The Beginning Of The End (A Daryl Dixon Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty: Let Me In

Rain suddenly jolted awake, her heart was beating fast and her breathing was heavy as she looked around her dark bedroom. She looked beside her and picked up the glass of water that sat on her bed side table, she sipped it slowly so she didn't make herself sick. She lay back down and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before sighing and sitting up again. She slipped on her dressing gown and a pair of boots before leaving the house. She felt like she was dreaming as she walked around the lake and up and down the road and, as it started to get lighter, she collapsed onto a patch of grass and went back to sleep.

"Hey." She heard someone whisper and felt a hand on her arm shaking her,
"Hey." She slowly opened her eyes to see Rick above her. "Did you sleep out here?" He asked her and she nodded, she felt something touching her leg so quickly sat up, she looked down to see it was just Judith sat on the grass playing, Rain exhaled and reached out to stroke her blonde curls. "It's okay." Rick said rubbing her back. "I know you're finding it hard but it'll be okay."
Rain jerked her head to the side, she could hear someone banging on the gates, as they walked over, they heard a familiar voice,
"Little pig. Little pig. Let me in!"
"You said a week." Rick spoke angrily as he slid open the gate. "You're early."
"I missed ya." Negan replied smiling.
Rain looked next to Negan at the group he had brought with him and only one person stood out from the rest, his eyes were dark and bruised and there was a cut on his lip, his hair fell limply over his face and he was wearing a beige sweatshirt and matching trousers with the letter A spray painted on his chest.
"Daryl." Rain croaked but Negan walked in between them,
"No!" He said. "He's the help. You don't look at him, you don't talk to him and I don't make you chop anything off of him."
Rick pulled her back away from Negan,
"Now let's get this show on the road."
"We've put half of our supplies aside." Rick said but Negan stopped him.
"You don't decided what we take."

Negan sent his people to raid everyone's houses, they started coming out carrying chairs, tables and mattresses.
"Whatever happened to that sick girl?" Negan asked Rick as him and Rain watched their belongings be loaded into a truck. "That seemed like a hell of a stressful night for her. The way she was carrying on, she was married to number two, right?" Rick looked up at him angrily, "Careful how you're looking at me Rick." Rain reached her hand over to him and interlocked her pinkie finger with his, he started to calm down and Negan continued to speak looking to Rain now. "Widows, especially ones that look like that," He exhaled sharply, "they are special. I love 'em. Right after their husbands go they are just empty inside." He looked at Daryl who was stood just behind him and then back at Rain. "But usually not for long." He chuckled and Rain tensed up angrily, Rick suddenly pulled his hand away and shook it in pain. "Where is she?" Negan asked. "I would love to see her." Rick didn't answer and instead just looked at his feet. "She didn't make it?"
"No." Rick replied.
"Well that is a damn tragedy." Negan replied sincerely. "I mean number one had to happen but number two..." He looked behind him. "Well Daryl here forced my hand."
Rick heard Rains breathing change, she was getting angrier by the second, he grabbed her arm and pulled her so she was facing him.
"Don't." He whispered and she started to cry, she buried her face into his chest and he put his arms around her. Daryl slowly stepped forward and reached his arm out towards her.
"Don't!" Negan shouted making him flinch and step back to where he was.

~

It had been a couple of days since the Saviours visit and Rain hadn't come out of her bedroom once. She couldn't sleep, even if she had a mattress she'd be up all night imagining what they could be doing to Daryl. It had to be bad, these were bad people. She kept thinking of ways she could help him escape but she didn't even know where the Saviours base was let alone where he was within that.
One day there was a knock on her door that startled her from a day dream, she sighed and stood up to find Carl outside.
"Carl I don't think you want to see me." she said when she opened the door, looking down at her tracksuit bottoms, sweater and unbrushed hair.
"I do." He replied. "I want to tell you something but you can't tell my dad."
"I can't promise anything," she replied, "but go on."
"I'm gonna sneak into Negans base."
Rain laughed at this,
"No you're not."
"Why?" Carl asked angrily,
"Number one, I won't let you." Rain replied. "Number two, you don't know where their base is."
"I'm gonna hide in the back of one of their trucks." He replied, he had clearly been thinking about this for a while. Rain nodded, she seemed impressed. "So yeah?"
"No." She replied. "Is this your way of telling me that you're suicidal?"
"Shut up." Carl laughed. "Please. I'll find out about Daryl."
"What about Daryl?" Rain asked, intrigued,
"Where they're keeping him, what they're doing to him, everything."
In the end Rain didn't stop him, now she had one more person to worry about.

It wasn't long after Carl left that a van pulled up to Alexandria's gates, Rain jumped up and looked out of the window to see Negan and Carl getting out of the van. On that visit to drop Carl home, Negan took Eugene with him.

~

The next day the group arrived at the Hilltop, Maggie opened the gate for them and everyone hugged her.
"Everything okay?" Rain asked before looking down at her stomach,
"Yes. Everything." Maggie replied before hugging Rain. "I have a surprise for you." Maggie whispered into her ear. Rain pulled away, confused, as she heard a gasp from behind her, she looked up to see Daryl walking towards them.
Rain immediately ran towards him but stopped when she was in front of him and did nothing, she was scared of hurting him, he seemed fragile. She brushed her thumb across his cheek and studied his face, his eyes were bloodshot and watery and his lip was quivering. Finally she hugged him and he fell into her arms as if his legs had given out.

Rick was ready to start an army to fight the Saviours. They already had a few people from Hilltop on board and Jesus said he knew another settlement. He called it the Kingdom.

The group pulled up to the Kingdom and two men wearing bullet proof vests, riding horses walked them in. The settlement was huge, with large brick buildings, vegetable and flower beds and lots of people. They entered an old theatre and, past the rows of seats, on the stage sat a man with large dreadlocks, wearing a leather coat, on one side of him were two men, one was young with curly blonde hair and the other was large with a huge grin on his face and wearing a big red coat. On the other side of the man was a tiger.
"Tell me," the man said to Jesus, "what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?"
"Indeed they are Your Majesty." Jesus replied. "This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria and these are some of his people."
"We came to ask you," Rick said as he stepped forward, "to join us in fighting the Saviours, fighting for freedom for all of us."
"We have people and weapons." One of the men in bullet proof vests spoke, he looked over at The King who was frowning. "Your Majesty, we can't let things get to beyond what we can handle. We set things right."
Ezekiel sighed,
"Rick Grimes of Alexandria, you have given The King much to ponder."

Ezekiel let them stay the night, he said he'd make his decision in the morning. When the morning came he took the group on a tour of his Kingdom and, by the end, he told them he couldn't help them in their battle but he could take Daryl in so the Saviours didn't find him. Daryl excepted the offer and Rain decided to stay with him.

Everyone left and Rain and Daryl made their way to their new apartment. He picked up a bottle of whiskey and turned to her,
"Do you mind?" He asked holding up the bottle, she shook her head so he poured some into a glass.
"You deserve it." She said as he downed the drink.
"I don't." he grunted, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "What I did to Glenn..."
"Daryl." She whispered but he didn't look up from the floor. "It wasn't your fault."

~

The next day Daryl went to visit Carol and that night Rain found him sat outside Shiva's cage.
"Hey." She said from the door and he looked up, Shiva looked up too and roared at her.
"Hey." She hesitated to walk over, she didn't think she'd be scared of the tiger but now she was close to it she wasn't so sure. "Come over, she won't hurt you." He said as he tickled under her neck, making her pur loudly.
"Wow." Rain laughed. "I didn't think you could get any cooler." Daryl laughed as she sat down next to him. "You know, I always took you as a dog person."
"I am." He replied,
"Yeah, well don't tell Shiva that."
She slowly reached out her hand into the cage so it was inches from Shiva's face, the tiger stayed still for a second before pushing her nose into Rain's hand forcefully.
"She likes you." Daryl smiled.
"How's Carol?" Rain asked,
"She's okay." He replied. "She's in a little house and she's reading and she's cooking. She's like a grandma basically."
Rain laughed.
"That's good."
"Yeah," he replied, "and she approves of Ezekiel but I guess any guy with a pet tiger can't be too bad."

- Princexiero xx