Lilly Watkins has always been the strong one compared to her twin. That doesn't change when the dead start walking. Taking care of her family during the apocalypse, she never relied on anyone else. When she meets Daryl Dixon, a more temperamental pe...
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We follow the car with the white cross for some time, keeping a safe distance to see where they will lead us. Daryl lost Beth to a vehicle with similar markings. Eventually, the car slows and a man in a uniform emerges from the passenger side. Carol pulls out her gun in case something happens. A walker presses itself against her window, startling all three of us before we turn our attention back to the car ahead.
Once he's moved debris from the road, the man hops back in and the car takes off. Daryl tries to turn the ignition but it's clear we overestimated how much gas we had left.
"Tank's tapped," he says in frustration, looking towards the backseat where I'm sitting. "They could have taken the bypass but they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere. We gotta move, find somewhere to hole up for until sunlight."
"I know a place just a couple blocks from here," Carol says to us. "We can make it."
We're scouting for Beth from a tall building the next morning when we run into him.
"Lay down your crossbow," the dark-skinned young man says, slightly unsteady on his feet. "Now back up."
We do so, not wanting to get shot.
"Sorry about this. You look tough, you'll be alright." He draws Walkers over to us before running. Thankfully, he didn't take our knives or Carol's revolver. We run after him but realize that he's locked us in when the door won't budge. Daryl finds another route, using the tip of his knife to pick this lock.
We make it down to a van with the same white cross that Daryl saw earlier from his scope. It's dangling over the edge.
Daryl opens the door, going to hop in. Carol stops him. "I'm lighter."
He ignores her stubbornly, and I'm definite that there's tension since she came back. I'm not sure why. Carol and I look behind us, seeing more and more Walkers heading our way. I keep lookout, watching the growing mass as Daryl and Carol search inside the van that's teetering on the edge.
"Guys, we're out of time!" I yell back.
Daryl flips the gurney, saying the name of a hospital I don't recognize. "Close the doors, Lil!"
I listen, heading to the front with Carol and him.
"Buckle up," he says to us.
"Daryl, there's only two seats," Carol says, already moving to give me hers. I want to protest but Daryl shoves me into the seat, buckling me in almost violently before himself then grabbing Carol into a bear hug. She grabs my hand as the van teeters forward, both from our added weight in the front and the Walkers pushing us in the back. The van lands on all four tires with the airbags deploying. The dust goes up my nostrils, burning my throat. The metallic taste in my mouth lets me know I've either bit my lip or tongue enough to make it bleed. My ears are ringing from the impact and it's taking minutes for my consciousness to attach back to my body.
Thuds against the hood of the vehicle wake me up from my daze as the Walkers step off of the bridge above.
Daryl helps Carol out as she's worse off than both of us with a shoulder injury. Daryl brings us to an empty loading dock at a factory to rest. He takes a look at her shoulder and realizes she bruised it badly.
"We made good time down," she jokes, taking a sip from the canteen.
"That's not funny," I murmur, slightly worried about the older woman. She hasn't had a break in a while.
"We need to scope out the place, see if it's safe," Daryl says, moving on.
"Do you think we will find out what we need to know about her?" Carol asks.
"It's worth a start."
We hole up in a tall building across from the hospital. Daryl finds some pre-packaged snacks that aren't too shabby while we make ourselves comfortable. He seems split between both Carol and I with his worry, then also stressed about Beth.
"Lilly, you don't look good," Carol says, pressing a hand against my forehead. "You feel like you're running a fever."
"Are you bit?" Daryl panics, his eyes roaming my body.
"I'm not bit. I'm probably actually just sick."
"Lil-" he's cut off by gunshots in the building. It has to be the older kid that took our guns. Daryl races after the noise with Carol and I moving slower in the back.
When we get to him, the younger man is underneath a bookshelf, a Walker pushing through the door on top of him. Daryl is grabbing his weapons and a pack of cigarettes that have fallen out of the man's pocket.
"Leave him." He lights a cigarette, walking away.
"Daryl!" Carol pleads, stunned at the retreating angel wing's vest. She goes to the shelf, trying to free him herself.
I run after my partner, angry. "Are you gonna be like Merle? Caring only about yourself? Because that's not the man I chose."
He stops, turning around. A bolt flies so close to my ear that I can hear it whizz by. It impales the Walker in the head and he brushes passed to take the bookshelf off.
The freed man immediately runs to the window. "I gotta go. They're gonna come after me. They probably heard the shot."
"Who?" Daryl asks.
"Them. The people at the hospital."
Daryl grabs his shirt. "Is there a blonde girl there?"
"Beth? You know her? She helped me get out! She's still there."
"They're coming," Carol says from the window and we sprint from the room.
"Go to the basement. It's clear and we'll be safe." We head in that direction, Daryl half-carrying the man as his leg is unable to bear weight. I stop to look behind me before I head onto the street, looking for Daryl. A car screech pierces my ears as a thud against the pavement goes along with it.
I'm grabbed by the man and pulled back. He holds onto Daryl too.
"They'll help her. They have doctors. If you go out there and kill them, she will never get help."
We watch helplessly as they load her onto a stretcher, taking her to wherever Beth is.
