You guys hate me for these cliffhangers, I already know! You'll be happy to know that this is NOT another one. Not really. Thank you for reading and reviewing! Have a great weekend =)
Chapter Sixty Three
Sophia watched Merle. She refused to look at the man that had her mom. Merle had started cussing under his breath when he saw her mom reaching behind her for her gun but the man was watching her too and he took the gun himself and then smiled. It had turned Sophia's blood to ice. So she kept her eyes on Merle and waited for him to give her a signal. She was ready to do whatever she had to do to get the three of them away from the group that was surely planning on killing them all. She didn't know why they hadn't killed them yet but she was glad for whatever the reason could be.
They were all crouched there in the trees waiting for Merle to make a move and then finally he moved back, they all moved to make room for him. Fanning out and keeping low.
"I need one of you boys in this tree here. Which one is doin' the volunteerin'?"
Both boys stepped forwards and Merle looked at them both and nodded. "Carl, you got extra clips for your gun, right?" He whispered.
Carl nodded and patted his pockets. "Just one."
"Get up on my shoulders, grab the lowest branch you can and pull yourself up. You'll be able to see us from up there. You understand?"
Carl nodded.
"Good boy. When I give the signal you start blowin' these mother fucker's brains out. Try to get rid of the ones closest to our women. You gotta try and make every shot count. You followin' me, kid? Keep your eyes on me. Nothin' else until I let you know it's time. You got the balls for this job or do I need to send Sophia up there?"
"I got this." Carl said then climbed up on Merle's shoulders.
Merle nodded to Sophia and Duane and motioned for them to follow. They scurried through the trees and then when they were about a quarter of the way around the camp Merle stopped and looked at Duane. Your turn. Hand over that crossbow."
Duane handed over the crossbow and then, to Sophia's surprise, Merle slipped it over her head. It was heavy but it was a burden she would gladly carry.
"Okay, kid. I don't know what kind of shot you are. You keep watch and you listen. When Carl starts shooting you start shooting, you got it?"
Duane nodded. "Yes, sir."
"You might not wanna do it at first. it might make ya feel a bit sick to think of shootin' a livin' man. But that's the way of this world. When lives depend on you sometimes you gotta make tough calls, do things you never wanted to do. You gotta just try your best. You keep to the people on the outskirts, okay? Can't take no risk of one of our own getting' hit."
Duane narrowed his eyes. "These are the men that took my dad away from me. And now they're gonna try to kill some of the only people I got left in the world. I don't believe I'm going to have as much trouble with this as you think." He rushed up the tree when Merle gave him a boost.
"And then there was two." Merle gave her a weak smile as he leaned down and gripped her should. "I'm gonna be right over there, directly across from Carl, okay?"
"Where am I suppose to be?" She was going to be super pissed if he told her to go hide somewhere while him and the boys did all the work. That was not going to happen. It was her mom in there and it was her... well, whatever the hell Daryl was to her. And she was going to fight just as hard as the rest of them to get them out of this mess.
Merle handed her a knife. She took it and then looked at him questioningly. He gripped her shoulder harder. "You go to that tree. You be as quiet as you can and you cut those ropes. Get him loose and then when he's free this camp will be surrounded by the four of us. They wont expect no one in the trees. As soon as Daryl is free you keep your ass behind Daryl. You see any of us fall you keep your mouth shut and you keep your eyes dry, you understand me, girl? If Daryl goes down you get your ass out of here. You leave and you find the farm."
She ground her teeth together. "I'm not going to leave you."
He put his face inches from hers, his eyes tight and narrowed. "You will run. Or we leave now."
She glared at him but then finally she nodded and stepped back. "Why is it okay for Carl and Duane to help and not me?"
He blew out a frustrated breath but then he cupped her face in his large hand. "Because killin' a man ain't something I want you to ever have to do unless there ain't no other choice. It changes ya, darlin'. And you don't need to change."
She nodded, not sure how she felt about his words. Now she just needed to get to Daryl, so with the heavy bow bouncing against the backs of her legs she planted a light kiss on Merle's forehead and took off as fast as she could while still keeping quiet.
~H~
Carol was finding it difficult to catch her breath. She tried to not look up at the mans face but after he had taken her gun from her he touched her. His hands were dry and cold. It felt like having her face caressed by a corpse. Her eyes flashed to her right and there was Daryl tied up to a tree, looking as though he were about to chew through the bark. He jerked against the restraints and then the man tilted her head up. He was grinning and she felt like her blood had been replaced with ice water in her veins.
He had a handsome face as far as faces went. And that is where the pleasantness stopped. His eyes were what bothered her the most. His irises such a dark brown that they nearly blended right into his pupils. But that wasn't what was so bad. It was the look in those eyes that had her wanting to flee. She had only gotten a glimpse when he had taken the gun and had averted her eyes from his almost instantly. She didn't want to look at him.
But now he was forcing her to look. Knowing that looking at him was frightening. He liked it. And that was the thing that she saw in his eyes that had made her look away. The look was just cruel, unhinged. He was going to hurt her and he was going to love it. And Daryl was going to be forced to watch it happen.
His other hand came up and he stroked the other side of her face. Jesus Christ, would he snap her neck right there? Could she be that lucky? But he just stood there for a while. Grinning. Until she felt her hands slide from her face to her throat. She swallowed hard as he kept his dark eyes trained on hers. His fingers lingered by her throat and she waited for him to be finished toying with her.
~H~
Daryl saw the mans hands slip down to Carols neck and then linger there. He growled and lunged harder against the ropes. The other men were arguing over who was going to get Maggie first so at least he still had time to get himself loose. He was still worried about those giant hands on Carol's neck though. He thought about the bruises that were finally almost gone that Ed had left there. This was no Ed and it wouldn't take much for him to kill her.
He stopped struggling when he thought he heard something behind him. He strained his ears and then looked at the men around the camp. No one was looking his way. He spotted Randal sitting near one of the tents with his knees pulled up to his chest, rocking slightly back and forth.
He felt a slight tugging at his wrists and then the rope around the tree fell away. The relief he felt nearly brought him to his knees until he heard a small voice behind him.
"You're bow is behind this tree but make sure no one is looking before you make a grab for it. We don't need a bunch of chaos just yet."
"Sophia..." he breathed, unable to even grasp what this meant. Was she alone? Was anyone watching? He glanced around but a lot of the men now were gathering around the ones that were making a fuss over Maggie. A couple actually approached the man that had Carol but the man turned, snarling like a rabid dog, teeth flashing. those men backed away and kept their distance after that.
"Just keep calm and wait, okay. We got this." She whispered and her voice caused his heart to lurch and then throb painfully against his rib cage.
"Get the fuck outta here." he hissed. "You best hope I don't catch your ass when this is over. Cause your in so much fuckin' trouble right now."
She didn't say anything else. Hopefully she was running back to the farm but he doubted it. She told him not to do anything yet. She wasn't alone. But who the hell could have been with her? And then he knew. Fucking Merle. He would do something this goddamn stupid.
He kept his eyes on the man that still had Carol. His hands were now moving from her throat to her chest and he tensed, about to grab his bow and kill the huge bastard regardless of what Sophia had told him to do. But then suddenly a shot rang out and then two more followed it almost instantly and the man that had just been about to grope his woman was now falling on top of her. He reached behind the tree and grabbed the crossbow, raising it and putting an arrow right through the eye of the man that was now dragging Maggie off towards the tents. Maggie took off as soon at the guy fell forwards but another man caught her but dropped her just as fast as a bullet ripped through the side of his neck.
Daryl had no idea where the shots were even coming from until suddenly Merle stepped into view, balancing a rifle on the end of his wrist. The other men, after the initial shock had worn off started drawing their weapons. Others were running, maybe to retrieve their own.
Daryl ran right into the middle of it and started dragging the man off of Carol, who was crushed under his massive frame. He hoped he wasn't shot before he could get the man off of her but just as he managed to get her about halfway out she was able to get her hands free and help him. She seemed to be fine. He hoped so. She stood up and then suddenly Merle was there, shoving Maggie towards her.
"Go. NOW!" He roared over the gunshots. He pointed towards the very tree that Daryl had been tied too and both women took off.
Daryl glared at him from across the dead mans body and then he retrieved Carol's gun from the mans waistband then he took off, crossbow at the ready. He was pretty sure a lot of the men had headed for the trees. From the sounds of it Merle brought an army with him. Men were dropping like flies. Daryl couldn't believe neither of them had taken a hit yet and just as this crossed his mind he felt a weird pressure in his shoulder and then he stumbled back as though someone pushed him. That was exactly what it felt like.
"No!" Someone screamed and he turned his head just in time to see Sophia step out from behind the trees, Maggie and Carol both running after her. The girls face was furious as she raised her gun and fired until it was clicking in her hand. She ran to him, her grip on the gun still firm.
He hadn't realized that he had fallen down onto his ass until he was actually looking up at her. The camp was eerily silent now. "The fuck did I say to you, girl? You shoulda been half way to camp by now." he grumbled.
He looked down from her wide frightened eyes just as Merle and Carol dropped to the ground on either side of him. "Mother fuck." Merle grumbled and then that was when he finally felt it.
He looked at his shoulder, where he had felt the shove a few minutes ago and there was blood covering the front of his shirt. He felt kind of lucky. They all could have died and all he had was a pussy ass shoulder wound. He smirked.
"How could you be smiling?" Sophia hissed.
Merle leaned him forward roughly by the arm. "Hell, he's had a lot worse than this. Bullet just took a little off the top is all." He patted Daryl's back.
"We need to get something to stop the bleeding." Carol said as she expertly undid the buttons of his shirt so she could examine him. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized that there wasn't even a bullet hole. It had just grazed him, cutting through the muscle at the very top of his shoulder. But it was still deep and it was still bleeding freely.
"Where the hell is everybody else?" Daryl asked finally.
Merle turned and gave a whistle. He watched the treeline and then suddenly Randal came out, Duane following him closely with a gun pressed to his back. Carl was the next one to come.
"What the fuck are they doin' here?" Daryl almost yelled.
Merle sat back on his heels. "Didn't have a choice. I didn't know if there were more of these fuckers on the farm, couldn't send'em off alone. And if I hadn't followed when I did I never woulda known where they'd taken ya'll too. It was bring them with me or not come at all. And you heard what they said. You know what they was gonna do to them women."
Daryl wanted to be pissed off enough to flog his stupid ass but he couldn't. He wouldn't have known what to do in that situation either. "So it was them? They were droppin' those men like that?" Daryl asked in a voice that was filled with disbelief.
Merle nodded and stood up, pulling Daryl back up to his feet. "Boys had a job to do. They did it."
When he was finally standing up again he was almost knocked back down by Carol. She wrapped her arms around his neck, mindful of the nasty gash the bullet left. He wrapped one arm around her while she sobbed into his chest and then he felt another set of arms wrap around his waist. He looked down to see Sophia staring up at him. Her eyes were dry, looking up at him with a knowing look on her face.
"You okay?" He asked her as he pulled her closer with his free arm.
She nodded and then laid her forehead against his side for a few seconds. "I thought you were really shot."
"Just a graze. I've had worse." He said absently. He turned his head when he heard sounds coming from behind him. Merle was with Maggie now. Much like they were when Shane had been shot. Her face buried in his chest and him actually going out of his way to comfort her.
"I shot someone." Sophia said suddenly as she stepped away from him. "I...
Daryl untangled Carol's arms from around his neck and knelt down in front of the girl.
"She didn't kill him." Carl said as he came around Randal. "I didn't want her to do that. I shot him before she did. She didn't kill anyone. He was already falling when she raised her gun."
Sophia looked up, eyes wide. And to Daryl's dismay she threw herself into the boys arms and sobbed. Carl didn't even flash a nervous glance his way. He just hugged her back tightly and when his eyes did shoot up to meet Daryl's the only thing Daryl could do was nod at him. The kid had kept her from having to live with herself after killing someone.
Carl Grimes was okay in his book.