This is going to be a long chapter methinks, so if it breaks 3,000 words I might put it up as two, but it depends how much it stretched out to I guess!
Daryl snuck in at the sounds of the firework, climbing through the now broken perimeter and sneaking in. he ignored the sounds of strangled cries of unsuspecting fence watcher, trying not to think how they used to use people like that too. He wandered around, making himself look like he was joining in and following the pack until he could run off to find Rick.
The place was a large red brick building, once most likely offices, attacked was a huge barn type structure that stood awkwardly attached for the extra room needed by the sheer numbers of survivors this place had. How had such a great place fallen into the evil of a man like Gary and done literally noting about it sooner?
Daryl sighed, seeing an open door to the large red building, deciding to go that way he broke apart from the group running into a hallway. It was cold and concrete, he been nudging doors, some of which opened to show neglected beds and blankets warm just moments before. When he reached the sight of a flight of stairs leading to 'main office' something in him told him to go up because that's where Rick would be.
By this time Beth and Abraham Ford had gotten themselves to the main gate, it was now open from where the locks had been forced away for Gary's men to enter. Screams and shouts were already prevalent, but other than that they saw exactly what Daryl had seen. It was too similar to the fall of the prison for Beth not to get too attached to this place, it looked like a functioning home and they had been in the group out to destroy that.
At the top of the staircase Daryl moved through an already open door to see a man stood dropping bullets into his gun and strapping them to his belt. He was shocked to see Daryl so silently there as he turned around, visibly jumping and taking a step back. And then he just started at Daryl's face, and then the same crossbow he had known since meeting the redneck.
Rick Grimes.
Beth and Abraham spilt pretty quickly, he had his own issues to attend to and she never asked what they were, she just gave him a quick word of thanks and ran off. She saw the smirks as the men set the annex on fire, its tall structure of apocalypse built to houses they could. With a gasp of horror she saw it was filled with people.
The men from their camp were basically pillaging, stabbing and making everyone suffer as much as possible. Walkers had begun to rise back to life and a few locals made their way to the little fences, managing to snag thought he various holes cut there. She ran to the annex doors, trying to help people out and stop some of the men getting out through the large double doors. Inside was dankly lit, increasingly by the roar of flames near the entrance.
She was aware of a small boy screaming over the figure of a pyramid lady, her bright ginger hair spilling out in her own blood. Ignoring the search for Daryl temporarily, Beth saw another man walking behind ready to attack. Her legs were on fire as she began shooting her rounds, catching two walkers and the man in question. He fell and she roughly pulled the boy up behind her, he stumbled but managed to follow her enough to not slow the pace too much. Daryl would have to wait.
Rick wanted to swear, he wanted to swear loudly. How the hell had Daryl managed to find him here, and at the right time he needed a strong man to help fight these intruders off. It never occurred to him that Daryl was an intruder, not until a chuckling man walked around the door.
''Well done Daryl, you found 'im, now take him down, I'm looking forward to pulling him apart bit by bit.'' The man smiled sadistically, expectant on his bowman to deliver. For a moment both Daryl and Rick were unsure what he was going to do.
But then Daryl flinched back as Daryl hit him, totally unsuspectingly struggling with the smaller but still powerful man. Gary managed to grab his knife, almost getting Daryl's flesh before Rick intercepted, holding his arms back. Grimes and Dixon were partners once again.
Beth found herself in some sort of war. She stood out for walkers in a dirtied, but still bright pink dress. Perhaps it worked as some shield form the locals, who were unlikely to pair her with the attackers. She helped take down walker after walker, clearing out one of the barracks. It was all burning, and she was enraged that these people could attack a room of predominantly sleeping women and children. They were no threat.
The boy was still holding onto her skirt, shielded behind her with shaking fear. The barracks were mostly made of wood and sheeting, it wasn't ideal living conditions for winter but better than being out there. The ingenuity and craftsman's ship in building this place were being torn down by the lick of flames growing around the walls of this place. On the side could see the wood turn to the original concrete building from which it was attached. When it was possible she grabbed him by the small hand and wove them down a candle lit hallway, trying all the doors on their way. With only the echo of their own fearful breathing and footsteps, Beth's heart felt like it might break from beating too quickly.
Finally a door opened for them, it held few mops and sheets. She shimmied in, the room was dark. The little boy whimpered as she shut them in, but she needed to the darkness.
''Hey, it's alright- you're going to be alright. I won't let them hurt you.'' her voice was whispered and shaking, but she so badly wanted to be convincing enough for him. She covered him with a sheet in the hope that he wouldn't be seen. She had to leave him, and here would be safe.
''Lock the door behind me, ok?'' She waited until his little face nodded and the grip lessened on her dress so she could slip back out into the hallway, waiting long enough to hear the small click and test the door. Ideally she wouldn't leave him here, but there was depressingly nowhere safer. Still her mind thought over what his life was going to be, there was no way to find his family in the chaos, if he had them.
She looked down the hall, knowing this was the way she had seen Gary rush off to, and it seemed the kind of place to connect other places, having a distinctly used feeling to it. Going left was her best bet of finding Daryl. Because Daryl, she knew, would be looking for Rick to find him. And Gary was looking for Rick to kill him, follow Gary find Daryl. But screamed echoed from the right, horrible tortured souls trapped in the open as their sanctuary burned its wooden structure. She wasn't the kind of person built for warfare, or battles. She had to find Daryl that was her job here.
Beth turned and ran to the right, silently apologising to Daryl and praying to God he'd keep him safe long enough to see him again.
Daryl had Gary under him, tip of an arrow against his skull ready to ask questions. Rick was behind him yielding his own knife in case anything happened. He needed to know about Beth, threaten it out of him before he died- in his head Daryl couldn't think of any other way to do this. His allegiance had been shown by pushing Rick out of the way and pinning the gruff leader down instead. But the element of surprise would barely hinder him for long.
And just before he was able to ask the first question, Paul came running in, gun raised. He lowered it upon seeing it being Daryl who was holding Gary down. It made no sense to turn on someone at this very moment. His hand wavered, wondering what to do. Gary was snarling to shoot Daryl, and Rick aimed him own gun at Paul's head. They were stuck in military stale mate.
''Daryl? It must be a mistake, I can't kill him-why aren't you on our side? I thought we were friends?'' Paul's voice trembled, but he had no choice but to point the gun back at Rick to not disobey the orders he had been giving. Daryl guiltily thought back to the conversations on the roof as they did their job, how this man had shared his life story in exchange for nothing. And Daryl wouldn't really care if he died.
''Didn't you wonder, Paul, how exactly your daughter got those bruises on her neck?'' Gary smiled maliciously, earning a sharp point being pressed into his forehead. He had thought it was Gary's own doing-
''Daryl did that?'' Paul looked across beseechingly lost his own confusion, because Daryl couldn't have done that he was with him all morning. And maybe that's why Gary was being pinned down, he had lost it. Yes, that must be what happened.
''No, you idiot the blonde girl did.'' Gary's voice was light, and Paul shook his head disbelievingly. The look in Gary's eyes were undeniable and the size of the hand prints flew across his min. it had to have been a small woman who did it. And they all knew that bruises that dark weren't about threatening, Beth had nearly killed her.
''You knew?'' Paul's question was dark and directed straight at Daryl, beneath him Gary smiled knowing that his aim was totally on target once again. Daryl swore under his breath a few times, looking up into the eyes of the angered and upset man, regretting the fact he didn't have a choice.
''I had my suspicions-'' both men looked surprised at the admission, Gary not having thought that it was planned at all, and still not knowing that it was the man's instincts that drove him to the truth about his Beth. He had hoped to stun Daryl into loosening his grip but to no avail. Paul's face was a mask of blotted red features, but his hand was shaking too much for a serious aim to be taken. Besides Rick remained loyally at Daryl's side despite their break in communication.
Rick's gun was cocked in Paul's direction. Paul's gun was aimed at Daryl. Daryl's crossbow rested on Gary's head.
The flames were worse now, and she poured out into the open space she could see practically nothing but smoke and orange light illuminating. It was no time to think so she just relied on indicts from deep inside her somewhere. Following voices she flung herself at a walker, using the momentum to get the small knife through its head.
The familiar face of heavy man she had said 'good morning' to, plunged a blade into a woman's neck so she collapsed in front of screaming others knowing they were next. Beth heard the shot, and saw the man fall the ground on top of the still dying woman. Her hand was outstretched, the last bullet gone though she had no idea when or how she had done it. The family looked at her in the same way, their ashen faces clinging to smoke and debris so they looked barely human.
''This way,'' her voice was barely loud enough to hear, even though she was screaming. So instead to actively pulled them up, grabbing the hands of the youngest two children, and running so that the others would follow.
They did, and she got them almost sot free to the hallway where a large piece of timber as beginning to sag. One by one the y squeezed under running into the empty corridor and searching for places to hide. More people had seen the gap and were flooding away from captors to join them. She shouted out, hoping people might hear. It wasn't enough so she went back out pointing them in the right direction and trying to injure any of the men she recognised.
Screams grew louder from every side as the roof began to fall in heavy burning pieces of timber. Beth tried avoiding them desperately, standing on the places already fallen to try and get to the hallway. She could smell the rubber on her boots burning slightly from the singed wood, but she kept going. When she got the door another piece had fallen on the drooping timber covering all but the top of the open way to freedom. The wood here wasn't burning, it was heavy and blackened around the edge but held the integrity of its weight true form.
She tugged at the pieces, knowing instantly it was no good to do this alone. She jumped trying to get her hands over the top piece so she might climb up and in. it was a long shot, but her booted feet scrapped up as she clung to the top. Grunting noises were hidden in the disrupted air, her stomach painful from the sharp edge of wood digging in and her hands covered in little slinters. Still, she kicked her way up so she could manoeuvre her head through the gap, eyes watering at the release form smoke.
''You just won't quit will you?'' The southern drawl of Abraham Ford was level with her head, she felt his strong arms pull her though onto his shoulder before he jogged off down the hallway.
When the air was free from as much smoke, he sat her down, patting her back as she wheezed and coughed. She looked a mess, but she didn't care, breathing heavily. He had a proud look on his face, knowing he had saved her for the right reasons. She was doing him proud.
She desperately wanted water, and a hug, and her Daryl. Her body was fighting the urge to shut down and sleep for the next decade, but her mind was still throwing out confused thoughts of things she had to do. Abraham, clapped her on the back, asking if she was good to go and upon receiving a weak nod helped her up. He practically held her up as they ran down the hallway, he already knew where they were going it seemed, which was a thanks and a half.
They all heard the walkers at the same time. Abraham Ford, threw Beth behind him, pushing a few of the increasingly sporadic doors, they were all locked. His shoulder pushed against one roughly, grunting at the force, but it gave and he pushed them in. both were surprised to see that it was a tiled bathroom with grimy light streaming in form windows. They leant against the door, hoping that because they hadn't been seen that those creatures wouldn't attempt anything.
Paul was the closet to the door, he stun around holding it in place, but the walkers had followed the noise of their fighting voices and pushed hard against it so that it was never fully closable. Arms and disjointed fingers fought through, overwhelming with the pressure. Exertion was showing on Paul's face, and so it was then that Rick jumped over Gary's legs to add his own weight against the wood. It wasn't any good.
It got to a point of inevitability that around twenty walkers flooded into the small office space. Rick was first to stop one biting the others man's arm, pulling him away sharply to give better standing for attack. Daryl had started shooting bolts from where he was, Gary not struggling because he was relatively safe if Daryl kept them at a distance as he was doing now. But the arrows were running out and it was an awkward place to try and aim from. So he got up, looking across just as a walker bit into Paul's neck.
There wasn't time to register the fall of a comrade, even one his girlfriend had tried to kill the daughter of. He was sorry they never explained, but other than that he and Rick leant against each other back-to-back and killing off the walkers one by one until they were all still on the ground. It was only then that they realised Gary had gone.
Rick sighed, leaning against the wall and shaking his head. He started smiling like a lunatic and then began laughing loudly.
''I don't believe you're here,'' he kept laughing, making Daryl smile and punch his arm playfully hard.
Daryl began collecting back his bolts and wiping them off. Later he could be pissed that Gary had gotten away. And then his face changed to cold, knowing they had to leave now and get back to Beth before he did. He was about to say something, before he heard rushed footsteps climbing over bodies up the steps.
They both flipped straight into fighting stances, yielding weapons in hand and aiming at the door. A tall, ginger man appeared, knife in one hand glaring at them both. Daryl raised his crossbow ready to take him out when he heard it.
''Rick?'' Beth's voice was hurt a bit by yelling and sounded scratchy, but it was the same honey tones he had grown so used to.
From where she was stood she could only see Rick. And he looked disbelievingly at her, as if he thought she was long dead (which let's face it wasn't going to be too far from the truth). She ran over to hug him, and he hugged back seeing a dead person back to life in a good way. It was to imagine people like Daryl surviving, but Beth- how had she managed to do that?
He gave a surprised look across to Daryl, who had a face on that he simply couldn't place. Maybe it could be described as a sailor lost at sea, he held his hand out at her, not knowing he was doing so. For a moment Rick wondered if this was some coincidence and Beth hadn't seen Daryl since the prison either. She saw him looking over her shoulder, and Beth looked back seeing Daryl. At once her hands were away from his waist.
She jumped slightly as she ran at him, gruffly being picked up as she wrapped her legs around his waist and held him close. Then Rick realised they had definitely seen each other since the prison. Daryl seemingly forgot that others were watching, nuzzling his face into her neck so he could feel the light pulse against his nose. She was holding him no less tightly, reading his need for closeness. A need Rick had never known Daryl had needed, especially form little young pretty things.
Both he and the ginger man stared awkwardly for what felt like a small eternity but was probably a lot less, since Daryl let go pretty swiftly to hide with a red face. Beth was smiling from ear to ear. More alive in ash and fatigue than he had ever see her at the farm or prison, she was exactly the same but so very different. And he was the same, visually and tactically he had been Daryl, but that hug- that hug was not Daryl Dixon.
This took so very long to do, please tell me it was in some way worth the pain? xxx