Life I Left Behind (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Author's Note:

Okay first things first...OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS HOLY CHEESE BALLS! I can not believe how much popularity this has gained in the past two weeks! Two weeks ago, we were on the verge of 500 votes and 800 reads...now...just whoa. I am overwhelmed and incredibly grateful for all of you. To everyone who has been reading and voting, thank you so much! And for everyone leaving me all those incredibly nice comments...I read them all and there's so many I don't know what to respond to first! But I am so grateful! Ah!!!!! Thank you all for making me such a happy girl and I will do my best to deliver my best work. So sorry for the delay in update. It's been a busy few weeks! I will be posting two chapters for each of my stories today as a little Christmas bonus. Please keep reading, voting and commenting and know I love you all very dearly my little Dixoners. 

:D

***This chapter of Life I Left Behind is dedicated to none other than my fabulous follower Captin_bubbles_cx 

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Daryl

Thirty Years Old- Weeks Ago

It felt like we were driving through hell instead of cruising along some Georgia roads in the south. Outside the truck, the world was in chaos. Houses on fire, smoke billowing in thick, black cloud. People screaming, running for their lives while blood covered, walking corpses chased after them. They were god damn zombies, which still didn't make any sense because none of that shit was supposed to be real. I waited a long time during the drive for myself to just wake up and realize this was all just some sort of weird, alcohol-infused nightmare. I knew that wasn't going to happen, though. This was really happening. And I needed to get to Charlie now.

I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal harder and the truck whined in protest as the needle on the speedometer struggled to 90 mph. Traffic was slim to none on this side of the highway. No one in their right mind was headed to the cities apparently. According to the emergency broadcast that had played over and over on almost every radio channel, the cities were on lockdown. No one was going in, and no one was going out. Hell with that, though. I didn't care what was inside Atlanta, as long as I found my Charlie alive and in one piece.

"Try ringin' her cell again." Merle grunted from the seat next to me. He held his pistol in his hand, his knuckles white from how tight he was gripping it. We hadn't talked much for almost the entire hour. Merle had finally snapped off the radio and we had been sitting in a weighted silence.

I picked up my battered old phone from the dashboard and punched in Charlie's number one more time. It was the first time in years, since her birthday all that time ago, that I tried calling her. I waited impatiently to hear her voice, knowing even just that one sound would assure me she was alright. Except she didn't answer. Again. For the fourth time, it went straight to voicemail. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm while inside of me I was screaming. "Phone is still off." I mumbled.

"We're close now anyways. 'Bout another half an hour." Merle replied before we lapsed into silence one more time.

I felt my stomach twisting and turning. It had been so long since I had even seen Charlie. I had no idea how she would react if I found her. 'When' I found her, I corrected myself. Not if…when I found her. A part of me couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if we hadn't had the stupid, idiotic fight ten years ago. There was no way to really know. I couldn't waste any time thinking about that now.

I was pulled from my thoughts as Merle took a quick, sudden intake of breath. "Jesus fuckin' Christ."

"What?" I asked, my voice jumping. But then I saw what he meant and nothing else needed to be said. Nothing else could be said. Our side of the highway was still utterly and completely deserted. However, the oncoming traffic lanes just over the median were now what looked like a graveyard. Cars were packed bumper to bumper, doors thrown open and belongings spilling out of trunks and all over the highway. I bit down on my lips hard as I saw bodies still trapped inside their vehicles, no longer moving while hose walking corpses trudged down the highway, weaving in between cars.

"Looks like this shit hit Atlanta a lot harder and a lot sooner than our little town." Merle finally said.

"I thought the damn city was on lock down. Where are all the cops?" I asked, confused. We had just listened to a radio broadcast that said all major cities were being quarantined. This didn't look like much of a quarantine to me. It looked like everyone in the damn place had tried to leave all at once. Which seemed to have worked in no one's favor. My stomach jolted and I found my eyes searching every car for Charlie's familiar pick-up truck, although I highly doubted she was still driving that old thing all this time later. Any one of these cars could be hers. Any one of those bodies- I forced myself to stop thinking that way. She was too smart. She'd be somewhere safe, away from all of this.

"Where are all the cops? The ambulances? Jesus, isn't there any sort of fuckin' control?" I spat out, although I knew there wasn't. Merle and had driven 30 miles over the speed limit the entire way here and hadn't passed a single cop.

Merle's hand suddenly clapped onto my shoulder before he pointed at something on the other side of the highway. I had slowed down to a crawl now, my eyes still devouring the horribleness of the car graveyard. "That's where the authority is. That's where the government is. Dead. All dead. This is the end of the fuckin' world, Daryl. I fuckin' knew it."

I finally found what he was pointing at. An over turned police car on the side of the highway, another one just feet behind it. A walker dressed in a police uniform hung out of the window, snarling and clawing at the pavement. It was trapped inside the car, still seatbelted in. I swallowed hard. "Fuck." I didn't know what else to say. What else could I say about what was happening?

"My guess is shit started to get worse in the city. All those damn people trapped like sardines. So all at once there was a stampeded to get out and they jammed themselves onto the interstate and were like sittin' ducks for those fuckin' zombies." Merle said in his gravelly voice. I turned to look at him and he was shaking his head. "If she's still in there…well I'd rather her be holed up in there than out here on this stretch of road."

"She's in there still. She's too smart. She'd know better than to follow everyone else out." I said, more to assure myself than Merle. I was still easing slowly down the highway when the truck started to sputter and choke. "Oh fuck! God damn it!" I slammed my palm against the steering wheel. "Outta mother fuckin' gas!"

"Didn't you check to see if you had a full tank 'fore we left?" Merle shouted, leaning over me to see the needle hovering over the red 'E'. "You god damned idiot." He sighed, leaning back in his seat. The truck lurched forward a few more feet before shuddering to a standstill.

Of course I hadn't thought to check that the tank was full. I was a little preoccupied trying to convince myself Charlie was alright and that I would be seeing her soon. I slammed my fist down on the steering wheel again.

"Don't! You're gonna end up hittin' the damn horn and then those damned things will be all over us!" Merle snarled. I glared at him, but I knew he was right. I felt so agitated and angry. So close only to get stuck right outside the city walls basically. "We're gonna keep goin' on foot. Probably better that way anyways. Won't attract as much attention. Then on the way back out we can siphon some gas for the truck."

I swallowed hard, but nodded. Being outside the truck meant being totally exposed to everything outside of it. I had to take my chances, though, and it seemed like a small risk to take to get to Charlie. Sometimes I was surprised at how damn smart Merle could be. He wasn't as dumb as he looked. We pushed the truck to the median before grabbing everything we needed from the bed of the truck before stashing the rest inside, hoping like hell no one would come along and take what little we had while we were gone.

"Alright, you ready to do this?" Merle asked me, looking out at the towering building of Atlanta. Everything was so oddly silent. It sent chills up and down my spine.

I nodded and started walking. It felt like we were the only two people in the entire world as we walked along the long, empty stretch of highway. I couldn't help but just stare at the mess on the opposite side. It literally was a graveyard for so many people. I shook my head. We just needed to get to Charlie and get the hell away from here, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere where those things, or anyone else, could find us.

We hadn't been walking long when I stopped dead in my tracks and threw out my arm in front of Merle. He stared at me bewildered and looked like he wanted to hit me in the face but I held a finger to my lips and nodded towards the mess of cars on the other side of the highway. Merle's eyes widened as he heard it too. A low, guttural moaning. Inhuman sounding and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Before I could stop him, Merle was racing towards the median and hopped over it.

"Merle!" I hissed after him. What the hell was that crazy bastard doing? I hurried after him, watching as Merle climbed effortlessly onto the roof of an empty car. I climbed of the cement median and landed right in the center of the traffic graveyard. The groaning sound was louder and I knew it was those flesh eating bastards, coming right towards us.

"There's a herd of 'em. Looks like about twenty or so comin' right for us." Merle muttered, his hand on his pistol.

"Well then we shouldn't be here, you fuckin' moron. Let's go!" I urged him as the sounds of shuffling feet continued to grow louder. Merle still didn't move.

"Christ, what the fuck are those things?" He said.

I agitatedly pounded both my fists on the roof of the car he was standing on. "I ain't waitin' around to die, Merle. Let's fuckin' move! Now-"

The words had barely left my mouth when I felt a hand curl around my ankle and pull me from my feet. I was knocked back onto the pavement and I felt my head smash hard against the concrete as I kicked furiously against whatever was holding onto me. I raised my head as I struggled to unsheathe the knife on my hip. One of those ugly, horrible things had been lying dormant underneath the car and was now latched onto my leg, its snarling face trying to take a bite out of me.

There was the sound of a gun being shut and the walker went limp, its grip on me slacking. I was gasping for breath as I glanced up and saw Merle pointing his gun at the unmoving walker, his jaw tight and eyes wide. It was our first close encounter with those fucking monsters. I didn't have time to catch my breath as I noticed the herd had finally caught up to us. I scrambled to my feet, jamming my knife away and instead reaching for my crossbow. Merle had whirled around and was pointing his pistol at the group of walkers and fighting. He hit one in its chest and I watched as it stumbled back a few paces but kept on coming. He fire another bullet into the chest, right where the heart should have been but it still didn't stop.

I glanced down at the dead walker at my feet as realization dawned on me. "The head! Aim for the head! It's the only way to bring them down!" I shouted. I raised my crossbow and aimed for the nearest one. The arrow whizzed through the air before meeting my target in the center of its forehead. Bull's eye. I felt gleeful for maybe half a second and then I realized there were two of us and far too many of them. I heard the empty 'click' of Merle's gun and realized he was out of bullets already.

"Fuck!" He growled, fumbling for the pack on his shoulders were the extra ammo was.

"No time! We need to get the hell out of here!" I shouted at him.

Merle, stubborn as hell, still didn't move and I felt like knocking him out and dragging him behind me. Suddenly, though, there was the loud booming sound of a shotgun and I watched as one of the walkers crumpled. Realizing we weren't alone, I whirled around to see a dark haired man in a cop's uniform standing just behind me. A woman and small boy huddled together near the wheel of a truck.

"We need to get the hell out of here! Come on!" He hollered at me. Merle and I exchanged a hesitant look…neither of us liking strangers and liking cops a lot less. Especially Merle. "Well, do you wanna die or you wanna live?" The police officer yelled, firing another shot.

Merle hopped off the car and joined me on the pavement and gave my shoulder a push and we ran after the officer and what was probably his family. We sprinted along the side of the highway and the sounds of the herd slowly faded away into the distance as we finally raced down the side of the road and into the thick spread of trees. We didn't stop running until we had put a good amount of distance between us and the road, somewhere in the trees although the sliver of highway was still visible but barely.

I leaned back against a tree, panting. "We have to go back when it passes. Gotta find Charlie." I said to Merle.

"You don't wanna go into the city. Ain't nothin' in there, but death." The cop spoke in a low voice.

"We tried…there's literally hundreds of those things in the streets. Everywhere. I don't know how it's possible for anyone to be alive in that place." The woman added, her voice shaky.

I let out a breath, shaking my head. No, there was no way Charlie wasn't alive. I wouldn't believe it. I had to find her. "No. I ain't leavin' until I know for sure."

"It'll take you weeks to comb that city lookin' for one person, man. If you even live that long." The cop said slowly. I glared at him, suddenly unable to control the anger coursing through me. Before I could stop myself, I shoved him backwards.

"You don't know shit!" I spat at him.

He stared at me with a wide eyed, dangerous expression, fists balled up at his sides. "Look, I get what you're goin' through. But I just saved your lives. A little gratitude would be fuckin' nice." He said in a low voice. "I ain't tryin' to tell you what to do. I'm just sayin' goin' in there without a plan is a death sentence. From what I saw, ain't a soul alive in that city. Now you can come with us, or you can stay here and try to find a way in there. Choice is yours." He took a step back and I shakily eyed the woman and the small boy clinging to her side, his face buried into her shirt.

For the first time, I felt all hope drain out of me as the reality of the situation finally began to settle in around me. I slumped back against the tree and sank to the forest floor as I forced myself to come to grips with it all. All I could think about was Charlie. All I could see when I closed my eyes was her face and the way her eyes lit up when she smiled at me and how I was sure as hell no one's voice could ever sound so sweet saying my name, and how I might never hear that voice again.