When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 46 - Reinforcements were here

Everything was so fast paced. Screams. Cries. Growls. All of it. Every tiny detail was so precise that it surpassed any expectation of it failing miserably...but it didn't stop the 'walkers' from coming.

For the first time in a long while, Lou was worried. Not for herself but for the people she had grown to like and watching Carl drop to the floor, covered in blood, was enough to make her absolutely terrified.

Rick's mind had numbed. Everything he had learned, everything he had intended to do, had been tossed aside and replaced with a mumbling mess of a man. He stood over his son's body, his face covered in dirt smudged tears and dried blood. With shaking hands he dropped next to his body.

"Carl" he managed to make out Nicole's scared voice. "Carl!"

His head was pounding and he could hear his own heartbeat.

"Rick!" Lou shouted, fighting off any 'walkers' that dared come near the teenager. "Rick, pick him up now!"

Rick choked back a sob and tucked his arms underneath the frail body of his unconscious son. He didn't struggle with the weight, his adrenaline carried them both as Louise and Michonne created a pathway between the dead. With each step, Carl's body jolted and he moved closer to death.

Louise lifted her axe and brought it down on the nearest 'walker'. The metal sliced through it's decaying skin and into the top of it's skull, cracking bone upon entry and cutting through the brain. She tugged it backwards and swung again, taking the head off a pair of shoulders. Blood soaked her hands, masking her pale complexion beneath. Her muscles burned but she didn't have time to stop.

"Keep going!" she shouted, taking on more of the dead as they ran towards the medical bay. The closer they got the more 'walkers' were attracted. Her stitches were long since gone and fresh blood trickled down her bare arms but her main focus remained on the dying boy in Rick's arms.

They clambered up the four steps and Lou pushed Nicole forwards, shoving her through the opened door quickly. She held the wood open for Rick, slamming it behind him as he carried Carl over the threshold.

"Help him" he mumbled, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Please. Please save my son"

"Gun shot. Close range" Michonne stated, aware that Rick couldn't string a sentence together.

"I need light" Denise stated as Rick placed Carl's body on the cold metal table that Louise knew all too well. "Michonne hand me a towel. Hold it here. Keep pressure on the wound"

Rick paced. His hands ran through his sweat soaked hair.

"I'll go in and sew any lacerations. Spencer, I need that pan. They one on the tray" Denise continued to dish out instructions. "Good. Michonne keep following me with the towel"

Aaron pushed a gurney into the room and helped Denise lift the body onto it. Michonne followed Denise, keeping the already blood-soaked towel pressed against Carl's face.

"Lou!" Aaron's voice rang out as pushed through the small crowd and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Aaron, are you alright?" She held onto him for a few seconds before pulling away.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. You're arms bleeding"

"I know" she sighed. She caught Shaun's eyeline. He was sat at the window, peaking out at the moving horde. "Shaun, shut the curtains - Rick!"

Louise ran after the Sheriff as he walked towards the door. His hand was turning the handle as she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards. "Rick! Where are you going?" he didn't reply. "Rick, look at me" she placed a hand on either side of his face, ignoring the blood stains on the back of them. "I understand alright? More than you know but Carl needs you right now. You cannot check out. Okay?"

Rick placed his hands on hers and moved her palms from his cheeks. Tears streamed down his face. He nodded at her before turning the handle and walking out into the cold, death ridden air.

She pulled at her hair. "Fuck"

Growls ricocheted of the walls of the building and Lou took little time contemplating before she took a step outside herself.

"Lou, stop!" Shaun, shouted after her, tugging her backwards by her wrist. She grimaced as pain shot trough her bicep. "Why are you constantly trying to kill yourself for these people?"

She looked at his hand and pulled her arm away with a grunt. "I'm going out there, Shaun, Rick needs me. So you either help us or you help Denise with Carl"

"He's not Hollie, Louise. You don't need to protect him"

Her eyes closed tightly. Without a second thought, she grabbed her pistol from its holster and held it an inch away from his head. "Say. That. Again" she took off the safety. "I dare you"

Everybody stopped what they were doing. The entire house grew silent as Shaun held his hands up in surrender and took a step backwards.

"You can't protect everyone"

"I CAN DAMN WELL TRY!"

"Hey, Lou" Aaron said, stepping in front of the gun and placing a hand on the barrel. "Come on, put it down"

With a grunt, she dropped her arm, turned on her heel and slammed the door shut behind her. Rick had already been swarmed with 'walkers' and a dead elderly lady pulled him backwards by his shoulders. Before she had a chance to skin her teeth into his skin, her head was taken from her shoulders and send to the floor besides her. Lou held the axe out in front of her and nodded at Rick.

Though she wouldn't admit it, Louise enjoyed the feeling of the cold metal slicing through decayed skin. She turned and killed, turned and killed and all the while, relishing in the sense of belonging that she had. Louise Wainwright was made for this world.

She stood back to back with Rick, covering him as he covered her. Her own blood mixed with the 'walkers' and she allowed adrenaline to take over the pain. She swung the axe to the left, embedding it into a skull before pulling it loose and swinging it to the right. After a short while, the rest of their group aided - more than doubling their numbers against the dead.

"WE CAN DO THIS!" Rick shouted about the crowd as Aaron, Michonne, Spencer and Shaun helped thin out the crowd. "Drive them back!"

"WE CAN BEAT THEM!"

Twenty minutes later, she was beginning to tire. All energy she had had long since burned out and she had barely enough strength to hold up her weapon. Every one of her muscles were screaming at her.

She looked at her brother, covered in blood and for the briefest moment, she was terrified. Every member of the group was fighting for their lives; everyone except him. He was slowly walking backwards towards the porch, retreating from the situation. As always, Shaun Wainwright was a coward.

"Shaun?!" She shouted behind her. "Shaun!"

Louise cut her eyes at him and shook her head as she kicked a 'walker' backwards. Shaun scrambled up the steps and ran back into the building, leaving them defend their home alone.

As she turned decapitated another dead, shots rang out from the edge of Alexandria and multiple bullets were emptied from an assault rifle. Nobody could see the owner of the weapon but one thing was clear.

Reinforcements were here.