The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 32

Meredith

RICK AND I sat in the dining area of our cell block. I used cotton balls and some hydrogen peroxide to clean the blood off his knuckles. They were obviously swollen and bruised from the impact of his blows he gave to Tyreese.

"This is gonna be sprained for at least a week." I inform him. Rick doesn't respond. He sat with his head low, avoiding eye contact with me. He barely even moved a muscle from the pain.

"Good news, none of these cuts needs stitches." I tell him. "I wouldn't plan on much typing the next few days." I lightly tease him. "You okay?" I ask him.

"Hurts." He answers.

"I wasn't talking about the hand." I say. I drop the cotton ball and began bandaging his hand up. "We just went through something terrible. Everything we've been working so hard to keep out, found it's way in." Rick shakes his head.

"It's always there." He utters. I nodded my head. I grab the second roll of bandage and continued to wrap his wrist. Once I finished, Rick thanks me.

"I'm sorry for...punching you in the face." He says. I shook my head.

"I'll be okay." I tell him. He shakes his head.

"Cut looks deep. Might need stitches." He says.

"I'll live." I frown at him. "Not like you shot me." I wave him off. He lightly chuckles and nods his had.

"I'm gonna go apologize to Daryl." He says. Before I could say anything else, he gets up and walks away. I cleaned everything up and gathered a suture kit. I walk to my cell and stood in front of the mirror. Rick was right. I do need stitches. I cleaned the cut, dabbing it with peroxide. I knew the stitching was going to hurt. Not that it was because I was threading a needle in my face, but the fact where the cut was. It's right under my left eye. It's already bruised and a little swollen. I guess the cut took the most damage from getting a complete black eye.

I tried my best not to scrunch my eye or make any sort of faces as I stitched. Lucky for me, I only needed five stitches. Once it was stitched, I dabbed it a few times, cleaning any access blood. I place a small medical tape over the stitching and cleaned up.

*****

"It's spread." Hershel begins the council meeting the next morning. "Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others."

"Oh, Jesus." Daryl utters.

"So what do we do?" I ask.

"First things first. Cell block A is isolation." Hershel begins. "We keep the sick people there like we tried wit Karen and David."

"The hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl asks.

"Ask Rick to look into it." I say. "Try to make a timeline- who's where when. But what are we gonna do to stop this?" I ask.

"There is no stopping it." Hershel shakes his head. "You get it, you have to go through with it."

"But it just kills you." Michonne frowns.

"The illness doesn't." Hershel shakes his head. "The symptoms do."

"We need antibiotics." I say.

"We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some." Daryl shakes his head.

"That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication." Hershel says. "The drugs for animals there are the same we need."

"That's 50 miles." Daryl says. He looks down and nods. "Too big a risk before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not waste any more time."

"I'm in." Michonne steps up. Hershel turns to her.