Madeline was a little disturbed at the sight of the prison. She had never been inside one and it bothered her to think of going within, but these people might be the only chance she would get to finish the work and find a cure for the virus.
She walked behind the crossbow-wielding redneck and his cute girlfriend, who kept turning around to smile at her. She was surprised when they brought her into a room with more people, one of which was missing a leg.
Rick was drinking some coffee when he looked up to see Daryl walking in with a stranger, and lifted his eyebrows in surprise. Michonne became alert right away and stood up from the table where she had been polishing her sword. She stood menacingly behind Rick, glaring at the newcomer.
"This is Madeline." Daryl announced before going over to the table to grab some coffee.
Rick moved forward slowly, offering a hand as he looked curiously at her.
"I'm Rick." He stated, nodding at her as if tipping his hat.
"Hello." She stated, looking over the motley crew.
"Uh, Daryl…where'd you find her?" Rick turned to ask.
"She was in the first house we searched. Been living there for a few months. Apparently, she was part of a mobile CDC lab looking for the cure." Daryl started walking back over with two newly made cups of coffee, offering one to their new guest.
Taking it gratefully, she smiled and nodded at him.
"Thanks." She replied.
"We were there. Everything was gone." Rick started talking fast, fascinated that they may have found someone who might know where they could go that would be safe.
"They evacuated us early. The disease was spreading fast and they wanted to stay mobile. We were close to finished when we were attacked." She explained.
"The Governor." Daryl offered, looking over at Katelyn to make sure she was okay. He saw her jaw tighten and she wrapped her arms around herself protectively. Daryl felt the anger rise again.
Katelyn still hadn't told him about what happened to her while she was with him, but he knew it wasn't good. He watched her closely while the conversation continued between Rick and Madeline and noticed immediately when she began to pull back. She did it slowly so no one would notice, but she was soon standing behind everyone, and as soon as they weren't looking, she slipped out of the room.
"I was hoping that your group might be able to help me get that flashdrive back." Madeline told Rick who was now pacing as he listened.
Daryl took the opportunity to slip out after Katelyn.
He searched everywhere inside for her but couldn't find her so he went outside to look. Seeing the tower, he headed toward it and climbed the stairs. Peeking his head into the room, he could hear her sniffling and sighed. Stepping quietly into the room, he didn't see her, but he could hear her and he knew she was sitting under the counter. Walking slowly across the room, he crouched down and found her sitting with her head on her knees and her arms holding her into a ball.
"Hey." He said quietly, before scooting himself under the counter with her. He felt ridiculous, but he wasn't going to drag her out of there.
"This is in no way your fault. You know that, right?" He asked softly, stretching out his arm to wrap around her.
She didn't answer, but he didn't expect her to. Using his other arm, he pulled her close to him and tucked her head into his chest.
"This world's made everyone nuts." He said, thinking about Rick and his walking the fine line of insanity.
He knew it wasn't working because she was still stiff against him so he let out a sigh.
"Hey. Look at me." He said as he lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes.
Her eyes were filled with tears and sorrow. Lifting his hand gently to her face, he wiped them away and kissed her nose. She let her head fall forward, resting her forehead on his chin.
"He's evil." She whispered painfully, "Really evil."
Daryl smiled mirthlessly.
"Yeah." He acknowledged as he pulled her arms away from her legs to wrap around him before pulling her snug against him.
"You wanna tell me about it?" He asked, hoping that it would help her to talk about it, but not really wanting to know.
She shook her head into his chest.
"Do you think talking about it might help?" He prodded, laying his cheek against the top of her head.
"He was so angry but then he found out that Hershel patched me up." She started, "Then he just snapped. He was so filled with hate. He didn't care that I'd been hurt. He only cared that it'd been someone else that did it. He wanted to be the one to make me regret running away." The words just spilled from her mouth.
Daryl continued to stroke her back.
"He told me to take my clothes off." She said, choking on tears.
Daryl tensed up, rage beginning to boil as he imagined the worst.
"When I refused, he attacked me. Hitting, ripping my clothes off. It was just like…" She couldn't finish the sentence, but he knew exactly what she meant. The greasy haired bastard that'd hurt her was dead now, but Daryl wished he could kill him all over again.
"I blacked out and the next thing I remember, Dr. Stevens was looking after me." She finished.
"Dr. Stevens the black woman?" Daryl asked her pointedly, making Katelyn look up at him curiously.
"Yeah." She answered, searching his face for the reason he asked.
Daryl's jaw clenched tightly and she sat up to look at him.
"What?" She asked, wanting to know what was wrong.
"Nothin'." He responded, but she wasn't buying it.
"What!?" She demanded.
Daryl sighed, feeling guilty for his part in it. He had been trying to spare her the pain of being burned alive.
"She's dead." He stated, sparing her the details of her death.
Katelyn looked into his eyes and saw the pain there. Not knowing what was wrong, she pulled away slightly and sat up to look him in the eye.
"How?" she asked breathlessly, afraid to know the answer.
Daryl's face fell and he looked down at her.
"I killed her." He said sadly, looking away from her.
Katelyn was not expecting that answer and was stunned. She shook her head, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"No, no, you wouldn't do that." She stated emphatically, grabbing his arm.
"I had to." He said, staring down, avoiding her pleading gaze.
"Why…What do you mean you had to?" She demanded, trying to understand.
"She was…they were going to burn her alive. She was screaming…" He couldn't finish. He knew how it sounded to her and she had the same look on her face that the others had when he killed Dale.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Katelyn stood up.
Daryl didn't even try to defend himself. He hadn't wanted to tell her because he had been afraid of her reaction. He knew that wasn't a world that most people lived in. They were too busy clinging to any scrap of life they could to realize that sometimes death was the merciful answer. It had been too late to save her. The burns would have been unbearable even if they had. She would have existed in a state of hell with no hospitals and doctors, she probably would have died a slow agonizing death. It was the kindest thing he could do.
But Katelyn was horrified.
Glancing up from under the counter, he saw her backing away in horror, shaking her head in denial, before leaving the room entirely.
Daryl blew out a long-held breath and hung his head in sadness.