The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 17 - Executioner

And if you can't tell, I'm scared as hell

'Cause I can't get you on the telephone

So just close your eyes

Oh, honey here comes a lullaby

Your very own lullaby

Well, everybody's hit the bottom

Everybody's been forgotten

When everybody's tired of being alone

Yeah, everybody's been abandoned

And left a little empty handed

So if you're out there barely hanging on...

Just give it one more try to a lullaby

And turn this up on the radio

If you can hear me now

I'm reaching out

To let you know that you're not alone

And if you can't tell, I'm scared as hell

'Cause I can't get you on the telephone

So just close your eyes

Oh, honey here comes a lullaby

Your very own lullaby

Oh, honey here comes a lullaby

Your very own lullaby

After I strummed the last chord we sat in silence for a little while longer before Maggie came bursting through the door with Glenn right behind her. "They're not doing it." She breathed.

"What?"

"Carl followed Rick out to the barn, apparently he wanted to watch. Rick couldn't do it after that. We're keeping him in custody for now."

"Dale must be happy." The second I finished my sentenced we heard gut-wrenching scream of pain from outside, that seemed to echo around the whole farm. "Stay here." I said to Beth, jumping from my seat, handing her the guitar and running out onto the deck with Maggie and Glenn. Glenn ran down the stairs, looking around in the dark.

"What was that? What happened?" He asked in a panic.

"I don't know. Go!" Maggie said to him to find out what happened.

Glenn took off to find the rest of his group while I spun around and reached through the door for the machete I knew was sitting just inside before running down the stairs.

"Katherine!" Maggie yelled after me.

"Stay inside!"

I followed Glenn and soon the whole group was running in the same direction, guessing where the noise had come from.

"Help, over here!" We heard Daryl's voice and I could faintly make out his figure waving us down in the distance. "Help! Run!"

"Who is it?" Carol asked as we got closer.

Rick and Shane were soon in the lead, being the fastest runners with Glenn and I right behind them, but Andrea beat us all, having come from a different direction.

"Rick!" Lori was yelling.

"Oh my god." I breathed upon seeing a dead and gutted cow lying in the grass with a walker not far from it that Daryl must have killed. Rick, Shane, Andrea and now Glenn all crowded around a body.

Lying in the grass, with a ripped open stomach was Dale.

"Listen to me, all right? Just listen to me. All right? Okay, hold on now." Rick was saying to him. I wasted no time in running to his side, gently pushing Rick away to inspect the damage.

"Do something!" Andrea yelled, but there wasn't really anything I could do.

"He needs blood. We got to operate now." Rick stated as I looked up at him.

"Hang on, Dale, just hang in there." Andrea said to him.

I turned my gaze from Rick to Daryl, seeing that Daryl knew the same thing I did. Dale couldn't be saved. I looked back down at the wound and then to Dale, letting Andrea take my place as I stumbled to my feet and stepped backwards with blood soaked hands.

"What are you doing? Help him!" Rick demanded.

I shook my head, "I... Rick... I can't." I stumbled on my words, desperately trying not to break. I was good at keep my emotions in line, but I had never been confronted with something like this before, not with humans. Annette and Shawn were different, they we just bitten. Dale's stomach had been pulled back, exposing his insides, some of which had been severely damaged.

"Hershel! We need Hershel!" Rick yelled now, thinking maybe my dad could help. "Dale, we're gonna help. We're here. Just hold on. Please, hold on." Rick pleaded with his friend.

"What happened?" My dad asked, running over to us with Maggie and Patricia right behind him, finally making it.

"What can we do?" Rick asked.

"Dale, it's gonna be okay." Glenn said as Dale groaned in pain, half in shock.

"Can we move him?" Rick asked.

"He won't make the trip." Dad explained.

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house." Rick continued.

"Rick." I said his name, my voice now firmer than it had been before. He looked to me, standing up and then to my dad who only shook his head.

"No!" Rick yelled.

Andrea began to weep along with the others, Glenn looking in disbelief as Rick finally seemed to be at a defeat, half kneeling beside Dale before getting up again to stand by Shane. Dale continued to groan and cringe in pain, unable to really talk or move.

"He's suffering." Andrea noted. "Do something!" She demanded.

Rick exhaled before pulling out his gun. Shane turned his back and took a step away as my father refused to look. Rick pointed the gun at Dale, the dying man not even really noticing, but Rick didn't pull the trigger. He continued to stare, unable to do any more.

I felt someone brush by my shoulder as Daryl came from behind me and headed to Rick, silently taking the gun from his hand before kneeling down beside Dale's body. Daryl raised the gun to Dale's head as the older man managed to raise it off the ground a little, nodding in approving, almost begging Daryl to pull the trigger.

Daryl's eyes flicked up to me, almost to check if I was watching, but I wasn't going to look away. Daryl looked back down to his friend and cocked the gun.

"Sorry, brother." He said before the echoing shot sounded across the property as everything else dropped into silence.

You can listen to the video for the song. It's originally by Nickelback and i give all the credit to them, obviously, but i felt the video had to be a female cover. It is kind of randomly placed in this chapter, I know, but it will become very important for the (very far) future... and yes i'm talking about character deaths... sorry.