Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Hallucinations

~Rick's pov~
"Put your guns on the floor," I growled as I emerged from the shadows. Gareth and the reminder of his people turned around with nothing but fear crossing their faces. They came here certain that they could kill us, but the tables were turning pretty fast.
"Rick, we'll fire right into that office. So you lower your gun--" I frowned once I realized Gareth was never gonna cooperate. I aimed my gun at his hand before firing a shot off. Gareth let out a scream before he pulled his hand up to reveal he was losing some fingers.
I smiled at the sight of this. Nothing like somebody being in some serious pain before I finished them. I emerged even further from the shadows as I pointed my gun to the man next to him. "Put your guns on the floor and kneel."

The man shook his head for a moment as he held onto his weapon. I could tell that he was going to be a very difficult one in this situation. "Do what he says," Gareth cried out as his voice was rough with pain. I watched as a female and another male put their guns down before kneeling on the floor. Though they did this, one man still stood.
"Martin, there's no choice here," Gareth groaned out with annoyance in his voice. I didn't blame him. I was getting pretty annoyed with this Martin guy too.

"Yeah, there is," Martin replied as he kept his eyes on me. I shook my head at his ignorance. I watched Abraham emerge from the shadows and point his gun at Martin. "Want to bet?"

With hesitation, he slowly put his gun down with a grin on his face. I couldn't wait to wipe that grin right off. I slowly made my way over to Gareth who was struggling to deal with the pain on the floor. I stopped right in front of him with my gun at my side.

"No point in begging, right?" Gareth asked as he looked up at me. "No," I said in agreement. "You killed one of our own."

Gareth held back a laugh as he continued staring up at me. "Elizabeth was going to die anyways. I did her a favor."

I kneeled down to his level and put my gun firmly on his head, looking him in the eyes. "Where is she?"

"If she's dead, why do you want to find her?" Gareth questioned as he held onto his bleeding hand. "Let me guess, you bury your own? She's turned by now wherever she is."

"If you don't tell me right now, I'm going to kill you."

"You could have killed us when you came in," Gareth stated as he ignored my threats. "There had to be a reason for that."

"We didn't want to waste the bullets," I replied coldly as I continued staring down at him. He was trying to find every way to weasel out of this, but it wasn't gonna happen. He was going to die no matter what story he told us.

"We used to help people. We saved people," Gareth said in a shaky voice. "Things changed. They came in and..."
Gareth put his head down as he groaned in pain. He paused for a few moments before looking back at me. "I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry." I cocked my head at his words, amused by his attempts to get away. "You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."

"But you'll cross someone's path," I replied as I felt around for my machete. "You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise," I said as I snatched it out of my pocket. "Elizabeth was wrong. Daryl isn't the one you have to worry about."

I snatched my machete from my belt before bringing it down across Gareth's skull, ending his life. I heard the screams escape from the rest of his group as the others began beating them brutally. I wasn't doing it to make myself feel safe. I was doing it for the others. Judith, Carl, Elizabeth. I had to avenge her. I knew that Daryl would want to be the one to do that, but he was also missing. And it was a good thing he was during this time.

"So she is dead," Michonne said as she tried to catch her breath. I looked around at the dead bodies and shrugged my shoulders. "She is."

"But who took her body away?" Abraham interjected. I shrugged my shoulders once more at his question. "Bob may have been hallucinating. If Elizabeth was alive, she would be here. She isn't here."

I watched as Michonne wiped a bit of sweat off of her forehead before looking around at all of the dead bodies. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head at the realization that Elizabeth may have been truly gone.
"How do we tell Daryl?"