Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

Repair

Daryl woke up a few hours after the ladies tiptoed out of his room. He had a habit of waking up after a couple hours asleep, that was something he had done even before the world imploded. Needles pricked at his fingertips and he couldn't feel his arm from the elbow down but he didn't mind. The damped gold hair of Asher fanned wildly behind her and over his shoulder. For one small second, he let himself forget everything that's happened. He let the bad things fall away from his mind and everything immediately around him filled the void it left. Her heartbeat against his chest, the rise and fall of her ribcage, her breath as it fanned along his arm, everything.

"We're real." He slowly slipped his arm from beneath her, gently wiggling his fingers to return circulation to them. Once he got feeling back in his fingers, Daryl pushed up on hands and knees before leaning down and pressing his lips to her temple gently so he wouldn't wake her.

"I'll be right back, baby girl." He slid off the bed and moved to find Rick and the others. He found them in the central control platform. He watched the screen show someone the scientist called T19 die and the brain go black. A few moments later the bits he called neurons sparked with red and the subject turned into a walker. It wasn't long after their turn did they see the barrel end of a gun fire a bullet through the brain of the subject.

"What just happened?" Andrea turned away from the screen with watery eyes and a broken expression.

"You shot them in the head, didn't you?" The scientist dropped his eyes and nodded softly. The hallways slammed shut with heavy metal doors and all the lights shut off. Daryl ran for the door and bashed his fist against the metal.

"Asher! Asher! No!" He whipped around and ripped his way to the scientist, slamming him back against the console. "You open this goddamn door right this motherfucking second or I will open up your skull all over these goddamn computers!" They drug the man from him, Daryl still screaming out curses and threats.

"You can't keep us in here!" Carol wails as she held Sophia close to her, both sobbing messes.

"I told you, I said those doors wouldn't open again and you chose to join me. You all chose this." Daryl launched at the man again, Rick and Shane just barely keeping him out of reach.

"There's children here! My child! Asher! She's alone out there! Yer condemning her to die!? Who gave you the right, jackass!" Daryl growled at him, his eyes burning with so much hate the whole room was afraid to speak. He yanked away from Rick and Shane, moving back towards the walls. Rage tinted his vision and he punched the barrier over and over again until his knuckles were busted and blood fanned across the door.

"She doesn't deserve this. Not like this." He slammed his fist against the metal one more time, jumping back when the door lifted with a rumbling shriek.

"If you can get out then you can live. You have less than thirty minutes." Daryl didn't waste a second, he took off sprinting through the halls, rounding corners by slamming into walls or skidding across the tile to leave rubbery streak marks. He used the threshold to slow him to a stop before taking a large few steps to the edge of the bed.

"Asher!" She jolted awake with a shriek before rolling and scrambling for the corner of the room. "Shit, baby girl I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Hey, sweetheart, look at me." Her sky blue eyes flicked around the room before focusing on him a little bit away from her and kneeling.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, please."

"I'm not mad, Asher. Can I come close?" She stiffly nodded and let him get closer. "I'm sorry for scaring ya, it wasn't my meanin' to. But we need to get goin'. Right now." She nodded again and they gathered their minimal things before he wound his fingers with hers and lead the way to the main lobby where they entered. Unable to open the outer doors, the men moved to the bullet proof windows, but they could barely scratch the surface.

"Oh wait, I have something for you Rick!" Carol started to shuffle through her bag, most of the others scoffing at her.

"A nail file won't do much now, Carol." She instead produced an intact grenade and handed it to the cop.

"Everyone back!" Daryl and Asher ran for a thick concrete pillar. He pressed his back to the support pole and hugged the small girl to his front, both squeezing their eyes closed. The world exploded and nearly made her ears bleed. This was so much worse than a thunderstorm. Her ears rang and her brain filmed over with a haze so thick that she couldn't even hear Daryl yelling beside her.

"Asher, are you okay?" She tilted her head in confusion as her eyes tried to focus on his mouth so she could try to read his lips. "Asher?" Her mouth moved but nothing came out. Everyone was beginning to scramble out and so instead of waiting for her to get her bearings he threw on her things and scooped her up to his torso and raced out with the others.

He threw the keys to Shane, who jumped in the driver seat and started the car while he unhitched the motorcycle and ran it down the ramp. They didn't need the trailer slowing them down and they needed out of there quick. He kicked the engine alive and reached out to slide Asher on behind him. Not sure if she could hear him or not, he slid her arms around his stomach and jolted forward so she would tighten her hold. Once he was absolutely sure she wasn't letting go, he revved the engine and shot forward to take point on their escape. They hadn't gotten more than a few blocks when the earth shook and rumbled with the explosion of the CDC. Asher whimpered and pressed herself against his back as hard as she could.

The damage done here may never be repaired.