A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S6Pt8 - One Arm In The Grave

It was dark outside by the time we arrived at Alexandria's gates. Everything seemed normal, but I listened closely.
That's when I heard the moans of the walkers.
Then the gunshots.
My heart started racing and I climbed over Daryl and jumped out of the truck. I ran over to the gate and tried to open it, but it was locked. I started to pound my fist on the gate fiercely.
"Hey!! Open the gate!" I yelled.
Abraham and Sasha then got out of the truck, but Daryl stayed so he could drive it in. I kept pounding on the gate until I heard a familiar voice scream.
"Glenn!"
We all looked around and saw Maggie and Enid up on a platform on the other side of the wall. I noticed a makeshift tower on our side of the fence and we climbed it.
Once I reached the top, I was in shock. Inside of Alexandria is what looked like the entire herd. In the middle of the horde was a group which included Rick, Michonne, and the rest of the surviving community. They were staying close together, killing as many walkers as they could, but they wouldn't last much longer.
I then looked for Maggie who was with Enid on this unstable platform with a cluster of walkers underneath them. The walkers were shaking the platform and it was going to give soon.
"Glenn!" Maggie cried again.
I then looked down at the gate and saw a group of walkers surrounding someone, and that person was Glenn.
He was alive!
But the walkers were closing in on him, and he was backing himself into a corner.
I watched as everyone I knew, everyone I loved, was about to die. Rick and the group were about to get overrun. Maggie and Enid were going to fall into a pile of walkers, and Glenn was going to die, again.
"They can't die." I thought. "Do something!"
I instanly took my machine gun off my shoulder and shot all the walkers in front of Glenn. He kept his back on the wall as Sasha and Abraham joined me, and we killed all the walkers.
He looked up at us in shock.
"Open the gate!" I called down, and he nodded.
I killed a few more walkers before running out of ammo, and then we climbed down the tower. I loaded another clip as we waited for the gate to open. Once it did, Daryl drove inside and the rest of us ran in.
I looked over to see Glenn standing in front of me. Abraham and Sasha were happy to see him and hugged him.
"I heard you were dead." I said, still in shock.
"Not even close." He said and smiled.
I quickly hugged him and then he turned around to go get Maggie. Daryl honked the horn to get our attention and Sasha, Abraham, and myself got in the truck again.
Daryl drove us to the pond that's in the middle of Alexandria and parked the truck. We all got out and noticed Daryl started dumping all the fuel into the water.
"What are you doing?!" Sasha yelled over the moans.
"Just keep them off me!" Daryl ordered.
I couldn't stay with them any longer. I needed to go find Lee and Judith. I started running down the street to my house, only to notice I was running straight into a small herd of walkers.
I shot my machine gun rapidly as I ran, killing a few and knocking down a lot. I quickly ran out of ammo, so I used my gun to bash in a walker's skull before I tossed it on the ground. I kept making my way through the walkers with my mind set on a destination.
I saw my house in the distance, and was at first relieved until I saw the front door was open. My heart dropped in my chest, and my body slowly stopped moving.
"No..." I thought. "No."
"No, no, no." I cried and started running towards my house again. I killed a few walkers that were on the porch and ran through the front door. I knew a few more walkers followed me in, but I had tunnel vision and didn't care. I ran up the stairs, killing another walker and pushed it back down the stairs. I then ran into the nursery only to see a walker pounding on the closet doors.
I instantly grabbed it by it's shirt and threw it against the wall. It turned around and snarled at me, but I stabbed it in the head before it even had a chance to move. I then felt a walker grab my shoulder and I quickly moved away and shot it. The noise brought in three more walkers in and I shot them all. I stood there for a second to see if anymore would show up, but it was quiet in the house.
I slowly walked over to the closet and dropped my gun on the ground. I kneeld down and put my hand on the handle, and hesitantly opened the door.
Inside the closet I saw Judith huddled in the corner holding a blanket, but no Lee.
"Mommy." She cried.
"Oh baby." I said quietly.
I then heard another cry and saw a tiny hand pop out of the blanket. I peeled back the cover and saw Lee in her arms.
I couldn't help but cry.
"Oh god." I cried.
I kissed Judith's head and hugged her. I then took Lee and held him as tightly as I could, and kissed him as hard as I could.
"I thought I lost you." I whispered to myself.
"Bruder say hide. We dids." Judith said in her clearest baby voice I've heard yet.
"Oh." I said and pet her head. "That's really good baby. You did so good. You saved your little brother here." I said and looked at Lee.
I kissed his forehead once more and gave him back to Judith.
"I need you to hide one more time, okay?" I said. "Can you do that for me?"
Judith nodded and I smiled.
"That's my girl." I said.
I reached up and grabbed the handle to pull myself up, but that's when something grabbed me.
I looked over to see a walker holding my wrist, and before I could react... it bit me.
I screamed in pain as I saw it tear my flesh from my arm. It instanly started burning and the walker bit me again in the same spot.
In a panic, I shoved it onto the ground and kicked it away. I quickly grabbed my gun, aimed, and fired.
The walker was dead, but I was now bitten.
"Shit!" I cried.
"Mommy!" Judith cried.
I instanly looked at her, then the closet door, then began to close it. She began crying and pounding on the door but I couldn't care. I slowly stood up and held my arm where the bite was. Blood covered my hands and dripped onto the floor. I then stumbled over to the door and closed it behind me. In the hallway was a small table and I walked over to it. With all my strength, I pushed it in front of the door, just so walkers couldn't get in and Judith couldn't come out. I then stood in the hallway and looked down at my arm.
Everything was all of a sudden catching up to me.
I was bit. I was going to die.
Unless...
"You have no other choice. You'll die if you don't." I thought.
I needed to cut my arm off.
I quickly ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. I frantically opened all the drawers until I found a meat cleaver. I grabbed it and set it down on the kitchen island. I then unbuckled my belt and wrapped it around my arm above the elbow. I used my teeth to tighten it and whimpered in pain.
Now that the belt was a tourniquet, I slowly picked up the cleaver and held it above my arm.
"You have to. It's the only way out." I thought.
I was about to do it when I hesitated and put the cleaver down.
"Fuck!" I cried. "Why?!"
I started to panic and my breathing was becoming short. I stomped my feet in anger and looked at the knife.
"I can't! I can't do this." I cried.
"You're running out of time." I thought.
My body was working on overdrive. All the trauma was catching up to me. My neck wound, my road rash, the explosion, and now this bite.
"If you don't act now, you will die either way." I thought to myself.
I didn't want to die.
No matter how horrible this world is, I don't want to go. Not yet. Not until I get to see my babies grow up, or have a chance at a normal life with Daryl. I have to do this, for them. I have to survive this, for them.
I took a deep breath and picked up the cleaver. I held it just below my elbow and I realized my hand was shaking.
I then lifted the blade up and counted.
"One." I said.
I lowered the cleaver and raised it.
"Two."
I lowered it and raised it again.
"Three."
I slammed down the cleaver onto my arm and yelled. I've never felt any pain like this before and blood started pooling on the table. The cleaver didn't cut all the way through so I raised it and chopped my arm again.
This time the adrenaline hit me and I barely felt it. I chopped several more times until I noticed the my arm was now laying on the table.
I dropped the knife next to my arm and slowly backed away from the table. Blood was dripping from what was left of my arm and I began to get really light headed.
I was beginning to lose consciousness, but I fought it. I had to find someone so they could help me, because I couldn't do it. I stumbled over to the front door that was wide open, leaving a trail of blood behind me. I walked down the porch steps while leaning on the railing for support.
I noticed all the walkers were gone and everything was quiet.
"Daryl." I called out weakly.
I used most of my remaining breath to call out for him louder.
"Daryl!" I yelled.
I took a few more shaky steps into the road. Then in the distance I saw the group running to me. First was Daryl, followed by Rick, then Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Morgan and Carol.
As they got closer and saw what I looked like, they slowed down. I stood still and they did too.
"Kell..." Daryl said in shock.
"Lee and Judith are safe." I managed to say.
"Kelley, what happened?" Rick asked.
I groaned in pain and looked at Daryl, who I've never seen look so scared before.
"I got bit..."
My adrenaline was now gone and my body gave in. I felt my legs go numb and the last thing I saw was Daryl running up to catch me.