Kill or Be Killed

Licking my lips, I contemplate my words carefully, before questioning, “Not to be rude, but how can I trust you?”

Raising his hand, he gestures behind him. My eyes advert to from the man, seeing elderly people shattered around the make shift hospital room. One elderly woman, dressed in a long pink dressing gown, in wheel chair, talking to a elderly man in bed. To my left, is an elderly woman sleeping, all wrapped up snuggly in the bed, fluid line attached to her arm.

Scrunching my eyebrows together, I question, “I don’t understand..?”

Taking a deep breath, the man explains, “My name is Mario, and I, along with a small handful of men, help protect these defenceless elderly people.”

My face softens as he continues to explain, “All the staff took off as the epidemic took over. They left all of them here to die, but Guillmero and Felipe couldn’t stand for that. Guillmero was the building custodian, and with the Felipe was one of the nurses.”

“The guns were a way to protect them, and yourselves?” I ask him, as he hands me a glass of water.

I smile and take a sip of the refreshing water, rehydrating my dry throat.

He looks down in guilt, “We were only trying to protect the food and medicine. I do apologise for the methods we used, but we couldn’t risk it” he explains sincerely.

Tilting my head to the side, I mumble, “Guess we gotta do, what we gotta do to survive! The world ain’t what it used to be.”

Looking around the room, I question Mario concerned, “Where is Glen, the guy that was with me?”

“He is safe, I can assure you. He is in the hall. I can take you to him?” Mario offers with a smile.

Mario helps me out of bed, and leads me out of the hospital ward and down the corridor. I cringe at how quiet and airy it feels, knowing this place would be humming with life before he walkers. We enter into a large hall, beaming with activity. I sigh in relief when I find Glen, gathered in a small group around an elderly gentlemen using an inhaler.

Glen looks up at me and a large smile appears on his face. I wave at him, pleased to see he is safe and well. I start to make my way towards Glen, however I stop in my tracks as I hear more people entering the room. My heart skips a beat seeing Daryl, Rick and T-Dog.

I jog over to see Daryl, pulling him into a tight embrace. He greets me by immediately wrapping his arms around me, he quizzing me, “Did they hurt you? I’ll kill anyone who hurt ya!”

I place a peck on lips, before I reassure him, “I’m fine, I promise!”

Daryl places his arm around my neck, holding onto my tightly. We listen as Rick and Guillmero talk about the weapons. I turn my attention to Daryl, staring up at him. My thoughts wonder back to my dream, replaying how we met. I smile thinking back to Daryl coming to my apartment almost every night, after he got into a fight with Aaron. That went on for many weeks, him staying over and us sleeping together - I became more involved in his life.

We never discussed what we were, I was afraid to bring it up as we were doing so well; I didn’t want to push things. Then, one day, out of the blue, Daryl introduced me as his girlfriend to one of his mates.



I exhale heavily, following behind Rick and Glen, down the rail way tracks towards the van. The warm sun shining down on us, not a cloud in the sky. I can’t help but look at the fallen city. It feels like a lifetime again, this city used to be buzzing with life, sounds of car horns and people filling the air.

I look to my right, checking on Daryl, I note his facial expression is blank, as he stares straight ahead.

Nudging him with my elbow, I try to reassure him, “Come on, we both know Merle is a crazy son of a bitch. Not to mention one tough bastard. Remember that night at Todd’s Bar and the bikers?”

He chuckles at my comment, as I state, “He’ll be alright Dar. We will see him soon, he won’t ditch us that easily.”

He just smiles at me and looks ahead. I take that as a hint, knowing I need to drop it. Daryl is a very closed off person, dealing with all his emotions and issues, internally - I just need to respect that at the moment, and remain supportive.

“Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat,” I hear Glen tease Rick.

“Don’t tell anybody,” Rick replies jokingly before being cut off by Daryl, which causes me to laugh.

“You’ve given away half our guns and ammo,” Daryl snarls annoyed, stopping in his tracks.

“Not nearly half,” Rick snaps back, defending himself.

“For what? So they can fight. Seriously how long do you think they got?” Daryl questions Rick. I believe Rick’s actions were the right thing to do. Rick handing some the guns to Guillermo and his guys, giving them a fighting chance at survival.

“How long do any of us?” Rick replies, a question we are all too afraid to ask.

I cut in, supporting Rick’s actions, “It’s only a small amount, it gives them a chance. They deserve it.” Daryl rolls his eyes at my comment , but drops it - knowing it’s been and done now.

We continue to make our way to back the van, following each other like sheep. We walk around a parked bus to where we parked the van, only to be met with an empty spot. We all stop in and stare in shock, horrified that the van is gone. I look around, wondering if we parked it somewhere else.

“Oh my god,” Glen exclaims concerned.

“Where the hell is our van?” Daryl asks out loud, voting everyone’s thoughts.

Running a hand through my hair, I groan in frustration, “Seriously?!”

“We left it right here! Who’d take it?” Glen asks distraught, looking around the empty lot.

Sighing, Rick states disappointed, “Merle.”

“He’s going to be taking some vengeance back to camp,” Daryl predicts; knowing is brother.

“Okay, I know Merle can be a cunt, but he surely he wouldn’t do something like that?” I plead with Daryl, hoping he will correct me.

Looking away, and shaking his head, Daryl snarls under his breathe, “They did leave him handcuffed to the roof.”

“We need to get back to camp now,” Rick orders urgently, thinking of his family.

“How?” T-dog asks Rick.

“What, ya legs full off?” Daryl snaps at him, causing a groan from Glen.