Guardian Angel (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 41

I was standing next to Rick in the garden. Helping him pull out the products of what we had grown wasn't exactly what I wanted to be doing, but that's what happened.

We had animals now, a few pigs and a horse Michonne usually took out. The plants helped a lot with our minimal food supply. All we could do was chores while we waited around for Daniel to come.

"Sarah! Rick!" I turned around quickly. Maggie was standing in the middle of the field,"look!" The fence was filling up with walkers.

It was going to collapse.

I took off, getting a head start away from Rick. My boots crunched against the gravel as I ran. Reaching out, my hand caught hold of one of the metal bars hanging from the fence. I pulled it off and began to help Maggie and Tyreese stab the walkers.

"We need more people! We can't do this with just the four of us." I hissed. Carl, who was watching, ran inside.

Daryl's POV

"Daryl!" I turn around and see Carl running in the prison.

"What's wrong?" I ask, grabbing my crossbow.

"The gates about to cave in, the walkers a-are piling up and it's about to collapse! There's only four people on it, I don't think they can handle it." He follows behind me as we run out of the cell block.

"Is Sarah one of those people?" I hiss.

"Yeah."

Once outside, I realize how bad the situation truly is. The amount of walkers was unbelievable. I grab one of the sticks and run towards the group fighting them off.

I find myself next to Sarah who glances over at me,"Thank God, you're here. We can't hold this off much longer without the fence caving in."

"I have an idea!" Rick screams. He glances over towards the pigs and I see Sarah cringe.

"Daryl, I need your help."

+

As Maggie, Glenn, and Sarah attempt to hold off the walkers, Rick and I drive out of the gates with the pigs.

"You sure this is gonna work?" I call out to him as we drive into the grass.

"Yes."

I stop where he tells me to near the fence. The walkers turn to us. Rick glances to Carl and hesitates.

"Do it! Unless you want them eating us." Rick takes his knife and slashes the pig. It squeals and all the walkers begin to move as fast as they can towards us due to the smell of blood.

The walkers move away from the fence and we drive them away, losing most of our food supply.

+

Dinner was quiet.

Carl sat next in between Sarah and I, not even bothering to go near his dad.

"Sarah can you take watch tonight?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah."

"Thank you." Glenn and Maggie leave the room to go to bed, and Sarah gets up to go to watch.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I ask.

"Sure." She smiles. Carl stays put and we walk outside together.

"What's his problem?" I question quietly.

"Well, I don't think he's a huge fan of watching pigs get sliced up and fed to walkers. He told me that we were the animals now." She replies with a sigh.

"That's what we have to do to survive. We ain't got a choice anymore."

"I know, but he's so young and he's seen such awful things. How to you expect the kid to be?"

She had a good point, like she always did.

The group had a lot of tension between everyone. Some people wanted to do something and go against Rick's orders. Others wanted to stay and fight for it. Everyone had asked over and over, was the prison really worth it?

"Daryl."

"Yeah?"

"Should we just leave?"

"What do ya mean?" I ask, confused.

Sarah's POV

"Should we just leave?"

"What do ya mean?" He asks.

"I don't know really. Should all of us just go? Leave and give it up? We could do that, and if we don't find anything try and fight for it back. I don't want to see our people die, Daryl and I know they will if we stay here."

"It's a choice that Rick made, we gotta listen. Besides, we'd be as good as dead out there with that baby. I don't think we'd be able to do it."

"We could then." I blurt out.

"You mean us?"

"Yeah, we could go and-"

"I like that idea, believe me I do," Daryl interrupts,"but these people are our family. They need us and we need them. We're strong in this group and there ain't many strong people left in this group." He points out. I lean back against the rail of the watch tower and nod.

"I know. The group is getting smaller."

"Yeah, especially after the run two days ago and we lost Beth's boyfriend." I cringe slightly. The thought of it being him made me want to throw up.

"I'm just tired of losing people." Daryl says. I grab his shoulder and squeeze.

"Me too, but you won't lose me." I assure him. He grabs my hand and presses a kiss to it.

"If anything happens," He begins,"if we lose the prison and all get split up, or if something just happens to me, promise me something."

"Don't talk like this-"

"Promise me you'll stay alive. You'll fight for it, and you'll find your way back to me. And if I do die, you'll keep going for these people."

I swallow hard,"I promise."

Silence looms over us. I think about the promise I had just made to Daryl. Without him, I wouldn't be able to go on but I just told him that I would. I was scared, so scared of Daniel and his plans.

But I was going to stay and fight. Fight to protect my home and most importantly, my family.

And I would fight for Daryl, so I didn't have to break that promise.