The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 44 - Contaminated

A small group of people had locked themselves in one of the cells and they just now started to exit, beginning to make there way to the door, around the few dead walkers and humans that lay at their feet. Karen stayed with Tyreese, curled into his chest.

Daryl started to make his way up to the second level where Glenn already was. Rick and I followed right after, our steps kicking into a run when we heard a struggle followed by Daryl yelling "Down!" We just reached the top as Glenn slid to the ground against a wall where he'd been pinned by a walker and Daryl shot it through the head with an arrow.

"Thanks." Glenn said as Daryl helped him to his feet.

Rick moved over to the walker and looked down on the young body. It took a second but I soon recognised him just as Daryl spoke.

"Oh, it's Patrick." He had blood running down his face, probably from where he'd taken a bite from someone. There was a long moment of silence before Daryl spoke again. "That's all of them." He informed, looking about the cellblock.

"We need to go around, make sure none of the dead come back." I stated. Daryl nodded before he leant forward and pulled his arrow out of Patrick's head.

Rick didn't seem to move for a while. I also noticed he'd given the gun Daryl had handed him to someone else. He never carried anymore, not since the Governor, not since Carl killed that kid in the woods. The only thing he ever really had on him was a pocket knife. He kept busy with farming, he kept Carl busy with farming, never even contributing to the walker build ups on the fences. It was a good thing really, sometimes at any rate. Today it was just dangerous.

Eventually he did though, pulling out his pocket knife and moving to a dead body of one of the walker victims.

People soon came back into the cell block, looking over the bodies and their fallen friends, sobbing and covering them up with sheets before dragging them out to be buried. Only one person that had been bitten was still alive. I didn't know his name, but I knew his daughters; Lizzie and Mica. They were friends of Carls. He'd been bitten on his arm and the back of his neck, he'd die soon enough.

Carol sat with him, making promises to look after his daughters before going to get the girls to say goodbye. That was when I made my way back to the top level, not wanting to witness or accidently over hear any goodbyes.

I caught up with Rick and Daryl again just as they stopped by a closed cell, the sound of a walker coming from the inside. Rick waited till it made it's way up to the bars and stabbed it in the head. The body hit the ground and Rick opened the cage doors.

I assumed he must have been bit and locked himself up, but Rick soon silenced that thought.

"No bite marks." He said.

My eyes narrowed slightly before stepping closer. He had blood running down his face, much like Patrick had.

"Someone get Hershel!" Rick yelled over the railing down to the people bellow.

I crouched down beside the body to have a closer look over it, but found nothing. The blood came from the man's eyes, ear, nose and mouth, his own blood. I also realised to was similar to the blood that covered Patrick and that the boy most have died the same way. My dad soon arrived and with him was Caleb or Dr S and Bob.

"No bites. No wounds." Rick explained for them as Dr S took my place crouching down and I stood back up between my dad and Daryl. "I think he just died."

"Horribly, too." Dr S informed. "Pleurisy aspiration."

"Choked to death on his own blood." I translated.