•sixty-eight•
Beatrix
When I wake up, I immediately open my eyes to see Daryl laying beside of me. I look down to my left hand to see the two rings still on my finger. It was real. I didn't dream it, I think to myself.
"Good morning, sunshine," I smile as Daryl's eyes open, meeting mine.
"Morning," he grumbles, leaning over to kiss me.
"Daryl, I truly cannot believe that this is real," I sigh, snuggling my head into his chest.
"Me either," he responds as I take his hand, rubbing my thumb over his ring. "Just wish we could have a honeymoon."
"You and me both," I laugh, forcing myself to sit up. "Wouldn't Fiji be nice? Or maybe Cancun."
"I was thinking, maybe like, Atlanta," he smirks at me.
"Daryl, our honeymoon would have been so much more than Atlanta. Definitely out of the United States." My mind starts to wander, thinking about all of the things that would be possible if this damn apocalypse hadn't gotten in the way. "We'd get you a passport for sure."
"I ain't ever been out of Georgia before," Daryl says. "Out of the US would be nice."
"I'll have to take you out of Georgia one of these days, then," I lean down to kiss him on the forehead before standing up to put on my clothes for the day. I look between my scrubs and jeans, finally deciding on scrubs. I think I deserve a normal day.
"I have to go with Rick today," Daryl stands up as well, grabbing a set of his clothes from the dresser. "We're talking to Tyreese about who killed Karen and David."
"Okay," I look down to my bite mark. "Lucas, Beth, and I will be trying to figure out this mystery all day."
"I'll see you later tonight, then," Daryl kisses me softly before leaving the cell.
I follow not long after, stopping by Beth's cell to bring her with me.
"I have something for you," she smiles as soon as she sees me.
"A wedding present?" I smile, hopeful.
"Actually, yes," she grins, handing over a small stack of what look like... pictures?
"Oh, my goodness, Beth!" I exclaim as I look through the polaroids in my hand. The first one is a picture of Daryl on one knee in front of me, followed by a picture of me walking down the aisle, with Daryl's face very visible in the background, and lastly a picture of us kissing from the wedding. "How did you do this?"
"I borrowed Glenn's camera," she gives me a hug.
"Truly, thank you so much," I beam, dropping the three small pictures into my pocket.
"You're welcome," she says as she pulls away from me. "Now, come on, let's go figure out what the hell's going on with you."
"I brought all of my records," I walk into the medical room, sitting my bag down on the table in the middle of the room. "I have copies of everyone's bloodwork, my notes on everyone, and, of course, my journals. I have two different ones: the one where I write all of my doctor stuff and the one where I write all of my personal stuff. I'm sure between the two sets we can find something that I did to Shane that I happened to also do to myself, but that I didn't do to T-dog."
"Good morning to you, too," Lucas rolls his eyes at me, jokingly, He pulls out a tray of test tubes and sits them on the table as well. "First we need go get you hooked back up on saline."
'Lucas, I think I'm fine," I shake my head.
"Just to be safe, okay?" he asks, and I give in, holding out my arm.
"I'll do it," Beth volunteers.
"Okay, great," Lucas claps his hands. "Now, we need blood samples from you, Daryl, and Shane to test."
"Daryl?" I raise my eyebrow. "Why Daryl? He hasn't had anything done to him."
"Well he did circulate your blood for you," Beth says, causing Lucas to give her a shut the hell up type look.
"What do you mean?" I look between the two of them. "Lucas you did not risk his life to give me blood, did you?"
"Beatrix, he told me to," Lucas says as I start to open my mouth, but he holds up his hand. "But it doesn't matter now, does it? You're both alive, and you seem to be immune to this walker virus, so that means that Daryl very well could be too."
"Holy shit," I rub one hand over my face, using the other to hold onto the IV pole Beth set up for me. "That seems insane."
"We know," Beth and Lucas say at the same time.
"So, I already took some blood from Shane's body. He didn't have the chance to turn before we put him down, so the blood should be viable," Lucas holds up one of the test tubes. "So we'll need yours and Daryl's to compare. Probably someone else's as a control, too."
"Take whatever you need," I hold out my arm, the one without the IV. "I'm going to start reading my personal journals. One of you two can take the medical ones."
Before I can even reach into my bag, the whole building shakes, concrete crumbling around as it falls from the ceiling. Lucas, Beth, and I look around to each other, wide eyed and concerned.
"We should probably go check that out," I speak up, throwing my bag over my shoulder, holding onto my IV as I walk.
"We need to hurry and get out of here," Lucas says as the building shakes again. "Something isn't right."
"No, it isn't," I shake my head as I push the door to the outside open, dragging my IV pole with me.
I have to take a few steps to get closer to the fence to realize what the hell is going on. There's a massive ass tank with several vehicles and dozens of people surrounding it, all with guns pointed towards us. Just when I didn't think this could get worse, I see them standing on top of the tank, making my blood run cold.
The Governor, and worse, Bob. They're back.
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By the time I can collect myself, holding tightly onto my IV pole to prevent myself from completely collapsing, Rick has made his way down to stand in front of the two men I hate most in the world.
"Bea, are you okay?" Lucas grips my shoulder. "It's just Phillip."
"It's not him. It's Bob," I manage to choke out the words without crying. I know I promised myself that I would stop being so weak, but I think I deserve a pass here. I don't even process what they're saying as images flash through my mind, reliving what they did to me.
"Hey," Daryl finally gets to me, grabbing onto my hand and sliding a gun into the waistband od my pants. "It's gonna be okay."
My attention gets pulled from him when The Governor pulls Michonne and Hershel out of one of the vehicles they have, forcing them onto their knees in front of the tank.
"I don't make decisions anymore!" Rick yells down to him.
"You're making decisions today, Rick. Come down here and let's have a little chat," The Governor replies, and even from so far away I can see the shit eating grin on his face.
"Bring my girl, too. I see her up there," Bob yells, and I freeze.
"Fuck no," Daryl immediately shakes his head, pushing his body in front of mine. We all know he's talking about me.
"You aren't in much of a position to argue," Bob yells, seeing my obvious hesitation.
"I'll go with Rick," I take a deep breath. "He'll protect me."
"Bea, I can't—"
"We don't have time to debate," I decide, stepping forward to open the first fence to let myself down into the courtyard.
Rick and I slowly make our way about halfway to the other side of the fence before stopping. I give Rick an uneasy look before forcing myself to look at them. Chills go down my spine as I look around to see at least a dozen of Bob's men littered around the place.
"Let them go, now," Rick immediately says. "I'll stay down here and talk as long as you want. You have a tank, anyway, you don't need hostages."
"Oh, yeah, I do. This thing is just to show you I'm serious," The Governor smirks. "Not to blow a hole in our new home. You and your people, except for Beatrix, of course, have until sundown to get out of there."
Rick and I look at each other in confusion before turning back to the small army standing in front of us. "It doesn't have to be like this."
"Even if we do leave," I say under my breath. "I sure as hell am not staying behind."
"I know," Rick whispers back.
"We have more people, more firepower," the Governor chuckles. "We need this prison."
"There are children here," Rick says out loud.
"We have sick people. They won't survive," I speak up. "We have elders, children, pregnant women. They need this place."
"That sucks," Bob looks at me as if he's staring straight into my soul. "That you'll get to watch them all die."
"Hey," the Governor cuts him off. "We have a tank, and I'm letting you walk out of here alive. What else is there to talk about? We could shoot you, yeah, but you'd shoot back. I know that. But you know what? We'd win, and you would all be dead. All of you."
"We could eat you," Bob smirks, licking his lips at me, and I want to vomit. "Drink your blood."
"It doesn't have to be like that. Like I said, it's your choice," the Governor shrugs. "You've got, maybe, an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing. The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna be for you to get out of here."
"We can all live together," Rick says, and I can tell he's struggling to get his words out. "There's enough room for all of us."
"More than enough," Philip agrees. "But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing you were under the same roof."
What family? I thought to myself.
"We can live in different cell blocks. We'd never have to see each other, until we're all ready," Rick offers. I can't believe he's trying this.
"It could work," Hershel turns around to look at the two devils from his knees, and my heart breaks for him. "You know it could."
"It could have, but it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea," he pauses. "And not after what happened at Bob's place."
"They kidnapped me. You both did!" I burst out, unable to hold back any longer. "Don't act like we're the ones in the wrong, when I was ripped form my home and assaulted by you," I point to Bob before turning to the Governor. "And then you forced me to–"
"Beatrix," Rick scolds me, wrapping his arm around my head to cover my mouth with his hand. "What she meant to say was that it isn't going to be easy. In fact, it'll be a hell of a lot harder than us just standing here shooting at each other, but I don't think we have a choice."
"We don't," the Governor laughs. "You do."
"We're not leaving," I say as Rick moves his hand away.
"You can shoot at us, if you want, but we'll shoot back. The gunshots will bring more of the walkers out, they'll take down the fences, and then this place will be worthless," Rick starts pointing at Phillip, as his temper rises. "Now, we can all live in the prison. Or none of us can."
"We'll fix the damn fences," the Governor mutters as he jumps down from the tank, followed by fucking Bob. He grabs what looks like Michonne's katana from one of his minions before walking over and holding it to Hershel's neck as Bob grabs a fist full of Michonne's hair, holding something to her neck as well. My world seems to slow down as I hear Beth and Maggie behind me, crying.
"You, you in the pony tails," Rick points to a random girl by the tank. "Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want?"
"What we want, is what you've got. Period," the guy from the tank speaks up. "Time for you to leave, asshole."
"Listen, we've fought both of them before, when we beat Phillip, we took in his friends, made them leaders here. We could do that for you too," Rick is almost begging at this point, and I feel terrible for him. "You put down the guns, and we all walk into the prison, together."
"You know we could make it work," I say, staring into Bob's eyes. I'm afraid of him, of course, but I won't let him know that. He won't get the pleasure of seeing me be weak ever again.
"Everyone who's made it this far has done things, things we aren't proud of, just to stay alive. But you know what? We aren't too far gone. We get to come back," Rick pleads and the Governor pulls the sword away from Hershel's neck, causing me to let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding in. Hershel gives Rick a smile of approval as I reach for his hand, squeezing it to let him know he's good. Right when I think things are going well, the Governor speaks again.
"Liar," he yells, taking the sword and swinging it full force into Hershel's neck.
The world around me seems to slow down as the blood spews from Hershel's carotid artery. A scream escapes my lips, but I don't even hear it. My mind doesn't even have time to process what's happening before my gun is out of its holster and I'm spraying bullets at whoever is on the other side of the fence. It doesn't even matter. My rage for Hershel, a sweet, old soul, outweighs any concern for who is on the other side of my barrel.
Rick grabs my arm, pulling me back behind the fallen prison bus, but I can't pull my eyes away from Hershel. He tries to scoot away from the Governor, but before he can get anywhere, the Governor hits him again, successfully decapitating him. Tears of rage stream down my face as Rick holds me to the ground, out of range of the bullets flying from both sides.
Before I know it, the screeching sound of the tank driving through our fence fills my ears, and I turn to Rick in fear.
"What the hell are we going to do?" I ask, eyes wide as I begin to panic. "They're coming, and we can't get back to the prison with everyone else."
"We fight. I'll wait for the governor, and you wait for Bob. We'll jump them and fight like hell," Rick decides, pulling me in close as he places a kiss on my forehead. "I love you, Beatrix, just like I do Carl and Judith. We'll make it through this."
"I love you, too."
Without any more words, Rick runs, tackling the Governor with a hard punch to the face. Taking a deep breath, I rip the IV out of my arm and sling the saline bag to the side. I don't have my katana with me, and I'm pretty sure I already ran out of bullets, so my IV pole will have to do. Sorry, Ellis. I mutter to myself before making my move. With a scream, I run, whacking Bob in the side of the head as hard as I can with the end of the IV pole.
"You stupid bitch!" He yells, turning for me. I don't let him get to me before I swing again, this time hitting him in the gut. He falls to the floor, and I take that as my chance to try and go for his neck. When I get on him, he flips over, knocking me to the ground. I don't have time to breathe before he lands punch after punch onto my face. I reach up and use the pole again to hit him as hard as I can, knocking him back. Pushing myself up and on top of him, I use my free hand to push down on his neck as hard as I can.
Bob coughs and spits up a glob of blood onto my face. Definitely not the first time that's happened to me, and it probably won't be the last. I laugh at how fucked up it is that he thinks that will phase me before kneeing him has hard as I can in the balls.
"You'll pay for that one," he groans out before using his legs to flip me backwards and pin me face down on the ground.
At this point, I'm stuck. There are no more moves I can make, because I'm pinned to the ground with my hands trapped underneath me and my face smashed into the dirt. There is no way in hell I survived a walker bite just to go out like this.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you," Bob whispers in my ear, pulling my hair back so hard it feels like it's going to rip out. "You know you're too pretty for that."
"Go to hell," I spit, wriggling as hard as I can under his grasp.
"I like your new tattoos," he says, pulling part of my shirt down to reveal my shoulder. "They're pretty, but why'd you have to cover up my work? Guess I'll just have to make more."
"Go. To. Hell." I breathe out, having to pause in between each word to catch a breath. My vision starts to spot, and I know I'm going to pass out.
Before I can pass out, though, I feel all of his weight lift off of me. Unsure what happened, I roll my body over to see Lucas on top of him, trying his best to choke him out. I scramble for my pole wile Lucas keeps him distracted. Looking down at it, I know there's no way I can do any damage with this thing, so I decide to hit the side of the bus with it, lodging the wheels into the metal. I use all my strength to pull the pole back out, breaking the end off in the bus. Now, there's a sharp, point end that I can use.
When I turn back to look, Bob has Lucas pinned down with his hands wrapped around his throat. I let out a scream again, jumping to shove the sharp end of the pole through his neck. His hands instantly release from Lucas's throat and wrap around his own.
"Have a nice time in hell," I whisper in his ear before twisting the pole and shoving it upwards into his brain. I pull it back out and stumble backwards, finally catching my breath.
"Whoa, Bea, we've gotta go," Lucas catches me before I fall to the ground. It wasn't until then that I noticed what had happened around me. The tank had rolled up to the prison and brought down all of the walls, letting the walkers in. All of our people seemed to be gone. There was absolutely nobody that I could see.
"Where's Daryl?" I ask, frantically looking around for any sign of him. "Lucas, where is Daryl?"
"I don't know, Beatrix, but we have to go, now!" With that, Lucas drags me away from the prison and into the woods, neither of us knowing what to do next.
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-Bailey <3