A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S5Pt1 - Swing and Slice

"Did you see who took her?" Maggie asked.
Daryl told her about Beth and what happened when they were together.
"Black car. White cross." He said. "I tried to follow them. I tried..."
Maggie nodded and Glenn held her hand.
"But she's alive?" Maggie asked.
Daryl nodded his head. "She's alive."
I managed to stand up without hurting my foot and walked over to the group of strangers. I took this time to get to know our new members. There was a Latina woman wearing a hat and a long ponytail.
"I'm Kelley. And you are?" I introduced myself and asked.
"Rosita." She said.
She smirked at me, then at my foot, and tried to act tough, but I didn't care. Now was not the time to be going against each other. I walked over to the ginger man and asked his name.
"Sergeant Abraham Ford." He said and shook my hand.
I nodded at him and walked to the guy with a mullet.
"Who are-" I began to ask.
"Scientist Eugene Porter." He cut me off.
I nodded and stared at him. "What kind of scientist?" I asked.
"One that can solve this plague." Abraham said.
We all stared at him and then at Eugene. I stepped a foot backwards and winced in pain when I stepped down with my bad foot. Abraham smirked at us and Eugene stayed quiet, keeping to himself.
I moved on down the line and looked at a woman with short brown hair. She looked nervous and I stood in front of her.
"And your name?" I asked her.
She was stiff, like she was afraid to move. I looked at Maggie and Glenn confused and they sighed. Glenn nodded his head at her and she then looked back at me.
"I'm Tara." She quietly said.
I looked at her and smiled, trying to be nice, but it quickly faded. I read her face and she looked familiar. Her face became pale as she saw me start to realize her.
"I know you..." I said.
"You. You in the pigtails. Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want?!" Rick cried.
"Liar." The Governor raised the sword and swung it."
I walked backwards and stumbled on my bad foot. I remembered watching Hershel die in front of us, and the Governor destroying the prison.
"You were with the Governor. You helped kill Hershel." I raised my voice at her. "You ruined our home."
She flinched back but didn't say anything. She probably knew this was going to happen.
"Kelley, please-" Maggie said.
"How are you okay with this?" I asked.
"She didn't want to be a part of it." Maggie said. "That was all on the Governor, not her."
I looked back at Tara and remembered her face when Rick called her out, and even when the Governor murdered Hershel.
"No... nononono." I mumbled to myself.
I backed into a corner and sat on the floor. This time I didn't scream or cry or hyperventilate, but I broke down internally. I stared at the wall and refused to move. Tears streamed down my emotionless face and I didn't speak.
Daryl walked up to me and knelt down in front of me. He caressed my cheek and tried to make me look at him, but I didn't. I just kept staring at the wall.
"Kell, look at me." He pleaded.
I just shook my head and kept staring. I needed to only focus on not breaking down, which caused me to freeze.
Daryl sighed and held my hand, fidgeting with my ring, and that's when I looked at him. He wiped my tears and I sighed.
"We need to get out of here." I managed to say.
"We will." Daryl said.
"Don't worry. I have a plan." Rick said and helped me up.
Rick ripped a piece of shrapnel off the wall and held it. Michonne was sharpening a piece of wood, making a makeshift sword. Everyone else grabbed something to use to fight, and I pulled out my knife.
"When they come to get us, we fight back and we make a run for it." Rick said.
Abraham peered out the crack and whistled at us. "Alright. We have four pricks coming our way."
We all guarded the door and readied our weapons. We heard them get closer to the door and Rick nodded at us.
"You know what to do. Go for their eyes first, then their throats." Rick said.
"Everyone put your backs to the side of the train car now!" Gareth ordered.
We all looked at each other and held out our weapons. After a moment of silence we heard a hatch open on top of the train car. Someone threw in some kind of grenade and it hit the floor.
"Move!" Abraham yelled.
We ran to different sides of the train car and the grenade went off with a loud bang, filling the room with fog. We all started coughing and the door opened. We heard yelling and fighting, and people with gas masks walked in. I could barely see anything, but then I felt someone grab my arm. I was lead out the train car into the sunlight and the door closed behind me. I looked up and saw men holding down Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Bob. Gareth grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. Another man came up behind me and tied my hands behind my back, and Gareth gagged my mouth with a cloth.
I noticed everyone else was tied up and gagged and they walked us into another building. I heard a saw blade whirring and noticed another person cutting up a body. There was a table with blades, knives, and tools on it, all were covered with blood. They dragged us over to some kind of metal trough where five other men were knelt over it. They looked scared and were also gagged and tied up.
We were all then bent over the trough and they zip tied our ankles so we couldn't run. In order it was Bob, Rick, Glenn, Daryl, me, and the other five men.
The guys dropped us off and left us with two other men that were wearing aprons with blood smeared on them.
Once was sharpening blades and the other one was practicing swings with a baseball bat. I looked over at saw and noticed that he was scared, and so was everyone else. I tried to wiggle loose but with no success. My foot was throbbing and my stomach was cramping.
"Alright." The man with the knives said.
They both walked over to the end of the line where the other guys were. The man hit him in the head with his bat, then the other guy pulled his head back and sliced his neck. The man's body slumped over and the blood poured into the trough. They moved onto the next guy and did the same thing, and each swing was getting closer to me. They were now down three, and were about to kill the fourth one when Gareth walked it with a journal in hand. I watched the blood drain underneath me and I squirmed. The men moved down the line and looked at Gareth.
"Hey guys." Gareth said. "What were your shot counts?"
"38." The man with the bat said as he swung.
Gareth wrote that down in his book and watched the men. They moved onto the fifth guy and were about to kill him when Gareth stopped them.
"Hey! Your shot count?" He asked.
The man with the knife sighed and shrugged. "Crap man, I'm sorry." He said. "It's my first round up." He said.
"Once you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells." Gareth said. "Callie won't be gathering them until tomorrow."
They nodded and proceeded to kill the last man and stopped behind me. Bob then started to try and talk, his words coming out muffled. Gareth ignored him and looked at us.
"5 from A, and 5 from D." He said and wrote it down.
"Hey!" Bob's muffled voice yelled.
Gareth sighed and took out his gag. "What?"
"Don't do this." Bob said. "We can fix this."
"No you can't." Gareth said and was about to gag him when Bob started talking.
"You don't have to do this! There's a way out of this. You just have to take a chance." He said and looked at us. "We have a man who can stop it. He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington... You don't have to do this man. Things can go back to how it was." Bob said.
"Can't go back Bob." Gareth said.
Despite Bob's protest, he put the gag back in his mouth. Gareth then knelt down in front of Rick and took out his gag.
"I saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. I pulled my spotters back before we could go look for it." Gareth said. "What was in it?"
Rick stayed silent and glared at him.
"You hid it right? In case things went bad." Gareth said and looked at Daryl and Glenn, then at me. "Smart... Still we'll find it."
He then pulled out and knife and held it up to Bob's eye.
"What was in it?" Gareth asked. "I'm curious. It was a big bag."
Rick refused to speak and we all watched what was happening.
"You really gonna let my do this?" He asked and nodded at Bob.
"Let me take you out there." Rick said. "I'll show you."
"Not gonna happen." Gareth said, and held the knife closer to Bob's eye. "This might."
"There's guns in it." Rick instantly said. "AK-47. 44 Magnum. Automatic weapons. Night scope. And a machete with a red handle." Rick said and stared at Gareth. "That's what I'm going to use to kill you."
Gareth smiled in amusement, put his knife away, and put the gag back in Rick's mouth.
"Thanks." He said and patted Rick's shoulders. Gareth then stood up and looked at the guys.
"You have two hours to get them on the dryers, then we go back to public face. Now's the time to get messy but we need to dial it down by sundown." Gareth said.
"Yes sir." The man with the bat said.
"But, sir." The man with the knife said. "What's this?"
I saw they pointed at me in confusion and looked to Gareth for answers. Daryl shook himself, trying to get loose, and looked at me.
"Yeah. We don't normally kill girls." The other guy said.
I looked at Daryl with fear in my eyes and started shaking, and a few tears fell out of my eyes. Gareth smiled at me and knelt down in front of me. I was breathing heavily as I stared at him.
"Well we are today." He said.
He then caressed my cheek, but I grunted at him and pulled my face away.
"She earned her spot here... Plus, I heard that they taste better.." He taunted.
Daryl shook next to me and tried to lunge forward at Gareth, but he couldn't move. I saw the rage in Daryl's eyes, and that look always scared me.
Gareth stood up and backed away.
"Continue." He said and waved his hand.
I started shaking my head in fear. This couldn't be happening. This just couldn't be real.
I didn't want to die like this. I didn't come this far just to be gutted like a fish and eaten by people. But the guys behind me nodded in agreement and got ready to kill me, and I though that...
"This is how I die."