Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows! It means a lot!
So this chapter sets up a different route that I'm taking, and I'm really excited about it. And I really hope you guys enjoy it!
Please leave a review, they are greatly appreciated!
Part Two
..
Six
Revolving Door
.x.
"Ya really leavin' us?"
Daryl's voice usually would've brought her to a stop, but she kept moving. The pain in her leg was excruciating and she knew if she came to a halt, she wouldn't be able to move again. His voice was a stone's throw away from her; and she knew he would be able to close the gap between them in just a couple strides. Esther kept quiet and kept plodding on with a wince, her gaze remaining on the empty road ahead.
"Ya givin' me the silent treatment now, huh? I ain't worthy of an answer or to talk to?" Daryl asked. "Ya really gonna leave without sayin' goodbye to any of us?"
Esther came to an abrupt halt and turned around. Daryl's footsteps slowed.
"Ya don't just get to come into my life to just leave without a word."
She composed herself, running a hand through her hair. "I need to move on, Daryl. I have to find Abraham. He's out there somewhere. And you guys… you can all manage. You're a good team together. I'm not meant to be part of this group—"
"—bullshit," Daryl scoffed.
"And maybe," Esther continued, ignoring his comment. "It's time for me to move on."
Esther turned around before she could see Daryl's face fall and carried on walking. Daryl watched her limp away from him before continuing behind her. He jogged a few steps, reaching for her hand to slow her down but she quickly yanked her hand away from him.
"You know," Esther began, slowing. "I'm not apologising for what happened back there. You can yell, you can scream, you can curse at me… but I will never apologise for what I do. This was who I was before you, and this will always be who I am. I'm trained to protect people."
"I know," Daryl told her. "I just—"
"No. I get to talk," Esther told him. "You can be angry, sure. But understand this… I've had to fit in all my life and then I met you, and you were the first person who didn't expect anything from me. You just saw me and that was enough. And now…"
"I ain't good with my emotions," Daryl said quickly. "I saw ya out there and I… couldn't do anything. Ya came to our rescue, and if ya were a minute later then… I wouldn't be here. I just… I got scared because ya had to take them on by ya self and I couldn't protect ya."
Esther watched as his face faltered. She lowered her gaze and readjusted her stance. "I can handle myself. Maybe… I'm too much for you all. You can all get away from this place, head to the quarry like you planned to."
Daryl stepped forward, shaking his head. "I ain't leavin' this place without ya."
"Maybe we'll find each other again, maybe we won't," Esther continued, taking a step back. "But I know I've got to move on. Because if I don't, I never will—"
Daryl cut her off by pressing his lips against hers ever so gently.
He kissed her and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. His hand rested below her ear, his calloused thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled. Unexpectantly, his other hand drifted to her waist. It settled there for a moment before he pulled her closer, and she inhaled sharply. Her chest was pressed against his and it was only then that they both realised the height difference between them. She splayed her hand against his hard chest, intending to push him away, but instead she left it there. She felt as though her whole world was being set on fire; his kiss lighting every dark corner of her heart.
Though it was brief and overwhelming, she pulled away. Esther hesitantly looked up at him, the swirls of emotion within her urging her to close the gap once more and kiss him again. The kiss had obliterated every thought they had, eliminating any fear and any trace of anger and frustration within them. Daryl searched her eyes as he savoured the taste of her kiss.
She had kissed him back. He had thought she was pushing him away, but she hadn't. She had kissed him with the same passion that he kissed her with. And he felt himself unravelling; stealing the words that he wanted to tell her in that moment.
"I can't lose ya," he whispered, aware of how close they still were. "I'm sorry… shouldn't have gotten mad with ya. I was scared."
She was the one to kiss him this time. But the kiss ended abruptly as Daryl moved his lips away from her.
"There's people behind ya," he whispered slowly, and Esther furrowed her brow, her eyes meeting his. "Ya ready?"
She offered him a slight nod, before they moved in sync, their weapons aimed at the two people. A balding man in his early sixties and a blonde woman in her early thirties raised their hands up immediately, their eyes widening in shock. Daryl could feel the fear radiate from them, he could feel it almost strangling them.
"We aren't here to hurt you," the woman spoke quickly. "We just… we heard talking and…"
"Please don't shoot us," the man pleaded with them. "I'm Dale, and this is Andrea. We just… we heard talking and came to investigate."
Esther watched as the woman introduced to them as Andrea stared at Dale as if urging him to tell them something. She furrowed her brow at that.
"What is it?" Esther asked, her voice harsh. "You thinking about ambushing us?"
"No… no, nothing like that," Dale reassured her. "It's… we…"
"Spit it out," Daryl hissed.
"We thought you were them," Andrea was the one to speak, her gaze falling on them both. She watched as they furrowed their brows in confusion, tilting their heads slightly as they tried to understand where she was going with what she was saying. "Have you seen a young woman, blonde, a little taller than me, she was wearing a mermaid necklace?"
Esther narrowed her gaze at Andrea. "We haven't, but… what do you mean by you thought we were them?"
Dale was uncomfortable, his gaze failing to meet Andrea's. "It was all my fault. I… they shot at my RV and… I should've been watching her… I should've fought harder."
"What do ya mean?" Daryl interjected, uneasiness rattling against his chest. The men that had ambushed them had ambushed them for one reason: to take the women and children away for a 'better' life.
"They told us about a compound they had," Andrea explained to them, her voice breaking with emotion. "An arena, just outside the city. They told us we could join them; that we would be safe there, but under one condition."
"Ya had to die," Daryl finished for her, his eyes falling on Dale who nodded.
"We refused their offer and well…" Andrea told them, and sniffled. "They shot up the RV we had, and we hid… but they came back and took her in the night."
"I'd fallen asleep," Dale whispered. "I wasn't looking out for her."
"You'd been up for forty-eight hours straight, Dale," Andrea reassured him, though there was hurt evident in her voice. "We didn't think they would come back."
Esther nudged Daryl and threw her gaze onto the group behind them. He nodded, and she sighed. "We know of them," she began. "We… ran into them. They promised us the same, but they weren't too friendly with us either. But…"
Andrea's gaze fell on Esther's bloodstained hands and her injured leg. "There's more of them. They patrol the streets, collecting people. We saw another group take another young girl; she must've been a few years younger than Amy."
"Ya said they told ya about their compound?"
Dale nodded. "A deserted arena."
"Ya think ya can mark it on a map for us?" Daryl asked, pulling the folded and creased map from his back pocket.
"If they're operating around this area, it can't be too far," Esther commented to which Daryl nodded. Dale pointed towards an area on the map and Daryl marked it down. "We've got to make sure we can avoid them as much as we can but also try to be aware of their movements."
"What have you got planned?" Andrea asked, worriedly.
"If what you say about this group being as large as they are, we need to be prepared in case anything happens," Esther told them, aware of Daryl's burning gaze upon her skin. "We have women and children here. We've got to watch our backs whilst we get your sister back."
.x.
"Ya really think this is a good idea?" Merle's tone was harsh as his eyes narrowed at Esther. She was resting against the side of the vehicle, her leg causing her some discomfort the longer she stood on it. She knew some of the group wouldn't be up for the rescue mission to retrieve Andrea's sister from the men they had misfortune of stumbling across that morning, but she hadn't expected all of them to be as hesitant.
Esther shrugged, her gaze falling on Andrea and Dale who stood a stone's throw away from them. "Imagine if it was Daryl," she began, her voice low enough so that Andrea and Dale couldn't overhear them. "Wouldn't you want someone to help you find him?"
"He can get himself out of shitty situations," Merle retorted. "One time, our ol' pa drove us out into the middle of nowhere and made us find our way home. Wanted to go out for a few hours but didn't want the neighbours to call the cops on him again for leavin' two kids alone at home. Found each other a couple hours later an' let's just say we were sat at home eatin' a meatloaf sandwich when he came home from his nightly drinkin' fun times with all his ladies."
"We had a great time," Daryl added with a reassuring smirk. "It wasn't as bad as ol' Merle makes it sound."
"Right…" Michonne interjected with a furrowed brow. "Can I ask… how in the hell are we going to find her sister?"
"They told us the men mentioned an arena," Esther shrugged.
"Oh, I know the one," Tara said with a nod, motioning towards Lilly who also nodded. "We used to go and see some shows there. It's… I'm guessing it would be quite overrun around that area."
"It isn't," Dale's voice filtered into the conversation and the older man found a place for himself in the makeshift circle. "We were heading that way and they spotted us. Followed us out of the city, hounded us for days wanting Andrea and Amy to join them. They have it pretty much set up; guards on the front with weapons, a patrol every hour to kill the dead… it's unsettling how quickly they've set it up to be a thing, you know? It's what? A couple of weeks since the outbreak began, and the world is so different now."
Esther pondered over his words for a moment. And he was right. Whilst they were merely surviving each day, wondering where in the hell they would go to next, there were people who seemed to be thriving in the pure desolation of the world. They had changed in a way, but she had to wonder; people didn't adapt that quickly to this new world. Maybe, just maybe, there were monsters waiting to be set free and the end of the world had given them a stage.
"We could maybe go and check it out, keep ourselves hidden and see what's going on," Esther suggested to them, seeing the collection of worried faces staring back at her. "We can be in and out quickly. Just to see what we're dealing with."
"This is my sister," Andrea interrupted vehemently. "I thought I'd lost her for good. That I wouldn't ever see her again. And then we found you guys, and I feel like this could be how she returns home to us, to me. I just need you guys to want to help. And if you don't, then I'll go in by myself."
"You won't come out," Dale told her with a sigh. "No one comes out of that place."
Andrea sighed. "Then I live with her in there."
"An' that's what ya want?" Daryl asked, his brow furrowing.
"If it means I get to be with her then yes," Andrea returned. "I would do anything for my sister."
Esther threw a look to Daryl, and he understood the sadness in her eyes. He nodded at her; chewing the skin around his thumb. Esther turned to Andrea, looking between her and Dale. "You won't have to do that. We'll… get her back. We'll find her."
.x.
The drive into the city was a slow one, with the group being cautious of what they could stumble across or who could be following them. It was decided that they would hide the vehicles nearby, just out of the city, in order to protect them from any unwanted attention lurking about. A group would remain by the vehicles, and the others would head into the city to check out the arena. They would take note of the any movement, any changes, and whether it was even worth the trouble, as Merle put it.
Andrea was adamant that she would be with the group that checked the place over. And so, it was decided that Dale would remain with Merle, Glenn, Tara, Lilly, Meghan and Sophia. Andrea would head into the small city with Daryl, Michonne, Rick and Esther. As Daryl threw an uncertain look at Esther's condition, she simply raised her eyebrows at him as if to challenge him. He raised his hands up in mock surrender and with a smirk, tapped his shoulder against hers as he came to stand beside her.
Once Merle was forced to pinky-promise Michonne with regards to be protecting the others with his life, the group were ready to go.
The walk into the city, however, didn't take as long as they first thought. With Esther's limp only causing her some discomfort, speed seemed to be on her side as she found a way to accommodate her injury. Esther and Rick took the rear with Andrea and Michonne in the middle and Daryl at the front.
They reached a clearing and Daryl raised his hand in the air, bringing them to a stop. The others grouped around him, observing the street around them and watching as men moved around outside the arena. Dale had been right in saying that they took turns on watch, with guards on every corner, patrolling the streets in front of the stadium.
"There ain't no way we're gonna get inside that place without them spotting us," Daryl whispered, his voice low and his gaze never leaving the guards.
Andrea's heart sank. "What do you suggest?"
"We could split up?" Rick suggested, receiving a glare from Daryl. "Hear me out. We… split up into two groups, right? One goes one way and the other goes another way. Then, we see if we can take them out."
"That would be suicide," Esther muttered with a shake of the head. "We could separate into two groups; I agree with that. Michonne, Andrea and I; and the both of you."
Esther observed the unspoken worry flash across Daryl's face, but she never uttered a word.
"That sounds doable," Andrea agreed with Esther.
"We ain't doing no crazy shit, alright?" Daryl warned, his eyes flicking to and remaining on Esther. "We watch, we observe, we don't move unless we have to. And only if we have to. We make one wrong move, we're all as good as dead."
The others nodded, agreeing with everything he said. They moved into their places and they watched the arena like hawks. It wasn't long before Andrea grew fidgety and restless, the urge to save her sister becoming overwhelming with each passing second. Esther reached out to her in an attempt to calm her, to soothe any worry she was experiencing and feeling but it seemed that Andrea had surpassed her limit.
Andrea's eyes grew wide and she moved closer, her eyes straining to see.
"It's him," she whispered. "He was the one to take Amy that night."
Esther and Michonne moved closer to look, seeing a man walk out of the large bolted doors that was heavily armed. She observed the man; longish brown hair, leather trousers and jacket, and the distinctive feature of an eyepatch. He walked around with no weapons upon him which seemed to unsettle Esther to her very core.
"You're sure?" Esther asked, her voice low.
"He has my sister…" Andrea said, her voice growing more fragile. "He took her without a second thought. He just took her… she's in there…"
"Andrea—" Michonne reached out for her but it was too late. She had slipped through Michonne's grasp and was running into the street.
Esther felt panic wash over her, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She bolted towards Andrea, ignoring the jolt of pain that engulfed her whole body. Michonne was close behind them, coming to stand beside Esther and holding her up.
The man watched them with raised eyebrows. His eye searched every inch of their bodies which only seemed to make Esther queasy. His gaze rested on them a little longer than either one of them was comfortable with. He looked towards the street around them, seeing nothing untoward except for the three women that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
He raised his hand in the air as he heard the collection of weapons being aimed at the three women.
"Are you… alone?" his voice dripped with authority, but Esther had met his kind before.
Esther could feel the burn on the back and moved her hand behind her back, cautious of the attention they were receiving. She motioned for them to retreat. She hoped Daryl and Rick could see her, but she was trying to keep them away from this place. If they were caught too, then they would have failed. Andrea had made the mistake of reacting on impulse; and now they had to dig themselves out of the hole she had made for them by themselves. She couldn't drag Daryl and the others into this mess.
"Yeah… it's just us…" Andrea told them. And Esther knew what they had to do.
They would have to become a trojan horse and destroy them from within.
