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Chapter 26

-Daryl-

Daryl was fuming as he sped back towards the prison. The mission had not been a success. Heflin had been a bust. Someone, he strongly suspected the men of Woodberry, had thrown Molotov cocktails into all of the stores on main street, including the only pharmacy for 20 miles. What's worse is they'd set off a series of car alarms while they were terrence, and although they'd all shut down by the time Daryl and the men got there, the walkers the alarms had drawn were still milling around. No point in going house to house with that many geeks around.

When they got to the gate Daryl felt a sense of foreboding build in his stomach. There was nothing outwardly wrong with the prison, but as Glenn and Tyrese let them in his uneasiness grew. Carl rarely missed a car's return, especially when his dad was gone, and Daryl realized he was disappointed Lexi hadn't come down to see who pulled in. Maybe they were both watching the baby?

The wariness in Tyrese's eyes as he approached the car told him it was more than that.

"Glad you're all ok. Rick you, uh, should go talk to Carl. We had to subdue him a little bit ago, he's pretty upset, tried to clear the gym and G block by himself."

"What the HELL happened?" Rick said swinging out of the car and slamming the door behind him angrily.

Glenn shuffled forward awkwardly. "Carol tried to pick a fight with Lexi,said some pretty shitty stuff and brought up Shane. Lexi realized from the way she said it that there'd been some foul play in Shane's death and lost it. Pinned Carol with a knife against her neck before we even realized she was pissed. Things were pretty tense, with Lexi set to cut Carol's throat and me drawn to take out Lex if she tried, and Carl just stepped in the middle of it and told Lexi he shot Shane."

"She turned to move towards him, she honestly didn't look like she'd hurt him or anything, but I guess Carol couldn't see that from where she was because she lunged at Lexi with a knife. Cut her pretty badly before Lexi pinned her again. I think it all was too much for Lexi though, cause then she apologized to Carol and took off running. Carl looked for her everywhere and then remembered he'd never told her there were still walkers in G block and the gym. We got him back into our cell block about 20 minutes ago but he's been inconsolable."

"Was he hurt?" Rick asked, running a hand through his hair with a look on his face as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Glenn shook his head.

"You find Lexi yet?" Daryl asked in spite of of himself. He could see the whole thing playing out in her mind. He could tell from Glenn's retelling that he'd been surprised by Lexi's violent reaction. He respected the guy, but the kid still clearly had no clue how family shit worked.

"No." Glenn said looking down at his feet. "We figured-"

But what ever they'd figured Daryl hadn't waited to hear it. The second he heard what he'd suspected he took off for the prison. He found Carol waiting by the entrance.
"Glenn told you-" she began, moving down the stairs towards him as he approached.

"Yeah where'd it happen?" he said without slowing down.

"The kitchen but-" he brushed past her without another word and headed straight for the kitchen. He spotted the place on the floor where Lexi had pinned Carol, crouching to look at the droplets of blood that lingered there.

"She tried to kill me!" Carol yelled at him, clearly upset that he was tracking the girl she'd fought with.

"Threatened." he said rubbing the blood with one of his fingers. It was almost completely dry, giving him a better timeframe. It'd been about two and a half hours since the fight.

"What?"

"She threatened to kill you. If she'd a tried, you'd be dead. Coulda jus' told her what she was askin, rather 'n let the kid take the fall for it."

"So you're taking her side? Is that it? I suppose if I had let her go after Carl people would realize that she's a danger to this group, but no instead I get all the blame for it, you come in here and start a rescue party for my would-be killer, and Carl, who I saved not three hours ago, refuses to speak to me and acts more upset than when he lost his own mother. I've had enough of you people!"

She stormed off, and Daryl let her go without another word. He knew she wouldn't leave, and he wasn't about to go fuel her pity-party. It was a miracle Lexi had gone this long without finding out that Shane had been murdered not killed in a walker attack, and Carol had been an idiot to bring him up. The reminder of the loss of his own brother was still enough to crack Daryl's control, and he didn't blame Lexi in the least for what she'd done.

As he began to follow her trial further into the prison, his mind turned to what Carol and Glenn had said about Carl. He had heard the kid's sobs as he made his was to the kitchen, echoing horribly off the concrete prison walls. Carl was one of the toughest SOBs Daryl knew, kid or not, and to hear him crack like this only fueled his rage. Daryl remembered walking with Carl through these same halls and telling the preteen about how his mother had died when he was only a kid too, only to have Carl blankly confess to shooting Lori before she turned, and then give him his condolences over the loss of Mrs. Dixon.

He'd been so much more of a kid since Lexi had arrived. Daryl knew it would never make up for the loss of Lori, but Lexi was the closest thing Carl and Judith had to a mother, arguably the closest thing they had to a real parent since Rick had lost his shit.

The thought stopped Daryl in his tracks for a second as guilt washed over him. Judith. Lexi actually WAS the closest thing she had to a parent- she was the only adult kin that child had left, and she didn't even know it. He remembered how angry he'd been when he thought Lexi wasn't going to tell her about Merle and Caitlyn, and realized guiltily that he'd been letting her live in the same ignorance. Fuck that. He was going to find her, he was going to bring her back, and shit was going to change.

And with that thought in mind he unlocked the gate to cell block G, and followed her blood trail inside.