Chapter 29
Melissa took in her surroundings. It seemed everything had slowed down, as if she was watching the events play out before her in slow motion; people yelling, The Governor waiting, watching, walkers grabbing for Daryl and Merle; barely out of reach. Even her own heartbeat, which had been racing, had slowed to a slow steady drum. All the noise around her had faded into nothing more than muffled distant echoes. Her knees were beginning to feel sore, her own weight pressing them into the tiny pieces of rock and dirt on the ground below. The plastic handcuffs that had been tied around her wrists were digging into her skin in a sharp sting. But she ignored her own pain. She kept her eyes on Daryl. Her concern reserved only for him. He had pulled himself to his feet, keeping his eyes on Melissa the entire time.
Melissa felt a small gust of wind blow small strands of hair off her face and suddenly Daryl broke eye contact with her and punched his brother hard in the face. Then, as if someone simply pressed a button on a remote control, everything sped up and the volume came back on. Melissa couldn't believe it. He was really fighting him. She watched Daryl lunge at Merle. The crowd went crazy. The two men were on the ground, Daryl pinned below Merle. Melissa saw them exchange words, but the crowd was too loud for her to hear what they were saying. Then suddenly they were on their feet again. Only this time they weren't fighting each other, they were fighting the walkers and a few members of The Governor's army. Were they trying to escape? Things were happening so fast Melissa barely had time to piece anything together. Suddenly there were gunshots. She gasped and held her breath as she waited for Daryl to fall to the ground, sure that someone from The Governor's army had shot him and Merle down for their act of retaliation. But they were still on their feet.
Instead it was the walkers who were going down. A smoke bomb was thrown into the ring and the arena lights above their heads were shot out and she knew instantly that Rick had come back for them. In the chaos the men holding her had let her go and run off. After who or what Melissa didn't know. She pulled her knee up and placed her foot on the ground to push herself up when someone grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet.
She looked up through the smoke to see Daryl's eyes piercing into hers. He gently pulled the rag that was tied around her mouth down so that it draped around her neck and, wrapping his hand around her forearm, pulled her close as they ran through the fog to make their escape. He held her arm tightly, letting go only long enough to rip his crossbow out of the arms of a member of The Governor's army, then grabbed her arm again as they made their way towards Rick's flashlight.
"I'm alright," she told Daryl as they followed Merle through the town. She knew she could run with her hands tied behind her back. Plus, Daryl was armed and they may need him to provide cover and he couldn't do that helping her. He nodded and he let go of her arm to hold his crossbow out in front of himself with both hands as they moved.
When they stopped at the wall Daryl hung his crossbow on his shoulder. "Gimme yer knife," he asked Rick as they waited for Merle to break through the wall. Seconds later Melissa felt her hands freed from behind her back. She gently rubbed her sore wrists as she looked back to Daryl to thank him. He motioned for her to go ahead and she followed the others out of the wall, Daryl following close behind.
"We got biters, y'all," Merle said. Sure enough there were several of them, most likely attracted by all the noise and gunfire.
Knowing she was weaponless Daryl handed Rick's knife to Melissa instead of returning it to its owner, but she never needed to use it. The others took out each walker they came across. When they were far enough away from the town they stopped to take a break and catch their breath. Exhausted and thirsty, Melissa leaned against a tree and closed her eyes as her breathing slowed.
"That was all kinds 'a stupid, you know that?" Daryl snapped in front of her, causing her eyes to shoot open. "What the hell were you thinkin' runnin' out there?" He started to pace as the reality that she too had almost been killed set in. He grew angrier with each step. She had almost died for him and that was not acceptable.
Confused, Melissa looked at the others. Rick and Maggie didn't look happy with her either and Melissa remembered that she had completely disobeyed Rick's orders to wait. Instead she ran off, after Daryl, knowing full well that Rick didn't want her to. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal, but now that Melissa remembered the way Rick felt about people who were not compliant she began to worry that she had lost his trust.
"I'm sorry," she said softly looking at the ground. She had only meant to do good but clearly had disappointed everyone who trusted her. As she beat herself up, Daryl realized she was probably being harder on herself than any of them ever could. He stopped pacing and stood in front of her. His expression softened.
"D'They hurt you?" He asked gently, tapping her chin so she would look up at him. She shook her head gently and timidly looked into his eyes. He nodded that he understood. Of course he understood. He would have gone after her too. Everyone knew that.
"Aww, how sweet," Merle mocked. "Ya gonna fuck her against the tree now, lil'brother?"
"Shut the hell up!" Daryl turned.
"Enough!" Rick shouted in a whisper. "We don't have time for this." He looked back and forth between Daryl, Merle and Melissa. The last thing they needed was to get caught because someone heard them bickering in the woods. "Let's go," Rick instructed and the others followed him through the woods. As they walked Melissa noticed that the sky was beginning to get lighter. Daylight was coming.
When they reached the car Melissa found herself caught right in the middle of the chaos that erupted. When Glenn and Michonne saw that Merle was with them they raised their weapons, immediately refuting his presence. Daryl raised his crossbow as he stood between his brother and the others and Melissa stood in between them all, trying to bring some sense of peace and order to the situation, but they were all yelling at and over each other. Even Glenn wouldn't lower his gun despite Melissa's pleas, which was now pointed at Daryl since he refused to step aside. Of course Merle couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut, so between trying to reason between the two sides Rick and Melissa found themselves having to stop their diplomacy to yell at Merle to shut up.
"Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl suddenly yelled at Glenn, causing Melissa to stand between the two and put her arms out, but Glenn still refused to lower his gun. Merle smiled and laughed, enjoying every minute watching their once tight knit group going at each other's throats. Melissa knew it would be difficult trying to get Merle back in with their group, but things were taking a turn for the worse and Merle certainly wasn't helping.
"What you gonna do now, Sheriff?" Merle asked, turning to Rick. "You're surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs and cowards, man."
"Shut up," Rick threatened, but Merle just smiled and laughed again.
"Look at this. You're all pathetic," Merle mocked. "All these guns and no bullets in the air?"
"Shut up!" Daryl and Melissa yelled in unison. How were they ever going to convince the others to let Merle join them if he kept running his damn mouth off?
"Shut up yourself," Merle yelled in Daryl's face before turning on Melissa. "You're a bunch of pussies you –" suddenly Rick hit Merle in the back of the head with his gun, knocking him out.
"Asshole," Rick muttered.
Daryl and Melissa looked at each other briefly and Melissa realized for the first time that perhaps Merle didn't want to join them. He was trying to break them up. Soon Merle began to stir and curse and Daryl told him to wait there then lead the others to the street so they could talk.
As Merle waited in the woods Daryl tried to convince Rick and the others to let Merle join the group. Melissa sided with Daryl, trying to find a way for them all to live together peacefully, somehow, but it wasn't working. Soon Melissa could feel the shift and suddenly they weren't discussing whether or not Merle could come back; they were trying to convince Daryl to come back with them.
"Merle's blood," Daryl said.
"No, Merle's your blood." Glenn responded. "My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison."
"And you're part of that family," Rick pronounced.
"Man, ya'll don't know," Daryl shook his head and Melissa could feel the line being drawn. Daryl was pulling away from them. "Fine, we'll fend for ourselves," he declared and suddenly the line Melissa could feel coming was there, plain as day on all their faces.
"No," Melissa argued. "You're not leaving."
"That's not what I was saying- ," Glenn argued, but Daryl interrupted him.
"No him, no me."
"Daryl, you don't have to do this," Maggie said gently.
"It was always Merle and I before this," Daryl argued.
"That was before," Melissa stated. Daryl looked down at her, knowing she had chosen her words carefully. To the others it sounded like she meant before they all met, but her words resonated a different meaning reserved only for him and he loved her for it. "Please, there has to be another way," she plead gently. Daryl looked to Rick. It was up to him. Melissa glanced back and forth between the two men, but no one would budge.
As Daryl began to walk toward the car Melissa started to follow, but Rick held his hand out, stopping her. "I'll talk to him," he said. Melissa nodded and stayed behind with Maggie and Glenn.
"It's alright," Glenn uttered. "Rick will convince him." But Melissa wasn't so sure.
As Daryl made his way to grab what little belongings he had brought with him from the car he felt Rick catch up to him. "Melissa's right. There's gotta be another way," Rick said as he followed Daryl to the car.
"Don't ask me to leave him. I already done that once," Daryl asserted.
"We started somethin' last night. You realize that?"
Daryl opened the lift gate to the car, "No him, no me. That's all I can say," he repeated as he grabbed his backpack and strapped it on his shoulders.
Melissa nervously adjusted her weight back and forth. She couldn't hear what the two men were saying, but from what little she could see it didn't seem to be going well. Her breathing grew heavier and her throat burned, but she swallowed the sensation down, hanging on to hope that somehow they would fix this mess they had gotten into. Soon she started to wonder why she had let Rick handle this. Not that she didn't have faith in him, but if anyone was going to convince Daryl to stay it should have been her. She took a few steps toward the car when the site of Daryl beginning to walk into the woods, his pack strapped to his back, froze her mid step.
"Daryl," she called out in disbelief. Halfway between Melissa and his brother Daryl stopped and turned back to look at her. The others stood behind her, their faces calling out to him, but he would not go back without his brother. He didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to leave any of them, but Rick had given him no choice. Either way he had to leave someone and he had always been taught that blood is blood; it comes before everything.
Melissa's eyes filled with tears as she stood at the edge of the road. The grass leading to the woods, to a life with Daryl, lay just before her feet like a line she needed to cross. All she had to do was step over it and she was about to when she realized…she hadn't been invited.
Ask me, she thought. She had nothing. Not a weapon, not a backpack filled with clothes and supplies. She literally had nothing but the clothes on her back and she would have left with just that. She would have left everything behind for a life with him. She loved him that much. But he had to ask. Ask me, she begged him again silently. But he didn't.
Daryl watched her eyes reach their fill and as the tears poured out silently out onto her cheeks he wondered if she knew he was hurting just as badly. Daryl glanced at Rick once more. He was not going to budge, but neither would Daryl. He wanted to look at Melissa again, but couldn't bare it. If he did he would ask her to come with him and he couldn't ask that of her. He didn't want her on the road, exposed to the elements, no food, no weapon, no clothes and within arms reach of Merle and his darkness and deception. Sure she would have been with him, but Daryl felt she would be safer with Rick, even with the threat of The Governor looming. He knew Rick would find a way to keep her and the others from harm. He adjusted his backpack, nodded a goodbye to Rick, but refused to look at Melissa again. He knew if he looked back at her he wouldn't be able to control his own selfishness. Instead he forced himself to turn and walk to his brother, who smiled and greeted him with wide arms and a pat on the back.
Melissa stopped breathing as Daryl disappeared into the woods. She felt Rick pull her lightly into an embrace and somehow the air came back to her as she silently cried into his chest. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath. She hadn't even realized Rick had come up next to her. She felt his arms wrap around her body. She wanted to collapse into them, but she pulled herself together, shrugged out of his embrace and forced herself to walk away. She was walking back toward the car when the nausea hit her all in one wave and she suddenly fell to her knees and vomited onto the grass on the side of the road.
Maggie ran past Rick to Melissa's side, grabbed her hair and held it in one hand, resting her other hand on Melissa's shoulder. "It's okay," she said gently as Melissa dry heaved on the side of the road and Maggie wondered when the last time was Melissa had eaten. When the nausea passed Melissa tried to stand and Maggie carefully helped her to her feet. As the others looked on Melissa got into the back seat and shut the door. She just wanted to get out of there.
As Rick started the car Melissa kept her eyes on the spot in the woods where she had last seen Daryl. She was exhausted, emotionally and physically. She couldn't even cry anymore. She just stared into the woods. As the car began to move Melissa forced her eyes ahead, refusing to look back. She felt someone grab her hand and realized Maggie was sitting next to her. Melissa's throat burned and she rested her head on Maggie's shoulder. She couldn't help feeling like she had left him, but she hadn't. He had left her. And she reminded herself of that over and over again as they drove home.
Yea, so it took me a while to post this one because (truth be told) I wasn't lookin forward to Daryl leaving. I hated when he left them on the show, but I knew he would be back. I honestly don't think he would take Melissa with him despite what they've been through recently which left me somewhat sad at the thought of having to seperate them, but it makes sense and I think it will continue to make sense for what I have planned. Thanks for waiting for me to finally force myself to post this chapter. :)
On a side note, the song recommendation for this one is a doozy. Sigur Ros is one of my top bands of all time and I'll use any excuse to recommend their music to anyone and I wanted to get another one of their songs in, but of course it has to be in context and this is one of the saddest, but also most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Enjoy, review and I'll get another chapter up soon. Much love!
Sigur Ros – Daudalogn
