THE LOVELY BONES, daryl dixon

xxiii. kiss of death

With reluctance, Rick shakily held up his gun and aimed it at Daryl's head, and Rick felt his eyes begin to well up at the thought of having to put Daryl down like a sick animal. Rick loosely curled his finger around the cool steel of the trigger, but widened his eyes when a small huff slipped the lips of the walker.

"Third time you've pointed that gun at my head, you gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl hissed, stumbling back and forth as the blood began to weep from him. He turned to face Shane, and tilted his head up, "You, officer. You best let go of my girl."

Ellie glanced up from Shane's embrace through teary eyes, and locked them onto Daryl's blood shot eyes. She let out a shaky breath, "Daryl."

He dropped his crossbow onto the ground as he panted, struggling to catch his breath as the group stared at him with eyes of relief. They stepped aside as Daryl stepped forth in attempt to reach out to Ellie, to pull her close and to have her hold him; at that moment he felt small, and all he wanted was for Ellie to make the pain go away. The echo of a bullet leaving its home in the gun echoed out loudly surrounding the group, causing the members to stumble and lose their footing. Ellie let out a blood curdling scream as she watched Daryl's body fling to the floor, indicating the bullet had hit him, and it had been an effort to kill the supposed 'walker' that had intruded.

"No!" Rick yelled out at Andrea who had been the one to release the bullet, and he watched as Ellie flung herself down onto Daryl's body while screaming.

Ellie cupped Daryl's bloodied face as hot tears landed onto his skin, leaving clean patches where her tears had cleaned the blood away. She let out a small gasp as she watched Daryl shakily reach up and clutch his grazed head, and huffed, "I was kidding."

The strongest men gathered around Daryl's body as they brought him to his feet, and began to escort him further up the farmland and towards the farmhouse, where Hershel would be able to tend to his fresh wounds. Ellie followed behind, huffing loudly as she began to notice Andrea's figure becoming closer and closer. She let out a loud grunt as she saw red; she was livid at Andrea, and knew she had to pay for what she had done to Daryl. Ellie scrambled forwards, and clenched her hands into fists as she screamed at Andrea, attempting to lunge at her. T-Dog caught the woman, and held her back, despite her struggles.

"You're staying with me, little lady," he muttered, ensuring his grip on the girl had been tight enough to restrict her, but not enough to hurt her. He watched as her struggles began to die out, and let out a sigh, "Believe me, I'd be the same. But it won't help."

Andrea lunged off the RV with great force, and darted hastily towards Ellie and T-Dog, frequent tears trailing down her reddened cheeks. Ellie stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes locked onto the blonde succubus, and could feel nothing but pain. Andrea was the woman who had almost robbed Daryl's life, despite having orders from Rick to stand down - it was unforgivable in Ellie's eyes.

She began to breathe heavily, as her hands involuntarily curled into tight fists at her sides. This was when Ellie's wrath was to be released, entirely enraged with Andrea's existence. Without a moment's hesitation, Ellie pounced forward with anger drowning her heart, attempting to claw at Andrea. Andrea lunged herself out of Ellie's sights, allowing time for Shane to jump forward and peel the inconsolable woman away from Andrea, using all of his might to pull her back.

The adrenaline from the anger caused Ellie to fight back as she growled at Shane, "Get the fuck off me! She dies!"

"It is not worth it, Ellie!" Shane bellowed at her, his inner demons beginning to battle as half of him wished for Ellie to do what she thought was right, whereas the damaged other half knew there would be no returning for Ellie should she carry out her desires.