LIGHT A FIRE

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Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character(s) you don't recognise.
Lyrics: Blood On The Ground by Richie Sambora.

Tear on the night,
And it's dark all around,
Nothing seems right,
And there's blood on the ground...

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[A FEW HOURS LATER| WITH JOE'S GROUP]
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Joe was lagging behind, talking venomous words into Daryl's ear.
I knew what he would be saying.
That Daryl isn't like me, and that he should make more of an effort to fit in with them.
Truthfully, I was scared that he'd believe that bullshit.

"We ain't stayin'…" Daryl had said pointedly as I could hear him answer Joe back.

"Daryl, do you like cats? I love them; vicious little creatures! Anyway, I'll tell you, and this is true: ain't nothing sadder than an outdoor cat that thinks he's an indoor cat…"

Anger built up inside me at his patronising and manipulative words.
I turned around to comfort Daryl, but could see that Joe's words had hit close to home.
"Daryl…"

"Come on! We gonna need to sleep!" Daryl had cut me off sharply before leading me into an abandoned car warehouse.
Incredibly, every single of the cars were still intact.

"Claimed!"

"And…claimed!"

The sounds of different male voices rang out as I stuck close to Daryl, watching him put his belongings on the bonnet of a car.

"…Claimed!" Len had shoved Daryl's items to the floor before leaning against the car, "I'll be willin' to swap though…"

I grimaced as I had to place my hand on Daryl's arm in order to stop him from attacking Len.
"Don't…he isn't worth getting killed over!" I gave him a firm look before sitting down on the floor uncomfortably.

My wound was starting to throb with a dull ache, as I winced and pulled back the bit of material Daryl had given me to cover it.
Not being a Doctor, I had no idea if the redness was still normal or a sign that I should be worried.

"You still in pain?" Daryl watched me closely.

"It's just aching…" I answered back with a tired smile, "I wish that we had passed a clothes store…"
My eyes lifted up to catch the stares of every man in that room on us.

"Here!" Daryl had sat up briefly to shrug off his coat as he helped me to put it on.

"You won't be cold?" I looked worried.

"Dealt with worse…"

I smiled gratefully whilst zipping up the coat, "Thank you."

He grunted in response before laying back down and placing his arm over his face.

I was worried for him and how the past couples of days had been eating away at him.
Daryl puts on this façade of not caring or being able to shrug everything off; but he can't.
It was a transparent smokescreen.

[SOME TIME LATER| ABANDONED CAR WAREHOUSE]
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"Give it here!"

I was rudely awoken by the anguished sound of Len and by Daryl moving to stand up protectively in front of me.

"You step back…"

"My half was in the bag, now it's gone. Now, ain't nobody around here interested in no half a damn cottontail except you." Len's face twitched in anger as he moved closer to us.

"You're the only one still thinking' about that crap!" Daryl snapped back.

"Empty your bag!"

"I said step back!"

By now Joe had come over and was watching the scene unfold with amusement.
"Did you take his rabbit Daryl? Just tell me the truth…"

"I didn't take nothin'!" Daryl retorted before scowling in fury at Len.

Something was starting to become obviously suspicious.

Joe moved quickly to grab the black bag Daryl had been using to carry his belongings, as he emptied out everything, all of us sighing at the cottontail falling out.
My sigh was because I knew exactly what was going on.

Rage exploded from Daryl, as he got up in Len's face, "You put that there, didn't you? When I went out to take a piss!"

Len glared at him with pure hatred, "You lied. You stole…we gonna teach this fool or what, Joe?"

Joe raised an eyebrow as he turned towards Len, "Whoa, whoa…" He paused momentarily as if savouring the sound of his own voice before saying, "Now, Daryl says he didn't take your half of the rabbit, so we got a little conundrum here. Either he's lying, which is an actionable offence. Or, you didn't plant it on him like some pussy, punk-ass, cheating, coward cop, did you? 'Cause while that wouldn't be specifically breaking the rules, it would be disappointing…"

I held my breath, watching as Joe and Len seemed to be only inches apart.
Things were quickly heading south, and I didn't know if their guns or my knife would be quicker.

"It would…" Len agreed, "I didn't."

A sigh escaped Joe's lips, "Good. Well, teach him a lesson, gents! He's a lying sack of shit! I'm sick of it, teach him all the way; I saw him do it."

Gasping in horror at the men turning on their own friend like it was nothing, I moved towards Joe, "Why didn't you stop him?!"

Joe looked at me, "He wanted to play that out, I let him. Daryl told the truth-he lied! Daryl understands the rules, he didn't…"

The sound of Len screaming filled the building as I flinched and made a move towards him to help.
No matter how much of an asshole he was, he doesn't deserve to die in such a horrific way.

Daryl placed his hand on my arm as he pulled me towards him, letting me bury my head into his chest to not witness the beating.

Joe watched us both in interest before throwing the remainder of the rabbit at Daryl's feet, "Looks like you get the head, too…"

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[ON THE ROAD| WITH DARYL & JOE'S GROUP]
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I still wasn't sure of how to digest what had happened.
We needed to get away from these men before they kill us or do worse.
Harry…Joe…they are cut from the same cloth and they are both dangerous men to be around.
The only problem was with how Daryl seemed to crave the companionship of Joe.
I could understand that it was a need to have a Father figure or even a brother around again, but I had tried to tell him that Joe is never going to be like Rick or Merle.
But the heart wants what it wants.

Darkness had ascended now and I was hanging back, not wanting to be anywhere near them.
My ability to see the good in everyone was starting to diminish and cynical thoughts were taking it's place.
Are there even good people still alive out there?

"Hey…" Daryl had waited for me, as he sighed, "You still thinkin' bout what happened back there?"

"If they didn't care about killing their friend, then what makes you think that they will leave us alone?"

He sighed, "We could go to Terminus?"

I looked up at him, "You don't believe what they are saying about the place?"

"Gotta see it to believe it…"

I smiled happily as I rubbed his arm, "Thank you…"

Earlier, Joe had explained to us that Terminus was the place the man they were tracking is thinking of going.
According to him, the man supposedly killed a friend of his-Lou-in cold blood a few days before and they were out to administer justice.
A little part of me wanted the man to have a whole group who would take down Joe and end his tirade, but it was seeming to be unlikely.

Terminus though, was a safe haven, a sanctuary.
I had a gut feeling that if we got there, we'd be on the right path.

Suddenly, as we got closer to Joe we saw him standing behind a man with his gun pointed to the back of his head as I widened my eyes.
"Rick…"

From my side Daryl had moved into action, "Joe! Hold up…"

Joe sighed in annoyance, "You're stopping me on eight Daryl…"

"Just hold up…"

One of the men-his name I couldn't remember-spoke up, "This is the guy that killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about!"

"The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time; say your piece, Daryl." Joe looked at him patiently.

Daryl cautiously edged closer as he kept his gaze strictly on Joe, "These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people…"

Joe scoffed, "Now I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here strangled him in a bathroom."

Tension was filling the air as my eyes locked with Michonne's and guilt started to eat away at me, "Why are you doing this?! You killed your own friend in cold blood like it meant nothing, but somehow, this is different?!"

"Like I told you before Tessa; people like you don't understand how the world works now…"

Daryl looked over at me to silently indicate for me to be calm, as he then carefully put down his crossbow and held up his hands in defeat, "You want blood, I get it. Take it from me, man. Come on…"

"No!" I gasped out as I tried to think of a way that we'd all get out of this alive and in one piece.

Joe looked disappointed in Daryl as he said brokenly, "This man killed our friend. You say he's good people? See, now that right there is a lie…It's a lie!"

Daryl tried to make a point further but was silenced by men moving swiftly to start viciously beating him.

"Teach him all the way fellas…"

"NO!" I screamed as I made a move to help Daryl but was grabbed from behind by one of the men whom I had taken to calling 'Stinky Pete'.
"DARYL!"
My heart clenched painfully as I struggled, not being able to tear my eyes away from what was happening.

Then events turned in our favour…