Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Thirty-One: Damn Leg Part One

•thirty-one•

Daryl

"No! Daryl! Please stop. Get them off of him! Daryl, please!" The sound of Tixy screamin' as that prick carried her off is breaking my heart, and there's nothin' I can do to help her.

I'm pissed as hell. Me bein' a dumbass brought all of this on, and now she's the one to pay for it. If I'd have just let Merle go get her in the first place, none of this would have happened. I'm such a dumbass. And this asshole, Jack, is takin' my girl and I don't have the first clue where they're goin'. All I know is that I've gotta' save her.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts as the two walkers inch closer and closer to me. My mind races for a way to get out of this when my eyes land on the knife Trixy took out of my leg. I reach over and grab it as the first walker gets to me. It drops down to its knees, almost landing on top of me. I fight to keep it off of me as the second one falls right on top of it, both of them biting at me as hard as they can.

I prop my elbow up on the first one's head and hold the second one's jaw in my hand. I use the knife to stab into its eye, and it sticks. I don't have enough time to pull it out, so I leave it. The one underneath the one I killed is still snapping at me. I use my free hand to hold its chin as I push down with my elbow until its head caves in. Once they're both dead, I sit back and try to catch my breath.

After a few seconds of thinking, I lean over and repeatedly stab the walkers in the head until I'm covered in their dark, sticky blood. Even then that's not enough. Her knife. It's her knife that I'm using, and she's gone. She's gone and I might never see her again. Hell, it's my fault that she could be gone forever.

I don't even realize that I'm crying until I can't see because my vision is so blurry. I'm an idiot. Who catches feelings in the damn apocalypse? Better yet, who's too damn stupid to not protect the one they have feelings for? Me. I'm no good for anybody like this. I can't even protect the woman I love.

I sit there for a good hour, just sobbing and having a pity party for myself, until I finally decide that enough is enough. It was her damn fault for comin' out here in the middle of the night anyway! She shoulda' known it wasn't safe! I'm angry with Beatrix for a few minutes, but then I realize I'm wrong. She was only worried about me, only tryin' to protect me, which is stupid. I should be the one protectin' her. I'm helpless and pathetic.

Once I dry up all of my cryin', I sit and wait, staring at the double doors just waitin' for Rick to come through. He'll want to bring her back too. After about an hour of waiting, I hear more voices coming from the front of the store and I can only hope that it's our group. Luckily, it is.

"Where's Beatrix?" Maggie asks as soon as she steps through the doors. "I need to kick her ass for makin' Glenn leave in the middle of the night with only a note."

"Daryl, where's Beatrix?" Glenn asks when I don't reply to Maggie.

"She's gone," I reply, my voice empty of any emotion.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Rick asks, taking in my appearance along with the walkers on the ground. Every damn one of them are here except for Hershel, Beth, Lori, and Carl.

"Some men came and fucking took her. I was fucking helpless, and they took her," I almost yell. "Get me out from under here. I have to go find her."

"Who took her?"

"What happened?"

"Where'd they go?"

Everyone bombards me with questions, making me want to go off, but I need to keep my cool as much as I can.