Chapter 52:
Obedience
I had never lied to Daryl before. I was always honest about my emotions; growing up, Michonne always told me I wore my heart on my sleeve, and at first I hated it. But over time, I grew to take pride in it.
Lying about my emotions wasn't something I did.
Especially not with Daryl.
I tried to ignore this, focusing on our group, huddled together in the hospital wing with Dad standing in front of us by the door, about to give one of his long speeches with the intense and unnecessary pauses. Carl and I joked that his pauses would make for a good drinking game – one of the rare times he ever joked about dear old Dad.
Most of us stood. Well, those who could stand did, which was actually a fair majority. Abe stood by Tara's side while I sat on her other. The beds were small so our knees were touching and I could feel her one eye on me.
"Now..." Dad began, the first of many dramatic pauses. I suppose I got my flare of drama from him. "There have been some... Complications."
Oh, another pause. I glanced at the bed across from me where Carl was perched, but he wasn't staring back – his cold eyes were fixed on Dad, and I noticed him stroking the pink scar across his cheek with his thumb.
"Well c'mown," Abe spoke, "What happened?"
Dad looked at Abe and his old, frustrated face with hesitation. He took what seemed like a very deep breath before continuing. "Maggie and Glenn both believe that the members of Terminus are their responsibility, and apologise on behalf of their commun—"
"That's bullsquirt," Abe rumbled loudly. His voice was lower than usual. "If they wanna take responsibility, then why ain't they dead yet?"
I looked from him to Dad.
Daryl was the one to talk though. "They don't deserve to die," he said gravelly and quietly, his eyes trailing over both my face and Tara's. The two of us noticed and shared a look; both annoyed, surprised and amused. I couldn't explain why.
At this, Abe stomped his feet. "The hell they do!" He bellowed. Daryl raised his chin, straightened his back and took a small step closer, almost daring Abe to fight. But if he really wanted a fight, he would have said something opposed to remaining silent.
Abe looked angrily from Tara back to Dad. "Them turds almost killed Tara!" He looked to me, then. "Near killed your girl, too!"
"Now that's enough," Dad snapped, but his sharp expression grew soft. "Everybody just needs to calm down."
Abe smacked the lantern by the bed to the floor, which was made of a durable plastic for camping, so the effect wasn't as powerful as broken glass. It just rolled across the floor. "Don't go telling me to calm down!"
Then Tara sighed tiredly. "Abe, calm down."
He whipped his head around, frowning down at her furiously. Tara's knee knocked mine again, but I think it was on purpose. Not knowing what to do, I knocked her back.
"They shoved a knife in your eye!"
"Really?" Tara and I said at he same time, sharing an amused smirk.
Abe's dropped jaw slammed shut in surprise. His face went from red to purple which really emphasized the orange of his moustache.
"What about the person directly responsible?" Carl asked, his voice low and manly. Sometimes I forget he's like thirty and with facial hair. Dad dragged his eyes from Abe to look at his son. With every expression, you could see pride in Dad's eyes when he looked at his son. Dad's expression remained stern, strong and Carl's reflected it – it was moments like these that you could tell how much like father and son they really were.
"Or weren't you able to get to anything actually relevant?" Carl said sharply and Dad raised a brow of both surprise and scolding.
I raised my own brow in surprise. "Dude."
He ignored me while Dad just continued. "Me and Daryl... We..." Yet another pause. "Came to a decision."
I pressed my lips together tightly, chewing on the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing. Don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh...
"Both Maggie and Glenn, as well as Daryl and myself will look into the person responsible... An investigation of sorts." Dad rested his hands on his hips, adjusted his stance and went quiet for a long unnecessary moment.
Don't laugh.
"When we find out who did this, Maggie and Glenn will decide the right punishment."
Abe kicked at the bed next to Tara's which shifted loudly across the floor, making Tara jump. "The right punishment?!" He bellowed. "To hell with that: there is only one punishment."
Dad sighed tiredly. "Death, I know, but if we want to stay in Terminus."
"And who said anything about wanting to stay in Terminus?" Beth asked. I had kept an eye on her and the baby constantly, but for a moment I had forgotten she was there. Everyone turned to look at her. "They betrayed us! Tortured Judy, disfigured Tara, and killed Michonne."
The thought of Michonne made my blood run cold and for a moment it was like the world just stopped. Michonne is dead. None of us were over it yet, but no one talked about it. Carl had lost his best friend, Dad lost a comrade. And everyone acted as though she never existed. Beth's acknowledgement of her existence was... overwhelming.
"I don't want to stay here a second longer than we have to," Beth said. Her tone was even, no sign of a quiver, but there was something about her voice that made me suspicious. Beth really didn't want to stay here, but the reasons listed were not the reasons why.
"The hell else are we supposed to go?" Daryl asked, stepping forward to look at his wife properly. Daryl's squinting eyes narrowed down on his little girl, making tiny baby noises in Beth's arms.
Beth went quiet for a long moment before responding. "Anywhere else is better than here."
"Look," Dad said, stopping Beth and Daryl from continuing. "This is it: this is our only option and if we want to stay here – which we have to – (Dad looked pointedly at Beth) then we have to work together with Glenn and Maggie."
Beth scoffed which made me frown. This was very unlike her; very different from her usual hopeful naivety and ridiculous optimism. I wanted her back.
Dad's foot scuffed loudly against the floor to get our attention. "This is the deal Daryl and I made. We stay here in Terminus so long as we..." Another pause.
Don't laugh.
"...Behave. There will be no retaliations. No fights with the community. No associations of any kind with the community. No killing anyone in the community." He informed us in that demanding ordering way.
We all went quiet, letting my father's rules sink in. He had that 'don't fuck with my rules' tone, and when you both respected and feared my father, you did not disobey him – unless you're his offspring in which case you get away with it.
Even so, I could hear Beth mutter under her breath "This is bullshit," but she wasn't loud enough for Dad to hear.
Then Dad continued his little speech. "Now I know y'all don't like this arrangement, but this is the way it is..." Another pause.
Don't laugh.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop from laughing at his dramatic flare, and tried to focus on what he was saying.
"...Glenn and Maggie are not the people we once knew."
It became easy not to laugh after that, because all I could see was the pained look in Glenn's tortured eyes when he raised that gun on me. It made me sick just to be around him when I remember what he did to me, and how he convinced me that I was going to die, but I still felt Dad was wrong.
Glenn was a good person, and so was Maggie. I couldn't imagine they were any different 17 years ago. How is it that though I was the one tortured by him, I was the only one who forgave him?
Author's Notes: Hey loyal readers, it's my birthday! My sister bought me a jersey with Dixon wings on the back of it... How fucking awesome is that?! Review, guys! It's always appreciated.
