Farmer's Daughter (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter 47

Daryl's POV

It's been days since she was bit. Two to be exact.

Both days, she was unconscious. Her breathing was shallow, and her pulse was low.

Every minute I feared of losing her to the dead. A fear that I thought would never come to my mind while concerning Melinda Greene.

She showed little sign of waking up. Maybe it was that she had gotten little sleep within the last few weeks we had been with this group. Or maybe it was that the bite truly got to her and she was slowly dying before my very eyes.

After she had passed out in that stores floor, the groans of the living dead became more prominent. Each second we wasted just staring at her, they got louder and louder.

Joes group had bailed faster than the blink of an eye, and vanished through the back door. So I grabbed ahold of her much too light body and fled with them.

I had carried her everywhere. I wouldn't let anyone else lay a hand on her.

Yes, we had to make more stops. Yes, we had to be even more cautious. And yes, I worried sick about her.

Even with the governors promise that she would survive a scratch, or a bite. I wasn't too sure if she would come back from this or not. And each day I lost a little more hope.

Without hope, what's the point in living? Am I right?

She had said those words to me mere days ago, and even with them floating in my brain, it was hard.

Now after two days in the freezing cold, we lay under trees, waiting for the third day to round the corner. The sun was still up, but we had to stop and change her bandages before it got too dark.

I open the first aid kit that was tucked in my backpack and pull out the gauze and alcohol.

I turn to her still body that lay next to me. Her chest lifted slowly but surly. And the color had come back to her cheeks.

I heavily sigh as I begin to unwrap the dirty bandages that layered her left forearm.

"Yer the stupidest person I know." I quietly scold, even if she likely couldn't hear me.

The hole in her skin stared me in the face. I examined it to see the dried blood coated along the edges of the bite. The blue and black bruising that was around the pink exposed skin.

I pop open the alcohol lid and squirt the liquid along the ripped flesh. Her skin slightly bubbled as the alcohol kills the germs that try to posses her body.

"It's time to wake up Mel." I reach and lightly tap her cheek. I was afraid to touch her, in fear that she may break to pieces in her frail state.

"Please." I whisper. I was trying to sound anything but pleading. But it was difficult considering I had made a promise to myself to keep her safe.

Lord knows I tried to get her out of that store so she'd be safe. If she was fine, then so was I. But her stubborn ass came back, and now I'm anything but fine.

Joe constantly told me that he was sorry. He told me that my wife was in pain and I should put her out of her misery. He told me she wasn't going to make it another day.

And in a way, I guess that's what kept me going. While the chances were getting slimmer as time passed, his doubtful thinking made me want her to get better faster. Just to prove to him that she was indeed a strong woman.

I was pulled from my thoughts by movement directly under me. My heart pounded as I took her hand in mine to see if I were delusional.

But just as I had thought before, it moved. She lightly squeezed my hand in hers.