Starting Over... |Daryl Dixon| |The Walking Dead|

Chapter 14: This is War

We were stranded ontop of the roof for at least forty-five minutes before all the walkers were shot and killed.

After the last bullet was fired, the lot was eerily quiet. None of us spoke a word, and as I read everyone's sullen faces, I knew the losses of Tina and T-Dog were floating from brain to brain.

Beth suddenly broke down in sobs, turning to Hershel for comfort. He embraced her and rubbed a fatherly hand up and down her back in an attempt to comfort her.

Rick strayed from the group, walking to the edge of the building. He stopped near a brittle, rusted over air vent that was meant to spin and circulate. Our leader put his hands on his hips and let his head hang low. His shoulders trembled a little bit as his head slowly shook, and he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

I kept my eyes on Rick from my seated position. The silver handgun at his waist glinted in the moon light.

Suddenly, Rick exploded. He kicked the air vent abruptly with all the strength left in his body, causing it to break free from the roof and sail to the ground below with a loud *crash*.

I jumped from the sudden noise, as well as a few other members of the group. Rick then faced the field of walkers, letting out loud roars of pure rage. After the first few screams of raw energy, it turned into words.

"COWARDS!!!" He lashed out at the undead, and I could hear them outside the fence growling and working into a frenzy, "WHY??? WHY!!!!"

By now, I was full on sobbing, and I didn't care who saw it. I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle my cries as Rick kept screaming. Zach and Jessie made their way over to where I was, taking a seat on either side of me. Zach wrapped his arm around me and Jessie layed her head of curly, tangled blonde hair on my shoulder.

Danny was seated across from us, keeping his gaze away from Rick. I managed to catch his eye, though, and reached my hand out toward him.

Despite our spat in the pharmacy the day before, Danny was still part of my group. He stared at me and my outstretched hand before standing up and walking to join the three of us. He sat next to Zach, who patted his knee.

We all watched as Rick unraveled, finally silencing his screams and toning them down to whimpers. Daryl then walked over to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. That seemed to reel him back to Earth.

He nodded up at Daryl, taking a few more moments to collect himself before turning to the rest of us.

"We've got to clear the bodies." Rick told us. His voice cracked a little, so he cleared his throat.

And that was it. He said nothing more as he walked past us, and disappeared over the side of the roof to the fire escape.

Everyone exchanged glances and slowly stood up, following the same path Rick had taken. Jessie waited for Maggie to go over the edge before she began to scale down, then it was Zach's turn, and Danny followed.

I sighed as I waited for him to climb down a ways, staring out over the bloody battlefield across the prison lot. We had taken two tragic losses, we were broken... but we had survived, and I knew we would bounce back. If not for ourselves, then for Tina and T-Dog.

When it was my turn, and I turned and started to scale down the fire escape, I caught Daryl's eye from across the roof. For a second, I froze in my tracks as he stared at me. His ice blue eyes, usually emotionless, stone cold and intimidating, were soft and almost sad. The sorrowful feeling he was transmitting to me said he knew I had lost a dear friend just minutes ago... And I knew he was going through the same mental anguish. Whether or not he chose to show it, I knew T-Dog had been a friend to him.