Self Inflicted

17

The morning comes along and my body is sore but I'm up and moving. I dress as usual, weapons at easy grasp. I got another handgun to stuff into my pants since the last one was taken. I walk out to an exhausted Hershel sitting on a cafeteria seat, head in his hand. "Hey," I say softly.

"Welcome back, how're you feeling?" he asks warmly.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. You've had a long few days, go outside, get some air," I smile. He nods slowly and stands.

"I think I just might."

"Where's Carol? I haven't seen her anywhere," I ask quickly, to which Hershel stiffens and sighs.

"She told Rick she killed Karen and David," his words hit me like a brick wall. Carol is strong and kind, one of the strongest women I know, but to do that? "He sent her away. I'm sorry." I take a breath and nod at the man, forcing a fake smile.

"Thank you, Hershel. Now go get some air, take a break," I insist and pat him on the arm as I walk past. I have to find Daryl, him and Carol care about each other a lot. He loves her whether he wants to admit it or not, he can't be handling this well. I walk into the courtyard and find him sitting by his bike with his back against a cement wall.

"Daryl?" I call as I approach him. He looks up at me with hatred but quickly looks away. I stand there for a second, unsure of what to say to the man in front of me. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do it," he spits and continues to avoid my eye contact.

"She'll be okay, you know that," he climbs to his feet and is in my face in a second.

"Man, everybody needs to stop sayin that!" He throws his hand in my face.

"It's true," I spit back. "She made her choice Daryl, whether it was the right one or not she made it. And Rick made his choice, he has kids he has to take care of."

"I coulda handled it!"

"You can't handle everything, Daryl!" He shakes his head as he stands in front of me, his cold blue eyes look right through me. He can see through anyone. "I'm gonna miss her too." The look he is giving me is so unnerving, I can't tell exactly what he's thinking. But I don't think anyone can ever tell what Daryl Dixon is thinking.

An explosion sounds and we both quickly snap our heads to the burning tower by the road, rolling up to the gates it a tank and a few vehicles, with lots of peopling climbing out. I pull out my gun and hold it out in front of me, Rick and everyone else sprints out of the cellblocks. "Get back!" Rick shouts. We all sprint behind the closest building by the fences, peering out past the fences. There is a man standing on top of the tank, hands on his hips. "Rick, come down here. We need to talk." The governor.

"It's not up to me, there's a council now. They run this place!" Rick shouts back.

"Is Hershel on the council?" He asks and they drag Hershel from a car, his hands bound behind his back and throw him to his knees in front of the tank. Maggie and Beth start crying at the sight of their father and I put my hand on Maggie and then Beth's shoulder, giving them a squeeze. "What about Michonne? Is she on the council too?" He repeats the process and throws my friend on her knees beside Hershel and I gasp.

"I don't make the decisions anymore!"

"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here and let's have that talk." Rick makes his way down to the threat, the governor. I throw my hand over my mouth as tears swell my eyes with my best friend down there helplessly. They begin chatting and we all just stand and watch, there's nothing we can do. Something taps my back and I turn to see Daryl holding an assault rifle, I tuck my pistol away and subtly grab it. He grabs my bicep and I look at him with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey, things go bad, you run, you hear me?" He grumbles quietly.

"I'm not leavin anybody," I shake my head furiously.

"You run," he reiterates and I give him a small nod. He lets me go and I adjust the gun in front of me. We line up along the fence, guns pointed through the holes of the chain-link. They talk a little more and then the governor hops down from the tank, grabs Michonne's sword and storms over to Hershel, putting the sword against his neck. I shake my head and continue looking through the scope of the gun. Maggie and Beth squirm and shriek throwing their hands against the fence. The governor slowly pulls the sword away from his head, staring at Rick. And then the unthinkable. He rears back and slices at Hershel's neck.

There is a moment where all you hear is screaming, Maggie and Beth's shrieks fill our eardrums and we all stare in utter disbelief. A tear falls down my face and then the moment is over, their screams are covered with gunfire from both sides. We stand alongside each other and fire at as many people as possible, I see a few of their people drop and Michonne rolls away from the gunfire. The tank starts rolling forward and takes down the first two sets of fences, plowing through with ease and their vehicles follow closely behind. I grab a few extra clips and we all spread out, I run over to where the bus is and help people get on and ready to leave. Maggie runs off to find Glenn and Beth stays to help. I see Carl running off and tell Beth where I'm going, taking off in that direction.

He runs off behind a car and I duck behind it too, bullets fly and hit the back end of the car. "Carl, let's go!" I shout over gunfire, peaking out around the corner and firing at the tank that is now inside the fences. People surround it and I shoot at one, dropping a man beside the tank.

"I'm not leaving without my dad!" He shouts back and continues to shoot. I mutter a damn it and we continue firing as do others, more of the governors men drop and there's almost none left around the tank now. I see Daryl jump up, throwing a grenade into the pipe of the tank. There's an explosion and the walkers around the tank are thrown. There are so many walkers coming from every direction, they're taking the place over. "Just go!" Carl says, shooting at some of the walkers now that we don't see anymore of the governor's men.

"No! We do this together!" I shoot at walkers too, throwing a new clip in my gun. I lose track of Daryl and the bus is gone, everyone is gone. I have no idea who got out or if anyone did. They're all just gone. Past the smoke and sounds of growling I hear a shout.

"Carl! Carl!" It's Rick, limping forward.

"It's your dad!" I shout and we sprint forward and he and his son share a hug. Rick is crying, tears streaking his bloody and swollen face, he has a gunshot wound on his leg and he can barely stand or breathe. Rick pulls away and looks at his son.

"Judith? Where is she?" Carl mutters an I don't know and we grab each side of Rick, helping him walk across the courtyard. We stop at the sight of Judith's carrier sitting on the ground, blood splattered inside of it. They both start crying, breaking down, as do I. I hold up the sputtering man and we cry, ignoring everything else. Carl turns to an approaching walker, firing off many rounds and it drops, but Carl just keeps shooting and eventually starts crying. Rick limps over and grabs his son from behind in a hug, they're both a mess. Torn clothing, bloody, crying.

"We have to go, it's over," Rick blubbers to us. We get on either side of him again and leave as quickly as we can through the side of the prison where the bus left. We're all sweating, panting, and crying as we make our exit. Walkers litter the yard and courtyard, no sign of life left anywhere. Trucks are sitting aimlessly and blood is everywhere.

There's nothing left. We get out to the woods of the prison and make our way to the road, Carl pauses and Rick shakes his head. "Don't look back, just keep walking," Rick chokes out to the both of us and we continue to help him climb through the woods.

I make the mistake of a final glance at our home. Fire, smoke, and the dead encapsulate everything we once loved. Blood was shed for the prison. Hershel died in vain, so many people died. So many people sacrificed themselves to make that place what it was and one man took it away. He took so much from all of us, all I can hope is that he died and that he died slowly. The prison meant everything to us and now what meant everything to us has been ripped away. We're prisoners to this world through and through.