❛ now daryl, daryl was gray. he always seemed to be bitter and emotionless with no other dimensions to himself; his mere presence was the only one. gray was intriguing, almost acting like an acquired taste, but it had the potential to be beautiful t...
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fifty eight.
I burst back into the house, rushing back up to my room and slinging my sword over my shoulder. I ran back down the stairs and snatched up the gun that was on the kitchen counter. After that, I was back outside to stare off at the catastrophic damage. There was no way we were gonna fix this quickly and quietly or without injury. A clammy hand touched my shoulder. Startled, I whipped around with my gun raised. Daryl jumped back in surprise, his hands up in surrender.
"Daryl?" I raised my voice over the low hum of snarls, blinking hard. Daryl transformed into a biter, grabbing at me. I shot it instantly and stared at its limp body that laid on the ground, its brains littered out on the pavement. How could I have seen Daryl as this monster? I angrily kicked the body, hot tears flooding my vision. I turned around, more and more biters flooding the streets by the second; the anger inside of me grew like fire and gasoline. I glared at the invading dead, suddenly bolting down the street into the sea, shooting at biters left and right. I ran towards the gates. This was reminding me all too well of the fall of the prison and I wanted out. I couldn't die here in this. I ran until I hit a group of biters I couldn't squeeze past. They snarled, gnawing at the air. They limped towards me with their arms outstretched. I staggered back, my eyes going wide with fearful realization. What have I done? I tripped on my own foot, sending myself back onto the ground. I continued to back up as fast as I could, shooting at the biters as accurately as possible. The ones that were still up were beginning to lean down towards me, reaching for any part of my body. My heart pounded in my chest. A dead biter fell onto my foot. I let out a grunt as I struggled to shimmy it off me. The biters above were beginning to close in on me. I emitted an impatient cry, a tear rolling down my cheek as I furiously tried to pull my foot out from under the biter crushing it.
Gunshots came from behind me, biters rapidly dropping to the ground. I watched the falling bodies in bewilderment. A pair of hands grabbed me and yanked me up to my feet.
"The ladder," Maggie shouted over the now roaring noise of snarls. The both of us booked it over to the ladder of the watchtower, Maggie going up first. The biters, of course, hustled after us. I kept gazing up at Maggie then back at the biters nervously. "Aften," Maggie shouted. She sounded like she was underwater, light years away from me. I stared at the biters with wide eyes, frozen in my spot. "Aften!" I finally snapped my attention back up to her. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Climb," she screamed at me. "Climb!" I began to climb, the biters brushing up against the ladder. It rocked back and forth at the contact, me swaying with it. I could feel the ladder start to ease out from underneath my feet. I screamed out in horror.
"Grab on," Maggie demanded, sticking her hand out to me. I grabbed onto it with the tightest grip I could manage. The ladder abandoned the bottom of my feet, clattering to the ground. The filthy hands of the biters below me brushed my foot. I screamed again, kicking my feet around so they couldn't grab me. "Give me your other hand," Maggie hollered. I struggled to haul my free hand up to hers. Maggie pulled me up onto the platform just in time, a few bony fingers brushing the laces of my boots. I laid on the rickety wood on my stomach, breathing heavily as adrenaline surged through my veins.
"Where'd they all come from? Th-there's so many," I stuttered, gazing out at the sea of biters. They covered almost every inch of the community. I had never seen so many of them before.
"We'll be fine," she whispered, her voice cracking. I could tell she was barely holding on. From here, we had no escape except to jump over the wall. I got on my knees, gazing over the other side of the wall. Only a few biters shuffled about. The rest, I'm guessing, were inside. I stood up, putting one foot on the edge of the wall. I was gonna jump. I could land on the other side and get outta here. It was better to break a few bones instead of getting your body turned inside out by hundreds of biters. I pulled myself a few inches off the ground. "Aften," Maggie screeched, wrapping her arms around my waist once she realized what I was about to do. She held me close, bringing me back down onto the platform.
"I have to get outta here," I shouted angrily.
"You can't do that," Maggie cried. "You'll die out there!"
"I'd rather die out there than in here." I tried to fight her grip. "Let me go! I have to find Daryl!"
"Daryl's gonna be fine!" She tried her best to hold me down.
"He's dead," I shouted, finally breaking free from her grip. "He's dead! We all are! He's never gonna get in here without being attacked and every single person in here is gonna get bit!"
"You don't know that," Maggie growled.
"He would've been back by now. I know he would've. Abraham and Sasha are with him for fuck's sake, that means something's really wrong if all three of them can't get back in a reasonable time." Tears began to leak out of my eyes. I slowly sat down, laying back on the platform.
"Glenn's been gone too but you don't see me giving up. Those balloons... I know that was him. It was a sign."
"Lucky you," I snapped, rolling my eyes.
"Aften, listen to me, god dammit," Maggie hollered angrily. "Daryl will come back soon just like Glenn will. Aften, please," she lowered her voice to a whisper and rested her hand on my arm. Her sudden tenderness caught me off guard. "There's something you should know."
"What is it," I asked, my voice lowering with hers. Her face was soft, her eyes misty with tears.
"I'm pregnant," she revealed. I froze in surprise.
"Maggie," I whispered in disbelief, lightly placing my hand on her stomach. "Holy shit. How long?"
"Only a few months," she flashed me a faint smile and got back down to business. "Look, what I'm tryin' to say is all I can do is hope for the best. Hope is what we're living off of now and I gotta keep goin' for this baby. We're completely surrounded by walkers and all we can do right now is hope we stay alive. Am I scared? Of course I am, but I'm not gonna go down without a fight and I know you won't either. Promise you'll keep going for me," Maggie asked me. I nodded. She then motioned to her stomach. "Promise you'll keep going for the baby?"
"Yes, of course. Of course I will. I'd never turn on you guys, promise," I responded. I couldn't leave Maggie up here by herself now, especially since she was now responsible for a life that was growing inside her. I needed to protect the both of them. Maggie pulled me into a hug.
