Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 20 - Shattered

"Never lose faith in yourself, and never lose hope;

remember, even when this world throws its worst and then turns its back, there is still always hope."

Pittacus Lore, The Power of Six

"You sleep, I'll keep watch," I said to Rick and Carl as we helped Rick sit on the ground, next to a tree so he could rest his back against it.

It was already dark and we had no flashlights, everything was so dark we could barely see a couple of feet in front of us, luckily walkers made a lot of noise all the time so if one was close we would hear it.

"But you are tired too, I'll keep watch," Carl told me, standing next to Rick.

"No," I told him firmly. "You rest, I'll wake you up in a few hours."

Reluctantly, Carl sat next to his father and rested his head against the tree, closing his blue eyes, while I stayed on my feet close to them. If I sit I was sure I could fall asleep and I didn't want that, I couldn't fall asleep and making us all vulnerable.

Hot tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about what happened only four or so hours ago, how our home was destroyed, how they got inside, shooting at us and bringing down everything we had worked so hard for.

A lump was formed in my throat as the image of Hershel being almost decapitated crossed my mind. That memory would be on my mind for a very long time, if not forever. All I could hope was that he went quickly and that he didn't suffer as much, same goes to Michonne, she was with them when we opened fire, it was obvious she was dead.

My train of thoughts was interrupted by a sharp pain in my stomach, I had to crouch over and wrap my arms around it. I had been having them since that bitch hit me hard in my stomach when we were fighting.

The pain kept coming and going, it didn't last more than ten or fifteen seconds before it goes again. And it hadn't been that often, so I just kept going, ignoring it but now that it's just me in the dark, I paid attention to it.

Hopefully it's nothing serious, nothing life threatening, hopefully nothing tore inside of me, like a muscle or an important organ. Hopefully it was just the pain itself of the impact, nothing else and that it would go away on its own in a few days, maybe sooner.

As the previous three times, the pain went away in a matter of seconds and it was like it never happened. I tried to focus on other things to not worry about the pain.

I heard Carl's deep and heavy breathing, meaning he had finally fallen asleep, I smiled at him, I was glad he was okay, that Rick was alive even when he was so beaten up.

I started to pace then, it was going to be a long night and I needed to do something to keep myself awake. So, I kept walking in front of Rick and Carl, trying to be as quiet as I could to not wake them up and to not attract unwanted company.

I looked up at the sky but because of the vast trees I couldn't see it, or the stars or the moon, all I saw was darkness. I bit my lip as a lump formed in my throat once again. I closed my eyes tightly as Daryl crossed my mind.

The last time I ever saw him was when The Governor called Rick and me to meet him by the fence. I assured him I was going to be okay and I had kept that promise, I wasn't killed, I made it out.. with some bruises and cuts but I was okay.

"Daryl," I said, trying hard not to look at the ring in my finger, which now seemed like it weighed a ton. If I saw it, I'd break down crying for sure. "If you're out there, I'll find you, I'll do it, I promise."