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HE LOOKED THE same as when I left him. His dark shaggy hair drooped in his face. I don't know what outside force compelled me forwards, but I couldn't contain myself. I dropped my weapon and ran at him, wrapping my arms around his masculine body. "Thank you," I whispered. This side of me was rare and I couldn't believe I was showing it to him of all people.
My excitement couldn't be contained. I was free, we could leave together now and I wouldn't be left regretting my choices. The real shock was when his hands wrapped around my body. Holding me in his embrace. We stood there for a while before I broke the hug. Taking a few steps backward. Tears of joy clouded my vision, I couldn't remember the last time I was this thrilled to see someone.
"Don't get all sedimental on me now." He said. He tossed me something from his pocket and I instinctively caught it. It was a hunting knife. Not just any hunting knife, my hunting knife. "But how?" I asked. A slight frown crept on his lips as he answered. "I'm with the governor now." A look that only could be described as horror swept over my face.
"You're fucking out of your mind, he killed our friends and took out home-!" I raised my voice. He quickly slapped a hand over my mouth to keep me from talking. "Would you shut up, I did it for you dumbass." He said in a hushed whisper. "You should be thanking me." After making sure that I wouldn't yell anymore his hand left my lips.
I was too shocked to speak. It was all for me, but why? Why was he being so nice to me? "I don't get it," I said. When we were in the forest he was just itching to get me off his back. And now he was the one who gave me extra food and kept me alive this whole time. When we parted I thought he wouldn't want to see my face again, and yet here we were.
I wanted an answer, but it looked like I wasn't going to get one. He turned away from me and gestured for me to follow. Not wanting to spend any more time cooped up in the cell I obeyed. He peeked down the stairs and turned back to me. "Put your hands behind your back and get down on your knees." He ordered.
"What?" I asked, confused by his words. He gave me this side eye that told me to listen. Annoyingly I did exactly as he said. Having no clue why I was kneeling until the governor marched up the steps with a pistol in hand. I hated not knowing what he was thinking.
"Seems like you had fun." The eye patch man said as he looked into my cell at the two men still weeping. "Stop your complaining, both of you, worthless." When they didn't stop he entered the cell to take care of the problem himself. I waited, looking anxiously at Daryl for a sign, any sign.
He watched carefully as the governor ambled up to one of the men and drew his gun. He motioned to the stairs and from that moment I knew that was my signal. As fast as my little feet could carry me I sprinted down the stairs. Almost tripping a few times as I did so.
I managed to make it down two flights without any trouble. That was it, I was home free. I wouldn't die here after all. Everything was looking up until I heard it. The sound of a pistol's fire. The same type of gun the governor had on him. I stopped in my tracks as a mixture of fear and worry struck me. It couldn't have... could he.
Was Daryl shot? There were a few more rounds of bullets fired before the loud bangs came to an abrupt halt. My feet started moving on their own as I ran up the stairs. Damn it, he better be alright or I'll kill him myself. I thought he would be right behind me so I didn't even think of looking back.
There was no way I could live with myself if he sacrificed himself for my sake. Everything he did was stupid. He shouldn't have come back for me, he should have just kept going and not worried about what happened. Why did he have to be so stubborn?
As I approached the last staircase I prepare myself for what I was about to see. There were no signs of anyone struggling. No creaking floorboards or distress calls. My head peeked over the side and that's when I saw it. Blood, the crimson liquid flooded the floor.
Someone was badly hurt, but who was it? I nervously crept toward my holing cell only to see the two men dead on the floor with gunshot wounds to their heads. There were three bodies, not just the two of them. The governor lay dead in the center of the room with an arrow piercing his skull. Daryl was nowhere in sight.
I looked to my feet where I saw a trail of blood leading from the room. That is where he must have gone. There were other rooms on this floor so I assumed he had entered one of them. I followed the blood trail closely. Until I came to a door. The door had no knob on it and no window.
I pushed in the door and all my suspicions turned out to be true. There he was. Clasping his left shoulder as he sat motionless in the corner of the room. "Oh shit, your bleeding." The crimson liquid leaked through the cracks in his fingers. I rushed to his side and removed his hand.
