Hope you guys like this! It was a lot of fun to write.
Daryl bolted from the tower door. He could see Merle, Rick and Michonne spreading out along the fence line. The others were still streaming out from the prison. "Here and here!" Daryl shouted to Rick, pointing where the biggest concentrations of men were.
He ran across the yard and dove behind a car just as a storm of bullets rained into the side of it. Merle laughed. "Careful baby brother, they almost made swiss cheese out of your ass."
Daryl looked over at Merle. He was definitely enjoying this. Merle had always liked a fight, even if there wasn't a good reason for it. Merle popped up, whooping as he fired his gun.
Daryl turned and fired at the oncoming forces. Jesus there was a lot of them. More than Stella had seen. The rumble of the trucks had Daryl turning his head. "Fuck!" They couldn't let them get into position. "Rick! Rick!" he called trying to get his attention.
Finally Axel saw him and rapped Rick on the shoulder. "Trucks! Take out the trucks!" Everyone on the fence started firing at the trucks. They didn't do any damage, the trucks had some sort of light armor. The men that had been advancing towards the fence ducked down behind them. Over the commotion he heard the distinctive crack of the sniper riffle. Then there was something else.
He glanced over at the tower just as the sound of a large caliber gun tore through the air. He saw concrete fly off the side of the building. "Jesus!" he turned to fire but didn't have a shot. "Come on, we got to get down the line. Can't take these assholes out head on." he shouted at Merle.
He followed Merle down the line of parked cars, turning occasionally to fire. When they got about half way down the line they stopped. They took cover and started shooting again. They were able to wing some of the men behind the trucks, but they still couldn't get to the guy with the .50 cal. He was protected by steel plates on either side.
"They're getting busted up something bad up there. Whatcha wana do 'bout that?" Merle asked.
"Why the fuck you asking me? Weren't you the one in the army? Didn't they teach you nothing?" Just then Daryl caught movement in the south tower out of the corner of his eye.
The door to the balcony pushed open. Daryl watched as she slithered out on her belly. "That's right, stay low.." he could feel himself holding his breath. A spray of bullets hit next to him pulling his attention away from Stella.
"Draw their attention, Stella's going for the shot." He and Merle fired at the troops behind the truck. He heard the crack of her rifle, then a minute later there was a short burst from the large gun. He glanced up to see her run back inside. Looking back he could see that the gun was now unmanned. A spray of gunfire from the tower crashed through the windshield and the truck rolled down the hill and tipped over in a ditch.
Merle took the opportunity to take out four of the men left stranded in the open. "Gotta say something 'bout your ol' lady. She sure don't take any shit from anyone."
Daryl burst out laughing. "You're telling me." He couldn't believe that he was laughing in the midst of this.
Daryl replaced the magazine in his rifle. "Come on, let's move."
They repositioned themselves closer to the oncoming vehicles. They were never going to be able to stop them from reaching the fences. He saw walkers come out of the woods, drawn by the side of gunfire. Men in the back turned to take them out. Something Stella said to him before popped into his head. "Stay here. I'll be right back."
As he ran down the line he heard Merle yell out behind him, "Don't be gone too long, you'll miss out on all the fun."
Daryl ran down till he found who he was looking for. He explained what he wanted to do, asked if it would work. He was a little disappointed in the answer. "Don't know, take a few minutes to get there at any rate. A few more to get it done."
"Well run, we don't have much time." Daryl turned and sprinted back towards Merle.
"Had to drop off your laundry did you? Well I hope you got yourself a fresh pair of panties. This is about to get real."
Daryl turned to look. Most of the vehicles had almost made it to the fence. Men were pouring out to try to cut through. They didn't have enough men to cover all the weak spots. They were going to make it through the fence. Unless it worked. They just needed maybe 15 minutes.
He saw Tyreese fly by, back to the prison, a body thrown over his massive shoulders. He went by too fast for Daryl to see who it was.
"Daryl!" Rick yelled out. "Farther down!" Daryl looked all the way down the fence. There was a group that was taking advantage of the main fight to try to sneak in. Sasha was gesturing wildly from the roof.
"You gonna sit here all day?" Merle took off down the line. As they were running Daryl saw one of the men take aim at Sasha. She tumbled off the roof and hit the ground. Even though he was too far away, Daryl could feel the thud she made in his bones.
Just then the prison sirens went off. Axel had made it. "Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that?" Merle shouted over the noise.
"Had Axel turn on the sirens. Gotta draw more walkers in. Gunshots echo too much," he shouted back. "Please let it work," Daryl thought to himself.
They were almost through the fence. Daryl opened fire although he was too far away to be accurate. He needed to slow them down.
Merle charged ahead. He was almost there when he dropped to the ground. Daryl wanted to stop, but the first man was climbing through the fence already. Daryl fired and the man fell forward, foot still caught in the gap.
The others quickly fired rapidly at Daryl, forcing him to duck in between two cars. He went to fire and felt the click of an empty magazine. The other three were able to shimmy their way through the gap before he could reload.
The only good thing was they were terrible marksmen. One in particular seemed to not even be trying. Still, they could get lucky. Daryl was patient and waited until one showed himself a little too much. The bullet hit right between the eyes. He heard another gunshot and then a second man fell out from behind the car. A voice yelled out, "Don't shoot, I'm coming out."
The figure behind the car stood. It was Andrea. "What the fuck? What are you doing here?" Daryl kept his weapon raised.
"Couldn't sit by while they attacked. Figured once I got in I'd give you a hand. Took out that one. Look, I may have liked Woodbury, but you guys..." Andrea cleared her throat. "I can't stand back and let them tell lies about you. Try to kill you."
Daryl looked at her for a moment then lowered his weapon. "Merle's been shot. Gotta check him out." He hurried back to where his brother lay. He turned his brother over. Blood was coming from his chest. Andrea pushed him aside.
She reached into her backpack and pulled out some bandages. "Go. I got him." She pressed down hard on the wound.
Daryl looked back at the others still spread out along the fence. Waving over at the prison he yelled, "Ben! Ben!" When he knew the boy saw him, he turned back to Andrea. "As soon as he gets here, have him bring him to Hershel. You watch that hole you just made in the fence, see if you can patch it up with something." Daryl stripped his brother of his ammunition then turned and sprinted back down to the main section of the fight.
He ducked behind a van that had a particularly good angle. He started firing at a group that had just begun cutting through. Bullets pinged off the van and a ricochet sliced across his forehead, sending blood streaming into his eyes.
"Fuck!" He couldn't see. Hastily he wiped the blood away, trying to clear his vision. He fired in the direction of the fence and hoped like hell he didn't hit one of his own. When he didn't get any returning gunfire he took the time to tear a section of his shirt off to bind the wound with.
He looked back over at the gate. They were gone. His eyes skimmed down the fence and saw why. They had managed to come through further down. Michonne had her sword out and was swinging rapidly at the on slot of men. Further down at another hole he saw Stella toss the sniper rifle down, and pull out a handgun. She must be out of ammunition. Everyone was just about out. A man stepped through the break in the fence in front of her, and she took him down. But the man behind charged, tackling her to the ground. Daryl took off like a shot. Just as he was about to reach her, the man rolled off her. She had the knife from her leg in her hand and she had sliced right through the attacker's abdomen. Daryl yanked her to her feet and pulled her behind him.
Suddenly yells from the other side of the fence rang out. A small herd of about fifty to sixty walkers stepped out of the woods. The men still on the other side of the fence tried to climb back in their vehicles. Two trucks were able to take off, the others were over run.
"Someone go turn that siren off!" Daryl yelled. Axel looked over from where he was standing and signaled that he'd go. Glenn rushed forward with some cable to tie up the openings in the fence.
Daryl looked down at Stella. She looked awful, and never more beautiful. She had smears of blood all over her face and a cut at her hairline where she must have gotten grazed. Her hands came up to move his makeshift bandage out of the way so she could see.
Just then Ben came running over. "Stella! Hershel needs help, he told me to get you the minute it was over!"
She looked back at him. Daryl kissed her hard. Of course she needed to go. Without ever saying a word to each other she ran back up the hill to the prison.
Daryl watched her go and then headed over to help spread the walkers out along the fence line, and to shoot the men that had been killed in the attack. Didn't want them getting up and walking away with all those guns and ammunition.
He joined the others waiting to hear. Sasha and Allen were dead. Maggie had been shot in the shoulder. Stella passed her by easily. Carl had taken a bullet in the leg. He had been bleeding pretty badly. Stella had Lori putting pressure on the wound. Any other time, it would be first priority, but not today.
Today both Carol and Merle were the priorities. Beth was helping Hershel work on Merle while Andrea assisted Stella while she operated on Carol. Michonne was in there watching both patients and getting things as asked.
Daryl walked over to where Tyreese was sitting. "I'm real sorry about your sister."
Tyreese looked up sharply. "You saw her?" Daryl nodded sadly. He could picture Sasha as she tumbled to the ground.
"It was fast? She didn't suffer?" Tyreese managed to choke out.
"Very fast. She wouldn't have even known it happened." Daryl answered.
Tyreese looked at Daryl and stood up. Daryl didn't know what to expect. Was Tyreese angry that Daryl hadn't been able to save Sasha?
"Thanks man, I was afraid she... Anyways, thanks. You're a good man. I'm proud to know ya." Tyreese held out his hand.
Daryl clasped it firmly. "So are you."
Rick came over from where he had been standing next to Lori. "Jesus, how many was that? They must have thrown everything they had at us. That had to be just about the entire male population of the town."
"Probably, plus some women thrown in. I'd say it was between forty to forty-five at any rate. Didn't see the governor though. Maybe he doesn't like to get his hands dirty."
"Have you seen Ben?" Rick asked. "Took the news of his father's death pretty hard. Wanted to see how's he doing."
"Yeah, he's out in the cell block, up on the second floor. He's pretty upset." Fact was, Ben seemed a little unhinged. "Why don't I come with you?"
"Nah, he'll be alright. Don't worry though. I'll collect the guns and ammo from him. Tell him we're doing inventory or something. Come get me if anything changes." Rick headed off.
Daryl sank down to the ground. He laid his hands on his knees and put his head back. He was still processing everything that happened. Gertie came over and none to gently pushed her way under his arms to sit half in between his legs and half on his lap. She settled her head on his shoulder. He ran his hand down her body absent-mindedly. He found that petting her helped him focus on the good things. They had repelled Woodbury, and Stella was safe. They had lost minimal people and Andrea was back. They had hospital supplies which might let them save both Carol and Merle. They had two people with medical experience. Those were all good things.
He was still sitting there when Andrea opened the door and she walked out. "Carol's surgery is finished. She's alive. Stella thinks that she'll be okay. She's now helping Hershel with Merle." There was a round of relieved sighs. Andrea moved quickly over to Lori and hugged the other woman tight.
"I'm sorry, there was no way I could warn you. I tried to make sure someone saw me though." Andrea's head was pressed into Lori's shoulder.
"Shhh, I'm just glad you're here. You have to meet my daughter." Lori motioned to where Glenn sat holding Judith.
Andrea looked at the baby then back to Lori with an expression of amazement. "Lori, she's so pretty. Can I?"
"Of course." Andrea gently picked up the baby, and started to rock her back and forth. Daryl flashed back to the day she was born. He could remember doing the exact same thing. How much things have changed since then.
For the most part people sat in silence while they waited for news. It was another two hours before Hershel came out. He headed over to where Daryl sat. "He's alive, but barely. Lost a lot of blood. We had to take out a section of his lung. We'll know more in the morning." He pulled the bandage off Daryl's head. "That's going to need to be stitched." He looked towards Glenn and Tyreese. "Do you two think you can move Carol to her room? We need to take a look at Carl."
Hershel gave both Maggie and Carl shots while the others moved Carol out. Beth went with her to set up her IVs and to monitor her. Rick and Lori brought Carl in and the door was shut. When Rick carried Carl out, Hershel followed. "Go on in, Stella's getting things set up. I'm going to go check on Carol." Glenn helped a very drowsy Maggie to her feet. Again the door shut behind them.
Daryl was starting to get antsy. He wanted to check on Merle. And he wanted to see her again. That moment in the field had not been enough. He needed to hold her in his arms and examine every inch of her to make sure she really was alright.
As soon as Glenn and Maggie came out and walked to bed, Daryl was through the door. She was slipping some sort of device off of Merle's finger. Daryl stood in the doorway and watched her. She listened to his heart, and took his blood pressure. When she turned and saw him she smiled slightly. "Come on in. Come see him." When he approached he started to slip his arms around her but she pulled away. Confused Daryl turned back to his brother.
While Daryl stood there looking down at Merle she started drawing up some medication and getting some other stuff out. Silently she walked over and pulled him over to the other table. "Up." She grabbed some cleaning stuff and started dabbing at his forehead.
He grabbed her wrist. "Stella-," he began but she shook her head.
"Later, alright?" She sounded so tired. Daryl slowly let her wrist go.
When she was satisfied his wound was clean enough she placed a fresh towel at the head of the table and pushed him down. The needle stung as she injected the local anesthetic. Once he was numb she cleaned the wound again and then started suturing. She was just cutting the last suture when Hershel came back in.
"Oh good, he's all done. Why don't you go get a few hours. I can stay with Merle and Beth is watching Carol."
Daryl realized exactly how tired she must be when she simply walked over to Hershel and briefly laid her hand on his arm and gave him a smile of thanks. She walked ahead of him to their room but instead of climbing directly into bed she began collecting her things to shower. Looking down at himself Daryl realized that might not be such a bad idea.
They showered separately. As he was wrapping his towel around his waist he heard her shower shut off. He collected their discarded clothing and waited. She came out and took his hand.
When they were back in their room they laid down facing each other. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm sorry. I just needed some time to put it all away. I was so busy with Carol and your brother that I really didn't have any time to think about it. When I saw you it just all came crashing down."
Daryl could understand that. Hadn't he spent hours in the hallway doing just that? He kissed her lightly and pushed her hair back. Rolling on to his back he pulled her into his arms. He needed to feel her body against his. He held her tight as they drifted off to sleep just as the sun came up.