Chapter 169-Broken
Rick's P.O.V
Rick and Daryl watched, Rick in sheer disbelief, as the herd was shot down by the soldiers in armored white suits, reminiscent of the one's Elijah told them about. They watch as they plow through the herd taking more and more of them down with precision and ease, the front of the hospital quickly cleared began to clear. Then a truck stopped in front and Eugene is the first one to climb out as the soldiers spread out, the gunfire continuing. "That son of a bitch." Rick says with a smirk. "He saved us again, knew he wouldn't let us die." Rick looks at Daryl who was staring ahead, his face blank. "Daryl—"
"I'm going to go let the kids and Alicia out. They'll be done with the herd soon. Talk with Eugene." Daryl says flatly as he turns around to leave the room. "Find Ezekiel first." With those words Daryl leaves the room and Rick watches his best friend storm off with a concerned frown, turning back to watch the continuing firefight.
Ezekiel's P.O.V
Ezekiel and Henry walked through the halls, stepping over the bodies carefully. "Your mother should be here," Ezekiel says as they turn a corner and see the hall covered in dead Whisperers all over the ground. "Carol!" Ezekiel called out as he looks around. "Carol."
"She could be in one of these rooms, Dad. Let's look around before we start panicking." Henry says and Ezekiel nods, a bad feeling welling in his soul as the two split up and start searching the rooms.
Ezekiel pulls a door open and his heart drops in his chest. The rising sun shines through the window onto Carol's body that was still leaned up against the wall. "Carol." Ezekiel says softly as he walks up to his wife and bends down. He takes her hand, cold to the touch to his horror. "Carol, my love." Ezekiel whispered as tears start to go down his face. "No, please don't leave me," Ezekiel says. "Carol!" Ezekiel shouts as he lets out a sob and leans his head against hers.
"Dad." Henry said, coming into the room hastily hearing his sobs. Ezekiel turns his head and looks at his son who stared at him, tears already beginning to fall down his face. "She can't be dead."
Ezekiel holds his hand out to his son who walks up and takes his hand as Ezekiel pulls him into a hug. One of his hands still holding Carol's. "She can't be gone." Henry sobs into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, son." Ezekiel says. Neither of them notice Jerry as he stops in front of the door.
"Boss?" Jerry says making both of them look at him, for a moment stunned that he was here and returned. Jerry slowly walked towards them, his eyes not leaving Carol's body as if unsure what he was seeing.
"She's gone, Jerry." Ezekiel says his voice hoarse as he speaks. Jerry doesn't say anything as a tear slides down his face and he wraps his arms around Ezekiel and Henry.
"I'm so sorry, boss. But I'm here." Jerry says as he holds two men that he considered family. All three of them feeling defeated after losing a woman they loved more than anything.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl walked down the stairs with Gabriel behind him coming down from the roof.. "Daryl." Gabriel says making Daryl turn and look at him. "What happened? Are you going to meet those soldiers and the others?"
"Carol's dead." Daryl just said, his voice breaking as he says the words.
"Daryl—" Gabriel's sole eye widened.
"Don't, let's just get the kids." Daryl says as he turns and continues to walk and Gabriel follows him. They get to the basement and Daryl knocks on the door. After a moment the door opens and Merle and Ofelia come out of the room and run into their father crushing them in a hug. Daryl wraps his arms around his kids as he looks at Alicia, who came up worried.
"What happened?"
"We...we won." He got out, Tears already forming in his eyes.
"Eugene is back with what looked like an entire army, let's get the kids and Negan up there and see if they can help." Gabriel added.
"I don't want to." Merle complained, clearly uneasy about the numerous gunshots and strangers now upstairs.
"Go, give me a minute with your Dad." Alicia tells the kids who nod as they begin to leave and Edwards and Gabriel begin move Negan out. Once they were all gone, Alicia takes Daryl's hand. "What is it?"
"Carol…she's gone." Daryl says as tears begin to go down his face again. Alicia doesn't say anything as she wraps her arms around her husband. Daryl buries his head into her shoulder as he sobs.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl looked at his Dad as he walked down the stairs from the roof, Lydia and Mary close behind. "We won." Carl says with a grin. "Alpha and Beta?"
Rick paused, glancing at Lydia for a moment, and just said "Dead. Both of them."
"You don't look to happy that we won." Carl says as he pulls back from his father. "What's wrong?"
"...Carl...Carol she..." Rick didn't say anything more, not able to get it out. Carl doesn't say anything as he stares at his father in shock.
"What?" He asks after a moment, not believing what his father said, Carol he was sure would survive till the end it seemed.
"She's gone, son." Rick says his voice hoarse. Carl stares at him for a moment before he turns and walks away. "Carl—"
"Give him a minute, Rick." John said softly. "Siddiq, Earl and now Carol, he needs a minute," John says and Rick nodded.
He took a breath to control himself, then looked at Lydia warily, her eyes clearly knowing who killed her "Lydia...look about your Mother-"
"She...she stopped being my Mom a long time ago Rick." Lydia said reassuringly "I'll be ok. Let's focus on getting everyone home."
At that, Rick nodded and headed down the hall, to the others.
Shane's P.O.V
Shane sat with his back against the wall, Across from him sat Maggie and Beth all three resting. They had just seen Gabriel who told them what happened to Carol. "It doesn't seem real." Beth says after a moment. "Carol was one of those people that you never thought would die."
Maggie nods as she wraps her arms around her sister. Shane wipes the tears from his eyes and stands up. "She wouldn't want this." Shane says making the sisters look at him. "Us sitting her and feeling sorry for ourselves. We still have work to do. So let's do it, for Carol, for her family, for the world she believed in."
"It's okay to grieve, Shane." Maggie says. Shane shakes his head and grabs a chair that was up against the wall. He lets out a shout as he throws it against the wall. "GOD DAMMIT," Shane shouts in anger as he punches a hole in the wall. He slides down against the wall and lowers his head as he let's the tears flow. He feels a hand on his arm and looks at Maggie who wraps her arms around him.
"Maggie!"
Looking up, Maggie saw and stood, the three seeing Althea running up, crashing into her wife with a hug.
"Oh God your ok." Althea and Maggie kissed, Maggie continuing "Is everyone-"
"Their all fine. They came through with help, they just wiped out the Horde Alpha had." Althea and looked at the others, her face pained "We went by Hilltop...is-"
Beth bowed her head and up "We lost people but...Hershel's fine. He's exhausted from...smoke, but he's just woken up."
"Smoke?" Althea stared at her sister in law then at Maggie, confused.
"...Your gonna want to hear this."
Rick's P.O.V
Rick walks out of the hospital and feels the sun as it hits his face, the ground almost not being seen with the amount of dead bodies and seeing the many white armored soldiers gathered. None of them had their weapons raised as he heard a shout of "Rick!" And turned to see Eugene walking up, a big grin on his face.
"You saved us again." Rick says as he hugs him, Eugene chuckling and hugging him back.
"There is someone I would like you to meet,. Eugene says as he leads him over to Lance, Mercer and Regina.
Rick paused and looked at the last one, dumbstruck "...Regina?"
She looked a bit sheepish, and waved "Uh...hey Rick." Staring for a moment, he just nodded, far as he was concerned their was a clean slate as Eugene gestured to the other two
"Rick, this is General Michael Mercer, Military leader of the Commonwealth army and Lance Hornsy. He is the deputy Governor of the Commonwealth." Eugene then said "And gentlemen, this is Rick Grimes, without him none of us would be here."
Lance holds his hand out to Rick with a beaming smile. "It is great to meet you, I've heard great things." Rick takes the man's hand and as he stares at him.
He didn't know why, but there was something in the man's smile that didn't sit right with him. Lance seemed unaware and looked around "Is Mr Dixon here?"
"He is, he just lost someone very close to him." Rick nodded once.
"Who?" Eugene asks.
"Carol." Rick says as they hear the door opens and Daryl walks out with Alicia. "There is his. Lance this is Daryl Dixon-—" Rick stops as Daryl shakes his head.
"I'm done." Daryl said not breaking stride, before he walks past Rick leaving Alicia, as Rick looked at her in confusion and worry.
"He's been in bad places before, Rick. But this isn't that. There is a look in his eyes. He's so far away. He's broken, Rick. It's bad." Alicia said in worry.
"Go be with him." Rick tells Alicia who nods as he walks away and Rick looks at Lance.
"That was unexpected." Lance looked surprised, looking at where Daryl walked off and back to Rick, eyebrows raised.
"He's been through a lot, he's lost a lot to Alpha. He's going to need some time."
"I understand. I cannot imagine what you have all been through. But we are here to help, the herd is pretty much gone and once it is, we'll take you back home and we'll talk."
"We have a man, injured, very badly. His name is Negan."
"The former warlord?" Mercer says making Rick look at him, blinking. "Your friend talks a lot."
"Yes he does." Rick lips twitched at the understatement as he looks at Mercer before he looks at Lance. "He needs medical attention, badly."
"Absolutely, we came prepared, we brought a mobile medical unit. Has all the medicine you could want. Have him brought out here and our doctors will take care of him."
"His girlfriend will want to stay with him." Rick added, wondering if Lydia would go as well.
"That's fine. Like I said, Rick. We are here to help. Anything you need. You're safe now." Lance warmly smiled
Rick stares at him and nods, but the uneasy feeling in his gut crept in seeing that smile.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl sat against a tree staring at the hospital as the soldiers and remaining fighters began to remove the bodies. He had asked Alicia for some space and she nodded as she went to check on the kids. Daryl stood as Ezekiel walked up to him, face wet with tears. "Henry?" Daryl asked first.
"With Jerry and his kids. I'm hoping they will help him." Ezekiel said gravely, his voice hoarse as if he had been screaming and crying. Then he looked up. "What happened?"
"We were fighting and we didn't see Alpha and she got her," Daryl says. "I'm sorry, man. I tried."
"I know," Ezekiel says as he hugs him comfortingly. "I know you, did."
Daryl nods tiredly as Ezekiel lets him go. "Where you going to bury her?"
"The Kingdom, once all this is cleared, we'll go back and have a funeral. You knew her better than anybody. I would like you to speak for her."
"I will," Daryl says and Ezekiel nods.
"Mind if I sit with you?" Daryl shakes his head as the two men sit down.
Lydia's P.O.V
Lydia stared at the remains...there was barely anything left but the tattered remains and her machete nearby made it clear who it was. "You okay?" Arya asks her as she lays her hand on Lydia's shoulder.
"I hate her, so much. So why do I feel sad?" Lydia asked quietly.
"Because she took care of you." Arya said warmly. "It's okay to be sad."
Lydia nods as she walks forwards and picks up the machete, staring at it and it's bloody history. Turning back, she said to Arya "Make sure they burn what's left."
Rick's P.O.V
Rick walks up to Daryl as he walks back towards the hospital with Ezekiel. "Give us a minute," Rick tells Ezekiel who nods, giving Daryl a final pat on the back, as he walks past them. "You're done?"
"Yeah, Alicia will take my spot." He answered, still staring ahead.
"We don't know these people, Daryl. We should at least set up the terms with them before we step down." Rick started to say.
"Didn't you hear me? I'm done," Daryl growls.
"I know you're hurting, Daryl. I'm hurting too. Losing Carol, I know how much you cared for her, but we still have a duty to make sure the rest of our people are okay. I understand you're pain but—"
"Nah, Rick, you don't understand," Daryl says harshly standing up to face him, Rick stepping back if it looked like Daryl took a swing at him. "I am so Fucking tired of fighting! I've been doing it my whole god damn life. I've lost so fucking much! I lost Merle! I lost friends! I lost my home! I lost Car—I've lost Carol! I lost my best fucking friend and I'm done! Figure this shit out with Alicia! Get it into your fucking head I'M DONE!" Daryl screamed those final two words before he pushes past Rick and stormed off towards the hospital.
Lance's P.O.V
Lance watched the two brothers as Daryl stormed away. "You still think this was a good idea?" Mercer asks him.
"I'm more convinced than I was when Eugene got there. I did a walk through of this hospital. I found the body of a man, taller than you, dead. At least four stabs wounds in his chest. Daryl killed him, they are over dozens of bodies in there and they even had a plan to deal with that herd. These people are even better than I thought." Lance said, his respect for them growing by the word.
"One problem, one of the things about them is their leadership and Mr. Dixon is not in the best mental space." Mercer pointed out, leerily staring at the rough looking man who went inside, clearly not trusting him.
"I know." Lance says. "Don't worry, Mercer. This is going to be great."
"Whatever you say." Mercer grunted before he walks away and Lance looked at the hospital with a big grin.
"Oh yes, I really do like these guys."
Thanks for reading. Next chapter will feature Carol's funeral's. Rick talking with Lance, Daryl and his group making a decision. I really loved this chapter and as you can see Daryl is struggling and that is going to be a big part of the next arc. As always suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.