Catch Fire | Daryl Dixon

AFTERMATH

Kennedy's POV

I stood in the crowd, my arms wrapped tightly around Willow, feeling the warmth of her small body against me. She had been quiet since we found her, clinging to me like she was afraid to let go. Her little arms were wound around my neck, and I could feel her trembling every so often. I held her closer, pressing my cheek against her head, feeling her hair brush my skin.

Daryl was beside me, his arm resting protectively over my shoulders, pulling us both close. His presence was the only thing keeping me grounded, keeping me from falling apart. We stood like that, connected, listening as Siddiq addressed the crowd from the stage.

"I was there," Siddiq began, his voice thick with emotion. "I was taken with the others. And I saw... I was supposed to die with them. I was ready to."

I tightened my grip on Willow, her heartbeat quick against mine, her breathing shallow. The weight of Siddiq's words pressed down on me, suffocating. We were supposed to be safe. Tara, Enid, Henry, all of them were supposed to be safe.

Siddiq's voice wavered as he continued. "Then, Alpha whispered in my ear, 'Tell them.' Something hit me, and everything went black. And when I woke up, I was alone."

The crowd was silent, the weight of what had happened sinking into everyone. I could feel the tension in the air, the fear, the anger, the grief. It was almost unbearable.

"What happened was evil," Siddiq said, his voice rising. "It was evil. And I think she left me alive to tell you that story. To scare you and to drive us all apart again. But I want to tell you a different story."

I had to clench my jaw to keep from crying. The thought of Alpha, her cold voice whispering in Siddiq's ear, taunting him, taunting us... It made me sick. I glanced at Daryl, who was staring straight ahead, his face hard, unreadable. But I knew he was feeling the same. We were all feeling it.

"Before the end... Ozzy, Alek, and DJ found us... and they gave us an opening," Siddiq continued, his voice cracking. "And everyone fought back... They fought like hell. And what they did... was more than brave... 'Cause they defended each other. And they sacrificed for each other..."

He started crying, and the sound of it broke something inside me. I thought of Tara, of Enid, of Henry. Of Tammy. They fought for each other. For Willow. They were gone, but we were still here.

Siddiq was crying openly now. "And some of them... they didn't even know each other, but they still fought like they did. Like they were family. 'Til the very end."

My chest tightened, thinking of Tara. I could see her in my mind, fighting like hell, doing whatever she could to protect the people she cared about. Doing whatever she could to protect Willow. The tears I had been holding back started to slip down my cheeks, silent but heavy. I wasn't just grieving Tara. I was grieving everything, the loss of our people, the innocence stolen from my daughter, the world we once knew.

"And in the end, they... Their time was cut short, but ours keeps going. So we have to keep going. For them and... for all of us."

Siddiq's words were the truth, but they hurt. They cut deep. The reminder that we had to keep going, even when it felt impossible, even when everything inside me screamed to just stop, to grieve, to mourn.

I couldn't hold it back anymore. The grief, the anger, the helplessness all spilled out as tears, and I felt Daryl's arm tighten around me. He kissed the side of my head, a soft, silent gesture to let me know he was here. But it didn't change the fact that Tara was gone, that our family was torn apart, and that my little girl had been caught in the middle of it all.

"We need to honour them," Siddiq said, his voice steadier now. "We need to honor them, and we need to remember these friends, our family, died as heroes. That's the story I want to tell you. That's the story I want us all to remember."