I'm waiting in our room for all of a minute before Daryl shows up. He tests the locked door handle before telling me to let him in.
"I never got to ask Pete about guard duty," I say in a rush, shoving the door back to a close and pushing down so the door locks with a click. "But with my brother running around down there... It's just too risky." Daryl nods, having reached this conclusion himself.
"I'll ask Pete. He'd probably wonder why you'd be wantin' it anyways. Until tonight... You should just stay in here." I slouch and cross my arms over my chest petulantly but of course he's right. I'd already decided that myself. I sigh.
"Okay. Just go tell Pete we want guard duty and then make up some story about how I'm resting my foot and you're staying with me. It kinda hurts anyways after running across the courtyard to escape my brother." Daryl raises his eyebrows at staying here in disdain. I roll my eyes and give a tight smirk.
"If I'm stuck up here, you are too," I order.
{o0o}
Daryl's back before too long, carrying two books, a deck of cards, and two bottles of water. He hands me a bottle of water and confirms that Pete assigned us to guard together at a point on the East side of the wall. He offers me the books, too, but I shake my head.
"I've read both." Instead, we play gin for awhile. I enjoy it, but Daryl's constant grumbling couldn't say enough. When I call gin for the fourth time in a row, he throws his cards down without counting and rises from where we're sitting on the floor. I grin up at him as he takes a few steps, muttering insults and trash talk.
"Have you had enough?" I ask sweetly. He glares down at me and offers a hand, pulling me to my feet.
"Yeah. I have. I wanna get Merle and get outta this place for good." I brush off my pants a sigh, my good mood fading.
"Same," I say unconvincingly. Daryl hears it and pulls his chin up with his fingers, forcing me to make eye contact. His eyes are clear as they dart between my irises.
"You don't wanna leave," he states. I don't respond. "It's your brother, ain't it? You feel like you got unfinished business?" My jaw strains and my eyes harden.
"We do, but I'm ready to go."
"You better be. Y'all can't have an intervention while we're still here or this whole plan'll be for nothin'."
"I know. But... I don't want to talk to him. I-I.. I'm afraid of what I want," I admit.
"You wanna kill him?" Daryl asks so bluntly I'm silent for a moment.
"No. I mean, maybe. I don't know. All I know is I want to hurt him like he's hurt me my whole life." Daryl releases my chin and takes a step back, feeling awkward and intimate in this suddenly emotional atmosphere. It seems like he's resorting back into a closed off state. I wonder if it's Merle or just us not spending every second together.
"You deserve closure, but you just can't do it right now."
"I know. And it sucks." I check the watch next to our bed. It's only eleven, and we have a long day and night ahead of us.
"I'm taking a nap," I decide. "We won't be sleeping tonight." Daryl looks out the window absently as I undress and crawl between the sheets. Eventually he turns and nods before moving to take off his vest, jeans, boots, and shirt.
"Might as well." We settle in and I squeeze my eyes shut. I've never been good at taking naps, but this one is crucial. Muscle by muscle, thought by thought, I slowly turn my systems off. Daryl's warm body and even breathing comforts me. It takes me awhile, but eventually I fall asleep.
{o0o}
When I wake it's dark out and Daryl is sitting in the chair by the window, twirling a hat and sunglasses in his hands. I prop myself off of the bed and study his figure.
"How d'you keep wakin' without m'noticin'," I finally grumble before taking a swig from my water bottle. He shrugs.
"Ain't that hard. You sleep like a rock." I push back the sheets and grab my stack of clothes. I turn towards the opposite wall to pull them on, even though we should be past that stage by now.
"Guess I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Haven't had one full night of sleep since before the warehouse." I bite my lip but the words are out before I can stem them. Daryl stays silent even though I can feel his frustrated curiosity reaching out across the room and shaking me for answers. I braid my hair down one shoulder and tuck the shorter tendrils behind my ear.
"Got these for ya. Matt can't see your face with 'em on," Daryl eventually tells me quietly. I shiver as he tosses a black Falcons ballcap and black wayfarers onto the bed.
"How do you know his name?" I ask tentatively as I put the items on. It's harder to see but I accept that for now.
"What?"
"Matt. How do you know his name? I've never said it to you."
"Oh. Must've been Merle." I push myself off of the bed and stand next to his chair to eye the courtyard. It glows faintly from the torches.
"You got somethin' against his name?" I shake my head and trace invisible shapes on the glass.
"I just... Feel like if I don't name him I can pretend he's not such an... impact. It's stupid. Might as well call him what he is."
"Dick? Jackass?" Daryl suggests. The corners of my mouth curl up and I ruffle his hair playfully.
"Let's go catch the end of dinner."
{o0o}
Dinner flashes by and is largely uneventful. I see Jake and Matt together but they only cast us a few furtive glances. I sit with Daryl and some of the leaders, feeling less accessible by Matt from here. They ask about my sunglasses but I brush it off nonchalantly.
Afterwards, Daryl and I follow Pete and ten or so others who have the next guard shift. We go straight to the armory and grab some weapons. I take a knife and slip it under my belt. My pistol is full but I giddily snatch the Spyder before pausing. As much as I'd love this bow, I'd never use it. And my rifle is sitting just a few shelves away. I sadly put the bow down and take the rifle instead, checking it's bullets and following the others out.
Pete gives me a quick rundown as we approach my post.
"All of the guns are silenced. Shoot down any eaters before they can pile up. You see or hear any people and you come find me, Kenton, or Gerain. Rick's done this before - just follow his lead." Pete disappears and takes the rest with him, leading them off towards their posts. Daryl and I find some hand and footholds to climb up the wall. A tiny platform awaits at the top with two mismatched chairs. I get up first and offer Daryl my hand.
"Now we wait," I say as we settle into the chairs.
{o0o}
The moon moves through the sky as the night slips away. The air slowly gets cooler and I regret not grabbing a jacket. I left my own in my buried supplies and I never grabbed a new one here. We haven't seen any walkers but the time has passed quickly regardless.
"What's keeping Merle?" I whisper furiously for the fifth time. I check my watch again and see it's 11:03. Curfew was at ten. Even if anyone is still awake, no one will see us three slip away over the wall. Watch switches at 12 and we need to be long gone by then.
"He'll come," Daryl grunts. I shake my head in exasperation.
"And if he doesn't?"
"He will."
"Daryl... If he doesn't?"
"We'll see," he responds noncommittally. I drop the subject. Continuing to argue or discuss it will only fire us up and we're already on edge.
Each minute ticks by and my frustration grows. If Merle drops the ball, I can't afford to stick around any longer. I hear a faint ping to my far left. Seconds later, more pings ring out. I wait for a call for help but one never comes.
"Must 'a had a few walkers but they got 'em," Daryl says. I nod and remember he can't see me clearly in the moonlight.
"Sounds about right." My voice sounds high strung and my leg bobs anxiously. I don't want to leave Merle behind but it's already 11:17 and he's still a no show.
"Daryl..." I begin, my tone sounding like a plea.
"Don't-"
"Well looky here. You was serious, 'lil bro," Merle announces behind us. I whip around my seat and spot him. He's alone. I release a huge breath. I was almost afraid he would sell us out.
"You two fixin' to leave?"
"Keep it down!" Daryl calls out softly. "Y'want the whole compound to hear ya?"
"Now would I risk hide n' hair to jail break you two love birds if I was gonna ruin the plan?" Merle climbs the wall and dominates the tiny platform, pushing me closer towards Daryl as I avoid Merle's form. He grins at me, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight. He holds him arms up like he wants a hug.
"Tryna reconcile?"
"No." I cross my arms. "I get you were just trying to procure some supplies, but if you ever touch me again I will lay you out." Merle nods his head and lowers his arms with a shrug. His teasing smile never leaves his face.
"Lookin' forward to it. Now can we get this show on the road?" His breath blows across to me and I smell alcohol. Fantastic. A risky escape in the middle of the night with clashing personalities and he chooses to drink. Makes perfect sense.
I roll my eyes but don't comment. It's already 11:21 and we're wasting time.
"Let's go - we need to get to our supplies and get as far away as possible before they-"
BAM BAM BAM. Gun shots ring through the night sky. My heart thuds into overdrive and I check on Daryl and Merle and our nearby environment but I don't see anyone.
"Was that someone on watch?"
"All our watch guns are silenced," Merle states.
"Then what the fuck just happened?"
"Did someone try to shoot us?"
"They'd'a hit us."
"Yeah and they'd be outta cover by now."
"But the shots were right here-"
"There!" Daryl points. I follow the straight line of his arm and index finger. There, peaking around the front brick building, is a bright light. I hear raised voices and see dark forms against the front building, clutching shiny objects to their chests.
Someone's at the front. Someone with light and guns.
And they're shooting at us.
{o0o}
Time stands still for a few seconds as I war with myself. Daryl and Merle fight the same battle right in front of me. Daryl, of course, wants to help. These people took us in without knowing us, trusted us, and above all don't deserve to be shot up in the middle of the night. Merle, on the other hand, wants to take this opportunity to leave. It's ludicrous. If anyone wanted to help, I'd think it'd be Merle. They kept him safe for months and he doesn't feel any sort of debt. Maybe he just wants to wipe his hands of this place. Besides, they have enough supplies and manpower. They should be fine. I come to a decision and interrupt the two.
"Listen. We drop down and hug the wall to the front. We can watch what's going on, see if Riverside needs help. If they do, we can snipe a few guys and duck out. If they don't we can duck out now. Anyone from Riverside sees us, we claim we were just trying to sneak up on the enemy. Are you both okay with that?" They contemplate for a few seconds. I realize there haven't been any more gunshots. Daryl and Merle agree. I put on my hat and hang my glasses on my shirt before bending my knees and letting myself fall over the wall. I land heavily. My ankle throbs but it's manageable. Once the other two have joined me, I grip my gun, rest my finger on the trigger guard, and rush along the wall, careful to remain hidden among its shadows.
I suddenly see movement to the left tree line and stop. Daryl almost flies past me but halts at the last second. I whip my gun up to the left and scan the tree line. I almost decide I was seeing things when a medium sized man slips from the tree shadows with a large gun in hand. His eyes are trained on the wall. One of his buddies joins him and their voices are just audible.
"You go first and pull me up."
"What if anyone sees me?"
"Shoot them. That's what we're doing anyways." The first guy hesitates but moves to the wall. Merle pushes past me and fires twice, nailing both of them in their chest. I squeeze my eyes shut momentarily and rush forward, stunned.
I feel like I should say something. Like they didn't need to be shot. But I have nothing to say. If we had confronted them, they would've shot us. But we also could've just left. Stayed uninvolved. Now it's too late. Merle liberated that decision. Maybe he took the only option.
I see a trickle of blood out of one guy's mouth. His eyes blink slowly, showing a bewildered expression. I drop to my knees and put one hand on his chest. His eyes search mine and his hand finds mine to squeeze it tightly, demanding my attention.
"Don'... m'chain," he whispers roughly. He must see I don't understand. "Biter. Don' may... m'one. Don'... le'... m'chain."
Don't let me change. I nod and my eyes well up. What do I say to someone who will die because I let him? I've killed threats before. But I've never faced their terror. I've never faced someone about to slip into a final unknown.
"Just relax," I say softly. "Don't fight. You'll be okay. You'll be safe from this hell." I close my eyes to keep the tears in. When I open them, he's gone. I slip out my knife and study his lifeless face. Finally, I close his eyelids, grip his hair, and look at the stars. I force my knife past skin, hair, skull, and deep into brain tissue. I wipe the knife on his shirt and rise to my feet. I meet Daryl's eyes and take a deep breath. Now's not the time to be weak.
Merle takes the guns of the fallen and unloads them before forcing them into the bag he brought along. He searches their pockets and I look away, disgusted.
"Are you done?" I ask acidly. Merle only ignores me and takes a pack of cigarettes before moving along.
We reach the last bit of fence without meeting anyone. The two Merle shot fill my thoughts, and as I move I replay the scene in my mind. I reiterate that Merle chose the only path more and more, but for some reason I can't let it go. Maybe we could've knocked them unconscious or shot their limbs or something.
I'm so caught up that I almost run past the final corner and into the wide open space in front of Riverside. I stop at the last second and take three deep breaths. In two, I let go of the two we shot. In the third, I reign in my emotions. My resolve hardens and my eyes grows steely. Whatever happens next, I need to be in control. My blood surges with adrenaline as I peer around and survey the scene. No one seems to be watching our location, allowing me to wave forward Daryl and Merle.
Five cars line up a mere thirty yards from the gate. Behind the first line appear to be more vehicles. The first row's headlights light up the gap before them, casting several dead walkers into a warm glow. The headlights are a successful ploy; I can't see how many people are behind them. I don't see Riverside people either, hidden behind the gate along this wall as they are.
"What do we do?" I say out loud, not expecting a concrete answer. Merle starts to speak before he is cut off by a raised voice from the cars.
"We don't have all night! Listen up, or we can storm in and kill every one of you!"
Shivers run along my spine from the deadly, sure tone of the speaker. But Daryl goes rigid and Merle's blood drains from his face.
"What?" They share a look. "Tell me!" I demand. Daryl grips my shoulders and moves me back into the blind spot. His eyes runs over my face before settling on my down turned lips. He sighs.
"It's him. The Governor."
And so it goes... Don't worry, there will be action. All this build up isn't for nothing :) Next chapter is in the works.
R & R