Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 22 - Pessimistic

"No. Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go.

When you have lost hope, you have lost everything.

And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope."

Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four

After I put the grenade inside the tank and made sure no one was shooting at me I ran to the courtyard, where I last saw Cecilia and Rick. I checked inside the overturned bus but found nothing, I even looked down at the bodies around and praying that I wouldn't find a blonde girl among them.

"Cecilia! Cecilia!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I frantically searched for her.

I ran and searched everywhere until I saw a blonde girl running towards me, except that it wasn't the blonde I was looking for.

"Cecilia, have you seen Cecilia?" I asked Beth, who shook her head at me. I started to run but she grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"No, we have to go, Daryl," she told me with sorrow. "I just came from there, I was looking for Judith. There's no one else in there."

"I have to find her, Beth!"

"I'm telling you, everyone left already and we have to go now!"

"No!"

Beth started to pull me with all her strength but she didn't get to move me even an inch from my spot. I looked in disbelief at the prison that was in flames and all the walkers close to us, some were feeding already. I couldn't just run and abandon Cecilia.

"Come on!" Beth yelled at me. "I promise Cecilia isn't there, no one is! Come on, please Daryl!"

Reluctantly, I allowed Beth to pull me away from the prison, I ran behind her as I looked back at the building and all around us, hoping to see the person I care the most about but we reached the woods and still didn't see anyone we know.

"Daryl! Daryl!" Beth shook me, interrupting my thoughts, my memories of what happened hours ago.

"What?" I snapped.

We were sitting by a small fire we made because the weather was really cold. I kept reliving those last moments at the prison, thinking that I shouldn't have left, I should have looked for Cecilia a bit longer, maybe I could have found her, why did I let Beth pull me away? I should have not allowed that.

"We should do something," she told me, I didn't look up at her, I just kept staring at the fire in front of me.

I had my knees bent and my elbows resting on them, I hadn't moved at all in maybe two hours, being a tracker teaches you to stay in a position for longer than anyone else, teaches you to be more patient too.

"You want to find Cici and I want to find Maggie, we aren't the only survivors. We can't be," she told me, actually believing what she was saying, she was sure more people escaped. "They are alive, they could be, you know? Rick, Michonne, they could be out here as well. Maggie and Glenn could have made it out of A block. They could've."

I wanted to yell at the naïve girl, make her stop because she had been like this for hours, being positive and having hope. I had hope until the sun came down, for some weird reason I didn't feel the need to look for Cecilia anymore because deep in my heart I knew she was gone and if she was gone, what else do I have left? Nothing. No one.

"You're a tracker," Beth exclaimed, she kept talking but I heard her voice distantly. I really wanted to just shut her up but my body felt so heavy I couldn't even bring myself to tell her to keep her mouth shut. "You can track. Come on! The sun will be up soon, if we head out now, we can... Fine. If you won't track, I will."