The Wolf You Feed

Chapter 96

Rick expected more resistance. But unless they were being tricked, most of the residents of this outpost seemed to be workers. A large group of them surrendered without even a fight. Rick and Tony were systematically working their way through the interior of the place, looking for the large cache of weapons that Dwight's note promised was inside.

Rick took out a few stragglers with his gun. But as he rounded the corner, his weapon was knocked to the ground and kicked away from him. The savior soldier that disarmed him was standing in front of a closed door. And the man seemed intent on guarding whatever was inside with his life. Rick knew the big guns he was looking for had to be behind this door. He already searched the rest of the building.

Rick lunged towards the man. He fired his gun but Rick ducked to the side in time, letting the bullet fly past over his shoulder as he slammed his body into the other man. They both fell to the floor, fighting and struggling for the gun. Rick had a decisive weight advantage on the slimmer man. But he seemed fueled by something more than just the adrenaline of the fight. Before Rick knew what was happening, the other man was on top of him with his hands around his throat. Rick's vision went blurry around the edges. He tried to scream for Tony but his air supply was being cut off. Just when he was on the verge of losing consciousness the man released his grip.

Someone grabbed the man from behind, jerking him up and away from Rick. The man's neck twisted at an unnatural angle. And then his dead body was tossed down on the cement floor next to Rick. Rick coughed and sputtered as he tried to catch his breath. A bottle of lukewarm water was thrust into his hands. After a sip he was able to blink his eyes and focus on the man in front of him.

"Daryl?"

The man looked like Daryl. But also didn't look like him at all. He hadn't shaved his face since he left Alexandria and he had a weird patchy beard growing in. His head was shaved down to nothing but stubble. But Rick would still know him anywhere.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "It's me. I had ta hide. Those idiot fuckin' farmers were shootin' at me."

Daryl extended his hand and Rick didn't hesitate to take it. He let Daryl pull him up onto his feet. But he leaned against the wall a moment to get his bearings.

"We're trying to find the armory," Rick said, his voice hoarse and scratchy as he nodded towards the door behind him. But Daryl shook his head. There was no armory behind that door. Not that he knew of. Daryl pulled out a ring of keys, flipping through them until he found the one that would open the door Rick was trying so desperately to enter.

"Fuck me," Rick cursed as he glanced inside the room. Not only was there not any weapons inside, the room was a nursery. A small wide eyed toddler was standing up in her crib, staring at Rick with a curious look on her face. A woman lay dead in the middle of the floor, hit by a stray bullet that came in through the window. The man outside the door wasn't guarding a cache of weapons. He was guarding his wife and daughter. Rick felt his stomach sink as Daryl stepped forward and lifted the small child up into his arms.

"Hey Gracie," he said before turning to Rick. "At least she's alright," Daryl offered with a shrug. Daryl felt bad killing the girl's father. He was a halfway decent guy. One that Daryl never had a problem with. But the man was choking Rick to death. And the ultimate truth was, this was war. Not friend making time. And Gracie's father just happened to be fighting for the wrong side.

"We got information that said there were weapons at this location," Rick said.

"There's weapons at all the outposts," Daryl told him. "But if yer lookin' fer the big guns, they moved 'em to another outpost a day or two ago."

"Which one?," Rick asked, pulling the crumpled list from his pocket and holding it out for Daryl's inspection. Daryl pointed to the location he believed the guns had been moved to. Daryl was just a random soldier as far as Negan was concerned. He wasn't privy to things like where guns were being taken. But he recognized the men that took them as part of Regina's outpost group. So it was a safe bet to guess that's where they were headed.

"Hell," Rick said, "That's right where Carol's headed. We better get there now." Their running theory was that whichever outpost was housing the large armory would be more heavily guarded. Which is why Alexandria and Hilltop came here together. And why Carol was leading a smaller group against the post where they didn't think the guns were being kept.

"Holy shit Daryl, is that you?"

Daryl handed the baby off to Aaron and turned towards the voice just in time to see both Enid and Carl flying towards him. Enid wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him so tight he could barely breathe. And Carl shoved in, pinning Enid between them in his hurry to wrap his arms around his friend. Daryl hugged them back, more eager than he thought he would be to see the people he considered family. Especially Carl, who was bleeding severely from the eye and looking near death the last time Daryl saw him.

"Who's baby is this?," Aaron asked, balancing the little girl on his hip.

"Yours now," Daryl announced. "Her name's Gracie."

Tony already had a jeep pulled around, ready to go. Rick gave Aaron a brief explanation of where they were going and why. Then he leaped into the passenger seat. Daryl had another quick word with Carl before he swung his leg over his bike and fired it up, heading off in the same direction Rick and Tony took.

"Are you really going to keep this baby?," Enid asked, looking over the baby that Aaron was balancing on his hip. He held up his other arm in a gesture of confusion and adjusted the little girl to stop her from sliding down too low. "Can I hold her?" Aaron quickly handed the girl off to Enid. Then he approached Jesus and started asking the man what he planned to do with all the saviors they took prisoner during the attack.

"We should kill them," Carl said, inserting himself into their conversation. "We can't risk taking them back with us." Even if they wanted to take them all back to the Hilltop, they had nowhere to keep this many prisoners when they got there. And just getting them back was going to be a giant pain in the ass. A bunch of saviors weren't worth the trouble. Not in Carl's opinion. Or in Tara's. Because she spoke up and added her agreement to Carl's opinion.

"They surrendered," Aaron said. "We aren't going to gun down people that surrendered. That's not what we do."

"You don't have to do it," Carl told him. "I'll do it. You can just thank me later." Carl lifted his gun and aimed it at the group of prisoners closest to him. When it became clear that he fully intended to pull the trigger and start gunning them down, Jesus darted forward and snatched Carl's gun from his hands.

"Aaron said no," the man reiterated.

"Who put Aaron in fuckin' charge," Carl hollered. He wasn't angry when he moved to shoot the men. He was doing that because it was the smart thing to do. But he was angry now. At Jesus. For snatching his gun from his hands. He charged at the man, getting one good hit in because Jesus wasn't expecting such a sudden attack. But the man pulled loose and darted out of his reach quickly. Carl charged at him again, this time catching nothing but air.

"You really want to do this?," Jesus asked. Before Carl could answer, Enid pushed in and placed herself between Carl and the man he was focused on.

"It's not worth it," she coaxed, the baby from inside the outpost still in her arms. Carl favored Jesus with one more angry glance before his body relaxed. Jesus handed him his gun back.

"We're all on the same side," he said. Carl nodded. Their chances of beating the saviors were still slim. If they turned on each other they had no chance at all.