Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 05 - Rough Times

"Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity,

and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. "

– Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The next morning Hershel informed us we needed to move to this other building we barely use but it was free of walkers and probably free of the virus, back in the day it was used for administration so it was better looking than the blocks but we hadn't found a good use for it yet.

During one of our runs months ago we found a prosthesis for Hershel, making him more independent. He no longer uses the crutches and he can pretty much walk normally, like before he lost his leg, which was pretty good, Hershel was very please when we gave it to him.

We hadn't even eaten breakfast when we heard of some pretty bad news. Karen and David got sick the day before, so they were isolated from the rest. Tyresse found their bodies, someone had killed the two of them, dragged them outside and burnt their bodies. A hypothesis was that the person killed them because they were sick and was trying to prevent the virus from spreading but no one really knew the truth.

Rick got into a huge fight with Tyresse, who was a complete mess. Tyresse and Karen had been dating for a while and finding your girlfriend like that must be horrible. We were used to people dying but she didn't die by the virus, she wasn't bit, she was murdered by someone inside the prison and that was a scary thought. I didn't even want to think what I would do in his position.

Carl and I were outside when we saw three people coughing, looking very, very sick. The man was actually coughing blood, the two women weren't but they looked just as bad, I put my arm around Carl and dragged him inside, away from them.

I went to my cell to pack while Carl did the same. I put some shirts and another pair of jeans inside my bag, plus my two knives and my gun, I was done quickly, I didn't have much to be honest. I put the backpack over my shoulders and went downstairs, where I saw Carl staring at the family picture Michonne helped him get months ago.

Then we heard the door being opened and seconds later we saw Rick walking towards us, the rest were already in the administration building, it was just us that still needed to get there. We had been trying to push it aside as long as we could.

"It's for your own good," Rick told us.

"I'm fine," Carl muttered, obviously pissed. "I don't want to be locked away with a bunch of kids."

"I need you in there keeping an eye on Judith and everybody else," Rick said. "You two are in charge, make sure they're safe. If anybody gets sick, you let me know."

"What if they've already turned when we find them?" Carl asked as he finished putting his stuff inside his backpack and grabbed his gun.

"You don't fire unless you absolutely need to," Rick told him.

"But you know I might need to, right?" Carl said and Rick just looked straight at me.

"I'll be there, I can do it," I said quickly, knowing what Rick was trying to tell me with his light blue eyes.

None of them said anything else, Carl just walked away, pissed. I looked sadly at Rick, who had a cut on his left cheek and had a bandage around his right hand, probably from the fight with Tyresse earlier.

"How's your hand?" I asked him.

"Fine," he muttered. "Will you take care of Carl and Judith?"

"I always do, you don't even have to ask me that," I said with a small smile. "Has more people gotten sick?"