Chapter Forty: Prisoner
Prisoner: A person captured and kept confined by an enemy
Day 73
Daisy had not thought it possible to fall asleep standing up, but she had proven herself entirely wrong. She awoke with a snort that told of familiarity with uncomfortable sleeping positions, and looked around blearily as she recalled the events of the previous night. Daisy was in Beth's room, and so was Merle, who Daisy noted was sleeping soundly as he sat against the wall beside Daisy. For a moment, Daisy bitterly cursed Merle's likely amused decision to not wake her up to tell her to take a similar position, but she refrained upon further recalling that Merle had been instrumental in Beth's admittance of them into her room. Additionally, Daisy had become accustomed to Merle's callous ways, and had long since learned to not expect the world from him—or even common decency.
As she rubbed tiredly at her eyes, Daisy sank down to sit beside Merle, her body creaked with relief. Daisy yawned and began to consider the fates of Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn—those who had journeyed to rescue Hershel from his own surprise descent into alcoholism. She glanced at the pale sunlight that streamed through Beth's open window, and concern began to flourish once more within her. They should be back by now, Daisy surmised succinctly, town's not that far away...
With a single smug epiphany, Daisy took her excuse and jabbed Merle in the side with her bony elbow. He snapped awake with impressive energy, and immediately began to curse her existence. Merle's early morning tirade boiled down to one point: "The fuck you want, woman?"
"They're not back," Daisy said simply, she chose her battle and refrained from elbowing Merle once more at the way he had said 'woman'.
"Who?" Merle asked tiredly, there was a whine to his voice that Daisy resented greatly.
"Who the fuck do you think?" Daisy asked incredulously as she heaved herself onto her feet, her body protested once more.
On the bed, Beth began to stir. She blinked her tired eyes up at Daisy, who returned her vacant stare with an awkward smile and an even more awkward nod of acknowledgement. Daisy yawned once more and turned towards the open window, she shuffled over to stand in front of it and peeked down at the camp below. The usual murmuring could be heard, and the usual suspects could be seen tottering around. Most of the group was gathered sleepily around the campfire in their pyjamas, Daisy liked to think that it seemed like a lazy Sunday morning gathering that was enfolding outside—though no one, save perhaps Dale would know if that was actually true.
"I don't see Maggie, Glenn, or Daryl," Daisy murmured as Merle came up to stand beside her. "And they probably would have waked us up if they came back..."
"Th' fuck am I supposed to do about that?" Merle asked helpfully. Daisy shot him an unimpressed look, then turned to Beth, who had shuffled out of her bed covers and was sitting on the edge of her bed.
"We gonna go after them?" Beth said, to Daisy it did not sound much like a question, more like an order. Beth had a defiant look on her face, which Daisy both feared for the trouble she could potentially cause, and admired for her strength, and love for her family.
"We might have to," Daisy replied warily, she gave Merle a side-look to seek his opinion, but he was still looking out of the window, a troubling leer on his face. Daisy sidled over to the window once more and saw that he was staring at Amy, who seemed to be playing tag with Sophia. She also seemed to be wearing very short shorts. "Hey, Merle," Daisy said lightly, he looked towards her with his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Try not to be a complete gross-horndog for two seconds, please? This is a serious fucking matter."
Merle rolled his eyes, but wisely decided not to argue against Daisy's request. He turned away from the window and stalked towards the door. Like a second thought, he threw back, "Ya'll coming, or what?"
Beth perked up happily on her bed and jumped to her feet, she only paused when she realised that she was wearing her pyjamas. Daisy smiled at her and walked after Merle, who had left the door swinging wildly with the force of his shove.
"You change, we'll wait outside," Daisy told Beth. She was not willing to be the one who stopped Beth from going, and consequently pulled the light back from her eyes. As far as Daisy was concerned, Beth had a right to protect her family.
Daisy shuffled down the stairs, out of the front door, down the few steps to the front yard and then stopped beside Merle. She squinted her eyes against the harsh glare of the sun, then gazed over at the camp. A few curious head turned to survey their presence, but only one bobbed upwards to walk towards them.
"Heya, Pig," Merle greeted Rick warmly, Rick shot him an unimpressed look, then turned his attention to Daisy as he approached.
"They should'a been back by now," Rick stated with a small amount of worry peppering his tone.
"Yeah, we were gonna go into town to investigate..."
"'We' being?" Rick shot a cautious glance towards Merle, who had drifted away from them to kick monotonously at a small tree stump.
"Yeah, me an' Merle," Daisy said with a small, amused smile, she shivered as the cool morning breeze fluttered by them.
"You think that's a good idea?"
Daisy thought for a moment. "I guess? I mean, who else would have more cause to go lookin'; his brother's out there. And, Beth's coming too, so maybe her good influence might slow Merle's reckless actions."
As she glanced back over to Merle, Daisy noted that he had bent down beside the tree stump and was scratching something on its smooth top with his pocket knife. Daisy leaned forward and caught a peek of a phallic image, then leaned back with a roll of her eyes.
"Beth's going?" Rick brought her attention back. "You think that's a good idea, too? She's never been out there, and seen what the walkers can do, like we have..."
Daisy sighed and idled where she stood, she kicked absent-mindedly at the dewy grass beneath her feet as she answered, "Gotta start sometime, better that she's with someone who can protect her, if need be. And that her father can't stop her going." Rick remained unconvinced.
Before Daisy had a chance to further explain her argument, they were interrupted by a grumbling moan. For a split second, Daisy was assaulted by images of encroaching crowds of walkers, and her heart began to beat heavily in her chest. She was not given too long to panic, however, as she soon looked over to see the rusted, powder-blue pickup truck that Glenn, Maggie and Daryl had left in was puttering down the driveway. Daisy let out a relieved huff, and she shared a smile with Rick.
As the truck screeched to a stop under a nearby tree, Daisy, Rick, and the despondent Merle—who had been hoping for an opportunity to slaughter walkers—approached the truck. Glenn was helping a tired and an either hungover or still-drunk Hershel out of the truck, Maggie was sliding out of the driver's seat, and Daryl was jumping out of the bed of the truck. With a quick wave of his hand, Daryl signalled Merle to come help him with something in the bed, as he reached down to pull something towards him.
A low moan that sounded distinctly human—or at least walker—emanated from the truck bed, and Daisy grew concerned once more. The last thing they needed was for someone to bring back a pet walker, so when Daisy approached the pickup and found that the moan had originated from a young man who had an apparently injured leg, her concern turned to instinctual, momentary relief.
"Who is that?" Rick's hardened voice sounded near her ear, it brought her back to the reality that was Daryl, Glenn and Maggie stealing a human being—he did not seem particularly docile, nor did he seem open to Daryl and Merle dragging him from the bed of the truck.
"We ran into some creepy folks at the bar," Maggie said as she rounded the pickup, and she leaned too casually against the passenger side's door. "They attacked us, then left one of their own behind. Figured it would be useful to take him, find out where the rest of 'em have ran to. In case they decide to attack us in our backyard."
"Yeah, no other choice, really," Glenn said quickly in support of his girlfriend. Daisy looked over to see that he was still supporting Hershel, who seemed as though he might collapse at any moment.
"If we could go inside, son," Hershel spoke up quietly. Glenn's eyes widened in sudden realisation, and he scrambled to turn towards the house, he tugged Hershel's arm tighter around his neck as he went. Daisy took note of Hershel's choice of address towards Glenn, and shot a quick, excited smile towards Maggie. Her smile was shared by Maggie, with an accompanying glint of hope in her eyes.
Those crazy kids, Daisy thought fondly, then turned her attention towards Merle and Daryl, who had the injured attacker hanging between them, his feet barely touched the ground.
"His name's Randall," Maggie added with a sigh, she glanced between the people gathered around the truck. "I think I'll let you tough-folk deal with this..." She said semi-sarcastically. Maggie shot Daisy a parting smile, then followed after Glenn and her father.
"What the fuck is this?" They were given no reprieve as Shane approached them, his guns were metaphorically hot.
"Lord, just what we need..." Merle muttered as Shane came to a stop in front of him, Daryl and the attacker.
"Who are you?" Shane ducked close to address the stranger in their midst, overlooking any explanation that Rick seemed prepared to readily give. Randall muttered something, a string of spit and blood dropped from his lips as his head hung low against his chest. "Speak up," Shane said firmly, and with an aggression that even startled Daisy.
"I'm Randall," the stranger said lowly, his head raised a fraction so that he could look Shane in the eyes. Either in exhaustion or submission, Randall's head ducked down again.
"Oh, shit! It's Randall," Shane said loudly and with sarcastic delight. He straightened his back and turned to face Rick, and Daisy as a consequence of her standing too close to Rick. Shane's feigned excited expression dropped and he lowered his tone as he approached Rick and said, "Who the fuck is Randall, and why is he in our camp?"
Rick stared silently at Shane for a moment, then turned towards where Merle and Daryl were holding Randall upright between them. "Take Randall to the barn, tie him up," he said firmly. Without argument, Merle and Daryl began to drag their prisoner in the direction of the barn. Randall's legs were dragged along the ground and he whimpered as his injured leg caught on the uneven ground, a trail of blood dyed the grass as he went.
"What the fuck was that, Rick? Who is that guy?" Shane repeated himself with a clenched jaw, his narrowed eyes darted towards Daisy for a moment and she felt a sudden urge to evacuate.
"You wanna know what Lori said to me this mornin'?" Rick said, seemingly apropos of nothing. Daisy's eyes widened and her gaze dropped to the ground, and she took that incredibly personal opener as her exit cue.
"I'm gonna go...over there," she mumbled as she gestured vaguely towards the camp, neither Shane nor Rick spared her a glance.
As she walked away, she heard Rick continue to speak: "She said that you're dangerous, 'cause of what you did with the walkers in the barn...and that we should kick you off the farm before you get a chance to endanger the baby."
Daisy muttered a quick, "Jesus Christ," in shock at the blatant address of Shane's reckless actions concerning the group, then hurried her walk.
"Hey," Amy greeted quietly as Daisy collapsed in a camping chair beside her. Daisy shot her a wide-eyed look, and Amy looked back with her eyes congruently narrowed with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Sure, I'm great," Daisy lied as she looked back towards Shane and Rick, who seemed to be in the middle of a full-fledged confrontation. Her gaze drifted towards the barn, where Merle was guffawing with a gleeful smile as he helped Randall through the wide-open doors with a swift kick to his backside. Their camp was apparently not going to be getting any less exciting any time soon. "Just fucking peachy."