Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

51-Season 5

We started working right away, making weapons out of earrings and belt buckles and shoelaces. Rick was using the chain on Glenn's pocket watch to cut a shiv out of the wooden frame of the train car. I had given one of my knives to Carl per Rick's request.

Daryl was keeping watch. "All right, got four of them pricks coming this way."

"You know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats." Rick ordered.

"Put your backs to the walls on either side of the car. Now!" I kept one hand over Faith's head, holding my knife in the other.

We looked up when a hatch opened and a smoke grenade was dropped down. "Move!" Abraham yelled. Daryl covered Faith and I with his body. She started wailing. I screamed when Daryl was pulled off of me and out of the car, along with Rick, Glenn and Bob. The door closed, leaving us wondering what would happen to them.

~*~

There was an explosion. A big one. All we could hear were gunshots, screaming and snarling. "What the hell is going on?" Abraham growled.

"Someone hit them."

"Maybe our people got free." Sasha suggested.

Eugene pushed past Tara, bending down to the door with the smoke bomb canister in his hands. "The hell are you doing with that thing?" I asked.

"I might be able to use this shell to compromise the door. From the sound of things, there may not be anybody left to open it."

"Eugene, I'm sorry, but, shut up."

"Okay."

"Hey," Carl spoke up. "My dad's gonna be back. They all are."

"They are." Maggie nodded. "And we need to be ready to fight our way out with them when we do." Maggie started using Glenn's watch to cut off another shard of wood.

~*~

"What's the cure, Eugene?" Sasha asked.

"It's classified." Eugene replied in a monotone voice.

"We don't know what's gonna happen."

"You leave him be." Abraham spoke.

"We need to keep working." Maggie said as she walked by.

"Yeah, but it's time to hear it." Sasha continued. "Cause' we don't know what's coming next."

"What's next is we get out of this." Tara spoke.

"She's right, Sasha." I agreed, bouncing Faith. "That doesn't matter right now."

"Even if I told you all, even if I provided step-by-step instructions complete with illustrations and a well-composed FAQ and I went red-ring, the cure would still die with me."

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Abraham said, looking up from his shiv.

"The best case scenario, we step out into a hellstorm of bullets, fire, and walkers. I'm not fleet of foot. I sure as hell can't take a dead one down with sharp buttons and hella confidence."

"Yeah, but we can and we will." Michonne said.

I chuckled. "She's right, you haven't seen us in action yet."

"You don't owe us anything." Sasha stood up. "Not yet. But we just wanna hear it."

"You don't have to." Rosita spoke.

Eugene sighed and stood up, facing Sasha. "I was part of a ten person team at the Human Genome Project to weaponize diseases to fight weaponized diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms with pathogenic microorganism. Fire with fire. Interdepartmental drinks were had, relationships made, information shared. I am keenly aware of all the details behind fail safe delivery systems to kill every living person on this planet. I believe with a little tweaking on the terminals in DC, we can flip the script. Take out every last dead one of 'em. Fire with fire. All things being equal, it does sound pretty badass."

"So let's get back to work."

We were interrupted by banging on the train car. It opened and Rick stood there with a gun. He was with Daryl, Glenn, and Bob. I felt relieved. "Come on! Fight to the fence!"

We left the train car, stabbing and shooting walkers left and right. We did what Rick said, fighting to the fence. People started going over, Abraham picked me up and put me over the fence, into Daryl's arms, climbing over just in time to avoid the greedy hands of the walkers.

~*~

We walked through the woods, finding and digging up the bag of guns. "The hell are we still around here for?" Abraham asked.

"Guns, some supplies. Go along the fences. Use the rifles. Take out the rest of 'em." I raised my brow.

"What?"

"They don't get to live."

I scoffed. "Look, Rick, I know you're angry, but we got out. It isn't worth it. It's over."

Rick grabbed his colt. "It's not over till they're all dead."

"The hell it isn't. That place is on fire. Full of walkers." Rosita shook her head.

"I'm not dicking around with this crap. We just made it out."

"The fences are down. They'll run or die."

I turned when a branch snapped behind us, gasping. "Carol..."

Daryl ran over to her and hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground. I couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy, but I didn't say anything. They had become good friends since the farm. Carol assured me there would be nothing more between them. "Did you do that?" Rick asked. She nodded, tears in her eyes.

Rick gave her a long hug. "You have to come with me."

~*~

We walked down a road, a small cabin coming into view. I gasped when Tyreese came into view, holding Judith. Rick and Carl dropped everything, sprinting forward and taking her from his arms. Sasha hugged Tyreese, crying into his shoulder. I looked down when Luke grabbed my hand, smiling up at me. I laughed when Elizabeth wrapped her arms around my neck from behind. Then Daryl wrapped an arm around my waist. I never felt more loved than I did in that moment.

~*~

"When did you have her?" Carol asked as I handed Faith to her.

"The day the prison fell. Her name's Faith."

Carol smiled down at her. "She has Daryl's eyes." She looked up at me. "And your nose." I smiled, blushing.

"I don't know if the fire's still burning." Rick said as he wiped his hands off.

Carol handed Faith off to Maggie, who was waiting to hold her. "It is."

Rick nodded. "Yeah, we need to go."

"Yeah, but where?" Daryl asked.

"Somewhere far away from there."

Maggie passed Faith to Daryl and we walked back onto the railroad tracks, heading in the opposite direction. We cut off into the woods, deciding against following the tracks. They never lead to anything good anyways.