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

Chapter 12: More Loss

We stand off, out numbered and out gunned. The man next to Eugene says, "you got something to say to me? You gonna clear the air? Step up on that high horse?" I notice Daryl's bow in his hand and connect the dots. This must be who Daryl ran into when we were split on the road. Took his bow and bike. The guy answers for himself, "no. You don't talk much." He gestures at the bow, "still getting the hang of her. Kicks like a bitch, but--"

Daryl grumbles, "I should've done it."

"Oh, what's that?" He asks. When Daryl doesn't respond, he adds, "seriously, I didn't catch what you said."

"I should've killed yew." Daryl growls. I can't see his face but I can tell he's staring him down.

The guy answers, "yeah, you probably should've." He gestures to two men to his right and they come over to take our weapons and pat us down. "So, here we are. Kind of begs the question, right? Who brought this on who? I mean, I get that you'll just have to take my word for this, but, she wasn't even the one I was aiming for." His lips turn up into a smile as he casually glanced at Denise's dead body, "like I said, kicks like a bitch. It's nothing personal. Look, this isn't how we like to start new business arrangements, but, well, you pricks kind of set the tone, didn't you?"

Rosita spits out, "what do you want?"

The man answers, "I'm sorry, darlin', I didn't catch your name. I'm D, or Dwight. You can call me either. So? What's your name?"

"Rosita." She answers him harshly, I hear her mutter on, "what do you want?"

"Well, Rosita, it's not what I want. It's what you and Daryl are going to do." Dwight answers her back. He explains further, "you're going to let us into your little complex. It looks like it's just beautiful in there. And then you're going to let us take whatever and whoever we want" He looks at me now, his smile growing larger. Daryl must've caught it cause he takes one step over to try and stand in front of me. Dwight then adds on, "or we blow Eugene's brains out. And then yours. And then his. And probably hers. I hope it doesn't come to that, really. Nobody else has to die. We just try and start with one. You know, maximum impact to get our point across. So what's it gonna be?" He asks, "you tell me."

We all stand there, and before I could tell him to burn in hell, Eugene speaks up, his voice shaking, "you wanna kill someone, you start with our companion hiding over there behind the oil barrels. He's a first-class a-hole and he deserves it so much more than us four." All the men look over towards the barrels Eugene referred to and Dwight takes out the gun in his holster.

He directs some of them, "go check it out." Some of the men move to look into what Eugene said.

Then all of a sudden Dwight is screaming as Eugene turned and bites him on the crouch. Gunshtos go off and I see two of the men drop down. I move quickly, running to grab at the machete Denise dropped when she died. I grab it, and swing it upward as one of the men who took my knife comes after me. It hits him in the head and he falls forward to die. I leave the machete in his head, grabbing my knife off his waistband and then his gun and run to hide behind some cars for some sort of protection. I hear Dwight call out for his men to fall back and I lift the gun to try and shoot him, to end him as Daryl said he should've done. I take out another one of his men but miss Dwight, when the gun is empty, I throw it aside and just watch as Daryl shoots further. When his gun is empty, he moves to add a new clip and I see Dwight lift his gun, "Daryl!" I shout, and he ducks just in time.

Dwight and his men start to run and Daryl quickly runs after them, "Daryl, stop!" Rosita calls to him. Daryl stumbles to a stop and I run to Denise's body, wanting to see if I can feel a pulse. As I feel around, nothing coming, Rosita calls to me, "Sadie, we need you!" I look behind me to see her, Daryl and Abraham all moving and carrying Eugene's body.

"We can't leave her here!" I call to them, going to move and try and carry her.

Daryl answers, "we'll come back!"

Abraham yells, "we need to get him back ASAP. Let's go sweetcheeks!"

I stand, moving to help Rosita with his lower body and we quickly hustle down the tracks. When we get Eugene back to Alexandria, we get him into a house quick and Rosita starts to look at the wound. After he is laying on a bed, I move to run out the door, "where yew goin'?" Daryl asks me, grabbing my arm to stop me.

"To get help" I tell him.

He lets go of my arm but says "hold on, you gotta fix him" he gestures his head towards Eugene.

"I can't be useful here." I tell him.

He looks at me with a titled head, "bullshit Sadie-Mae. You interned at a hospital. Helped Hershel. You've saved lives. Now go save his." He tells me.

I shake my head, "I don't save lives anymore, Daryl." I tell him, knowing the few lives I have saved has now been out numbered with the lives I took.

He steps closer to me, his voice low, "you save lives, you saved mine. Now, go." We keep our eyes locked on one another but I eventually have to tear mine away. I turn back around to go and see what I can do to help Eugene.

As I look at the wound, I tell Rosita and Daryl who's in there with me, "it's a graze. He lost a lot of blood on the way back but he's going to be okay. I'll stitch him up."

I move to get the supplies I need and Abraham comes back and says, "Rick's coming. How is it?"

Rosita fills him in as I start to stitch the wound the best I was taught how. The two men start to engage in conversation but I tune them out as I focus on stitching him up. When I am done, I wash my hands and leave the room. Daryl comes with me and once outside he says, "lets go get her."

He walks past me down the steps and when he gets to the last one I call to him, "Daryl?" He turns and looks at me, "don't ever stop loving me."

"Never" he replies back. I get down the steps and walk with him hand in hand back to the truck so we can go get Denise and bury her properly.