Chapter five:
"We need to go back to Atlanta" Glenn pipes up stepping towards Rick "You left your bag full of guns there, we need 'em"
"No we don't, we can't risk goin' back there just for a bag of guns, it's not worth it" Shane growls looking at Rick to back him up. "But we need 'em, you know how few we have here, they barely got any ammo left in 'em as it is" Glenn persists.
"Guys shut up for a minute, how much stuff do we have here?" Rick says looking to Shane and Glenn. "Couple of guns with a few rounds in 'em" Shane growls quietly.
"Well then I reckon we need to go back then 'cause that bag contains most of what was left at the station, meaning we could have 6 shot guns, couple of high powered riffles, over a dozen hand guns, plus over 700 rounds of ammo" Rick says to the group. Shane glares at Rick "I admit we could do with all that but It's not worth it, Atlanta's a death trap, you know that, 'sides we can't leave the camp unprotected again".
"It'll just be me and Rick, the rest of y'all stay here and protect the camp, we'll just go in, grab the bag, and head straight back here in time for tea" Daryl buts in. Rick looks at Daryl grateful that he was on his side. The group muttered an agreement on the idea, thankful that they had finally agreed on how to pursue, all except Shane.
"So that's it, you're just gonna walk off, ta hell with everybody else" Shane says as Rick was about to walk off. "We're going so that we can protect the group better, we can't do that with what we got here, we need that bag" Shane looks unconvinced "So you and Daryl, that's your big idea" Rick glares at Shane "Yes it is, you know I can handle myself, and Daryl's an expert with his crossbow, we'll just be in and out no problems" Rick growled. "If anything happens to the group it's on you and Daryl, no one else" Shane said loud enough for everybody else to here and stormed off towards his tent.
Daryl comes up behind Rick and wrapped his arms around Rick's waist, resting his head on his shoulders "Don't worry about Shane, I wouldn't have agreed to go with ya if I didn't think it was worth it" he whispered in Ricks ear. Rick shuddering at the sensation knew that Daryl was telling the truth. One of the things he loved about Daryl was that he wasn't afraid to admit when he thought Rick was wrong, he wouldn't agree just because he felt he had to. "I know, that's what I love about ya" Rick quietly replied, basking in the moment. "Sap" Daryl muttered back with a smile on his face,kissing Ricks neck. Rick then turned his head so that he could kiss Daryl properly on the lips.
…
"Oi lovebirds, thought ya were menna be packing for Atlanta" Merle shouted, coming out from nowhere, grinning his head off. "Swear he does this on purpose" Daryl mutters unwrapping himself from Rick, much to Rick's disappointment. "We are ready, we're just waitin' on Dale to finish checkin' the van over actually" Daryl replies to Merle. "Just makin' sure ma baby brother was all set" Merle adds cheekily. "I ain't ya baby brother anymore, wish ya'd stop callin' me that" Daryl replies, his cheeks tinting red. "Ya'll always be ma baby brother Daryl, don't ya forget it" Merle laughs watching Daryl head off to the van they were taking back to Atlanta.
"Ya look after him Rick" Merle says turning back to Rick who had been watching the whole scene with a grin on his face. "With ma life, you know a will" Rick vows, his face turning serious. "I know was just checkin'" Merle replies, walking back off towards the rest of camp.
"Uncle Rick?" Rick turns around seeing Carl standing just ahead of him staring at the ground, fiddling with his hands. "Yeah Carl" he replied crouching down to Carls level. "I don't want ya to go" Carl muttered scuffing the ground with his shoes. "I know bud but we need the guns, and Daryl's coming to, we'll protect each other you know that, we'll be back before you even know we're gone" he said bringing Carl into a hug. "Still don't want ya to go, I just got y back" Carls replied, his voice cracking. "I don't want you to go either" Lori says as she comes over to join the hug. "I know you don't, but it's not just about the guns, I owe a debt to a guy and his son, without them I wouldn't be here now. That bag doesn't just contain guns" Ricks says to Lori's unconvinced face "It contains a walkie talkie too, the guy has the other one, he was meant to meet me at Atlanta, I need to warn him not to go there, I owe my life to that guy" he stated to Lori and Carl "do you understand why I need to go back now?". Lori and Carl nodded in agreement, finally releasing themselves from the hug. "Okay I'll be back soon" he said kissing them both on their foreheads and went to find Daryl.
….
"You okay ya awfully quiet?" Rick asks Daryl seeing that his partner seemed completely lost in thought. "Ya jus' thinkin'" Daryl said quietly, still not completely with it. "You sure?" Rick asks as he still wasn't convinced. Daryl looked down, seeming nervous about something which wasn't very Daryl at all. "Daryl?" Rick let go of the steering wheel with one hand to grip one of Daryl's hands in what he hopes was a comforting squeeze. "Come on you can talk to me" Daryl jumped at the sudden contact but calmed down straight away realising it was just Rick. "I know I was jus'… would ya mine not telling everyone bout the engagemen' jus' yet, I jus' want some time to enjoy in private" Daryl said hesitantly, worried about what Rick would say knowing he was probably dying to tell Lori and Carl, he would probably happily tell everyone knowing Rick. "Course; was that what had you so worried?" Rick questioned softly. "I jus' know ya such a big family guy and like to announce these kinds of fings to everyone" Daryl muttered into his lap. Rick gave Daryl's hand another squeeze "Not if ya don't want me to, I know you like keepin' things private an that's fine by me, I won't tell no one if ya don't want me to" Rick assured Daryl. Daryl sighed in relief, grateful that Rick seemed to understand.
"Now come on, we got some guns to find" Rick said putting the handbrake on the van, stopping just outside Atlanta.
…
After spotting the bag of guns they quietly discussed how best to go about retrieving the guns in the empty shop they were in last time. They decided on Rick grabbing the bag while Daryl stayed back looking out for any walkers that might get in Ricks way. It was going fine until Rick grabbed the bag and that was when Daryl heard someone coming up behind him, he swung round to notice that it wasn't a walker but someone who was actually still fully alive. "Whaddya want?'" Daryl growled at the guy, pointing the crossbow at his face not liking that the guy snuck up on him. "Abula!" the guy shouts. "Shuddup" Daryl whispers angrily shoving his hand over the guy's face not wanting to attract walkers. The guy continues to try and shout so Daryl forces him to the ground. Noticing that the guy has finally shut up he moves his hand away and quickly glances over his shoulder to check no walkers have got Rick, and then turns back to the guy "I repeat whaddya want?" The guy just stares at Daryl and then shouts "Abula!" even louder than last time. Daryl growls and clamps his hand back over the guys mouth again"I told ya to shuddup!" Hearing footsteps Daryl turns around just in time to get whacked over the head with a baseball bat and falls to the ground. The two guys that had just appeared start kicking all over his body causing him to quietly moan in pain.
"Hey, leave him alone" he hears Rick call out. Looking up he sees Rick staring at him with pain and concern in his eyes. "That's the bag" one of the guys shouts and runs to Rick causing Daryl to panic. Rick starts fighting the two guys, and Daryl wobbly manages to stand up and grip his crossbow. Getting his balance Daryl manages to shoot one of the guys in the ass and the other on the arm causing the both to yelp out in pain. Knowing Daryl would be able to quickly shoot them Rick quickly manages to run past them back to Daryl. Just as he does that a car screeches to a halt and another man climbs out. "Abula these guys have the bag" the kid shouts to the guy. "I know and they are going to give it back" the guy says calmly.
"We don't mean no harm, I dropped the bag here yesterday fighting off walkers and I came back to retrieve it today" Rick says trying to stop any further fighting. "We found it this morning; that bags ours now" the guy says his voice rising slightly. Daryl went to make a comment but Rick put a hand on chest telling him to let him handle it. "Look I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement here, how about I give you a half of the guns and I'll take the rest back home, leaving Atlanta to you, how's that sound?" The guy just glared at Rick "How do I know you won't just end up using those guns on us afterwards"
"Why would I do that knowing I just gave ya half" Rick said trying to reassure the guy. The guy seemed to be happy with Ricks reply "Okay but I better not see either of ya asses in Atlanta again otherwise I won't hesitate ta shoot" the guy warned. "Noted" Rick replied.
…..
"You okay" Rick asked whilst studying Daryl once they were back in the safety of the van. "'m fine" Dary mummered, but winced when he tried to turn his head away. "Yer in pain" Rick replied not missing a thing. "Nothin I can't handle, 'sides Merle's got meds back at camp, ill take some when we get back"
"Ya betta ya know I hate seeing you in pain" Rick replied glumly, cupping Daryl's face. Daryl placed his hand on top of Ricks "Rick 'm fine, ya know I've been through worse, this was nothin', let's just get back to camp 'fore Shane moans we took to long" Daryl said pecking Rick on the lips. "Fine but I'm making sure ya take those meds when we get back" Rick stated, noticing Daryl kept rubbing his head, and squinting a lot like he had a headache. "I know" Daryl replied. He really hoped Daryl didn't have concussion.
….
Merle was lying down on his sleeping bag wondering when Daryl was gonna get back. He may act like an arrogant bastard but he truly did care for his baby brother, he put on the act as he couldn't let anyone get close to him. After the childhood he had he couldn't trust anyone accept for Daryl, there father made sure of that. Daryl was just the same till he met Rick, the guy had done wonders on his brother, he's never seen Daryl so happy. Rick has allowed Daryl to finally learn to trust in people, Merle still wasn't sure whether he could or not yet. He just hoped he had made the right choice in letting Daryl and Rick go to Atlanta by themselves.
Deciding to go see if he could see the van driving up the road he unzipped his tent that was placed near the RV just in time to see a walker walking straight to the vehicle. Quietly stepping back into his tent to grab his baseball bat he heard the RV door open a scream that sounded a lot like Amy's.
Notes: Hope you enjoy, this one was a bit harder to write as I knew they didn't need to go back for Merle but would have still needed the guns for when all those walkers attack the camp. Hope I did it justice.
Also thank you for all the reviews, it's great to know people are enjoy my work, its really appreciated.