setting: episode 8 "Made To Suffer"

Damnation

Chapter 30 - Captured

As soon as they had thrown the first couple of grenades all hell broke loose again.
In a matter of seconds the entire street was filled with smoke and the guards on the walls reacted instantly.

"Hey! Over there!" they yelled and Rick's group waited just a second more until there was enough smoke covering them.

When their leader finally gave the order to go and shoot, he and Daryl were the first to leave the building, covering their injured people. Connor grabbed Glenn by his arm to help him walk, and Maggie was right by his side. They had made their way around a corner when a guard spotted them with a flashlight. "There they are!"he yelled and more people pointed their guns at the small group. Rick was the first to open fire, a second later Daryl and Oscar joined in. Now that Connor was helping Glenn he could only use one of his guns, and he knew that they were useless because the guards were too far away anyway. So he tried his best to keep his eyes on the injured and covered their backs, should any fighter of Woodbury manage to get too close to them.

They could see about three guards on two large school busses which they used as part of the wall, and both Rick and Daryl took aim to shoot them and make it possible for the others to leave the small town. The group stayed together and kept moving, zigzagging their way to the wall and never stopping. For a second this really felt like war, and Connor thanked his father and uncle that they had taught him so well. When they finally got closer and no guards were to be seen on this side of the street they heard shots coming from behind them. When the group turned around they could see that another large number of Woodbury fighters was hiding behind benches, trees and lamp posts on the other side. The smoke was clearing by now so Rick turned his head to look at the others.

"Go! Take cover! Get there!" he yelled and pointed at a small alley between two houses.

Glenn was still having trouble walking, but Connor urged him to go faster until they reached the corner and he could put the injured down. Daryl was the last to come to them, and he wouldn't stop shooting. All sorts of bullets were raining down on them as well, hitting the stone walls and corners around them.

"How many?" Rick yelled as he reloaded his gun.

Connor let go of Glenn and did the same. Daryl placed himself between them because he was out of ammo as well.

"I didn't see!" Oscar yelled and the others knelt down to take cover.

"Don't matter. There's gonna be more of them. We need to move" Daryl growled and Connor nodded.

"Aye. We're never gonna get back t'the house we came through, we gotta make it to those busses over there, jump over the fence, take cover in the woods and make run fer the car."

He looked up and handed Glenn one of the rifles.

"Listen, I know it hurts, but ye gotta shoot with us, buddy" he said and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I can help ye walk, but this part's gonna be tough."

The Korean nodded, although he was obviously in much pain and could hardly breathe.

"Got it" he gasped and took his girlfriend's hand.

"Any grenades left?" Rick asked the Irishman, who had taken the bag with him.

He searched it and nodded.

"Aye, but only three."

Rick nodded.

"Get 'em ready. We gotta gun into the wall!"

The shooting wouldn't stop and Maggie and Oscar tried to shoot back in the meantime, whereas Connor, Rick and Daryl took the last couple of grenades.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna lay down some cover fire" Daryl muttered and his friend looked at him with an angry frown.

"What? No! Don't be stupid! That's fucking suicide, we gotta make run fer it, stay together and get te fuck outta here!"

Daryl shook his head and moved.

"Too hairy. Someone's gotta cover your asses. I'll be right behind you!"

Connor shook his head and grabbed his friend by his arm.

"Don't you dare! Yer gonna stay with us, don't think I don't get what yer fucking playing at!"

His friend ignored him and got out of the alley to throw a grenade.

"Ready? Let's go!" he yelled and started running.

A couple of seconds later he disappeared behind a cloud of smoke.

"Daryl!" Connor yelled in horror but Rick grabbed him by his shoulder.

"Move! Let's get out of here!" he ordered and the whole group moved, leaving the Irishman no choice but to go with them.

"Where the fuck's Daryl?!" he yelled and searched the surroundings but couldn't find him because of all the smoke.

"Connor! We need your help!" he heard Maggie yell and gritted his teeth.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed and ran after them, praying to god that Daryl was somewhere close to the wall.

"Keep going!" he could hear Rick shout from somewhere, and there was smoke and bullets all around them.

The busses eventually appeared in front of them, which meant that they had made it to the wall.
Oscar joined them by the front of one of the vehicles and helped Connor pull up Glenn.

"Did ye see Daryl on yer way here?" the Irishman yelled at the prisoner, but Oscar shook his head.

"No! We gotta move!" he answered and helped the injured Korean on top of the roof.

Just a second later he was hit by a bullet, which had missed Connor by a couple of millimeters.

"Shit! Get down! Get down!" the Irishman yelled and he, Glenn and Maggie ducked down.

Oscar fell down right next to the bus, and he wasn't moving anymore. Connor cursed and jumped off the bus to check on the prisoner, only to find him dead.
He shot him in the head with an angry growl and looked up to search for their leader and his friend.

"Fuck! Rick!" he yelled, but Rick wouldn't answer him.

"Rick, Daryl! We gotta go! They shot Oscar!" he yelled once more and looked up to see where Glenn and Maggie were.

"Get off the bus! Jump down and hide on the other side of the wall!"

"But we can't.." Maggie tried to answer back, but the blonde wouldn't let her.

"Just go! We don't need anymore people dead!" he yelled and shoved her away, towards Glenn's outstretched hand.

"Rick!" Connor yelled once more and got both his guns out.

He was just done reloading the other one when Rick finally appeared, gun thrown over his shoulder and running towards the bus.

"Let's go!" he yelled and Connor grabbed him by his arms.

"Wait! Did ye see Daryl?!"

The policeman shook his head and headed for the busses to climb up them.

"No! Let's go!"

Connor just looked at him, panic slowly taking control over him.

"We can't just leave him!"

"I think I saw him go over the wall over there! Let's go!"

The Irishman turned around once more to check the streets behind them, but there was so much smoke that he could hardly see a thing apart from all the gunfire.

"Are ye sure?!"

The policeman was on top of the bus already and reached out for him.

"Let's go!"

They were hiding behind a train close to the town when Connor realized that Daryl was no where in sight.

"Get down!" Rick ordered and knelt down behind a car, right where they had first taken a look at Woodbury just an hour before.

Connor searched their surroundings in horror, trying to find his friend, but they were all by themselves.

"Come on, Daryl" the policeman said and the Irishman looked at him with wide eyes.

"What? I thought he was already here!"

"He was standing by the wall, covering us so we could get out of here. He told me to go, said he'd be right behind us."

Connor growled and grabbed Rick by his shirt to shove him against the car.

"You fucking lied ta me! You said he went over the wall! Ye said he'd be here, not in there!" he yelled and Rick hushed him angrily.

"Shut. Up! We don't need them to hear us!"

"Fuck you! You lied ta me ye fucking bastard! I'm gonna kill ye!" Connor spat and Rick grabbed him by his shirt as well.

"How was I supposed to get you here otherwise? We need you here, I just told you! We gotta.."

He stopped talking and let go of Connor to take his gun when they heard someone move behind them.

The whole group grabbed their weapons and turned around to point them at their pursuer, only to see that it was the mysterious woman with the katana.

"Where the hell were you?! Put your hands up!" Rick spat and pointed his gun at her, ignoring Connor completely.

The Irishman, however, was having a complete breakdown. Because everyone but Daryl was there. Because he had seen how those people had shot Oscar dead, and then they had turned their backs on his friend, who was probably still in there. With a bunch of crazy trigger-happy people who kept walkers as pets and tortured strangers for the fun of it. For a second he didn't know how to breathe, because the separation from his friend really hit him. He felt just like when he had lost his brother, so terribly alone, so guilty, so freaked out. He watched how Rick freed the woman of her Katana, but he wasn't really with them anymore. He turned around to look back at Woodbury, back where his friend was, maybe dead, maybe kept prisoner, maybe tortured.

"Get what you came for?" Rick asked the woman and she leaned against the train.

"Where are the rest of your people?" she just asked.

"They got Oscar" Glenn answered, a gun pointed at her as well.

Connor finally seemed to function again, because he darted forward and shoved the woman against the train.

"Where the hell is he?! Did ye see him? Where is he! I swear ta god, if ye did something ta him then.." he yelled and Rick grabbed him by his shoulder, but the Irishman shoved him away.

"Fuck off!"

"I brought you here to save them" the woman countered and looked at Glenn and Maggie.

Connor kept walking around and grabbed his hair.

"Thanks for the help" Rick answered and Connor looked at him.

"Thanks fer fucking nothing! Daryl's still in there!"

"If you need help to go back in there for Daryl.." the woman began but the Irishman exploded again.

"Fuck you and yer help! I'm going in there myself" he growled and started walking.

Rick grabbed him by his shoulder again, but then the Irishman turned away and punched him in the face.

"Fuck off! This is all yer fault! Ye lied ta me! Left him in there as bait, just to protect yer ass! It's always just about you, you asshole! As soon as people are in trouble ye just turn yer back on them, same shit ye did with Andrea! I'm going in there" he said and started walking once more.

Rick grabbed him again and shoved him against the train.

"You can't go in there. As soon as they see you they're gonna put a bullet to your head and you won't be of use to anybody!
Not us, not Daryl, now calm down and think!"

"He did this shit on purpose! He wanted t'stay back!" Connor yelled and everyone fell quiet.

The Irishman turned his head to glare at Glenn.

"Ever since ye mentioned his fucking brother he wanted t'stay back ta see him again. And because all of ye shitheads were so caught up with yer own bullshit you didn't get that! And now he's in there with this Governor freak or god knows who, and we're hiding behind a fucking train like scared little bunnies instead of fucking doing something!"

He checked his guns and knives and looked in the general direction of Woodbury.

"I'm going in there" he repeated and tried to start walking once more, but once again the group tried to hold him back.

The Irishman got so furious then that he grabbed both his guns and pointed them at them.

"I said I'm going in there."

Daryl found himself in the room they had kept Glenn and Maggie prisoners just an hour ago. So they really had managed to capture him, but that was exactly what he had wanted. He knew that it was wrong and unfair. Especially since he had told absolutely nobody about his plan. He also knew how stupid it really was to rely on possibilities and maybe's, but truth was that he just wanted to see his brother again. No matter how much Merle loved to fuck him up sometimes, he still was his big brother and he would never let them kill him. Daryl knew that he was going to get out of here sooner or later, that this was his only chance to see his brother again.

The bad part about his plan was that they had used him as their punching bag for a while, simply to take revenge for all the people he and his group had killed today. They had also asked him about the prison and his group, but the hunter had not given in. He was used to pain and torture after all, because he had survived his abusive father. He didn't know for how long they had tried to beat anything out of him, but after a while they had left him alone. The hunter hadn't stopped asking them about Merle, his brother, which had been the very reason why they had left him alone soon after his capture. So here he was now, all by himself, surrounded by silence, strapped to a chair, shirt ripped in halves and blood on his face.

Part of him really hated the fact that he was strapped to a chair again, but he just knew that it was worth it. Sooner or later he was going to see his brother. He counted on that. Daryl expected Merle to come through the door in front of him any minute now, he was the Governor's lieutenant after all. He had been the one to torture Maggie and Glenn, so he just had to come in here. And so he waited and waited until he finally heard footsteps and muttering on the other side of the door. All the more did it surprise him when it opened and Merle wasn't there. The bald and the long-haired guard had returned again, but this time with another man between them. Their new prisoner had a bag over his head. Daryl didn't even need to see his face, he knew who it was. The long-haired guard grabbed the bag then so he could see their prisoner's face.

"This one of yours?" he asked and Daryl just stared at their prisoner.

His blonde hair was a complete mess, but it didn't look like they had done anything to him yet.
The hunter gritted his teeth and looked at Connor, who looked back at him with wide eyes.
Daryl shook his head and looked at the two other men through narrowed eyes.

"Never seen this fuckface in my life. Now, where the hell's my brother" he growled and the men chuckled.

"Really?" the bald one asked and looked at the other man, who chuckled. He suddenly pulled his gun and pressed it against Connor's throat.

"Guess you don't mind us finishing him off right here and now? Killed a bunch of our best men, you know?"

Daryl just glared at them, his heart racing. For a second he looked at Connor, and he was absolutely furious.
Everything had worked out until now, and now the Irishman was about to fuck everything up.

"Don't matter. Just get Merle here, Pocahontas" he said to the guard with the long hair and gave him a death glare.

For a moment they just looked at each other, whereas Connor tried to fight their grip. When the guard undid the safety of his gun the hunter finally broke.

"Don't!" he yelled and both guards chuckled.

"We got orders. Shoot to kill" they said and the one with the gun placed a finger on the trigger.

"You can't you lamebrains! He's fucking immune! Just let him go and get Merle!" Daryl yelled and tried to fight the zip ties and tape that strapped him to the chair.

The guards laughed and grabbed Connor by his hair to yank his head back.

"Yeah, sure" they muttered and Connor tried to glare at Daryl.

"Shut up, ye dumbass" he growled and then tried to look at the other two men.

"Just let 'im go. He's got nothin ta do with it.'t was my idea ta attack yer town. He wanted to leave my group, I came back ta finish him off. He wanted t'tell ye everything about us, wanted to defect ta you because his brother's with ye. But I guess my plan didn't work. Ye got me now. I'm their leader. And I guess he got what he always wanted, don't ye, Daryl Dixon."

The two men looked at the hunter with a frown.

"That true?"

Daryl kept fighting the ties. He couldn't believe this was happening, how wrong his plan could go just in a couple of seconds. He hadn't wanted Connor to come here, because in contrast to him they could actually kill him, Merle there or not. He hated his friend for all his sacrificing himself for his sake bullshit, so he kept fighting.

"Bullshit!"

They punched the Irishman's stomach hard because of that, and a violent and painful gasp escaped his mouth, now that all the air was pressed out of his lungs.
A second later they hit him again and looked at Daryl, who kept yelling at them and fought the ties.

"Get off him and get Merle! Or I swear I'm gonna kill yah!"

The guards laughed and pressed their gun to Connor's head this time, and Daryl got even more furious.

"Don't! Just look at his arm!"

The Irishman glared at him.

"Shut up!"

"You kill him now yah kill the only chance for a cure! Just look! Now stop this shit and get Merle! We can work something out, alright?!"

"I said shut up!" Connor yelled and glared at his friend.

"Don't fuck this shit up now" he growled and the hunter got even more furious.

"Fuck this shit up? You're the one who came back here, you dumb fuck!"

The two guards listened to them for a second, then they grabbed Connor's arms, which they had tied behind his back.
The Irishman tried to fight them off and started kicking.

"Fuck off!" he yelled and tried to turn away, but they still managed to grab his arms to take a look at them.

A second later the bald guard gasped.

"Holy shit, Tony" he muttered and grabbed the Irishman's left arm to turn it in the other's guards direction .

The Irishman yelped when they nearly dislocated his arm while doing so.

"Ow! I said fuck off!" he complained and tried to turn away, but it was useless.

He could feel how they grabbed his left forearm behind his back and looked at it, even moving their fingers over the scars.

They could clearly see a healed bite wound, and when they looked back up again they eyed Connor and Daryl in surprise.

"You're lying."

"He is" Connor said and nodded, eyes fixed on Daryl.

"I ain't! Now get Merle!"

Both guards looked at each other for a moment until the bald guy sighed.

"I don't know, Tony. Perhaps we should tell the Governor about this shit. Cos that's..that's a fucking bite wound, man."

"It ain't! He bit me! Cos he was never fond of my way of leading our group! Now leave me alone with this fucker so I can finish him off fer betraying us,
then ye can do whatever ye want with me."

Both guards ignored the two of them and just look at each other. The long-haired man nodded.

"Alright. Let's tie this mick up and get the Governor. He'll want to see this" he said and shoved Connor towards another chair.

The Irishman kept fighting their grip, but it was useless. They forced him to sit on a chair and tied his arms and legs to it, making sure that his left arm was strapped to it in a way they could see his scar.

"Just. Get. Merle!" Daryl kept yelling until the bald guard approached him and punched him hard in the face.

"Shut up!" he spat and went back to help the other man with Connor.

Once they had made sure that both their prisoners would go nowhere they left the room, muttering to themselves.
As soon as the door was closed it was quiet for a while, and now that Connor's chair was further up front both men couldn't really look at each other.

"Yah happy now, you stupid asshole?" Daryl growled and Connor tried to turn his head.

"What. You really think I wasn't gonna come back fer you? I was just trying ta get yer ass outta here, you ungrateful fuck."

The hunter snorted.

"Well, guess yer stupid plan worked, didn't it."

The Irishman looked up at the ceiling with a tired sigh.

"Fuck you" he muttered and shook his head.

"Where's Rick? And the others?" Daryl asked after a moment and Connor shrugged.

"Outside, back inside the prison. I don't know. I ran back in here as soon as they turned their backs on me."

The hunter gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"I got it covered til you asshole came in here and fucked everything up."

"Ye call being strapped to a chair and getting beat up "got it covered"?"

"Shut up. No one's gonna kill me. Cos Merle ain't gonna let 'em. But you bet they're gonna kill yer sorry ass now."

"I was gonna get yer outta here. Make them believe you weren't on our side and you fucked it up, nat me."

Both men shook their heads once more and snorted. It was quiet for a moment and Connor looked down on himself to look at the scar on his arm.

"Did ye find yer brother?" he asked then and Daryl shook his head.

"Nope."

"You did this shit on purpose, didn't ye" he went on and Daryl snorted once more.

"So what."

Connor sighed.

"So what were ye gonna do. Find yer brother, have a big warm hug, walk off into the sunset and get a lovely house down Summer Street in fucking Woodbury?"

"Shutup."

"Yer one ungrateful bastard. Leaving the group like that. Scaring the fucking shit outta us."

Daryl frowned angrily.

"Ungrateful? Cos after months of playing brother on you I actually wanted to see my real brother for once? Fuck you sideways."

"You could've told me. I would've helped ye and we wouldn't be stuck in this fucking shithole now."

"Yeah, except I don't want your fucking help here. This is between me 'n Merle."

Connor got angry and tried to turn his chair around so he could actually face his friend.

"So what, this is the fucking thanks I get fer risking my life ta save yer ass? A "thanks but I don't need yer fucking help"?"

"How am I supposed to thank you asshole for getting yourself killed for shit like that? I was fine until you fucked shit up!
Ever since I met you you just keep fucking shit up all the time!"

"At least I'm fucking shit up trying ta do the right thing! Not like yer brother, who fucks shit up and hurts people and you and ends up in prison and shit like that!"

"So what, and you didn't hurt people and yer brother and ended up in prison? At least he's my flesh and blood, he's my brother, not you!"

"And who's here now trying ta save yer life, huh? Me? Or him?!"

"Fuck you!" Daryl spat and they both fell quiet. Connor sighed and eyed the door for a while, expecting people to come back any minute now.

"So how are we gonna get outta here then" he muttered and Daryl snorted.

"We ain't."

Connor shook his head and sighed.

"Perfect."

They just sat there and waited for several minutes, trying to fight their ties, find a way out, but no matter how hard they fought it was useless.

Daryl soon felt guilty because of the whole thing, it had been his idea and his plan after all. He had been foolish to believe that Connor wasn't going to come after him.
So in the end it was his fault the Irishman was stuck here as well.

"Hey leprechaun" he muttered then and Connor tried to turn his head.

"Aye."

"Thanks for having my back, though."

The blonde in front of him chuckled.

"Well, someone's gotta watch yer suicidal ass, aye."

Daryl chuckled as well, remembering the scenario when he had been the one saying those words back on the farm.

"Eh Daryl" Connor said then and Daryl looked at his friend's back.

"Yeah?"

"Listen, should we not make it outta here alive, I want ye ta know that..."

He stopped talking when someone opened the door once more. Both men fell quiet and looked up to see who was entering the room now. Both guards were back with two other men. One of them was wearing glasses and looked rather inconspicuous, the other one looked far more authoritative and had a bandage around his right eye. The four men entered the room without a word and just looked at Connor and Daryl for a while, then they fixed their eyes on the Irishman.

"Is this the one we're talking about?" the man with the bandage asked and both guards nodded.

The bald man stepped forward.

"Yeah, he has a bite wound on his arm. The other one kept babbling about him being immune."

The man with the bandage looked up to look at Daryl then. He started walking again and took a closer look at him.

"Then you must be Daryl" he said and the hunter frowned.

"Ain't got no time for chitchat. Where the hell's my brother."

The man walked around him and just looked at the hunter.

"Merle? Outside. Waiting for you. We're gonna take you to him in a minute. Just gotta take a look at your...friend first" he said and looked at the other man with the glasses.

"Take a look at his arm" he demanded and the man nodded.

He approached Connor who gave him a death glare and tried to move out of his reach.

"Fuck off, four eyes" he growled and the man looked offended for a second, but then he still approached him and pointed at the Irishman's arm.

"May I?"

Connor snorted.

"How about no? Get yer hands of me!" he yelled and the two other guards approached him.

"Milton!" the man with the bandage called out and the other man placed a hand on Connor's arm despite the Irishman's protests.

The bald prisoner got closer to him and grabbed him by his hair to hold him in place. For a moment the man just looked at the scar, inspected it, moved his fingers over it and took a closer look at it, and the other man both Daryl and Connor believed to be the Governor came closer as well.

"How does it look?"

The man with the glasses shrugged.

"I don't know. It most definitively is a bite wound. But it could be from anybody. Infected or not."

Connor fought them again and gave them a death glare.

"Fuck off" he demanded once more and tried to get rid of the ties.

He hated how everyone was staring and him and treating him like an animal in a zoo or a test subject in a lab.

"Is it true?" the Governor asked and the other man looked at the scars once more.

"I don't know. I would have to get blood samples and run a few tests, mix his blood with infected samples, see what..."

"We haven't got time for this" the other man growled and got up.

For a second he looked Connor in the eye and the Irishman glared back at him just as furiously, then the Governor turned around to look at the other guard.

"Get a walker."