Fear the Dead, Fight the Living
"Alright, let's get the other cars in. We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard." Rick tells us as me and my mom walk over from moving a couple cars
"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign!" Daryl says and I shook my head
"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them." Rick adds
"It's gonna be a long day…" T-Dog pointed out and I slung my arm around his shoulder
"Oh don't be a whimp!" I tell him and he poked my side causing me to jerk and I punched him in the arm
"Where's Glenn and Maggie? We could use some help." Carol asked
"Up in the guard tower." Daryl says and I looked at him with a smirk
"Guard tower? They were just up there last night!" Rick mentioned and we look at the top of the guard tower.
"Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl calls and Glenn comes out of the tower, he has no shirt on and is buttoning his pants.
"Hey! What's up guys?"
We all laugh at the sight of Glenn, "You comin'?" Daryl asked and I smacked his arm at the his comment while smiling
"What?" Glenn asked confused and we keep laughing
"You comin'?" Daryl asked again, "Come on, we could use a hand!" he tells Glenn
"Yeah, we'll be right down!"
We walk toward the cars, still laughing, "Real mature" I tell him and he wrapped both his arms around my shoulders from behind as we continued walking
"Hey Rick!" I hear T-Dog tell him and I followed where he was looking, Rick stops smiling immediately when we see the two prisoners Axel and Oscar out of their cell block, walking towards us
"Come with me." Rick tells us and we walk with him over to them, "That's close enough. We had an agreement."
"Please, mister. We know that, we made a deal. But you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!" Axel pleaded
"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked him
"You should be burning them." T-Dog adds
"We tried! We did!"
"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So just dropping a body and just running back inside." Oscar mentioned
"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!" Axel begs
"Our deal is not negotiable. You either live in your cell block, or you leave." Rick tells them
"I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys." Oscar says to Axel and looked at us, "You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like…Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me… we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shit hole." He defended and Rick looks at Daryl who says no with his head.
Daryl locks them back inside and walked over to us, "Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?" Rick asked T-Dog as he tried to change Rick's mind
"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." He tells him
"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn pointed out
"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" My mom asked
"It's just been us for so long…they're strangers. I don't… it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around." Maggie pointed out
"You brought us in." T-Dog tells her
"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice."
"They can't even kill walkers!" Glenn says
"They're convicts, bottom line!" my mom added
"Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." T-Dog pointed out
"I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys." Daryl mentioned and he brought up a good point
"So you with me?" T-Dog asked him
"Hell no! Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"
"What he's saying, Daryl…" I started to say but Rick cut me off
"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and in 2 weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."
"Move the cars to the upper yard. Point them facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail." Rick tells us and Daryl tossed his keys to Glenn, "We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road." He tells T-Dog
"Might not last a week." T-Dog pointed out
"Their choice!"
"Did they really have one?" T-Dog asked him
"Hey! Hey, whose blood would you rather have on your hands? Maggie's, Glenn's, or theirs?"
"Neither." T-Dog replied and the others are moving the cars to another place.
"Twin cylinder, is that a Triumph?" Axel asked Daryl who was standing at his bike
"Don't even look at it." Daryl tells him gets on starting it up
"Didn't want it bored out? Sounds like it could use a tune-up, I'm pretty handy with the grind! Heads are leakin'! I know my bikes!" Axel yells at us as he leaves and I get into Shane's old car and follow
My mom locked the gate then her, me, Maggie and T-Dog started moving cars while Glenn, Daryl and Rick went out to the field.
I get out of the truck I backed up and see Lori, Beth, Carl and Hershel walking outside and I smile.
"All right Hershel!" I hear Glenn yell from the other side and I looked over at him then Maggie putting my arm around her shoulder as she smiled at her dad
"Walkers! Look out!" Carl yelled and we see a bunch of them going to where they were at, Maggie and I ran to the others.
"T-Dog get my mom!" I yell at him and killed a walker
"Phoebe!" I hear Daryl yell as I shoot a walker
"Get out of there! Go!" Rick yelled, me and Maggie made our way over to one of our cell block
"Lori! Here!" Maggie tells her and they both ran over to us and we went in and headed to the cells but got cut off when walkers walked out of it.
"This way!" I tell them standing by Carl while Lori stood by Maggie and we headed to the doors of the corridors and Maggie closed the gate
We make our way through the corridors as while an alarm keeps going off and I see Lori lean on the wall and grunts, I move over to support her, "Can you keep up?" I asked her
"Something's not right…"
"Are you bit?" Carl asked
"No, no, no, no, no. I think the baby's coming!"
"Oh shit" I said
"Mom?" Carl asked and we hear walkers coming
"No, there's no time!" Maggie tells him as he was about to shoot them and Maggie takes over holding Lori while me and Carl took the front and we try to walk as fast as possible. Walkers arrive on the other side of the corridor.
"In here!" Carl tells us opening a door and we go inside then Lori leans on a wall and grunts in pain, me, Carl and Maggie look at each other with worry
"What are those alarms?" Lori asked in pain
"Don't worry about that." I tell her
"What if it attracts them?" Carl asked and I put my hand on his shoulder
"Lori, let's lay you down." Maggie says to her
"No, the baby's coming now."
"We have to go back to our cell block to have Hershel help!" Carl brings up
"We can't risk getting caught out there, you're gonna need to give birth to this baby here." Maggie says to Lori
"Great." Lori is panting in pain.
"What is she doing, can't she breathe?" Carl asked
"She's fine." I reassured him
"Come here, let's get your pants off." Maggie tells her and unbuckles Lori's pants and helps her lay down
"You're gonna need to help deliver your baby brother or sister, you up for it?" Maggie asked Carl taking Lori's pants off and he nodded, "Let me do an exam to see if your dilated." Maggie tells her and I move down and support Lori's shoulders
"Do you know how?" Carl asked Maggie
"Dad taught me, but trust me, it's my first time," She says and tries to examine Lori, "I can't tell…"
"I gotta push." Lori tells her and stands up with my help, Maggie supports her as she pushes and I stay down in case the baby comes out, "Somebody!" Lori strained, "I'm okay, I'm okay… I'm okay."
"You're doing great, Lori. Just keep doing it. Your body knows what to do. Let it do all the work." Maggie reassured her, "You're doing great."
"Lori, stop, don't push, something's wrong!" I yell and Lori screamed, I pull my hand away and Maggie looks at the blood that's on it then we look at each other.
"Mom? Mom, look at me, look at me, keep your eyes open!" Carl tells her as we lay her on the floor
"We have to get you back to Dad." Maggie adds
"I won't make it."
"Lori, with all this blood, I don't even think you're fully dilated yet, no amount of pushing is gonna help." Maggie mentioned
"I know what it means, and I'm not losing my baby. You've gotta cut me open." Lori says and I look at Maggie
"No, I can't."
"You don't have a choice." Lori tells her
"I'll go for help." Carl said
"No!" Lori yells to him
"Look, Carol's the one that practiced that, Dad only taught me the steps Lori, if I…" Maggie started to say
"Please…" Lori begged her
"I have no anesthetic, no equipment…"
"Carl has a knife" Lori says
"You won't survive." Maggie adds
"My baby has to survive… Please…My baby, for all of us… Please, Maggie! Please." She begs and I try to fight back the tears as Maggie shakes her head no, "Please…"
"See my old C-section scar?" Lori asked Maggie as I knelt behind her supporting her head
"I can't." Maggie said crying
"You can. You have to. Carl? Baby, I don't want you to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right. Now you-you take care of your daddy for me, all right? And your little brother or sister, you take care…" Lori tells him
"You don't have to do this."
"You're gonna be fine…you are gonna beat this world, I know you will. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave! And I love you." She says and they start crying
"I love you too."
"You gotta do what's right, baby. You promise me, you'll always do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So don't… so if it feels wrong, don't do it, all right? If it feels easy don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you. You're so good! You're my sweet boy! The best thing I ever did! I love you! I love you. You're my sweet, sweet boy, I love you." Lori says with her voice breaking and Carl hugs her, "Okay… okay, now. Okay. Maggie, when this is over, you're gonna have to…"
"Shh…"
"No, you have to do it, it can't be Rick." Lori tells her and looked at me, "Alright, alright, it's alright. It's alright…" Carl gives Maggie his knife, "Goodnight, love."
"I'm sorry…" Maggie tells her and cut Lori open following her old scar, Lori starts screaming from the pain.
"You're killing her!" Carl yells at Maggie and Lori's head falls in my lap, and her eyes close, she dies.
"Carl, give me your hands." Maggie tells him, "Keep the site clean, okay? I cut too deep, I'm gonna cut the baby. Okay…Okay, come on, I see it, I see the ears. I'm gonna pull it out." Maggie said reaching inside trying to feel around, "I can't tell if this is the arm or the leg." She points out, "Okay, I'm gonna pull the baby out." I pull it out but it doesn't move or scream
"Maggie?" I asked her and she tried tapping its foot then moved it so it was laying face down in her arms and tapped it's back. Finally, it works and the baby starts crying. Carl gives her his vest to put on the baby and she wrapped it up
"We have to go." Maggie tells us and I look down at Lori
"Well, we can't just leave her here, she'll turn." Carl tells us and Maggie tries to get her gun out while holding the baby, "No..." Carl says and I see his gun
"Carl…" I started to say
"She's my mom." He says and I look at him then Lori, after a moment Maggie and I leave with the baby
Maggie opens the door, and we see walkers in the corridor, so we goes back in. As we make our way back down we hear a gun shot then Carl walks out moving past us, tears run down my face and Maggie put her hand on my shoulder and we followed him
"Daryl and Glenn, you come with me…" I hear Rick say as we walked out of the entrance, Rick turns around, I open the gate and we enter the courtyard. Me and Maggie are crying unable to say a word, Daryl puts his crossbow down and rushes over to me as I lose it crying into his shoulder. Rick moves towards us, "Where is… where is she?" He asked and I see him try to go back in the prison, but Maggie stops him.
"No, Rick, don't!"
He starts crying, and looks at Carl, "Oh no…. No! No!" Rick continues to cry and Daryl pulls me him and I cry into his shoulder again.
"Where's my mom?" I asked the others
"T-dog got bit and led her away, I found this" Daryl tells me handing my mom's head scarf and my legs give out, "Phoebe, Phoebe"
"Is-is she?" I asked and he stayed quiet, "No" I whispered and he pulled me to him and I cried into his shoulder, my mom can't be dead she just can't.
"Glenn," Daryl says and I feel Glenn put his hand on my shoulder pulling me into a hug as Daryl bent in front of Rick, "Rick, you with me? Rick?" Daryl asked and Rick just looked out into space
"Let me see the baby." Hershel tells Maggie and she brings him over
"We're gonna feed it. We got anything a baby can eat?" Daryl asked
"The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon, or she won't survive."
"No. No way. Not her. We ain't losing nobody else. I'm going for a run." Daryl says putting his crossbow over his shoulder
"I'll back you up." Maggie tells him
"I'll go too." Glenn adds pulling away from me
"Okay, think where we're going. Beth." Daryl pulls her aside whispering something to her, "You two get the fence, to many pile we got ourselves a problem." He says to Oscar and Axel, "Glenn, Maggie vamanos" He says and Rick grabbed his ax then ran back inside
"Rick!" I yelled after him but he kept going
"Get the gate." Daryl says and I followed him, "Come on, we're gonna lose the light." He says to Maggie and Glenn and they followed us
"There's a Piggly Wiggly on 85." Glenn pointed out as we head to the cars
"No, the baby section's been cleared. Lori asked me to keep an eye out. I haven't had much luck." Maggie tells him
"Is there any place that hasn't been completely looted?" I asked
"We saw signs for a shopping center just north of here." Glenn answered
"Yeah, but there's too much debris on the road. The car will never get through there." Maggie mentioned
"I can take one of you." Daryl says putting his vest on then looked at me, "I'll be back, I promise"
I kissed him not wanting to let go but pulled away and looked at him, "I love you, please careful"
He gave me a quick peck, "Always am, I love you too" He says and Maggie gets behind him on the bike and they drive off, I look at Glenn and put my arm through his and we headed back up to the prison.
I was sitting next to Carl later that night holding the baby trying to calm her down when Daryl and Maggie walked in, Daryl puts his crossbow down, "How's she doing?" He asked me reaching for her and I put the baby in his arms, "Shh. I'm sorry. Shh..." Beth walked back over and handed him a bottle and he tries to give it to her, "She got a name yet?" Daryl asked Carl
"Not yet. But I was thinking maybe Sofia. Then there's Carol, too. And...Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know." He says and I put my hands on his shoulders and looked at Daryl as he fed the baby
"You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right?" He asked looking at us with a smile and I shook my head, "That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?" He asked in a soft voice, watching him hold her and feed her made me fall more in love with him, who knows, maybe we can have one someday.
The next morning I walked out of the prison to look around and I saw Daryl standing at the graves so I made my way down to him, "Hey"
"Hey" He replied and I saw my mom's scarf hanging from her marker
"Is it ever gonna stop? Are we ever going to stop losing people?" I asked and looked over at Lori's grave then I feel Daryl wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"I hope so baby" He says kissing my head and I tried to fight tears looking at my mom's marker.
We all sat around the next morning eating cold oatmeal, not very good oatmeal but can't be to picky nowadays, I looked over at Carl who was just looking into his bowl, "Hey buddy, you need to eat." I tell him rubbing his back and he picked up his spoon but didn't do anything.
"Everybody okay?" Rick asked walking into the room from the corridors
"Yeah, we are." Maggie tells him and he walks over to us
"What about you?" Hershel asked him
"I cleared out the boiler block."
"How many were there?" I asked
"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." He says lightly patting Carl on the back
"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to." Glenn tells him standing up
"No, I do. Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl walking over to him
"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though."
"Maggie, Glenn and me were planning on making a run this afternoon. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula." I tell him and Daryl looked at me, he wasn't to happy about me wanting to go on this run, but I needed to get my mind off the lose of my mom
"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well." Daryl adds
"Good, good." He says heading back to the door and shuts it
"Rick" Hershel called after him but nothing
"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn says walking out with a few more things
"Oh, thank God." I tell him grabbing some stuff and putting it them in the truck
"I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustard's. It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner." He tells me and put the other stuff in there as I grabbed the basket with formula
"I like the quiet. Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are." Maggie pointed out
"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" We hear someone say behind us and I drop the basket taking out my gun
"Merle?" I asked
"Wow!" He exclaimed putting his gun down and started to come closer to us
"Hey, back the hell up!" Maggie yells at him still holding up her gun
"Okay, okay, honey. Jesus."
"You made it." Glenn mentioned
"Can you tell me, is my little brother alive? Huh?" He asked Glenn
"Yeah." Glenn replied and he smiled and sighed in relief
"Hey, you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" He asked and I glanced at his hand, or well the metal thing that was covering his hand, "You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?"
"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you." Glenn says to him
"Hold on. Just hold up." He tells us and started to move forward
"Whoa. Whoa."
"Hold up here. Hold up. Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me." He begs
"You trust us. You stay here." Glenn tells him and he chuckled then after a pause he reached and grabbed a gun from his pants and shot at the truck, me and Glenn both ducked out of the way then moved around the truck seeing Merle on the ground holding Maggie with his gun pointed at her
"No! Hey, hey, hold up, buddy, hold up."
"Let go of her. Let go of her!" Glenn yells at him as we point our guns at him
"Put that gun in the car. Put it in the car, son. You too sweet cheeks." Glenn puts the gun in and raised his hands then I did the same, "There you go. Now we're gonna go for a little drive."
"We're not going back to our camp." I tell him
"No, we're going somewhere else. Get in the car, Glenn! You're driving! Move!"
"Don't." Glenn pleaded to him while Merle still held the gun to Maggie
"Get up." Merle tells her and we get in the truck and Glenn started it driving off, not knowing where we were headed.
Daryl POV...
"Rick. Who the hell is this?" I asked coming out of the cell block
"You wanna tell us your name?" Rick asked her but she stayed quiet, "You wanna tell us your name?" He asked again but she just looked at him
"Y'all come on in here." I tell the others and Rick stood up
"Everything all right?"
"You're gonna wanna see this." I said, they followed me and looked into the cell I was standing at where Carol was sitting
"Oh, God." She says slowly standing up and hugged Rick
"Thank God. Thank God. Thank God." Rick says hugging her
"How?" Hershel asked as she hugged him
"Solitary."
"Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated." I told the, and Beth walked over with the baby. Carol looked at the baby then Rick, he didn't say anything just gave a small nod and tears form in Carol's eyes and Rick started to cry as well
"I'm sorry. Oh, God." She says and walked over to the baby
"We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way. But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula." Rick tells the woman as me and him walked out of the block over to her
"The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with 2 pretty girls." Phoebe
"What happened? Were they attacked?" Hershel asked her
"They were taken."
"Taken? By who?" I asked
"By the same son of a bitch who shot me."
"Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!" Rick says and pushed on her wound
"Don't you ever touch me again!" She yells standing up and I raised my crossbow
"You'd better start talking. You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound." I warned her
"Find 'em yourself."
"Hey, shh, shh, shh. Put it down." Rick told me, "You came here for a reason." He said to her
"There's a town. Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there."
"A whole town?" Rick asked
"It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor- pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type."
"He got muscle?" I ask her
"Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall."
"You know a way in?" Rick asked
"The place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through."
"How'd you know how to get here?" Rick asked her
"They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot."
"This is Hershel, the father of the girl who was taken. He'll take care of that." Rick tells her pointing to her wound and we walked away
"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar asked
"This is Maggie, Phoebe and Glenn. Why are we even debating?" Beth asked as well
"We ain't. I'll go after them." I tell them, I'm not losing Phoebe
"Well, this place sounds pretty secure. You can't go alone."
"I'll go." Beth says
"Me, too." Axel added
"I'm in." Oscar says as well
"I got the flash bangs and I got the tear gas. You never know what you're gonna need." I told the others as we loaded up and I walked over to Carol, "Stay safe" I tell her
"9 lives remember?" She says holding the baby, "Bring my daughter back" She tells me and I nodded then got on my bike and we left
Phoebe POV...
I was sitting in a room of a warehouse I do believe looking around while trying to undo my hands when the door opened, "Well looky here." Merle says walking in then pulled up a chair sitting across from me, "Haven't seen you since.."
"Since the quarry, when you went on that run and got your ass handcuffed to a roof" I tell him not showing any expression, he may be Daryl's brother but he still took us and not 5 minutes ago I heard him beating Glenn up.
"That's right, thanks to your fellow officer I'm the proud owner of this." He says holding his metal arm up, "How's my baby brother doing? You two were pretty close last I remember"
I had an internal debate whether I should tell him me and Daryl are together or not, would it give me an advantage or no?, "He's ok, he's a pretty valuable member of our group now." I tell him and he nodded his head
"I heard about what happened to your sister, I'm sorry about that, really" He tells me and I looked at him confused, "Little birdie told me"
"Thank you" was all I said and he leaned back
"So, since we're sitting here bonding and everything, you and the rest must have a decent set up going."
"We do" I answered
"Mind telling me where it's at? I just wanna see my brother" He says and I almost feel my heart break for him, Daryl misses him even though he doesn't want to admit it.
"I can't, I'm sorry."
"Hmm..well then I guess I'll let the main man try to convince you" He tells me standing up
"Merle," I said and he looked at me, "Just so you know, Daryl, he really did try to look for you, when he came back after finding...your hand, he was pretty broken up even though he didn't show it."
"Except to you huh?" He asked sitting on the edge of the table in front of me
"Like you said, we're pretty close"
He grabbed the chair and moved it closer to me then sat back down, "You two bumping uglies?" He asked and I just looked at him, partly hoping my eyes would give away the answer, "You are ain't ya. Whoa!" He said while laughing, "My baby brother finally getting some in this shit world, how 'bout that. Well then, I guess this practically makes us family, and I don't hurt my family." He tells me and stood up, "I can't say the same for the guy coming in next" He says and walked out, I sighed then tried to undo my hands again, stupid duck tape.
Like Merle promised the next guy that came in wasn't so nice, from what I gathered he wasn't the main guy, but this one had no problem hitting a woman, but I can take it, all the times my dad has hurt me for getting in front of my mom and being a cop before all this.
"All right, that's enough. Bring her." I hear another guy say from the doorway and the jerk who was hitting me undid my hands from the chair, covered my head and stood me up making me walk
"On your feet! Move!" I hear another guy yell I can only assume to Maggie or Glenn or both, we continued walking when there was a loud bang and the guy holding me let go but then I feel another pair of hands grab me and my hood gets removed revealing Daryl, I wanted to hug him but gun shots went off and we had to move then we got out of the building and hid inside another one.
"Inside, quick" Rick tells us and we head into another building and Glenn fell to the floor, Maggie knelt down next to him then Daryl pulled me into a hug then looked at me
"Are you okay?" He asked looking at my face
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I promise I've had worse" I tell him and he kissed my head and walked away
"Ain't no way out back here." Daryl pointed out as he looked for an exit and I knelt down next to Glenn and Maggie
"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked him
"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked Glenn
"I'll be all right."
"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked
"She was right behind us." Rick answered and looked out a window
"Maybe she was spotted." Oscar mentioned
"Want me to go look for her?" Daryl asked Rick
"No. We gotta get them out of here. She's on her own."
"Daryl, this was Merle. It was. He did this." Glenn told him I looked at Daryl as he walked over
"You saw him?" He asked him
"Face to face. Threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us."
"S-So my brother's this governor?" Daryl asked
"No, it's somebody else. Your brother's his lieutenant or something." I replied as Glenn put on a sweatshirt Maggie handed him
"Does he know I'm still with you?" Daryl asks
"He does now. Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out." Glenn told him
"Don't. No need to apologize."
"They're gonna be looking for us." Maggie pointed out
"We have to get back. Can you walk? We got a car a few miles out." He asked Glenn
"I'm good."
"All right." Rick says and helps Glenn stand up
"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him." Daryl said to Rick
"Not now. We're in hostile territory."
"He's my brother. I ain't-" Daryl started to say but Rick cut him off
"Look at what he did! Look, we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."
"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out." Daryl argued
"No, no, no. You're not thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk, Phoebe got beat up. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you." Rick tells Daryl, "Are you with me?" He asked, Daryl and I shared a look before Daryl looked at Rick
"Yeah." Daryl replied and we got ready to head out, Daryl handed me my gun and I checked the clip.
"On three, stay tight," Rick tells us as Daryl held a flash bang, I stayed by Maggie and Glenn helping to hold him up, "One, two, three" Rick says and opened the door, Daryl threw it out
"Hey over there!" Someone yelled
"Let's go" Rick says and we made our way out the door after it went off
"There they are" A guard on the wall said and Rick shoots at him killing him, Daryl shoots another one and shots go off behind us
"Behind you!" Daryl yelled and we both shot in that direction
"Go! Get cover! In there!" Rick tells us as we make our way over to a building ducking behind the pilars, "How many?" Rick asked Oscar
"I didn't see"
"Don't matter there's gonna be more of them" Daryl pointed out
"We need to move" I add and reached around Maggie shooting at the men
"Any grenades left?" Rick asked Daryl
"Uh huh"
"Get them ready. We got to gun it to the wall" Rick told us
"You guys go ahead I'm gonna lay down some cover fire" Daryl says and I look at him
"No we gotta stay together" I tell him
"Too hairy, I'll be right behind you"
"Daryl.." I started to say
"This isn't up for debate" He argued and I held back tears, "Ready?" He asked the others and threw a smoke grenade, we made our way to the wall while Daryl stayed behind a bench firing at the other shooters. Suddenly I see Oscar get shot and Glenn yelled for Maggie, she stood up and shot Oscar in the head then headed up the bus
"Daryl!" I yelled at him
"Go!" He told us and Rick grabbed my arm pulling me away
"No, Rick let me go!" I demanded but he didn't and Maggie reached her hand down pulling me over. We run along a broken down train and see the guards shining lights trying to spot us, "Come on Daryl" I silently begged and we here rustling behind us, I turned and saw a woman I had never met crawl out from under the train and Rick pointed his gun at her
"Where the hell were you?" He asked her and she slowly made her way out, "Put your hands up." He told her and she slowly raised them, "Turn around, turn around." He takes her sword out of its sheath and she leans against the train, "Get what you came for?"
"Where are the rest of your people?" She asked
"They got Oscar." Glenn told her
"Daryl is missing. You didn't see him?" I asked her and she didn't say anything, "If anything happens to him-" I started to say moving closer to her but Rick pulled me back
"I brought you here to save them." The woman told Rick
"Thanks for the help."
"You'll need help to get them back to the prison or to go back in there for Daryl. Either way, you need me." She pointed out and Rick looked at me
"No I'm going with you." I tell him
"I need you to keep an eye on her and get Glenn to the car."
"But.." I began to say
"I'll bring him back, I promise"
I looked at him then Glenn, "Okay, okay" I tell him and I put my around around Glenn's waist and the 3 of us headed to the car and waited.
"Glenn!" Rick yells at him and I see them heading over to us and I ran to Daryl
"Thank god" I tell him and he hugged me
"Rick. Rick. Rick. Oh, thank God."
"Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up." Rick says to him
"What the hell is he doing here?!" Glenn yelled as him and Michonne moved to Merle, Michonne drew her sword but Rick stepped in front of her
"Hey, hey, hey! Hey, put it down!" Daryl yells at her stepping away from me in front of Merle
"He tried to kill me!"
"If it wasn't for him-" Glenn started to tell Daryl
"He helped us get out of there."
"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you." Rick tells Daryl
"Hey, we both took our licks, man." Merle says
"Jackass." Daryl grumbled over his shoulder at him
"Hey, shut up."
"Enough! Hey, hey, relax! Put that down now!" Rick tells Michonne
"Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl warned Glenn
"Man, look like you've gone native, brother." Merle says to him
"No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there."
"Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that. Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea. Big time, baby." Merle says and I looked at at him in shock
"That's the little birdie?" I asked him and he nodded
"What? Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn asked
"Right next to the Governor." Daryl answered and Michonne moved forward with her sword again
"I told you to drop that!" Rick tells Michonne, "You know Andrea?" He asked her and she didn't say anything, "Hey, do you know Andrea?"
"Yep, she does. Her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. Mm-mmm-mmm. Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it." Merle tells us and I look at him
"Shut up Merle" Daryl told him
"Hey, we snagged them out of the woods. Andrea was close to dying." He says
"Is that why she's with him?" Maggie asked him
"Yeah. Snug as two little bugs. So what you gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards."
"Shut up!" Rick yelled at him
"Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them."
"Merle, shut up!" Daryl yelled at him
"Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies you roll-" Merle started to say but Rick clipped him in the back of the head knocking him out
"Asshole." Rick says and I looked at Daryl
"It won't work." Rick tells Daryl
"It's gotta." Daryl argued
"It'll stir things up."
"Look, the Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle." Daryl tell him
"I'm not having him at the prison." Maggie says
"Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?" Glenn asked
"He's not a rapist." Daryl told him
"Well, his buddy is." Glenn says and Daryl looked at me but shook my head
"They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night." Daryl mentioned
"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats." Rick tells him
"So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?"
"She's not coming back." Rick said
"She's not in a state to be on her own." Maggie tells him
"She did bring you guys to us." Glenn adds
"And then ditched us."
"At least let my dad stitch her up." Maggie tells him
"She's too unpredictable."
"That's right. We don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood." Daryl pointed out
"No, Merle is your blood. My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison." Glenn tells us
"And you're part of that family. But he's not. He's not." Rick says
"Man, y'all don't know. Fine. We'll fend for ourselves." Daryl tells them and looked at me
"That's not what I was saying." Glenn tells him
"No him, no me."
"Daryl, you don't have to do that." Maggie tells us
"It was always Merle and I before this." Daryl said
"Don't." I begged him
"You serious? You're just gonna leave like that?" Glenn asked
"You'd do the same thing." He told him
"What do you want us to tell Carol?" Rick asked him and I looked at him
"My mom's alive?" I asked him and he nodded, I smiled and felt relief as Maggie put her hand on my shoulder
"She'll understand." Daryl answered and looked at Rick, "Say good-bye to your pop for me." Daryl tells Maggie and started to walk away
"Daryl, are you serious?" Glenn asked him and I walked with Rick following him
"Daryl!" Rick yelled, "Hey. Hey. There's got to be another way."
"Don't ask me to leave him. I already did that once." I tell Rick
"We started something last night. You realize that, huh?"
"No him, no me" Daryl repeated and I looked at him, "That's all I can say. Take care of yourself. Take care of lil ass-kicker. Carl. He's one tough kid."
"Daryl..." I said and he pulled me into a kiss as I wrapped my arms around him, "Please don't, you promised you wouldn't leave me" I tell him and he moved his mouth to my ear
"I'm not, I'm gonna come back I promise." He tells me and I feel him put something in my hand, "For when I get back. I love you" He says then went over to his brother and they took off, I opened my hand and saw a ring in it and looked up in shock.
I sat in the back of the car with my head leaning against the window playing with the ring Daryl gave me, why did he give me this then just leave? I was taken out of my thoughts when we pull up to the prison and I see my mom open the gate then Carl opened the other. Me and Rick got out and I ran to my mom.
"I thought I lost you" I told her through tears as she hugged me
"I could say the same thing" She replied
"Drive 'em up. I'll meet you there." Rick told Maggie and I saw my mom trying to look in the car as it drove up
"Where's Hershel?" Rick asked Carl
"He's in the cell block."
"Where's Daryl?" My mom asked me
"It's all right. He's alive. We..um ran into his brother. They went off."
"He left? Daryl left? He's gone? Is he coming back?" She asked
"Hey." I tell her pulling her into a hug
"Gone? He just left you?" She asked pulling away
"It's ok." I reassured her and we all headed up to the prison
"And Oscar?" Carl asked and Rick shook his head
"No."
We walked into the prison heading into our cell block when I saw 4 people who I didn't know sitting at one of the tables, I looked at my mom confused and she nodded her head as we walked inside. I headed up the stairs to mine and Daryl's cell, I finally managed to convince him to stay in one with me. My mom walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder, "Why did he leave?" She asked me and I walked over to our bed and sat down
"Because of Merle, he wouldn't have been able to stay here without Glenn wanting to kill him or issues arising."
She sat down next to me, "You didn't go with?"
"Glenn said you were alive, I had to come back, for you" I tell her and she pulled me into a side hug, "He'll be back though, he told me he would right before he gave me this" I showed her the ring
"Finally did it" She pointed out and I looked at her
"You knew?"
"Well yeah, he told me he wanted to ask you and of course I gave him permission. I just didn't know when he was gonna do it." She tells me and tears fall out of my eyes, "Hey it's ok" She says holding my hand
"Why would he give this to me and leave? I mean he said he was gonna come back but...it's kind of a crappy way to go about it"
"I don't know sweetie, when he gets back, ask him" She says and I nodded my head then wiped the tears away
My mom was cleaning out an old box for mail when Beth walked up the stairs holding Judith and I walked over with blankets then indicated for her to hand me the baby which she did and I smiled at her.
"You've got a knack for that." My mom told Beth
"Just trying to do my part."
"Sophia used to wake the neighbors. 3:00 AM. Like clockwork. Ed stayed at a friend's most nights till she calmed down." She says
"I remember those nights. Most of the time I would tell my mom to go back to sleep and I would sit there and calm her down" I said to Beth and she smiled
"Sophia loved it when you sang to her" My mom adds and I smile at her then look at Judith
"You sing?" Beth asked me
"Not for a while, the last time I sang was..." I stopped and looked at my mom, "Was when the world turned to crap and I sat with Sophia in our tent and sang her to sleep." I said fighting back tears and my mom rubbed my shoulder
"I always wanted a child." Beth says
"You better wait on that one" I tell her nudging her shoulder and she smiled
"She wouldn't have made it if Daryl hadn't been here. He couldn't stand to lose anyone else." Beth mentioned to my mom
"Sounds like him."
"I don't see why he had to leave. Merle sounds like a jerk." Beth says
"Men like Merle get into your head. Make you feel like you deserve the abuse." My mom told her
"Even for Daryl?"
"I'm hardly the woman I was a year ago, but if Ed walked through that door right now breathing and told me to go with him, I'd like to think I'd tell him to go to hell." My mom says and I nodded
"You would, and then I'd shoot him" I tell her and she looked at me, "Sorry"
"It doesn't matter."
"We're weak without him." Beth pointed out as my mom grabbed the blankets I brought out and put them in the bottom of the box
"We'll get through this, too. Tyreese and his friends seem capable."
"I'm pissed at him for leaving." Beth says
"Don't be. Daryl has his code. This world needs men like that." I tell her and walked over to the box as Judith started to fuss, "Oh it's ok, you're ok" I comforted and put her in the box, "There." I said and she calmed down
"She fits perfect." Beth pointed out
"Yeah. Wait. You cozy in there?" I asked her and she grabbed my finger putting it in her mouth, I smiled at her and my mom put her hand on my shoulder
"Maybe someday" She says and I nodded then carefully lifted the box
Later that night I sat on the steps next to Beth as she held Judith, I saw my mom walk over to Axel and put her hand on his arm, "Whenever Tomas went off, Oscar always stood up for me, you know? He was my friend."
"He went out fighting." Rick reassured him as Beth and I walked over to them
"So what now? You think the Governor will retaliate?" Beth asked
"Yes." Maggie answered
"Let him try." Glenn added
"Sounds like he's got a whole town. We're outnumbered and outgunned." My mom pointed out
"We could use some reinforcements." Hershel says to Rick and we walk out of the cell block to the lunch area where Tyreese and the others were
"I'm Tyreese." He says to Rick holding out his hand but Rick just looked at him
"Sasha, Allen, Ben." Hershel introduced the others
"How'd you get in?" Rick asked Tyreese
"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down."
"That side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?" Rick asked
"We didn't. We lost our friend Donna."
"They were lost in the tombs." Carl tells Rick
"You brought them here?"
"He had no choice." Hershel says to him
"I'm sorry about your friend. We know what that's like." Rick tells Tyreese
"Hershel said you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."
"No." Rick tells him after a pause
"Please. It's like "10 Little Indians" out there. It's just us now." Sasha begged him
"No."
"Let's talk about this. We can't just keep-" Hershel started to say but Rick cut him off
"We've been through this. With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."
"Axel and Oscar weren't like them." I told Rick
"And where's Oscar now? I can't be responsible."
"You turn us out, you are responsible." Tyreese tells him
"Rick." Hershel says and Rick walked over to him
"You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you our lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."
Rick looked at him then all of us and sighed patting Hershel on the shoulder then I see him look up at the catwalk, "No, no. No, no, no, no. No. No, no, no, no, no. Why are you here? What do you want from me?" He asked to nobody
"Dad?" Carl asked and I put my hand on his shoulder
"Why are you- no. I can't help you. Get out!" Rick yelled walking over to Tyreese and them
"Whoa, whoa, whoa."
"Get- get out!" Rick yelled again and I pulled Carl behind me
"Hey, come on. Whoa, it's all good." Tyreese says to him
"What are you doing?" Sasha asked
"Hey, easy, Rick. There's no need to-" Maggie started to say
"You don't belong here! Get out!" Rick yelled turning to her then grabbed his gun I stood in front of Carl and Maggie while Axel pulled my mom back, I put my hand on my gun just to be safe, I'd never shoot him but I would if I needed to, not kill him but slow him down, "Please!"
"Relax, brother. Relax." Tyreese says to him
"Get out! Get out!"
"We'll leave. We're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here. We're going." Tyreese says to him and they grab their stuff
"What are you doing here?!"
"Okay, we're going."
"Just go! Go! Go!" Glenn tells them and they run
"Rick...put it down" I tell him and he looked at me as I kept my hand on my gun then he looked back up at the catwalk, after a moment he put his gun back in his holster and I took my hand off of mine, "Why don't you go get some rest? Okay? It's been a long day" I tell him and he looked at the floor then headed into the cell block. I sighed and my mom put her hand on my shoulder.