Y'all are awesome people! Once again, inspiration hit hard and here is another chapter for you! I don't know if your reviews inspired me or my brain just decided this had to come out NOW. LOL. Anyways, I'll have more notes at the end. Y'all enjoy!
Pain.
Pain was the first thing Beth felt when she tried to open her eyes. At first she couldn't see anything and then she slowly came to the realization that she was blindfolded. Her head was also throbbing and her hands appeared to be bound by something that was unknown to her. She could hear shuffling noises around her and she froze, terrified that there were walkers nearby.
"Dammit!"
She paused as she recognized Daryl's voice, "Daryl?" She whispered, not sure how loud she could be at the moment.
"Beth?" His voice sounded raspy and slightly out of breath. "Are ya alright?"
She swallowed through a lump in her throat, "I...I think so. My head hurts but I seem to be okay. I can't see though," She said.
"Me neither. Ya head pro'bly hurts from that tranquilizer we got shot with," He commented.
"Tranquilizer?" She asked.
"Yeah. Musta been some pretty damn strong drugs too. Knocked my ass right out," He muttered.
They both grew quiet as they heard a door open and someone entered the room. Beth tried to control her breathing, but she failed and she began breathing faster. The footsteps grew closer to her and paused right in front of her. Suddenly the blindfold was lifted from her eyes and she found herself staring into the face of a black man that she didn't recognize.
He peered at her intently, "What's your name girl?" He asked.
"B..Beth," She responded.
"Leave 'er alone ya dick. Ya wanna mess with someone, ya can mess with me!" Daryl shouted.
The man glanced over his shoulder at Daryl and shook his head before turning back to Beth, "Where did you people come from?" He asked.
She lifted her chin and regarded him silently. She wasn't giving anything away. The man frowned at her and then grabbed a bottle of water off of a nearby table.
"Thirsty?" He asked.
She was, but she wasn't sure if this was some kind of trick or not. Still, the water looked very refreshing to her dry throat so she nodded, "Yes."
"I'll give you this water, but first you have to tell me where you came from," He said.
"We came from our momma, ya asshole," Daryl spat.
The man sighed heavily, "Your friend has a very foul mouth. Now it's a simple question and I would like a simple answer. Are you part of a larger group?"
Beth regarded him warily, "We have others. They will be looking for us," She said.
The man nodded and rubbed his forehead, "The man with the patch over his eye? He your people then?"
Beth was confused. The Governor? She thought that this man was with the Governor, but now she was starting to question exactly where they were and who they were dealing with.
"That piece a shit ain't a part of our group! Take this damn blindfold off!" Daryl growled.
"You know that man then?" He asked them.
"We know him," Beth replied softly. "Calls himself the Governor. He's attacked our group before."
The man paced back and forth in the small room and then he stopped next to Daryl, "I'm gonna take this blindfold off so keep still," He told him.
She watched as the man removed Daryl's blindfold, but Daryl didn't appear to recognize the man either. "Who are you?" She asked softly.
"Name's Morgan," He answered. "Who are you people?"
"Morgan?" Daryl asked. She watched as he crinkled his forehead as he stared at the man. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Don't have a clue. I don't recall ever seeing either of you before. If you think you can both be civil, then I'll release you. I ain't the type to just hold people hostage for no reason, but you can't ever be too careful these days," Morgan said.
He walked over and began untying Beth's hands first. As soon as they were free, she began rubbing her wrists trying to get the blood flowing again. Morgan moved over to Daryl and freed his hands next. Daryl nodded at him, "Thanks."
"Yeah, no problem. Come on across the hall and I'll fix you a bite to eat. Be mindful of where you step though. Got some traps set up for the walkers," He paused at a doormat in front of the door and pointed at it. "Step over that," He said.
Beth glanced at Daryl and he shrugged as they followed Morgan into the other room across the hall. It seemed as if they were in an old office building of some sort. In the next room, they found dozens of cans of food, but that wasn't the most impressive thing. The thing that most caught their attention were the weapons. In the center of the room there were three large boxes of guns, grenades, and what she guessed were the tranquilizer guns.
"You tha one that shot us then?" Daryl asked as he peered down into the box.
Morgan nodded, "Like I said. Couldn't take no chances. That man you say calls himself the Governor came through a few days ago. He talked a big game, but I smelled something off about him. He tried to get me to join his little entourage, but I work better alone. I had a man I knew from Atlanta ask me to join his group a while back now and I declined. He was a good friend too. A sheriff and a real stand-up guy. He helped me and my son in Atlanta and I'll never forget that," Morgan said.
Beth looked at Daryl and knew he was thinking the same thing. Could this man be referring to Rick?
"Ya talkin' 'bout Rick Grimes?" Daryl asked.
Morgan glanced at him in surprise, "Yeah! At least I think his last name was Grimes. He's got a son too, about the same age mine would have been if he were still alive..." Morgan's voice trailed off and Beth felt her heart go out to this strange man.
"We know where to find him," Beth blurted. Daryl shot her a look but she surged forward. "He's a part of our group, him and his son Carl. We can take you to him. We have a prison and you'd be safe there," She said.
Across the room, Daryl sighed, "Dammit Beth. Why ya gotta go blurtin' all that shit out?"
She blushed, "Sorry. I've heard Rick talk about him before. If Rick thinks he's a good guy, then he must be, right?" She asked.
Morgan stared at her, "He said I was a good guy?"
Beth nodded, "He said he tried to find you back in Atlanta. I remember him mentioning it once."
Morgan smiled softly, lost in his thoughts, "Rick is a good man too. I think I kind of ran him off last time we ran into each other. He tried to get me to come with him then, but I refused. I was a little crazed at the time. My son's death was too fresh on my mind," He said.
"So ya said tha Governor's been by here tryin' ta recruit ya. He ain't gonna stop ya know. If he even gets wind o' ya weapons here, he'll be after 'em. We can take ya back with us if ya want. Tha others are probably lookin' for us," Daryl told him.
Morgan sat down heavily in a chair and rubbed his head tiredly, "I ain't really been around people in so long, I'm not sure I would know how to act," He sighed. "I suppose I'm willing to give it a try though."
Merle stood up in the guard tower, staring blankly out at the night. He couldn't see shit really, but it made him feel better to stare out at the night anyway, just in case. He had volunteered for night watch and Rick surprisingly hadn't argued with him. He saw that the other man was dead on his feet and he suspected he was in his cell right now passed out. Merle sighed and rested his forearms on the railing. He couldn't get the girl and his brother out of his mind, wondering what was happening. He was about to sit down in the chair when he spotted a light winking through the trees. He squinted into the distance, waiting. Minutes later, headlights spilled out onto the road in front of the prison gate.
Someone was approaching.
Beth knew that the others would be worried sick by now, but they had wanted to get back as quick as possible just in case they sent someone out to search for them. She knew they were probably raising concern pulling up this late, but she hoped whoever was on watch was paying attention and saw them drive up.
Sure enough, several minutes later they spotted Merle at the gate and Daryl stuck his head out of the window, "It's us Merle!" He yelled.
Merle pulled open the gates, and they drove through to the next set and waited while he opened them. Once they were open, Daryl drove them up next to the other vehicles and they exited the car. Apparently, Merle hadn't had time to alert any of the others to their presence because no one was outside waiting for them.
"I'm going to run inside and let the others know we're back Daryl," She called to him.
He nodded and she entered into the prison. Michonne was sitting at the table with Carol when she walked inside and they both jumped up in surprise.
"Beth!" Carol cried and she ran around the table to pull her into her arms. She pulled back quickly to look her over. She looked relieved to not see any injuries and then her expression grew serious again, "Daryl?" She asked.
Beth smiled, "He's okay. He's outside with our new visitor," Beth replied.
Rick came striding into the room just then and sighed with relief, "Oh thank God. We thought the Governor might have..."His voice trailed off. "Are you both okay?"
Beth nodded, "We brought someone with us to see you," She said.
Rick frowned, "Who is that?"
Beth was about to speak when Daryl and Morgan entered, followed by Merle whose eyes focused immediately on her. She felt the heat of his gaze even through the small crowd that was forming around them. She felt herself being pulled into Maggie and her Daddy's arms, but she never broke his gaze. She couldn't tell what he was thinking by his expression though and that worried her.
Rick embraced his friend and then made introductions to the group. Daryl recruited Glenn to help him bring in the boxes of weapons. They had had to leave the car and locate a larger truck in order to bring everything back. Morgan had accumulated a lot of things while being on his own.
"Are those all guns?" Maggie breathed as they sat the boxes on the table.
Daryl nodded, "Guns, tranquilizers, an' grenades even."
Everyone in the group began to move towards the boxes and there was lots of chatter as they sifted through the guns like kids at Christmas time. Beth met Merle's eye and slipped slowly out of the room. She walked into her cell hoping he would follow and sure enough, he was standing in her doorway moments later. He leaned his muscled frame against the bars.
"Ya shouldn'ta been out there without me. Ya ain't ready yet," He said harshly.
She narrowed her eyes. She should have known better than to think that he would be relieved to see her back. All she wanted to do was apologize for leaving him, but he was making that hard to do.
"I did just fine without you," She snapped.
His eyes flickered and he stood up straight, crossing slowly to the center of the room, "So ya think ya somethin' now, do ya?" His voice was deadly soft.
She sighed and touched his arm, feeling the muscle flex underneath her hand, "I'm sorry," She said softly, referring to when she had left him. She really was sorry. She didn't want to fight with him. She wanted him to hold her, but she knew that Merle wasn't that type. Just by him standing before her made her want him. She couldn't remember ever wanting anything more, but she tried to stand firm in wanting more. He looked down at her hand that was still touching his arm and then back at her before pulling away from her and turning to leave.
"Merle, don't go!" She said without thinking.
He paused at the doorway. She could see the tension throughout his shoulders and back and then he simply walked away and left her standing there, the sounds of the group's voices drifting into her cell from the other room, oblivious to what had just taken place.
So...Were any of you expecting that? I know, I know, I'm an evil person LOL! Just know that the Governor IS still out there and may appear at any time just like on the show so keep that in your minds. I just decided that we should use Rick's friend Morgan because we can always use more people on Team Prison, right? I know this chapter didn't have loads of Meth, but I promise there is more to come from our lovely couple!
Don't forget to let me know what you think! :-)