Unsteady - X Ambassadors
"Mom?"
Cecilia's gun lowered, the others lowering theirs whilst they had a moment. This walker was still. Like it knew what was happening.
Cecilia slowly approached her, beginning to say her last words.
"Mom, I-" another walker fell out as she tried to say goodbye, a larger lump lodging in her throat.
"Not you too, papa."
Cecelia began to walk back as they came limping towards her.
"I'll love you forever." She choked, shooting them both as they dropped right before her feet, knowing full well they weren't coming for a hug.
She had to murder them. Her own parents. Or, what were her parents.
Rick immediately began to try and apologise for Shane's thoughtless actions, which would maybe make them lose their place on this land.
"I'm sorry, Hershel. But these things are monsters that will kill you, and what-"
"-Rick..." Lori caught his attention, Rick looking over at her. She nodded at the barn, swallowing hard. Everyone followed their stare.
"Toby." Cecilia breathed, her baby brother wobbling on his feet, gurgling. She cried, her gun dropping to her side, unable to let him go.
The infant fell on to all fours, pushing himself back up again. He hadn't made it far from the barn at all, so everyone was safe
"Please, Toby. Please no." She begged for him not to be the monster she knew he was now, searching his body for any type of sign that he was still somehow alive.
"Cece, that isn't your brother. That's not your Toby." Rick reassured her, crying with her as he imagined that to be Carl.
The little boy slowly waddled a few steps more, tripping over the bodies that scattered around him.
She heard the guns cock, Cecilia stumbling a few steps forward and tripping, her untied laces being the culprit to her sudden fall.
"No. No!" She gripped her hair before shoving her face into her hands and crying, quick footsteps heading in Toby's direction.
Cecilia waited for the gunshot that never came, placing her hands over her ears and closing her eyes. She eventually opened them, to see her little brother standing inches away from her, a thin cable like collar around his neck, followed by a large white stick, which Glenn held from behind Toby's back, extending the stick as far as it would go, nodding over to her with a forced smile, wiping his tears on his shoulder.
Cecilia repositioned herself so that she was sat cross legged, Toby falling onto his bottom as she did so.
"I don't know what to tell you, Toby. It should have been me. I'm sorry you don't have a future, I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you, I'm sorry that you were made into a monster before you could even talk." Her lips quivered, placing one of her hands over her eyes. Everyone was already reduced to tears, even Daryl's eyes let a couple escape.
"I'm sorry you had to see mama and papa afraid." Cecilia couldn't begin to imagine how hard it would've been for him to not understand why his heroes were crying in the wardrobe they hid in.
She felt a small grip on her fingers that rest on her knee, opening her eyes to see Toby staring up at her. Her free hand fiddled with her laces that lay undone on the floor.
"It's like you know what I'm saying. But I can't fall for it, Toby. I'm sorry." She shook her head, Toby gazed up at her, and she gazed down at him.
"You can't do this to me!" She pleaded and begged, although she knew nothing would ever bring him back.
Cecilia sighed and took a few deep breaths.
"This is the end, little man. The world went to shit. We lost the family we loved. And there are a lot of bad people left over. I'm just glad you weren't old enough to understand that."
The little boy began to struggle against his collar, gripping onto her finger still and pulling it around.
"I'll never forget you." She raised her gun to his head, the little boy eyeing it. Her finger merely brushing the trigger.
Cecilia stared deep into his eyes, feeling the grip tighten around her index finger more the longer she waited.
"I can't do this!" She tapped the side of the gun to her forehead, almost trying to knock the ability to do it into her mind. She held the gun in her lap and looked down at it for a few seconds, closing her eyes tightly, which squeezed tears out from her eyelids.
"I'll come with you." She raised the gun to the side of her head, sudden shifting movements heard from behind her.
"Cece, no! Don't do this!" Daryl begged her, the others begging with him. They daren't move any closer to her, incase that provoked her more.
"Would he want you to give up?"
Rick's wise words made her reluctantly drop the gun from her head, staring back down at the weapon in her lap.
"Put that little boy out of his misery." Daryl sniffled.
Toby went to bite her, Glenn tugging him back just in time. In the heat of the moment, a shot was fired beside her. She covered her head through instinct, staring back up at Toby just as a line of blood trickled from the centre of his forehead. Glenn gently laid him back.
Hi little grip was gone.
"No...Toby!"
To her, she was silently screaming, lunging forward only to be held back by a strong pair of arms, who she could also feel shaking. The person rocked her softly, their chin on top of her head. One of their arms wrapped under their chin and met her opposite cheek, their other arm wrapped around her back and gripped her opposite thigh.
"Please don't leave me. Please." She begged more or less for her family, even though she knew that that was it forever.
"I ain't goin' anywhere, sweetheart."
You better not, Daryl Dixon.
