Michonne was riding up the street, watching out for any sign of the three people she was searching for when they appeared, coming out of the woods. They were better than she had feared and for that she was glad. While leading them home she listened to Trixie retelling everything that had happened. How Daniel had gotten her out of the prison, how he kept the door shut, how he even tried to hurt her himself before she ran. It didn't help Daryl any though that the more she talked the more he wanted to smash the fuckers head in. When they returned to the prison Merle was the first to notice that the tower had been left unguarded as Merle and Daryl opened the fence and let them all inside. Carol was first out of the prison doors, holding a gun up before she noticed who they were and sighed, lowering her weapon and rushing to hug Trixie. She hugged the woman before turning to watch Michonne head to put the horse up, calling out over her shoulder.
"What happened?" Carol frowned deeper then, knowing exactly what she was talking about, but as she chewed on her lip and tried to think the door opened behind them and Rick came out, Maggie and Glenn behind him.
"You're back, thank god." Maggie rushed to Trixie, hugging her tightly, as Rick made his way over to the men.
"What's going on?" Rick glanced between everyone, not knowing exactly how to touch on the subject but knowing he'd have to explain it to them sooner or later anyways.
"He's gone." Daryl frowned, throwing a glance to Rick then Merle before setting his sight on Trixie and shaking his head.
"You didn't wait for us to…"
'He left." Trixie now turned to Rick and shook her head, anger coursing through her.
"Wait, he left! How the fuck did he leave….how….when!" Rick shrugged his shoulders, his eyes looking everywhere but at her or Daryl as Carol cleared her throat.
"We were waiting on everyone at the back fence. I guess he knew Rick and the others would go to find you. He….he snuck out from the door he pushed you through."
"How, weren't you watching it the whole time?" Carol shook her head then.
"No, when Rick came back, he took everyone off of the door, saying Daryl and Merle would find you. We didn't think he was back in the boiler room."
"He went after we left. He…forced himself in." Daryl and Merle suddenly understood the hidden message there and took a step closer to Rick.
"Where's the girl?" Trixie glanced back and forth between Rick and the guys now, confused.
"Girl? Who? Who else did he have?" Rick sighed, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
"He…uh…he somehow got into the room after we left. She…..she's being seen. Doc and Hershel are watching her."
"Who?" Rick glanced to Trixie as he met her gaze.
"Lola, the little blonde girl that he had around him."
"Who is she?"
"Someone he picked up on the road. She's fourteen. She….she was being kept against her will."
"He was raping her." She didn't question it, she knew, he had tried with her and that was how she got hurt, she couldn't fathom what that little girl was thinking when he threatened her in a world full of walkers.
"Yeah, was. When he locked you out she was in the room. She told us what happened and before we left to find you I told her to stay put and gave her my knife."
"What happened?"
"We're not sure. She's not talking yet. She….she's still unconscious. All we know is he somehow got back into the room, after we left, and hurt her before fleeing himself."
"He had to of timed it. If Carol didn't see him before you got back."
"He did. He couldn't have been gone ten minutes before I got into the room. He packed his shit and left Daryl. I'm sorry. I should have had someone on him before we left…I never thought he'd do something like this." Trixie frowned, shaking her head before she caught the hidden tones to his voice and glared his way.
"Rick." Rick swallowed, looking up towards Trixie as she searched his face for any sign of good. "What did he do? What happened?"
"It's Lola….shes…..uhhhh." Rick shook his head, giving Carol a pleading look as she nodded and put a hand on Trixie's shoulder.
"Trix, he hurt Lola. Bad. When he broke in something happened, a struggle it looks like. But he got the knife away and cut her up pretty deep. She…she has a T carved into her chest…..and her eyes…." Trixie sobbed, shaking her head as she gripped herself.
"No. No he did not do that to her because of me! No! Please…..no." Carol nodded, frowning deeply while a stunned Daryl and Merle were shoved from behind by Michonne.
"I believe it was a message for her. He didn't think she would survive, but on the off chance she did, he wants her to know she will see him again. Of course, with the girl helping Rick and you two, he took his anger out on her." Daryl and Merle glanced to Michonne and frowned themselves, anger coursing through their bodies.
'You knew this whole time!"
"I was not going to have Trixie upset on the walk back. I was watching out for him, if he would have made an appearance I would have told you and helped you two handle him." Merle sighed, running a hand over his face as he held out his contraption and half good hand.
"Alright, first things first, where are we on protection?"
"We were setting it up now, Carol and Carl were watching outdoors. Tyreese has Bob and Sasha watching their doors. We were meeting…"
"We?"
"Uh yeah, Hershel thinks its now a good time to bring in the council and I agreed. We were going to wait until you three returned to decide anything concrete but we have a plan ready." Daryl nodded, silent the whole time yet ready to burst at the seams as he chewed his lip and slid an arm around Trixie's waist.
"We need to figure something out, if he's watching he's waiting for a way in."
"He wont be getting back in brother, not with us here." Trixie shivered at the thought of Daniel coming back but as the guys started to talk more about what they wanted to do Trixie turned to Carol.
"Could you please take me to see her?" Carol nodded, a bit surprised, but Rick touched Trixie's arm gently first.
"We need you to be present when the council meets again, you know this psycho best." She nodded, but glanced to Carol.
"I do, and I will be there, but first I want to see her. I know how bad his scars can hurt and I want to make sure shes alright." Rick nodded, slowly, as Carol took Trixies hand and nodded to the guys. Daryl was glaring to Carol, making sure she understood she was not to take her gaze off of Trixie, and when they vanished into the prison he turned to Rick.
"He's mine when we find him." Rick nodded, a grim look falling over his face.
"I already knew that. Now, we just have to make sure he doesn't try and surprise us."
"Sherriff, he fucked up the first time he touched my little sister, he wont get a surprise over on me." Rick smirked, nodding to Merle then motioning for them all to follow him back into the prison while they waited on Trixie and Carol.
Trixie walked over to the prison cell, frowning when she noticed the doctor from Woodbury there sitting beside the girl, but when she glanced up and smiled Trixie grinned, softly.
"She alright?" The doctor nodded, running a hand over the girls forehead.
"She will be. Her chest is healing wonderfully, already stopped bleeding. Its her sight I am worried she will have the worst of luck with when she wakes."
"How bad is it?" The doctor sighed, glancing up to Trixie as she shook her head.
"Her world will be black from now on. And, he didn't make it pretty." Trixie frowned, crossing her arms over her chest and biting her lip. "I don't think she'll think its your fault. She knew what she was doing when she told Rick where to go. She wanted out. I'm sure she will be glad to know you are alive and we will able here to help her cope."
"You can bet your ass I will be helping her, she helped me. I just….this is going to be hard for her."
"Yes it is. To go from seeing all your life to being permanently blind. Its not going to be fun that's for sure. Its going to take time and a lot of patience."
"Something I am willing to give to her. I owe her my life. If she hadn't told them what happened, where I was at or anything, Daryl might have been a few minutes too late." The doctor nodded, glancing back to the girl, Lola, then excusing herself to grab a few more bottles of water. Trixie stood there a bit longer, looking over the blondes wrapped up face and frowned. It was bloody where her eyes were and Trixie could tell he hadn't been gentle, of course, but the spot on her chest that was taped up really made her choke back a sob. The big T shaped cut ran over the top of the girls breasts and right down the middle of them, as if he was trying to gut her, but she knew it was a sign for her. As if he was saying it was Trixie's fault the girl was hurt. And she figured as much. If she would have only stayed in the room, facing her fears, facing Daniel, he might not have ever touched the girl like that. That was something not only Lola would have to carry around forever but her as well.
The door to the room where the council was meeting opened, Trixie and Carol walking in as the other people were talking. When everyone saw Trixie they paused, Daryl being the only one to move and that was just opening his arm as Trixie walked over towards him. Her eyes were heavy, she had been crying they could tell, and when Carol had shut the door behind her Rick turned to Tyreese before glancing back to Trixie while she leaned against Daryl.
"Are you alright?" Trixie glanced up to Rick now, her eyes meeting his and saying everything he needed to know.
"I will be." Tyreese frowned now, nodding before casting his gaze around the room.
"We were talking about what to do, but since you know him best, we wanted your opinion." Trixie nodded, giving Tyreese a look before she sighed, taking a deep breath. Daryl's grip around her shoulders tightened but she patted the back of his arm as she took a step up to the long table they were seated at and put her hands on it, leaning over to meet all of their gazes. Merle and Michonne were near the back wall, behind Rick while Hershel, Glenn, Maggie and Carol sat on the left of Rick, her right. Tyreese sat on Ricks right, her left, and Sasha and Karen sat beside him. Their doctor was in the room as well, standing near the back of the wall along with another person she didn't recognize by name but she knew Tyreese had him working with their side of the prison as a guard. As Trixie's eyes met each and every one of these people though she spoke volumes without even speaking as she thought clearly about what they needed to do.
"He's coming back. Not today, not tomorrow, probably not next week. But he will be back. He knows she's not dead, Lola, and he is pretty sure I am not dead or he wouldn't have left that note in her chest for me. He is going to be back ad when he does show his face around her again we are going to need to be ready. He is slick, he has a silver tongue that could convince anyone that he is an angel. If you see past his lies he kills you. Lola has scars to prove that now and I do too from the first time I was around him. What we are going to need to do is patch up our back walls, where he shoved me out, and then fix the lower levels so no one can come in or out. He knows about those. Then we will need tower guards, whoever and however long we can. He's going to try to remember our times and changes so we need to stir it up some. Never be predictable. He will be hoping for that. If we can stay on guard while staying off routine, we will be fine and when he does try to come back we can have a leg up on him. I don't want him back in this prison." Everyone nodded, some of them already thinking of what they could do, as they glanced to each other and knew that this was the changing point of the prison. There was no more two sides, it was a whole group and they were going to do whatever it cost to protect the family….from anyone.
"Then we have a plan. Lets get things together and get this started. Tyreese, do you have a few guards we could have in towers two and four while one and three are guarded by Glenn and Merle for the night?"
'Yeah I got a few guys."
'Good, Carol, we need to know how much food we have, if we need to make runs we go in groups."
"Understood."
"Merle, Daryl, we need bigger hunting parties, lots of more meat needs to come in. No matter what it is. If we have to go further and further out, take a truck and hid it in the woods as you hunt. We cant afford to be caught inside without any food." Daryl nodded as Merle smirked.
"We need more medicine."
"Right, Hershel's right. We need supply runs, Maggie and Glenn can schedule those, Tyreese if you have anyone that's interested get them to see those two."
"Got it." Rick nodded, glancing to everyone then looking right back to Trixie, a soft smile on his face.
"We're not alone in this prison, we have a lot of people to watch over guys. We got threats everywhere. We need to figure out the walker problem as well as keep an eye out for the Governor and now Daniel. We wont let anything push us out of our home guys. Yall got this?" Everyone nodded, Trixie smiled, and when Rick called for the meeting to dismiss Merle walked over to Daryl as he stepped up beside Trixie.
"Hey little brother, we might as well get a hunt going for tomorrow."
"You alright with that Trixie?" Trixie glanced up to Daryl and nodded, squaring her back as Rick walked over to them.
"That's fine. I need to get a bit of solo practice back in since yall will have to be gone a lot and we are under watch."
"You might need this than." Rick smirked, grabbing a black handled machete and pulling it out from his belt. Trixie smiled, sighing in relief as she took her weapon and stuck it into her boot like she always done.
"Thank you. I will never be removing this again. No matter what." Merle and Daryl smirked as well, chuckling a bit as she turned to them.
"I'm gonna go and get the rounds for tower guards done."
"Sherriff, I need to speak to you about those, got to figure out that and hunting with little bro there." Merle and Rick walked off then, leaving Trixie and Daryl to glance to each other before walking out of the room.
"You stay near the prison, don't go out without me. You make sur someone knows where you are at every moment of the day." Trixie sighed, rolling her eyes as she put her arm around Daryl's waist.
"You are not going to let me live down getting caught are you?" Daryl growled, shaking his head.
"No. You are smarter than that. You shouldn't have been out there."
"I know. And I'm sorry." Daryl sighed, glancing down to Trixie as they got to the outside of the prison, near the court yard. Looking around they noticed how everyone seemed more relaxed now that the council were putting people in all four towers and when Trixie glanced back up to Daryl she seen him chewing on his lip.
"You had me scared." Trixie gasped, she had never heard him admit before that he was scared and she felt immediately horrible for that.
"I am so sorry Daryl...I never…"
'I know. Don't do it again." Daryl glanced down to Trixie then, frowning slightly before running his hand through her hair, tugging her head backwards a bit so she was looking up at him. "I don't know what I'd do without you girl. Don't do that again."
"I promise." She smiled softly as he leaned in, pressing his lips to hers and showing her exactly how much hurt he had held back. How awful he had felt, how scared he was and how much he truly did need her. Placing her hand on his cheek she told him what he needed to hear, felt how sorry she was and knew that she was going to take her promise seriously.
"Come on, lets go and…..hunt." Trixie smirked, actually laughing for once in what seemed forever.
"Yeah…..hunt."