Keep Breathing for me ➳ Daryl Dixon

➳ 47 // The Kill (Bury Me)

chapter song: The Kill (Bury Me) by Thirty Seconds to Mars

"couldn't do all this anymore"

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#Ana's POV#

It was pitch dark by the time we all settled our decision. Dad, Shane and Daryl were now leaving to take Randall to the barn, and I stood up from the sofa and made my way to the room where Carl was staying with Jimmy. I walked through the halls and saw the door wasn't closed and  stepped inside, noticing they were both lost in the book in front of them. I stared for a while, noticing how peaceful Carl seemed, yet I couldn't help but notice something seemed off about him. I burst out of my thoughts and decided to break the silence.

"Hey" I slowly said, causing Carl to bring his head up and smile slightly at me, causing me to smile back.

"Hey,  Jimmy was showing me his old books" He told me.

"I can see that, but we should get back now, it's getting dark, maybe you two can get back at it tomorrow?" I said, making Carl jump up from the bed and make his way next to me.

I smiled at Jimmy and we both nodded in agreement, as me and Carl left the room. We were making our way towards the camp, and there we'd wait for dad and the others to come back. I had my hair in my hand, playing with it, my thoughts rumbling around my head as I thought about what Dale had said, more specifically what Daryl had told him, how our group was broken and how just this situation managed to flip the group around causing such a confusion among all of us, making me zone out for what, in my head, seemed like a second, I shook my head and looked ahead and noticed Carl was gone. I looked around me, not taking sight of him anywhere, realizing I knew exactly where he went.

The barn.

I started fast pacing my way towards the barn, my thoughts starting to rush over one another, thinking of what Carl could see, or what Carl could do in there, making me start running even faster. I was getting closer, as I could see Carl's silhouette by the barn door, and dad raising a gun to Randall, who was on his knees. I kept running as fast as I could when I heard Carl speak up.

"Do it, dad, do-" He started, but I placed my hand on his shoulder as soon as I got close enough, my breathing fastened as I took awareness of the situation in front of me.

"Carl, c'mon, let's go" I told him, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him out, when Shane made his way over with the same intent as me.

"Are you kidding me? What did I say to you?" He told Carl off.

"Take him away" Dad ordered looking at Randall, making Shane look at him, confused "Take him away"

Daryl looked over at me and Carl before he grabbed Randall by his jacket.

"Get up" He roughly said, taking him outside.

Shane scoffed and harshly pushed the barn door open and left, clearly annoyed. I had my hand on Carl's shoulder as dad looked at us; his eyes locked with Carl's as he then facing the floor, placing his gun back in his holster. He brought Carl back to the camp, as I followed behind, still trying to realize how I could let Carl out of sight so easily, how I could space out in a matter of split seconds and making me frustrated at myself for how I've been acting lately, not being able to control my own head, and that was something that makes me pissed.

We arrived back at the group and everyone faced us, the only light provided being the fire in the middle of the group, waiting for news on Randall, as I let dad speak.

"We're keeping him in custody, for now." He said, causing everyone to look down and dissipate from the situation.

"I'm gonna find Dale" Andrea smiled, drifting on her way.

"Carl, go inside. Now, please" Lori ordered, looking straight at dad.

"C'mon Carl" I said, following him to his tent, where Moony was laying down sleeping, with the goal to understand what was going on with him.

I stepped inside the tent, sitting down as I petted Moony, as Carl laid down, opposite me and his back facing me.

"What's going on buddy?" I asked him calmly, as I brought my knees to my chest.

"Nothing" He said, his back still facing me.

"Carl, why did you go to the barn?" I asked, but still got no luck.

His body was stable, he wouldn't move an inch, and his mouth did the same. I stayed silent for a while, hoping he would change his mind.

"You always talk to me, c'mon, what's going on?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.

When he finally turned to me, I could see his eyes watering up as he looked at me.

"I- Today, when I was-"

He was sniffing through his words when loud screams echoed through the farm, causing me and Carl to rush outside the tent.

"What happened?!" I asked, as Lori held Carl closer.

"T-dog , get the shot gun, now!" Dad screamed

Lori ordered Carl to go to the house and stay inside, where the Greene family was also starting to get out due to the loud noises. I tried finding my gun, looking around the camp with no luck, 'till I decided to just take my knifes and started running towards dad and the others while I arranged them all, towards the field, where the screams seemed to be coming from. The wind in my face was making it hard to keep my eyes open, but I kept running anyway. We heard Daryl screaming and waving his arms up, causing us to run even faster towards him.

"Help! Over here! Help! Run!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

When we finally got to him, I was faced with Dale laying on the ground, his intestines spilling out, blood surrounding him; he was in an absolute state of shock and had a walker lying dead beside him. I looked down and froze still, everything started moving in slow motion around me. Dad got to his knees and so did Andrea, I could hear them telling him to hold on, but I couldn't move, shock taking over me as I just stared. Everyone was screaming, crying, calling out for Hershel. Glenn arrived right after me, bringing his hands to his head when he saw what I was seeing, and Hershel followed. Everyone tried to explain him what was happening, telling him he needed an operation, as if he couldn't see the situation right in front of his own eyes.

"He won't make the trip back to the house" Hershel said.

"You have to do the operation here, Glenn get to the hous-" Dad tried ordering, before Hershel stopped him.

"Rick" He said, placing a hand on dad's shoulder and nodding his head side to side, causing dad to storm off and cry, for he understood what had to happen next.

I saw Carl arriving, looking at Dale's body lying on the ground, and to the walker next to it, mortified. I saw him looking horrified as he cried out and buried his head in Lori's lap. Everyone was crying loudly, and I stood there, my breathing getting faster by the second, unable to act, but able to listen to every single noise in the group around me, causing my head to almost burst out.

"He's suffering! Do something!" Andrea begged as she kneeled next to a groaning Dale.

Dad grabbed his gun and raised it slowly, his hand shaking ever so slightly, and he stared at Dale for a while, unable to end it. That's when I saw Daryl, I noticed him moving and his gaze met mine deeply, he looked at me and nodded slowly, making his way next to dad, putting his hand on his arm, lowering it, grabbing the gun and moving forward.

He got to one knee, bringing the gun to Dale's head and the sound of Daryl cocking the gun woke me up from my blank state as I slowly looked down at the gun, and back at Daryl, just in time to hear it all break down.

"Sorry brother" he said, as the sound of the gun being fired caused me to quickly hold my breath and caused my mind to go blank once again as I stared at Daryl's hand still by Dale's head.