Between the Thorns
Chapter 40
Daryl paused outside the apartment door, lifting his shirt and taking an experimental sniff. All he could smell was garbage. But he wasn't sure if he actually stunk. Or if the stink was just temporarily embedded into his nostrils. The moment the convoy arrived back at the Sanctuary, he rushed through the building in a hurry to get back to Jean and the girls. And as he arrived at the door, he realized why he'd been in such a hurry. It wasn't because he was worried about them, though anytime they were out of his sight he worried. He just wanted to tell Jean about the ridiculous nonsense he witnessed. He was excited to tell her about his day. And as he paused outside the apartment, he realized he'd never had anyone to share his day with before. He never lived with anyone except his brother. And Merle certainly wasn't waiting at home for him to hear about what happened while he was away from the house.
Daryl smiled as he unlocked the door, calling inside to announce himself as he swung the door open. The girls leaped up from the knitting yarn mess they were making on the table. Lily wrapped her slim arms around him first, getting a tight hug in before she cringed back and wrinkled up her nose.
"You smell bad," she announced, backing quickly away from him. Her younger sister's warning didn't deter Rose from pushing in for a hug of her own.
"You do kinda stink," Rose confirmed, "...and not like the dead. More like rotten food or something."
"We met with a group that lives in a garbage dump," Daryl explained. Lily made gagging noises at the idea of living in such a disgusting place. Rose only shrugged and since Daryl was obviously glancing down the hall hoping her mother might appear, she let him know her mom went to work for a while.
"Will you take us shooting?," Rose asked.
After a little more begging from the girls, Daryl agreed to take them down to the courtyard and let them practice with their bows. He helped them clean up the mess they made with the yarn. And he had Rose write a note for their mother. If Jean came back looking and the girls were gone, Daryl didn't want her to worry. They would just meet her at the cafeteria for dinner once Rose and Lily grew bored with target practice.
Daryl already had the girls toy around with a few different styles of bows while they were stationed at the outpost. Rose settled on a crossbow with a crank pull. While Lily was more comfortable using a more traditional compound longbow with a pulley system. They each got in position and started firing at one of the large plywood targets. Rose was the better shot by far. Not only was she older, Daryl spent more time working with her. And she just seemed to have a more natural talent for shooting. But Lily was slowly improving.
Their practice session caught the attention of a few of the guards that were on duty. And the men amused themselves by dragging a walker out of the moat and attaching it to the fence for the girls to aim at. One of the men spray painted a large orange target on the creature's chest and offered up a pack of bubble gum as a prize for whichever girl could get the best shot in. Daryl laughed as the men wagered points on the game. Gambling was a popular form of entertainment around the Sanctuary. And they would bet on almost anything. When he heard one of the men bet twenty points that neither girl would get a bullseye, Daryl spoke up and took the bet. She was shooting a gun at the time, but he'd already seen Rose hit a deer dead on.
"When I hit it, you owe me half those twenty points," Rose teased, her face lit up into a big smile. The men laughed as they backed up to give the girls some room. The one that bet Daryl the twenty points spoke to him quietly, keeping his voice low so the girls wouldn't hear him.
"She looks like she's healing up well," the man whispered. "What happened to her was some serious bullshit. I'm glad she's okay." Daryl nodded his head. He continued to be surprised by how upset people were about Rose being attacked. Considering their leader threatened to force Rick to cut off his own son's hand, Daryl didn't expect so much compassion from these men. But he supposed everyone had lines they wouldn't cross. Even Negan.
Rose and Lily were alternating, taking one shot at a time. They had three shots each to see who could get closer to the target. Lily did manage to hit the walker with two of her arrows. One lodged into the meat of its thigh. And the other hit it in the stomach. Rose landed one hit to the shoulder. The next one went into the chest on the outer circle of the target. And on her last shot, she buried her arrow on the edge of the bullseye. She squealed in delight, laughing as Daryl whooped it up for her. The man that bet against her groaned before he started laughing along with them. She collected her bubble gum, sharing a piece with her sister before she shoved the rest into her pocket for later.
With both the girls chomping away and blowing giant purple grape flavored bubbles, Daryl walked them down to the cafeteria. Laura stopped them at the entrance, reminding Daryl that they weren't supposed to be armed in that area. After some begging from the girls, she let them in with the bows and a strict promise that they would store them under the table while they were eating. Daryl spotted Jean off to the left. She was sitting cross legged in her chair, reading a paperback book and sipping on a can of flavored bubble water she'd bought from the commissary.
"You eat already?," Daryl asked, leaning down and letting her press her lips to his. Jean pulled back and covered her nose, giggling into her hand.
"No, I was waiting for you," she said, "...You must've had a day, you smell god awful." Daryl nodded, releasing her back down into her seat.
"Lemme get ya somethin' ta eat and I'll tell ya all about it," he offered. "Whatcha want?" Jean leaned back as the girls shoved their bows under the table before taking off towards the food line with their hands joined.
"Whatever they're grilling smells good," Jean said with a smile. Daryl nodded and hurried to catch up with the girls. He didn't want to make an issue of Jean not eating. But he was relieved when he noticed that she was finally starting to eat a little more than her usual two mouse sized bites. In his opinion, she still ought to be eating more than she was. She was thin in a way that no one should be when there was food readily available. But at least she was starting to get a little color back in her cheeks. He would take that as a win.
There was one distinct advantage to being back at the Sanctuary. And that was the food. Everyone at the outpost got a full stomach. But there wasn't much variety or choice to what they were offered. Rose and Lily seemed to share Daryl's opinion, because they were ordering up more food than usual. Daryl let them do their thing as he headed down to the end of the row, asking for some of the grilled meat and vegetable skewers for himself and Jean. It looked like a mix of venison and possibly beef tips. There was also a keg of beer someone tried their hand at brewing. And Daryl took a large mug of that, sipping the foam off as he followed the girls back to the table. It wasn't the best home brew he'd ever had. But it wasn't half bad either.
Jean reached for his beer, taking a small sip before she passed it back to him. From the grimace on her face, Daryl assumed she did not want a beer of her own to drink. He chuckled while she took a large gulp of her bubble water to wash the taste away. Jean's earlier complaint about his smell didn't stop her from resting her hand on his thigh while they ate. She kept giving him little sideways glances that he assumed meant she was thinking about putting her hands on more than his leg when they got back to their apartment.
Daryl finished his food and was preparing himself to tell Jean his junkyard story when suddenly one of the cafeteria windows exploded. Broken glass rained down on the people that had the misfortune to be sitting closest to the outside wall. The sound of gunfire filled the air. And as people rushed away from the noise in a panic, Daryl groped under the table for his bow. He noticed that while Lily was clinging to her mother, Rose was following his example and reaching for her weapon. The armed guards were pushing through the retreating crowd towards the outside doors.
"Take the girls back to the apartment," Daryl instructed. Jean nodded, looking nervously at the frightened stampeding crowd. "Go through the kitchen instead."
Daryl watched until Jean and the girls were around the corner and on their way through the kitchen. They would have to go the long way around to get back to the apartment. But that was still safer than fighting through the crowd. Daryl headed for the door that led out into the part of the courtyard where the large wood fire grills were set up. It was propped open, since people were going in and out with trays of food. He peeked around the corner, trying to get an idea of what was happening. He could still hear shooting. But not the rapid gunfire that sent the glass crashing in on top of them.
Daryl sucked in a hard panicked breath. A woman with a large rifle in her hands was picking off savior soldiers. And even with her back turned to him, Daryl recognized her. Sasha had to know she was on a suicide mission. There was no way she was going to be able to take on an entire army by herself. No matter how good a shot she was. She was positioned slightly behind a large truck. Daryl could see a small group of men edging around behind her. But he was too late to stop them from taking her out. He wanted to look away. But it was like watching a car crash, he felt like his eyes were fixed on the woman. Sasha's chest exploded in a splatter of blood and bullets. And her body slumped to the ground, a large pool of blood already forming under her body.
There was nothing Daryl could do for Sasha now. And he turned, his first intention being to get back to Jean and make sure she and the girls were safe. But then another thought crossed his mind. There's no way Sasha came here alone. Daryl turned and ran. But instead of booking it for the apartment, he headed through the building and out the garage door. There was a smaller gate there that led out of the compound. And with all the activity on the other side of the building, the place was completely deserted. Daryl slipped through the gate, heading around the fence. There were a few hunting whistles that only his people knew. And he let out as loud a signal as he dared, watching for any sign of movement along the treeline.
"Daryl?"
Daryl turned towards the voice, not able to spot where it was coming from at first. Rosita peeked her head out of the small crop of bushes she was hiding behind, revealing herself. Daryl bolted towards her, kneeling down and letting the familiar woman wrap her arms around him in a hug.
"What the hell are ya doin' here?," he asked. "Have ya lost yer mind?"
"The plan was to stay out here with the rifles and wait for Negan to come out. We were gonna pick him off and run. I moved closer to the fence because I saw Eugene. I was trying to sneak him out. Then Sasha went tearing ass in there on her own. Crazy ass bitch," Rosita cursed. Not only did Sasha get herself killed, she ruined their plan. Rosita was never going to get a clean shot on Negan now. At this point she'd be lucky to even get back home without getting caught. She was surprised the man didn't already have his goons out looking for her.
"I saw Eugene," Rosita said. "Is Carol here too?"
"Carol?," Daryl asked, shaking his head. "She's staying outside another community. The one where the leader calls himself the king."
"No," Rosita countered, "...we just came from there. Carol's missing. We thought maybe she was here with you. Morgan said he saw you." Daryl shook his head again. The last time he saw Carol was at her cabin. And he felt a surge of panic at the horrible things that might have happened to his friend. He should have pushed her harder to come back with him. It wasn't safe out there for a woman alone. Not even one as capable as Carol.
"Come on," Rosita said, tugging on the hem of his shirt. "If we leave now we might still be able to pick up her trail and figure out where she went."
"I can't," Daryl said, feeling every bit as frustrated as he could tell Rosita was with him. There was nothing he would rather do than track down Carol and make sure she was safe. But he couldn't just light off like that. Not when Jean would be left to face the consequences of his elopement.
"What the hell Daryl?," Rosita grumbled. She could understand Eugene switching sides because he was afraid. But she expected better from Daryl. He was loyal to Rick even to a fault. If he was refusing to leave Negan's group, there had to be a reason.
"Is this about that woman?," Rosita asked, "...The one on the tape?"
"Tape? What tape?"
"Negan sent Rick a tape. It was a video of you and some woman having sex," Rosita explained. The look of disgust and total embarrassment that washed over Daryl's face made her immediately regret mentioning the tape. She didn't realize that Daryl wasn't aware that he'd been recorded. Or that Rick had been sent a copy of the recording. She just assumed he already knew. "I'm sorry," Rosita said, "Just forget I said anything about the tape."
Daryl took a deep breath. Whether or not everyone was watching a video of his and Jean's amateur porno or not wasn't important right now. That was probably just another one of Negan's sick jokes. Finding Carol was the priority.
"I'll be back at the West Outpost in a few days. I can meet ya at the cabin where Carol was stayin'." Rosita nodded.
"Stay safe until then," she said, grabbing his hand and giving it one brief squeeze before she melted away into the woods. Daryl repeated her words like a prayer, hoping Rosita would make it back to the cabin in one piece as he hurried back inside the Sanctuary.
