Before I Fade Away~ Daryl Dixon Fanfiction

Chapter 12~ And we all Fall Down

{Sylvie's P.O.V}

     I wake up the next morning with Athena's soft blonde locks in my face. I smile and kiss her head, she turns over and looks at me. She kisses my cheek and snuggles up closer to me, her stuffed dog in between us.

"Morning ladies." Daryl says, handing us both a granola bar that must've snagged from the kitchen.

"Oo it's strawberry! Thank you Daryl!" She climbs out of bed with her dog and skips out the door. I assume to find the other kids and brag about her treat.

"I got ye' some coffee." He hands me the drink and I smile my appreciation. 

"Is everyone else awake?" I ask, in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

"Ya'. I told em' I'd go get ye'." He replies. 

      I roll out of bed and Daryl follows behind me out to the kitchen. A lot of the group is hungover, especially Glenn. Hallelujah for Jenner for providing Ibuprofen to those who would need it. 

"Whoa man, what happened to your neck?" T-dog wonders.

"Musta' done it in my sleep." Shane says coldly, taking a seat at the table.

"I've never seen you do that before." Rick recalls.

"Yeah me either... Ain't like me at all" Shane says with no emotion, and his gaze is directed at Lori.

      I decide to leave the subject alone and just focus on my food, and that's when Jenner comes in. We all greet him and T-dog gives him a plate of food. Athena pokes my arm to get my attention, so I look at her and she points to her plate. She had pushed her food around to make a smiley face.

"You're such a good artist!" I praise her, and I immediately see the pride in her smile.

"Why don't you show me what you made, mind showing daddy?" Shane says. I shoot him a glare, and grip my fork tight. I don't want to explode in front of her. She quietly grabs her plate and walks over to him, she holds it out and he looks at it.

"Great job." He smiles and messes up her hair. She smiles shyly then walks back over to me.

      After breakfast, Jenner brings us into the computer area. We gather around while he speaks to Vi and tells her to pull up a playback of "TS-19". Once Vi pulls it up, we watch what happens to the person's brain after they were bitten. Once they died, their brain stem flashed a dim red color, which Jenner explained was the virus getting them up and moving. After all that, a flash goes through the brain and the playback stops.

"He shot his patient in the head... Didn't you" Andrea points out. 

      After some more questions and Jenner explaining, Dale steps forward.

"I hate to ask one more question. But that clock is counting down, what happens at zero?" He asks. I turn to Jenner, now curious myself.

"The generators run out of fuel." He clams right up, as if trying to avoid our questioning. 

"What happens then?" Rick asks. Jenner ignores him.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick speaks to the computer.

"Facility wide decontamination will occur." The robotic voice echoes.

     Rick, Shane, T-dog, and Glenn head off on a mission to find the generators. Meanwhile, Daryl stressfully wanders back to the room, Athena and I hot on his trail. She sits on the bed, holding her stuffed dog. I however stand next to him while he takes out a bottle of wine and starts drinking.

"What are we going to do? What if something happens and we can't get out?" I worry to him. 

"I don't know, ask someone else." He grumbles. 

"Daryl, no one else knows what to do... It scares me." 

"Well neither do I! What the hell do ye' want from me woman?!" He snaps, standing up and getting in my face. 

    My cheeks turn red with anger, I grab his arm and drag him outside the door away from Athena. Once outside, I push him against the wall and slam my fist on his chest.

"Damnit Daryl! If you aren't happy with me then tell me, but don't yell in front of my daughter! Ever!" I hiss. 

"I ain't mad at ye'... I-" He fumbles to find his words.

"What? Now that we kissed you want nothing to do with me? Fine! But you can't just leave Athena high and dry. I'll leave you alone." I rant, the words are just tumbling out of my mouth and I can't stop them. I start to storm off, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. He presses me against the wall and holds both sides of my face.

"Ye' drive me crazy, but I can't lose ye'." He says, then lets go and heads back into the room. After a minute to calm my heart, I go inside and find him playing I-spy with Athena.

"I spy something red!" She says excitedly.

"Daryl's rag?" I add in to their game. Athena pouts when I guess.

"No fair!" She crosses her arms and growls.

"I think you've been around Daryl too much, you're starting to growl like him now." I joke with her. 

      We sit for another ten or so minutes then Daryl peeks his head out the door, I watch Jenner steal his wine and keep walking. Daryl follows, so I pick up Athena and join them. We end up back in the computer room, with not much time left on the clock.

      Rick and Shane try to pry answers out of him, like what decontamination meant, how to get out of here, and a bunch of other jumbled words.

"Vi, Define." Jenner commands. The computer starts reading off the definition of what will happen to this place once the time runs out. 

"It sets the air on fire... no pain." Jenner whispers. I hear Carl and Sophia and their mothers start to cry, but all I can do is stand there in shock. 

"C'mon, we're gettin' outta here." Daryl says, pulling us with him. 

     We get close to the door but suddenly it shuts down, locking us in. 

"Did he just lock us in?" I gasp, holding Athena tight, realizing this might be the last I ever hold my baby.

     Daryl angrily strikes the door with an ax, and soon a few others join in.

"They won't break!" T-dog exclaims.

"Those doors are meant to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner tells us.

"Yeah well yer' head ain't!" Daryl yells, running at Jenner with his ax. Shane and T-dog try to hold him back, but Daryl is feisty. 

"Daryl stop! This isn't going to get us anywhere!" I yell at him. He drops the ax and looks at me and Athena. She's trembling with fright in my arms, and I can feel her tears wetting my shirt. 

     Are we ever going to get out of here? Is this the last time I ever see my child, and Daryl?

A/N- Sorry it took so long to update, my computer quit on me so I had to find a backup. Also, updates will be going back to once or twice a week, my vacation will be over. Hope you liked! Thanks for all the reads, votes and comments! Y'all are the best<3