Cupid's Arrow | Daryl Dixon

𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 - 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎'𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎

𝙴𝙿𝙸𝚂𝙾𝙳𝙴 𝙾𝙽𝙴 - 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴𝙾𝙽𝙴'𝚂 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴

𝚃𝚠𝚘 𝚆𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛
𝙰𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊

Madelyn sobbed as she sat on the ground of an old abandoned warehouse, her legs brought up to her chest. Everything she knew and loved was gone just like that. Her husband, her baby, her family. Madelyn had unfortunately suffered a miscarriage due to the stress and trauma of Landon's death and just everything that was going on. People were eating each other. The dead were walking. How was all of this possible? The once densely populated city of Atlanta was now dead with Madelyn as the only living person for the time being.

Madelyn tried contacting her family but the phone lines were dead. There was a huge herd roaming the streets of the city so Madelyn knew she had to stay hidden. She had been slipping in and out of different stores, gathering as much food, water, medicine and clean clothes as she possibly could. Madelyn considered ending it all. Maybe it wasn't worth living in a world like this, in a world where you had to now look over your shoulder every second of every day. Madelyn stared at the rusty knife in her hand. Just one jab in the neck would end all of her suffering. This could all be over....and it almost was.

That was...until Madelyn heard a sound coming from outside.

It sounded like....like the sound of horse hooves. That didn't make sense. Everything living in the city was dead....or were they?

Madelyn got up and crept outside, avoiding the dead as she made it onto the main street. The street was littered with abandoned vehicles and military equipment. There she found the source of the sound. It was indeed a horse and on top of the horse sat a man. A living, alive, breathing man. He wore a sheriff's uniform which made Madelyn sigh in relief. He was a cop. He had a bag of weapons on his back. Maybe this man knew what was going on and was looking for survivors. Maybe he could help.

"Excuse, me, are you a real cop?" Madelyn asked, making the man on the horse quickly turn around to face her, startled. "I'm...I'm not one of them...if you're wondering. I need help. Are you a cop?"

The man, still startled, nodded slightly. "Do you know what's going on?" The man asked.

"I don't know. Everything was fine two weeks ago until people started eating each other. I have no idea what's going on. I have no-one left. I need help. Can you help me...please?" Madelyn asked.

The man looked at Madelyn for a few seconds, deciding whether or not he should help. This woman seemed harmless. She had no weapons on her. Her clothes seemed to be slightly dirty. He was a cop. He needed to help.

"Hop on." The man said.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Madelyn sighed before jumping onto the horse behind the man.

"I'm Rick. Rick Grimes." The man said as the horse began moving.

"I'm Madelyn. Madelyn Pierre." She said.

"You've been alone since this started?" Rick asked.

"Pretty much. Everything happened so quickly. These past two weeks feel like a blur." Madelyn explained. "Especially since my husband....it's been difficult."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Rick said.

"Thanks. So what exactly are we going to d-" Madelyn asked but stopped when Rick turned into a street that was filled with hundreds of dead people. Madelyn felt her heart thump. "Oh my god." Madelyn gasped as the dead turned to face the pair.

"We need to go." Rick said as the horse turned around and started running, the dead not too far behind them. As they tried to escape, more dead people came in front of them, surrounding the pair.

"Oh shit." The pair gasped.

The dead managed to grab a hold of the horse, forcing Rick and Madelyn to fall off. A dead woman fell on top of Madelyn, making her gasp and push the woman off as Rick tried to grab his bag of weapons which were now surrounded by the dead.

"What do we do?" Madelyn asked Rick as they both quickly got up. Rick looked around and saw a tank.

"Here, quick." Rick said. Both Madelyn and Rick crawled under the truck with the dead quickly following behind them. A dead man grabbed a hold of Madelyn's ankle, making her kick him off before following Rick under the tank. Just as the pair were about to reach the other side of the tank, more dead people peeped their heads, making Rick gasp. "Oh god."

Rick pulled his handgun out and began shooting the dead people to keep them away as much as he could. "There's too many, Rick." Madelyn said as more dead people made their way under the tank. Rick looked up and saw a little door on the tank. "Thank god."

"Lori, Carl, I'm sorry." Rick said before the pair quickly crawled through the door of the tank and closed it. The pair quickly crawled back where there was a dead military man. Madelyn spotted a gun on his belt and quickly removed it. They would need as many weapons as they could get.

Then there was a growl.

The pair turned around and saw the military man had come back so Madelyn quickly shot him in the head. She gasped as she looked at the dead man before looking at Rick.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, you?" She asked, making him nod.

"I dropped my bag of guns outside. We can't get to them." Rick said.

"Maybe we just wait for the herd to pass." Madelyn suggested.

"We might not have that long." Rick said before peeping his head out and having a look at the herd. He quickly came back inside when he noticed the dead climbing up the tank to get to him.

"Just now, you mentioned some people. Lori and Carl?" Madelyn asked, making Rick look straight at her. "If you don't mind, who are they?"

Rick sighed. "My wife and son." He said.

"Oh, are they...."

"No, they're not dead. I know they're not. I'm looking for them. I know they're alive." Rick said.

"But how would they-"

"When I got to my house, there was no-one there, the door was left open and the only things that were taken were family photos. I know Lori ran. I just know it." Rick said.

Before Madelyn could say anything, the pair heard a radio cackling, making them both look at each other before looking at the radio. There was someone out there. Someone alive.

"Hey, you two." The man on the radio said. "You two in the tank. Cosy in there?

"Someone's out there." Madelyn said to Rick before they both looked back at the radio.