Determined to Endure: The 4th Installment in my Daryl Dixon Love Story

Chapter 4: There's More

I watch from the back of the RV as Rick has his hand on Michonne's leg and Glenn keeps his on Maggie's stomach. Daryl won't even look at me, still holding it against me that I came on this trip. The RV eventually slows, and Daryl moves to look out the window, "yo, Rick. What's goin' on?" He calls up front.

The breaks to the RV squeal as he answers, "we got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened."

Jesus is standing to look and he calls out in a panic, "it's one of ours."

Jesus is the first one out as he goes to investigate the crash. We all pile out of the RV and Rick pulls a gun and points it directly to his head, "if this is a trick, it won't end well for you."

"My people are in trouble." He looks to Rick with concerned eyes, "they don't-- we don't have a lot of fighters." All we hear is the sound of the walkers snarling at us. He adds on, "I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?"

"No." Rick instantly shoots him down.

"We got tracks right here." Daryl tells Rick.

We all follow the tracks as it leads us to a small store front. Rick bangs heavily on the door. Jesus tells us, "they gotta be in there."

"We moving in or what?" I ask, not liking being left in the open.

Daryl questions, "how do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?"

Jesus answers, "you don't." His breath starting to pant as he continues to worry.

Rick then explains, "we'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us. That's the deal."

Glenn asks Maggie, "will you stay?"

She agree's, "yeah. Y'all go. Just be careful."

Rick nods and puts a pair of handcuffs on Jesus, "yeah. We're gonna be careful."

"Just hurry." She tells Glenn as she gives him a quick hug.

Rick then tells her, "you hear me whistle, shoot him."

Maggie pulls out her gun and points to the back of Jesus, "I will" She assures.

The rest of us all walk in as Daryl holds the door open. I file in last, and he closes it behind me. When he turns, he avoids eye contact but keeps himself behind me. We all carry our hand to hand weapons and follow Rick into the building. We start to split up in pairs of two and I turn to go with Abraham down the hallway to the right, "no, you're with me" Daryl mutters to me under his breath.

Glenn's already down the hall to the left, I growl back to him, "just go" knowing there's no time to tell Abraham to turn and go with Glenn or visa versa. Daryl grumbles but turns and quickly moves to catch up to Glenn. I follow close behind Abraham as we walk down the hall, peaking into the rooms to find Jesus' people. We hear a sound from the down the hall and we slowly start to follow it. As we get closer, it looks more and more like a deadhead so Abraham moves quickly to attack. As he grabs at the walker and throws it against the wall, I lift up my knife to kill it. There's a flashlight shining from behind us and I notice that this person is still alive. "Come on, let's go!" Rick demands as he squeezes past us. Abraham has a look of confusion on his face but he lets the guy go and we all move to the entrance and leave. I sit in the back of the RV with Maggie, Glenn and the doctor that we saved. When the RV stops, everyone piles out and Jesus tells us, "that's the Hilltop."

We all stare at the walls in front of us, surrounding the community behind. We all start to walk towards the gates, eager to see what's behind it, "stop right there." Someone calls out from above.

We all point our guns up, eyeing the two men who are at the ready with spears, "yew gonna make us?" Daryl yells up.

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" One of the men calls down to his friend.