The Fallen (Daryl Dixon fanfiction)

Chapter 16

"We scared the governor away, leaving his own people. We took them in. More people meant more mouths to feed, more hunting, and venturing for supplies."

~.~

The twang of a bolt releasing met the side of a moose. The beast bellows, sprinting further into the woods. A frustrated sigh leaves Reese's lips, and she drops the crossbow onto her bent knee. Turning her head to listen to the stifled snort from beside her. The archer covered his mouth to muffle his amusement. She balls her fist, punching him in the shoulder.

"Why hasn't it dropped yet?" she demanded, smiling at herself as they stood following where the moose had gone.

"It isn't a video game," he recalls taking his weapon back. "Takes more than that to take these suckers down, c'mon."

following the trail of hoof prints and blood to a clearing. Finding the fallen animal.

"Hold up!" Daryl holds his arm out, stopping Reese from taking another step. Seeing the moose on its side, a mangy dog pulling at the legs. "Oh..." he breathed in relief. "... just a mutt." He lifted his crossbow only to stop to see another dog. This one was much smaller. Four yapping pups are scampering around her.

"Whatcha' waitin' for?" She asks, expecting each pup to have a bolt through the head. He grumbles under his breath, holding wavering until he lowers the weapon to his side.

"Let 'em have it," he grunts. "Meat's proly' bad anyway." he shrugs his bow onto his shoulder. "Who knows where 'em dogs been."

"Sure." she nods, playing along.

~.~

"After the governor was the sickness. I still haven't a clue how it started. One of the Woodberry kids, Patrick."

"I'm so sorry." Deanne bows her head in respect for a lost life. "It was a nightmare finding that the majority of Block D had died. It was spreading fast. We were low on medical supplies."

~.~

"Anything ending with -cillin or -cin, C-I-N, grab it!" Bob instructs. Michonne and Reese grab bottles by the handful. "We'll dissolve the pills in the IVs and put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost..." he reminds.

"How'd you do?" the ex-military doctor asks Daryl and Ty, who entered the room with full bags.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, and connectors. Everything on the list," the big man said.

"What about y'all?" the archer.

"Yeah, we got it all."

"Yeah."

" We're good."

"All right, let's roll," Daryl told them, leading the way out the door.

"It's funny how you get so used to them. Muertos. Walkers. Didn't think there was much to be afraid of after the dead start rising."

Sprinting down the hall only to meet with a dead-end

"Don't have an exit."

"Then we make one." The archer jumps onto a ledge, attempting to break the windows with his bow.

"Get down!" Ty exclaimed, lifting an extinguisher and chucking it through the window, shattering the glass.

"Come on, move it!" He takes Michonne's hand, lifting her out of the window. Jump down to the walkway below." he directs, taking Reese's hand. She jumps onto the roof.

"They're here!" Bob screams.

"Let's go! Go, go. Move." Daryl's commands.

"Give me the bag." Reese lifts her arms to catch it. Bob throws it, stepping back to catch it after taking one too many steps and clipping the edge. Clawing at the edge with one hand and the heavy bag with the other. Lifting her leg only to have it yanked down, but a crowd of walkers pulling at her ankles just out of reach of meeting their teeth.

"Give me the bag!" He demands. She lifts her arm, gripping the strap of the cloth shoulder bag. Pulling it up to meet his outstretched fingers,

she shrieks as her body suddenly lowers from being pulled. The walkers took hold of her feet and the bag, tugging on three limps while one struggled to keep her from falling.

"Reese!"

"Give me your hand!"

The archer taking one arm while Tyreese takes the other.

"Michonne!" The men shout for the samurai to at least slice the arms pulling the woman down.

"I'll end up slicing her leg," she breathes.

The tug-of-war battle went on. Reese fidgeted, toeing the heel of her boots.

"Pull me up!" she pants as the men do. She slipped out of her boots while being reeled into the archer's arms. "I got it," she breathes, holding up the bag. Daryl takes it, throwing it to the side. Collecting her into his arms. The high-pitched click of glass catches everyone's attention.

Before Bob could retrieve his bag Daryl beat him to it. Looking inside a scowl tugs at his lips.

"You got no meds in your bag?" the archer informs guiding Reese into Tyreese's hold as she was still catching her breath. "Just this?" he holds up the bottle. "You should have kept walking that day," he advised, winding up to throw the liquor to the next district.

"Don't." Bob stopped catching everyone off guard by reaching for his handgun. Was he seriously going to shoot Daryl over whisky? The archer growled, marching over to the man squaring up against him, but Bob meekly kept his eyes downward.

"Just let it go, Daryl. The man's made his choice. Nothing you can do about it. Just gotta let it go." Tyreese tried to deescalate the situation.

"I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet." Bob whimpered.

"Daryl," Reese spoke. The archer's eyes flickered toward her before glaring back at Bob.

"Take one sip," he says, pushing the bottle into his chest. "When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground," he bellows. "You hear me?"

~.~

"You made it back with the medicine."

"If only everything was that simple."

~.~

She cleared her throat a couple of times, slinging her backpack while wheezing as the wind was knocked out of her. Panting as the feeling of drowning filled her lungs. She was wheezing for a breath, pounding her chest with her fist to clear her lungs.

"Reese, let's go," the archer instructs, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I...h-h-have....i-i-i-i-" her voice is broken by a string of violent coughs. Thick yellow mucus and blood coating her hands.

He freezes. Jaw agape in a blink of an eye, closing the space between themselves.

"You're fine. You hear me? You're fine!" He says he wiped her hands clean with his red rag.

"Daryl-" She hiccups, choking on sobs and air.

"Daryl nothing." He cuts off cleaning her mouth and tears that begun to stream from her eyes.