The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 33

Meredith

I walked the large tin can and bucket of water back from the water pump out in the field. I was a bit grateful with myself I was able to get the water for everyone. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have any water and everyone would probably die even faster of dehydration.

"What was a stupid thing you did." I stop in my tracks, almost gasping in fear. I turn around and find Rick at the top of the stairs of the side part of the prison.

"Rick..." I sigh out. I thought back to his words. "What?"

"Going out there like that." He nods. I huff out a breath of air, shaking my head at him.

"Yeah, it was." I nodded. He walks down the stairs and approaches me.

"You know, you do a lot for us. You don't...go out on runs with Daryl anymore, but I get why. Still...you've been here with me, helping out with everything you can handle." He steps closer to me. "You sacrifice a lot. Is there anything you wouldn't for the people here?" I furrow my brows, shaking my head.

"No." I softly answer. He nods his head and I quickly moved my feet, getting away from him.

"Meredith...?" I stop in my tracks to Rick calling my name. I turn back and face him. "Did you kill Karen and David?" He asks. I held a stare with him.

"Yes."

There was no denying what he asked. It wasn't because I wanted to admit to someone, because what I did was hard, horrible, wrong on so many levels. But it was the fact that Rick never mentioned to me who he had thoughts of killing Karen and David. I knew he was looking into the murders, but he never once told me who he had suspicions of. It could be because he had already known, or he just wasn't sure yet.

Either way, Rick asking only me, to my knowledge, there was no point in wasting my breath of denying his accusations. If I had, I'd knew he would give me that same look of calling bullshit, played good-cop-bad-cop, taunt me til I cracked under pressure. I never thought that I'd kill someone intentionally. Austin, he deserved it, he tried killing me. Karen and David, they could've been potential threats to us, just as easy as Patrick. But the idea of ending the sickness starting with Karen and David was an obvious fail as more and more people ended up getting sick.

I did what I thought was right. I did what I thought was going to work and keep us all safe and alive. What I did was with the best intentions. Do I regret it? A little. Would I ever do it again? Of course. With how this ends, Rick could either hand me over to Tyreese and let him kill me, do whatever he wants to make him feel better, or Rick could lie and say he doesn't know who'd done it. But knowing Tyreese, there's no telling he'll ever let it go.

Whatever the outcome is for my punishment, it's something I deserve and it's okay. Because I know what I was doing, what I believe...I did it with the best intentions.

I kneeled down next to the bed Sasha laid on. She was pale, sweating, breathing heavy. Her eyes open a bit and she turns to me

"Ty?" She softly asks. I show her a smile, shaking my head.

"Nope. But it's your favorite person." I say. She huffs out a breath.

"Meredith." She sighs out.

"How you feeling?" I ask her.

"I feel how I look." She says. "How do I look?" She asks.

"You look like shit." I tease her. She huffs out a smile and I felt a bit happy to see her smiling.

"I look better than you." She says.