Safe haven | Rick Grimes

113. ONE UNSTOPPABLE LIFE

Chapter one hundred and thirteen

"One unstoppable life."

Uncle Daryl kicked the clinic doors open, his frantic shouts for help echoing through the halls. Through a terrifying blur of blood loss, Daryl saw a flickering, hallucinated vision of his father, Rick, looking down at him before his eyelids grew heavy and closed completely.

When his eyes flickered open again, Uncle Daryl was lifting him onto a medical gurney. "You're gonna be okay," his uncle promised, spinning around and sprinting deeper into the facility to look for supplies. As his uncle's voice faded, Daryl drifted under once more.

The next time his eyes cracked open, the hallway had descended into a nightmare. White-armored Commonwealth soldiers were storming the corridors just around the corner. Blinking through the haze, Daryl looked down at the floorboards and froze—Uncle Daryl was lying completely unconscious on the ground.

Through the shattered glass windows, the snarling faces of the walker herd were pushing against the building. Adrenaline overriding his failing body, Daryl dragged himself off the mattress. His legs instantly buckled beneath him, nearly sending him to the floor, but he gripped the edge of the metal gurney to steady his weight. Trudged heavily toward the entrance, he collapsed against the first door, forcing it shut. He reached out, grabbed the handle of the adjacent door, and slammed it closed as well, momentarily knocking back a walker that was trying to jam its way inside.

The creature threw its weight against the glass, forcing the rotted frame open. Acting on pure survival instinct, Daryl kicked his boot up, driving it into the walker's chest to shove it back into the alley. He pulled the doors tight, locking the latch. Turning to his right, his eyes landed on a heavy wooden examination table. He stumbled into it, using every remaining ounce of his fading strength to slide the heavy furniture directly in front of the doors to barricade the entrance.

With the defense secure, his vision went entirely black, and he collapsed onto the floorboards, passing out right next to his unconscious uncle.

The rest of the group was still locked in a brutal struggle against the dead. Carol finally let go of Caroline, and Negan released his grip on Judith and Rick. Free to move, the three siblings immediately joined the frontline, fighting with everything they had to help clear a path through the crowded alleyway to reach their brother.

Behind them, the rest of the survivors held the perimeter. "Come on, move! Move!" Ezekiel bellowed, urging the group forward.

Suddenly, a terrified scream cut through the noise—Jules was overwhelmed by a cluster of walkers, followed immediately by Luke's agonizing cry. A barrage of desperate gunshots filled the air. Seeing a brief opening in the chaos, Judith, Caroline, and Rick took their chance and bolted down the cleared stretch of the alley.

"Wait!" Carol shouted, sprinting after them as the rest of the group abandoned the line to follow.

They burst into the dark clinic and quickly secured the area. They managed to lift Uncle Daryl onto a gurney, wrapping a thick bandage around his bloodied forehead. Within minutes, his eyes flickered open.

"Hey," Carol said softly, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Uncle Daryl sat up, wincing against the pain. He looked past Carol and took in the grim scene across the room. Yumiko, Magna, Connie, and Kelly were huddled in a tight, weeping circle around a severely injured Luke. They had just been forced to amputate his left leg, and the room was filled with the sound of quiet sobbing.

Uncle Daryl pulled the bandage off his head, brushing the pain aside. "I'm fine," he muttered, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Daryl, no, you're not," Carol told him firmly.