New Meanings To Old Words: Love
Alright, so before we catch up with Callie and Lori getting back to the farm (and that inevitable confrontation between Callie and Daryl therein), I think it's best we see what those boys are up to at the bar. What do you think? I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't get into any trouble or nothin'….right?
As always, read, review and most of all…keep on enjoying. And more importantly, thank you so much for keeping on with me. Y'all have no idea what a good thing this entire venture into Fanfic and this fandom in general has been for me. I'm gonna write a fuckin' article on surefire ways to beat a bout of depression, peeps. G'bless.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my dear OCs (every single one of them and the crazy shit they do) .
Regulator
"What's your poison?"
As soon as the words left Danny's mouth he felt the acrid taste of his own ill-placed humor and tried to smile through it. Tried and failed, as Rick's harried gaze hit him full force. Danny's forced smile faded as Rick's head began to shake in disappointment.
"You think this funny? This a joke to you?" Rick's voice was scratchy and harsh and everything it should be for scoldin', and Danny's eyes slipped up to him briefly before settling on his hands again. Rick's head continued to shake, his one hand sliding up to rake through his grown-out hair while his eyes remained locked on the bottle settled on the bar between Hershel and Danny. "How many have you had?"
"Me?" Danny asked lifting his gaze to Rick's still agitated eyes. Danny's smile returned as he flicked his eyes over to where Glenn had come to a stop at the end of the bar nearest him. "Oh, my glass kinda slipped outta my fingers there before I had the chance to partake," Danny said waving a hand in the general direction of the door where he'd thrown his glass.
Rick's eyes remained locked on Danny's for a moment before he ducked his chin once in acceptance of the answer. The small sigh of relief that slipped out of Rick's lips before he pursed them and looked to Hershel sipping freely at his glass didn't escape Danny's notice. The feel of Glenn's hand settled upon his shoulder and clamping down tight had Danny's eyes leaving Rick as he repeated his question to the older man settled at the bar. Danny smiled at Glenn and Glenn squeezed his shoulder again before removing his hand and running his eyes down the length of Danny's arm.
"You okay?" Glenn asked starin' hard at Danny's gore covered arm and clothes. Danny let out a bit of a scoffing laugh and nodded, feelin' Rick's gaze slip back over to him.
"Oh yeah, dandy, G-man." Danny retorted putting his gore covered hand to the younger man's shoulder, and earning a groan of dismay from the kid. "You know, just followin' the rules is all. Got all mucked up when I cleared out the unwanted visitor in the backroom."
Both Glenn and Rick's eyes slipped towards the door that Danny had shifted his eyes towards and then back to the smiling Danny. Danny shrugged and slipped his eyes back to Rick staring hard at him with that weary and unhappy expression that seemed to have taken up permanent residence on the former lawman's face.
"So no Callie, huh?" Danny asked quietly to Glenn, who grimaced a bit and shifted his eyes quickly to Rick.
"She wanted to come-" Glenn began only to be cut off by the angered voice of Rick as he settled in close to the bar.
"She's worried sick about you," Rick practically growled as he leaned over the bar a bit. "Took everything to talk her into stayin' put while we came out here to get Hershel. Had we known you were here too-" Rick shook his head and shifted his eyes to Hershel and then back to Danny. "Now I'm just hopin' we can get back before she decides to do something stupid like go out lookin' for you."
Danny firmed his lips against the words Rick said and lowered his gaze to his hands on the bar, Glenn's hand settled again on his shoulder and gave a single reassuring squeeze. Danny smiled over at the younger kid and then shook his head. Rick's anger was well due. This entire trip into town, after what Hershel had explained had happened at the farm, was lookin' more and more childish and downright fuckin' stupid by the minute.
"Beth's collapsed," Rick said in a low tone, his head ducking down so that his face was closer to Hershel's. Danny's body went rigid and he stood straight up as he shifted his eyes from Rick's stoic face to Glenn's grimacing one. The younger man let his hand fall from Danny's shoulder and settled it back onto his rifle as Danny shifted a bit behind the bar counter to try and gauge the elder man's reaction. "She's in some kind of shock. I think you are too," Rick continued in that low calming tone of his.
"Patricia's there? Maggie's with her?" Hershel asked, his glassy eyes lifting for the first time away from his glass and to the man standing at his side. Rick stared at Hershel for a moment, as if he didn't quite understand what was being asked; or maybe why it was being asked. Finally Rick nodded and shifted his eyes to Danny for a brief second before leaning in again.
"She needs you," Rick said in a tone that was meant to be matter-of-fact, but came off angered.
"She needs her mother," Hershel returned in a low tone that had Rick steeling himself and Glenn backing up a step. Danny swallowed the lump in his throat as Hershel's eyes finally met Rick's. Swallowed it down hard and wished he hadn't tossed his fuckin' glass across the room so he woulda had something to chase it. "Or rather she needs to mourn her," Hershel amended coldly as he sipped at his glass. "Needs to mourn like she shoulda done weeks ago. I robbed her of that," Hershel continued in a matter of fact tone that sat ill in Danny stomach as Hershel's eyes finally slipped over the expanse of the bar to him. "I robbed her of that. Maggie too. Callie tried to—" Hershel stopped and shook his head and Danny's lips firmed tight against the pull of the older man's sadness. "She tried to tell me; shared with me the horror of what happened to her family; what you two did," Hershel's voice cracked and Danny's eyes closed.
Silence echoed around them as Rick and Glenn both stood confused by Hershel's words. Danny knew that everyone may have known now that Callie's niece and nephew hadn't made it, but they didn't know what had happened all those months ago. It wasn't something that was openly discussed. Ever. So to think Callie had shared it willingly-
"She shared that with me, knowing that more likely than not I would throw her from my land in return for her honesty." Hershel's face scrunched and his eyes left Danny's face and returned to his glass before he took another sip. "She shared that with me, offered that to me to try and make me see. And I chose to turn a blind eye to her."
"Hey," Danny said in a voice that cracked a bit at the end. Clearing his throat he caught Hershel's eyes and smiled widely before leaning down. "She's lived with me and the rest of that crew on your lawn long enough. Trust me, she's used to bein' surrounded by idiots. No harm, no foul there, Hershel."
The attempt at lightening the mood was ill-received, with a roll of the eye from Rick and a slap at the back of his head by Glenn. Danny chuckled them off and let his eyes slip back to Hershel as the older man returned to his staring match with his soon to be empty glass. Rick ducked his head down and attempted to talk sense into the older man and Danny simply rubbed at the back of his head and exchanged a glance with Glenn beside him. Danny's eyes slipped back to the bottle settled on the bar before them, his brain drowning out the sound of Rick's voice still pleading with the now silent Hershel and the rest of the world around him, his vision a mere pin prick of awareness on the liquid sloshing around and fillin' Hershel's again empty glass.
"Hey," Glenn's voice was low and barely registered, but the hand settled on his back shook him out of his stupor. Danny shifted a raised brow to the younger man next to him. "You okay? Really? You alright, man?"
"Yeah," Danny said absentmindedly as he shook his head. "Yeah," he repeated with more vigor and a fuckin' well practiced grin when he saw the worried look on his friend's face. "Just needed to clear my head a bit. Bad day, ya know?"
"Yeah," Glenn said scrubbing his hand at the back of his head and averting his eyes to where Hershel and Rick still sat in their now silent war. "Yeah," Glenn repeated, his breath leaving in a slow uneasy sigh. "Danny we found-"
"I know, Glenn." Danny said cutting off the younger man's sad admittance. Glenn's shocked eyes lifted from the bar surface to Danny, the question unasked on his lips. "Hershel told me what happened. Told me about-" Danny's eyes lifted over to where he could feel Rick's eyes now upon him. "Told me about Sophia." Danny held Rick's gaze for a heartfelt second before the former Sheriff's deputy turned away. Danny shook his head lightly and looked back to Glenn and gave another sad shake of his head. "How's Carol?"
"I don't know," Glenn said back, another low sigh leaving his mouth as his head shook. "She wouldn't talk to anyone. Didn't even come out when we buried her," Glenn's eyes shifted to where Hershel sat staring into his once again full glass, and then back to Danny. "I think she talked to Callie, which is one of the reasons Callie stayed behind I think. She wanted to come look for you but," Glenn grimaced a bit as he scrunched his brow at the slightly smiling Danny. "She knew where she was really needed."
"Always told me I'd be on my own," Danny muttered as he ran a hand through his hair and scratched at the back of his head. Glenn gave him a confused look and Danny waved him off not really wanting to get into the dynamic of his early relationship with Callie.
Their conversation died off and Danny realized that the bar had gone completely silent. Rick still stood beside the stoic Hershel who was apparently perfecting his ability to completely ignore everything and anything that tried to kill his fuckin' buzz. Danny wasn't sure how long the two men had been in that position, but when Rick's eyes lifted away from the elder man and over to Danny, he knew it'd gone well past Rick's point of acceptance.
Rick chucked his chin off towards the door and Danny stood up and slapped a hand to the still slightly confused Glenn standing beside him. Rick pushed off the bar and took a few steps towards the still shining sun filtering in through the dirty windows of the bar. Danny pushed at Glenn and followed slowly behind, his leg feelin' stiff as hell from standing as long as he had been. Wincing a bit he flexed his leg as much as he could as he walked. He felt the stare of both Rick and Glenn on him as he slipped into the small circle that they created behind Hershel and waved both of them off.
"I'm not gettin' anywhere with him," Rick said in that harsh angry tone that he'd walked in with. Rick's gaze slipped to Danny and Danny couldn't help but shrug. Which apparently wasn't the reaction that Rick was looking for because it caused him to shift up and get right into Danny's face. "This ain't some joke, Danny. Beth-" Rick stepped down as Danny lifted a hand in surrender and raked his hands through his hair.
"What have you two been doing here?" Glenn asked trying to calm the waters a bit and Danny speared him with a humored look. "I mean what have you been talkin' about? Like, do you know what-"
"There is no 'what's it gonna take', G-man," Danny said shifting his eyes from Glenn's exasperated expression to Rick's annoyed one. "Jesus, he just got slapped g'mornin' by this new fucked up world we live in. The man is broken, and beat down and he is tryin' real hard to process something that we've already worked out." Danny turned to Rick and put his face right in the other man's. "You gotta remember what that's like. Finally comin' to terms with what this all really is. He's doin' that now," Danny waved a hand out at Hershel's back and then looked back to Rick. "He's just wakin' up from a really nice dream, Rick. And he's wakin' up to this." Danny's hand waved to the room in general and Rick let out a long sigh as he began to pace a few steps away.
"So what do we do?" Glenn asked watching Rick pace and shifting his eyes to where Hershel still sat with his back to them. "Just let him go; wait for him to pass out?"
"I can wait with him," Danny said quietly, his hand lifting tiredly to his head so that he could again rake it through his disgusting hair. "We've got his car. I can bring him back when he's ready. Trust me, I'm better equipped to handle this-"
"Just go!" Hershel's strong voice, that booming Southern pride that had always filtered over every word echoing out around them and causing all three men to turn to him. "Just go."
"Oh are you rejoining the conversation now?" Danny said in a haughty tone as the older man pierced him with that fatherly annoyance that Danny loved so much.
"I'm not jokin' around with you, Danny." Hershel seethed out as he stood up and started towards them. "I'm not playin' some game. I'm a grown man-"
"A grown man who chose to play the silent-treatment game with the men who risked their lives out on the road to come find you," Danny shot back raising a brow at the man now glarin' daggers at him. "Don't pull that grown –ass man bullshit with me, Hershel. I had that glass in my hand same as you. And I think we both know that makes us anything but grown men. It makes us foolish children takin' the easy road instead of workin' our way down the harder one."
Hershel stared hard at Danny, the muscle of his jaw ticking with the emotions that the man was working so hard to keep in check. His eyes remained on Danny until Rick stepped up and settled a hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny spared Rick a glance before stepping aside so Rick could yet again try and talk sense into Hershel.
"I promised Maggie that I'd bring you home," Rick said getting Hershel's gaze off of Danny and back onto him. Hershel scoffed and waved Rick off and Rick continued to advance.
"Like you promised that girl's mother," Hershel spat back. The hit was quick and true to its mark as Rick's steps faltered just a bit.
"Low blow, Hershel," Danny growled out as he stepped forward and up to Rick's side. "Fuckin' low and you know it," Danny put a hand to Rick's back, a hand that was quickly brushed off by the former Sheriff's deputy. Hershel's gaze slipped between Rick and Danny, and Danny saw that Hershel regretted the words, and the wound that he'd so knowingly inflicted upon Rick.
"So what's your plan, here?" Rick's voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat as he advanced on Hershel as the older man turned his back. "Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death? Leave your girls alone-"
"Stop," Hershel boomed out again as he turned back to face Rick and the rest. "Just stop. Stop tellin' me how to care for my family; how to run my farm; how to deal with-" Hershel took a breath and looked to Danny before looking back to Rick. "Just stop. I can't-You destroyed it all do you understand that. You people are a plague!" Hershel's fisted hands lifted to the air as the tension in his body finally grew to be just too much.
"Hershel-" Danny called out his steps leading him forward even as the older man's hand lifted to wave him off. Hershel again turned his back and walked to the bar, his hands immediately grabbing his glass but not lifting it to his lips. Danny and Rick exchanged a look before following with Glenn slowly edging up behind them.
"I didn't want to believe you, Rick." Hershel's defeated voice echoed out and Danny found himself frowning as once again stepped behind the bar so that he could face the elder man. Rick settled in at Hershel's side and they sat and watched the man war with the liquid in his glass. "You told me these people were dead, not sick. You told me the day you arrived, and you told me after you and Callie took Jimmy to the church. You told me, and Callie told me, and I chose to ignore you both. I chose to do that." Hershel sucked in a breath and he looked up at Danny settled again in front of him.
"Hershel," Danny again tried to reach out to the elder man and again he was waved off.
"Just go," Hershel's defeated tone broke Danny's heart and he lowered his gaze to the bar surface between them.
"You know what? Fine," Rick's voice boomed out this time, and Hershel's eyes snapped to him. "I'm done. I'm done cleanin' up after you, and listenin' to you put the weight of this world on to me and my people. Yes, we opened your eyes to things. We did that, and if you think that's a bad thing, then so be it. I'm done tryin' to right a wrong I'm not even sure I've made." Rick shifted so that his face was closer to Hershel's. "Death has always been death. It will always be death. That will never change. Hope will always be there hiding in the darkness, and we may not be strong enough to keep it alive in us, but we are strong enough to keep the ones who do have it alive. This world isn't about us anymore, about what we believe or don't believe, it's about them," Rick's arm waved out in a long arc towards the door. "Our people, back home. The people that need us. You can choose to believe that or ignore that as you will. But I won't be held responsible for it anymore."
A long beat of silence echoed out around them, and Danny watched as Hershel and Rick stared hard at one another. There was so much being said in the look that filtered between the two men that Danny felt dizzy just trying to comprehend it all. Finally Hershel's head nodded, it was a slow single move of his head, but that gesture seemed to send a flow of much needed air back into the room. Danny heard Glenn let out a sigh of what he figured was relief and he couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the kid settled at the end of the bar near him. Danny's eyes met Hershel's as the elder man turned from Rick and they shared a small smile.
Danny's head nodded at Hershel as the older man turned over his glass and slammed it down on the bar. Hershel muttered what sounded like 'better men than I' before letting his eyes lift from his turned glass and slip from Danny to Rick. As Hershel stood Danny let out a sigh of relief, a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding as Rick and Hershel continued their round and round argument over a subject that had no right or wrong answer. He let out that breath and followed it with another chuckle as he slipped his eyes to where Glenn was running a hand over his forehead, meeting the younger man's relieved gaze. He let it out and then felt it stop cold in the middle of his chest as the sound of the door creaking open snapped his head to the small sliver of light now filtering in.
Two figures stood blocking some of that sun. Two figures that weren't moaning or groaning, fuck they weren't even moving. They just stood there, stunned the same as the four men that they'd just walked in on. Danny leaned onto his hands on the bar, feeling the muscles in his arms coil and tense as he pressed against the uneasiness growing in the air around him.
"Son of a bitch," a gravely voice echoed out through the dead silence that had grown in the wake of that squeaking door. "They're alive."
"Sorry to burst your bubble there, pal, but Fort Benning's overrun by lame-brains," Dave's matter-of-fact tone had Danny's eyes lifting right from where they'd settled on Rick's and over to the newcomer settled at the table. Shifting on his feet just a bit behind the bar Danny furrowed his brow and caught Dave's eyes.
"Wait, what?" Glenn's voice had Danny and Dave's attention turning to him. "Fort Benning's gone?"
"Sorry, man," Dave said tiredly as his eyes roamed over to his rotund friend settled near Hershel at the bar.
"But-" Glenn's eyes shifted to Danny, his worry evident on his face and screaming out like a beacon to the right person.
"S'a'right," Danny muttered lifting a hand to Glenn's shoulder as he shifted his eyes back to the now slightly more interested Dave at the table. "You've actually been there?"
"Nah. Rumors of places being overrun work fine for me," Dave said with a smile as he shifted his eyes over Rick and Hershel and then back to the smiling Danny. "You know, ain't one to risk it. Man says the place is a no go, then I 'no go', you understand right?"
"Oh yeah," Danny said shifting up a bit and smiling widely as Rick looked back over his shoulder at him. "I get you, man. If it ain't a sure thing, it ain't worth the risk these days."
"Yeah," Dave said quietly as he shifted his eyes down to his now empty glass.
Rick's eyes shifted away from Danny and over to the smaller man who obviously seemed to be the designated talker of the two newcomers. Danny continued to smile at Dave as he watched the man's eyes shift to his rotund friend again before settling back on Rick. Oh yeah, this guy was the talker. He was the smooth one. The one who was good at getting you to let your guard down. Danny shifted down so that he was settled on his elbows on the bar and just watched Dave's eyes shift away from Rick and over to Glenn. Danny's smile widened as Dave began to nod just a bit and then looked down at his glass.
Oh yeah, he was the smooth one. The one who could see the easy mark. Danny saw that fuckin' plain as day. Because when it had just been him and Callie and the kids on the road, he'd played that part himself. While Callie had played Rick's role of quiet observance. Odd how these little things seemed to just replay over and over.
"So, Glenn," Dave's voice broke the uncomfortable silence and Danny had to hold back the bark of laughter he wanted to let fly. "Those your cars out front?"
"Yeah," Glenn said answering honestly, just like Dave knew he would. Dave's head nodded and Rick's eyes shifted back to where Danny was patting Glenn on the back.
"You all livin' in them?" Dave asked his eyes shifting away from Glenn, knowing that his continued questioning of the kid would be considered suspect. Dave's eyes shifted over Danny who grinned widely at him and then to Rick and Hershel. "I mean, we're livin' in ours and yours just seem so…clean. No supplies, no junk. No lame-brain gore on the grill."
"You car shoppin'?" Danny asked idly as he lifted a brow at Dave who faltered a moment before smirkin' back. Danny shrugged and shifted his eyes to where he could feel Tony's gaze on him. Smiling wider Danny put his eyes back to Dave and raised an open palm. "Just seem real interested in 'em, s'all."
"Just wondering where your supplies are there, Danny." Dave said in that disarming tone he had, the smile adding a bit of magic to the statement that Danny had to appreciate. Danny smiled back and nodded letting his hand fall back to the bar beside his gun that had yet to make it back to its resting place at the small of his back. The placement of Danny's hand didn't go unnoticed by Dave, or his fat fuckin' friend, and Danny smiled when both men shifted just a bit in place. "Just don't look like you all are livin' in them, so I was wondering where you was set up. See we've been on the road a long time, and wanted to know if this area was safe," Dave shifted his eyes to Rick and Hershel, and then back over to Glenn who looked fuckin' startled.
"It can be," Glenn said in response to the question he hadn't even really been asked and Danny shifted his eyes over to the younger man. Glenn looked at him with a confused look and then looked back to Dave. "I mean," Glenn shrugged and shifted on his feet a bit as Danny settled further onto his elbow, settling his chin in his hand and watching the stuttering Asian. This was a different world than the one in which Glenn had picked up strays and led them to safety at the Quarry, and as Glenn's eyes surveyed Danny, Rick and Hershel's faces, Danny watched that knowledge settle hard on Glenn. "Uh," Glenn started again, squaring his shoulders and looking Dave right in the eye. "It could be. Only had a handful of Walkers around here."
"Walkers?" Dave repeated and raised a brow, his eyes shifting to Tony who shifted on his ass a bit. "That what you call 'em?"
"Seemed the most PC outta our choices," Danny said with a smile as he shrugged at the smiling Dave.
"Wouldn't wanna offend the dead fucks," Tony muttered from his seat and Danny chuckled.
"Exactly, Tony." Danny said pointing a finger at his nose and tapping twice as the other man glared at him. "Why give 'em more reason to bite my ass, right?" Tony gave off a scoffing 'heh' sound before shifting his annoyed gaze back to the amused Dave. Danny smiled widely at the slightly annoyed glance that Rick shot him before both of them were turning back to the once again smooth talking Dave.
"So, seriously, you guys set up nearby?" Dave asked his eyes shifting away from Danny and this time over to Rick and Hershel. Now ready to work his magic on the stoic ones, the ones he knew he would have to win over if he was going to get any real info anymore. "That new development?"
"Trailer park or somethin'?" Tony's nasally voice boomed out and everyone shifted a bit to watch the big man strut his way in front of Hershel and Rick towards the juke box. His one hand still gripped the rifle he'd walked in with, and Danny shifted himself just a bit closer to where Glenn was settled as the big man walked. "A farm?"
The word echoed low in the head of everyone, and the sickening sound of Dave's low humming of Ol' MacDonald's Farm had Danny's mouth tilting a bit in a sneer. Rick's gaze shifted over his shoulder to where Danny stood and the silent acknowledgement of the danger was quick. These two men were obviously getting tired of the games. Danny shifted a bit more on his feet and elbowed at Glenn's outstretched arm, an action that again garnered a confused expression from the younger man.
"You on a farm?" Dave's voice echoed out, but Danny didn't spare him a second glance. His attention was instead held by the second man. The one blatantly toting his gun on his shoulder now. The one that he knew had less experience with it. The one he knew carried the larger gun simply because he thought himself a big enough man to wield it.
The man currently pissing on the floor.
The sound of Tony's piss hitting off the floor caught Rick's attention and again Rick's wary gaze met Danny's.
"You gotta be," Dave said sitting forward so that his hands clasped in that oh so non-threatening way between his knees. The same way that Rick's were settled as he sat straight across from him. "You got food? Water?"
"You got cooze ?" Tony's voice slithered out over the sound of his pissin' and this time Danny's sneer couldn't be held in. "Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."
Thoughts worked their way into Danny's head at the sound of that word. Thoughts and memories that had the color red shading his vision. Swallowing hard he forced a large grin on to his face as Dave excused his 'city-boy' friend for his manners. Danny shifted on his feet and flattened his hands down on the bar in front of him, the sound of it echoing and gaining the attention of each man. Chuckling Danny lifted his gaze to where Tony was glaring at him over his large shoulder.
"You know I knew a guy 'fore all this named Big Frankie that got himself into a lot of trouble talkin' like that 'bout some ladies down in Shreveport," Danny said smiling widely at Tony who continued his never-ending piss on the floor. "Ended up shanked and then some in lock-up 'fore we could get his ass out."
"You got a point?" Tony shot out, the angered tone obviously worrying his companion as Dave began to raise his hands and try and diffuse the situation before it got out of hand.
"Just makin' small talk, Tony." Danny said still smiling and shifting his gaze to Dave before shifting it back. "You ever been called Big Tony? You know what? Fuck it. I think I'm gonna call you Big Tony. You think that'd be okay?"
"Look fucker-"
"Danny," Rick's voice, hoarse and grave as ever exploded through the room and Danny raised his hands in surrender and watched Tony glare at him as Dave waved him down as well. Danny once again settled his hands on the bar and smiled widely as Dave gave him an assessing look before shifting his attention again and continuing on in his calm voice as if nothing had happened.
"Now, Glenn, about this farm-"
"We're done talkin'," Rick said firmly cutting off whatever Dave was about to ask. "We're done," Rick repeated with a calm air of finality as Dave's mouth opened to protest. Dave's eyes ricocheted away from the wide-eyed Glenn and back to Rick. Raising a palm he worked to maintain his reasoning air, but his desperation was giving way to his true colors. Colors he had to know that Rick could see plain as day.
"Now come on, Rick." Dave started slowly. "We all gotta be realistic 'bout this. We got men back at camp who ain't takin' to this new way of livin' as well as all that."
"Glowin' endorsement," Danny muttered, earning a scathing glance from Dave before the man continued on.
"Nowadays it's about us versus them. This don't seem like a bad idea to me; us joinin' up with you. We'd add to your numbers, pull our weight, pool our resources," Dave's voice was still calm, his hand held out palm up in a very placating and calm manner. He wasn't yelling and it struck Danny at that moment that the man may not have been a bad guy before all of this. He may just have been good at getting what he wanted, just like Danny had been. Good at playin' the room for all it was worth. But the edge to his eyes when they shifted over to his slightly shuffling buddy killed whatever 'good' Danny may have seen in those eyes. "Now let's be reasonable," Dave said lifting that open palm of his higher towards Rick and Hershel.
"I'm sorry it's not gonna happen," Rick said shaking his head, his mouth drawn tight into a frown at the fact that his words just didn't seem to be hitting home.
"We can't take anymore in," Hershel added, his calm voice echoing Rick's sentiment and adding a firm force of finality that seemed to be needed. Dave's head was shaking now, his eyes looking to his boots while Tony was shifting away from the wall and moving his weight from foot to foot.
"What about fuckin' Southern hospitality? How's 'bout that?" Tony sneered at the room at large.
"This is Southern hospitality, Hoss," Danny said leaning forward on his arms a bit and once again gaining the glare of the big man. "You really wanna see me not bein' hospitable?"
"That's enough," Rick said shifting his eyes slightly over his shoulder to where Danny was settled. Danny shrugged and tilted his head back to where Dave and Tony were and Rick let out a small sigh. "Discussion's over."
"Look, I understand," Dave said shifting in his seat so that his legs crossed one another. The pose was quite frankly the most non-threatening he could achieve, but the man didn't seem to realize that his body language just didn't matter anymore. Rick's head tilted to the side and his brow lifted as if he felt Danny's stare on the back of his head. "We've got people we're lookin' out for too. People who depend on us. I understand-"
"We don't know anything about you," Rick said calmly, his hands still resting idly on his thighs as he stared at the man desperate to prove himself anything but the threat he actually was.
"You're right," Dave said catching Rick's eyes and holding them. "You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through; things we've had to do." Dave's eyes shifted to where Rick's boots rested on the floorboards and Danny sneered at the man. The thinly veiled threat of those words echoing low in the back of his mind. "Things I'm sure you've had to do yourselves. Ain't no one's hands clean in this world, Rick. So what do you say we take a nice friendly hayride-"
"That's not gonna happen," Rick said cutting off the rest of Dave's words with a shake of his head. Rick's hands lifted, palms up a small shrug of his shoulders and that tiny little frown of mock sorrow aimed right at the man still staring at him.
"This is bullshit!" Tony's voice boomed out and he began to move towards Dave.
"Calm down," Rick's voice echoed over it, his annoyance at the situation finally getting the better of him.
At that point Dave got to his feet, as Tony began to rail his anger at Rick who also pushed to his feet. Danny shifted slightly again, his elbow smacking into the still stoic form of Glenn at the end of the bar. Glenn gave him a look as his hand shifted to down to where he'd settled his rifle along the floor and Danny shook his head slightly, putting a calming hand to the kid's shoulder. Tony's anger boiled over, his rifle still hung over one fat shoulder as he threatened to shoot them all and take their farm. Danny tasted the bile in the back of his throat as his fingers slipped over the butt of his gun on the bar, and he felt Glenn's eyes bouncing around between each man in the room.
"Relax!" Dave called out, his hand flying out to hold off the advancing form of Tony. "Relax," he repeated, his voice calm again and that fuckin' little smile of his back in place. Tony stepped back and Rick stood his ground between the two newcomers, watching with distain as Dave lifted a friendly hand to his shoulder and patted it twice. "Nobody's shootin' anybody. Right, Rick?" Dave patted again shifted just a bit to head towards the other side of the bar. His eyes met Danny's briefly before he bounded over and settled there.
The distinct sound of Tony's big fuckin' hands landing on the rifle slung around his back had Rick's attention shifting just a bit. Danny rubbed his fingers slightly along his sweaty palm before fully encircling the butt of his gun. He kept it on the bar, hidden as well as it could be behind the small lip of the bar and let his peripheral pick up the movements of all three men. Dave lifted his gun from behind his back and settled it on the bar, his hand lifting away and his eyes shifting to Danny. That damn smile of his was back and a small nod of Dave's head had Danny nodding back. Danny lifted his hand from his gun and raised to the air where he wiggled his fingers at the smooth-talkin' son of a bitch smilin' at him.
"There we go. Just friends having a drink," Dave said shifting his eyes away at the same time as Rick shifted his slightly towards Danny. The exchange was small, but the message was clear and Danny's fingertips landed back on the bar near his gun and began to tap out a slow irritating rhythm. Tony's eyes shifted to Danny and Danny smiled at him, as Rick moved his eyes back to Dave now clapping and rubbing his hands as he chuckled. "Now where's the good stuff," Dave's voice continued and as he ducked behind the bar, Rick's hand slapped to the gun sitting in his holster.
Danny continued to drum his fingers along the bar, feeling Glenn's agitated movements and wishing he could reach out a hand to the kid's shoulder. But he couldn't. Tony's eyes were glued to Danny's fingers, the sneer lifting his sweat-slicked upper lip as Danny drummed and drummed, his fat hand slightly shifting to the gun settled at his back. Danny drummed and drummed, his eyes still on Dave as the man lifted his bottle to the sky and uncorked it. He drummed and drummed his fingers right beside his gun and ignored the stare of Tony, ignored it with every fiber of his being. Rick kept his eyes on Dave and his hand on his gun, his feet shifted just right so that he could pivot just at the right moment.
"You gotta understand," Dave said as he poured himself a glass and looked up at the stoic fuckin' disinterested Rick. "We can't stay out there. You know what it's like. We can't stay out there."
"Yeah, I do," Rick said calmly his head giving a single nod. "But the farm is too crowded as is. I'm sorry. You'll just have to keep lookin'."
"Keep lookin'?" Dave asked with a raise of his brows, his eyes shifting around along the bar in front of him before going back to Rick. Rick held his ground, his eyes locked upon Dave in a way that Danny had only seen them lock on a person once before. The image of Garrison's bloody body bounced into Danny's mind and had his fingers drumming a little harder upon the surface of the bar. "Keep lookin', he says. And just where do you expect us to do that?"
There was a single beat of silence that fell over the room as Rick stared at Dave and Dave stared back. An electric sort of chill filled the air, cracklin' along the edges of everyone's nerves as they all waited for the next move. It was Rick who shifted, his shoulders rollin' as he no doubt fought against that electric tingle that was running down his spine.
"I don't know," Rick's coarse voice slid out over them, low and commanding as he shrugged off Dave's questions. "I hear Nebraska's nice."
Dave's laughter was loud and strangely out of place in the space between Danny's ears. It droned through the buzzing in his head and echoed like the horn of an advancing army approaching in the distance. The bile rose higher in Danny's throat and the next second seemed to stretch out long and slow. Dave was chucklin' his amused voice sayin' something like 'this guy', and then he was moving.
Dave's hand hit his gun a second before Rick's was pulled, yet somehow Rick was able to fire first. Danny didn't see where the bullet had gone, merely saw Rick pivot in his spot, his body lowering just a bit as if to duck the shot from behind.
A shot that never got fired.
Danny's arm flew in front of Glenn pushing the kid out of the way and behind him. His gun was up and two shots were fired into Tony's chest before Rick even finished his turn. Danny stared down the smoking barrel of his gun at Tony's limp body and the trail of blood that led down the wall to it. Danny blinked back into awareness as Rick slowly moved towards Tony's body.
His words to Hershel from earlier echoed low in the back of his mind as he tightened his grip on his gun. I almost killed a man. Danny felt the bile rise again in the back of his throat and swallowed it, realizing now just how foolish he'd been acting since that run in with Shane hours and hours ago.
How foolish, and how forgetful.
It wasn't like Shane would have been the first man Danny had killed in this new world. Hell, he wouldn't even have been the second.
Danny pushed himself forward to meet up with Rick near Tony's fallen body. Together they stood and stared down at his lifeless form. Danny swallowed against the bile one last time and sneered at the taste it left in his mouth. A taste that Danny could see that Rick was just getting his first taste of.
Danny stared at the side of Rick's face, watching the muscle of his jaw tick along no doubt with each rapid beat of his heart. Danny's heart went out to him as he watched Rick's eyes blink into a stark new awareness. It was shocking to watch up close.
Shocking to watch a man wake up to this new world they lived in. But that's what was happening here. Just as it happened to Danny and Callie too early on, and Shane at that FEMA station. Rick was wakin' up.
His alarm was the resounding clamor of a bullet from a gun. The same sound that heralded Rick's fall into that coma all those months ago was now wakin' his ass up. Rick swallowed one last time before lifting his gun again. Danny's brow furrowed as Rick stared down at Tony's lifeless corpse.
The last shot was louder than the rest, echoing out as the bullet ripped through Tony's forehead and splattered his brain along the wooden wall that he slid down to his final resting place. What remained of his head layin' in the puddle of his own piss. Danny's brows furrowed deeper as Rick lowered his gun, but smoothed as he lifted his hand and rested it at Rick's tense shoulder.
"G'mornin, Rick," Danny muttered quietly to the man beside him.
Rick looked over sharply and held Danny's gaze with a look that Danny had no idea how to interpret. And just as he was about to ask, another new voice called out and had them looking away from each other and towards the door. A voice calling out from somewhere in the growing dark. A voice very distinctly calling for Dave and Tony.
"Your friends drew on us," Rick called out again his breathing becoming slightly erratic as he clenched and unclenched his hands along the butt of his gun. Danny exchanged a look with Hershel from his spot beside Glenn at the door and gave a single shake of his head back to the elder man's wide eyes. "They didn't give us a choice!"
"Rick," Hershel's calming voice whispered across them and Danny shifted his eyes to see Rick shaking his head, ignoring the elder man completely.
The sounds of the men's agitated voices outside, three from what they'd seen through the window before ducking down, stayed in place near the windows. Rick's words doing exactly what anyone with half a mind would have expected them to. Fueling a fucked up situation into overdrive.
"Rick," Hershel tried again but Rick still wasn't listening, his eyes were glued to the door's fogged glass window as he listened to the men outside. Danny growled low in his throat as the men outside began to talk about breaking the door down and he finally had enough.
Reaching out Danny roughly grabbed Glenn's shirt at the shoulder and pulled the kid away from the door, shovin' his own ass in his place with a wince and a sigh. Shovin' at the now completely confused and still fuckin' scared Glenn, Danny glared at Hershel.
"Three we've seen," Danny muttered as Hershel stared at him pushing at Glenn. "Three we know about. But don't be stupid there could be more. Rick's first plan is still our best shot. You and Glenn head towards the back, make for the cars. One if you can, don't bother with both unless you need to. We'll be right behind you."
"Danny-" Glenn started his voice a whisper of unease as he leaned forward and shook his head. Danny spared him a glance and put another firm hand to the kid's shoulder giving him a big grin.
"C'mon G-man," Danny said tilting his head to the side as Glenn just stared at him. "You an' me made it outta fuckin' Atlanta with a paintball gun and some bats. We got this." Danny shifted his eyes back to Rick who was still speakin' of the rhyme and reason of it all to the assholes outside, and then over to Hershel. "Go. We'll be right behind you."
Hershel nodded and began to creep forward as quickly as he could, while Glenn remained staring at Danny with wide unblinking eyes.
"Hey, Glenn," Danny said reaching forward and slapping the kid lightly on the cheek. "A little faith man. A little-"
The shots exploded through the glass of the front door and Danny ducked down, his hand pushing Glenn towards the back of the bar. Through tightly squinted eyes Danny watched as Hershel got up and ran as fast as he could, his head ducking as more shots rang out, while Glenn skittered low on the ground and hid behind the jukebox. Rick was up now, on his feet and returning fire back out the broken window.
"Motherfucker," Danny seethed as he pushed Glenn's rifle towards the kid. "This day. I swear to fuck this day…Shoulda had that fuckin' drink." Danny shook his head as he checked the chamber of his gun and then looked up to Rick.
Rick nodded and Danny pushed himself quickly to his feet to stand at the other side of the door mirroring Rick's pose. Danny shifted on his good leg and used the barrel of his gun to shift the curtain just a bit to look out. Just as the curtain moved the glass shattered as another barrage of bullets hailed through the window, shredding the lovely fuckin' plaid curtains. Danny shifted his eyes to Rick who then looked to Glenn and nodded towards the back door. Glenn rolled his head along his shoulders and gripped his rifle tight before taking off towards the back. Hershel spared them a single look before heading off after the kid leaving Danny and Rick at the door.
"They didn't give us a choice," Rick said quietly as he shook his head and dug into his shirt pocket for more bullets. His head continued to shake as he reloaded his Python and Danny leaned towards him just a bit.
"Hey," Danny seethed through clenched teeth catching the other man's attention. Rick's eyes were wide and glassy and he blinked twice as he slapped his chamber back into place. "Who are you tryin' to convince?" Danny muttered before shifting his eyes towards the back room. "Ain't no one out there listenin' to you, and ain't no one in here that doubts you. Get me?"
Rick stared at Danny for a moment, a few deep quiet breaths between them and finally a dip of acknowledgment of Rick's chin. Danny returned the nod and winced as he clenched and unclenched his hand on his gun. Looking down he saw the glistening blood along his knuckles and groaned and grimaced at the sight.
"You hit?" Rick whispered over, his chin nudging out towards Danny's hand as he flexed it. Danny shook his head and glared at the glass on the ground and the fucked up shredded curtains to his left.
"Nah, fuckin' glass. I'm fine," Danny said shaking out his hand and readjusting his grip on his gun. He caught Rick's glance and nodded. "Really. I'm -"
Shots from the back room had them both turning and yelling out for Glenn and Hershel. With little mind to the fuckers outside Danny and Rick both took off towards the backroom, listening as more shots rang out. Danny pushed past the pain of his fucked up leg and was only a few steps behind Rick when they burst into the backroom. The sight of Hershel at the backdoor, gun at the ready and staring out into the night damn near stopped Danny's heart. Exchanging a quick glance with Rick they pushed forward.
"What happened?" Rick asked breathlessly as they came up to Hershel. The distinct sounds of man in pain filtered in from the darkness outside and Danny shoved Rick aside to poke his head out.
"He fired," Hershel said quietly, his head moving and indicating the man writhing in pain in the grassy area outside. "Must of hit Glenn. He's behind that dumpster. Doesn't look to be movin'."
"Fuck," Danny growled out as he pushed further past Rick and threw himself out into the street. He waved off Rick's urgent call of his name and dashed as fast as his fucked up legs could take him down that alley to where he could see Glenn's unmoving sneakers poking out. "Swear to God, Glenn. You better not be dead."
Danny dove his body behind the dumpster and slammed his back up against the wall, the sounds of Rick's whispering urgent voice far away now as his own breaths echoed in his ears. His eyes shifted to the side and he let out a long relieved sigh as he came face to face with a very much alive Glenn still clinging to his rifle.
"You a'right?" Danny asked breathlessly his hand reaching out and pulling at Glenn. Glenn blinked twice and Danny pulled harder. "Are. You. Alright?" he repeated slower and shook the kid for good measure finally earning an almost eager nod of the kid's head. "Son of a bitch," Danny said settling his back against the wall for a second. The next second he was pushing up slightly and slapping wildly at Glenn's chest. "You don't fuckin' do that? Damn near gave me a heart attack. Jesus, Glenn."
"Stop it," Glenn muttered as Danny continued to slap at him.
After another few slaps for good measure Danny relented and slammed his back up against the wall again. Shaking his head at Glenn he poked his head around and looked down the alley to where Hershel and Rick were still posted at the door. He sent Rick a thumb up signal and then pointed his thumb towards where the cars were parked. Rick nodded back and posted himself at the door, and just as Danny was about to push out the sound of the wounded man's cries became horror-filled screams.
Walkers were descending upon him and Danny snarled at the sight of the poor son of a bitch about to become a buffet. Shaking his head he looked back to Rick and took a final breath before turning back to Glenn.
"A'right, c'mon, G-man, looks like it's you an' me again," Danny said slapping his hand to Glenn's chest and pushing into a painful crouch. He was about to move forward when he realized that Glenn hadn't moved from his position against the dumpster. "Glenn?"
"I froze," Glenn said quietly as he stared at his rifle. Danny's brow furrowed and Glenn's glassy eyes shifted to him. "I froze," Glenn repeated with such agonizing force that Danny felt it deep in his chest. Danny stared at Glenn for a moment and watched a myriad of emotions fly over the younger man's face. Everything that had gone down today at the farm, everything that had gone down here at this bar, and that was still going on around them. It was all there, right on his face. Danny took in a deep breath and reached a hand back to settle on Glenn's shoulder, squeezing tightly he nodded his head in understanding and firmed his lips before speaking his next words.
"Better here with us than with Maggie," Danny said in a tone that was all seriousness and worked well against the big-ass grin sliding into place on his face. "Am I right?"
"Fuck you," Glenn ground out as he slapped hard at Danny's hand and pushed away from the dumpster. Danny chuckled as Glenn continued to elbow slightly forward and rubbed at his hand as the kid fell into place in a crouch next to him. "You don't understand."
"Sure I do," Danny said sliding his eyes to his friend and smiling just a little as Glenn looked over to him. "I understand, Glenn. It's okay," Danny took a breath. "Let's just try not to let it happen again, okay?"
"You're an asshole," Glenn muttered with a bit of a smirk as Danny continued to smile.
"That's my boy," Danny said shifting and wincing as his left leg pulled strangely against the stance. Glenn gave him a worried look. Danny looked down the alley to Rick and Hershel and his eyes widened at the sight of the mass of Walkers that had accumulated at the body of the fallen man. "Go!" Danny practically screamed as he pushed Glenn forward and then sprang to his feet. "C'mon!" Danny yelled down to Rick and Hershel just as the first few Walkers began trudging towards where the two men were posted up. "Move it!"
Rick's eyes flashed down to where the Walkers were congregated and a second later he was pushing Hershel out the door and following behind the slower moving man. Rick fired two rounds behind him snapping down one with a head shot and the other with a shot to the chest. Danny growled and then took off after Glenn who was rounding the front of the building.
The sound of bullets being fired had Danny's legs pumping harder, the pain pushed far down into the recesses of his mind as he watched Glenn's figure duck out of sight and the spark of a bullet flyin' into the brick where the kid had just been. Danny slammed his back up to that same corner and then shifted to see out onto the street.
Glenn was ducked down between the cars, his rifle held tightly between his hands as he worked his way slowly towards the front of the car. Danny's eyes caught Glenn's and Glenn began shaking his head before pointing a finger towards the roof of the building. Danny shifted and snarled the sight of the man atop the building.
That was two of the fuckers accounted for; but were there more?
"What's up?" Rick's out breath question had Danny turning and pointing as both Hershel and Rick came to a stop at his back. Hershel was continuing to fire at the mass of Walkers trudging their way down the alley towards them and spared a single glance back to Rick and a shake of his head as the gun clicked empty. "We gotta move," Rick said shifting and firing a couple of shots down the alley at the Walkers. "I'll cover you. Go get to the car. Now!"
Danny nodded and grabbed for Hershel, dragging the elder man behind him. He stayed low and moved as quick as he could, keepin' his fuckin' eyes on the prize of the car not too far off. Bullets began to fly, and he felt the cut of the air over his head as they imbedded into the building behind him. Glenn shifted up and returned fire giving them just the time they needed to make it to the safety between the cars.
"Keys!" Danny yelled to Hershel as he pulled the man to the ground. Glenn ducked back down just as the sound of another car roared down the road. As Glenn moved to stand back up Danny pulled him down. "Stay!"
"Place is overrun! Jump!" A stranger's voice called out and Danny shifted slowly towards the front of the car to peek around. He watched the man atop the roof jump and heard the sound of his screams. Danny ducked back behind the car and grimaced at Glenn and Hershel.
"I don't think he made it," Danny said shrugging and then shifting to watch Rick's form bolt from the alley way. Rick raised his gun towards the truck of strangers, watching as another man jumped into the bed of the truck and began blindly firing back. Danny snatched the keys from Hershel's outstretched hand and replaced them with his gun before he pushed up towards the door. "Cover Rick!"
Both Glenn and Hershel stood up and began firing at the truck while Danny shoved himself into the car. Slamming the door shut Danny took a single moment to breathe in and grimace at the pain in his leg. Shoving the key in the ignition he pressed his other hand hard to his left knee and sucked in a breath as his eyes shot out to where Rick, Glenn and Hershel stood in the roadway. The truck had pulled off and Danny's brows furrowed as he watched the trio trot across the fuckin' street leaving him alone in the now running car.
"The fuck?" Danny muttered as he shifted to reach for the door release. The sudden impact of a Walker against the glass of the window had him shoving himself back against the seat, workin' real hard to keep his heart from beatin' out of his chest. "Son of a bitch," Danny seethed as the dead man pawed at his window and shoved its gnarled mouth up against the glass. Danny's eyes shifted to the three men now across the street and he shook his head. "Fuckers," Danny muttered as he slipped his knife from his sheath and snarled at the window.
Danny pressed the button to lower the window and just as the Walker lunged inside he drove his knife into the front of its skull twisting it. Danny pushed the car door open, using the door to dislodge the dead Walker from his knife and stood up on the car's frame so he could shout over the hood.
"You know, boys," Danny called out to the men crowded around the fence near the building across the street. Glenn turned to look at him and Danny waved his knife before plunging it again into the skull of a Walker comin' up on his rear. Removing his knife with a grown he glared at Glenn as he trotted towards the car. "I gotta tell ya, after the fuckin' day I've been havin' I'm not above leavin' your asses to walk home." Glenn was making his way towards him now at a brisk pace, and it took a second for Danny to register why the kid looked so fuckin' ridiculously lost. "Uh, G-man," Danny said pointing his bloodied knife over the roof of the car. "What the fuck are they doing?"
Glenn's eyes got real big at that question and his mouth opened wide as he prepared to answer. The only problem was, the kid apparently didn't know what that answer was going to be. So, Glenn merely shook his head and lifted both of his shoulders in what Danny could only describe as the shrug to fuckin' end all shrugs and then let his arms fall defeated at his side as he pulled open the back passenger door.
"Glenn?" Danny asked as he hopped down to the ground and opened the other back door to see the kid's face.
"He's hurt," Glenn said lifting his eyes up to Danny and once again shrugging in that defeated manner.
"Yeah," Danny said not letting Glenn's gaze go as the kid tried to duck away from him. Leaning into the back of the car he put his face right in Glenn's as the younger man made room for their fuckin' guest. "That was kind of the point of returnin' fire." Glenn rolled his eyes and Danny leaned further in. "Seriously. We care?"
"Rick does," Glenn said lifting his gaze from the floor boards. Danny's head snapped back and he looked to the heaven's above before shifting to see Rick and Hershel over Glenn's shoulder workin' to put the son of a bitch that not twenty seconds ago was tryin' to kill them, into the back of the car.
"Get in the car," Rick barked out as he and Hershel hefted the sobbing wounded bastard into the backseat.
Danny caught Rick's eyes for a second and held them before tossing his arms up and heading back to the driver's seat. Throwing himself inside Danny shook his head and slammed his door shut.
"For the record I think this is a bad fuckin' idea," Danny muttered as he put his hands to the wheel.
Rick left Glenn and Hershel to settle the man into the backseat, the sound of his pain-filled gasps of alarm and Hershel's soothing voice as he worked to put pressure on the wound on the guy's leg fell to the background as Danny watched Rick open the front passenger door. Rick threw himself inside and grimly nodded at Danny.
"Drive," Rick said firmly, his jaw set and eyes sliding forward.
"Right," Danny said slamming his foot onto the brake and then shifting his eyes to the rearview mirror.
Danny could just make out the top of Hershel's head as he bent in his seat at bitch to look at the leg of the man pressed up against the window behind him. The head of the man, obviously still in a great deal of pain was bent down so that all Danny could make out was the dark mop of dirty hair. He shifted his eyes in the mirror just a bit and picked up sight of Glenn against the other door behind Rick his hands pulling at his hair in frustration as he searched the dark around them. Danny let out a sigh and just as he was about to shift the car into gear, the man in the back's head lifted just a bit and he saw his face.
Danny's blood ran cold, his hands tightening on the wheel at an almost painful level, and his breath caught somewhere deep in the middle of his chest. With wide-eyes he stared as the man-no not man, the fuckin' kid- leaned his head back against the seat behind him and closed his eyes tight in pain as Hershel tightened a makeshift bandage around his leg.
Hershel was murmuring something but the fog that had entered into Danny's brain wasn't letting anything in. Rick's voice echoed low in the back of his head as he continued to stare at that fuckin' kid in the rearview mirror, and it wasn't until Rick's hand clamped down on his arm that he shifted his wide unblinking eyes to the man settled beside him.
"Blindfold him," Danny said immediately, killing whatever Rick was going to say and replacing his worried look with a confused one. Danny took in a deep breath and tightened his hands on the wheel as he stared long and hard at Rick beside him. "Blindfold him. He can't know where we're goin', Rick. He can't know."
Rick held Danny's gaze for another beat before nodding his head once. "Do it," Rick said shifting his eyes to Hershel and Glenn in the backseat. Danny shifted his eyes away from Rick at that point and stared at his white knuckles on the wheel before him. His breath was comin' in sharp gasps that he was workin' hard to control when Rick's hand again settled on his arm and squeezed. "You a'right to drive?"
"Yeah," Danny said in a breathless tone as he shook his head against the wave of dizziness threatening to toss him into oblivion. "Yeah."
Danny pressed his foot to the brake again and put his hand to the shifter, his eyes going to the rearview one last time watching as Hershel gently worked some ripped fabric around the kid's head. He swallowed hard, wishing now that he wouldn't have given Hershel his gun, so he could have shot that little bastard dead before Rick and Hershel even made it to the fuckin' car.
You should have closed your windows
And got another dog
You should have chained up all the doors
And switched up all the locks
And how many times have I prayed
The angels would speed me away
Dream with the feathers of angels
Stuffed beneath your head
The regulator's swinging pendulum
Come with me and walk the longest mile
The Regulator/ Clutch
AN: okay, so…there's Randall. And boy, Danny sure seemed to have a strange reaction to him, hmmmm? Do y'all remember why that might be? If not you may wanna go back and read NM:Safe- Paradise…. Just sayin.
And so….Woooo movin' the hell along people. Movin' along. Next chapter we're gonna be back at the farm with Callie and Lori arriving to find Rick and the crew aren't back. It's gonna be a bit of a Callie-focus chapter…so prepare for that. And if you really wanna know, her and Daryl are gonna 'work some shit out'…spoiler alert.
Not much else to say here about this chapter. I hope y'all liked it.
Sidenote: This is probably one of the only chapters in which I have used the actual song from the episode as the chapter title. But it's fitting and awesome so. There you go.
Before I go, can we just talk about this whole Season 3 of The Walking Dead. MY GOD people. First off… that scene with Hershel and Merle discussing The Bible. Fuck me, dude. I LOVED THAT. And then there's the joy of Andrea finally 'getting in the know 'bout shit'…. And then seriously… the Tom Waits song at the end… LOVE THAT song…have it in my soundtrack listing on spotify ready to be used for this fic at some point. They be readin' my mind folks. Seriously.
I honestly think I'm having trouble finishing this Season because I'm working to outline Season 3 while I can…and I've got all the fuckin' FEELS. Like right now. I've got mad Little Ben seein' Merle again FEELS working through me. Oh man. But, this may make you feel better to know that I have most of next chapter already mapped out so it should be a bit sooner on the update time. YAY!
Oh and to my reviewer Quintett – I am so sorry I'm not updating as fast as I used to. I am workin' hard to get these things out and will venture to try and get them to you as quickly as I can….but life…she's a cruel bitch, and I can't promise a certain day. I hope you understand. Thank you so much for your review and happy reading!
Much Love!