𝙇𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙮 : ̗̀➛ 𝙙.𝙙

𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨

: ̗̀➛
       My hands shook, making my gun unsteady. I was losing it.
      "David?"
       "Drop it, Del. Please."
       "What are you doing?" My heart broke. He was nervous. I could tell he was scared.
        "God damnit, drop the fucking gun, Delilah!"
        I slowly lowered it, dropping it to the forest floor before kicking it over to him.
        I put my hands up in surrender, looking at his face, having to double check I wasn't seeing things. He wouldn't do this to me. He wouldn't.
        "He's going to kill me, Del. He said I need to get you, you're the leverage."
         "Who?"
         "Phillip, who the hell do you think?" His voice shook. He was crying.
         "How am I leverage?"
         "Rick owes you. He won't let you die over Michonne and that prison."
          "David, put the gun down and we can go back and talk-"
         "He will kill me! Don't you people understand who this man is?!"
          I looked for what to say. I didn't know if I should try and convince him to stop or to ask him why. Why was this worth it?"
          "I won't go back there. Do you know what he did to me?"
          "He will kill me. We can all live." He just shook his head, his body trembled.
          "What if he kills me?"
           He just stared at me, pursing his lips.
           The sound of a bush rustling caused his head to snap in that direction. I jumped forward, grabbing the barrel of the gun, yanking it to the ground. He dove towards me, knocking me to the ground, wrestling with me.
          "Stop, Del! Please!"
           I struggled, reaching for my knife from my waistband. He tried to fight it from my hands, and almost succeeded. He was so much bigger and stronger than me but in that moment my adrenaline and survival instincts kicked in, I wasn't even thinking.
         I drove the knife deep into his gut, freezing as soon as I did. He gasped, rolling off me onto the grass, looking down at the knife. I sat up, holding his face.
         "Oh god. What did I do? Why did you make me do this?!" I cried out. Blood trickled from his mouth as he gasped for air. He reached a weak hand up to my face, caressing it slowly. The cold of his engagement ring tingled my skin.
         "I... love... you." And the life left his eyes.
         "David? David!" I shook him, sobbing heavily, I couldn't breathe, I had a million pounds on my lungs.
          "No!" I screamed out, grabbing his shirt. It wasn't real, I would wake up any second at the prison.
           I wiped the hot tears off my cheeks, shutting his eyes for him as I gasped for air between silent sobs. I stared down at him, realizing I couldn't let him become one of those things.
         I grabbed my gun, cocking it back and aiming it at his head. I couldn't look at him. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting myself to kill him for a second time.
Bang!
         I hadn't pulled the trigger. I opened my eyes to see a bullet hole between his eyebrows. I looked above him to see Jake, his eyes wide in shock as the end of his gun smoked.
        He trembled, looking up at me, the innocence had left his eyes. Blood was splattered across his face.
        "Are you okay?" His voice broke. I rushed to him, holding him tightly in my arms. He was shaking. I stared down at Davids lifeless body.
        "You need to get back to the prison before every walker a hundred miles gets here, okay?" I pulled away.
          "I won't leave you."
         "I'm right behind you, I promise."
           He hesitantly nodded, slowly walking away.
           I crouched beside David, running my hand down his face. I twisted my ring off my finger, placing it in his palm and shutting his fingers. I gave him one last kiss on the head before reaching for his gun, checking the chamber. Empty. A whimper escaped my lips while I squeezed tears from my eyes. It wasn't loaded. Oh god. It wasn't loaded.
          "I'm sorry," I whispered.

: ̗̀➛

       I wiped the damp rag across Jakes face while he stared right past me. This was my fault. He had done this because of me.
       "Do you want to talk about it?"
        His eyes flickered to my face before replying. He had a thousand yard stare.
        "Do you?"
        "No."
        I wiped the blood from my hands.
        "Me neither."
        "You can't tell anyone, not yet. Just... Let me figure this out, okay?"
         He nodded. I laid him down in his bed, covering him up. He kept his eyes wide open. I knew his feeling, he wasn't sleeping at all that night.
         I ran my fingers through his hair. My baby brother.
        "Thank you. You did the right thing, okay?"
         He looked up at me, his eyes softening with those words
          "Okay."

: ̗̀➛

       I walked along the fence, staring out the woods. Morning had just broke, but I had been out there all night. Just walking.. just thinking.
       "You're up early." Maggies voice chirped out to me. Seeing her smiling face made me feel a little better, not much though. I couldn't get Davids lifeless body out of my head.
       "Yeah.. long night." I turned to stare back at the trees. Those fucking trees.
        "You okay?"
        Those words made me almost lose it, I swallowed back my tears, turning to look her dead in the eyes.
       "I killed David."
       Shock washed over her face, she stood just staring at me for a second, unable to process what I had just said.
       "What?"
       "I went looking for him last night. He tried to take me back there Maggie.. I.. I didn't know what to do."
        She pulled me into a tight hug. I couldn't even cry anymore.
       "You did the right thing."
       "His gun wasn't loaded, Mags. I killed him... and the fucking gun wasn't loaded."
        She just hugged me tighter.
        "It's okay. You protected yourself. This isn't your fault."
        I wanted to tell her it was. It was my fault for going into those woods. My fault for stabbing him, but I said nothing.