All That's Left (The Walking Dead FanFiction)

Chapter 11

The Governor grabs a knife from his waist and presses it against my throat.

I start crying.

“Look, I told you! We didn’t know he was one of your guys, I killed him because he hurt her,” Daryl shouts, attempting to loosen the ties around his hands with no success. “Please, I didn’t know. Please, just don’t kill her and don’t hurt my son. Please.”

Daryl’s eyes lock onto mine and then he looks up at the Governor, his eyes pleading with him.

“It was my fault!” I blurt. “It was my fault so kill me. Please don’t hurt him, kill me. I told him to do it so kill me.”

The Governor loosens his grip on my arm and when I glance down there’s blood sliding down my wrists from his fingernails digging into my skin. My head is swimming. The left side of my face is throbbing. I’m still trying to process everything that’s happened, I’m still trying to process that I’m going to die. I just offered to give up my life for someone I hardly know, for someone who never even looks at me when he talks to me.

“Well isn’t that sweet,” the Governor snaps. He grabs the corner of my jaw, slamming my face against the table. The pain shoots up my cheek and I think my entire face goes numb. I start crying harder.

“Stop!” Daryl screams. His voice rings in my ears. “Killing her ain’t gonna bring no one back. I’m sorry about your friend, all right? Let us go, please just let us go.”

I can’t see his face, but I can hear the desperation in his voice. I can’t stop thinking about how I need to fix this. All of this is my fault. I can’t let him die because of me. Because of some mistake I made. I have to save him.

I grab the Governor’s arm using all the strength I have left, and bite hard into his wrist.

I taste blood in my mouth.

The knife he had drops to the floor. Just as I’m about to reach for it, he grabs my shoulder, spinning me around.

His hand collides with my jaw and everything goes black.

When I wake up, the first thing I see is Daryl. He’s still sitting at the table with his hands tied behind his back. The blood on his face had dried. I’m lying on the concrete floor. I go to touch my throbbing head and realize my hands are bound, too. I’m so exhausted. Nearly every part of my body screams in pain.

“Daryl?” I croak.

His eyes immediately find mine. “Macy. God, I thought-I don’t know, I thought you might be dead. You’ve been lyin’ there for hours.”

“He left? The Governor left?” I ask, my voice still dry.

“Yeah, he left. Said there was no fun in killing you if you were unconscious. I imagine he’ll be back soon,” he replies.

I manage to make myself sit up, my back leaning against one of the walls. We sit in silence for a while. I don’t know what to say. It’s my fault we’re in this situation. It’s my fault we’re going to die.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

He refuses to look at me again. I think this means I’m not forgiven. More tears slide down my face and I can feel my heart sink in my chest. I never meant for any of this to happen. When I think of all the lives I’ve cost, it makes me sick.

“It’s all right,” he says. “Macy, it’s all right.”

I almost don’t believe that he’s said it. Even though he won’t look at me, I keep staring at him. His forgiveness is just one more thing I don’t deserve. I feel sick to my stomach, like I actually might throw up.

“We’re gonna get out of here,” Daryl sighs. “I don’t know how, but we will.”

I would believe him if he believed it, too.

We sit in silence for a long time. Every few minutes or so I hear footsteps outside the door and my heart threatens to escape from my chest. I think I want to give up. This time I really do want to give up.

“Merle!” the Governor calls, entering the room again, and pulling me off the floor.

I see the door open and a man in his late forties enters the room. He looks at me for a few seconds and then he looks past me and his eyes go wide.

“Merle, I need you to take care of her. Let me know when you finish,” the Governor orders as he shoves me into Merle’s grip. He leaves the room. The door slams behind him.

“Baby brother,” Merle releases me from his grip and makes his way towards Daryl. My eyes frantically search the room for a weapon. What’s he doing? He was supposed to kill me. Is he going to kill Daryl?

“Merle, what the hell are you doing here?” Daryl smiles.

I stand there, completely confused, my face throbbing all over, as Merle draws a knife from his pocket and cuts the ropes around Daryl’s hands. Baby brother? Neither Natalie nor Daryl ever mentioned they had another sibling. They wrap their arms around each other, and I sigh in relief knowing he’s not going to kill Daryl.

“Where’s Sam?” Merle glances around the room and then approaches me, pulling me in for a hug. “Hey Carrie.”

I try to push away from him. “I’m not Carrie.”

“Merle, that’s not-“ Daryl pauses for beat. “That’s not Carrie. She didn’t make it.”

Merle stares at me. His eyes move up and down my face, like he doesn’t believe I’m not Carrie.

“Sam is somewhere in here. We need to find him and then we need to get out of here, Merle,” Daryl says, standing next to us.

Merle nods his head. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll help you find him and I’ll get you guys out of here.”

“You’re not coming with us?” I ask.

A sad expression passes over his face as he looks at his brother. “No, I can’t go with you guys. The Governor would find me and kill me for leaving, then he’d kill you too. But I can make it look like I killed you three and fed you to the biters, that way no one gets hurt in the long run.”

“We’re ain’t gettin’ spilt up again! You’re coming with us,” Daryl says, glancing at the ceiling, trying to keep tears from spilling onto his cheeks.

“We’re arguing over nothin’, I gotta get you out of here. Won’t be long before the Governor comes back to check on me. Let’s go!” Merle gives his brother one last look of sympathy , before opening the door, leaving us with no choice but to follow him.

We trail behind Merle along a small, narrow hallway. In the second to last room, we find Sam curled up in a corner with all of our supplies, sleeping. Daryl gently picks him up and he doesn’t stir. Merle continues leading us around the warehouse and after several minutes of holding our breath, we exit through a backdoor and the sunlight hits my skin.

If it weren’t for Daryl and Merle being here, I think I would allow myself to have a mental breakdown right now. I’m so relieved to know Daryl is safe, and Sam too. Even though I constantly struggle with keeping the desire to live, I’m grateful to be here, alive.

“You need to get goin,” Merle says, eyeing his brother and his nephew. “I’ll take care of things here and I’ll see you again, baby brother.”

“And this is the way it has to be?” Daryl asks. I can see the hurt in his eyes and it makes my heart break.

“For now, yeah it is,” he answers with a solemn expression.

They hug each other one last time.

“Hey baby brother, do you know what happened to Natalie?” Merle questions as he starts heading back inside.

“She was alive about a week ago then we got spilt up, but I think she’s all right.”

"Right, well okay. Oh and Daryl? I'm sorry about Carrie," Merle apoloizges as his eyes meet Daryl's. 

Daryl nods. 

“Thank you, Merle,” I say quickly before he leaves.

And then we hear gun shots.