Demolition

Rage, Guilt and Grief

Chapter 2

We walked towards the prison.I had an empty feeling in my chest. God, it hurt. I didn't even fight the tears that came, there was no need. Everyone else was the same way.
"We need to clean out her cell-"
Rick was cut off by a scream of desperation.
"Help us please!"
That's all it took. I ran across the yard and threw open the gate, towards the scream. Finally, I was faced with a horde of walkers and a group of 6. I started to hack. I hacked away at the walkers, letting out all of my rage, guilt and grief. Soon all of them were dead. The small group looked on in fear. I
didn't say a word because if I did, I would sob. I walked back to the prison. I heard the crunching of shoes on gravel. I continued walking. By the time I had reached the gate, my sadness had turned to peace. I felt better that I had let rage out. My guilt. My grief. I passed Rick. I honestly had no clue how he would react to the group. I didn't really care either. I need to do something.
"Daryl."
I muttered under my breath as I turned to face Rick.
"What do you think?"
" 'Bout what?"
He nodded his head at the group.
"Sure, I don't care." I continued to walk to the prison.
"Daryl."
"What?!" I said angrily.
"Don't do this."
"Don't do what?"
"Shut yourself off. She did it and now you are too."
"So did you."
Guilt crossed his face.
"I know, I know I shouldn't have-"
"Save it. Look Rick here's the thing, I don't care if they stay. You're the leader, Mr. This isn't a democracy anymore. Do what you want. I really don't give a crap. I'm just the right hand man, doing all the dirty work.
"You know that's not true!" Rick yelled, the veins in his neck bulging.
"Whatever, man."
I turned back to the group.
"What's your name?" I asked what I assumed to be the leader.
"Autumn." She said standing a little straighter.
"Listen here girl, run. Run as fast as you can, away from here."
"Why? Just because you have a problem with the leader doesn't mean we will."
One of her group members elbowed her in the rib.

"Excuse me?"

"We can all tell this has something to do with with a girl."

"How would y'all know that now?"

"Way you are rambling on and on that's the sign you lost someone important."

"How would you know what it feels like to lose someone?" I spat out angrily.

She laughed and took a step closer. Then another. Then another. Till finally she was no more then 3 inches away from my face.

"Darlin, I've lost more people then you ever would. I've felt more pain then you ever would. I've been through more then you, so hun, please, take a seat."
She looked directly my eyes.

That's when I knew. Her eyes. They were green, gray and blue. They reminded me of someone.
Nëraid. Her eyes. They were green. But they were, intense. Similar to her's.

"Nëraid?"I muttered under my breath.
She just stared at me, not backing down.

"Is that the one?"

"Yes." I whispered

"Wife, girlfriend?"

"Daughter."

"I see."

"Now tell me, how have you lost more than me?"

She laughed again.

"I've lost my whole family. My son. My twin sister. My little brother. My mom and dad. I'm the only survivor of my family name."

"Your son?"

She nodded.

"His name was Mathew. Three years old. I'm 21 at the moment."
"I'm sorry."

"How old was yours?"

"16."

"I'm sorry as well. No one should have to experience death. Let alone actually dying."

"Agreed."

"Let me introduce you to the rest of my group."

She backed up and turned to a red-brown haired girl.

"This is Sydney."

"Daryl."

Sydney nodded at me.

"Derek and Timmy." she said pointing at two brown haired guys. Derek was taller than Timmy.

"Nick." she pointed to a blonde-brown haired guy.

"And Cole." She said nodding at a blonde surfer type guy.

I nodded at each in turn. I honestly liked this group. I turned to look at Rick, who was gazing at me, surprise in his eyes.

"They can stay."
Rick said before pivoting on heel and going inside the prison. He was acting like a pansy,but I didn't care.

"Follow me." I said leading the group inside.
----------------------------------------------
After showing them around and introducing them to everyone, I finally had time to do what I needed to do. Slowly, I climbed the stairs.
Come on Daryl, are you a sissy?
It's just her room.
Exactly my point. Even though I had only known her for a year and a half, I felt that she was my family. It was hard. She was the only one who didn't treat me like I was a hick that did all the hunting. But I guess she knew what it felt like, being a freaking mermaid and all. Before I knew it, I was in the cell. it was....tidy. There of course was the bunk beds and at the foot of that was a chest. On the other was a tiny table that help various amounts of things. I went to the chest and opened it. There was a backpack full of clothes, a quilt, a sketchbook, a box of pencils, an iPhone,colored pencils littered the box, and silver box at the very bottom. I knew immediately where it was from. I still picked it up. I still opened it. Inside was the paper and neckless from Percy. I studied the neckless. I guess the trident made sense know. I put everything back in the box and took out the sketchbook. I flipped through some of the pages, to find that there where realistic drawing of everyone we had encountered. Andrea, Rick, Lori, Me, Glenn, and everyone else. The pictures looked like someone had just printed on the page. She was very talented. On the back of each picture was a brief summary of that person. Height,weight, eye color, hair color, relatives in the group, how old they were and if they were alive or not,ect. I flipped through till I got to my page. I flipped to the back. Under relatives it said one word..
Dad.
My heart swelled, then shattered. I still can't believe she's gone. Its been over 26 hours. I'm still shocked. I kept flipping. Finally, I found her self portrait.

"She's gorgeous." a familiar voice said from behind me, making me jump.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you,"

"No prob."

"Is that your daughter?" Autumn asked?

"Yup."

"You don't look like her."

I told her everything.