In The End: A Daryl Dixon x OC Story

The Warm Embrace of Whiskey

We pulled up just down the street from the CDC just before the sun began to set. The warm orange glow that would usually be so comforting, did nothing but highlight the dead bodies piled up on the lawn and glint off the abandoned tanks. I tried not to look at the tanks for longer than I needed to. I could feel my heart racing as I remembered soldiers, younger than me, ducking down inside of their when those things descended on the safe zone. They didn't fire a single shot. Nothing. 

The walkers in military uniforms still managed to tug at my heartstrings though, making me wonder if their families knew what happened. That they had died on orders they probably didn't want to carry out. Maybe there was just a part of me that could still see the photo of my father fresh out of basic training with his freshly shaven baby face. They were just kids. At least, a lot of them were. 

"Let's go," Daryl said, grabbing a gun from the floorboard and his crossbow. I had somewhat hoped that I would be allowed to carry something bigger and better than a handgun, but I guess he gets both.

I followed close behind, the pistol Shane gave me held out in front of me. We grouped together, watching every inch of the front courtyard. Even from here, I could see the metal lockdown doors sitting flush with the ground and blocking our entry. My heart was pounding in my chest, this was the closest I'd truly been to the city since I lost Kathleen. The dozens of dead bodies laid around, and even more walkers shuffling by did nothing to soothe my nerves. What if there was no one here? We had no food left, no gas, we were low on ammo. We would die out here if we didn't get inside. These people who I had spent the last two months with would die right in front of me, and this would have all been for nothing. We had to get inside this building one way or another.

So, we had no choice but to push forward. We moved slow and quiet, save for the coughing and gagging as the smell of rotting flesh choked the air. Georgia was not the most ideal place to have piles of bodies on the asphalt, especially not in this heat. Thankfully, all most of us had had today was just a handful of plants out of the woods, so even if we did vomit, it's not like there was too much to come up.

Rick led us closer to the building, shirts pulled over our noses and guns at the ready. We kept those without guns and the children towards the middle of the group, ready to protect them no matter what.

The building towered over us, its many windows glinting in the sunlight that the hordes of flies that flittered around threatened to blot out. Rick and Shane were almost constantly whisper shouting at us to stay close and stay quiet. If it went on any longer, I would have gotten annoyed. We're on the very close outskirts of the city that we all know is filled with walkers, why the hell would we just wander off? Not to mention, the two of them were really the only ones making any noise at all.

As we finally arrived at the building, Rick and Shane approached the doors, trying to get us in. I turned my back to them to watch the courtyard. I wasn't paying attention the last time, I wasn't going to get caught off guard again. I did my best to keep my gun steady as I held it out in front of me, making a mental tally of just how many walkers there were in my eyeline. It wasn't too many for the time being, but those metal doors were going to make quite a bit of noise when they opened, and we had to be prepared to be swarmed. As of now, I could see two, but they were a good distance away.

What pulled my attention back to the group was a loud banging sound. I turned around just in time to watch Shane try and pull the door up on his own and then begin slamming his fist into it. The metallic thuds echoed across the space before us, and there they were: more walkers.

Daryl shouted to the group, and it felt like that one word was the one thing keeping all hell from breaking loose. The kids started crying and the group began arguing about whether or not Rick had made the right call. Sure, Rick had a point about someone having to be inside because the shutters were down. Someone inside had to have been the one to put them down. But that didn't promise us that they were alive inside. Who's to say that inside there is any different than out here?