Daryl's Angel (Book One in the Apocalypse Angel Trilogy)

Chapter 59: Despair

As I sit down to read at one of the tables, I hear more coughing. I groan, turning to see Glenn leaving the block.

"Glenn...oh no," I say, my heart breaking.

"I'll go to A," he says, coughing again.

"Did you tell Maggie?"

"Yeah. She knows," he says sadly, and he leaves.

I walk outside, giving up on my book, heading over to where Daryl and Michonne are gassing up for the run.

Daryl notices me first, and I smile as I get closer.

"I wish I could come with you," I voice.

"We need you here," he says.

"I know, but I haven't gone on a run in so long."

He sighs, pulling me into a hug. I hold him close, and when he pulls away, he smiles, giving me a kiss.

"I'll see you when I get back, alright?"

"Okay," I reply, turning and walking away.

"Hey!" he calls. I stop, looking back. "I love you."

I smirk. "I love you too Daryl."

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I head up to my cell, having just finished my shift in Cell Block A. I bite my lip as I think of the coughing echoing off the dank walls.

I pull off my mask, letting out a long breath. Carl and the others have moved out of C already, and it feels so lonely without them around. I climb onto the bed and fall asleep, feeling completely drained from everything that's happened.

Death. Death everywhere. Coughing, crying, blood stains on the floor. There's walkers, and their moans add to the terror all around me.

I see my family. They're all around me, coughing, dying slowly on beds in cell block A. I try to scream, but I can only cough too. There's a row of dead bodies on the ground near me, and I can see Daryl laying among them, his blue eyes closed forever.

"Daryl! Daryl please, no," I cry, but my voice is ragged, ruined.

The taste of my own blood fills my mouth and I cough it out, wiping my face, leaving red streaks on my hand.

I bolt upright, breathing hard from the dream. I pray it's not real, and get up, leaving the cell. I get a weird feeling in my throat and cough into my arm. I gasp, which makes me cough again. Then, I notice how cold I feel and shiver.

"Hope?" Rick asks as I walk down the stairs.

"I'm fine," I say and smile. "Just a tickle in my throat."

"We can't risk anything." He looks at me sadly. "You have to go to A."

"I...I..." I try to speak, but I know it's true. "What about-" I'm cut off by my own coughing.

"I'll tell him," Rick says gently, and tears well up in my eyes. "I'll send him to see you when he gets back."

I nod and walk towards A, feeling like I'm walking to my death.

When I get to the big metal doors leading into the block, Carol stands at them, a mask over her face.

"Hope," she gasps, her face falling. "Oh my gosh."

"You know what to do." I sigh, and she opens the doors, letting me into the room.

Coughing fills my ears and I cringe. It's exactly like my dream.

Hershel walks up to me, and my eyes widen.

"You can't be in here!" I cough into my arm again.

"Hope, you were just in here," he murmurs.

"For one shift! You've been here the whole day." My head pounds and I grit my teeth. "You could get sick!"

"That's a risk I'll have to take," he replies, leading me into a cell with an empty bed.

I lay down and he leaves me alone. That's when I let the tears come.