Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Twenty-One: New Home

•twenty-one•

Beatrix

"Look, there it is!" I poke Daryl's very-healthy arm and point to the city, as if he can't see it already. "It's beautiful."

"Sit still. You're gonna make me wreck," I hear him yell back at me. He's being rational; I am making the bike kind of swerve from bouncing with excitement.

The city still seems overrun, but not as bad as it was the last time we were here. The skyline is still in tact, so no buildings have collapsed, which is a very good thing. The wind blowing in my face is getting cold, so I lay the side of my face on his back and wrap my arms around him tighter. His leather jacket is cool against my face, but he's producing enough to body head to cancel it out. Daryl is always just so warm. I don't know how he manages to stay this warm all the time.

As we enter the city, I can tell that the roar of Daryl's bike is startling all the walkers that have been sitting dormant. They attempt to walk towards us, but we're going too fast for them to catch up with. The deeper into the city we go, the more clusters of walkers we see, until we finally make it to Grady Memorial Hospital.

"I ain't so sure about this, Trixy," Daryl shakes his head as he puts the kickstand down.

"We'll be fine, Daryl. It's a hospital. Hospitals help people," I reassure him, even though I can't be a hundred percent sure about what's in there. "Besides, Dawn seemed really nice."

"Little too nice if you ask me," he grumbles and slings his crossbow over his shoulder.

"How do we get into this place?" Rick asks once everyone is out of the vehicles.

"Slip through the fence," Daryl points to a break in the fence and we all head for it.

Slowly but surely, everyone makes their way through the fence. After we're all in, we walk up to the doors. It's actually funny because we're walking in a V-formation with Rick in front. I manage to keep my laughs to myself though, as Rick bangs on the doors with his fists. Everyone gives me skeptical looks as we wait for someone to show up.

"That's Dawn, the leader," Daryl mumbles to Rick, pointing through the glass door. We can clearly see her walking to the door with her hand on her gun on her hip.

"Do I know you?" She asks through the glass.

"You know us," I point between Daryl and I. "We were here about two months ago looking for his brother. You said to come back at any time, so we're here."

"Yes, I remember you two," she nods, slowly removing her hand from the gun. "Who are the rest of these people?"

"Our group. We told you we couldn't stay because we had a group, but this time we brought them with us," I say nervously, hoping that she'll be kind enough to let her stay.

"You the leader?"

"No, Rick is," I point to him.

"I'll talk with him and maybe we can work something out," she says as she unlocks the door and let's the twelve of us pile into the large hospital lobby. "The rest of you, stay here. Rick will come with me."

"This place seems nice," Beth smiles as she walks up and stands to my left side.

"Dawn seems nice," I nod in agreement, then lower my voice so that she's the only one that can hear me. "Daryl seems to think this is a bad idea."

"He's just paranoid, that's all," she shrugs and focuses her gaze on the American flag that's hanging from the ceiling.

"He's not the only one," I mumble, motioning to him, Glenn, T-Dog, and Otis as they continuously walk around the group in a circle, weapons raised.