The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 49 - Calm Before The Storm

"Rick sent her away."

"Away?!"

"It's for the best."

"She's on her own?"

"She'll be okay. Carol can take care of herself. And it may not be forever, but she couldn't be here when Tyreese got back. It's the best decision for everyone involved." I was silent. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know if there was anything to say. "I wanted to tell you, but let Rick tell Daryl, okay?" I slowly nodded. "Alright. I'm going to go and see if Michonne needs any help cleaning things up. You stay in bed." He placed a kiss on my forehead and began to leave.

"You don't have to, you know. I think you've earned a break."

"I know. But I want to." He replied.

"Love you, Daddy."

"Love you too, Sweety."

Daryl soon came back with my breakfast and a well needed glass of water and after a while he too left to help outside. Boredom was starting to take over when Luke came in, shuffling his feet. He wasn't nearly as sick as the rest of us when the meds came so he was looking nearly completely back to normal now as I suspected Lizzie would be as well. He brought with him his deck of cards again and although my reflexes were doing better, he still beat me.

"I'm getting thirsty." He said after a while.

"Me too. How about we go and find water."

"Hershel said you should stay in bed."

"What, are you one of his spies now? I'll be right. If I don't move soon I may never move again."

We were approaching the makeshift kitchen when we heard Rick and Daryl's voices as we came to a stop just a few metres away from them. Neither one had noticed us yet and by Daryl's clear slightly pissed off tone and Ricks attempting to calm tone I guessed it was about Carol.

"What are we supposed to do about those two girls?" Daryl asked.

"I told her we'd look after 'em." Rick answered and it went silent. I cleared my throat to grab their attention and they both turned, seeing me and Luke standing in front of me with my arms over his shoulders.

"What are you doing up?" Rick asked while Daryl didn't look all that surprised to see me up.

"Just after some water." I answered and moved my hands to push Luke slightly on the back to nudge him to go and get some which he did right away as I moved over to the guys to continue the conversation quietly.

"Have you told Tyreese?" I asked.

Rick slowly shook his head. "I don't know how he's going to take it."

"Let's go find out." Daryl shrugged.

Rick sighed and nodded, leading the way and giving my shoulder a slight squeeze as he passed as a sort of 'Good to see you're feeling better' kind of thing. Daryl stayed for a moment. Neither one of us said anything before he followed after Rick. His hand rested on my upper stomach as he passed, mine reaching up and covering it on reflex until it slipped out and Luke walked up to me with a bottle of water.

"You feeling up for a walk?" I asked him, not wanting to go back to the cell right away. All I wanted was to be outside.

"If you think you are." He shrugged causing me to smile and then lead him outside into the courtyard.

We sat down at a table, the same table I had spoken to him about keeping his distance from people just a few days ago. It was nice being outside, but the idea of walking around too much was a little exhausting so sitting was enough. I saw Sasha on the other side with Bob and we smiled at each other, glad the other was doing okay.

"Daddy gave you instructions to stay in bed." I heard Beth's voice as she walked up to our table. Judith wasn't with her, but a quick glance over my shoulder I saw Mica holding the baby in a carrier a fair distance away. Better safe than sorry.

"Has he told everyone to watch me?"

"He knows you well enough that he needed to." She smiled back. "But he said the contagious stage has passed." She informed, looking over to Judith and Mica.

"You should still keep your distance."

"He said that to." She looked back with a smile.

There was a sudden loud boom followed by the collapse of a nearby watch tower that caused Beth to jump, Mica to yelp, Judith to cry and Luke to whip his hand out and grab my arm.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, jumping to my feet.

Running was bad, it was painful and caused a sharp pain in my chest as I breathed, but I had to run. I had to find the source. Everyone around us seemed to have the same idea as one after the other people began to form at the fence, looking down to the small arm that was waiting outside, armed with a tank and many guns.

Rick, Daryl and Tyreese soon joined and once they had the leader spoke. He was hard to distinguish in the distance. His face blurry and unclear, but that voice... that voice I could never forget.

"Rick! Come down here." The governor yelled. "We need to talk."

Am I crazy or does Rick nearly always seem to have a bandaged hand...?

This chapter is filled with, I guess you could call them 'last moments.'