Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Twenty: Bitten

"Alright let's go," Rick said as he opened the door. I was entirely too nervous. I had a bad feeling about what we were doing, but I didn't say anything. We were exploring the tombs in order to discover other parts of the prison. It was Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, T-Dog, Dad, and myself. I protested to father going with us, but he came anyways. I guess he was tired of not being a part of the action. I guess I understood how he was feeling. I hated when I wasn't a part of the groups adventures.

I followed the others into the tombs with my flashlight glued to my hand. I hated darkness more than anybody could possibly fathom. I had become terrified of getting lost, but Glenn had that covered. He spray painted a dot on a wall every so often. It was in case we got separated. If we did, we would be able to follow the dots back to safety. I prayed we wouldn't get separated from each other.

My father was old, he could get away from us easily. I knew that I would be keeping a sharp eye on him. As we moved further down, everyone was silent. We had to keep an ear open for walkers. If a wave of them came, we wouldn't be able to fight them off. I had my pistol and my knife. Those could only last so long. As we went even farther, the smell of the dead haunted me. Rotting bodies and rats were everything. It made me feel utterly sick to my stomach.

As we kept going, I felt something terrible in the pit of my stomach. The silence was so eerie and haunting. Maybe it was how anxious I was, but something was off. As we approached a corner, Rick motioned for us to stop. Daryl pressed himself against the wall and pulled me with him. My heart was pounding as I noticed some movements and sounds around the corner. Calm down, Elizabeth. You're going to be okay.

We moved slightly closer to the corner, but Rick gasped and swatted his hands behind us, signaling for us to go back. I gasped at the sight of a large pack of walkers staring at us. "Go back!" Rick whispered to us. It wasn't like being quiet would help now. They were already aware that we were there. All at once, we took off the down the hall. We couldn't follow the dots since we couldn't see in the dark. The lights from the flashlights were moving wildly about, so I couldn't see a damn thing.

Daryl's hand pressed the small of my back, telling me to go faster. I did as I was told and sped up. "Over here!" Daryl shouted, turning another corner. I went with his judgement and followed him in that direction. After a few moments, however, I heard a scream come from behind us. I quickly stopped and spun around, causing Daryl to tug at my arm. More walkers had made themselves known..and now Maggie and Glenn were trapped. "Maggie!" I screamed, trying to run towards her.

Daryl quickly picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, running around another corner. I kicked him a little bit, but he never put me down. As we turned the corner, I watched Glenn and Maggie fade from my vision. No, no. Please let them be okay. All at once, the rest of us entered a small room. Daryl finally put me down when we entered it and I punched him in the chest. "You jackass! How could you leave them there?" I demanded, tears forming in my eyes.

"We have to go back," Dad stated urgently. Yeah, we did. My sister and her boyfriend were back there. There was no way I was going to leave them. Not now, not ever. Rick nodded after a moment and cracked the door, trying to see if we were in the clear. Hold on, Maggie. Please hold on.

Once Rick knew we were clear, he began leading the way to Glenn and Maggie. I knew that they had to be around the area. As we eased down the hall, Hershel began calling Maggie. She never answered. I knew that her not answering didn't mean anything. She was alive. She had to be alive, she was a survivor. Daryl stayed right behind me, his crossbow aimed high. I didn't need him to be right on me. I needed to find my sister.

Just as I was about to call her name, I was interrupted. A terrible scream came from behind us, causing us all to turn around. My eyes quickly focused on my father who was laying on the ground, bleeding out. "Daddy!" I screamed, pushing passed Daryl and running to him.

Rick had already taken care of the walker when I got to him, but I was crying too hard to care. Right when I got to him, I was suddenly grabbed from behind. I could see Glenn and Maggie running to us in the distance. I quickly spun around and pushed the walker away with my arm. When I did this, a terrible pain shot through it. But I ignored it. It was probably pain from straining too hard. I drove my knife into its skull before collapsing on the floor, breathless from the fight.

"Daddy! No!" Maggie screamed as she realized what had happened.

I knew that we had to get out of here fast. The walkers had more than likely heard us and they were probably on their way. "We have to go," I said urgently, ignoring the constant pain in my arm.

"Elizabeth," Rick said, trying to catch my attention. When I looked up at him, I could see that he was looking at my arm. I quickly did the same. When I did, I let out a gasp. Once I saw the pool of blood on the floor, I quickly turned my arm over and began wiping blood away, revealing the horrible truth. No, no. This can't be happening.

I looked up at Daryl with tears in my eyes. No, no. Please.

I had been bitten.