This chapter was going to be much longer, but I decided to split it in half.
Chapter Twelve
Life in Woodbury seemed easy. Too easy. Especially at the end of the world when one had to fight to survive from creatures that hungered for human flesh. However, the moment he walked inside the gated community, he was given a job, which didn't bother him. He'd rather keep busy than stay idle.
Every other day, he would go out with a few other men and hunt for meat. No longer did he do the job alone and quickly, he found out that he had much rather be alone. The more people there were, the more noise they made and that meant the less chance of them coming across any animal they could eat.
Some nights, he would take watch on one of the walls and if the walker build up got to be too much, he would take out as many as he could with his bow.
Daryl barely saw Merle.
In the short time Merle had been with these people, the Governor had taken a liking to his older brother and had made him his right hand man, along with Martinez and Shumpert. Most days, Merle would be out of Woodbury gathering supplies. Sometimes, the Governor would even join them.
Daryl didn't like the Governor.
There was something sinister about the man. He didn't know what it was, yet. The man seemed nice, but for some reason Daryl knew that it was all a facade. It was all in the man's eyes. They were cold. Dead. Daryl wanted to talk to Merle about it, but his brother seemed loyal to the Governor and Daryl wasn't sure how he would react to Daryl being suspicious of him.
Plus, he rarely saw Merle, anymore and when he did see him, their interactions seemed different. They weren't like how they had been when it had been just the two of them on the road. The people on Woodbury loved Merle. He was often seen hanging around town with groups of them.
Then, one day, Merle came back to Woodbury with two women. One was blonde, and passed out in the back of the truck, and the other had dreads and a scary looking sword strapped to her back. It wasn't until later, when the blonde woman had recovered a bit in the sick room, did Daryl learn their names. Andrea and Michonne.
Andrea.
The name stuck with Daryl. It was one of the names Sophia had said back at the quarry. Of course, he knew that there had to be tons of Andreas out there, even with the apocalypse, and there was no way he could be that lucky, again. But he kept an eye on her, hoping that she would do or say something that would let Daryl know that this was the same Andrea from Carol's group.
Andrea, the blonde woman, had immediately caught the eye of the Governor and she returned the attention right back. They were often seen walking the streets of Woodbury, together. Michonne kept her distance from the two when they were together, but she never kept her eyes off them. Daryl could tell that she knew there wasn't something right about the Governor, too.
That morning, Carol had been laughing with Rick and T-Dog at the expense of Maggie and Glenn. T-Dog had yelled up to one of the watchtowers, the same one Maggie and Glenn had spent the night, and the young man had made an appearance, shirtless, and didn't look too happy at the disturbance. Maggie looked just as unamused. But they all needed to find the joy in the little things.
After they moved a few vehicles, they made their way back to the cellblock and the rest of the group. They were greeted with a sight that brought smiles to all of their faces.
Hershel was slowly crutching his way outside to the courtyard. Beth hovered nearby, in case her father needed any assistance. However, the old man was strong and even though his leg had only been amputated a few days before, he was up and about as if nothing had happened.
Lori had also made her way outside. She walked up to the chain link fence, eyes only on Rick. A small smile played on her lips and when Carol looked at Rick, he saw that he was smiling right back at his wife. Maybe, now that they were safe inside concrete walls and chain link fences, Rick and Lori would be able to mend their relationship. Especially with Lori's baby due any day.
But the happy scene was shattered when the screeching sound of the prison's alarm went off and walkers began to flood the yard.
At first, no one knew what to do. They were all so stunned. But as the walkers grew nearer, they all hopped into action.
Carol and T-Dog took off, hoping to shut one of the doors where the walkers were streaming through. Carol only had a small gun, but she didn't miss a shot as they ran. However, it hadn't been enough.
Out of nowhere, a walker attached himself to T-Dog's shoulder and ripped a chunk of flesh from it. Carol witnessed the bite and screamed out an anguished no. That wasn't supposed to happen. T-Dog was one of her dearest friends and now... Tears pricked her eyes and she quickly blinked them back before they blurred her vision. She couldn't get bit, too. She needed to get T-Dog somewhere safe. Somewhere where he could...die. Peacefully. With a bite in his shoulder, there was no way they could amputate it to help him.
Barely holding in her sobs, Carol wrapped an arm around T-Dog's waist and guided him into the prison. The wound on his shoulder was bleeding profusely and his shirt was stained red. Behind them, hungry walkers stumbled after them. Somehow, she had to find her way back to the cellblock. There was nothing Hershel could do for T-Dog, but he deserved to be around family when he...
A loud sob escaped her mouth before she could even think about holding it in.
"Carol..." T-Dog's voice broke through her thoughts.
"Yes?" She composed herself enough to answer.
"You need to let me go." Together, they stopped in the middle of a dim hallway. The sounds of the walkers behind them grew louder as they grew closer. "At this rate, they'll catch up to us. I'm good as dead, anyway."
"No," she sobbed. "You're coming with me. Please, T..."
T-Dog detangled himself from Carol and turned to face the walkers coming their way. "This way, at least one of us will get out of here alive, and you will get out of here, Carol. You're strong. One of the strongest people I've met. Don't you forget that. Ever."
"Please, Theodore." She reached for his arm, but he moved away from her.
"Go on, Carol." He gave her a sad smile. "Out of everyone in the group, I liked you best. Just don't tell Glenn, all right?" With one last wink, he turned to the walkers, ran and threw himself at them. Carol cried out as he did so, but couldn't watch her friend get torn apart, so she turned and fled down the hallway, not caring when her head wrap flew from her head.
"Goodbye, Theodore Douglas," she whispered. "You were a good man. One of the best I knew."
Michonne and Andrea had been in Woodbury for only a few days. Things were growing tense between them. Even someone not as observant as Daryl could tell that things between the two friends had become extremely rocky. Merle had told him, after spending a little time with Andrea (she was blonde and attractive, so of course Merle would want to speak with her), that Michonne wanted to leave Woodbury and Andrea did not.
Daryl didn't blame Michonne for wanting to leave. He wanted to, too, but he knew he could never leave his brother and Merle would never want to leave the place, especially since he was respected and liked there.
"The Governor is goin' to let her leave tomorrow mornin," Merle said. That night, they were actually eating a meal together. Normally, Merle would be out with his new pals or with the Governor, while Daryl took his meals in his room. He had no desire to get to know anyone in Woodbury.
Daryl's eyes narrowed. "Thought we were all free to leave whenever we wanted. I didn't know we had to have the Governor's permission." His appetite had fled the moment Phillip Blake was mentioned. Of course, no one called him that to his face, unless they were part of his 'inner circle', which included Merle, Martinez, Shumpert and a bookish man named Milton Mamet.
"Course you don't need his permission," the way Merle had said that made Daryl think he was lying. "It's just that she could have been an asset to have around here, with that fuckin' sword and all. He's sorry to see her go."
Daryl knew there was a reason why Michonne wanted to go and he was sure it was because of the Governor.
"What about Andrea? Will she be goin' too, then?" Daryl pushed the remaining food on his plate with a fork, debating if he should just dump the rest of it onto Merle's plate, knowing that his older brother wouldn't mind having the extra food.
"Her ass is stayin' right here in Woodbury. She's been here only a few days and she's already wound up in the Governor's bed." Was that jealousy in Merle's tone?
"Huh. So, she's choosin' him over a woman she's spent the last few months survivin' with?" That didn't sound right to him, at all.
"I guess. But she knows it's safe here and not out there. She's tired of runnin' and havin' to fight for her life all the time."
Daryl pushed his plate away, his appetite completely gone, now. "Haven't you ever stopped to think about why Michonne wants to leave this place so badly? Especially, since this place is so perfect and all." He knew he was treading on thin ice and was even made more aware of that fact when Merle's eyes narrowed.
"What are you tryin' to say, little brother?"
"Oh. Nothin'." Daryl leaned back in his chair, hoping that he was giving off a convincing uncaring attitude. "I was just curious why that woman would want to leave a place like this. That's all."
Merle didn't believe him, he could tell in the way his older brother was looking at him, but he didn't call Daryl out and that was fine by him. "I don't know why she wants to leave," he shrugged and went back to his food. "She's pretty stupid, then, if you ask me."
Daryl didn't agree,
"Oh. Blake wants me to go out on a little huntin' trip, tomorrow. You wanna come?"
Daryl wasn't due for another hunting trip for a few days and in all honesty, he just wanted to stay behind the walls of Woodbury until then. He liked that he didn't have to go out every morning to hunt just so they would have food. "Naw, I'm good. It seems like all I ever do is hunt, anymore, and I'm looking forward to a break."
"All right. That's fine. I probably won't be back until tomorrow night. Blake ain't goin' to want me back unless I kill somethin'."
"Mama?"
Carol started at the voice and opened her eyes, even though they felt like they were glued shut. The room she was in was pitch black and the speaker was no where to be seen.
"Mama. Please. You have to get up."
Something tugged on her arm. Carol lolled her head to the side, not having the strength to move it properly, and saw a flash of strawberry blonde hair. Sophia.
"Mama. You need to get up, so you can get out of here." There was more tugging on her arm and Sophia's voice sounded more urgent.
"Sophia, baby. I can't. I'm so tired. I just want to sleep." She leaned her head back against the concrete wall and allowed her eyes to slide closed.
"No!"
Carol's eyes shot open and she looked at the apparition of her daughter. Sophia's brown eyes were wide and full of tears. "Please, mama. If you close your eyes, you'll never wake up, again. I need you to make it back to the rest of the group. They need you and they miss you."
"No one will miss me, honey. Now, please. I'm tired. Let mommy get some sleep, okay?"
"Daryl will miss you!" Sophia shook her, then, and Carol felt like her brain was rattling in her head. "And Glenn and Rick and Carl."
"...Daryl? I don't know a Daryl, Sophia." But she knew of a Daryl. He had been the one to retrieve the letter to Sophia and made sure it got back to her. Was he the same Daryl Sophia was talking about, now?
A slow smile spread across her daughter's pretty face. "Oh, Mama. You haven't met a Daryl, yet. One day you will and he's going to make you so happy. Now, come on. Get up." She was so adamant that Carol finally did as she was told, even though she felt so tired and weak.
It took all of her strength and some of Sophia's before Carol was firmly on her feet, again. Her legs felt like jelly and she leaned heavily against the door to the storage room she had hidden away in.
"Remember what Mr. T-Dog said. You're strong and you will get out of here." Something was being pressed into her hand and Carol looked to see that it was her knife. She barely had the strength to stand, she didn't know if she had the strength to fight off any walkers.
"Come on, Mama." Sophia tugged at her hand. "Open the door and I'll lead you back to the group, okay? There you will be able to rest."
"W-Will you be there with me, Sophia?" Carol knew the answer, but she just had to ask.
"You know I won't be. I'm in a better place, now. But don't worry, I'll always be with you and I am so proud of you."
"I-I'm glad."
Carol opened the door and allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the hallway. Thankfully, no walkers were in sight. But she kept her knife clutched tightly in her right hand while Sophia pulled at the other and guided her to the rest of her group.
Thanks for reading!
