The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 47

Meredith

EVERYONE SAT IN the road, taking a break from the long, walking, hot and exhausting journey we've been on. Thunder rumbled through the air, yet, there weren't much of dark clouds anywhere. I knew either way, it would soon storm or simply just rain. 

Everyone's fight or flight kicked in to the sound of the leaves rustling. We turn our heads and see a pack of three dogs, each one covered in dirt, snot, foamy mouths and even blood. I felt my body becoming tense, as I was the closest to the dogs. If any of them decide to make the move, I'll be the first one to get attacked. It was almost scary, if one were bitten by an animal, would they catch a fever and die and come back to life as the dead? What's the situation if bitten by animals, rather than humans or walkers?

I felt my body jump to the sound of silenced gunshots. All the dogs whimpered and scrambled around before all of them collapsed to the ground, motionless. I felt a bit of heartache, knowing these dogs probably didn't know any better. Probably were starving and wanted some help or something. These were affectionate animals, now look at them. 

I inhaled deeply, staring at the chunk of dog mean in my hand. Never in a million years did I think I'd be watching Daryl, Rick and Glenn skinning dogs to cook for us to eat. I almost felt sick to my stomach just thinking about eating dog. I'm starving, I can practically feel my insides feeding on each other to eat anything. 

"Don't think about it." I turn my head and see Daryl chewing away on his chunk of dog meat.

"This is sick." I shook my head. "And I'm not even hungry. I lost my appetite days ago." I held out my chunk for him to eat.

"You gotta eat something." He shakes his head. "Gotta keep your strength up. Keep moving." I turn my eyes back to the chunk in my hand. I look around, seeing the others eating their chunks quietly. I let out a sigh, seeing Rick holding Judith in his lap, feeding her a bottle, as he used his other hand to feed himself.

"I'd rather have Judith's formula." I say. 

"Mer, come on-"

"I'm gonna try and find some water." I lay my chunk next to his leg and pull myself from the ground. I wander off into the woods, doing exactly what I told him.

*****

I watched as Daryl headed off into the woods for the hundredth time by himself. We all carried on with the walk, slowly, but enough to keep up some sort of pace. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Harley walking alongside Noah. The boys lightly spoke to one another, keeping their conversation down a bit quiet. I had wondered what they were talking about. Whatever it was, it made Harley smile and I couldn't help but feel my heart flutter a little bit. It was nice to see Harley smile, even better to se Noah cracking jokes, even after what he had lost. 

I almost fell to the floor, bumping into Rick's back. He turns his head and looks down at me. I realized he wasn't walking. I shifted my eyes to the side, seeing something in the road. I furrow my brows in confusion, looking around. It was three gallons of water and individual water bottles, enough for all of us. There's a white piece of paper taped to one of the gallons. I reach down and pull the note.

From A Fried

I turn my head and look at Rick, who shook his head. The others surround the bottles, looking around. We hear rustling in the woods and see Daryl stepping out. He approaches us with a concerned expression and I hand him the note. He reads it and quickly pulls his crossbow from his back. Immediately, I felt the sense there was something wrong with him. As he stepped forward, I reached out and grabbed his arm.

"What is it?" I question him.

"Hell should I know. Could be anybody." He shrugs.

"No, you." I frown.