Avenging Angel (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter Four

Alexa stood tall as she pointed her gun at the stranger. Every muscle in her body ached, and she could feel them spasm from the effort it took to keep herself up. One thing she was proud of herself for, and that was keeping the gun steady. She may be weakened, but there was no way in hell she was going to allow him to know that. She quickly scanned him all over. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that revealed muscular arms, but the way he was positioned was odd. Alexa took a closer look and noticed that his right hand was missing and the nub had been burned. Her nose curled up in revolt automatically. He chuckled bringing Alexa's attention back to his face.

"It pretty isn't it?" he mused. "Done it myself."

"Why?" she asked appalled.

"Left on a rooftop to die, but if a pretty little thing like you were there, I might've waited."

"What?" she asked taken back by the sudden statement.

He licked his lips as he eyed her whole body with a hunger that made Alexa really wish she had a shower. "Yeah, you'll do nicely." he said as he took a step forward.

Echo bowed his head slightly as he started growling and snarling threateningly. Alexa pulled her second gun free of its holster and aimed it at the man's crotch, who froze mid-step. "I'm beginning to see why you were left to die." she said coldly.

His eyes narrowed. Alexa started to retreat, guns still in their positions. Echo continued to stand where he was, allowing Alexa to get a good enough distance away before she whistled. He took off running after her, and she heard the footsteps continue. It was hard to determine if they were coming or going, so she kept at her pace. Her body screamed in protest with every step, shivering as the cool air that snaked its way through the building clashed with her still wet clothes. Because she ran from the stranger, she found herself lost within the hospital, and standing in front of the emergency room door which was barely open. She peeked in and immediately thrust her head back as a Biter's hand shot through the crack. Alexa didn't hesitate as she turned on her heel and took off running back up the hall, Echo at her side. The Biters beat against the door trying to get to her. She didn't know how long it would take before the door would finally give and the hallway be filled. She didn't plan to stick around long enough to find out.

They rounded another corner, and Alexa skidded to a stop. There were two Biters at the other end of the hall. Echo started growling. There was no reaction from them which made her wonder if they thought it was one of their own. She could hear the others back at the emergency room door. She was stuck between the two, so she decided to take the ones in front out. She ran forward as quickly and quietly as she could and pistol whipped one of the Biters, causing it to fall to the ground. The other started to growl as it moved forward and rushed right into the butt of her second gun. With both on the ground, she dropped one gun and reached into her pocket, pulling her knife out in one fluid movement and stabbed the first one she knocked down a few times in the head. She turned to the second one and repeated the process. She stood between the two corpses, painting from the exsertion.

Echo barked softly bringing Alexa back out of the zone she hadn't realized she was in. She limped back to where her gun laid and picked it up. She looked down at her companion motioning with her head for them to go. He followed her down the halls and eventually came across a glass door that led outside. It was late in the afternoon from what she could tell by the sun's decent. She figured there was an hour of daylight left which meant she needed to find some kind of shelter. Movement caught her attention, and Alexa quickly went on the defense. There were four figures and, judging by their stride, she could tell that they weren't Biters. She started for them. They were heading somewhere, and she hoped that they would be willing to put her up for the night. When she arrived at the last spot she had seen them, the four figures had took off runnng down the road. With slight hesitaion, she followed.

Rick was lost in thought as he ran next to T-Dog. Daryl was slightly ahead of the pair while Glenn took the lead. He couldn't put the fact that Merle had cut his own hand off out of his head. It was his fault that the man was hand-cuffed to the railing in the first place. But, if he hadn't done anything, then Merle would have killed T-Dog, and that he wouldn't allow. For some reason, his mind wondered to his sister. Rick hoped beyond hope that she was safe. He felt guilty that he hadn't thought of her before now.

Gun shots rang in the distance.

Rick's head shot up as he shared a brief look with the others. They all picked up their pace. They are fine, he thought to himself. Lori and Carl are fine. They reached the treeline and never slowed. The four of them climed the small incline, slipping some in the dark. When they reached the top, Rick's worse fear had been realized. Walkers were everywhere.

The camp was endanger.

Daryl swore under his breath as he aimed the gun in his hand at the nearest geek. He fired at its head, feeling smug as the damn thing fell limp to the ground. He turned to the next one and fired before turning to another one. The anger and grief he had locked away seemed to ease some with each pull of his trigger. It was over before he knew it. He stood and watched as the remaining survivors stood around, afraid to believe that it was over. It was, at least for the time being.

"I don't know what to do," Andrea's pleading voice caught his attention. The blonde woman was crying over her sister's body. Amy reached a bloody hand up and touched Andrea's face. She choked on her blood before her hand fell to her side, the life fading slowly from her eyes. She grew still. Andrea began sobbing as she screamed, "AMY!"

Daryl closed his eyes as an image of Merle flashed in his mind.