him a grotesquely surreal appearance. Last but not least came Sophia, no longer having the eyes to glare at him accusingly yet somehow still managing to make the sentiment known.
This time the horde was joined by Harley and Len, both still impaled by the bolts he had used to kill them with. They fell to the wayside for what could only be Joe. It was hard to tell because half of his head was missing. Even though none of the men had ever turned as far as Daryl knew, it still hadn't stopped them from appearing in this shit show along with the rest of the lumbering guilt trips. The three of them gnashed their teeth as they shuffled towards him, dragging their atrophied limbs along the way. They were obviously hell bent upon finishing what had been started from the very first moment he'd met them.
Despite the fact that the walkers were all closing in on him faster than usual, Daryl stood his ground and forced his gaze to sweep past them. He knew from experience that Beth was here too and his breath had already hitched in dread for seeing her. The cloudy haze lifted as she appeared in the distance, all dressed in white and looking understandably confused by her surroundings. She was still alive, at least for the time being... but Daryl knew better than anyone that such a thing was not meant to last.
The walkers turned and converged on her much as they always did, all of them honing in on her position like a swarm of decaying moths to a flame. He could only watch with tears in his eyes as she quickly disappeared within their midst to not be seen again. Everything felt like it was happening in a distorted state of slow motion as she screamed his name from inside the feeding frenzy, the blood in his eyes blinding him as he stood there frozen in place...
Daryl jerked awake with a gasp, completely covered in sweat and with his heart damn near trying to beat him to death. He stared unseeingly at the top bunk above him before pressing his palms to his eyes in a futile effort to stop the nightmare dead in its tracks. Still reeling in its aftermath, he struggled to pull himself back from the edge. It had been so long since he'd had one that he had almost forgotten just how devastatingly soul crushing they had a tendency to be.
He hadn't had one that fucking brutal in a while... well, at least since he had started sleeping next to Beth. The realization had him gritting his teeth in frustration. Great... as if he needed another reason to miss her more than he already did.
The buffer she provided was just another reason why the situation he was in and everything about it sucked. Up until now he had been able to lose himself within the tangle of her limbs, doing so until this hell he lived in faded away into the background. Together, they had managed to create something of their own that had belonged to both of them equally. Now he was by himself again... a circumstance he would've sworn he preferred. That wasn't the case anymore and acknowledging it to himself was like taking a knife to the gut that he neither asked for nor wanted.
Daryl choked the thought down before pushing himself gingerly from the bed. Swiping a hand down his face, he squinted against the sunlight still streaming in through the nearby window and inanely wondered what time it was. It wasn't usually in his nature to just sleep the day away but he reckoned he must have needed it after staying out all night on watch. While he doubted anyone was going to bitch about it, he still felt guilty enough to grab the crossbow from the top bunk with the full intentions of finding Rick and seeing what was next on the agenda.
Opening the cabin door, he could tell almost immediately that something was horribly wrong. The hair on the back of his neck inexplicably rose, causing the skin it sat in to tighten under the collar of his vest. There was a strange electricity inundating the air that had an almost tangible undercurrent. The charge it gave off raked across his senses, setting his nerves on point as his adrenaline began to flow. It was then that he heard gunfire begin to erupt from just over the hill.
Realizing that the camp was under attack, Daryl instantly took off running into the surrounding woods. The thick cover the trees provided would allow him to determine whether it was by walkers or humans without being seen himself. The main path back would've been the quicker and easier option but there was no way in hell that he was going to take it to find out... not with it being as wide open and exposed like it was. Coming in from behind would let him see what the fuck was going on and hopefully give him an advantage that might be needed while doing so.
The gun shots emanating from the camp were becoming more and more frequent as people began to yell in the distance. Daryl traversed his way up the embankment with the Horton held high, the whole time trying his damndest to decipher the individual voices from one another. The roar of his own labored breathing in his ears made it practically impossible, not that it mattered... not when getting to Beth had become paramount. He didn't know what the hell was happening right now but whatever it was, the girl better hope she wasn't in the middle of it if she knew what was good for her!
With his lungs feeling like they were on fire, Daryl rounded a particularly dense group of trees to run almost point blank into Michonne. She instantly swung around, the sniper rifle she was using pointing at him dead square in the chest. Her shoulders slumped in relief for recognizing him before she ducked back down to where she had been hiding. Taking a knee down next to her for lack of a better option, Daryl was momentarily grateful that the woman's sword was strapped safely to her back.
"Who... is it?" He managed to wheeze out, taking the initiative to ask just in case she didn't plan on being immediately forthcoming.
"Terminus." Was all that was said in return. The single word relayed all the information that was needed and she glanced over her shoulder to watch it register.
Pulling the Horton against his chest, Daryl took a closer look around to verify it for himself. The entire camp was in a disarray and there was movement coming in from every direction. The people from Terminus were a hell of a lot more tenacious than he gave them credit for if they had managed to find them all the way out here in the sticks like this. Realizing it, he was inundated by a wave of regret for not going back to finish the job when both him and Rick had the chance.
Peering down the scope, Michonne took a couple of well calculated shots, making sure to avoid the interior of the camp itself. Whoever she'd been aiming at must have been hit because she took the moment to quickly reload.
"Where were you?" She whispered over... like it mattered now in the slightest.
"Crashed out in one of tha empty cabins..." Daryl muttered, still trying to catch his bearings as he took a mental count of how many bolts he had available to him, "Woke up ta hear all hell breakin' loose!"
He wasn't necessarily surprised to find Michonne out here like this, not when the contingency plan that had been laid out beforehand had called for her to be so. Everyone had been given specific roles in case of an attack and both hers and Sasha's had been to keep to the outskirts and lay down suppressing fire with the sniper rifles. They were the first line of defense and as such, were strategically positioned to thin out any threat before it could make it to the camp itself.
His role was to take out any walkers that descended on the area... something at the time he hadn't been too damn happy to hear. It was explained that the crossbow could take them down quietly, allowing him the freedom to go where he wanted while using it as he saw fit. Feeling slightly better for knowing that he wouldn't be tied to one spot, Daryl remembered just conceding begrudgingly. He was also to cover those guarding the perimeter. Because they were out there alone, they would need someone to watch their backs.
He couldn't really remember for sure but he had a vague recollection of Beth being assigned to the far side of camp. Anyone or anything that made it past them were to be handled by the rest of the group within the tighter confines of the camp itself. It wasn't the best plan by any means but it was the only one that Rick could come up with that accounted for the limited amount of weapons they had.
Whoever had been on watch duty must have done their job because from what he could see, everyone was armed to defend themselves. In the distance, he saw Abraham and Rosita shooting at persons unknown as Bob rushed in from behind to help. Carol and Carl were over at the other side of the camp doing the same. They all used short controlled bursts to effectively neutralize the problems before moving on to do the same with the next. Although the exchanges were brief, they had the whole damn place sounding like it was a war zone.
From where he was crouched, Daryl looked over to see a heavyset man stealthily trying to approach the outer rims of the fight. The Horton made short work of him only to cause his body flail into the bushes. Whoever the hell these people were, it was clear that they didn't know what they were doing for shit. Sequestered safely behind their walls, they were so used to having the upper hand that the real world situation in which they now found themselves was almost more than they could handle. The bastards were all over the place, seeming to think it best to attack from all sides rather than come in as one united front. The tactic did nothing but make them easy pickings for a more experienced group like their own.
Knowing that Michonne wouldn't need an explanation, Daryl took off towards the rear of the camp where he could only hope to find Beth. He skidded down next to the sprawled body of the man he had just killed to pluck out his expelled bolt along the way.
Because he had patrolled the area obsessively the night before, he knew exactly where to go and more importantly, what kind of terrain he needed to cross in order to get there. It allowed him to meticulously take down whatever was in his way without an issue. It didn't much matter if it was walkers or humans, they all met their end to leave him scrambling over the dead bodies to collect whatever bolts he could scavenge. Resorting to his knife only when absolutely necessary, he had taken out about a dozen by the time he made it around to where Sasha was hiding.
It had gotten to the point where the sporadic gunfire coming from nearby was now doing so less and less, indicating that the siege itself was possibly drawing to an end. Running on nothing but sheer determination and fumes, Daryl could only hope so as Sasha gave him a quick thumbs up to let him know that she was ok.
He flew past her without stopping, panic having set in a while ago. In the time it took him to circle the camp he had managed to catch sight of nearly everyone... everyone that is except for Rick and Beth. The sense of dread he felt about it caused him to barrel through the trees without a care. He didn't want to think about what it meant or the reason why the two of them specifically would be missing in action, he just knew it didn't bode well for him either way.
Finally reaching the area where he thought she might be, Daryl fought his way through the bushes to all but stumble across the one thing he'd been praying this whole time not to find. His heart dropped out from under his world to see Beth being held against her will... by the same fucking asshole that had gotten the jump on them just outside of Terminus! Obviously still grudgy about it, the man had forced her to her knees, choosing to make the sentiment known by holding a large tactical knife against her throat.
His grip on the girl seemed to tighten the very moment he burst onto the scene. With a huff of pure fear, Daryl honed the crossbow in on him like it was the weapons sole purpose for ever existing in his hands. His gaze narrowed down its sights unwaveringly, doing so despite the fact that he was now completely out of breath. With all that was important in his life kneeling there depending upon him, nothing else mattered. The bastard in front of him was a dead man... he just didn't know it yet.
With his finger on the trigger ready to see it through, Daryl barely noticed that Rick was already there attempting to mediate the situation.
"That's him!" The man yelled accusingly as he pointed over with the blade in his hand. "That's him right there! That's the guy that showed up with this bitch! While we were dragging his ass back to the train cars, she killed Wayne and left his body there to rot on the train tracks! It's his damn fault my brother's dead!"
The person he was trying to convince was Gareth of all people, the same cocky hipster fuck that had been in charge at Terminus. Out of the corner of his eye Daryl noticed that he had a makeshift bandage wrapped around his shoulder and looked equally as pissed to see him. He was the only person holding a gun and he swung it erratically between him and Rick as though he couldn't decide who of the two of them he wanted to shoot first.
From where she was being held, Beth visibly slumped in relief for seeing him as her eyes instantly filled with tears. Daryl could see that she was trying her best to keep her composure but was finding it difficult with the knife at her neck. Her chest heaved with the effort it was taking as she was manhandled roughly from behind. Not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction, she gritted her teeth and bore the weight of the blade as it was pressed in against her skin.
Knowing that his unexpected presence had the potential to make the bad situation worse, Rick held up his hands placatingly and tried to back him down, "Daryl..."
Daryl didn't want to hear it. This son of a bitch had made his life a living hell in more ways than one and he was beyond ready to be done with him. Beth was staring up at him as he kept the Horton unrelentingly on target, looking for the opportunity that would eventually present itself.
Not much appreciating being the only focus of its intent, the man holding the knife also began insisting loudly that he lower it. "Drop it!" He fisted a handful of the girls hair, "Drop it or I'll kill her! I fuckin' mean it!"
"Ya best let her go, asshole..." Daryl bit out through his teeth, "...or else this bolt right here will be tha last thing ya feel on this earth!"
"Let's everybody calm down..." Gareth finally sighed, stepping in to take charge of the situation as he pointed the gun over, "Look, we all don't have to get along but can we at least agree that we have the upper hand here? It's obvious that you both care for this girl but every conflict has collateral damage. That's all she is to us... not to mention a good way to ensure that both me and Martin here make it out of this endeavor alive. You see, it wasn't our intention to come here and start a fight but you really gave us no choice. You took away our home, just what exactly did you think we were going to do? The way I see it, turn around is nothing but fair play."
"It doesn't have to be like that," Rick was quick to say, "We can all walk away from this, all of us!"
Martin and Beth listened apprehensively as the tense conversation unfolded around them, both of their individual fates left hanging in its balance. Daryl didn't much give a shit what was being said as he kept his focus determinedly on his mark. Rick and Gareth could hug it out and become best fucking friends for all he cared... to him it didn't change a thing. The man Martin was going down. Between Terminus and this, he could damn near guarantee it.
Gareth's brows drew as though he had just been insulted. "Walk away from this? Rick, did you or did you not just hear what I said to you? Thanks to you and your group, we're stuck out here having to survive by the skin of our teeth like everybody else! We have no food! We'll need to find another place to start production, somewhere large enough to draw people in..."
Unable to help himself, Daryl's concentration broke as the realization of what was being said gradually dawned on him. The racks of meat... the dissection in the torture room... all of it seared back into the forefront of his memory to take on a whole new twisted meaning. These sick bastards were eating humans! How the hell had he missed that?! Jesus, how fucking depraved did you need to get in order to even think of doing such a thing?!
Disgusted and appalled in the wake of the revelation, he chanced a quick glance over at Rick to see the fact register as well. Gareth saw them both look at each other in stunned silence and felt the need to explain himself... as if he even could.
"It didn't start out that way... you know, us eating people. It evolved into that. Luckily, Terminus made it easy... it was practically set up to be what it became. As things digressed to a level you couldn't even imagine, it wasn't like we had a choice. It was either that or starve and that wasn't an option. I just hope you both understand that none of this was personal, at least not until now. We would've retaliated against anyone who disrupted our way of life. No matter how much we all hate this ugly business, what happened here today just a means to an end."
He paused his tirade to indicate over at Beth. "This one here will be the start of that. We'll leave here and begin the assembly line again somewhere new because we have to. Once we do, she'll be the first on the slab and I'm sure that she'll taste even better than she looks!"
Glenn and Maggie suddenly burst through the trees... both of them hearing just enough to have equally shocked looks on their faces. With their guns drawn, they both flanked Rick as he came to the conclusion that the situation itself and everything it entailed had now passed the point of no return. His features darkened as he stared Gareth down, the tension in the air escalating substantially as everyone waited with baited breath to see who would make the first move.
Daryl could practically hear the sweat run down the back of his neck as he forced his gaze purposely back down the sights of the crossbow. No matter what happened from here on out, he had one objective and one objective only, everything else was secondary...
Pinned under the singular weight of his aim, Martin looked around nervously as the pressure of the moment steadily became too much to bear. He was also sweating profusely, almost like he had just realized that Gareth hadn't done him any favors by running his mouth like the self entitled prick he was. The knife in his hand began trembling enough to draw a thin line of blood and it seeped down Beth's throat to disappear into her hair.
Seeing the tears spill over was all the incentive Daryl needed to bring the situation to an immediate head. A red cloud of anger descended down upon him to decimate all other thoughts in its way. He had no doubt that Martin's death would likely result in his own but he was beyond the point of caring... for her it was worth it.
With the sentiment urging him on, his finger tightened on the Horton's trigger, secure in the knowledge that the others could take it from there...
As if detecting the deadly change in his demeanor, Martin suddenly tossed his blade away to give himself up. He looked as though he had just realized that the odds weren't in his favor, especially with the two newcomers bringing loaded guns to the party. For all of his earlier shit talking, he was all about self preservation... and that was twice as true if it meant his own. Not just that but he couldn't take the brutal stare down he was getting from the dude with the crossbow anymore. Whoever he was, he was making clear that he would gladly snuff out his life and that of anyone else's for the girl kneeling in front of him.
Having been kept unnervingly on the wrong side of the weapons sights the entire time, Martin knew that there was no amount of bullshit that Gareth could spin that would be likely to change the outcome of that. As such, he opened his mouth to voice his surrender only to have the sentiment cut short before he could make a sound. The bolt that tore through his eye socket rendered out of the back of his head, leaving him dead long before he hit the ground. Beth slumped over for being suddenly released and she lay there gasping at the unexpected turn of events.
Gareth seemed equally surprised as he looked over to see the last of his leverage now free and staring up at him pallidly. He closed his eyes, doing so as if struggling to come to terms with Martin's incompetence. With his plan falling apart at the seams, he looked back over to where Rick was standing nearby.
"Well, that's unfortunate..." He managed to say with a sigh, "I guess it's like I said before, never trust the hired help..."
With that, he ejected the clip from the gun in his hands to show them all that it was empty.
Daryl felt his breath catch in his throat as the connotations that came with the action hit him like a sledgehammer. Motherfucker had been out of bullets this whole goddamn time! In the back of his head, he had been wondering why the gun wasn't playing a bigger factor and now he knew why. The standoff had been a ruse, a desperate measure resorted to by two desperate men... and they had all unwittingly gotten caught up in it!
Gareth shrugged in a lame attempt to justify his own actions. "What can I say... you burned down our armory. We pulled ourselves together and came here with whatever ammunition we had left to use. It wasn't much to begin with and we'll leave here with even less."
He dropped the empty gun and its equally empty clip into the dead leaves at his feet as Rick approached.
"That's where you're wrong," The former deputy sheriff bit out from under his breath, "You're not leaving here at all."
"Umm, that's really not necessary..." Gareth started nervously, "This is all just a... a misunderstanding that went too far! I think everyone here can attest to that, don't you? Can't we just let bygones be bygones and go on about our business? I mean... look at her, she's fine... it's barely a scratch! Martin might've had his own agenda but it was never on mine to actually kill her..."
Rick spared a glance over to where Beth was still sprawled out on the ground. Unable to believe what she was hearing, her eyes were still glossy for being subjected to it. He then looked over at Daryl to see his friend staring back at him meaningfully. The two of them exchanged the briefest of nods before he turned back around.
"You see this?" Rick asked, pulling the red handled machete out from the back of his belt to hold it up in front of his face, "Remember when I told you that I was going to kill you with it? Well, that's the only thing that's been on my agenda from the very first day I met you..."
With that he brought down the blade repeatedly, doing so until the mans head was damn near split in two. Blood gushed everywhere as both Maggie and Beth turned away, unable to watch as Rick's need to see the matter through kicked aggressively into overdrive. Daryl looked on with a dark sense of satisfaction, the blood lust running amuck easing that small part of himself that still burned angrily. As far as he was concerned, it was no less than what the bastard deserved. If the travesties of Terminus weren't bad enough, the situation that just happened with Beth would've undoubtedly sealed his fate.
The machete had wedged itself so snuggly into the young mans skull that Rick had to free it by applying a boot to his chest. As soon as it released, Gareth's body fell over to bleed into the dirt next to where Martin's was sprawled. With both threats effectively neutralized, Daryl dared to take a breath as the tension in the air immediately alleviated for it.
Beth pushed herself unsteadily to her feet... completely oblivious to everyone and everything around her as she ran over and launched herself into his arms. Not expecting the gesture, Daryl dropped the Horton and held onto her tightly... the fear and worry he had felt from the beginning coming back to haunt him again. With it threatening to overwhelm him, he closed his eyes and buried his face into the curve of her neck, his chest heaving in the aftermath as he hugged her closer to him.
"Christ sakes woman..." He was able to eventually whisper, "What is it with you an' trouble, huh? Why am I always findin' ya neck deep in tha kinda shit that I'm always tellin' ya ta avoid?"
Beth sniffled against him for hearing the concerned sound of his voice at her ear. "I swear it wasn't my fault this time. I... I was fighting off a walker and they snuck up on me from behind..."
"Ya see what happens when I let ya outta my sight?" He ground out, unable to help himself, "Ya could'a been killed..."
The recollection of the knife at her throat came rushing back to him, clenching the knot in his gut that much tighter. The harrowing vision was something that he never ever wanted to see again. The girl looked up at him for knowing it, taking the moment to sweep his damp hair from his eyes.
"Not when I knew that you'd come for me." She reassured quietly, "You always do... or did you forget that while we were apart?"
Daryl tsked as though the mere mention of the concept was something that was inconceivable to him. "Pfft... yeah, right... I got as much of a chance of forgettin' it as I have of forgettin' my own damn name. It's like I told ya before, I'm used to havin' ya around. Guessin' tha constant heart attacks that come with that are jus' somethin' I'm gonna have'ta learn ta live with..."
Beth smiled up at him for hearing the familiar complaint as he leaned in to kiss her, not looking to make a big show of things but still wanting to make the sentiment known. He did so completely aware that Rick, Maggie and Glenn were all now staring at them in varying degrees of shock. Daryl paid them no heed. The unnatural state of living a lie had been a thorn in his side, one he was more than happy to finally remove. With the convoluted aspects of it fading away, he followed up the kiss with a smaller, gentler one at her forehead before drawing away.
With the emotional gamete he'd just been run through edging hard at the surface, he checked her over thoroughly for any other injuries she might unknowingly have. When he was satisfied, he tilted her head with the crook of his finger to wipe the traces of blood away from her throat. The girl patiently submitted herself to his ministrations because she knew him and understood his inherent need to assure himself that she was unhurt. When he was done he threaded a finger into her hair, tucking a loose strand of it gently behind her ear out of habit.
The gesture seemed more than welcome as Beth subconsciously leaned into his hand, the feelings that had always been there reconnecting past all the obstacles that they themselves had put in their way. Despite the profound sense of relief that came with them, Daryl purposely set her away from him so they could both now turn and face the music.
He braced his shoulders in an effort to prepare himself for whatever was about to happen. Reckoning it better to just get it over with, he addressed the three people standing nearby.
"If y'all got somethin' ta say, best say it now an' be done with it." He announced grudgingly, doing so despite the fact that Maggie looked like she was raring to take him up on it. Glenn was standing there next to her still staring at them slack jawed.
For some reason, Rick didn't look quite as surprised as the others.
"Yeah, I've got something to say." He responded, stepping forward to regard them both sincerely, "What the hell took you both so long?"
...
Thank you as always for reading 'What Still Lies Ahead'. I've been steadily writing these last few weeks only to realize that I actually needed to post this chapter! I know a lot of you were waiting for it so I hope you enjoyed it!
If you did, please take a moment to let me know!