Chapter 58
Daryl stood frozen at Ed's demand.
He felt like he could barely remember how to breathe, let alone move his limbs. He felt stupid for almost every single move he'd made since he got out of bed this morning.
His decision to come to A block when he could have just waited in his cell with Sophia and Hayes.
For allowing Sophia to come with him, when it really hadn't been necessary.
And his decision to put his crossbow down, so far away from where they were working.
The only things he didn't regret, the things that would help him die just a little easier, was knowing that he'd held his son close and kissed his head before he handed him over. That he'd slept, wrapped up with Carol all night and repaired the rift between them. And he would die knowing that Sophia was safe, because no matter what, he would make sure that was true.
Even if right now he wasn't sure how he was going to make that happen.
Because right now, Ed stood over Sophia with a gun to her head, leering down at the girl on her knees, as if he were seconds away from executing her, right there on the cold hard concrete.
Daryl could only see the back of Sophia's head, but he didn't need to see her face to know exactly what expression was lying there, because he'd seen it before.
"You too damn stupid to listen? Put your damn hands up and get over there." Ed snapped, nodding his head to the middle of the hallway.
Daryl dropped the bottles and raised his hands. He began waking carefully to where Ed wanted him, as if he had land mines beneath his feet, that could go off if he took one wrong step.
When he reached the spot, he gave himself a single second to take a deep breath and do his best to keep a level head. He noticed that his crossbow wasn't where he left it, and when he looked at Ed's other hand, he noticed he was clutching Sophia's holster, with the gun still secured in it.
"What do you want Ed?" Daryl asked, unable able to hide the panic in his voice.
Ed chuckled, taking his eyes of Sophia to glare at him. "Oh, now you care what I want".
He could feel his chest rise and fall rapidly as he stood there, his eyes darting back and forth between Ed and Sophia.
"You wanna kill someone? Hurt Carol, that it?" Daryl questioned, wanting to understand what exactly Ed's intentions were.
Ed's hard eyes were fixed on him at the mention of Carol. Daryl knew right then that he was right.
"Then just kill me. Let Sophia go. None of this is her fault." He bargained, trying his best to get himself some time. So, he could figure out his next move.
"No, it's yours, you son of a bitch!" Ed barked through his teeth.
Daryl nodded quickly, "that's right. It was me; I went after Carol. I took them from you. So just- just let her go…."
He could hear the desperation in his voice growing, because as he looked around himself, he couldn't see a way out of this. He was to far away from them. Ed could kill them both before he even took two steps from where he was.
"You ruined my family. Ran around with my wife behind my back, made a damn fool out of me." Ed yelled, his face growing red with anger.
He didn't know if Ed was drunk, high or had finally lost his damn mind, but the look in his eye was a clear indication that something had to have set him off.
As Daryl considered the psychotic look on his face, he guessed that Caine had told Ed that the council were discussing his exile and Ed had decided that he wasn't going to simple fade away into the night and leave them all to have their happily ever after.
"Just tell me what you want? What can I do? You name it I'll do it." He pleaded, but it did nothing to change the expression on Ed's face.
Ed smiled, clearly enjoying the state that Daryl was in.
"You don't get it do you?" He laughed.
Daryl stood frozen locking his eyes with Ed's because he was unable and too afraid to look anywhere else.
"Neither of you are walking out of here. And that little bastard of yours is gonna die too." He growled.
Before Ed finished his threat Sophia leapt at Ed.
She suddenly screamed out "No", jumping up from her knees and launching herself forward. For a brief moment she attacked Ed, her tiny fists beating at the man's chest.
It wasn't some violet act; it was pure terror at the idea of someone hurting the person she treasured most.
Daryl barely took a single step forward before Ed had wrapped his forearm around Sophia's neck and had her back firmly pressed against his chest.
He took a moment to throw Sophia's gun behind him, as far back as he could, freeing his hand.
Assuring neither he nor Sophia could get to it.
Ed snarled and looked down at Sophia in his arm. "Who's gonna go first?"
Daryl's eyes dropped to Sophia to find her gaze already fixed on his.
She was crying and Daryl was almost certain that she was having a panic attack. Her breathing was rapid beyond belief, and she was visibly shaking. But there was nothing he could do to help her.
"You wanna watch her die?" Ed asked him, lowering the gun from the side of her head down to her neck. "Maybe I shoot her right here. We can watch her bleed out, choke on her own blood?"
Daryl could see Ed's fingers flexing, he knew Ed wasn't bluffing. He was simply savouring the feeling of control that he finally had.
He could see now that Ed didn't just want to kill Sophia to hurt Carol, he wanted to kill Sophia because he wanted to punish her. He wanted to make sure she paid for every single time she'd chosen Daryl over him, for everyday that she had chosen a life without Ed in it. A life that he would soon take from her without a second thought.
"I'm begging you" he all but cried the words out, pathetically pleading with him. He knew it was pointless. But he couldn't stop himself. He was more desperate than he'd ever been.
"Begging?" Ed mocked with a low chuckle. "You wanna die first? That what you're begging for?" Ed laughed, raising his arm quickly to point his gun me.
"DADDY!" Sophia screamed with her hand reaching for him.
It felt then, like time stopped. Just for a moment.
He felt his throat sting at the sound of her voice and the simple fact that the first time one of his kids had called him dad out loud, and it could be the last time he would ever hear it.
"What did you call him?" Ed snapped, suddenly spinning the kid around to face him. He grabbed her upper arm, shaking her, asking her the question once more when she didn't answer.
Sophia cried loudly as she looked up at Ed, he'd never seen her more afraid than she was right now. Her face was red, cheeks streaked with tears and her sobbing was so loud that it echoed down throughout cellblock.
In amongst Ed's yelling, Sophia's crying, he could barely be heard begging Ed to let her go. But Ed didn't hear any of his pleas for mercy.
Ed continued yelling at her, demanding her to answer him, to stop her damn crying and answer him. One hand squeezing her arm roughly while the other held the gun.
Daryl knew that this brief distraction was his only chance to make a move. Slowly he started stepping forward, hoping that Ed wouldn't see the movement from the corner of his eye.
As he took his steps, he knew that Ed was far to caught up in Sophia cries to notice a damn thing.
Daryl found himself ready to do something reckless, even if it got him killed, because hearing Sophia crying out like that, and not being able to help her, made every second of breathing unbearable.
For all the times people said Sophia was beyond her years, that she had skipped her childhood. He knew they would swallow their words back down if they could see her now.
She didn't look like the scary savage they all believed she was.
He could teach her how to use every weapon he could find. He could train her to fight, teach her to hunt. He could even teach her to kill. And she would learn eagerly, with focus and dedication.
But in the end, she was still just a girl.
"Tell me girl! Spit it out" Ed snapped again, roughly shaking her once more and missing the steps Daryl took across the room.
"I want my daddy." She cried, hysterically, to caught in her own panic to realise that her words were only angering Ed more and more. But she was too scared to come up with a lie to settle Ed's rage.
It took no more than a second for Ed to pull his fist back and punch Sophia in the face. The girl barely made a sound at at the impact, as the force of the hit knocked her out.
In that moment the sight of her tiny body on the floor made every last drop of blood in his body boil. It lit a rage in him that ripped through his chest, so strong that he wasn't sure his body was strong enough to hold it in.
Ed was too blind with rage to see him coming. His plans to kick Sophia while she was on the ground unconscious were suddenly stopped as Daryl dove at him.
He heard the gun go off and felt the pain rip through his shoulder as he tackled Ed to the ground.
It took him far too long to regain his focus, the shock of the sudden burning from the bullet stunned every muscle in his body. Ed used that time to get his gun and stand over him and Sophia.
"Now look at you. Look at you both!" He growled, narrowing his eyes on them, as the sadistic smile swept over his face.
Daryl glanced at Sophia, watching as she slowly started to regain consciousness. He watched as she lifted her hand from where she'd been hit, revealing the blood smeared over her face.
"Now, for the little daddy's girl. You ready to die? You ungrateful little bitch" Ed spat, snarling as he turned the gun back on her.
His eyes darted to Sophia, ready to jump in her direction in the hopes that he could somehow stop this from happening.
But when he looked at Sophia and saw the expression on her face, he found himself frozen.
She wasn't crying or shaking with fear anymore. He knew that look in her eyes, he'd seen it a dozen times before, but he had no idea how she could possibly be carrying it on her face right now.
Sophia looked up at Ed and smiled. "Fuck you Ed. You're gonna burn in hell".
It was then that the deafening sound of a gunshot erupted in the cellblock.