Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

Good Things Fall Apart

Daryl's POV

My lungs burned as I sprinted through the woods.  The humid air was trapped beneath the thick canopy of trees above making the already hot air unbearable.  My crossbow was heavy in my sweaty hand, more like a hundred-pound weight instead of a featherlight weapon.  Siddiq was always chattering to people about anxiety, the signs, how it felt.  He always stressed it was perfectly natural given what we were trying to survive. 

I ain't sure if the sick feeling brewing in my gut is anxiety but it didn't feel natural.  The last time I felt anything remotely like it was the night Negan put us on our knees and tore our group apart.  That memory confirmed the awful feeling simmering underneath my skin, a looming death sentence.  I might have been fine with it if it was mine and mine alone, but it ain't.  It took all my willpower not to stop and puke right there.   

I heard the others behind me, the crunch of their boots on the dried leaves and the snap of twigs as they pushed through the dense woods.  Someone right behind me was screaming encouragement to those falling behind, but I didn't spare them a single glance.  When I showed up at Hilltop what was left of the work camp was already there, beaten and bruised and looking for break.  We didn't have no time for that, not with a herd of walkers headed straight for us.  Anyone that could still stand had armed themselves and we hauled ass for the bridge. 

I could hear the river on my right, the faint trickle of water, and I pump my arms harder.  When I burst through the trees into the open I stopped breathing altogether and tightened the grip on my crossbow.  The sound of the dead made me curl my lip in disgust, my eyes scanning the herd slowly lumbering onto our newly reconstructed bridge.   

She wasn't hard to find, her vibrant red and gold ponytail blowing in the breeze like a flame.  Even if her hair wasn't like a beacon calling me home it wouldn't be hard to find her.  All I had to do was find the center of the mayhem.  She was always smack dab in the middle, where the fighting was the worst.  She didn't do it on purpose.  I knew that, but I couldn't help but grind my teeth together.  She attracted danger like a fucking magnet. 

She was hunkered down behind a concrete block.  Even from this distance I could see the blood on her clothes and dirt smeared on different parts of her pale face.  I didn't see Rick, but I wasn't worried.  Somehow I just knew he was alright.  Red would never let anything happen to him.

Something happening to her was a completely different story.

My gut clenched uncomfortably, and it was hard to breathe even though I ain't running no more.  Despite the blood Red doesn't have any obvious injuries, at least that I can see, but there was too much red coating her skin.  If it wasn't hers then it was Rick's.  Neither option made me feel any better. 

The noise of the herd attracted my attention, and I fought to swallow around the lump in my throat.  It was headed straight for her.  I had no clue how many, but it had to be hundreds, maybe more.  My brain felt like it was short-circuiting, trying and failing to come up with a way to save her only to realize there was none.  She was too far away and the herd was already on the bridge.  We couldn't stop them, we couldn't redirect them, and we couldn't reach her in time. 

Like she could feel me watching her she turned her head.  When her eyes meet mine it was like a punch to the gut.  Every time she looked at me it felt like she was looking straight into my soul.  Her emerald green eyes were wet with tears and she looked downright exhausted, but I could see a glint of determination that never really went away.  She was a fighter to her core.  Surrender, defeat, those were words for other people. 

She didn't look scared.  She looked resigned, and I shook my head, grinding my teeth so hard it hurt.  She smiled, a sad smile that made my legs shake.  It was a smile that meant only one thing, goodbye.  It was all I could do stay on my feet.  I ain't the praying type, but I was praying now.