Ch. 2
Let's see where this goes, shall we?
Unedited. Sorry for any glaring mistakes.
They were all gathered around the tables in the dining area of the prison, and Beth watched closely as Daryl leaned against the far wall next to Merle.
The past couple of days, he hadn't even tried to find her for their usual lessons. She had heard Merle talking to someone outside her cell after he left, and figured it must have been Daryl by the way he had been acting around her. Embarrassment coursed through her veins when she thought about what he might have heard.
She should have known that he was just being kind, but the crush she had got even bigger once he started making time just for her. He was such a nice man, and he had the best grin when he let his guard down and actually showed it.
He probably looked at her and thought she was some too young, love-struck teenager. It was true, there was an age gap, but hell, she had grown up more in the last two years than most people did in their twenties before the turn. Still, everyone treated her like she was their little lady. They didn't mind that Carl, who was at least four years younger than her, carried a gun and used it, or that he was viewed as a more skilled protector than her.
That part was true, but she had value, and she knew things.
It was her that had broken up the fight between Merle and Glenn the other day. She wasn't scared of guns or walkers. Beth was scared of being ill prepared, and that's what everyone was making her by pretending she was too soft to learn how to take care of herself. She also wanted to know that she was able to protect Judith if things went downhill.
"The Governor wants Michonne," Rick said and brought her out of her thoughts. "That was the deal he put on the table when we met. I shoulda told ya, but I couldn't. I wanted to hand her over and save us, but I don't think that's gonna help us in the end. We all know that this has to be a group decision. I ain't gonna be makin' 'em for us. I'm not your governor."
Everyone's eyes subtly shifted to Michonne, who was sitting on the stairs.
The silence stretched until Merle opened his mouth and said, "Take her there and make it a trap." Beth watched as Michonne cut her eyes at Merle and he smirked. "What? Ain't like ya don't want a shot at his ass. Let me take ya to him, and we'll kill him."
"He won't show up alone," Rick said, shaking his head.
"Then we don't either," Merle said and shrugged. "One of y'all can be our sharpshooter."
"I could do it," Carol said quietly. Merle looked over at her, and something flickered in his eyes, causing Beth to wonder if she wasn't the only one harboring a crush.
"See, Carol's got the balls for the job." She rolled her eyes at him and his grin widened. He definitely had a crush, Beth decided.
"Only way this goes down is if I go with ya," Daryl said, and Beth's heart dropped.
"Don't need your ass there," Merle said.
"Ya ain't gonna get the all clear otherwise."
"Who died and made you boss, Darylina?"
A sudden idea rushed through Beth's thoughts, and she started talking before she even registered what she was doing. "This plan isn't gonna work. You and Daryl are too threatenin'. He'll know y'all can and want to kill him. What if y'all hide out with Carol for support, but I take Michonne down?"
Everyone got real quiet and stared at her for a moment.
"Absolutely not," Maggie said with a strength she hadn't heard since she'd been back from Woodbury. "You're not goin' anywhere near him."
"It's a good idea," Beth argued. "He'll think we're tryin' to make this all go away, and do it the least confrontational way possible. If it's Merle, he's likely to kill him just for bein' Merle. And if Daryl goes, he'll want to kill him for bein' Merle's brother and for what happened at Woodbury. We can't send you and Glenn for obvious reasons. Carl is smart, but he's also a little jumpy," she looked to Carl and gave him an apologetic smile. "And Rick, if ya go, y'all will end up in a battle of words that might end with guns bein' drawn."
Rick shook his head. "Makes sense for Hershel to go, but not you."
"Michonne said he had a daughter," she reasoned. "A little blonde girl. Maybe if me and daddy go together, he'll think of his own child and be so thrown off that he won't even notice when the bullets start flyin'."
"I vote no," Maggie said. "We leave here and don't look back." Then she walked into the cellblock.
Glenn looked between them all and sighed. "I vote with Maggie." Then he trailed after her.
Rick looked over the group and said, "It's got merit."
"Ya've gotta be kiddin' me," Daryl gritted out.
"No," Rick said quietly. "If her and Hershel take Michonne, it will throw him long enough for us to get the advantage. We might even kill him and few others."
"I can do this," Beth said firmly.
Daryl pushed off the wall and walked toward the tables where everyone was. "Ya've done lost your damned mind," he said to her. "Ya don't have a clue what you're gettin' yaself into. He ain't gonna see ya as an innocent or stop. He's gonna see Michonne and how we sent our two weakest to lead the charge. He'll know somethin's wrong right off the bat."
Beth flinched back and looked down at her hands. She knew that she wasn't as good as the others yet, but hearing Daryl call her weak hurt.
"I could-"
"Ya ain't," he said and stood in front of her table then turned back to Rick. "Me and Merle take her or we come up with a different plan."
Rick shook his head. "It ain't up to you. It goes to a vote."
"Got two 'no' votes already, me and Merle make four. Who else says 'no' to Beth and Hershel gettin' put in the middle of shit?"
Slowly, Michonne and Carol raised their hands, followed by Carl.
"Who votes for them goin'?"
Beth, Hershel and Rick all raised their hands.
"the 'no' vote wins." Daryl looked at Beth. "Your ass stays."
Angry tears filled her eyes as she stood up.
"Screw you, Daryl," she said and flipped him off before she walked away and into the cellblock.
Daryl swallowed the lump in his throat as she left. This was the best option, and knowing that she would be out of harm's way, helped him control the urge to follow after her.
"No one's goin'," Rick said and Daryl turned toward him. "We let the meetin' time pass, and we'll create a trap here. Let 'em come, and we'll take 'em out that way."
Everyone but Daryl and Merle nodded in agreement, and then they started coming up with a plan. A couple of minutes passed before Carol went and got Maggie and Glenn who were helping with strategy while Merle and Daryl stood off to the side again.
"I do believe I'm gonna go and take a piss," Merle said and started for the outside door.
Daryl watched him go and looked over at the high window as the sunlight streamed through. The meeting was supposed to happen today around noon. They didn't have much time after that until the Governor would be knocking down their gates because they didn't show.
He shifted his bow over his shoulders and followed Merle outside, and they both walked down the gravel driveway, unlocked the gates that didn't even have a person on guard duty yet, and after locking back up, they started toward the woods.
"Got a plan?" Daryl asked after they had been walking for a while.
Merle shrugged. "Not really. Been thinkin' about gettin' a drink, maybe guidin' a shitload of walkers to the meetin' place."
Daryl nodded. "Couldn't hurt."
They walked on in silence until they found a bar with a few stragglers wandering around. Merle broke in a stole a bottle of whiskey as Daryl hotwired the only car in the lot. Once they were inside, Merle cranked up the radio as rock music blared from the speakers thanks to an old tape.
"Not too sure this is a good idea," Daryl muttered before taking a big gulp. "Gettin' lit before goin' and facin' off with this asshole."
Merle snorted before taking the bottle back. Walkers were gathered around the car, trying to get inside and tear off their skin, but the sight didn't make either one of them cringe.
After a couple of minutes, Merle started to slowly drive forward, and they would pass the bottle back and forth. Eventually, Merle turned down the music a little and turned to face Daryl.
"You were real insistent that blondie stay back."
Daryl choked and the whiskey burned the back of his throat and up his nose. After some hacking coughs, he glared at Merle. "She don't belong out here in this shit."
"She don't," Merle agreed. "Ya can't protect her forever. Sooner or later, she's gonna have to get her hands dirty."
"Well, it ain't gonna be today."
Merle took a drink and passed the bottle back. "Why don't ya just fuck her already and get it outta your system."
He punched his brother's shoulder and Merle laughed. "It ain't like that asshole. She don't need to be with someone like me."
"What the fuck's wrong with ya?" Merle asked. "She'd be lucky to have your ass."
Daryl just shook his head. "What the fuck's gotten into you? Ya startin' to get soft on me?"
Merle shot him a look of pure disdain before he said, "Ya damn well know I ain't, but I'm about sick of this shit out here. All these people lookin' down on me and lookin' down on you. There ain't nothin' wrong with ya, baby brother. Not a damn thing."
"No one ever said there was," he said as Merle continued to barely move down the road, collecting more walkers as they went.
"Ya should go for it. Just walk right up to her and plant one on her."
"Yeah, I'm sure her daddy'd love that," he muttered and kicked the seat back.
"What's the problem?" Merle asked. "'Cause you're older than her? She a virgin or some bullshit, and you afraid you're gonna dirty her up?"
Daryl could feel the heat in his cheeks, but he kept his eyes closed. "She deserves someone as good as she is."
Merle grunted, and Daryl heard the empty whiskey bottle hit the floorboard. "That's fuckin' bullshit."
Daryl ignored him and tossed his hand out toward the windshield, the warm buzz of the whiskey swimming through his veins. "Just drive, asshole."
The walkers descended upon the old feed plant, and Daryl and Merle watched from the safety of their car as the pack of thirty or so walkers come up on the men that were there. It was another reason, in an already long list, as to why he was going to end up in hell, but Daryl didn't really care about the men that the Governor had brought with him.
They didn't watch long before Merle turned the car around and started back toward the prison.
"Won't be long before he starts headin' our way," Merle said and pressed the gas harder.
"Nah, but I'm sure they've already got a plan in place. We just gave 'em some more time to get it together," Daryl mumbled. The whiskey was a lot heavier on his stomach than it ever had been before, and he wondered how Merle never got messed up like that.
"Ya gonna blow chunks, Darla?" Merle asked with a laugh.
"Fuck off. I'm fine," he lied and leaned the seat back again.
"Ya'd really be fine if ya let that blonde have a go," he said as he started to hit the brakes rhythmically, making Daryl's stomach roll.
"Even if she wanted a go, I couldn't." Daryl started reaching his arms out to hit Merle, but he kept moving out of the way.
"Why the hell not? Your pecker stop workin'?"
Merle howled with laughter as Daryl shot up and started hitting his shoulder and arm as hard as he could. "Shut your fuckin' mouth. Hershel'd kill me."
"He don't give a fuck," Merle argued.
"Whatever," Daryl said and threw his arm over his eyes again, the sunlight was really getting to him. "Just get us back to the prison. We got shit to do, and I gotta eat somethin'."
"You're a fuckin' lightweight."
He ignored that, and allowed his thoughts to drift to Beth.
She was a sweet girl—woman—he reminded himself. There wasn't anything girly about her anymore except for how she decorated her cell, and that was stuff she made for Judith.
He remembered what she had said to Merle the other day about knowing how good he was, and he had to admit that it made him puff up a little at the thought that someone like her could want someone like him.
Maybe, one day, when shit settled down, they could see what was between them, but it just wasn't the right time. The Governor was breathing down their necks, and they were preparing for another hard winter.
"I'mma get that girl one day," he mumbled through a hazy fog.
Merle patted his shoulder. "Ya sure are, baby brother."