The Walking Dead {Daryl Dixon}

S2Ch9 "A town called Woodbury"

The Governor came early in the morning with breakfast. Merle and I were up and about before he was knocking at our door. I'd like to believe we got some shut-eye – at least more than we're used to. Merle had locked the door and moved some furniture around to block the entrance, much to my peace of mind. Nevertheless, I wasn't able to conceal a dream until Merle came to lie down with me. He has become my human pillow, so I always tangle myself with either one of his arms or legs. Even with him holding me I still found myself plagued with nightmares of the past mixing with the present.

It's been almost a week since I stopped having symptoms of whatever the hell it was that I had. After throwing up so much I pulled a muscle and passed out, Merle had been on edge to leave me alone. Much to my luck, now that I look back. Had he not been a worrywart, I probably would've died the O.D death: choked on my own puke. How fancy, unable to breathe because of some bloody puke. According to Merle, I probably died, but I say that he's shit at finding a pulse and his overdramatic ass got confused and mistook my death. I was probably just knocked out cold.

"Come with me", Philip nodded over his shoulder for us to follow him after we had the best damn breakfast in the last month.

It felt good finally being able to stomach some food. And the fact that it was actual food and not some... leftovers. It wasn't good, I know that. My tongue can still remember the taste of yummy food and what we had wasn't it. Nonetheless, it felt good to eat and not feel like it's gonna come out before it can be digested.

Philip guided us past his office or whatever, down to the street. He opened the door and held it for Merle and me to walk through first. The light coming from outside was blinding. I put my hand over my brow and squint my eyes while they adjust to the lighting. The sun is bright above us, the sky is clear, and I can't hear any of the dead nearby.

I blink at the sight in front of me: Shit load of people on the street. Walking, talking, laughing, having a damn picnic out here. I blink again to see if this illusion fades, but it doesn't.

'Have I walked into some sort of alternate universe or a window to the past or something? How the hell is this possible?'

"Welcome to Woodbury!"

I feel Merle walk from behind me to stand next to me. He whistles, "Damn! Haven't seen this many folks since before. How ye do it?"

I stand there in shock at how surreal it all looks. The town is clean, no broken windows or trash nor are there bodies rotting in the streets. I blink. The damn place looks untouched, 'What the hell?!'

Whatever explanation the Governor is giving, I miss it. It's probably something like "Groups of people coming together to reestablish civilization" or some other sort of political narrative. Of course groups of people comin together is how you get a fuckin community. Duh.

I follow Merle and the Governor as he walks us down the sunny street to the entrance of this place. My eyes scan every corner of this place waiting for the dead to manifest and turn this dreamland into a ghost town.

"Martínez here is my head of security."

A man with a buzz cut and big brown eyes struts our way with a smile on his face. "Governor, see we got new faces", his smile is directed to the man, Merle, and I.

"That's right. They arrived last night."

He turns to me and Merle, "I gotta take care of something, but you can trust 'im."

I lift an eyebrow at the new guy's open happiness. There's little to nothing in the world to be smiling about. People are dead and keep on dying. Consequently, the dead grow in numbers while the people become less and less. Hell, some of those 'people' are worst than demons. Humanity has truly gone to shit and this guy is just giving smiles away for free.