DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of The Walking Dead. This is for entertainment purposes only.
A/N: And now onto a longer chapter, woohoo! Warning for Merle's mouth. I feel like Merle's name alone should be a warning in itself anymore.
Finding Home.
It had been advised by Rick before he left to stay inside and stick together but honestly, the group was having a hard time trying to follow those orders. Rick only wanted it that way after what happened the last time Woodbury rolled through taking Glenn and Olivia, guns blazing.
Skyler sat outside on the hood of a car with Andrew by her side. She told Leah to stay with the others and of course that sparked a little fire. Leah wanted to wait outside with her and when she couldn't have it her way she argued that it was stupid—which really, it was. But Andrew hadn't left her side since, keeping an eye out for any movement. They both had their pistols and they weren't too far from making an escape to the nearest room if shit did hit the fan unexpectedly.
Skyler sighed as she hugged a knee to her chest and rested her chin. She felt Andrew clasp a hand on her shoulder and give a slight reassuring squeeze.
"You hanging in there?" Andrew took his hand back.
"As best as I can," Skyler glanced over at him and forced a smile. She turned back to staring out at the road, "We're all falling apart. This Woodbury place? It's torn us to shreds. And here I thought all we really had to worry about were walkers." She paused to choke out a small laugh, "Now it's like the walkers are nothing."
"They're still something. They just don't have the same intelligence as the rest of us. Still dangerous," Andrew replied.
Skyler nodded in response. It was approaching yet another night. There was probably only a few hours left before the sun set once again. Skyler knew she couldn't take another night of hoping and praying, of waiting. She could barely stand to wait any longer as it was with her rear end firmly planted on the hood of that car.
Either her prays were finally answered in that moment or she was about to face another nightmare, but she could hear the faint sound of voices approaching. At this point, all she knew was that she could hear someone talking. She slid off the car and grabbed her pistol, clicking the safety off and loading it all while she was walking forward. If these people were a part of Woodbury, she'd blow their damn heads off.
"Hey—" Andrew jumped after her, snatching her by the arm and pulling her back. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Better yet, what do you think you're trying to prove?" He pulled her back to the side of the car as they both crouched down, waiting.
"I'm done playing games," Skyler steadied her gun in front of her as she watched the street. The voices had disappeared—either too quiet to be heard or dissipated altogether.
But when five figures emerged from around the corner and entered into the parking lot, she froze. In that moment all that mattered was that she recognized Daryl among them. But from this distance, she was afraid to try and guess whether he was dead or alive. The amount of blood that he was covered in had her stomach churning, a wave of nausea threatening to rear its ugly head. He looked worse than she had ever seen him before. And without another thought, she bolted straight for them.
"Daryl?—" Skyler's voice cracked as she came to a halt just in front of the small group. She gripped the pistol tighter in her hand as she fought back any tears.
"He's okay, he's just unconscious," Rick tried to reassure her using his all too familiar smooth talking charm.
This whole event felt like the time Rick had brought Daryl back when they were on the farm. Skyler was almost certain Rick had used the same words then too. The only difference was that Daryl looked a lot worse now than he did then.
Any other words that Skyler meant to form were trapped in her throat. She forced her head to nod before she realized Andrew was by her side again.
"Where's Olivia?" Andrew questioned. One of the things Skyler was trying to work out of her mouth.
"Who?" The tall older man that was supporting Daryl spoke, raising an eyebrow. Skyler vaguely recognized him to be Daryl's older brother, Merle. She had seen him maybe once or twice before, not too familiar with him.
"I should be asking who you are. All you new people keep popping up," Andrew crossed his arms.
"Yeah? Well here's a little newsflash for ya: I was here before all y'all niggers showed up," Merle retorted. He had a glare locked onto Andrew, Andrew returning the favor.
"Christ… Not now! Get Hershel!" Rick demanded, raising his voice enough to break up whatever was about to go down.
Andrew hesitantly turned away from them and headed back towards the farthest rooms to retrieve Hershel. The others weren't aware of their return yet.
"What about—Andrea?" Skyler practically choked trying to speak. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't tear her eyes away from Daryl's unconscious form seemingly hanging lifeless between Merle and Rick.
"Told her to keep the Governor busy. Was the only way I could get out of there with Daryl," Merle briefly explained.
Rick looked passed Skyler before casting a glance at Merle, "You got him?"
Merle glanced back at Rick, slightly confused before giving him a nod.
Rick carefully maneuvered his way out as Merle made sure to keep Daryl upright. Rick stepped towards Skyler just as she turned her head to see that everyone was outside now, staring. Leah already had tears in her eyes and Skyler had to look away, covering her mouth.
"Hey, hey, hey—" Rick stepped in front of her and grabbed her by her arms to face her. Skyler only hugged him and buried her face into his chest as she tried to stifle her cries. "He's okay. I was just talking to him earlier. He's a little out of it but he'll recover."
Skyler kept her arms wrapped around Rick until she felt okay to step back. She quickly wiped her face before she noticed Merle had disappeared with Daryl, along with Hershel and Leah, assuming they were all in the same room at the moment assessing Daryl's wounds.
"Is there anything… I can do?" Tyreese offered.
Rick shook his head, "This is as good as it gets right now. But I think we should start packing and start thinking about leaving."
"But we don't have the fuel?" Skyler wiped her face on her shoulder.
"We'll just have to siphon what we can from the cars around here and the Hyundai. We'll have to try and all fit in the RV. It's our best option right now." Rick rested his hands on his hips. "We can't withstand another attack like that. We need more guns, more ammo if we were to take that on—and that's something we don't have. We don't even have protection anymore since they know we're here."
Lori joined them as the others still hung back. She briefly rubbed Skyler's back in a comforting manner as Skyler noticed Glenn, Maggie, Beth, and Carl were all missing now.
"Where is everyone?" Skyler looked to Lori. Tyreese and Rick were still standing close by as Michonne wandered over closer towards everyone, somewhere in the middle.
"They're all doing what they can to help Daryl," Lori answered. She forced a weak smile.
Skyler nodded. She should be with them too. She should be there with Leah and Daryl. She just couldn't bring herself to move right away.
Merle walked back out of the room and began to approach once again. Rick had already started moving towards him before Merle made it all the way back, and Skyler, Lori, and Tyreese found themselves following.
"Now—what happened in Woodbury?" Rick started.
Merle pursed his lips, "I don't know all the details. I didn't even know y'all got tangled up with the Governor until I saw the chink standing in the middle of the arena. Hell, didn't know he had Daryl until just earlier today."
"His name is Glenn." Maggie was walking towards them now with Glenn in tow.
"We need to go on a run. Hershel said we need antibiotics or else Daryl—" Glenn stopped short as Rick raised his hand in the air to silence him.
"I don't want to sound like the bad guy here, but we can't do that. Not right now."
Skyler assumed this was as good a time as any to finally go see Daryl. She needed to steer clear of any arguments that could unfold and try to put herself at ease. As she approached the room, Hershel, Beth, and Carl were stepping out. Skyler stopped for a moment until they forced a small smile in her direction before heading over towards Rick and the others. Skyler took a deep breath and entered the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Her eyes landed on Daryl as he was looking back at her, sitting on the edge of the bed. She felt so much more relieved to see that he was awake and moving.
"Hey," Daryl greeted her. Leah was sitting next to him while he was holding his left wrist. It wasn't until Skyler sat down next to him that she really noticed his hand.
"Oh my God…" Skyler whispered. Her eyes were glued to the damage. Hershel hadn't patched anything up yet, the amount of blood he was still covered in being evident enough.
"Hershel said it'll heal alright. I can still move my fingers a bit but I may not get full function back." Daryl slightly wiggled his fingers to demonstrate, cringing. "Still got my right hand though so I can't complain. My brother and I make a lovely pair."
Skyler shook her head in disbelief, "What… happened? Where's Olivia?"
Daryl was silent for a moment staring down at the floor. Skyler only guessed he was trying to figure out how to answer her questions. "He's a sick guy," Daryl mumbled.
"That's it?" Skyler was expecting more from him than just that. She didn't want to necessarily push him into telling her, but she could handle it. She'd feel better prepared if she knew the truth.
"That's all I'm willing to tell you right now," Daryl replied.
"Is she even alive?" Skyler bit her lip.
Daryl shook his head in response, his gaze still locked on the floor. Skyler knew the answer before she even asked. She knew Olivia had to be dead with the condition that Daryl was in and T-Dog having been killed as well. She was grateful Glenn and Maggie were okay, not to mention Leah with what happened in the woods. She was thankful for Tyreese and his sister for being there and providing her with hope that there were still some decent people out there.
"Rick wants to get us out of here before they can attack again," Skyler broke the silence and filled Daryl and Leah in on what she was told.
"Good. It shoulda already been done though."
Skyler could see that Daryl was in deep thought and that worried her. He seemed like he was only half there and when he spoke, he sounded completely drained. Of course she couldn't blame him. She couldn't even imagine what he went through while he was gone.
"If it would have been you or Leah…" Daryl stopped and shook his head. "If it would have been you or Leah, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd probably be dead because I wouldn't leave there without killing that guy."
Skyler stared down at the floor now as she let her mind process that. He was talking about whatever happened to Olivia.
"This 'Governor'… raped and beat her. He had me bound to a chair and he shot her in the chest. He killed her and there was nothing I could do," Daryl lowered his voice. "She came back… And I had to put her down. That—that is how sick this guy is. I don't want either one of you anywhere near him or Woodbury."
Skyler slowly turned to look at him now as Leah immediately hugged his right arm in silence. She couldn't believe it—she didn't want to believe it. She may not have been the closest to Olivia but it still hurt. She and Leah had been with Olivia since the beginning really and after all this time, everyone felt like family. She tried not to think too much about it though. She just wanted to focus on the positive.
"I'm just glad you're… okay. I'm glad you're finally back," Skyler placed a hand on his leg and forced a smile when he looked back at her. "Both of us."
The room fell silent again just before a lot of commotion seemed to get stirred up outside. Someone was shouting and Skyler's heart started racing, thinking the worst. It can't be another attack. Not now…
Daryl cursed under his breath and slowly worked his way back onto his feet. Leah jumped off the edge of the bed and reached out for Daryl, stopping just short of grabbing him.
"You can't be up and walking—" Leah warned.
"I'm fine…" Daryl muttered. He grabbed his knife from off the table and slid it into the sheath on his belt. Merle must have placed it there alongside his crossbow. "It's probably just my brother…"
Skyler got back to her feet just as Daryl stepped out of the room. Leah immediately followed after him with Skyler not too far behind. Whatever fear she had was quickly washed away at the sight of everyone crowding around Andrea. In fact, the sight brought a smile to Skyler's face. Andrea was alive and back.
"…couldn't find the Governor. They know you're gone, Merle. And they know you took Daryl. I told Milton and Martinez that I was going after you to try and stop you. I had no choice. I had to get here as soon as I could." Andrea was explaining to everyone. Skyler wondered how she knew they were here at the motel but figured she must have overheard conversations at Woodbury. That or by process of elimination—there was nothing else around.
"So what are you saying? You think they're coming?" Rick's hand rested on his holster.
Andrea took a deep breath and slowly nodded, "I'm sorry. I tried to find him as soon as I saw Merle and Daryl. I couldn't find him so I left as soon as I could to at least… warn you guys."
Carol hugged Sophia to her chest as Lori instinctively placed a hand over her belly, gently pushing Carl behind her with her other hand. Glenn stepped forward as if to protect Maggie from Andrea's words while Beth hugged her father. It was obvious everyone was beginning to feel helpless at this point. There was nothing they could really do.
Rick ran his hands through his hair, "Is everyone at least armed? If not, grab a weapon of some sort. Merle, Tyreese, Glenn—help me with the vehicles. We're gonna need to get the RV up and running with enough fuel to at least make it out of here. Everyone else—gather what you can and keep an eye out. We've gotta do this and we've gotta do this now."
The group split up and did as Rick instructed. Andrea approached Michonne off a little ways away from everyone else spiking Skyler's curiosity but let it slide. She kept Leah by her side, both of them armed with a pistol courtesy of Daryl way back from their shooting lesson. Andrew was back to carrying the fire axe around with him from off the outside of the motel wall 'in case of emergency'. Everyone was scattered about trying to prepare themselves.
"Do you really think they'll attack again?" Leah looked to Skyler, her pistol gripped tightly in her hands. Skyler had led her over to one of the vehicles towards the back. They were both taking cover behind it and keeping an eye out.
Skyler didn't want to lie but she also didn't want to scare Leah. Knowing it was best, she stuck with the truth. "I think so… And I think what Rick said is right: we have to get out of here. The sooner the better."
Leah nodded, "What can we do then? I don't want to just sit here and wait for it to happen."
"Right now I think that's the best thing you and I can do. We're staying out of everyone else's way and we're keeping an eye out." Truly, it was the only way Skyler knew she'd be able to keep Leah safe and out of harm's way was sitting back and doing nothing. And if that meant that she had to do nothing as well, then so be it. She wasn't about to let something happen to Leah.
Minutes passed before there was a rumble of an engine. And it took a moment before Skyler realized that it wasn't coming from the parking lot. When a Dodge Ram pulled up just outside of the motel with a trailer hitched onto the back, she immediately felt her heart sink. And just seconds after that, two men closest to the parking lot exited the truck and opened fire.
Skyler pulled Leah closer and ducked down even lower. She tried to look through the car windows and see what exactly was going on before she realized there was another man opening the trailer. There were four men in total, one of them wearing an eye patch over his eye. But what was in the trailer only made matters even worse: They had brought walkers.
The firefight didn't last too incredibly long before two of the four men hopped back into the truck and got out of there, the other two dead. Skyler noticed the man with the eye patch was one of them that got away, having a strange feeling that he could have very well of been the Governor.
Skyler and Leah got back on their feet and ran around the car towards the others. Walkers they could handle, men firing semiautomatics… not so much. They each shot down a few walkers before Skyler saw a flash of red to her right. She turned to look and felt her stomach doing flips. Maggie had been shot.
Glenn, Hershel, and Beth were surrounding her and hoisting her to her feet. Skyler pulled Leah closer to her side as she backed them up, shooting any walkers that came their way.
"We'll take care of the walkers, get her into one of the rooms!" Skyler yelled over all the commotion.
"Thank you," Hershel nodded. Beth ran for one of the rooms and threw the door open while Glenn and Hershel led Maggie in. Beth slammed the door shut and it at least made Skyler feel better knowing they were safer there than out in the parking lot.
Carl and Lori were the next to join Skyler and Leah. The four of them worked together in trying to take out the walkers staying in a tight formation.
"Is everyone else okay?" Skyler leaned closer to Lori.
"So far, yeah," Lori replied.
Skyler's eyes searched for Daryl and the others. She was first able to spot Rick, Merle, and Tyreese the furthest out from everyone, then Andrea, Michonne, and Daryl. Carol and Sophia ran for the room next to the one the others had gotten Maggie into. Sasha and Andrew then joined Skyler, Lori, and the kids.
"Get into a room—now," Andrew instructed.
"But the walkers—and what about everyone else?"
"Women and kids don't need to be out here among the chaos."
"That's bullshit!" Carl shot back at Andrew. "I'm just as capable as shooting walkers as everyone else!"
"Carl," Lori half gasped, half warned.
"Now's not the time to argue. Just… come on, let's go," Sasha ushered the small group to the other room next to Maggie's.
Skyler was the last to follow, having stopped just outside the room to look back toward Andrew. He gripped the axe in his hands tighter and gave her a brief nod. A signal that things would be okay. And as Skyler turned and shut the door behind her, hating the fact that she felt like she was giving up retreating into a room, she could only hope that was true.
Merle had tried to shoot the Governor but it was a failed attempt. The dumb bastard from the Woodbury army had gotten in the way right at the last moment and ended up taking the bullet that was meant for Philip. About the only successful thing that had been accomplished was that no one else had been shot or injured other than Maggie—and that hardly felt like success.
"There's too many! They just keep coming!" Rick shouted overtop of the gunfire between him, Merle, and Andrea.
Andrew had stuck to using the fire axe while Glenn had managed to rejoin them, machete in hand. Michonne stuck to using her katana while Tyreese used a hammer. Merle resorted to using the bayonet attachment on his stump.
Overall, they were making a pretty good sized dent in the walker population that had surfaced. A few stragglers from out in the woods had heard the gunshots and joined what walkers had been delivered from Woodbury.
After being sucked into the moment, it took a while before Merle realized Daryl was outside somewhere when all of this went down. He cursed under his breath as he searched the surrounding area for him. He was able to spot him separated from the others facing three walkers with just his knife. It didn't take a genius to know that wasn't good.
"Blondie," Merle called out to her to get her attention, nodding her in Daryl's direction. He made his way over to Daryl as quickly as possible while Andrea and Michonne had joined him. Michonne quietly took out two of the three walkers while Merle got the last one before grabbing his brother. "You tryin'a get yourself killed!"
Daryl didn't respond to that though as Merle huffed in anger. It subsided pretty fast though as Merle helped get Daryl to one of the motel rooms and out of danger—something that should have been done a long time ago.
"You two stay here with him. I've got a bone to pick with some walkers," Merle ordered before taking off again.
Andrea couldn't argue. All she had on her was a pistol and the noise wasn't exactly helping. Merle had also saved her out there, pulling her away from being shot. The least she could do was keep Daryl inside that room.
Which turned out to be a lot easier of a task than she originally thought.
Andrea heard the knife hit the floor just as she and Michonne rushed to Daryl's side to grab him, preventing him from completely collapsing. Together they carefully lowered him to the floor on his back. He didn't look good and the Governor was to blame for all of it.
"I should have seen this coming. I should have known Philip would do something like this…" Andrea sighed, shaking her head. She tried not to think about the fact she didn't see Amy anywhere. Now wasn't the time. She had to do what she could to help protect everyone. "And I'm so sorry for… everything."
Michonne didn't say a word in return, only crossed her arms and watched as Andrea got down on her knees beside Daryl's unconscious body. The apology was meant for Michonne and what had happened between the two but she chose not to pay it any mind. Again, now wasn't the time for that.
Andrea carefully pushed Daryl's hair back out of his face, her hand just grazing his forehead. She stopped though, furrowing her brow before she placed her hand flat across his forehead. She looked to Michonne, confused, "He's burning up."