Daryls Sister {Book One}

5

The next morning, we were piling the walkers to burn them. Daryl was about to hit Ed in the head with the axe when Carol stopped him.

"I'll do it." She said. Daryl handed the axe to her and stepped back.

She was having difficulty from the way she kept hesitating. I guess I understand why she was hesitating. It was her husband and even though he abused her, it was hard for her to do it. Daryl wasn't rushing her since he knew it'll take a bit of time for her to do it.

A few minutes later, she finally did it. She kept going, basically taking her anger out on his body and soon there was basically no head left.

Daryl stopped her and she walked away, while me and Daryl were putting his body on the back of the truck to bury him. I was trying not to break down from seeing everyone that we lost. Daryl also told me that they didn't find Merle at the rooftop but they found his hand. Merle is an asshole but he's my brother, so of course I miss him. Daryl pulled me into his embrace and rubbed my back assuring me that everything is okay.

Soon the walkers were burning and everyone that was part of the group was buried and everyone was mourning the dead. I walked back to the RV and went inside. I sat down and put my head against the table. I heard the door opening and I looked up to see Rick coming inside and sat down across from me.

"Are you okay Maddie?" He asked, concerned.

"I guess it's just everything thats happened." I said, looking down. "My brother is missing, Carol lost her husband and Andrea lost her sister. A lot of stuff happened in the span of one day." I said.

"I'm sorry about your brother but I did it to—" He said, before I interrupted him.

"I understand why you did it Rick. I agree that he is an asshole. Me and him didn't really get along that well but I still love him." I said. "He was never there as much as Daryl, so I always turned to Daryl because he's always been there ever since something bad happened to me." I added.

"What happened to you? You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable."  He asked. I haven't told anyone about it. Only Daryl knows what happened and that's why he's so protective of me.

"I'll tell you one day but I can't right now because I don't really feel comfortable talking about it." I told him.

"I understand Maddie, you can tell me when you feel comfortable. I'm not going to force you to tell me." He assured.

"Thank you Rick." I thanked him.

He smiled at me before standing up and walking out. I sighed before walking out behind him. I saw Daryl looking this way and he looked a bit angry. He then walked towards me.

"What were you two doing in there?" He asked.

"We weren't doing anything Daryl. We just talked, nothing else." I assured. "Daryl, I've only known him for a couple days." I added.

"I know but I just worry about you Maddie. I don't want to see you get hurt." He said, looking down. I went closer to him and hugged him.

"And I'm thankful for that Daryl but I can take care of myself." I said. "But that don't mean I don't want you to help me anymore because I'll still need your help at times." I added.

"It's not that easy for me not to help you. I'm your brother, I have to protect you at all costs." He said.

"I know." I said, pulling away.

I walked away to help the others and we all stood in a circle discussing what we're going to do now.

"We can't stay here any longer because more of them is going to come up here since they're running out of food in Atlanta, we have to move." Shane said.

"I agree with Shane, we can't risk staying here." I said. Shane looked at me and looked away again.

"Jim, are you bleeding?" Jacqui asked.

"No, I got some blood from when I killed the walkers last night." Jim answered.

"But it's fresh blood. If it was blood from last night, it would've been dried up by now." I said.

"What do you know?" Jim asked, sternly.

"If you can't remember, before all this happened I went hunting with my brother." I said. "So, I should know the difference between dried up blood and fresh blood." I added.

"Were you bit Jim?" Shane asked. I felt Daryl get closer to me and he put his arm in front of me.

"No. I just got scratched." He replied.

"You were bit." Lori said, holding onto Carl.

"No I wasn't!" Jim protested.

"Then lift up your shirt." Shane said.

When Jim protested more, they were forced to lift his shirt up for him. Daryl lifted it and revealed a deep, bite wound.

"Why didn't you tell us you were bit, huh?!" Daryl exclaimed, pushing me behind him.

"Because I knew all of you would freak out!" Jim replied.

We all walked off to discuss the situation while someone watched Jim.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and same with the girl." Daryl said.

"Would you want someone to do that to you?" Shane asked.

"Yes and I'll thank you while you did it." Daryl responded.

I didn't even want to think about something like this happening to Daryl. Daryl must've taken notice and he put his arm on my shoulder to soothe me. I smiled faintly and we continued discussing.