Disclaimer: I do not own TWD. I do own Samantha.
A/N: Welcome to the THIRD chapter of An Insane World as our group attempts to negotiate for Glenn with the leader of Vatos, Guillermo, who wants the guns Rick had dropped. So without further ado, I turn it over to Samantha. Enjoy!
We walked into Miguel's hideout where we were met by a Hispanic man with dark hair and eyes who had to be Guillermo.
"You okay, little man?" he asked Miguel.
"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal," Miguel told him.
Guillermo glanced at Rick. "Cops do that?"
Miguel shook his head and gestured at Daryl who was holding his arms behind his back. "Not him. This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."
"Shut up," ordered Daryl as another one of Guillermo's men suddenly appeared and pointed a gun at him.
"Hey, that's that Vatos right there, homes," he revealed. "He shot me in the ass with an arrow. What's up, homes, huh?"
"Chill, ese, chill," urged Guillermo, turning his attention back to Rick. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."
"We were hoping for a calm discussion," the former sheriff deputy replied.
"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion?" demanded Guillermo. "You fascinate me."
"Heat of the moment," responded Rick. "Mistakes were made on both sides."
"What's that dude to you anyway?" inquired Guillermo. "You don't look related."
"He's one of our group, more or less," Rick explained. "I'm sure you have a few like him."
"You got my brother in there?" asked Daryl suddenly.
"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys," answered Guillermo. "But I've got Asian. You interested?"
"I have one of yours, you have one of mine," noted Rick. "Sounds like an even trade."
"Don't sound even to me," argued Guillermo.
"Come on, man," begged Miguel.
"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering?" demanded Guillermo. "More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"
"'Guns'?" repeated Rick.
"The bag Miguel saw in the street," Guillermo clarified. "The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."
"You're mistaken," Rick told him.
"I don't think so," said Guillermo.
"About it being yours," explained Rick. "It's my bag of guns."
"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs," he pointed out. "I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"
"You could do that. Or not," replied Rick as he indicated to the wall where T-Dog had a sniper rifle aimed at Guillermo.
Guillermo summoned two of his men holding Glenn. "I see two options. You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded; we'll see which side spills more blood."
~ An Insane World ~
"Them guns are worth more than gold," said Daryl as he watched Rick unzip his bag of guns and divide them. "Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You're gonna give that up for that kid?"
"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree," began T-Dog. "But you think that Vatos across the way is just gonna hand him over? Question is, do you trust that man's word?"
"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it?" inquired Daryl. "Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?"
"What life I have I owe to him," the former sheriff deputy informed us. "I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."
"Rick's right," I piped in causing the three men to look at me. "We may not have known each other before all of this started but we do now. We're part of the same group, the same family, which means we're all in this together. I'll help you get Glenn back."
Rick stared at me for a few more moments then nodded while Daryl muttered something unintelligible. In the end the four of us led Miguel back to his hideout with his hands tied behind his back.
"I see my guns but they're not all in the bag," noted Guillermo.
"That's because they're not yours," Rick reminded him. "I thought I mentioned that."
"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. Alright?" muttered Felipe. "Unload on their asses."
"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation," said Guillermo.
"No, I'm pretty clear," Rick assured him as he cut Miguel free. "You have your man. I want mine."
"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs," Guillermo declared. "They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale. I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?"
"No, my hearing's fine. You said come lock and loaded," said Rick as we cocked our guns and he pointed his pistol at Guillermo. "Okay then, we're here."
Suddenly an old woman came running out yelling for Felipe.
"Abuela, go back with the others," urged Felipe.
"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" shouted Daryl.
"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?" suggested Guillermo. "This is not the place for you right now."
"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing," the old woman told them. "He needs his asthma stuff. Carlitos didn't find it. He needs his medicine."
"Felipe, go take care of it, okay?" said Guillermo. "And take your grandmother with you."
"Who are these people?" she demanded, staring at us for the first time. "Don't you take him. Felipe's a good boy. He has his troubles but he pulls himself together. We need him here."
"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson," Rick assured her. "He's…helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn."
"The Asian boy?" replied Abuela. "He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come, I'll show you."
She took Rick's hand and led us to a nursing home where a lot of sick and elderly patients were staying. That's when I realized Guillermo wasn't some thug but a man protecting people who couldn't protect themselves. Abuela took us into the gymnasium to the man who was having an asthma attack and was being helped by Glenn.
"What the hell is this?" Rick asked Glenn.
"An asthma attack," Glenn told him. "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."
"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man," murmured T-Dog.
"I'm thinking those dogs' barks are worse than their bites," I replied, nodding at a bunch of little Chihuahuas behind me before turning to Glenn. "I'm glad you're alright."
Rick looked at Guillermo. "Could I have a word with you? You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you."
"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way," replied Guillermo.
"You can thank Felipe's Abuela for that," I noted as Felipe gave the old man his medicine. "If we had, the blood would have been on our hands."
"Mine too," agreed Guillermo. "We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine…what's left of it. These people, the old ones…the staff took off, just left 'em here to die. Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed."
"What are you?" inquired Rick. "Doctors?"
"Felipe's a nurse…a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian," Guillermo informed us.
"What about the rest of your crew?" demanded Rick.
"The Vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents," he explained. "They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind…plunderers, the kind that take by force."
"That's not who we are," Rick assured him.
"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage," Guillermo pointed out.
"Guess the world changed," mused T-Dog.
"No." argued Guillermo. "It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The Vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathrooms by themselves, still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The Vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."
"Because they know you're a good man," I said, glancing meaningfully at Rick. "And because they need someone to take care of them."
Rick nodded and I handed Guillermo the shotgun I was holding. We then split the guns evenly between our groups. We then left with Glenn and headed back to camp.
"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat," teased Glenn as Rick donned his sheriff deputy hat.
Rick smiled. "Don't tell anybody."
"You've given away half our guns and ammo," muttered Daryl.
"Not nearly half," replied Rick.
"For what?" demanded Daryl. "Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow?"
"How can you be so heartless?!" I shot back. "Those people needed help. They didn't ask for this to happen to them. None of us did. I thought you were better than that, Daryl."
Daryl grumbled something and looked away as we reached the spot where we had left the truck but it was gone. "Where the hell's our van?"
"We left it right there," said Glenn unnecessarily. "Who would take it?"
"Merle," answered Rick.
"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp," declared Daryl.
"Oh God," I whispered.
~ An Insane World ~
It was dark by the time we were close to reaching camp and heard the gunshots causing us to run faster. We arrived in time to see Walkers had found their way into camp. We killed the ones that were still standing but found out we had been too late to save everyone as Andrea sobbed over her dead sister Amy's body.
The next day we started to clean up, burning the walker bodies and burying the dead from our group which included Carol's abusive husband Ed who had been killed by walkers in their tent. Thankfully Carol and her daughter were unharmed. Meanwhile Andrea kept a vigil over Amy's body, refusing to let any of us touch her.
"Y'all can't be serious," demanded Daryl. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."
"What do you suggest?" asked Rick.
"Take the shot," Daryl replied as if it was that simple. He raised his crossbow and aimed it at Amy. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey in the eyes from this distance."
I stood in front of him, blocking his shot. "Leave her alone, Daryl. Can't you see she's mourning? She'll end this when it's time so for God's sake, let her be."
We stared each other down before he lowered his weapon and walked away. "You reap what you sow."
"What is wrong with him?" I wondered aloud, crossing my arms against my chest. "He acts like he doesn't care but I've seen him go out of his way to comfort someone."
"I don't know," admitted Rick. "Maybe something happened to him in his past. From what I gathered about Merle, I'm betting Daryl didn't have the easiest childhood."
"I know this is horrible of me to say especially after I just chastised him about respecting Andrea's love for her sister but there's a part of me that hopes Merle never returns," I admitted. "Then maybe the better part of Daryl can come out and stay out more often."
"One thing's for sure," said Rick.
"What's that?" I inquired staring at him.
The former sheriff deputy smiled. "He's damn lucky to have you to show him the way."
A/N: And there you have it! This chapter, along with the next one, are in dedication of the premiere of season nine as well as Rick's final episodes (Love you Andy Lincoln!) Until next time, read review and show the love!