Struggling to Connect: The 6th Book

Chapter 3: The Execution

I wake up in the infirmary with a bandage on my head and a gnarly headache. I move in the bed I'm lying in and theres a rustling to my left. I sit up further and mutter, "ow" and before I can blink another time, Daryl is at my side. He doesn't say anything though, so I have to ask him, "Maggie? Herschel?"

"They fine." He simply says, shaking his dark locks while looking down on me, "why you always gettin' yourself hurt when I'm not around?"

"It's.. its.. it's.." I stutter, unable to get the sentence out I want to say.

Daryl informs me, "yew got a nasty concussion. Gonna be a bit before you can mouth off to me again."

I give him a knowing glare and he smirks at his bad joke. I decide to keep it short and ask, "who?"

"Earl attacked her, but it was Gregory behind it."

I sigh and shake my head, wanting to say more but the words not coming to me right now. When I bring my eyes back to Daryl, I just look at him with the pain I've been feeling lately.

Luckily, he catches on and says to me, "I know we gotta talk. Sorry I've been avoiding yew. When you're better I'll make sure we sit down togetha, ok?"

I manage to utter out, "th-th-thanks." And close my eyes, wanting and needing to rest some more.

When I wake up again, Michonne is there. She comes over and gives me a soft smile. I smile back and she informs me, "we're having a public execution tonight for Gregory. I wanted you to know since his actions also caused you pain. Earl, too. Maggie wants everyone there."

I shake my head and look away from her for a moment. I'd argue to her or to Maggie or Rick about it if I could, but there's no way I'd be able to articulate what I want to say with this concussion and injury. She asks, "I'll help you into a chair and we can go together, alright?"

I nod as a way to say okay and she moves up to my side to help me out of the bed and into a wheelchair. We get there as the sun sets and she locks the wheels before moving away to stand by Rick. Daryl brings Earl out of the jail and he walks with his hands tied in front of him, his wife closely behind with tears in her eyes. A few minutes later, Maggie comes out of Barrington house, Alden walking alongside Gregory, his hands also tied with rope in front of him. They walk him to the scaffolding of the new watch tour and it's silent as Daryl comes over and ties a noose around his neck and places him up on a horse. Maggie gets to the front of the crowd, waiting for Daryl and Alden to step back towards the crowd before speaking, "I don't want to do this. But people need to understand that at Hilltop, the punishment fits the crime." She is loud and confident as she speaks. She turns to Gregory and asks, "do you have any final words?

Gregory whimpers but stammers out, "what you're doing isn't right." He breathes heavy, shouting for help, "somebody stop this, please." No one moves, no one says anything. So he goes on, "killing me in the dead of night because you're ashamed."

Maggie quickly corrects him, "you're wrong. I'm not ashamed."

His breathing gets heavier, as she looks to Daryl and gives him the slightest of nods. He begs some more, "stop this! Please! Now, for the love of God, stop it!"

Daryl moves to finish this and as he does Mc Michonne spots something and yells, "Maggie, stop! Wait!" but Rick holds her back.

Daryl cracks a whip on the horses back and it runs off. The sound of Gregory gasping for air makes me queasy so I turn to look away. Behind me I spy two children, just as Maggie must seen them as she directs out, "get the children back in bed. Two people shuffle up the small mound to rush the kids back to bed. She calls back out to the crowd, "I made this decision. But this is not the beginning of something. I don't want to go through it again." No one says a thing, so she turns to Daryl and directs, "cut him down."

Daryl does, and after his body hits the first, she walks off, leaving whomever she directed to deal with the body and bring Earl back to the prison.

I'm kept in the infirmary for 2 more days. That's about how long it takes before the speech delay goes away and the pain is manageable without over the counter medication. Rick explained why Daryl's still in town, stepping down as leader of the sanctuary to be at the hilltop. Although I wish he'd come back with me to Alexandria, I'm just glad he's doing something he wants to do. The morning I'm suppose to leave to go back to Alexandria, Daryl meets me at the horse I'm saddling up, "you feeling up for that chat?"

I brush the horse a little to get her comfortable with the saddle and reply, "probably the only time we'll have for awhile. Yanno, I'm sorry we never sat down after Anna to talk about us. Maybe you'd be more open with me if we did."

"Whatcha mean be more open? Yew the only person I'm open wit." He replies back.

"You mean me and Carol?" I correct him. He doesn't argue it, knowing I'm right. I add on, "which is fine, I'm glad you have a friend, since you don't have a wife."

"Sadie-Mae, you know I love yew, what are you getting at right now?" He asks, not following anything I'm saying.

I shake my head and change the subject again, starting to feel a bit fuzzy in my thinking, "why didn't you come see her? You left me alone to mourn."

He sighs out hard, dropping his head as he does. When he lifts them back up, I see him fighting back tears, "I wasn't ready to be near her. I couldn't bring myself to come back here. It hurt too much."

"Why couldn't you come see me then? You're the only person who feels the pain I feel, and it's so lonely doing it by myself." I confide in him, trying to fight back my own tears.

He admits, "cause I wasn't ready to be near you either." This stuns me, and I just look to him with the pain it caused me sitting all over my face. He explains, "ya told me back then to go out and mourn my own way. And I tried, but I didn't really get to. I had to be at the sanctuary, I had to get things togetha. And the thought of coming to see you, and see all yer growth and managed shit wasn't something I was ready to deal with."

"Managed shit? Daryl, what makes you think I had my shit managed?" I ask him.

He just shrugs, "I guess I didn't know for sure. I just hoped ya figured something out."

"You hoped I figured something out?" I repeat his words back to him.

He tries to explain, "that's not.."

"It's fine Daryl," I hold up my hand to stop him from going on, "I can see you're not ready to figure this out." I gesture between the two of us, "maybe we'll get the chance to figure it out while we're out there building that bridge." I suggest, knowing we're both going to be on duty and crossing paths throughout the rest of the summer. I move to hop up on the horse and Daryl offers me a hand. I use it and put my foot into his clasps hands and hoist myself up, "I'll see ya out there, Dixon."

I go to ride off, hearing him call back, "see you Sadie-Mae." The gates open for me as I ride out, letting the wind push back the tears I held in.