Between the Thorns

Chapter 36

"Don't worry. If you get nervous, just stand close to me," the young man suggested with a smile. Daryl turned, glancing back from the front seat of the large truck. When he saw that the smile the young man was giving Rose was more brotherly than inviting, he relaxed and turned his attention back out towards the road. He tried not to laugh at the rest of the young man's advice to his niece. Hold your gun where they can see it and make a mean face. Daryl glanced behind him again. But this time it was just to see Rose practicing her scowl. She favored Jean in looks. But when she scrunched up her face like that Daryl could see his brother in her.

Daryl wasn't sure if taking Rose to their tribute pickup was the best idea. He was hesitant to agree when Gavin suggested he bring her along. She was a good shot. Better than at least half Gavin's team. But there was also the purpose of their trip to consider. How to shake people down for food and supplies wasn't what Daryl planned to teach Rose when he brought her to the outpost with him. But he eventually decided that any time outside the walls was good practice. And it was no secret how the Saviors got the means to sustain themselves. Seeing it for herself wouldn't harm the girl.

"Is that them?," Rose asked, leaning forward in her seat to get a better look out the window. The young man next to her leaned back, allowing her a better view. The men waiting on their arrival in the empty parking lot were wearing matching makeshift body armor. But other than that, they didn't look particularly intimidating. With how heavily armed her group was, Rose was expecting their opponents to be more formidable. They only had a few handguns between them. A few of them had bows and arrows but the rest were armed only with long pointed sticks. Rose gripped the large rifle in her hands, feeling some of her nervousness dissipate.

As she slid across the seat, the strap of her gun caught on one of the seat belt buckles. The young man that was chatting with her on the ride over leaned in, untangling it for her and helping her down out of the large truck. Once her feet were on the pavement, she straightened up her shoulders and twisted her face up into the scowl she'd practiced in the truck. The young man gave her a thumbs up before he gestured for her to follow him around towards the back of the truck. Rose held her gun in front of her and took her place between the young man and Daryl.

At the sight of a preteen girl in the midst of a gang of Negan's thugs, a few of the men in the other group had visible reactions. Rose found she rather enjoyed the shocked looks on their faces. That's right, she thought, girls can kick ass too. It wasn't until the black man with the long white dreads spoke up that she started to get angry.

"You're employing child soldiers now?," Ezekiel asked, directing his question towards Gavin as he gestured towards the girl that was holding a gun almost bigger than her.

"Stay in your lane Ezekiel," Gavin said, his tone making it clear that he was making an order, not a suggestion. Rose wrinkled up her nose, looking back and forth between the boy in the makeshift armor that she was sure wasn't much older than her and the man that seemed to feel her presence there was not appropriate. She doubted he would be making such a fuss if she was a boy instead of a girl.

"Who did that to her face?," Richard asked, stepping forward and gesturing towards the fading rainbow of bruises that the man that attacked her left on Rose's face. Daryl stepped out of line, blocking the man's view of his stepdaughter. Not only did he not like the man's implication that one of them had hurt Rose, Daryl told the leader of this group not to bring this asshole back after the last time. And here he was again, starting more trouble.

"Mind yer own fuckin' business," Daryl hissed. "She's with me."

The men with Daryl didn't think anything of his declaration. Everyone at the outpost knew he was married to Jean. Rose was Daryl's stepdaughter. And it was common knowledge that he beat the man that left the marks on her face to death for touching her. When Daryl said Rose was with him they knew he simply meant he was responsible for the girl. But Richard, the man that asked about her face, took Daryl's statement to mean that Rose was his girlfriend or involved in some sort of sexual relationship with him.

As the only one of the opposing group that actually knew Daryl, Morgan immediately realized quickly the two men were having a terrible misunderstanding. He pushed forward, attempting to stop the conflict before it turned physical. But it was already too late. Richard called Daryl a pervert and lifted his gun, pointing it at him as he advanced on the man. Daryl pulled his knife out. He was ready to dispatch the man himself. But his companions all lifted their weapons, pointing them at Richard and the rest of the Kingdom soldiers.

"We're gonna need all your guns," Gavin said, his voice loud and dripping with irritation at the sudden insurrection. "Right now."

To Ezekiel's credit, he immediately ordered his people to surrender their weapons. He was a little shocked at the sudden appearance of a young girl in the company of the saviors soldiers. But he had no intention of starting a war over it. There were children her age in the Kingdom that were being trained in self defense and combat. This wasn't really much different. All of his men complied, reluctantly handing their weapons over to Gavin's men. All of them except Richard.

"He's sleeping with that child," Richard huffed, keeping his gun leveled on Daryl. "I'm not gonna stand for this." Rose's eyes widened at the man's words. She wasn't really sure why her presence had upset the man so much. Or why he called Daryl a pervert. And she was shocked and disgusted at what the man just accused Daryl of. It made her literally sick to her stomach. Daryl was her friend. He wasn't like that fat weirdo that tried to rape her. Daryl never even blinked in her direction in an inappropriate way.

"He's married to my mom!," Rose hollered. "You're the pervert!"

The young man that rode over in the car with her added his voice to Rose's. He'd spent enough time with Daryl and Rose to know that the only feelings that man had for her were fatherly.

"What the hell?," he added, "...that's his daughter, not his girlfriend!"

Ezekiel moved slowly. He didn't want to escalate the situation further. Setting his hand on top of Richard's gun, he removed the weapon from the man's hands and offered to the man that Richard was threatening with it. It was clear that there had been a severe misunderstanding. He ordered Richard back in line. And then he turned to Gavin, hoping the man might be willing to offer them some leeway.

"I'd like to apologize on Richard's behalf for the misunderstanding," he said. Gavin didn't comment further on Richard's behavior. But since he sent his men over to check the tribute, Ezekiel hoped that meant he wasn't planning to retaliate.

"It's short," one of the men said. Ezekiel turned, prepared to argue. He'd personally double counted everything in the back of the truck. And it was all there when they left. But now he could see that a cantaloupe was missing. The fruit was packed into crates. So there was no way it could have rolled out. Someone must have removed it after Ezekiel made his final count.

"Gawd fuckin' dammit!," Gavin cursed. He gestured towards Richard. "This guy starts up with some bullshit. And now the drop is short." Gavin gestured for Daryl to step forward. Then he pointed at Richard and told Daryl to kill him.

Rose felt her stomach bottom out. She didn't like the man Gavin told Daryl to kill. He was acting like an asshole. But his asshole behavior did seem to be stemming from a place of concern for her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to watch him die. Rose twisted her face up into the scowl she practiced and gripped her gun tighter, pointing it towards the other group since that's what the rest of her companions were doing. She gasped when the man rushed at Daryl, attempting to fight him for his gun. When the man collided with Daryl, they both slammed into her. She squeezed down, trying to keep a grip on her gun. She didn't mean to pull the trigger. And her eyes widened when she saw the teenage boy that came with the other group drop to the ground. She shot him in the meat of his thigh. And though one of his companions dropped to their knees and started applying pressure, there was already a large pool of blood forming under the boy's body.

Daryl punched Richard hard in the face, knocking him back onto the ground. When he hit the pavement, his pack flopped open. And the missing cantaloupe fell out. It rolled across the ground and into the rapidly spreading puddle of blood.

"You did this!," Morgan screamed. Daryl braced himself, assuming at first that Morgan was charging at him. But instead, Morgan leaped on top of Richard and began pummeling the man with his fists. Ezekiel moved forward, intending to stop Morgan from further injuring the other man. But he was stopped by Gavin's men. They held their guns on Ezekiel and the rest of his soldiers, forcing them to watch as Morgan beat their companion to death. Richard got a few hits in. But he was no match for Morgan and his psychotic rage fueled aggression. Morgan gripped his head, slamming it into the pavement over and over again until Richard's body was limp and his brains were leaking out of his skull.

Daryl felt a sharp pain in his arm. And he realized that at some point during the altercation, Rose had taken hold of him and was digging her fingernails into his forearm. He grabbed her hand, gently loosening her grip before he wrapped his arm around her. He pointed at Richard's body. And then at Ezekiel.

"I told you last time not to bring that asshole here again," Daryl said. "This is on you!"