𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 | ᵀᵂᴰ

6: My Girl

I hardly got any sleep last night. The thought of Amy being gone hurt not just my heart but every bone in my body.

In the morning, we sunk knives and pickaxe through the heads of the bitten and burned the bodies of the dead.

I couldn't stray my eyes away from Amy's body as it laid there next to Andrea getting colder and paler by the second.

Maybe if I told Daryl I didn't wanna go with him, I could have protected her. Maybe even saved her.

"Yall can't be serious." Daryl said. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girls a time bomb." I didn't want to face the fact that he was right. Amy is going to wake up, and someone is going to have to put her out of her misery.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked. Daryl walked a little closer to him. "Take the shot." He said. "Clean in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance." I didn't want to speak up, but I couldn't help it.

"Don't. Just let her be." I said before walking over to Morales. He was struggling to pick up a body. "I got this. Go be with your family."

"Thank you." He said. I nodded and took over. Daryl patted my back and helped my drag the body over to the fire.

"Hey, wh-what are you guys doing?" Glenn asked. "This is for geeks. Our people go over there." "What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl said. "Our people go in that row over there." Daryl and I dropped the body and turned to look at Glenn. "We don't burn them!" He yelled. "We bury them. Understand?" We stared at Glenn for a moment before picking up the body to move it. "Our people go in that row over there." He repeated.

"Reap what you sow!" Daryl shouted, looking at Andrea and Amy. "Shut up, Daryl." I said threw clenched teeth. "Y'all left my brother for dead! You had this coming!" He yelled. I shook my head.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" Jacqui yelled. Oh, shit. We all turned our attention to him.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Jim said. "Show it to us." Daryl said. "Show it to us." Jim picked up a shovel.

"Easy, Jim." Shane said. "Grab 'im." Daryl said. A few of us began to shout at Jim, so he'd calm down and drop the shovel. T-Dog grabbed him from behind and held his arms back. Daryl lifted Jim's shirt to reveal a bite on his left side.

"I'm okay." Jim kept repeating. Like hell, he's okay.

➳

"I say we put a pickaxe in 'is head an' the dead girls an' be done with it." Daryl said.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked. "Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl replied.

"I hate to say it- I never thought I would- but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick said. "I'm not suggesting-" "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick said.

"Line's pretty clear." Daryl said. "Zero tolerance for walkers. Or 'em to be." "What if we get him help?" Rick asked. "I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure."

"Heard that, too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane said. "What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick asked. "Man, that is a stretch right there." "Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection, rescue." "Okay, Rick, you want those things alright? I do, too, okay? Now, if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori said. "That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." "The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick said.