She kept running, trying to put distance between herself and the town, when she ran into Rick and Maggie. "Did Daryl get out?" she asked.
They shook their heads. "We're goin' back for him, though," Maggie said firmly. "We ain't gonna leave him behind."
Maggie threw Kit one of the heavier weapons and the short woman gladly took it. Daryl was her husband and Merle had saved her life twice now so hell would have to freeze over before she let either of them die. While the people of Woodbury gathered to watch a sick fight to the death, Kit couldn't help but let out an angry hiss. How could anybody be so twisted as to pit two brothers against each other? (Or pit anyone against each other like that, for that matter.) It was incredibly difficult for her not to jump in that very instant when she saw that Daryl was in trouble and her hackles rose in anger and impatience.
The Governor began to call Merle a traitor, stating he had helped the 'terrorists'. "Shupman saw Merle betray us with his own eyes: he saw Merle helping a small, blond woman escape from Woodbury – one of the terrorists."
Daryl turned to his brother in shock. Merle had helped Kit? This was all too much for him to take in at once. Thankfully, their backup arrived, laying down a smoke cover and firing at those sick fucks.
Now they were all running back towards the car where Michonne and Glenn would be waiting for them. Kit and Daryl turned to each other and the majority of the stress from the night melted away as they processed they had both made it.
"This way," Merle told them.
"You're not going anywhere with us," Rick griped.
"You really wanna argue about this now?" the other man asked.
"Just do as he says, Rick. I'll explain later," Kit begged. The former sheriff gave her a questioning look but went along with it.
By morning they had finally reached the car and Rick was, thankfully, trying to be diplomatic. "Glenn, we've got a bit of a situation here and I need you to stay calm."
"What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn demanded, pulling out his gun.
Kit and Daryl immediately placed themselves in front of the other Dixon. (Merle always said 'blood is blood' and Kit supposed Merle was blood now, in some way or another.) The others began listing off all the things Merle had done to them but Kit came to his defense. "Look, I know Merle's an asshole but he's saved my life twice now, so that has to count for something."
"And he got our sorry asses outta there," Daryl added. He turned to Glenn and shouted "Would you get that thing outta ma face?" Glenn still had his gun pointed straight at Daryl and Kit.
"Looks like you've gone native, brother," Merle laughed.
"No more'n you with that psycho back there."
"Dumbass," Kit muttered, rolling her eyes at Merle.
"He is a charmer," Merle drawled. "Been puttin' the wood ta yer friend Andrea big time, baby." Kit smacked him with the butt of her gun he began making faces and motions, shooting Merle a 'you're not helping' look.
"Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn asked. Kit wasn't exactly happy about it either, even if she was elated that the other woman was alive. She hoped that Andrea was in the dark about this 'Governor' guy and his more gruesome tendencies because the Andrea she had known would not have stood idly behind the actions he had taken.
"Michonne over there was with Andrea all winter, cuddling up in the forest, mmmmmm. She kept a couple walkers with her – no arms, no jaws, locked up in chains. Kinda ironic now that I think about it," Merle laughed.
"Shut the hell up!" Daryl yelled.
"Merle, you aren't improving your odds, here," Kit informed him irritably. She often calmed the rest of the group down and prevented them from going one hundred percent crazy, but if Merle kept this up, there would be no way she could reason with Rick and the others.
"Hey, we rescued those two outta the woods, Andrea close ta dyin'," Merle told them in his defense. He began babbling about how they were pussies and cowards before Rick finally knocked the older man out.
He looked at Kit and Daryl but all she could say was "No objections here."
"Asshole," Daryl muttered towards his brother.
"Rick," Kit said. "Merle could have killed me if he wanted to – he came up right behind me – but he didn't. Instead, he helped me escape Woodbury. I'm not trying to say that he isn't an asshole or that he isn't going to be difficult but please we can't just leave him.
"The Governor's probably on his way to the prison right now," Daryl added. "Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle." Both Kit and Daryl felt much better that they were on the same side of this argument.
"He tried to kill me," Glenn objected. "Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol and Beth?"
"He ain't a rapist."
"Well his buddy is."
"They ain't buddies no more."
"More to the point," Kit interjected. "Merle stayed at the camp with us for two months and the only problems we had with him were purely to do with his personality. I have no problem with him being in the prison with us; besides, I am telling you all right now that I trust Merle, which hasn't led me astray yet." Daryl gave her a grateful look to which she nodded in return. Even if Kit hadn't been crazy about the idea of Merle coming into the prison, she probably would have sided with Daryl so the whole group wouldn't be ganging up on him.
"Merle would have everyone at each other's throats," Rick insisted.
"I'm willing to bet that I could keep him under control," Kit said. "I even managed to work out a deal with Shane way back when. If I can handle Shane then I'm confident I can handle Merle – which is not to compare Merle to Shane, by the way," she added quickly, sorry she had even brought Shane up in the first place. "Merle's an asshole but he doesn't deserve to be abandoned by us."
"Besides, Merle's blood," Daryl insisted adamantly.
"No, he's your blood." Glenn was getting angrier by the moment. "My blood, my family is right here and waiting for us back at the prison."
"He's my blood, too." Kit wasn't about to give up on Merle; Daryl had suffered enough without his brother and she was never going to let Daryl lose him again. "Merle was even decent to me back at the quarry when I didn't talk to anyone, my friends limited to him, Daryl, Glenn and Dale. He was always pleasant to me – at least by his standards - which is more than can be said for a lot of people who were there. Please, Rick, I want Merle to come back with us.
"You two are a part of our family," Rick told them. "But he isn't."
"Fine," the other Dixon growled. "We'll fend for ourselves."
If Daryl was leaving, Kit wanted more than anything to follow him but she had to stay at the prison. Not only because Herschel was there – the only reliable medical care she could think of – but also because of the stability. It looked now like it would be a while before Kit could go on any runs and try to find the supplies Herschel would need – at least, not in the time range she would actually feel comfortable going through the procedure. She doubted the Governor would let anyone from the prison just waltz around the immediate area. Being on the road all the time had been miserable for Lori more than anyone else in the group – a fate Kit didn't want for herself. Whether she went through the pregnancy or not, though, she would need Herschel.
"That's not what I meant," Glenn said awkwardly.
"No Merle, no us," Daryl said, speaking for the both of them. Under normal circumstances, his assumption would have been correct, but she had to stay.
"Daryl, you don't have to do that," Maggie assured him.
He began walking towards the car where his supplies were being kept, freezing in his tracks when he didn't notice a short figure by his side as she normally was. Daryl turned back to see Kit standing stationary a handful of yards behind him. "Ain't ya comin'?"
Kit could see the hurt in his eyes, hating herself for causing that hurt, but there was no physical way she would be able to be on the run constantly with Merle and Daryl in the coming months. She had to stay for Herschel's medical expertise. "I can't," she choked, a few tears beginning to stream down her face at the thought of never seeing Daryl, or even Merle, ever again.
"What do ya mean, ya can't?" he asked angrily.
"Please, Daryl, if I could just talk to you for a moment – "
"Ain't nothin' ta talk 'bout if ya can't come with Merle an' I 'cause I ain't leavin' him behind again."
"I understand!" she cried desperately, trying to catch up to him.
"We been on the run 'fore this an' you ain't never complained," he growled. "I know tha' ya can make it with us, so I don't see what the problem is, if ya wanna support Merle so bad."
"Circumstances change," she insisted. "I promise I only need a minute and then maybe something could be worked out but we need to talk." This was not a conversation she wanted to have in front of everyone and she was beginning to become borderline hysterical.
He glared at her before heading into the woods to meet the waiting Merle, who appeared happy that Daryl chose him but turned his attention to Kit, who was still standing in the road. To her surprise, Merle came back to the highway to see her, earning raised guns in his face. "Now, now I ain't gonna lay a hand on Petite, here, but I wanna say goodbye ta her 'fore I head off. Make sure we ain't got any hard feelins."
Her brother-in-law pulled her out of the earshot of everyone around them and gave her one of the only genuinely sorry looks she had ever seen on his face. "I wish ya could come with us, Petite."
"Herschel is a vet," she explained. "He's as good as a doctor and you know that I'll only slow you and Daryl down. I won't be responsible for your deaths or mine."
Merle stared at her seriously before nodding. "I get it. Ya gotta stay but I was serious when I said I wanted ta make sure we had no hard feelins."
"I don't blame you or Daryl," she replied quietly. "If one of my sisters came out of nowhere and Rick wouldn't let me take her back to the prison then I'd say 'fuck the group', too. I think that half the time, anyway. Plus, it wouldn't be right to send you off alone. I just wish Daryl would let me talk to him."
"Daryl still don't know, do he?"
"I doubt he would be so quick to leave the prison if he had figured anything out. My understanding is that he believes I'm sick so maybe if he continues to believe that then he'll forgive me. I also understand if you choose not to tell him, though I wish you would. God, he's just so unreasonable when he's angry."
"I can't lose ma brother again, so I don't plan on sayin' anythin' but I guess I'm glad ya don't hate me, Petite."
"I care about you, Merle," she told him before hugging him. It was incredibly awkward, it threw Merle off and it probably left the entire rest of the group flabbergasted but she did it anyway because she felt like she should. "Besides, you've saved my life twice, now. I'm in no position to be holding a grudge against you. But please take care of him."
"I ain't gonna let nothin' hurt ma baby brother," he promised. "You gotta do the same, though: take care of yerself. Now I better go 'fore he thinks you got me on the side," he said with a dirty wink.
Kit watched as the single most important person in her life left with Merle and began to feel herself breaking down. How the hell could she do this without Daryl? Whatever ultimately happened, she would need him. She felt like one of the walkers while she mechanically helped the others to load the car before turning to Rick. "Merle may be an asshole but at least he isn't a moron to boot."
"You're saying I'm a moron."
"Yes. We need both of them if we're going to take on the Governor and sending them away was the stupidest decision you've ever made which includes wandering into Atlanta with nothing but that goddamn horse and a few guns."
"I don't see you going with them," he reminded her irritably.
"I can't. That doesn't mean that I didn't want to leave with them." This earned her a very confused look from Rick, but he gathered that she didn't want to talk about her reasons for staying with the group. Still, he felt incredibly uneasy knowing that there was something going on with Kit that he wasn't completely aware of. (Though he would never admit it to her, he was now beginning to feel as if sending Merle packing may not have been the wisest decision. And there was something about Kit staying that put him on edge. He had a feeling her reasons couldn't be good.)
She wished more than anything that the ride would be quiet so she could make it to the prison and have her breakdown there in some abandoned hallway where she could cry in peace. Glenn wasn't having any of that. "I can't believe you sided with him."
"I like Merle and I love Daryl so what do you think I should have done?"
"Daryl abandoned us," Glenn growled. "He abandoned you!"
"No: you all abandoned him. He gave you two very clear options and you all chose the one that ended with him leaving. He didn't abandon me," she whispered. "He had to go and I had to stay – as simple as that. Don't you dare put this on Daryl."
When they finally got back to the prison, Kit could see that Carol was the one opening the gate for them. God, what was she going to tell Carol? Once she was out of the car, she could see Rick trying to explain to the older woman that Daryl had left them. HELL NO! If Rick was going to force Daryl's hand then he was going to own the fuck up to it.
"Rick gave him no choice," she spat. "He said that Merle couldn't come back with us so Daryl, naturally, couldn't abandon his brother again." Rick wouldn't lie his way out of this one.
She left them there and passed up all the people who wanted to hug her because she needed to be alone but she was in for a surprise when she entered the prison. "Who the hell are you?" A group of four strangers was sitting near the entrance.
"We're, uh, new," the large black man stuttered. "So I guess you're part of the group that was gone?"
She bit her tongue, not wanting to take her anger out on someone who didn't deserve it so she nodded instead. "Yeah," she replied stiffly. "What's left of us. So I guess you're waiting on Rick's decision?"
"I was kinda hoping it would be in our favor," he said, offering a sheepish smile.
"Well, if he doesn't want you to stay, I'll be sure to oppose him," she informed the 'guests' before going to the main living area to talk this out with Rick and Herschel – one crucial member of their cabinet noticeably missing.
Herschel was giving everyone a once-over before he waved Kit down from the perch she and Daryl had shared. "Don't think you're gettin' out of this," he told her amicably.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she sighed, exhausted.
"I don't mind tellin' you that you haven't been getting enough sleep, you haven't been eating enough and you've been under too much stress for someone in your condition."
"My condition," she scoffed. "I don't sleep because there's one disaster after another, I can't eat because I'm nauseous every other day and the stress is completely unavoidable. Now, to make matters worse, the man I love is gone."
"You're not alone. We're all here for you."
"It doesn't matter because I feel alone when he's not here. I can't do this without him. The only thing is, if Daryl's gone, this catastrophe is all that I have left of him."
The older man pulled her into a supportive hug. "I promise I won't let this be a 'catastrophe' as you call it. Women were having babies a long time before modern medicine."
His words did nothing to comfort Kit. "Yes, and then something around one in six women died in childbirth, maybe more. Then there were the infant and child mortality rates which were enormously high. Besides, look what happened to Lori."
She left Herschel to go talk some sense into Rick regarding the 'guests' waiting on their decision. "The Governor will definitely be coming back, so what's the plan, Rick?" She did nothing to soften the sharpness in her voice.
"Well, it sounds like we're outnumbered and outgunned," Carol suggested.
"We need reinforcements," Herschel added.
"Funny you should say that," Kit hissed spitefully, sending a death glare in the direction of Glenn and Rick. "Since we lost two perfectly good reinforcements, I suggest that we bring those four people in because we are going to need them."
Rick led everyone to the four newcomers, his face making him appear less than lucid. This wouldn't be good. After Tyreese gave a very heart-felt and reasonable plea for help, Rick answered "No."
"What the hell, Rick?" Kit demanded. "We need the help." She wasn't about to mention his recent trip to crazy-town to the four newcomers but she hadn't forgotten the time when Rick went AWOL and Daryl had to cover Rick's sorry ass, saving Rick's daughter in the process. "You've already made one stupid move today, don't make another."
"If you have a problem with my leadership, then leave," he said angrily.
"If I could, I would," she growled. "But since I'm forced to stay here, I'm going to tell you you're being an idiot, whether you want my advice or not. Herschel has vouched for them, which I put a lot of stock in."
Rick ignored her completely, grabbed a gun and began shooting at phantoms, telling the four people to get out. The bullets weren't just flying towards that direction, though. They were heading in every which direction and sooner or later someone was going to get hurt. So, she took her rifle and smacked Rick on the back of the head, just as he had to Merle only hours earlier.
Their 'leader' went down and the rest of the group looked at her in complete and utter shock. "You were all thinking it," she said, to which they appeared to agree. "I'm not planning a coup or anything, but if Rick is going to make this decision, then he is going to make it while he's lucid, not when he's clearly gone off the deep end. Am I being unreasonable?"
"I don't think so." At least Herschel was coming to her defense.
It didn't look as if anyone else was going to when Carl added "My dad made the wrong call."
"How about this: if he wakes up and he's lucid, then I'll abide by what he decides. If he wakes up and he's as crazy as he was before, then we can't let him continue to be our leader."
There were general nods of agreement before Glenn, Maggie and Carol carried Rick to a cell so he could at least be unconscious in a bed. While they were waiting, Herschel pulled her aside. "If Rick can't be leader, then that only leaves a few options, you know. I don't personally want the position so that leaves probably you or Glenn and you've both clearly been shaken up by what's happened in Woodbury. I've also gathered that you two are not on the best of terms, now. This is a mess."
"You're telling me," she sighed. "At this point, though, I just want to sleep and pretend that the last twenty-four hours didn't happen."
He nodded. "I guess we'll see what happens when he wakes up, which could be any minute now. You probably aren't going to be his favorite person."
"I've never been his favorite person," she reminded Herschel.
"Do you think anyone will be able to go on a run anytime soon. Whatever you decide, and you need to decide soon, we need supplies."
The situation with the Governor had put a noose around her neck in more ways than one. The only possibility she had of ending the pregnancy may have disappeared right along with the security the group had once believed they had. "I still haven't made that decision, whether Daryl is here or not," she reminded him. "First thing's first: the Governor is likely to retaliate soon and we have to be defensible by the time that happens."