Till Death Do Us Part: A Daryl Dixon Story (The Walking Dead)

11

I peeped at my husband. Strong, tall, beautiful eyes. I loved him, I promise. But that love was tainted by his lies, our lies. Whatever this was could never be fixed, that much was clear when he left me with my shattered heart on our first night in the CDC. Why carry on? Why chase after the ghosts of our marriage when an ending so sweet and promising lurked ahead?

While I was swimming in my turmoil, Daryl was by the shut door. He threw the bottle of Southern Comfort against it, shattering the glass into thousands of shards. 'Open the damn door!' He shouted.

Shane and Daryl were both pounding against the door with axes. I moved to Rick, as Jenner babbled on about how this was the best way for all of us.

I touched his arm, and he looked at me, frenzy in his eyes.

'It's alright, Rick. Sit down with your wife and child.' I looked deep into his crystal eyes. 'It's alright.'

'Stop givin' up so easily!' Rick snapped at me and gave me a mean look. 'You've wanted to die since that day I woke you up on that hospital floor.'

I stepped back, startled at his harsh tone. Is that what he thought? More importantly, did I only come to that realisation minutes ago? Did I really want to die?

'Oh, you never said it. But I could see it on your face. Written on your damn forehead!' He spun around and left me, wallowing in my self-pity.

'Is that really what you want for your wife and son?' Jenner asked Rick, gently.

'I don't want this.' Rick said in a rough, firm voice.

Shane leaned over a desk, exhausted. 'Can't make a dent.' But Daryl laboured on.

'Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher.' Jenner said, a bit of smugness in his tone.

Enter my darling husband, an axe held up in midswing. 'Well, your head ain't!'

'Whoa! Whoa!'

'Daryl!'

Dale, Rick and two others rushed to stop Daryl from committing murder before our death sentence.

Jenner seemed unfazed as he stood up and carried on speaking to Rick as if nothing happened. 'You do want this. Last night you said it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.'

Wait, what?

I looked at Rick with disbelief and scrutiny in my eyes, hell we all did. Lori looked shocked. How could Rick say those things and then accuse me of giving up to easily?

'You really said that?' Shane asked, a mocking tone in his voice. 'After all your big talk?

'I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?' Rick responded.

'There is no hope!' Jenner insisted. 'There never was.'

'There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere-' Rick was interrupted by Andrea.

'What part of "everything is gone" don't you understand?'

'Listen to your friend.' Jenner said. 'She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.'

One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die

It was simply evolution at its best. I couldn't agree more with the Doctor.

'This isn't right,' Carol said between sobs. 'You can't just keep us here.'

'One tiny moment,' Jenner leaned forward in his chair. 'A millisecond. No pain.'