The Count Down to Death (Daryl Dixon Love story)

T H I R T E E N

I lean my head against the dusty window and I nervously strum the string of my bow as I hum This Is How I Disappear. The car stops suddenly and Michonne gets out, I grab my weapons and I step out of the car into the cool evening. I check my gun, a full round is in and I shove it into my belt next to my knife. She looks round at us.
"We'll walk from here. It's a mile, maybe two." She places her katana on her back.
A walker stumbles towards us and we jog into the woods. Rick and Oscar walk with Michonne at the front and Daryl and I trail behind. I load my bow when I hear a groan and we get down. Rick moves forward and stabs the first walker. Daryl and I shoot some others.
"There's too many of 'em." Daryl says shooting another.
Rick sighs and we run through an opening. Oscar spots a small house and we run into it shoving the door closed. I keep my back pressed firmly on the door as the first few walkers start to claw at it.
"Egh, what's that smell?" Daryl cringes and places his hand over his nose.
Rick furrows his brows and they move further into the house. I look at Michonne and she holds the door with Oscar as I go in further. Rick shines a touch over a dead dog and I cringe away. Somethings stirs on the bed and Rick cautiously moves the covers away. I point an arrow at a man's head as he jumps up. He shoves a shotgun in Rick's face and looks around at us alarmed.
"Get out of my house!" He shouts.
"Shut him up." Michonne whispers.
"We will, but we can't right now. There are walkers outside." Rick says calmly.
The man stares at us confused. Daryl looks at me and I cock my head at him, he just shrugs and looks back at the man. What was all that about?
"I'll call the cops." He raises the gun.
"I am a cop." Rick snarls clearly annoyed.
The man ignores him and runs to the door attempting to open it.
"Do not open that door." Rick shouts.
Michonne rolls her eyes and stabs the man through the chest with her katana.
"He was going to get us killed." She snarls, wiping the blood on the back on her pants.
I shrug and Rick picks up the man. Oscar looks disgusted.
"Nah, man. You gotta be kiddin' me.'' He tries to reason with Rick.
"Check the back." Rick says, motioning to Oscar.
Michonne opens the door and Rick throws the body out to the walkers. Daryl closes and locks the door behind him as we run out the back. Daryl grabs my hand and we follow Michonne through the woods.
We run for what seems like ages until we come to an old truck. Michonne goes under it and we follow. She crouches behind a car as we stare in awe at the walls. Guards stand on top of the walls with spotlights and guns. No way can we get in there, it's too heavily guarded. I look at Daryl and he pats my shoulder soothingly. Man, I wish I had something to calm my nerves. Rick looks round at us and he cracks his knuckles.
"We go straight in, find the guys and straight back out." Rick sighs and looks at Michonne.
We sit in silence for a bit until Michonne creeps off. We hear something in the bushes and we point our weapons at the noise. Michonne comes out and motions us to follow her. Rick goes first, Daryl and I follow with Oscar trailing behind. We follow her into a house and we silently make out way through, I load an arrow as Daryl moves to the window and pulls back the blind.
"I thought ya said there was a curfew?" He asks.
"The street is packed in the day, those are just stragglers." She walks forward.
"Where are they?" Rick asks running a hand through his hair.
"Could be in his house." She shrugs.
"And if they aren't there?" Daryl asks moving towards her.
"Then we'll look somewhere else." She sighs.
"Guys, lay off. She's doing her best." I walk towards her and pat her back.
She tenses up and relaxes a little. There's a knock at the door and a man walks in. He shouts through and Rick points a gun at his head. Daryl ties his hands together and knocks him out. Rick straightens up and looks round at me. We move towards the door and a gun goes off. Rick slowly opens the door and we run out into the street, following the sound of the gun. Rick leads us down a rusty hallway, guns raised. We crouch below a small window and I hear a voice I faintly recognise. Daryl throws a flash bang into the room and we run in grabbing Glenn and Maggie. We run back through and I stop. Daryl grabs my wrist.
"Where's Hedi?" I ask, panicking.
"I dunno, she was taken with us but when we got here she was taken somewhere else." Maggie whispers.
Rick runs his hand through his hair.
"Come on we need to go." He whisper shouts.
"I'm not leaving without Hedi." I say stubbornly.
Daryl rolls his eyes and picks me up. They run into a house and Glenn collapses on the floor. Maggie's wearing his shirt and I stare at them realising what that could mean. Glenn's face is all bloody and he has a swollen eye. I look round for Michonne but she isn't here.
"Daryl, this was Merle. He threw a walker at me." Glenn groans. "Rick, I'm sorry we told them where the prison was."
"It's okay, you don't need to apologise." I say, kneeling next to Glenn and Maggie.
Daryl leans in closer. "Ma brothers 'ere?" He looks at Rick. "I gotta go find 'im. Maybe we could talk 'im into coming with us."
"No, Daryl. We are in hostile territory. We need to get Glenn and Maggie out of here." Rick seethes.
Daryl clenches his fists and is about to lash out but, he looks at my unimpressed face and calms down. I pull out three flash bangs from a bag and I hand them to Daryl. Rick stands by the door as Daryl throws each one out.
"Stay close." Rick shouts as we run through the smoke and gunfire.
We move forwards to the fence and Oscar lifts Glenn onto the top of the fence. Daryl reloads his gun and moves further into the smoke.
"Daryl!" I scream, running after him.
Maggie holds me back and I fall in her arms.
"He'll be okay."
Rick crouches down behind a solar panel and freezes as a man starts walking towards us. The man shoots at Oscar and hits him in the side, he drops Glenn and he lands with a thump on the wall. Maggie and I scramble up the wall and I jump over.
"Maggie, push him over. I'll catch him." I shout.
She carefully pushes Glenn's crumpled body over the wall and I catch him. He winds me for a second and Maggie jumps over. We carry him between us and we sprint to the old car. Rick soon follows and we sit there catching our breath.
"Where's Michonne and Daryl?" I ask.
"I lost him in the smoke. He'll be here soon." Rick pants.
I bite my nails nervously and I look over the car. The gun fire has stopped and patrols are back on the wall, frantically searching in the darkness. Michonne comes from behind some bushes, limping and covered in blood.
"Where the hell were you?" Rick asks, pointing a gun at her. "Put your hands up and turn around."
She does as he says without question and he pulls out her katana. I knock an arrow into place and I point it at her.
"Where are the rest of your group?" She asks, her voice shaking.
"They shot Oscar and Daryl's missing. You need to help us find him!" I cry.
Michonne whistles and the bushes move apart. Maggie points her gun at the bushes and a tall, thin figure walks out. Her long black hair is pulled loosely into a ponytail and her small clothes are torn and covered in mud in places. She's pale in the moonlight and she limps forward. The girl walks over to Michonne and collapses behind her.
"I found a girl. You said you were looking for a girl." Michonne pushes the kid into our sight.
I drop my bow and I rush towards her tightly hugging her small frame.
"Hedi!" I gasp.
"Mom!" She stumbles over to me.
She smiles weakly, her skin is a sickly pale and her eyes don't shine like they used to. I rock her in my arms as I look up at Michonne.
"Thank you." I smile. "Where did you find her?" I ask standing up and pushing Hedi to Maggie who also enfolds her in a hug.
"I went off to find The Governor and I heard some whimpers coming from a room in his house. When I went in and one wall was covered with fish tanks all filled with heads. A wire door was locked and I opened it. Out came a figure with a bag over her head." She looks at my worried face. "Not your girl. I took the bag off her head and it was a kid, turned into a monster. I killed her and The Governor walked in. Attacked me so I stabbed him in the eye. He was about to kill me when someone knocked him out." She motions to Hedi. "She collapsed. She saved my life so I saved hers."
"Thank you." I hug her.
"Rick, you need me. To help get Daryl from in there or to help get these people back to the prison. In any case you need me." Michonne looks at Rick hopeful.
He nods his head.
"To get Daryl back we need to do this with a proper plan." He wipes his mouth. "Lottie, Glenn and Hedi will go back to the car."
I cut him off. "No, I'm coming with you. I need to make sure Daryl is safe."
Rick shakes his head. "No! You need to get these people back to the car. Michonne, Maggie and I will go in."
I clench my fists but Maggie holds me back.
"Hedi needs you, Lottie. Chris needs you. Daryl needs you. You can't go in there and get yourself killed." Maggie whispers.
Rolling my eyes I walk over to Rick.
"You bring him back safe and sound. You hear me?" I snarl.
"I will." He places a hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off.
I hook my arm under Glenn's armpit and I hoist him onto my shoulders. I hand Hedi my bow and quiver and I take my gun from my belt. I wave bye to Michonne and Maggie before walking off into the night.
Every step we take Glenn groans, but I don't want to stop, not until we are at the car and he's safe. Hedi keeps on falling behind but I encourage her to keep up, after all the trouble we've been through to find her I don't want a walker getting her. After a lot of groaning and cursing we reach the car. It's early in the morning and the sun is rising, I sit Glenn down by the side of the car and I lie the sleeping Hedi across the backseat. I slump myself next to Glenn and I smile at him.
"The Governor raped Maggie." He stares at me.
I don't know what to say so I lean forward and I hug him tightly. She's so brave, after having that done to her she goes back in to fight. I pull away when I hear the rustling of bushes.
"Glenn." A husky voice shouts through the woods.
"Rick." Glenn stands up and limps into the forest.
I follow after him, knocking an arrow into place. Rick walks through and immediately starts talking.
"Glenn, we have a bit of a problem here..."
He's cut off by Glenn pulling out his gun.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn growls as I aim my bow at Merle's head.
"Hey, put it down." Daryl shouts at Glenn.
Rick pushes my bow so it points to the ground and Maggie grabs hold of Glenn but, he keeps his gun trained on Merle's head. Merle mumbles something and I glare at him.
"Jackass." Daryl spits at his brother.
I move forward and I raise my bow, Rick aims a pistol at my head.
"Put that down!" Rick shouts at me.
Glenn turns the safety off his gun and points it at Daryl.
"Get that thing out of ma face." Daryl snarls.
Merle says something but I don't catch it as I'm too shocked at Rick for pointing a gun at me.
"Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn asks, lowering his gun.
Daryl looks at the ground, "Yeh, right next to Tha Governor."
I pull back the arrow and I tense my muscles. Rick walks towards me.
"I told you to drop that." He shouts, Michonne smirks at me as she walks to the car.
"Did you touch my daughter?" I ask Merle.
He just smirks, "I left her for The Governor. For when he wasn't fuckin' Andrea." Merle spits on the ground and I lunge at him.
Daryl moves between us and Merle just laughs.
"She ya bitch now, baby brother? I always knew it, y'all were always making doggy eyes at 'er whenever I was with 'er."
"Shut up!" Daryl turns towards his brother.
"She always 'ad a soft spot for ya. Making sure I brought ya sorry ass with us." Merle licks his lips and looks me up and down.
Daryl holds me tighter as I tense up at his words. He's about to say something else when Rick knocks Merle out.
"Asshole." Daryl mumbles.
The group stares at me but I just scowl at them and I walk over to the car. Michonne's talking to Hedi.
"You two are getting on like a house on fire." I smile and Hedi jumps out of the car.
I wrap my arms around her and she smiles sweetly. She's getting so tall now, she always was the tallest in her class.
"I don't want Michonne to leave, mom. I like her." Hedi looks up at me with her big blue eyes.
"I don't want her to leave either. Not after saving you." I push Hedi back into the car.
Michonne walks up to me and guides me into the forest. I look back at the group and Daryl stares at me.
"She told me what they did to her." Michonne says sadly. "Said that when she was first taken, The Merle beat her and then The Governor just kept her in that room. He raped her and every so often he would come in and ... well you know." She gulps.
Tears of anger flood my eyes as I storm back to the group.
"He isn't coming with us." I snarl.
Glenn and Maggie nod their heads.
"Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell as Beth and Carol?" Glenn looks at Rick.
"He ain't a rapist." Daryl defends.
I scoff and they look at me.
"Daryl, your brother beat my daughter and his buddy raped her. We are not having him with us." I stare at the group and Rick cocks his head at me.
"She told you this?" He asks.
"Michonne said Hedi told her everything." I bite the inside of my cheek. "He isn't coming back to the prison." I hear groaning behind us and Merle stands up leaning on a tree.
I look back at the group with anger and I rush towards Merle. I grab him by the throat and I push him to the ground. Straddling his hips I punch him in the face. Strong arms pulls me off his sorry ass and shove me in the car next to Hedi. She looks scared as I bang my fists on the window. Michonne steps into the back of the car and sits next to Hedi. The door opens and I'm let out, I want to rush back over to Merle but I feel something bash the back of my head and I fall to the ground.

Flashback...
I balance the toddler on my hip as I wonder round the house singing. Mom and Chris went out to the shops and I offered to stay and look after Hedi. I finish in the kitchen and a knock at the door snaps my thoughts. Merle stands leaning on the doorframe grinning when he sees what I'm wearing.
"Nice shorts, sugar tits." He stamps out the cigarette and walks over to me kissing me lightly on the lips. "Ya coming out?"
I nod, passing him Hedi as I lock the door. I take the toddler off him and he holds my hand as we walk through the woods. Daryl and a couple of guys are sat round a fire, smoking and drinking.
"Y'all gotta put out them fags if I'm stayin'." I grin at the boys.
Daryl's eyes wonder to my bare legs as I walk over to him.
"Hey! Lil brother, keep ya eyes to ya self." Merle snaps, slapping my ass lightly.
I giggle and I sit next to Daryl. Hedi holds out her arms to him and he reluctantly takes her into his lap. Merle warps his arms around me protectively and smashes out lips together. I open my eyes slightly and from the corner of them I see Daryl's beautiful blue eyes looking sadly at the toddler in his arms.