Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

65-Season 6

Rick found a huge quarry when him and Morgan went to go bury Pete outside the walls. It was filled with hundreds of thousands of walkers. Maybe even a million. Daryl wanted me to stay behind, because we'd been trying for a baby. He didn't want me to put myself in danger if I was pregnant. So I stayed home, feeling like a housewife waiting for her husband to come back from war. Wasn't the best feeling in the world. "How do you do this?" I asked Carol as she put a casserole in the oven.

She smiled. "This used to be my life."

I nodded. "Mine too, but...I just..."

"You grew up with Daryl. You're just like him. You hate sitting around doing nothing. You were only like me because Zach beat you if you weren't." I nodded. She set a timer for 45 minutes, then leaned to look out the window.

"What do you see?" I asked, following her over to to window.

Carol sighed. "She's smoking again." She crosses her arms. "It's gonna kill her."

I jumped when a man suddenly came out of nowhere, slicing her stomach with a machete. While she was on the ground, he raised his weapon, then brought it down on her head. "Carol, oh my god."

We were about to run upstairs when Carl came down with an automatic. "I saw from upstairs. They're coming in from all over."

"You have to stay here, keep Judith and Faith safe. You too, Charlotte."

"What? Hell, no!"

Carol turned back to me. "You said you were trying, right? If you're...Daryl would never forgive me if you got hurt or died. Stay. Here."

I sighed and nodded, taking the gun Carl held out to me. "Find Luke, please. He...he went to a friends house." She nodded, rushing out the door.

Carl and I paced around the house, checking the windows. I looked at the door when the doorknob jiggled, Carl and I standing on either side. When the door opened, we aimed our guns. We relaxed when we realized it was just Enid. "Why didn't you just knock?" Carl asked, closing the door.

"I have these. Didn't want them to have them." Enid held up the ring of keys for Alexandria.

I went upstairs to see farther out. I looked out the window. There was...a body in the street. It looks like... their limbs are cut off. Oh god. I have to get out there. I have to find Luke. I need to know he's safe. I rushed back downstairs and grabbed my knives from the living room, putting them in their rightful sheaths. I turned to Carl and Enid, who were sitting back to back on the floor. "Keep the babies safe. I need to find Luke. I need to know."

"Like hell you are." Carl said, keeping his voice low.

"Carl, they're...they're chopping people into pieces out there. If Luke is dead...I need to know. Please, don't leave this house."

I rushed out the back door, staying crouched with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. I looked over to the infirmary, where Rosita was helping carry Holly. Maybe Luke is there. On my way there, one of those people wound up in front of me. He didn't know I was behind him. I snuck up quietly and raised my knife, jamming it into his neck as hard as I could and twisting it. The man made a gargling sound and I lowered him to the ground to stay quiet. I got in his face, his eyes wide. There was a W carved into his forehead. "You are screwing with the wrong people." I stabbed him in the head, and continued on my way.

The attackers seemed to be on the other side of the community for the most part, so reaching the infirmary was easy. I froze as I got close when I heard rapid fire, then a truck.  Then something crashing and a loud horn blaring. I tried to ignore it. Luke. Luke. Find Luke. As I made my way to the infirmary, I turned bodies over that might be Luke. They weren't, but that didn't make me feel any better.

I finally reached the infirmary, rushing inside to see Denise trying to save Holly. "Charlotte!" Tara called.

I looked around. "I saw Rosita and Aaron come in here. Where'd they go?"

Gunshots rang through the air. "They're helping." She opened he mouth as if to say something more.

"Tell her." Denise said, starting CPR on Holly. "She needs to know."

"Eugene take my spot." Tara walked over to me, her expression serious. "Charlotte..."

I took a deep breath. Someone died. Someone I'm close to. I've seen that look before. "Who is it?" I asked, my voice already shaking.

"It's Luke. He got bit." I felt my heart sink in my chest. My face contorted as I tried not to cry. "He's okay. He's okay. It was one of those...people. They died. Turned really fast. It bit his leg. He came here as soon as it happened. We...Denise had to cut it off, right below to knee. He's alive."

I breathed a sigh of relief, hugging Tara as tight as I could. "Luke is in the other room. He passed out from the pain, but..." She held me up by my shoulders, smiling at me. "He's okay. We just have to wait for him to wake up. He's cuffed to the bed he's on, just as a precaution. You can sit with him, if you like."