The Beginning Of The End (A Daryl Dixon Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty: The Last Man Standing

"I was there. I was taken with the others." Siddiq said to the crowd of people stood in front of him. "I was supposed to die with them. I was ready to. Alpha whispered in my ear, 'tell them.' And everything went black. When I woke up, I was alone. What happened was evil and I think she left me alive to tell you that story. To scare you and to drive us all apart again. We have to keep going for them and for all of us. We need to honour them and we need to remember these friends, our family who died as hero's."

~

Winter arrived in Georgia quickly and viciously and it was time to get people back home. The gates of the Kingdom closed and people mounted their horses as the first snowflakes began to fall.

There was a whistle and everyone looked up at the field beside them. There was around ten walkers, all spread out, walking along side them. On closer inspection, however, they saw that these weren't really walkers.
"Is that them?" Alden asked before looking down at Lydia from his horse. "People watching us now, huh? Haven't they done enough to us?"
"Hey." Daryl yelled. "Why don't you lay off." Alden continued to stare at Lydia menacingly so she held back and walked with Daryl instead.
"You don't have to protect me." She said. "I know how they feel about me."
"Don't mean they get to talk to you like that." Daryl replied.
Lydia walked away again and Carol stared at her.
"Everytime I look at her, all I see is Henry." She said to Daryl.
"I know." He replied. "I keep turning around thinkin' Rain's gonna be there."

The snow started to get so heavy that they had no choice but to stop at the nearest shelter. The Sanctuary.
Daryl sat down on the concrete steps, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a lighter. He took a long drag and closed his eyes as the smoke filled his lungs, he opened them again as he exhaled and turned the cigarette in his fingers, staring at the glowing orange end. He pulled the glove off of his left hand and held the cigarette inches from his skin, lighting it up, then he pressed it firmly onto the back of his hand. It didn't make him groan or flinch or drop his cigarette due to the pain. He was used to it.

They only stayed in the Sanctuary For a couple of hours while they figured out what to do. They came to the conclusion that the quickest was to get to Alexandria would be through Alpha's territory.

The group found themselves in a field, covered in snow like a white blanket but much less warm. They climbed a small hill and, as they did, eleven sticks came into view. Daryl looked up at the last stick, the memory of Rain's head burned into his mind, her lifeless eyes, her mouth opening and closing, her chestnut brown dreadlocks that were swaying in the wind. A tear rolled down his cheek and he quickly removed it with his gloved hand before continuing on in the persistent storm. He didn't want to carry on, the journey or life, but he had to for Judith and Lydia so they could grow up safely, and for Rick.

Suddenly Ezekial held his hand up and everyone came to a stop, Daryl squinted and slowly three dark figures became clear, he held up his crossbow and fired at one of the which creaked and crackled before falling down heavily, they were walkers that had been frozen solid. They carried on slowly and apprehensively until they came to a river which was completely frozen over.
"I'll check the ice." Daryl said before slowly stepping onto it and bouncing a little to check it could take the weight of them. He turned back to the group and scanned them, someone was missing. "Where's Lydia?"
"I'll go and find her." Carol replied.
While she did, Ezekial helped everyone across the river and Daryl held back to fight off any walkers around.
He started to walk backwards, giving himself space between him and the walker approaching, suddenly a cold pair of hands wrapped around his ankle tightly. He looked down to see a walker emerging from the snow, it tugged his leg quickly sending him crashing down onto the white powder below him, the other walker followed, landing ontop of him. Daryl writhed and wriggled trying to push the walker off but it was no use, he looked up at the tree, who's low branched were hanging above him and reached for the long, sharp icicle hanging from it, he grabbed it and stabbed the walker directly in the eye.

It wasn't long before the Hilltop came into sight and the gates were being tugged open for everyone to enter.

- Princexiero xx