Fighter

15 Years Earlier

Two years later, Isabell’s mom just got up and moved away. The girl figured that her mom was done taking care of her (since Isabell was now of age to live on her own) and decided to run off with one her weekend getaways. Things between Daryl and Isabell have remained as they ever were since Daryl told her he loved her. She just let it go and forgot about it like it never happened. Daryl struggled to never bring it up again since his feelings for her were, what he believed, true. Every time he thought about life without her, his chest became clenched up and he had a hard time breathing. It would be hard to live in a world without his best friend. They had been through everything together, having lived next door their whole lives. Now though, they had a house together, with separate rooms for each and one to spare. They would still go one with the time that they spent together in a bed, but they never slept overnight with each other. Daryl had asked a few times for her to just stay, but when he drifted off to sleep, she was always gone before he woke again.

Just days after her mother left, Isabell received a phone call at the old house as she was packing it up. The call was from someone claiming to be her brother. At first, she couldn’t remember ever having any siblings. As she dug further back into her memory, she remembered him. He was more than twelve years older than her and had moved on to have his own family well before she could even learn who this other person living in the house was. The two kept in contact over time. Isabell was even there for the birth of her first niece.

Daryl’s older brother, Merle, was another story. He had never really been nice to Isabell. When they were little, she was a girl almost six years younger than him, and it wasn’t okay for her to be around. Then as they got older, it seemed that the girl was trying to change Daryl, and make him do his homework or study for the upcoming test. In Merle’s eyes all Daryl needed to know was how to live on his own. It didn’t matter how good he did in school and what grade he got. He’d be fine keeping to himself, hunting for his own food and selling to local markets. He didn’t need smarts so long as he had brawn.

Daryl was always torn between his brother and his best friend. Eventually, he had a hard time choosing and dragged Isabell along with him when Merle took him hunting. Isabell still quizzed Daryl on camping trips, when Merle hadn’t told her to ‘shush, you’re scaring away the game.’ Isabell would just roll her eyes and try again later.

They never expected Merle to come back, but when he did, he seemed to think that he belonged there with them. Merle said that his little brother owed him and it wasn’t like they didn’t have the extra room. Isabell was reluctant, keeping a firm no, until Daryl found his way to get her to agree, promising that he wouldn’t ask her to stay in his bed so long as Merle lived with them. Isabell rolled her eyes and finally agreed to let Merle stay. He really didn’t do much to help out. He went out hunting every weekend and brought home a bunch of meat for Isabell to cook up. When it came to cleaning, Merle wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t clean up his own messes, let alone someone else’s. Isabell was fine with doing the house cleaning as long as Merle’s messes kept to his room. Daryl knew that Isabell didn’t like having Merle around, but he was thankful that she was willing to put up with Merle for him. It just made him love her even more.

~~~~~

Daryl had been attempting to hack at the giant steel doors for a while now. He had let Isabell go sit down beside Carol and Sophia, holding the two of them together. Carol was distraught over Jenner locking them in and putting their fate in his own hands. They all wanted to fight to live, even if it meant living in a world where all they did was fight for the rest of their lives. At least they would have died trying to fight to get the world back to normal.

Isabell was also mad that Jenner took things into his own hands. She was on the fence thought whether she really would want to go back out there. There was nothing left for her in the world. Her entire life had been ripped to shreds the night of the breakout. Daryl was the only family she had left, and even that relationship was really confusing.

When Daryl got tired of swinging the axe at a door that wasn’t going to break, he grabbed the bottle of alcohol he had and threw it against the steel. He turned back to the center of the room. “Open the damn door!” he shouted at Jenner. Jenner didn’t seem to be phased by his voice. Someone had actually shushed Daryl. Isabell scoffed thinking to herself that telling him to be quiet never worked. Shane joined Daryl after finding another axe and hit at the door himself thinking that he could do better. Isabell stayed cuddled to her new friends, letting them try to fight their way out. Daryl grabbed his axe again. Maybe the two of them working at one time would benefit.

Jenner turned to look at Isabell. “You should’ve left well enough alone. It would have been so much easier.”

“Easier for who?!” The blonde demanded.

“All of you.” Jenner stated calmly. “You know what’s out there. There’s a short, brutal life and an agonizing death.” He looked to Andrea. “Your – your sister, what was her name?”

“Andrea, don’t answer him.” Isabell advised.

“Amy,” she said anyway. Isabell rolled her eyes.

“Amy.” Jenner repeated. “You know what this does. You’ve seen it.” Jenner turned to the newly arrived Rick. “Is that really what you want for your wife and son?” Shane and Daryl stopped throwing the axes to the wall and joined the center of the room.

“I don’t want this.” Rick stressed. Rick turned back to Shane, who was leaned over a set of computers, trying to get his breathing back to normal.

“Can’t make a dent.” Shane said.

“Those doors are meant to withstand a rocket launcher.” Jenner informed.

Daryl came forward swinging the axe behind him. “Well, your head ain’t!” Rick, Dale, and T-Dog held him back. Isabell pushed herself off the ground and pushed Daryl to the back of the group, leaving people in between him and Jenner acting as a wall.

“You do want this.” Jenner said. “Last night,” he looked to Rick, “You said that you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.” Everybody looked up at Rick, wide-eyed, including Isabell, who had just put herself on Rick’s team, finally believing what he said was all a good idea.

“What you really said that?” Shane asked him. “After all your big talk?”

“I had to keep hope alive, didn’t I?” Rick asked, looking down at Lori.

“There is no hope.” Jenner believed. “There never was.”

“There is always hope. Maybe it won’t be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere – ”

“What part of ‘everything is gone’ do you not understand?” Andrea asked from her spot on the floor.

“Listen to your friend.” Jenner counseled. “She gets it.”

“That’s because she believes she’s lost her family.” Isabell said, stepping forward, looking to Dale, who looked rather upset to see her give up like she had. Andrea sent a glare in Isabell’s directions, but didn’t say anything.

“This is what takes us down.” Jenner said. “this is our extinction event.”

“This isn’t right.” Carol cried. Isabell joined her at her side, crouching by Carol. “You can’t just keep us here.”

“One tiny moment. A millisecond. No pain.”

“I don’ care if I still feel alive after. This isn’t your decision to make.” Isabell argued.

“My daughter doesn’t deserve to die like this.” Carol stressed. Isabell stood up and took Sophia from her mom. She wanted to get the two away from Jenner so they would calm down. Isabell saw Shane walk away angrily as she wrapped an arm around Sophia’s shoulders.

“Wouldn’t it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?” Jenner asked. Behind them Isabell heard a gun cock and she grabbed ahold of Sophia, holding the girl to her body, just in case. Shane came up behind them barreling through. Rick called out to stop Shane from going to Jenner.

“Out of the way, Rick!” Shane ordered, pushing him away. “Stay out of my way!” Shane put the barrel of the gun right to Jenner’s face. “Open that door. Or Ima blow your head off. Do you hear me?!” Rick attempted to talk Shane out of what he was doing. Isabell looked to Daryl who was just staring at what was going on. Shane screamed and fired a shot. Isabell pulled Carol and Sophia and put herself in between them and Shane’s shots. Rick fought for the gun from Shane. He grabbed ahold of it and hit Shane upside the head with it.

“Are you done now? Are you done!?” Rick screamed to Shane who was laying on the floor.

“Yeah, I guess we all are.” Shane snapped, glaring back at Rick. The room was silent, everybody just staring at Rick. Isabell had unwrapped herself from around the little girl and her mom. She looked up at Daryl, waiting for him to say something that would make her think they were going to get out of here.

Daryl didn’t. Instead, he went to try again at the door. But Rick tried. “I think you’re lying.” He said to Jenner.

“What?”

“You’re lying about no hope. If that were true, you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out.” Rick said. Isabell saw where he was going with it. “You chose the hard path. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jenner insisted, shaking his head. Isabell stepped towards Jenner.

“It does matter.” Isabell said. “It matters to us. We woulda been dead yesterday if you hadn’t been here and open those doors. You stayed when the others ran. Why?”

“Not because I wanted to.” Jenner said, looking at Isabell, then to Rick. He stood up in Rick’s face. “I made a promise…” he pointed his finger up to the big screen. “To her.”

Isabell furrowed her brow. “You knew TS-19?” she asked.

Jenner nodded. “She was my wife.” He admitted.

“Test subject nineteen was your wife?” Lori asked to clarify.

“She begged me to keep going as long as I could. She wanted me to find a cure. She let us watch her development. How could I say no? She was dying. It should have been me on that table. I wouldn’t have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I’m just…Edwin Jenner.” He admitted, shaking his head, with no faith in himself. “She could’ve done something about this. Not me.”

“Your wife didn’t have a choice.” Rick told him. “You do. That’s all we want. A choice. A chance.”

“Let us keep trying as long as we can.” Lori begged. Jenner debated in his head.

“You saved these kids’ lives, our lives once. Please, just one more time.” Isabell said, looking back at the kids.

“I told you, topside’s locked down. I can’t open those.” Jenner said, moving around Rick to go to his computer. Isabell grabbed Sophia and Carol, walking towards Daryl, throwing his axe at the door. Jenner pushed a few buttons on his pad and the door opened.

“Come on!” Daryl called to everyone, leading Isabell through the hallway with her tagalongs. Everyone stopped abruptly, looking back at Rick who was talking with Jenner. Isabell pulled on Carol’s arm though and lead her to the rooms with all their stuff. She wasn’t going to wait around anymore, they were getting out of there as quickly as they could.

“Daryl!” Isabell called, wondering why he wasn’t going with them.

“Go!” he ordered, sternly. She looked at his face, running backwards, shaking her head. “I’ll be right there!” he promised. “Go!” Isabell nodded, and continued to pull Carol down to their rooms. Her and Daryl’s bag was already packed so she just grabbed it from inside the door and put it around her shoulders. She ran to help Carol get her stuff altogether. Then she remembered that T-Dog hadn’t followed them either and she went to his room to get his bag, too.

“What now?” Carol asked, feeling rushed.

“The lobby.” Isabell said, trying her hardest to stay calm. She grabbed onto Sophia’s arm and pulled her back into the lobby. When they arrived, Isabell let out a breath seeing Daryl there, trying to get the doors open with the help of T-Dog. She pat herself on the back for thinking quickly about T-Dog’s bag. Shane ran up to the windows on the side with his axe.

“Daryl!” Shane called. Daryl ran over to the windows with his axe and began helping Shane hack away at the glass that didn’t seem to want to break.

“Carol, we’re gonna stay back here. Just in case something breaks.” Isabell said to her friend.

Carol nodded. “Stay close, sweetheart.” She said to her daughter. Shane got defeated and came up with another idea.

“Get away from the window.” He told Daryl as he went back to his bag for his shotgun. Daryl stepped back, looking to Isabell. She nodded, reassuring him that they were alright. He nodded once and watched as Shane let off a shot into the window, to no avail.

“The glass won’t break?” Sophia cried, worriedly. Isabell crouched down to her level, pushing her hair behind her ears.

“Don’t worry. I promise you, we’ll get out of here. Daryl’s gonna do everything that he can. He always does.” She told her. Sophia nodded, and Isabell pulled her into a hug. Carol grabbed her bag and walked toward Rick.

“Rick,” Carol said. “I have something that might help.” She reached into her bag.

“Carol, I don’t think a nail file’s gonna do it.” Shane said, sarcastically. Isabell rolled her eyes.

Carol ignored Shane’s remarks and turned to Rick. “Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket.” Carol pulled out a grenade and held it out to Rick, her hand shaking. Rick looked at her, debating in his head. He nodded and grabbed the explosive out of Carol’s hands. Carol immediately turned and ran back to Sophia.

“You two stay right here.” Isabell ordered. “Keep your body over her.” she told Carol. Carol nodded, and hugged her daughter.

“Look out!” Rick shouted in the lobby. Everybody backed up to where Carol and Isabell were hanging back. Daryl joined Isabell and put himself over her to protect her from the blast. Rick ran back toward the group. “Get down!” he shouted. The blast was so loud that even Isabell’s hands over her ears, she could still feel like her eardrums were being burst. Daryl pulled Isabell up and grabbed their bag. Isabell made sure that she had a hold on Carol and Sophia as she pushed them in front of her. Carol went through the window first, Isabell handing Sophia down to her. They ran the rest of the way, Carol holding on to her daughter and Isabell running behind them just in case they were to fall.

“Get in the car!” she told them as they passed the yellow station wagon. She continued to run to Daryl’s blue truck. Daryl threw their bag in the bed of the truck while Isabell climbed in. Daryl got in and pulled her down over the center and put his body over hers like he had in the CDC lobby. She reached for his hand and held it tight awaiting the blast that they knew was coming. The blast went and it seemed to slow down. The two sat up in their seats, Isabell’s hand not leaving his as the two watched the building fall apart. Motion caught Isabell’s eye and she leaned to her right to see Andrea and Dale get up and get in the RV. She turned to Daryl. “Who stayed?” she asked.

Daryl shook his head. “Just Jacqui.” He said. Isabell nodded. She pulled her hand out of his grasp and put it on the side of his face. She pulled his face towards her and kissed him hard. Daryl responded and his mouth moved against hers. Isabell pulled away when she needed a breath. “What was that for?” he asked, leaning his forehead against hers.

Isabell just shook her head. “Just thank you. You’re amazing and I know that you didn’t mean to push me. You’re just angry, tryin’ not to get me killed. Tryin’ to do everythin’ to protect me. Made me think of a long time ago…” she trailed off. He furrowed his brow. “When you told me that you loved me. On my birthday.”

Daryl sat back in the driver’s seat. “I thought you forgot.”

Isabell shook her head. “How could I forget the first time anyone told me that they love me?”