A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.
Thank you to all the new followers and thank you to everyone who has left reviews. Know that you are loved & the only reason I'm still fighting writers block to keep this going!
Chapter Twenty Three-Down in the Dungeon
Rick pushed ahead, leading the group deeper into the prison. He heard movement ahead and raised his hand. Three walkers rounded the corner and were quickly dispatched. Rick glanced over his shoulder at Tyreese.
"Did you all come in this way?" Tyreese shook his head.
"It was further back. I still don't know how we got as far as we did. It's a maze down here." The continued down the hallway. A few of the locked doors leading to different areas of the prison were jammed with walkers. Rick was thankful that the guards, even in the midst of a riot and outbreak, had the common sense to stick with protocol and keep the place mostly locked down. That probably saved them. Turning a corner, they saw a shadow along the wall, moving away from them. They could also hear whispered voices. Rick turned around and nodded to Daryl who moved to the front, crossbow raised. As they got closer they could make out the voices. Rick and Tyreese turned off their flashlights.
"Goddammit you little chicken shit. Grow a set of balls and go out there. Move quick, keep your eyes open and them biters won't git ya." The first voice, despite the bravado, betrayed the fear of the speaker. The second voice sounded younger and the boy didn't even bother to hide his fear.
"I-I've n-n-never k-k-illed a b-b-biter before Tr-tripp. I d-d-don't even know h-h-how this g-g-gun w-w-works." They could see from the shadows that one of them had grabbed the other. A young kid, probably no older than sixteen, was shoved out from around the corner.
"Go on. Go check it out. I'll back ya up." The kid looked back around the corner, raised his gun and started to slowly make his way down the hall towards the group. The darkness was their camouflage. Between the darkness and the kid's fear, he wouldn't see them until he was right on top of them. He held a large flashlight in his other hand but had obviously forgotten it was there since he made no move to raise it or turn it on. Daryl crept up closer to the kid. Five steps more and he would have him. The kid stopped and looked over his shoulder. Daryl took that chance and grabbed the kid, clamping his hand over the kid's mouth. The kid dropped the flashlight. He fought against Daryl but was no match for Daryl's strength.
"Quit moving," he hissed in the kid's ear. "I ain't gonna hurt you if you just keep still, got it?" The kid nodded vigorously and quit struggling but Daryl didn't loosen his grip or take his hand away from the kid's mouth. They watched as the other intruder, Tripp, peeked cautiously around the corner, his gun at the ready.
"Jeremy?" When there was no answer, he took a few cautious steps down the hall. Tyreese and Glenn stepped in front of Rick and the movement made Tripp jump back.
"Oh shit!" Glenn smiled.
"Oh shit is right." Tripp didn't fire his gun. Like a true coward, he ran away. Tyreese caught up to him quickly and tackled Tripp to the ground. He wasn't as out of shape from his football days as he had thought. Tyreese hauled Tripp to his feet, keeping his arms pinned behind him. Rick walked up to him and looked him square in the eye.
"How many of you are there in here?" Tripp looked over and saw Daryl holding on to Jeremy and realized he was sunk.
"Just us two I think. Cash and that other kid, Brad or Chad or somethin' were supposed to come in later but I think they done took off." Rick shook his head.
"They're both dead." Tripp's eyes widened and he shrank back from the coldness in Rick's eyes.
Andrea pulled up to the Woodbury gate and waited for it to open. The older man who reminded her of Dale was gone. Instead, a brunette woman in her early thirties sat watching her. Andrea waved but the woman didn't move. Looking around and not seeing any walkers nearby, she got out of the car. As she approached the wall, the woman drew down on her. Andrea raised her hands.
"I'm not armed. I'm just coming back." The woman didn't drop her weapon.
"I know who you are. And I'm not opening this gate until Martinez gets here." Andrea frowned.
"What's going on?" The woman didn't respond and turned as Martinez climbed up the wall. He glared down at Andrea.
"You came back." She was confused by his tone. He sounded disappointed.
"Yeah. I'm back. So how about opening the gate?" Martinez glared at her for a moment and then nodded to the woman. They climbed down from the wall and Andrea got back in to the car. As soon as the gate opened, she drove through. She got out of the car and turned to face Martinez.
"Where's Philip?" Martinez exchanged a look with the woman.
"He's busy." Andrea's eyes narrowed.
"Fine. Is Milton in his lab?" Without waiting for an answer, she started into town. Martinez followed her.
"You've been gone almost two days you know." Andrea stopped walking and looked at him.
"I was gone one day. I would have been back yesterday if Cash hadn't tried to ambush me at the prison." She saw Martinez shift slightly. "You didn't happen to know anything about that did you?" Martinez glared at her.
"I wasn't there was I? How am I supposed to know what happened?" Andrea nodded, not believing him.
"Right." She started again towards Milton's lab.
"Just so you know," she stopped when she heard Martinez call after her. "That prison is getting cleaned out. One way or another, they're gonna have to leave or die." She looked at him over her shoulder.
"It doesn't have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn't be that way. Those are people who just want to live and survive, like us." Martinez shrugged.
"I'm just telling you how it is." Andrea pursed her lips, and practically ran to Milton's lab.
Tyreese and Daryl dragged the Tripp and Jeremy to the other cellblock they had cleared for Axel and Oscar. After the prisoners had joined them in cellblock C, they hadn't bothered to return to this one. The walls were still covered with blood and the stench from the corpses on the higher tiers was almost too much to handle. Daryl wrinkled his nose against the smell, remembering that Axel and Oscar had a hard time disposing of the bodies. He looked over at Tyreese who was also trying to not gag. Jeremy started to dry heave and Daryl backed away from him while still keeping him under control. Tripp, a rather interesting shade of green, laughed.
"Pussy." Tyreese jerked on his arm.
"You don't speak until I say you can." Tripp glared at him over his shoulder.
"You don't tell me what to do ni…" Tyreese slammed him down into the ground and knelt on Tripp's back.
"I'm going to give you the opportunity," Tyreese's voice was calm but as cold as ice "to forget that particular word that you were plannin' on using." Tripp didn't speak and Tyreese hauled him to his feet.
"Now. Do you have anything you would like to say to me?" Tripp glared at him and you could practically hear him screaming at Tyreese in his mind but he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he slowly shook his head no. Tyreese nodded at him.
"That's what I thought." He shoved Tripp into one cell and slammed the door shut, locking it with the keys. Daryl did the same with Jeremy and they walked back into the hallway just outside the cells, away from the smell of rot and death.
"Do you think it's a good idea to bring Dani in here?" Tyreese was worried about Rick's plan to use Danielle to rile up their captives. Daryl hadn't like the idea at all but kept his mouth shut about it.
"If anything goes bad, I'll get her out." Tyreese nodded.
"Maybe with you in here, she'll be ok." Daryl poked his head through the door at the sound of Tripp's whispered instructions to Jeremy.
"Y'all shut the hell up in there unless you want the shit beat outta ya!" The whispering immediately stopped.
"I'm about ready to just kill this little asshole right now." He looked up at Tyreese. "You know, that guy in there was one of the ones that…did things to Dani. If we didn't need him to talk, I would've kicked the shit out of him and then blown his damn head off." Tyreese glanced at the doorway and shook his head.
"That would be to quick death. Guys like that, they deserve to die slow." Daryl nodded and looked up as Rick and Glenn arrived with Dani. Her jaw was tense and she was chewing on her lower lip. Daryl was surprised that she hadn't drawn blood. She was staring at the floor, almost hunched over in defeat. Immediately defensive, Daryl went to her. He cupped her chin and raised her face to his. In her eyes was real fear. He turned on Rick.
"What did you do to her?" Rick looked surprised.
"Daryl…I didn't…" He tried to protest but Daryl cut him off.
"She ain't goin' in there Rick. Just being this close to this guy is about to send her over the edge. I won't let you force her to do this." Glenn was pissed.
"Daryl, after what Dani's been through, after what Maggie went through, do you actually think that either Rick or I would force either of them to do anything?" Daryl put his arm around her shoulders and started to lead her back to the cellblock.
"I'm taking her back." Dani stopped.
"Daryl, no it's ok. I'm fine. I have to face this." He frowned at her.
"You sure?" Dani nodded and walked back towards the cellblock where Tripp was held. He looked up at her as she walked in the room.
"Well, well, well. Lookin' good as ever darlin' even if you aren't on your back." Both Rick and Tyreese restrained Daryl as Dani walked straight to the cell, her head raised and her eyes narrowed. He stood and walked to the cell door and leaned against the bars.
"What the hell are you doing here Tripp? Playin' Cash's errand boy again now that Merle's dead? I can't believe the Governor put you two inbred idiots in charge instead of someone like Martinez. He had his shit together and an IQ above seventy." Tripp laughed at her.
"You're the dumb one sugar, thinkin' you could just waltz in here and get under my skin. It'll take more than your smart mouth to scare me." Dani raised her eyebrow, reached behind her under her shirt and pulled the Colt she had tucked into the waistband of her jeans. She stuck the barrel of the gun against Tripp's forehead. His smirk disappeared. She cocked the gun.
"Challenge accepted."
"Dani!" Rick's voice carried a warning note but she didn't turn to look at the men behind her. She was focused on the one in front of her, enjoying the power she felt from his fear. It was payback, finally. And she wanted him to die. Every voice in her head was screaming at her to pull the trigger and split the bastard's head wide open.
"Listen up, honey. You're my bitch until I say otherwise and you're gonna do some talkin'. First thing I want to know is why does the Governor want us dead?" Tripp thought about making some smart comment but thought better of it when he looked into her eyes. They were cold and he knew that she was seconds away from putting a bullet in his brain.
"I don't know. He ain't never said. We knew people done cleaned this place out right before Merle brought in that girl and that Chinese kid over there." He motioned to Glenn. Dani rolled her eyes.
"He's Korean you idiot." Tripp swallowed hard.
"Whatever. You know that part now. You were in Woodbury when that done happened. That's all I know." Dani shook her head.
"But why spy on the prison at all? After Maggie and Glenn were rescued, why didn't y'all ride in here that night like what happened today?"
"We had that other girl. That one that showed up with Andrea. We caught her that night tryin' to leave with you and Merle wanted to know about the prison and his brother. Merle convinced the Governor that his brother would join him as soon as he found out Merle was alive. We was also lookin' for you. The Governor wanted you found and killed. We watched y'all in the yard actin' like y'all were safe and shit. Doin' laundry, plantin' your garden, all that domestic shit. Cash wanted to take you out a couple of times but Merle told him not to, that it was too risky when we didn't know what weapons y'all had. That other girl never said two words to any of us. We wanted to kill her but Merle said no." Dani frowned.
"Why did Merle keep Michonne alive?" Tripp shrugged.
"Don't know. He never said."
"Ok, then why did you try to kill Andrea?" Tripp smiled.
"The Governor's bimbo? Hell, he told us to. He didn't want her comin' here. Said she betrayed him and Woodbury. He was pissed off we didn't do it." Dani smiled.
"And that's why he put you and Cash on scoutin' detail today with a couple of kids. He knew none of y'all would make it." Tripp blanched as he realized that what she said was true.
"I'm done talkin' to you bitch. If you're gonna kill me then go ahead and do it but I ain't tellin' you shit." Dani glared at him, released the hammer and lowered the gun. She slowly walked over to Jeremy's cell. He was just a kid and he was scared to death. She didn't bother raising the gun. She could tell that she wouldn't need to actually point it at the kid to scare him.
"Jeremy. How've you been?" Dani tried to keep her voice kind. Jeremy's mother had been on Dani's supply team. He had a little sister who was the same age as Abigail and the two girls had often played together. Jeremy had taught Abigail how to play baseball. He was a good kid.
"I'm fine." His voice was soft and filled with fear.
"Jeremy, what were you told about your mission today?"
"Don't say nothin' you little shit!" Tripp lunged at the bars, trying to grab for Dani. She calmly raised her gun and shot his knee. He dropped to ground squalling like a wet cat. Dani turned back to Jeremy and walked over to his cell.
"Look, Jeremy, I know you're not in this alright? I just need you to tell me what you were told." He looked scared to death.
"M-m-m-martinez told me a-a-a-a-and Ch-ch-ch-chad to g-g-g-go with C-c-c-cash and Tr-tr-tripp." His voice was so shaky, she was having a hard time understanding him.
"Jeremy, is your mom still alive?" He nodded. "What did she say?" Danielle remembered how protective Rachel had been of her boy and her daughter. They were the only ones left after her husband and baby were killed by walkers before arriving at Woodbury. Jeremy took a deep breath.
"Mom didn't want me to go but Martinez said I had to, that the Governor said I had to and that he'd kill her and my sister if I didn't go. I don't want to do this. I just want my mom…and Maddie. I didn't want them to die." He started to cry. Dani reached through the bars and put her hand on his knee.
"Jeremy, do you know why you were sent here?" He looked up at her, his face streaked with tears.
"We were supposed to kill you." He looked over her shoulder at the men standing behind her, especially Rick, who started to walk towards the cell. Jeremy scrambled to the back of the cell, his eyes wide with fear.
"Seriously mister. I wasn't gonna do it! I don't even know how to use a gun. I couldn't kill anyone. I just didn't want them to kill my mom and little sister. Please, please don't kill me!" Rick stood next to Dani and she looked over at him.
"Rick, let him out. I know him. He's a good kid."
"Hell no." Glenn's voice behind her was forceful. She turned to him.
"Glenn he's a good kid. He didn't have a choice." Glenn shook his head.
"I don't care. He's not movin' in with us. No way." She frowned at him.
"So what do you suggest Glenn? Just leave him here? Set him loose outside the gates and let the walkers feed on him?" Glenn's jaw was set.
"There's another option." Dani looked from Glenn to Rick and then over at Tyreese and Daryl.
"What kill him? No, that's not an option! He's just a kid!"
"He was sent here to kill us Dani. We can't afford to be soft on this. Axel's dead. Oscar's dead. Your daughter's dead. How many more people have to die before we realize that we're in a goddamned war here?" He looked at Rick, Tyreese and Daryl. "C'mon, you have to agree with me on this one!" Tyreese frowned and shook his head.
"I'm sorry Glenn. I can't just kill this kid. You saw him down there. Kid was so scared he couldn't even remember to turn on his flashlight. And Dani knows him. You heard what he said. He didn't have a choice but to come here." Rick and Daryl exchanged a look. They'd been here before with Randall. They both remembered Dale's words about keeping their humanity and heard similar sentiments echoed in Tyreese's words now. Both knew they would do anything to keep the group safe, had to be ready to do anything to keep the group safe. Daryl knew he would follow Rick on this one. Rick was, after all, their leader, not Daryl. The silence was broken up by Tripp's hysterical whimper.
"Are y'all just gonna stand there and let me bleed to death or are you gonna fix my goddamned leg?" Daryl walked over to the cell and looked down at the pathetic little asshole. He tossed Tripp his bandana which Tripp used as a tourniquet.
"I suggest you shut up or we'll fix you permanent." Tripp glared at him and eyed the crossbow warily. He walked over to Rick and Dani. Tyreese and Glenn joined them. Daryl spoke first.
"Rick, we need to talk to everyone about this. We shouldn't make a decision right here right now." Tyreese agreed.
"I'll bring the doc down here with some food and water. He can check up on Mouth over there." He motioned towards Tripp's cell. Glenn shook his head.
"I don't like this." Rick put his hand on Glenn's shoulder.
"We'll deal with this. Right now, they're locked up and they're not goin' anywhere. Daryl's right. We shouldn't make this decision on our own." They turned and left the room. Tripp called after them.
"Hey! What about me?" Rick looked over his shoulder.
"Don't worry. We'll deal with you later."
A/N I know some people might say "Whoa! No one had a problem with Dani just shooting Tripp in the knee but they're all righteous about what to do with the kid? Yeah, it seems odd but every single man in that room is probably surprised that Dani showed the restraint she did in not blowing his head off. I actually re-wrote that part a few times to include a scene where Dani kills him but I decided that the group needs him for a little bit longer and it would be way out of character for Dani to just kill someone who's totally helpless like that.