Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Disease

I stretched slightly as I heard someone coming up the stairs to where Daryl and I slept. I knew it had to be him. He hadn't came to bed all night, but I knew he was home. I heard him speaking to Beth sometime during the night before I drifted to sleep. My eyes opened for a moment as I heard the footsteps change directions and go back down the stairs. It was strange that Daryl would turn around, if that was even him.

And the footsteps didn't sound right. They were clumsy and uneven, almost like a drunk man. I slowly sat up from where I was sleeping and peered to the stairs. I saw nobody, but I heard the steps continue to go down before ceasing.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes for a moment as I started to stand up. I slowly began creeping away from my bed and down the steps, trying not to wake the others. The footsteps were going into Beth's cell. I didn't know why somebody would be creeping in there.

The cold floor caused me to shiver as I finally made it down the stairs, heading into Beth's cell. I parted my lips to speak, but I couldn't do anything but act when I saw what it was.

A walker was leaning over my sister's body, ready to consume her. I had no weapons on me, but I knew I would have to do something.

"Beth, move!" I screamed as I began charging towards the walker. It's teeth were inches from her neck as she opened her eyes. There was only one way out of this it seemed.

Without thinking, I blocked her with my arm as the teeth sank deep into my flesh. I let out a cry of pain as I pushed the walker away, slamming its head into the wall multiple times before it finally stopped moving. Intense pain was shooting through my arm by the time I was done.

I looked back at Beth to see intense fear in her eyes when she realized what almost happened. I really wasn't worried about it. Rick explained to me that if I happened to get bitten again, I wouldn't go into another coma. After the first time, your body gets used to it. You would just have to deal with the intense pain in the days that followed the healing process. The only thing I had to worry about was getting bitten in a place that could kill me.

"Your arm," Beth whispered as she looked down at the bite.

"It's fine," I said quickly as my blood started dripping on the floor. How many people can say they intentionally got bit to save their sister? Not many I am sure.

I was about to wrap my arm up when I heard terrible screams erupt from one of the other cell blocks. I cursed under my breath as I hurried up the stairs to grab my knife. How did walkers get in? How could they possibly get in?

I snatched my knife from the floor and began running as fast as I could to the sounds of the screams. There were children in there, I had to save them. None of the people could defend themselves. I ran through the doors to see people screaming and crying with fear.

I could see a couple walkers lurking, but Rick and some of the others were handling them. I quickly grabbed a young boy sitting on the floor and clutched him in my arms. I was soaking his shirt with blood, but better my blood than his. I watched as Rick took out the last walker. He ordered for everyone to clear out as soon as possible.

I honestly didn't understand what was going on. How could walkers get in here? There was no way for them to slip in without us noticing...unless....
I noticed that Patrick, Carl's friend, was one of them. How did he turn? What happened to him?
A woman took the young boy from my arms as I continued to stare down at Patrick. What was going on here?

Daryl and Rick both looked to me for an explanation that I couldn't give. I could only give my side of things. My side was very narrow.

"What happened?" Rick growled with anger inside of him. Why was he angry at me? It wasn't like I just opened the door and welcomed the walkers in with some human flesh.

"I don't know," I replied with confusion. "A walker came for Beth and I stopped it but I don't know how they got in."

Daryl looked down at the teeth marks in my arm and shook his head, "good thing you are immune. You can't do shit without gettin' bit."

He did have a point. This was my second time that a walker had the taste of my blood. My immunity was the only thing keeping me alive at this point. I still would've saved Beth that way even if I wasn't immune.

"They didn't get in," Rick replied after a moment. "They were already here."

I nodded as he noticed the same thing I did. These were people that lived here. "And Patrick doesn't have any bites on him."

I noticed the blood that seemed to be running from his eyes and mouth as I looked him over. I didn't know what could've possibly happened to him. It looked as if he had been beaten, but he had no bruises or anything. It seemed like the bleeding was just a random occurrence. I also recalled Patrick complaining of feeling ill earlier that day.

"We need Hershel," Rick finished as he began marching out of the door. I continued staring at Patrick, still completely perplexed. I wanted to know how this happened. How did a dozen of these people turn into walkers when some of them were never bitten? The man who attacked Beth also had blood coming from his eyes. I didn't know what was happening, but I did know it wasn't good.