My Fallen Angel (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter Thirty: Luck Runs Out

The next morning I wake up to Daryl slightly shaking me awake. I open my eyes and smile at him.
"Going to be heading out soon." I nod and sigh. I sit up watching him get ready. I grab his arm as he sits on the bed to put on his boots. He turns to me, I lean in and kiss him, he kisses back and goes to move away, I groan and pull him in again.
"Esme..." He mumbles, but I shake my head.
"Please don't. You're going to be leaving for a couple of days." He looks me in the eyes and I finally look away but turn again when he puts his boot down and pulls me in for a hug. I bury my head in the crook of his neck taking his scent to calm me.
"I know you will still worry, but how about this, I'll make you a promise. A what do you and Rick call it a Grime's promise?" I laugh and pull away.
"You're going to make me a Grime's promise... But..."
"Yes, I know that I'm not a Grime's but we're family right?" I nod and smile. Thinking how special a Grime's promise is. It was something that the Grimes family has done for years and when you made a Grimes promise you could never go against it. It was like an oath it meant more than a normal promise and if you broke one it there had to be an extremely good reason as to why or it hurt the people involved a lot. Daryl knew this as I had explained what they were to him.
"Daryl I can't ask you to..."
"Your not. I promise that I will do everything in my power whenever I am in danger to always make my way back to you. I will fight to get back to you and that the only thing that will keep me from fighting is death. I will Grimes promise this." He says. I blink back tears that randomly decide to appear as my heart swells at his words. I smile at him when I see the worry in his eyes at my tears.
"I'm fine, girl moment." I say as I wipe a tear away and laugh a bit when he relaxes. "You know for not being a romantic those are the most romantic words you have ever said to me. I accept your Grimes promise and I Grimes promise the exact same thing to you." He nods and I kiss him again, he deepens the kiss and I'm about to attempt to make more out of it when there is a knock on our door. I sigh and grumble as Daryl chuckles at me.
"Come in," I yell sitting back on the bed as Daryl now moves to put his boots on. Carl pokes his head in. "What's up bud?" I ask.
"Dad wanted me to tell you that he and Michonne left for their constable duties and that I am going to be going out to play with the other kids." He says. I nod and stand up.
"Okay, if you need me for anything I will be seeing Daryl and the others off then I will be at Dr. Pete's till dinner time." He nods and leaves. I get ready for the day and begrudgingly follow Daryl out of the house.After saying bye to Daryl I walk up to Glenn and the others as they are about to leave for their run.
"You got this, you always do." Maggie tells Glenn as I hug the others bye.
"Watch each other's backs out there. All of you. I glare at Nicolas and Eugene. They just nod, I turn to Glenn as he is done saying bye. I give him a hug.
"Stay safe, please." I mumble to him.
"I always do right." He smiles at me as I step back and nod.
"Daylight's burning let's go!" Aiden yells. They all then get in the back of the van and loud music starts to play. I sigh and shake my head.
"They will be okay." Maggie says to me as she wraps her arm around my shoulders.
"I know, but I still worry." I mumble watching the van drive off.
"Yup, that's why we love you, you're the glue that keeps our group together, you and Carol." I just smile at her. The rest of the day is spent in Dr. Pete's office, I get to learn about the insulin pump more and decide to go with it. He shows me how to put it on and the new type of needle works and everything. I then treat a crew member with a sprained ankle she received from jumping off a tractor during a walker attack. After I wander around town to find stuff to do. It's nearing dark on my way home when I hear my best friend calling for me and my heart starts to ache in fear again.
"Help! SOMEBODY HELP! ESME!!!!" I hear Glenn call from the front gate. I run. When I get there I see that Tara has a severe head wound and I see that Nicolas has some small other wounds, Eugene and Glenn are thankfully fine but Aiden and Noah are missing. I have no time to think of that as Tara needs my help.
"Go and tell Dr. Pete to get the surgery table ready! NOW!" I yell at a person I don't know the name of yet from the community. She nods and runs to get him. "Glenn drive this van to Dr. Pete's." He nods to me and does as he's told. When we get there Dr. Pete thankfully already has the door open and table ready. We get to work. When she is stable I leave her with Rosita to meet with Glenn to get the full story of what happened. I then go to my room and lay down on Daryl's side of the bed to take in his scent.After an hour I go outside for some fresh air and hear a commotion coming from Dr. Pete's and Jessie's house. I round the corner when I see Rick and Pete fly out the window.
"Rick!?!?!" I yell trying to get him off. He pushes me back Carl tries as well for him to get pushed back as well. Anger flies threw me I yell at him. "Rick! Enough! Stop it!" Deanna then runs to us.
"Stop it! Stop it right now!" She yells. Rick looks at her and then I finally.
"You touch them again and I will kill you." He tells Pete. Realization of the situation finally hits me. Pete was a drunk that hit his family, this was why Rick was fighting him.
"Damn it, Rick! I said stop." Deanna yells at him.
"Or what?" Rick asks as he pulls a gun. I push Carl and his friend behind me. "You going to kick me out?"
"Rick?" I question him, but he ignores me.
"Put that gun down, Rick." Deanna says.
"You still don't get it," Rick says panting. "None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. Were the ones who live." He yells. "You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't." He waves the gun around. I turn to make sure that Carl was still behind me. "You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing this is done. Things don't get better because of you... you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world." He continues yelling at Deanna. "We have to control who lives here."
"That's never been more clear to me then it is right now." Deanna answers back. I sigh knowing what's coming next.
"Me? Me? You, you mean, you mean me?" Rick starts to laugh and part of me wonders if he is starting to become like Shane. "Your way is going to destroy this place. It's going to get people killed."
"Rick!" I call stepping up a bit from my spot he throws his hand out at me for me to stop and like always I listen. I sigh in frustration at myself knowing that one day I will have to break this habit.
"It's already gotten people killed." He continues. "And I'm not going to stand by and just let it happen. If you don't fight you die. I'm not going to stand here by and..."
At that moment Michonne walks by and clocks Rick over the head. I gasp and run to him as he falls.
"Rick!"
"Sorry, Esme." Michonne says to me as I check him.
"It's fine." I mumble shaking my head and sighing. Glenn, Abraham, Carol and I walk into the house Rick is at to see him up. I dash to his side.
"Take these." I say handing him some pain killers and opening a water bottle for him.
"I'm fine." He says.
"Rick, don't argue right now with me." I glare at him my tone a warning. He sighs and takes the meds, I check his wounds and then stand up satisfied so far. "How are you feeling and don't tell me fine, because I just spent all night patching your ass up and pulling out glass from your hand and head."
"Sore and head hurt but you just gave me pain killers so I should be okay in a bit." He answers I nod.
"So where did you get the gun? You took it right from the armory? That was stupid. Why did you do it? Carol asks when I'm done worrying.
"Just in case." Rick answers.
"Deanna's planning on having a meeting tonight. For anyone who wants to." Glenn says.
"To kick Rick out?" Abraham asks. I stand up at this and turn.
"To try." Carol says.
"No..." I start.
"We don't know that," Glenn says placing his hand on my shoulder to calm me. "Maggie is with Deanna right now. She's going to find out what it is."
"At the meeting, you say you were worried about someone being abused and no one was doing anything about it. You say you took a gun just to be sure that Jessie was safe from a man who wound up attacking you. You say you will do whatever you want them to. Just tell them a story that they want to hear." Carol says. "It's what I've been doing since I got here."
"Why?" Michonne asks.
"Because these people are children and children like stories."
"What happens after all the nice words and they still try and kick him out?" Abraham asks.
"They're guarding the armory now." Glenn states. My head starts to reel in fear. If they kick Rick out, I will have to go with him, yet Daryl wasn't here and he would come here looking for me, for us. We would have to stay close until he gets back.
"We still have knives. That's all we will need against them." I nod.
"Well, tonight at the meeting, if it looks like it's going bad I'll whistle. Carol grabs Deanna, I grab Spencer, you grab Reg," Rick starts and points to Michonne. "Esme you make sure Carl is safe. Glenn and Abraham cover us and watch the crowd."
"We can talk to them." Michonne starts.
"Yeah, we will, but if we can't get through, we take the three of them and say we will slit their throats."
"Like at terminus?" Glenn asks.
"No, we just tell 'em. They give us the armory and it's over."
"Did you want this?" Glenn asks.
"No. I hit my limit. I screwed up." Rick answers. "And here we are. Now if you will excuse me I'm just going to sleep some more." I shake my head at him as we all leave. I didn't know what to think. I spend the rest of the day till the meeting in my room. When I get there I look around and see Maggie, I make my way to her.
"Where is Glenn?" I ask.
"Not sure, he said he would be here. Rick?" She asks.
"At the house with Michonne, they should be on their way." I answer. Michonne makes her way to us alone a few minutes later. "Where is Rick?" I ask her.
"He should be on his way, he is thinking some things over." She tells me. I nod.
"Did you see Glenn on your way here?" Maggie asks.
"No." Michonne shakes her head. I sigh and look around hoping to see at least one of them. When it finally gets dark I start to finally panic.
"We're going to start." Deanna says.
"Can we wait? There are still people coming." Maggie says.
"Glenn and Rick." I agree.
"We're going to start. It's already dark." Deanna finalizes. I sigh.
"Where could they be?" I whisper to Maggie.
"I don't know." I can hear the panic in her voice as well.
"We're going to talk about what happened. Not the fight. Not what precipitated it. We're dealing with that. We're going to talk about one of our constables. Rick Grimes. We're going to talk about how he had a pistol he stole from the armory, about how he pointed it at people and we're going to talk about what he said." Deanna states. "I was hoping he would be here."
"She said he's coming." Michonne says.
"I'm sure he'll be here." Carol says.
"Something must be holding him up," I say panic still gripping my heart. I get up finally needing to do something, I turn to Maggie. "I'm going to go find him, I'm going to go find them."
"Okay. I'm going to help here." Maggie says nodding and hugging me really quick.I make my way towards our house when I see the front gate opening. I shine my flashlight over and see Glenn walking in with Nicholas both covered in blood. Rage and panic envelop me and I run to him.
"What in the fuck?" I ask.
"I'm fine Esme. Just help please, I'll explain in a bit." I nod but glare at Nicholas none the same. I help the limping Glenn to Dr. Pete's office. When we get to the office I see that Rosita is in again helping I smile at her and become happy when I realize that Tara is finally awake. Glenn allows me to check on her and make sure that she is fine before patching him up. Glenn then explains that Nicholas lured him out of the community and tried to kill him but he convinces me to give him a second chance, more like third, I think as I glare at him.
"You hurt anyone else in my family and I will not hesitate to kill you, even in your sleep, or poison your food. Watch yourself! You hear me!" I warn him. He nods and is about to say something when we hear a gunshot. I'm out the door, hand on my knives running to the meeting spot ready to protect Rick with my life. When I get there, I hear the people screaming and crying. I look around trying to find out what the fuck happened, there was a dead walker, Pete was dead gunshot to the head, Reg was dead sliced in the throat Rick had somehow got another gun.
"Rick?" I call pushing past people to get to him. "What happened?" He turns to me and is about to answer when he looks past me.
"Rick?" Says a voice I don't recognize. I turn around to see Daryl, Aaron and a black man staring at my brother confused.
Come to find out that that the gate was left open by Gabriel, walkers got in, that was why Rick was late to the meeting when he got to the meeting, Pete showed up, killed Reg, Deanna ordered Rick to kill Pete, still don't know how Rick got the second gun yet. Thankfully Rick was not being kicked out. This was an eye-opener to Deanna and most of her community. The next week was spent getting the community used to being under Rick's leadership, getting them used to this insane world. Showing them just how lucky they have been and how unprepared they are for attacks. We found out that the reason they were so luck was a big ravine closed off by semi trucks filled with thousands of walkers the noise drew them into it, but the more it fills the more that got in the the more that they could move the semis and it could open up funneling them right towards Alexandria. We had to deal with them quickly as luck would run out soon, we come up with a plan and are going to do a dry run today. I will be with Daryl on his bike helping keep the walkers going and killing any that get too close to us.
"This is where it all starts tomorrow," Rick explains going over the plan again for the dry run. "Tobin gets in the truck, opens the exit and we're off. He hops out and catches up with his team at red staying on the west side of the road." Indicating the red balloons left at a marked point we mapped out. He then points to Daryl and I yelling over the walkers growling he continues. "Daryl and Esme get on the bike..."
"You see that?" Sasha yells as we hear a loud groan. I look over and see one of the other semis falling off the ledge and think this ain't now dry run anymore, our luck has just run out.
"Son of a bitch..." I groan.
"It's open." Someone yells.
"We have to do this now!" Rick orders and I run to the bike already knowing the plan. Everyone is shambling for last minute crap to get done. When I think of the tractor place that hasn't been emptied. We were supposed to do that today.
"Glenn!" I call to him. He turns to me. "The Tractor store. The noise."
"Shit." He turns to Rick. "Rick, I'll hit the tractor place."
"Okay, Who else?" Rick calls.
"We got to take them out or they will distract the herd." Glenn tells Heath.
"I'm here let me help!" Nicholas tells Glenn.
"No!" Glenn and I yell at the same time. "I'll go with you." Just as I'm about to turn to Daryl.
"No, Daryl needs you, I'm here already." Nicholas tells me I turn to him.
"Do everything I say!" Glenn orders him and he nods.
"You come back without my best friend and I will kill you!" I yell at him and turn to Glenn.
"Be safe." I give a quick hug and run to Daryl.
"They're coming!" Daryl calls out. I grab my gun and turn the safety off. Pointing it at the walkers. I stand next to the bike ready to shoot any walker I need to. I wait for Rick's signal.
"Now!" He calls and the flares go off. "Tobin hit the truck." Rick calls and he drives the truck a couple of feet to let the walkers out. Daryl shoots the closest one and jumps on the bike I holster my gun and follow suit. He revs the engine to get the walkers attention some more and we start our semi-slow and long drive. I can hear the radio as everyone lists off the checkpoints and Rick encourages everyone to just stick with the plan. I turn to make sure that none of the walkers are lingering too much or going the wrong way but so far so good. A while longer and we meet up with Sasha and Abraham at checkpoint red. We get to checkpoint orange where we built up a wall to turn them in I see the flares go off and know that Rick, Michonne and Morgan are on the other side. I pray that the walls will hold for their safety. Daryl takes the turn and I watch the walkers slowly follow and crash against the wall still following. A further bit later and I see Abraham getting out of the car.
"What are you doing?" I call to him, Daryl slows a bit on the bike to watch.
"Just keep going." Abraham waves to us and Daryl goes back to his normal pace. I watch Abraham rally up some walkers that were wondering off from the herd and come back with some shiny blanket. He jumps back in the car everything goes back to normal. I sigh in relief as the stragglers return to the herd.
"Ok everyone, we're almost there. Just stick with the plan." I hear Rick's voice over the radio. "How we holding up in the front?"
"All sweet as can be here chief." I hear Abraham's reply. I just chuckle a bit and check again on the walkers, all good up here.
"Tobin, they are breaking off." I hear on the radio. I sit up a bit to listen.
"What do you want us to do?"
"Fire your guns and draw them back."
After a bit, I hear distant gunfire.
"It's working the gunfire is bringing them back on the road." I sigh in relief again. Thank god this was working so far. I say a thank you prayer to the Lord and Lady.
"You got them, Tobin." Rick says.
"Copy that. What was that screaming?"
"That was Carter, he got bit right in the face," Rick replies. I cringe and feel Daryl tense a bit. "I stopped him."
I check the walkers again and sigh, shifting just a bit to get comfortable again as I know this is going to be a while. I check my pump and make sure that the fanny pack I have everything in is secure and finally rest for a bit knowing that we will have to take them 20 miles out from here. A while later I start to hear what seems to be some type of fog horn blaring from behind us. I frown and look at the others in the car, Abraham shrugs at me, but I can see the worry on both of their faces.
"Daryl, page Rick." He nods and grabs the radio.
"Rick?" He pages.
"I'm here." I hear what seems to be a stressed and tired brother.
"What's going on back there?"
"Half of them broke off, they are going towards Alexandria." Fear for Carl, Judith, and the others course through me.
"Towards you?" I hear Abraham ask.
"We ran ahead. There's a horn or something. Loud, coming from the east. It's not stopping." Rick explains.
"Daryl... We..." I start but he's already on it.
"I'm going to gas it up turn back." He tells Rick I nod sitting down and holding on to him to get ready.
"We have it, you keep going." Rick tells us.
"They are going to need our help." Daryl argues.
"We gotta keep the herd moving."
"Not if it's going down we don't."
"The rest of that herd turns around, the bad back there gets worse..." Panic and anger sets in me.
"Daryl?..." Rick calls again.
"Yeah, I heard you." He replies and I smack my head on his back. His arm comes off the radio and he drops it on my arm around his waist lacing his fingers in mine trying to comfort me. I knew he felt just as useless as I did right now. A little while later and and I feel him squeeze my hand then pull his away.
"Esme..?" I sit up ready for anything.
"Yeah?"
"Our family is back there."
"I know..." I whisper not knowing where he was going with this.
"We do anything for our family right?"
"Of course..."
"Then promise to forgive me if something goes wrong with what I'm about to do." I blink taking in his words.
"Of course." I tell him, not knowing why he would need forgiveness. He nods and rides closer to the car.
"Hey, we have gone 5 miles out yet?"
"Give or take some yardage." Abraham answers. "Got a reason for asking?"
"Next intersection we're gonna spin around and go back." Daryl says. My heart lifts a bit at him and I smile. We were going to help our family.
"The plan is to go 15 more." Sasha says.
"Yeah, I'm going to change that. 5s going to have to work."
"The magic number is 20. That's the mission. That's making sure they're off munching on infirm raccoons the rest of their undead lives." Abraham says. I sigh.
"You two want to go we can't stop you. But without you, they could stop us."
"Nah, I got faith in you guys," Daryl tells them. "Esme." He warns me as he revs the engine. I hold on.
"Daryl!" I hear Sasha yell and Abraham yell something as well.
"I love you!!!" I call to Daryl and know he heard cause he pats my arm in return be for he takes a sharp turn at the intersection. A while later we hear Glenn on the radio.
"Rick, it's Glenn, we're in a town 5 degrees east of the green marker. If you get around on redding in the next 20 minutes you should be good. I think that's how far we're ahead of the herd. I'm going to try to set a fire and distract them. If you don't see smoke, they're still coming your way. I gotta go. Good luck, dumb ass." I feel Daryl chuckle at his words. I give a small smile at my best friends efforts. Good luck to you my friend as well, I think. After making it about halfway to the meeting point Rick comes back on the radio.
"Glenn, I'm in place by my best guess. You guys make it back yet?" Nothing, just static. "Glenn?" Nothing still. I sit up about to grab the radio. "Tobin, you there?" Nothing. "Daryl?"
Daryl gets on.
"I'm here."
"Won't be long now, they're almost here, we will get them going your way again."
"How about that Daryl? He's going to be coming our way." Sasha's sarcastic voice comes on the radio. I roll my eyes.
"There's gunfire coming from back home. We gotta sit with it and hope they can handle it. I think they can, they have to. We keep going forward to them. Can't turn back 'cause we're afraid." Rick tells us.
"We ain't afraid." Abraham says.
"Going back now before it's done that'd be for us." I glare at the radio. "The herd has to be almost here." Rick goes quiet for a bit, then we hear static as if he is going to say something and then hear gunshots over the radio. I almost jump and the bike lurches a bit. Daryl corrects the bike and grabs the radio.
"Rick, Rick!" Rick doesn't answer. Daryl pulls over and I pull the radio towards me from his vest.
"Brother! Bother!" Nothing. "BROTHER!!!" I try again, nothing.
"Esme." Daryl pulls the radio down and places it back on his vest.
"We.. we need to get to Rick, we have to hurry now. Let's go." I say sitting down again. He doesn't move. "Daryl, Let's go."
"Esme, Rick is right, we need to keep going forward for Alexandria, we need to turn back and help Abraham and Sasha."
"Wh... What?" I sputter. "But Rick..."
"I'm sure that Rick and the others are fine."
"Daryl. No, we need to go to Alexandria. They can't protect themselves." I say angry with him. He turns a bit to face me.
"They have Carl, Carol, and Maggie there to help protect them."
"Our best protectors are outside Alexandria!"
"Esme, They are on there way back to Alexandria we heard that. They will be fine, I'm sure of it." I get off the bike facing away from him trying to control my thoughts and anger. "Esme?" He grabs my hand keeping me from walking away. On the one hand, I knew he and Rick were right. The Alexandrians may not know how to handle themselves but my family did. But on the other hand, I was worrying the same as always I wanted to see for myself that they were okay. I turned toward Daryl and looked him in the eyes, his blue eyes calming me only a little as I felt the tears trying to spill. He is right I think. I take a big breath, squeeze my eyes shut, forcing back my tears, and nod.
"Ok, ok babe." I whisper. He squeezes my hand and pulls on it. I realize then that I kinda need to get back on the bike. I try to move but hesitate, if I get on this bike that means I am willingly turning my back on Carl, Rick, Judith, and the others when they need my help. Daryl must have seen something in my eyes as he leans over kisses my forehead and grabs me.
"Esme come on." He tells me as he pulls me over to the bike, when I'm next to it I force myself onto the bike and sit there almost numb. "Just hold on. You don't have to do anything this time. I'll do it all for you and if something happens you can blame me." Daryl tells me.
We get back to Sasha and Abraham but I don't do anything I just sit there and let the others handle the herd.