CHAPTER 29 – HOME AGAIN
Rick's POV
I couldn't believe we actually managed to get in, find our people and get out, twice. After Michonne finally returned, beaten up, and said that Daryl got caught, I sent her with Kiara and Glenn back to our escape car while me and Maggie went back in trying to find him. We actually managed to get the both Dixons out of there and were on our way back to the others. Everyone, except for Oscar survived, which was a miracle to say the least.
I really wasn't looking forward to shitstorm that would no doubt unleash when Glenn, Michonne and Kiara find out that Merle was with us as well. We'd also have to find another vehicle as well, we weren't all gonna fit in one car.
We were nearing our destination when I hollered at Glenn to alert him to our presence. He and Michonne started running towards us, Glenn yelling: "Thank god!"
"Now we gotta problem here, I need you to back up," I tried to say as calmly as possible but to no effect since both of them drew their weapons and started yelling. For a moment it looked like the situation was going to get out of hand.
"He helped us to get out of there!" Daryl defended him.
"Yeah, after he beat the shit out of you!" I snapped at him.
"Hey we both took our licks man!" Merle chimed in.
"Jackass," Daryl muttered. Things got heated again until Daryl yelled at Glenn to get his gun away from his face.
Merle being the world class asshole continued talking, working everybody's last nerve until I snapped and hit him hard in the head with the handle of my gun.
We all walked back to the car. I opened the door to the front door seat and finally got a good look at Kiara in daylight. She was sleeping, but her face… her lower lip and right eyebrow were split and she had a bruise under her right eye. I noticed she was wearing Daryl's shirt which was soaked in blood in couple of places.
"That psycho made about a half a dozen cuts on both sides of her abdomen. They're not too deep 'n' already stopped bleedin'," Daryl muttered leaning on the hood of the car.
"Who the hell is that son of a bitch?!" I snapped. "Why would he do that to her?!"
"No idea –" Daryl said. "Must be pretty fucked up though. You should've seen the room he kept her in. Silence of the Lambs is a children's night time story compared to that shit."
I shook my head at the idea not able to think about what happened without seeing red. "C'mon, let's talk to others."
"This won't work," I said quietly after we've been discussing what to do with Merle for a while. I wish Kiara was a part of this, but she was in no state to participate. We needed to get this over with as quickly as possible to get everybody back home and to Hershel so he can patch them all up.
"It's gotta," Daryl countered.
"He'll stir things up," I objected.
"Look, the Governor's probably on his way to the prison right now," Daryl reasoned. "Merle knows how he thinks and we could use a muscle."
"I'm not having him in the prison," Maggie shot him down, backed up by Glenn saying: "You really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?!"
"He ain't no rapist!" Daryl snapped at him.
"His buddy is!" Glenn hissed back.
"They ain't buddies no more, not after last night," he countered.
"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone on each other's throats," I continued.
"You're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the Last Samurai home with us?" Daryl bit back, nodding towards Michonne who was leaning on the driver' side door, looking nowhere in particular. The debate continued for a while, but we couldn't seem to come up with an option that would make everybody happy.
"Fine, we'll fend for ourselves," Daryl muttered.
"That's not what I was saying," Glenn objected.
"No him, no me," Daryl insisted.
"Daryl, you don't have to do that," Maggie joined in.
"It was always Merle and I before this," he continued stubbornly.
"Don't," Maggie pleaded.
"You're serious?" Glenn asked incredulously. "You're just gonna leave like that?"
"You'd do the same thing," Daryl countered.
"What do you want us to tell Carol?" I jumped in. "Or Kiara? You're like a brother to her. You're our family now!"
"They'll understand," Daryl muttered stubbornly and nodded towards Maggie: "Say goodbye for your pops for me," then started walking towards car. I followed close behind him.
"Hey, hey! There's gotta be another way," I said making him stop.
"Don't ask me to leave him," he said. "I already did that once."
"We started something last night," I continued. "You realize that?"
"No him, no me," he insisted and started packing his stuff. "That's all I can say…. You take care of yourself. Take care of the lil' asskicker… Kiara… Carl… he's one tough kid," he said and started walking towards his brother and soon they were gone.
I put my riffle into the trunk, turned around to Michonne and all but hissed at her: "We patch you up and then you are gone!"
We all got into the car, I buckled Kiara up and we set out. The ride to the prison was excruciatingly silent, except for a brief exchange between me and Glenn about what should have been done with this Governor asshole. We made it back in no time and I was getting out of the car to hug Carl and instructing Maggie to drive the others up and get Hershel. Carol asked me about Daryl and I answered her as quickly as possible, ushering them both up to the yard. I had to make sure Kiara was okay.
When we got up, everybody was hugging and greeting Glenn and Maggie, Hershel sending them inside, so he can check on them. I ran towards the car and pulled Kiara into my arms carrying her inside, yelling at Hershel for help. She stirred in my arms a little, opening her eyes, looking up at me all confused.
"Don't worry baby," I muttered, kissing her forehead lightly. "We're home. Hershel's gonna patch you up and you'll be alright."
She wasn't in a state to talk right then but she shot me a small smile, closing her eyes again. I was in such a hurry, I almost didn't notice the new people waiting in the common room.
"Put her here," Hershel instructed as he entered our provisional infirmary cell, grabbing medical supplies from the shelf. He sat down on the bunk next to her and started cleaning her face, murmuring for himself: "I'm gonna have to stitch that eyebrow."
"Daryl said she's got some cuts on her abdomen too," I said standing behind his back listless as he proceeded unbuttoning her shirt and gasped in horror upon seeing what's been done to her. I bent down to have a look myself and I slammed my hand against the top bunk in rage, hissing: "What kind of sick mind does that to a woman?!"
"The kind this world creates," Hershel retorted. "Now calm down, I'm gonna need your help. The wounds are not too deep to be life threatening and they already stopped bleedin'. They were administered in a way that would cause maximum pain possible and take long time to heal. Also, few of her ribs are broken."
He spent over an hour patching Kiara up, during which she woke up once, frantically looking around, and then passed out again.
"How's the baby?" I asked to distract myself.
"She's healthy, eating like a horse, sleeping like a rock," Hershel retorted covering sleeping Kiara with blanket. "When she wakes up, I'm gonna bandage her abdomen to prevent an infection. It will also help her ribs to heal quicker."
"Thank you Hershel," I said sitting on the bunk next to her, grabbing her hand in between both mine. "Go check on others. Glenn took quite the beating it seems."
"I will, then we're gonna have to figure out what to do with the new people," he retorted. "You can go check on Carl and the baby, she's not gonna wake up any time soon."
I was about to do that, but it seemed Carl had the same idea and walked into the cell with his baby sister in his arms. He sat into a chair and sighed.
"How're you doin'?" I asked. "With everything?"
"I don't know," he muttered looking at me. "I'm glad you're all okay. I'm glad Judith is here with us… I miss mom."
"I know Carl, I miss her too," I muttered. "Things were far from ideal between us, but I loved her and she loved you. She was very proud of you."
"For what? For being so mean to her all the time?" he asked looking down.
"You can't think about that," I said to him, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"That's all I can think about," he muttered still not looking at me.
"Your mom loved you so much and she knew you loved her, no matter what," I told him shaking him slightly. "Kids are mean to their parents all the time, it's part of growing up," I joked finally making him smile at me as we walked out of Kiara's cell to deal with the new people.
