My Hope

Chapter 78

Alright everyone! This is it! We are almost at the end of this book! This chapter is going to be the second to last chapter. It has been almost a year since I started this thing and I am amazed at the progress. I thank all of you guys for your comments on the last chapters and hope to see some more for this one. Thanks for sticking with my story. Oh, and one other thing.

NORMAN REEDUS IS COMING TO MY CITY IN CALIFORNIA! I repeat, NORMAN REEDUS IS COMING TO MY HOMETOWN!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! He is going to be here sometime this month. I want to go sooooo bad. Last year he came to my hometown but I had a school thing and couldn't go but now I am not doing anything. The only problem is the money factor. It's like $200 for just me to go and my parents would want me to go with an adult. Why does the universe hate me??

Anyway, enough about me. Hope you enjoy.

Daryl's POV

As I watched the gates of Woodbury open slowly, I keep my finger hovering over the trigger of my crossbow just in case. Michoone and I look over at Rick who nods to me, signaling us to follow him inside. Rick walks next to this woman, Karen, who we had picked up a few miles back. She told us some story about the Governor killing his own people. This was only after the Governor and his people tried to take the prison, attacking with something close to an army. We were able to send them runnin' but not that far because the Governor had unloaded his weapon on all of them.

As we walk through the gates of this place, I can feel the uneasiness settle inside me. Last time I was here, I was forced to fight my own brother as well as see Sarah for the last time. I would give anything to see her again or to hear her voice.

"Karen." a deep voice called out. As the gates closed behind us, a tall black man and woman step up to us. Karen runs to the man and they quickly hug.

"This is Tyreese and Sasha. Ty, this is Rick, Michoone and Daryl. They saved my life." Karen says as she pulled away from Tyreese.

"Is it true? Did the Governor really do this? Kill everyone?"

"Yes. He lied to us all." Karen replied.

"What about Andrea? Did she make it?" Sasha asks.

"Andrea? She never showed up at the prison? When did she leave?" Michoone stepped forward.

"About a day ago. Governor told us she went to the prison." Sasha sighed, her hands resting on her hips.

---

We all quickly realized that Andrea had never made it to the prison meaning she was either dead or she was still in Woodbury. Michoone told us about this back area of Woodbury so we decided to search there. Tyreese and Sasha had no problem letting us search, seeing that their leader was gone and he wasn't trustworthy. Michoone found this building and led us down this dark hallway, a single light hanging from the ceiling. Rick lead the way to a door with his gun raised. I stood behind him with my gun, waiting for him to open the door. Rick turned the handle and the door swung open. Rick stepped in, then me. There was a dead body of a man lying on the floor in front of a metal chair that was hooked to the floor.

"Andrea!" Michoone shot straight into the room. She knelt down by Andrea who was lying against the wall, sweat and blood smeared across her face. Andrea looked at Rick who had moved so that he could kneel down in front of her. I stayed standing in the doorway, not wanting to enter the dark room much more.

"Your burning up." Michoone said after touching Andrea's arm. Andrea shifted herself and reached up, pulling back her jacket around her neck. There was a large wound, a fresh bit from the walker that was now dead only a few feet away. There was blood slowly running down her shoulder.

"Judith, Carl, the rest of them..." Andrea started.

"Us. The rest of us." Rick cut her off resting his hand on her knee.

"The rest of us. Are they all alive?"

Rick looked up at me, knowing that it was a hard question to answer. We hadn't lost anyone in the fight, but it felt like we had lost too much.

"Yeah, they're alive."

"That's good. It's good you found them. No one can make it alone now." Andrea looked over to Michoone who had tears running down her face.

"I never could." I quickly replied.

"I tried." Andrea sighed.

"Yeah, you did. You did." said Rick.

"I just didn't want anyone to die. I can do it myself, I have to. While I still can. I know how the safety works." Rick looked hesitant to give her the gun, not wanting to admit that his friend was going to die one way or the other.

Rick pulls out his gun and holds it out to her. He wraps his hands around hers.

"I ain't going anywhere." Michoone sniffs.

Rick stands up and walks over to where I am at the door.

"Daryl, she's here. Philip, he left her in one of these rooms. Sarah's not..." Andrea stopped me. I knew what she meant, that there was no way that she was still alive. I nodded to her, feeling my heart break knowing that Sarah's body was somewhere in a room close by. I stepped out and Rick closed the door behind us. I leaned against some old boxed and Rick against the door. We waited a few seconds until the gunshot rang and Michoone stepped out of the room handing Rick his gun.

"Rick..."

Rick nodded in understanding. Michoone and Rick left me alone so that I could find where the Governor had left Sarah. I walked further down the hallway and stopped midway to the end.

The sound of a almost silent banging came from deep in the hallway. I found the door from where the sound was coming and knew it that this was the room Andrea had told me about. The sound of banging was now mixed with almost a clawing sound. It was defiantly coming from the opposite side of the door.

I know what it is. Who is it, or at least who it once was. I feel myself back into the wall across from the door and slid down it, my back pressing agains the cold metal. I surveyed every inch of the doors metal frame. The bolts and hinges, the creases of the metal that had once been welded together. The cold air that filled the dark halls blowing against my skin. I pulled out my knife and held the cold handle in my hand. Nervously, I started stabbing the sharp end of it into the ground, matching each bang with the sound coming from what lay behind the door.

Why couldn't I have saved her? She was all I had left in this world. I didn't deserve to love her, to be loved by her. I mean, I'm a Dixon. We aren't loved and we especially don't love others. Dixon's never really deserved it. But she did. She deserves it more than anyone. We'd both been threw hell trying to live in this cruel world, but we made it.

Sarah. Just thinking about her name made my head swarm with feelings. Things I hadn't felt since I'd learned my mother had died, the only other person in the world I knew had maybe once loved me.

Anger. Hate. Fear. Sadness. Guilt. The pain of knowing that because of my weakness is what killed Sarah. Never in my whole damn life did I ever imagine myself become this type of person. The type of person who would have admitted to feeling things. But Sarah was something else. She was my everything. She was my hope. Before I'd ever met Sarah, hope seemed like some cruel joke. A stupid bed time story. I never guessed that I'd ever find such a thing as hope.

The small taps of my knife into the ground now turned into hard stabs echoing threw the halls. The image of her dying flashed threw my head like a movie and all I can see is red. I quickly stand up and kick the door in front of me silencing the once soft sounds from behind the door. I paced up and down the halls trying to find the courage to open the door. My hand reaches out and opens it. I raise my knife preparing to drive it into the walkers skull.

The room was pitch black. I grabbed my small flashlight and held it alongside my knife. The long stretch of light from it helped me to see if anything was in front of me. There was nothing directly in front of me. I entered the room slowly, checking everything to my right. I then check to my left.

"Daryl?"