Double Crossbow (Daryl Dixon) [The Walking Dead]

Chapter 65 ↣ Is that all you wanna be?

"All cruelty springs from weakness."

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

↣ ↢

Kathryn

THERE WAS WARMTH around our group. Warm food, warm light, warm laughter. My side was even warm as Daryl leaned further into me. I poked him with my elbow. "You're getting in the way of my dinner."

He chuckled and moved away. My moment of reprieve was cut short as he then reached all the way across me to refill my glass with the bottle of wine he hadn't shared with anyone else. "Drink up, lightweight."

I scoffed. "If you think I can get drunk off some cheap wine, you're sorely mistaken."

I would never admit to the tipsy feeling that arose in my chest. It couldn't be the wine. It was the atmosphere. I straightened my back to look over the pews of the church. A quick headcount confirmed everyone was there, and of those heads, all but Gabriel were smiling.

The chatter quieted as Abraham said, "I'd like to propose a toast. I look around this room, and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He raised his glass. "To the survivors."

Members of the group echoed him. Daryl and I sat quietly. His hand hesitantly brushed against my own, prompting me to place my dinner aside in order to intertwine our fingers properly.

"Is that all you wanna be?" Abraham asked. "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that."

My mind flickered back to the prison, and my heart still ached. I tilted my head over to Daryl whose thumb ran over the band of my ring like a ritual. A prayer. Would we ever get to play another card while we were living?

Abraham continued, "Now, we get Eugene to Washington, he will make the dead die, and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip... Eugene, what's in DC?"

Eugene took a moment to gather his words. "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge, restart."

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Abraham paused, looking around to see his impact. I looked to Rick and smiled as Judith babbled something that sounded a whole lot like his name.

"What was that?" Rick chuckled. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

A small laugh escaped my throat. Daryl looked down at me in question. "You know," I began, "this will be my first time out of Georgia."

A grin broke out across his face. "Me too."

"You taking me on my first vacation?"

"Good news, it's free. All ya gotta do is a little walker cleanup along the way."

"What a bargain."

He suddenly straightened and looked over my head. I twisted over my shoulder in time to see Carol slip out the back door.

I squeezed his hand. "Go."

His gaze flickered between me and the door. "Ya sure?"

"Yes, go. Quickly."