"It's the only way. No one else knows."
Airianna and Daryl sent each other matching looks of disbelief as they listen to Rick's plan while Hershel stood in silence. The redhead was steaming that Rick chose to keep the Governor's offer against his chest for the past few days. Now the deadline was drawing near and she figured if he presented it now more people would agree to his terms.
"You gonna tell 'em?" Daryl questioned.
Rick shook his head, "Not until after. We have to do it today. It has to be quiet."
Daryl shifted his feet, "You have a plan?"
"We tell her we need to talk. Away from the others," The leader calmly explained.
Daryl spared a glance at Hershel's forlorn expression, "Just ain't us, man."
"No. No, it isn't," Hershel agreed before stepping away in disappointment.
"We can't do this Rick," Airianna added. "Michonne's a good person, she's helped us time and time again."
"We do this, we avoid a fight," Rick reasoned. "No one else dies."
"Alright," Daryl quietly agreed.
"Daryl!" Airi slammed her arm into his chest before focusing on Rick, "This man wants his pound of flesh and we all know deep down one person is not enough. He will rip us apart whether or not we give her to him."
"This is not your call," Rick insisted.
"The hell it isn't, you can't decide to sacrifice her by yourself," She snapped back.
"I can and I will," Rick hissed back. Airianna glared at both of the men before she turned on her heel and stormed after Hershel.
She made it into the cell block and rushed past the kind woman as she passed her, barely giving Michonne a wave of acknowledgment. She stumbled up the stairs and let out a haggard gasp when she reached her cell. She attempted to hold in her tears of anger, hoping to restrain herself from going back and slapping the shit out of Rick.
Sophia glanced in on Airi, "Are you okay?"
She nodded her head at the girl as she wiped her tears away, "Yeah, just had a little spat with Daryl."
The blonde girl nodded, "Thought you guys were trying to work things out?"
"Fighting is normal when you're trying to fix things," She quietly explained. She felt awful for lying to the girl, but she couldn't stand to tell her the truth. "Come on, the others are busy. We can go check on the little ones."
She and Sophia moved into the common room where Eren and Judith were existing. The kids, Rick, and Michonne had come back from the gun run with a crib and a playpen so both of the youngest could sleep and play without running into anything dangerous in the prison. Eren laid in the playpen on a bundle of blankets while Judith napped in her crib.
"Ain't no way," Airi turned her head up to see Merle standing on the balcony looking out one of the upper windows.
"What?" He turned around when Sophia answered him. He smirked at the sight of the girl tucked close to his sister-in-law.
"Nothin' little lady," He brushed off. Sophia rolled her eyes and moved to check on the other kids.
"What happened?" Airi tiredly asked.
"We got any whiskey?" He offhandedly asked in return. "Hell, I'd even drink vodka."
"Go to hell, Merle," She muttered as she gently picked up Judith, grabbing one of the prepared bottles of formula to feed the little girl. "Besides, if we had any I would have chugged it already."
He laughed and slowly moved down the stairs, "Course you would Airi."
"Are you with us?" She asked as she fed the baby.
"You know I'm with my brother," Merle replied.
"I meant with all of us," She repeated herself. "Not just with Daryl. With me, Eren, Sophia, Rick, Hershel, Michonne?" He lifted his gaze and locked eyes with her.
"Not much difference."
"There is," Sophia chimed in. "Can't be neutral now, everyone has to pick a side."
He smirked at the little girl, "You're not the same kid from back in Atlanta, clinging to your momma's skirts, scared of anything that made a noise."
"I'm not," She agreed as she played with Eren. "I realized the only thing to be scared of is losing those I love. So I got stronger to protect them, and so I can make them proud." Airianna beamed at the girl and leaned down to lightly ruffle her hair.
"Sounds like you finally figured things out," Merle muttered.
"Yeah," She mumbled. "Maybe you can too."
He frowned at the girl's words, "might be too late for me."
"It's never too late to make things right," Airianna stated as she laid Judith back down after she finished eating. She moved over to Sophia and picked up Eren, moving over to stand next to her brother-in-law, "I try to do right by this little guy, maybe you can too."
He grumbled as he looked at the toddler grabbing for him, "I always take care of my own," He promised.
"I said to do right by, sometimes the right thing is never the easy one," She passed her son to Sophia and motioned the girl out of the cellblock. "We should leave and let Judith nap in peace."
She walked with the girl out into the courtyard and let her take Eren to sit by the small laundry area. She paused when she realized she left her gun near her bed and turned back into the block to retrieve it. While she passed through the common room she noted Merle had been kind enough to leave the baby to her rest. She walked up the stairs but paused when she saw Daryl sitting on the bed in the cell.
"What's wrong?" She leaned against the doorway.
"Merle bein' a dick," He muttered. "Tried talkin' to him, but he just lookin' for drugs in the generator room."
She nodded and moved to sit next to him, "That's what Merle does...I'm guessing Rick tasked him with the snatch and grab?"
Daryl tilted his head in agreement.
"As much as I don't get along with him, he's worth more than dirty work," She admitted.
"Thought you was mad at him for draggin' me down?"
"I am," She agreed. "But I still remember when we were all little and he would give me piggyback rides, and we would all try to learn to track in the woods, got lost as shit."
"Yeah, that was all you," Daryl chuckled.
"He's a great brother when he isn't being self-destructive," She sighed. "A trait you both seem to have."
Her husband rose from the bed, "I have to go talk to Rick, this ain't right."
"Okay, you go," She smiled as he walked away and leaned under the bed to grab her extra clip along with the gun sitting at the end of her bed. She slipped it into her holster and kept her hand on her knife as she moved down the stairs and to the door separating the block from the tombs.
The redhead quietly walked through the halls as she inched closer to the generator room, hoping to catch Merle before he did something undeniably stupid. She paused at the entrance to the room and peeked her head in. The area was in more disarray than usual and she walked around the machines connected to the generators hoping to find a sign of him somewhere.
She paused when she caught sight of a burlap sack on the ground and bent down to look at it. She sighed when she noticed a few black strands of hair stuck to it.
"Shit Merle, are you kidding me?" She got up and look through the door leading to the side of the prison, hoping to catch a glance of them.
When she couldn't see them she passed through the doorway and out into the fresh air. She crouched when she heard walkers shuffling nearby and slowly moved through the grassy field to the outer fences. Once Airi reached the outer fence she slipped out through the downed part of the fence and started to make her way through the trees.
Luckily she remembered the path to the feed store they took so she sneaked her way around in the forest hoping to see Merle and Michonne so she could cut him off.
A walker rasped and grabbed for her hair when she missed it hiding by a large tree. She stumbled and slashed at the corpse, landing her blade into its eye socket. The redhead dropped to the ground when more walkers came out from behind the trees moving westward towards a loud noise in the distance. Thinking fast she cut open the stomach of the walker she killed and smeared its blood all over her shirt and pants, imitating what Rick and Glenn did back in Atlanta.
Now covered in bile churning guts she shuffled in with the rest of the moving walkers and bit her cheek to keep any involuntary noises under lock and key. Moving through the woods she was starting to regret her poorly thought out plan as more and more walkers were drawn in by the racket coming somewhere in front of her. She followed the disgusting pack of monsters for a while until they spat out near the road where she watched a lone car blasting rock music inch down the asphalt. She kept her distance from the car as she moved with the slowly forming herd, but when it turned a corner towards the feed store Airi eyed Merle in the driver's seat sipping a half-empty bottle of liquor.
The female Dixon mentally sighed in relief, but as she came closer to the car she started to theorize why Merle was trying to bring in so many walkers. She shuffled close enough to reach the passenger door and she slapped her hand on the glass, "Merle."
The man slammed on the breaks at the disgusting body outside the door calling his name and squinted at it, "Holy Fuck Airi, why you lookin' like a dead one?"
"Let me in the damn car," She hissed as the rest of the walkers behind the vehicle started to catch onto her not being one of their kind. Her brother-in-law unlocked the door and she flung herself in before a walker lunged at her.
She cringed at the loud racket of noise, "What are you doing Merle? Thought you took Michonne?"
"I did, but I let her go at some dumb hotel," He grumbled as he side-eyed her. "Why you all gussied up?"
"Camouflage trick I learned in Atlanta," She elaborated. "Was heading to the feed store to head you off. Stop the stupid trade from going down."
He rolled his eyes, "Well, I done your job for ya, go back to the prison."
"Not leaving without you," She insisted.
He groaned and took a large swig of the alcohol, "You have people to go back to at that prison, they waitin' for ya."
"Waiting for you too," She shot back. "Besides this isn't the first time a Dixon ran off with you Merle and left their spouse and son behind."
"So you pullin' this crap to get back a Daryl?" He asked.
"I'm doing this for you, you need to come home," She declared.
"I have to do somethin' right with my damn shit life!" Marle yelled. "I let that black bitch go, but that ain't enough. The governor has to die."
"Well, then you don't have to do this alone," She reached over and patted his right arm above his prosthetic. "Family supports each other."
"You can't leave Daryl and Eren," Merle noted.
She smirked, "Neither can you. Someone has to get your sorry fat ass home."
The older man chuckled and reached over to pass the liquor over to her, "Welcome to the A-Team then."
She smirked and grabbed the bottle, taking a large sip of the bitter liquid, "Fuck, that's strong."
"Only the best," He joked. "You know he loves ya, Daryl." She nodded. He shifted in his seat as he slowed a bit to keep the walkers on their trail. "I kinda care for ya too."
"I know," She whispered. "Glad you do. Daryl's gonna hate me for this."
"You tryin' to help, do the right thing," He echoed her words from earlier. "He'll just be mad he didn't catch on as quick as you."
"So...How are we doing this?"
"Use the walkers as cover, sneak in and shoot anybody breathing," Merle summarized.
"Sounds so easy when you say like that," She muttered as she wiped a fleck of walker blood off her cheek.
The two drove on the rest of the way with only the CD on the radio creating noise. Merle slowed down more as he pulled up to the silos outside the store and picked up his gun, motioning for Airi to jump from the car. She opened her door and rolled out as the car continued, getting up and following after her brother-in-law. The pair snuck around the silos and into a small service building. Merle hunkered down by a window and peered at the small cluster of cars on the other side of the property by the building where Rick and the Governor met. The walkers swarmed the car and started to claw at it. The two ducked down when five or so men ran past their hiding spot and over towards the blasting car.
The men started to shoot at the crowd of walkers, but Airianna and Merle focused on them and started their counterattack. Merle took out the ones closest to the corpses to draw their attention away from the car while the doctor aimed for the legs and torsos of the others. They both paused as the first wave of men crumpled to the ground and more yelling echoed through the air as the walkers descended upon them.
Airi moved to the other side of the building to check on the rest of the armed men surrounding the cars, whistling to Merle when she caught sight of the Governor motioning at the other men. He rushed over to join her and they both continued their tactic of wounding the Woodbury men. She paused when she caught sight of Martinez pointing over to where they were hiding.
"Merle, we have to move," She whispered as she eyed the men moving closer to their position.
He turned to face her but stumbled when a walker latched onto his back. The redhead unsheathed her knife and jammed it into its skull, shoving it off of the oldest Dixon's back. Two men busted into the door and one of them rammed the butt of their gun into Merle's chest. He groaned but started to fight with him while the other man moved closer to Airi, pausing at the filth and guts she was covered in. She lept at the man and stabbed his chest, stumbling back to her feet and hitting his brain as well once he took his last breath.
She moved to help Merle when strong arms wrapped around her torso and neck and she gasped for breath, "Gotta say, you being here is a surprise," She wheezed as Martinez tightened his arm on her windpipe.
"You leave them to me!" The Governor screamed at his men as he came around the corner and latched onto Merle.
The one-eyed man dragged him into the building and shoved him into the wall before tossing him to the ground. Merle grunted in pain as The crazed leader started to kick him as hard as possible, but he kept his eyes on Airianna as she attempted to escape from Martinez's iron grip. He stumbled to his feet and weakly swung his metal arm at the Governor, but he hit him with a hard left hook and sent him back to the ground. He slammed his foot down on Merle's jaw and the man cried in pain as he felt it fully dislocate from his skull.
Airianna screamed at his wails of pain as he fought it the maniacal leader and opened her mouth enough to bit down into Martinez's arm. The main yelped as she tore into his arm and he released her, groaning as she left a bit mark in his right forearm. She jammed her elbow up into his groin and scrambled to help Merle when he fumbled to the ground.
A gun clicking froze her in her tracks and she looked up to see the Governor aiming his weapon directly at her chest. She stayed rooted in her place with her arms lightly up as her gaze shift from her beaten brother-in-law to the one-eyed asshole.
"Knew I'd be seeing you again," The Governor muttered as he eyed the redhead up and down. "Wasn't expecting it like this, however."
"I ain't gonna beg!" Merle yelled to get the disgusting man's gaze off his brother's wife. "I ain't begging you."
"No," He agreed. "But she will." He quickly swung around and backhanded Merle with the handgun, effectively knocking him out.
"Merle!" Before she could move a blunt force hit her from behind and she joined the fellow Dixon on the floor.
"Airi, Airianna."
She groaned in pain as her eyes fluttered open and she tensed as she noticed the strange chair she was strapped to in a mystery room. Her breathing started to increase heavily and she tried to hold back her panic as she struggled with the cuffs attached to her wrists.
"Hey, hey, look at me, Airianna," She swept her eyes around the room and her breathing slowed when she locked eyes with Merle, but she frowned when she noticed he was chained to the wall with his good arm which was bent at an odd angle.
"Merle?" She cringed as a pain shot through her head, "Where are we? What happened?"
"Governor got us, dragged our sorry asses back to Woodbury," He whispered as he scanned the room for anything that could help them escape.
"How's your arm?" She quietly asked as she tried t refocus her vision.
"Broken as all hell, but I'm breathin'," He muttered as he gazed worriedly at the woman strapped to the chair. "Heard that one-eyed bitch kickin' the shit outta someone else so we may have some time."
"I think...I think I have a concussion," She mumbled.
A loud bout of yelling made her jump in her seat and they both turned their heads over to the door on Airi's right and Merle's left. The door slowly creaked open and a bloody figure was shoved into the room.
"Look at the only things I got out of that failed mission, Milton," Airi lightly gasped at the disfigured face of the researcher she met. "My traitor Merle and his brother's lovely wife."
Milton sobbed as he locked eyes with the redhead, "I'm...I'm sorry."
"Oh, you will be," The Governor promised. "I got some more show-and-tell for you." He picked the small man up by the scruff on his shirt and dragged him from the room, slamming the door behind them.
"We gotta go or we'll soon be in shit city," Merle hissed as he fumbled with his handcuffed arm.
Airianna nodded as she started to try to slip out of her handcuffs. She quietly moaned in pain as her wrists were slowly becoming raw, "Merle this isn't working."
Before he could reassure the tired woman the door swung open again and he shot a heated glare at the Governor as he reentered the room without Milton.
"Where'd your pretty boy go?" Merle growled at the smirking man.
"Left him gutted with Andrea in the other room," He casually replied. "Sure she'll have fun with him." He chuckled at the looks he got from the family members, "Now what should I do with both of you, huh?"
He smugly walked over to the center of the room, circling the chair the mother was trapped in. As he paced around her he gently lifted her knotted hair in her hand and brought it to her face, inhaling its light scent. Airianna squeezed her eyes shut as he sniffed at her hair.
"Well, at least your hair doesn't reek of death," He gently whispered in her ear. He stepped back and messed with something behind her, and she tried to hold back her flinches as the sound of metal clanged in the room. The one-eyed man returned to the frightened woman's side with a towel and bowl of water. "Just here to clean you up."
Merle started to struggle in his position as the man closed in on his brother's wife. She tried to keep still as he sensuously wiped the blood off of her body, but she started to shake as he began to unbutton her shirt as he finished cleaning her arms and face.
"Hey, asshole!" The Governor paused his movements as Merle screamed at him. "Want to know somethin' fuckin' hilarious?"
"What Merle?" He asked while he continued to gaze at Airianna's slightly revealed chest. He lifted his hand but yelled as Merle stabbed him in the back with the knife still attached to his metal arm.
"Easy to slip cuffs if ya leave a knife on a fella," He grunted as he pulled back to stab the man again, but the pulled out his own knife and spun around, violently stabbing the redneck in the thigh. Merle moaned and fell to the ground, clutching his damaged leg.
"Merle, you of all people know not to interrupt my fun," He chastised the heavily injured man. "Now, I'm gonna have to take care of you later." He snapped his fingers and a man strode in, dragging Merle's bloody form from the room.
"Where...Where are you taking him?"
The Governor shot the woman an eerily soft smile, "Now that's none of your concern. Let's finish getting you tidied up." He waited until the door closed before he finished unbuttoning her flannel. The woman turned away as he brushed his hand over the fabric of her sports bra. He ran the towel up and down her chest, rubbing small circles into her skin. "There, doesn't that feel better?" Airi remained silent and the leader tutted, "fine, I'll just leave you alone and go check on Merle, or we can chat a bit and your brother-in-law can get some medical attention."
He shrugged his shoulders as she continued to her silence and turned to leave the room, "Is this what you do?"
He stopped his footsteps, "Excuse me?"
"You need to threaten a woman with people she cares about to get in her pants?" She guessed.
The man sighed and turned back around, "I spent plenty of time with Andrea, and she was quite complacent."
Airi lightly giggled and the Governor sneered, "You're not the first psycho she lept in bed with. I'm figuring she's not that pieced together properly if you get what I mean."
She gasped as he stormed over and slapped her across the face, "You know, I watched you rip a chunk out of my man, Martinez. A small one, but he'll have a nasty dip in his arm now," He pulled out a pocket knife and started to cut the side of her jeans. "Maybe you need to learn that your actions have consequences."
Airianna struggled in her restraints as she tried to squirm away from the man's crushing grip on her revealed thigh. He moved his head closer to her skin but stumbled back when her other leg flailed out and clipped him in the ribs. He rubbed his side before punching her in the face, smirking as he heard the crunch of her nose and her moans of pain.
"Hey, it's okay hon," He stroked her cheek in mock comfort. "I'll be back after I take a quick trip to the prison. I'll be sure to bring Daryl back for a charming family reunion."
He then kissed her cheek and strode from the room
Airianna jerked when the door opened but relaxed slightly when Merle was dragged back unconscious and without his prosthetics. She waited until the guard left before she struggled with her restraints again. She tried to steady her breathing and tucked her thumb into her palm before she shoved her hand into the metal armrest on the chair, holding back her discomfort as the joint slipped out of its socket. She pulled her left hand out of the cuff and pushed her thumb into her left knee to pop it back into place. With her hand free, she started to pat her face, twitching as her nose throbbed when her hand passed it.
Airi grabbed the crooked piece of cartilage and snapped it back in place, "God, okay...A little bit better," She moved her shaking feet off the ledge of the old medical chair and onto the ground, wobbling as she tried to balance her weight. She moved closer to Merle's slumped over form but grunted as the other handcuff on her right hand clanged on the armrest, "Merle, please wake up. We can't stay here."
When he remained quiet she glanced around the room for anything that could help. The room was filled with random pieces of furniture shoved against the other wall behind the chair she was attached to and she froze at the sight of a metal cart overflowing with surgical tools and hand made torture devices. Airianna stepped closer to the offending cart and strained to reach one of the pieces of wire and a scalpel. Using her new tools she bent the wire and slipped it into the lock of the cuff, attempting to use the scalpel as a tension wrench to pick the lock.
The soft click of the cuff opening made her smile and she pulled her right hand away from the chair, fumbling to rebutton her flannel with her shaking hands.
The doctor ran to Merle's side and flipped him over, smiling as she watched his chest rise and fall steadily. She checked his pulse, noting its steady beat. She turned to his thigh and ripped her sleeves off to tie them around his leg to stem the flow of blood. She paused as Merle mumbled and she eyed him as his eyelids flutter.
"What the hell happened?" He muttered as his eyes slowly refocused.
"You stabbed him, he stabbed you," She replied as she moved to check his arm. "I have to fix the bones."
She pushed on his forearm, maneuvering the bones back into place, "Fuck, ain't that peachy," Merle glanced at the redhead's swollen nose. "What he do?"
She stood up and rummaged through the furniture, picking up small pieces of wood and a ratty sheet covering a dresser. She came back over and ripped the sheet into strips, "Gave me a disgusting sponge bath, ripped my good jeans," She laid the wood against his arm and started to bind the limp straight with the fabric strips. "I kicked the shit out of him and he punched me."
"Sorry I dragged you into this," He mumbled.
She shrugged as she finished the makeshift cast, "He would've killed you if you went alone."
He closed his eyes and shook his head, "Maybe that's what I deserve."
"No, dying's easy. Living is hard," She sat down next to him and leaned back on the wall. "And you have never done the easy shit in life."
"Really?" He snorted. "The drugs and crime say otherwise."
"Doing the dirty work is hard," She rebutted.
The pair sat in silence as they both fought against passing out. She watched Merle closely as he drifted in and out of consciousness due to his slight blood loss. Airianna could barely keep her eyes open when she heard a door slam open somewhere nearby. Footsteps passed through her ears but she tightened her hand on the scalpel she grabbed and Merle struggled to sit up when they heard the door to the room creak open. Merle snarled at the African American man standing in the doorway, but Airi let out a sigh of relief at the familiar face.
"Tyreese," The man gazed at the two injured people in shock.
"Airianna, oh my God," He turned slightly to call out of the room. "Guys, in here!"
Three people ran into the room and Rick froze at the sight of Merle laying on the ground with blood covering him and his arm tightly bound as well as Airianna attempting to stay sitting up in ripped clothing and a bruised and bloodied face. Daryl dropped his crossbow and rushed to the side of his injured wife and brother, gently taking the redhead into his arms as she cried in happiness at seeing her husband again.
Michonne hung back by Tyreese as Rick moved to help Daryl with their hurt group members, "I had no idea he kept people here."
"He's real good at lying and manipulating," Michonne muttered. "Just glad we found them breathing."
The swordswoman stepped aside as Daryl left the room carrying his wife bridal style into the hallway, Rick following after with Merle lightly leaning on him as they walked. Rick leaned the large man against the wall and motioned to Michonne, "We gotta find Andrea." The two left the Dixons and Tyreese in the hall as they continued to sneak through the building.
They turned a corner and paused at a metal door with a pool of dark blood leaking out through the gap under the door.
"Will you open it?" He nodded at Michonne's request and flipped the latch on the door while keeping his gun raised. The door swung open and he glanced into the room, observing a dead body lying under a dentist chair. He lowered his gun when he caught sight of Andrea laying right next to the door.
Michonne rushed to her friend's side and the blonde smiled at her, "Andrea."
The blonde sluggishly sat up and looked at her friends, giving a small smile when Daryl walked int the room with Airi's arm wrapped around his waist as he held her up, "I tried to stop him."
"We did too," The doctor muttered.
Andrea nodded, "I could hear through the wall, I'm so sorry."
Michonne laid her hand on the woman's forehead and frowned, "You're burning up."
She pulled her jacket back and the group sadly watched the large bite mark on her neck come into view. Rick looked away in shame, but Andrea's voice pulled him back, "Judith, Carl, the rest of them…"
"Us," He cut in. "The rest of us."
"Are they alive?"
He nodded, "Yeah, they're alive," The blonde let out a raspy breath of relief.
She turned and grabbed Michonne's hand, "It's good you found them. No one can make it alone now." Michonne interlocked her fingers with Andrea's as she tried to hold in her tears.
Daryl shifted his wife closer to him, "I never could."
"I just didn't want anyone to die," Andrea admitted. She pushed herself up on the wall. "I can do it myself."
"No," Rick denied.
"I have to," She whispered. "While I still can." She raised her arm out to the leader, "Please? I know how the safety works."
Rick dumbly nodded and passed his handgun over to Andrea standing up to give her and Michonne some privacy.
As Rick reached the doorway she called out to him, "I tried."
"Yeah," He whispered. "You did. You did."
He walked back into the hallway and Daryl started to lead Airianna out to give the two best friends their space. The hunter leaned her head into the crook of his neck as they waited for the gunshot to ring out. She jumped slightly at the noise and sadly watched as Michonne stepped from the room alone. Daryl scooped her up again and walked to where Tyreese was waiting with Merle leaning against him as he grumbled. The small group of six exited the building to the crowd of women and children the Governor had spared from his previous massacre. Sasha gasped at the sight of the doctor, but Tyreese moved her along to help him load the Woodbury residents onto the small school bus they picked out.
Rick helped Merle into the car they drove to Woodbury and started to help Daryl get Airianna into the car when she shook her head, "Ya gotta get in the car, Annie," Daryl calmly said as she refused.
"I just have superficial wounds, I swear," She promised when the men gave her doubtful looks. "Just let me go with Daryl, please Rick."
Rick nodded his head and Daryl carried her over to the bike, "Don't you dare let go. I ain't losing you again."
"Never again," She agreed as she slipped onto the back of the seat. She tightened her arms around his waist and closed her eyes as they drove off, leaving the horrible town behind them.
The ride was pleasantly quiet as they drove back to the prison, the couple reveling in their company as the sun crested over the hills. Daryl pulled into the courtyard first and hopped off the bike, opening his arms for Airi to get off. Sophia ran up to the pair and gasped at the sight of the redhead, but ran into her arms regardless when she weakly kneeled to face the twelve-year-old. Maggie rushed over with Eren and checked the mother over, beaming at her friend as she passed the boy into his father's arms. Airianna watched as the civilians were led off the bus by Tyreese and Sasha and led into the prison while Michonne, Glenn, and Hershel brought Merle into C block to check on his injuries.
Rick wandered up to Carl as the boy watched everything going on with apprehension, "What is this?"
Rick motioned to the newcomers walking into the prison, "They're gonna join us." The boy stormed away from his father.
Rick glanced over to Airi and they shared a look of agreement, hopefully, things would start looking up now.