Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Sickness

Oh my god.

I honestly couldn't even force words to come out of my mouth as I stared down at the two corpses on the ground. They were burned so badly that I couldn't even tell it was Karen and David. I couldn't even tell if they were human or walkers, actually.

I felt a strong urge to puke as I stared down at them. I had felt like throwing up for days, so this wasn't new.

"I came to see Karen," Tyreese began in a shushed voice. "And I saw the blood on the floor...and then I smelled it."

Sorrow began building inside me as I felt his heartbreak. I couldn't imagine finding Daryl or anybody I loved like this. I knew that Tyreese was trying not to cry in that moment. I didn't blame him. We all had to be strong in times like these.

"Somebody dragged them out here," Tyreese screamed, causing me to jump a little. "And they set them on fire. Somebody killed them and set them on fire!"

Tyreese stared at the ground for a moment before he turned towards Rick and began approaching him. I could feel hostility which caused Daryl and I to be on our toes during this time.

"You're a cop," Tyreese yelled at him. "You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me, you understand? You bring 'em to me!"

"Yeah, we'll find 'em," Daryl spoke as he tried to pull Tyreese away from him. Tyreese quickly snatched away from him in an angry manner. I could tell that a fight would break out because of this. I hoped they wouldn't try to fight with him. Tyreese was only saying these things because of how hurt he was.

"I need to say it again?" Tyreese demanded.

"No, I understand what you're feeling," Rick began. "I've been there. You saw me there, it's dangerous."

I remembered how much Rick suffered after Lori's death. I would hate to see history repeat itself in Tyreese.
"Karen didn't deserve this!" Tyreese shouted at him. "David didn't deserve it! Nobody does!"

He was correct, nobody deserved a death like this. They were both sick with whatever kind of flu was going around, but they didn't deserve this. I knew whoever did it did it because they were trying to protect us. Protecting us should never involve killing our own people.

"Alright, man," Daryl began as he tried to grab Tyreese again. Tyreese responded by grabbing Daryl and pushing him into some bars surrounding us. "I ain't going nowhere until I find out who did this!"

Rick and I both began approaching Tyreese this time, but Daryl held out a hand to let us know it was okay. It didn't feel okay, but I trusted Daryl's judgement. I stopped walking towards them and watched as I moved my hand to my knife just in case.

The sounds of Tyreese huffing and puffing filled the air as he stayed silent. "We're on the same side man," Daryl spoke after a moment, shaking his head slightly. I watched as Daryl and Tyreese continued staring at each other as Rick tried to speak again. "Look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone."

My eyes moved to Carol as I noticed she was with us. She looked just as concerned as I was. But something in her eyes told me she knew something that we didn't. Boy was I correct.

"We know what you're going through right now," Rick continued with his hand out. "But you gotta calm down."
Rick made the mistake of touching his back as he spoke and Tyreese spun around and shoved Rick with all of his might. I had to move out of the way to avoid getting knocked over.

"Step the hell back!" Tyreese screamed loudly as he pushed him. Carol got on the side of them and quickly put her arms out. "No," she said in a calm voice.

They both ignored her completely. "She wouldn't want you being like this," Rick said before a fist came down across his face. My eyes widened as I realized what Tyreese had done.

Rick fell to the ground as he clutched his already bleeding mouth. "Stop!" Carol screamed as she watched Tyreese hit Rick for a second time.

"Tyreese, don't!" I begged as I watched Daryl grab him from behind, attempting to calm him down. Don't hit him back, Rick. He's only doing this out of anger.

Nobody ever listened to me. Once Rick was off of the ground, he knocked Tyreese to the ground. I'd never seen a person get beaten so brutally. I wanted to jump in and stop it, but Carol made sure I stood back. Daryl grabbed Rick and pleaded with him to calm down and stop his actions.

"Let go of me!" Rick screamed. I could feel the shock coming off of Carol...or was that guilt? I wouldn't know the answer to that question for a while. Rick didn't go back to beating him once he was released. I thanked my lucky stars for that. Tyreese began letting out sobs as he laid on the ground, blood covering his face.

I didn't understand how Rick could do that to him. It was breaking my heart to see him like that. He had been through so much already and now he would have to deal with two black eyes. Rick had to learn to control his anger before his anger controlled him.

Daryl and I shot each other a look as we watched Rick stand in silence, staring at his blood stained hand. It was almost as if he was shocked with his actions as much as we were. And hell, he may have been.

I felt my throat grow scratchy as I continued looking at Tyreese. I felt tears threatening to come to the surface. My throat was completely tight with the feeling of sadness.

Turns out it wasn't sadness. The feeling in my throat was something far worse.

Against my will, I began coughing violently.

All eyes moved to me with fear.