Chapter 11
They had left him on his own.
As soon as the screen at the main gate was closed, Rick had fallen onto his knees and wept. He had lost not only Daryl, but now Carol was also a prisoner of that madman. He had done everything Negan had asked of him, had groveled, basically begged for him to leave them alone, and what had been the result?
His two best friends were gone.
Michonne hadn't even tried to approach Rick as he knelt staring forlornly at the closed gate. There was work to be done, and if Rick wasn't up to the task, then it would be down to her; especially now with Carol gone. She had no idea what had happened, and she really needed to have someone bring her up to speed on the situation.
She would have to leave Rick to mourn on his own while she tried to come up with a backup plan. Good thing they had finished hiding the weapons the night before. She glared at Spencer as she passed him. He was looking shifty and she knew she would have to talk about him with Rick sooner or later.
Mostly later.
Gabriel was outside his church, moving what the Saviors hadn't taken, but left outside, back in.
"Carol's gone." Michonne didn't even wait to greet him before she started speaking. "What the hell happened? I get back and suddenly Rick is forcing me to give up my weapon, Carol is ready to leave, and Daryl looks even dirtier than usual?"
Gabriel stopped, closing his eyes and sighing as he raised his face to the sky. "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of God."
Michonne watched as it seemed as though Gabriel transformed right in front of her eyes. When he opened his eyes once again, gone was the fearful man they had met all those months ago. In his place was the man Carol had been talking to for the last few days, the man who'd come up with the hiding place to make Carol's plan possible. And she understood why Carol had seemed to trust him after the shit he had pulled not so long ago.
He was their brother, and he was just as willing as they were to protect their family.
"We had to improvise," Gabriel explained as he started walking towards Carol's place with Michonne. "They got the drop on us, and Carol was barely able to fake it when she realized Daryl was with them."
"Somebody died?"
Gabriel shook his head at Michonne's question. "They held Olivia captive because there were two guns from the inventory missing. Apparently, Spencer took them after Carol finished copying the list ."
"Son of a bitch," Michonne muttered as she stopped in the middle of the street, a hand covering her mouth as she tried to take a deep breath, barely keeping herself from storming over to kick Spencer's ass.
"That's not the worst part…" Gabriel let the sentence hang open as he gave Michonne a look. At her nod he continued. "Negan used something Carl did as an excuse, and that led to Rick and Carol fighting again."
"Just before she ended up being taken away…" Michonne mumbled, grinding her teeth as she looked around them as if trying to find Rick among the people on the streets. He wasn't there. "Did you know?"
"No, but I had my suspicions that it was going to happen. Negan took a shine to her." At Michonne's face, Gabriel added. "He's too narcissistic to think of her like that. She's too old in his mind, he thinks himself a Savior, and she's been playing the perfect damsel in distress."
"Carol mentioned…" Michonne stopped a moment, as if letting the words linger in her mind for a moment, like she was making sense of what she was about to say. "When she was saying goodbye to Rick, she mentioned Carl's hat."
"Do you think-"
Gabriel didn't finish his sentence since Michonne was already sprinting towards Carol's home.
-.-.-.
It took them ages to leave her alone.
She had been paraded around the Sanctuary on Negan's arm, a fake smile on her face as she greeted every person he introduced her to. She met his wives, four beautiful young women who made her heart hurt. She was not living under the understanding they were there by choice, not after she met Sherry; the same Sherry from Daryl's story.
Her smile didn't falter, even if her heart did. This was the woman who, together with Dwight, had betrayed Daryl's trust. It had been her husband who had killed Denise.
Or her former husband from what she was being told.
She was shown what was going to be her working area - a kitchen near Negan's quarters-before she was finally shown into her room. Her room which didn't smell of Daryl.
She hadn't been able to see him since they'd parted ways back in Alexandria. She had been pulled into the cab of the truck Arat was driving, while he'd been thrown into the back of another one. And as soon as they had gotten to their destination, he had been put to work while she was paraded around like Negan's new prize .
At least they had given her backpack back. The bag was sitting in the middle of the single bed which was to be hers while she was staying there. There wasn't a bathroom. If she wanted to relieve herself or shower, she would have to go to the communal showers. And with the men-women ratio in this community, something was telling her she was going to want to avoid that like the plague.
She could faintly hear the sound of music coming from nearby, and she itched to investigate. She hadn't been told she could go out of her room and explore; but she hadn't been told she couldn't either. She had been basically deposited into her room by Arat, who apparently Negan had chosen as her bodyguard, and told to be ready the next morning to begin preparing the food for the higher ups.
Her steps echoed through the long hallway, the music becoming louder with every step she took. It wasn't until then that she realized the song was on repeat, the music fading away before starting all over again.
She felt like someone had pulled the rug from under her feet as she reached a lone door, probably what once had been a supply closet, and she just knew. Based on the big lock on the outside, she knew her mate was behind that door.
She could see herself breaking the lock, opening the door and getting the hell out of there with him. She wished she could say 'the hell' with everything and just take him with her and help him heal from all his wounds. But she couldn't, there wouldn't be a place for them to hide as long as Negan was out there. No one in their family would be safe as long as that madman was on the loose.
She just wished she could at least see him. Touch his hair. Kiss his cheek. Let him know that no matter what had happened, no matter what, he was so loved. She knew him probably better than he knew himself, just like he knew her. And she knew he tended to take everything so personally; he took every loss personally whereas he wouldn't claim being responsible for their victories.
She was so close she could almost touch the door with the tip of her fingers.
"Hey!" A male voice made her jump in alarm, turning to look at where the voice had came from. "What the fuck do you think you're doing down here?"
When she turned, she was met by the greasy blond - haired man who dared to wear her love's vest.
"I-I.." Carol stuttered, her hand over her chest as she pretended to be more scared than she actually was. "I just heard the music, and I wanted to ask whoever had it on if they could maybe turn it down?"
"Go back to your room," Dwight sneered as he gestured with his hands. Carol flinched away when one of his hands got too close for comfort. "Unlike the boss, I don't fucking trust you, lady. If I ever see you around his cell again, I won't be so lenient."
"I'm sorry," Carol mumbled, trying to keep herself from smacking that skinny little asshole. "I had no idea, I just wanted to get some sleep." She just hoped her tears and her voice breaking were enough to make the impact she was looking for.
She saw him falter for a second, and knew she had him.
"Just go back to your room before someone else finds you…" he didn't finish his sentence, his attention no longer on her but on someone or something further behind her. "Just get back to your room, I'll take care of the music."
Carol nodded, turning slightly to try and catch a look at whomever was waiting for Dwight. All she got to see was the shadow of a woman walking through one of the side doors which led to the stairs. Dwight didn't even give her a second look before moving to follow her.
She hid behind a corner as she waited for him to fully disappear from her sight.
Should she try and let Daryl know that she was out there? Should she risk it … for him to know she was not giving up on him? On them?
The sounds of footsteps down the hall took the choice away from her. Her fingertips brushed the door as she hurriedly walked back to her room.
Five minutes after she arrived, the music stopped.
She smiled.
-.-.-.-.
The music stopped.
Daryl was startled by the silence as his heartbeat resounded in his ears. For the first time in days, all he could hear inside his cell was the beat of his own heart.
He sat back, resting his head against the wall behind him. He tried to control his breathing, the sudden change causing his chest to clench with unknown panic. Why had it stopped? What did Negan have planned for him now?
There were so many things he could do to break him now. All Negan needed was to threaten Carol and he would sing like a fucking bird.
He had wanted to put his hands around Negan's neck and watch as the life left his eyes when he'd watched him dare to touch his Carol. He wanted to yell, kick, maim, and kill whoever dared to look at her wrongly. He wanted her away from him, far away so she would never have to deal with any of this. Far enough away that Negan wouldn't be a present threat to her.
But he was selfish. He wanted her next to him, to soothe his broken spirit and bring him back to life. He wanted to feel her soft hands in his hair, her sweet scent rubbing off on him; he wanted to wake up with her in his arms and never let go.
He should have kissed her when he'd had the chance. All those missed opportunities... he should have told Rick to fuck off, grab her by the waist and slam his lips to her; he should have cradled her cheek in his hand and softly brushed his lips over hers. He should have voiced all his hopes and dreams, all the feelings he always assumed were obvious to her.
He should have told her those three little words he had known had only ever belonged to her.
His throat hurt as he tried to quench the sob threatening to burst out of his chest. There was no music to hide behind, nothing which with to muffle his cries. The silence he had longed for seemed more torture than blessing.
Daryl laid down on the floor, his back to the door; arms around his head as he tried to fall asleep. The music no longer silenced the sounds which resounded inside his head...the sound of Negan's bat beating against Abraham's skull, the pained cries of Rosita as she breathed her last, and Carol's muffled whimpers as she was forced to watch.
Light started to filter under the door before he was able to doze off.
-.-.-.-
Jesus loved his new friends.
It wasn't that he was happy they had to look for their help, or were having to basically hide away at the Hilltop from the madman Negan was. He was not happy for the loss of Abraham and Rosita, as little as he had gotten to know them, nor was he happy for the terrible sadness Sasha carried deep in her soul since that night. He wasn't happy Maggie had almost lost her child, or that Daryl had been taken as a prisoner of war when there wasn't a Geneva convention in place anymore.
But he couldn't help but be happy for the new people in his life, friends if he could be so bold to call them that already. For the first time since the turn, since the whole madness had started, Jesus was feeling as part of something truly bigger than himself. He was feeling part of a family instead of being relegated to just another henchmen. He felt appreciated as a person, and not just for what he could bring to the community.
It didn't hurt that Maggie was a force to be reckoned with, and she had definitely taken Gregory's measure. The man was losing power over the people with every day which passed. Every day Maggie, Glenn, and Sasha spent at the Hilltop was a day closer to when Gregory was finally overthrown.
And when it happened, he was going to be first in line to support whoever took his place. He wasn't a leader, and he felt for the first time he had found his place in this world.
Whenever Maggie decided they were leaving, that it was time for them to go back to the rest of their family … Jesus was going with them.
He had found a family, something Paul Rovia had longed for way before the turn. And he was not going to give it out without a fight.
-.-.-.
Three days.
Michonne watched Rick's back as they laid down on the pallet he had created for them in their room. He looked defeated, even in sleep. It had taken him a long time to get back inside after Negan had left. After Negan had taken his two best friends from right under his nose.
Three days.
It had been a somber dinner. Neither of the three grown ups making any sound over the scraping of forks on the plates as they enjoyed what Carol had been cooking that morning. Carl hadn't raised his eyes to his father, choosing to actually leave the table - and the house- before they had finished their meal.
Three days.
Michonne and Rick had gone to bed, after making sure Judith was settled. They'd barely exchanged words as they had undressed, kneeling down on the floor before trying to find a comfortable position without a proper bed. It was funny how people got used to the good things in life fairly quickly. A good mattress, three meals a day; a family that wasn't broken.
Three days.
Rick was far away in a place Michonne couldn't follow, a place Michonne had told herself she would never go back to. His eyes said it all. He hadn't told her, but she just knew things between Rick and Daryl hadn't been at it's best before he was taken. Just like things weren't at his best with Carol.
Three days.
Michonne sighed before she silently stood up, leaving the room she shared with Rick and going down the stairs. Silently she left the house, moving in the darkness to Carol's house. It was time.
Three days had been all Carol had written on that note. Three days with which to rally the troops. Three days before they defied the titan who appeared to be Negan and his men.
Three days.
