Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter One Hundred and Five: Time for War

"Hey, everything okay?" Beth comes up, rubbing her hand on my back.

"Yeah, I just worry about them, you know?" I wipe the tears from my eyes with my sleeve.

"Me too, but they'll come back," she squeezes my hand. "They always do."

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The group left at sunrise, and hours pass before anyone showed back up. The only people that showed up, though, were Tara and one other man whose name I can't remember. They came with a note from Rick, a note instructing us to stay put for two days, until it was time to raid the Sanctuary.

"Where's Daryl and Baxly?" I catch Tara's arm as she turns to walk away. "Does anyone need medical attention?"

"I don't know," she shakes her head. "Daryl was with Rick the last time I saw him. I'm not sure about Baxly. He isn't dead, though. If he was, he'd be in the truck. And no. Anybody that did is dead."

My face falls with her words. I nod and let her arm go so that she can go to wherever she was headed. A couple of the Alexandrians help unload the bodies from the back of the truck they brought back. I cry, once again, as I watch them drag the bodies of our family out, carrying them over to the grave yard, while Beth adds their names to the wall.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right," Carl grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly. "Dad's following the plan. We knew it would take a couple of days, you know. They'll come back."

"Have you always been this optimistic?" I ask, my tone light. I appreciate that he's trying to cheer me up.

"No, but sometimes you have to be," he shrugs.

I drop Carl's hand when I hear the familiar roar of Daryl's motorcycle engine. When I turn, the gate is already open and he's riding in. I barely give him any time to get off the thing before I hug him. We stumble backwards, and I cry again when he wraps his arms around me.

Daryl is sweaty, stinky, sweaty, and covered in walker blood, but he's alive. He's here. That's all that matters. I truly don't care about anything else.

"Hello to you, too," he says, patting my back, and I can hear the smile in his voice. "Told ya I'd be back."

"Thank God you didn't lie," I sob, letting my tears and snot drip onto his shirt. "I was worried you wouldn't be back."

"Compound's surrounded twenty walkers deep. They're stuck. We took all of the outposts out," he pulls a Polaroid picture out of his pocket, handing it to me once I pull myself together enough to back up. "We need to end this, though. Send the walkers in."

"No, you can't, Daryl. There are people there. Children, old people," I shake my head and hand the picture back. I didn't need to see it to believe him. "They don't deserve to die for Negan's actions. They didn't do anything wrong."

"They live on the north side. We're gonna hit the south side. They'll have time to get up the stairs," he explains. "I'm going back out first light."

"Daryl, Rick said to stay put," I grab his arm as he tries to walk away from me. "You can't go, not yet."

"I'm gonna end this," he pulls his arm and walks off, leaving me standing by his bike.

With a sigh, I try to follow him, but since my max speed is now approximately the same pace as a snail, I lose him. God, I feel so helpless and useless in this situation. I could be out there, fighting with them, but I'm stuck here, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for something to happen.

"Stupid babies," I poke my stomach. "You two need to come out soon so Mommy can go back out and fight. But not too soon, because that would be bad. I just wish, shit, that I hadn't picked the worst possible time to be pregnant."