Bridges :: Daryl Dixon

[ONE] NO TIME TO BE A HERO

A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart.



Life.

Life had always been crazy, and unpredictable. Obstacles and barriers were constantly thrown at at our faces, without any preparation or knowledge. We just somehow, someway had to deal with it. Somehow though - despite fate constantly kicking us up the ass, everyone's life had been planned out right from the start.

1st - We're born into this god forsaken world. Not a single care in the world; No knowledge of the horrors and disparity that surround us. We had no clue on the poverty millions suffer from. No knowledge of; Global warming, presidential elections, or the crime that paraded our streets. No common perception on the outcomes of political debates, what bills had to be paid or what insurance company gives the best coverage on my car or my house. We're hand fed; we're changed, showered and carried around everywhere our parents go. Not a worry in the world; no anxiety, no fears. Life was easy.

So easy infact, we wished we were older.

2nd - We grow up and we go to school. We focus on our grades, our friends and whether or not that cutie in 5th period science was crushing on us as much as we're crushing on them. There are people who make your life a living hell. Tease you, push and shove you and hell, some of them even beat you that bad that you were wishing you were dead. But we push through; and we keep living. After school and weekends were the highlight; afterschool sports, parties and spending time with our friends. If we didn't make it back by curfew however, our parents would have our heads. We'd be grounded, and every bit of social life we had was gone. Life was hard at this point. So hard that we wished we were older; we wished we were adults.

3rd - We work our lives away - working 9-5 jobs just to have a roof over our head and food in our mouths. Zero time for a social life, and no additional time for yourself. By this time you've already had; 5 broken hearts, 3 jobs, 12 letters of warning from the bank and 5,298 migraines. Life's excruciatingly hard at this point. So unbearable that we wished we were right back to the start. We wished we were kids again.

Crazy huh? How much we take for granted as we're growing up. How much we wished we were older.
You don't realise how precious life is; not until it's too late.
••••••••••••

It was chaotic - a huge chaotic catastrophe. Everything had turned into a rampageous mess. They were everywhere. Every direction we turned, a different biter gnarling at our faces, drooling over our flesh. We fought our hearts out, which you'd think we would be used to- considering 15 years in the marine corp as an A-1 private.

But we weren't used to this. We weren't used to what used to be human beings craving other humans, their flesh. No way in hell could anyone adapt to something like this. No way could we prepare for something like this. I know I couldn't. I didn't prepare for this, we had no idea. No time for preparation, just the sudden reality of life or death; the battle between good and evil; the apocalypse.

Blood and gore spilled everywhere, resembling a classic horror movie. Similar to every closing scene; where the last remaining teenagers were left fighting for their lives. The killer overcoming their strengths and beating them to a pulp. Then in that one split second of weakness and with the murderer distracted, it would be their only chance that they would get to overpower the killer, gain the upper hand and become the killers themselves.

Though this was no horror movie, this was reality. Instead of one killer, there were hundreds - thousands even. They didn't sense your weaknesses or fears; they enhaled your flesh, drooling over the scent- turning rabid from the stench of blood, guts and sweat. Now, just like every other horror film, there was a killer, but that killer was us- the survivors.