Fear the Dead, Fight the Living
"Now you said you found Tyreese's group here?" Glenn asked Carl as they knelt down looking at the chalk drawing on the ground
"Yeah."
"We secured this." Glenn tells him
"He thought he came through here." Carl indicated to the drawing
"Means there's another breach. Okay. The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."
"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack? Maybe you scared him off." Beth pointed out
"He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans. Trophies. He's coming." Michonne told us
"We should hit him now." Glenn says
"What?" I asked him
"He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."
"We're not assassins." My mom tells him and Glenn got up then walked over to Michonne
"You know where his apartment is. You and I could end this tonight." Glenn tells her and she stayed quiet, "I'll do it myself." He adds and she sighed then nodded her head
"Okay."
"He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened. You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you, Phoebe and Maggie were almost executed." Hershel says to him
"You can't stop me."
"Rick would never allow this." I told Glenn
"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?"
"Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now." Hershel tells him
"And go where?"
"We lived on the road all winter." Hershel points out
"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours."
"We can't stay here." Hershel argued
"We can't run." Glenn says and Maggie turned then walked back into the cell block, "All right. We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand. Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. We need to figure out where the breach is." Glenn tells him
"You got it."
"You'll need some help." Michonne says to Glenn
"No, in case anything happens, I need you out here." He told her and looked at all of us "Who's on watch?" He asked then stood up, "Damn it" He says and walked away
"The tombs outside the boiler room are overrun again." Glenn tells us as him and Carl walked back in and Beth closed the door
"That whole section had been cleared." She tells him
"It's a steady stream of walkers." Carl says
"We're wasting time. The Governor is supposedly on the way and we're stuck in here with walkers." Hershel mentioned
"Trapped between a rock and a hard place." My mom added
"For the last time, running is not an option." Glenn tells us
"Glenn, if the tombs have filled up again, it may just be a matter of time before they push in here." My mom told him
"Or until some fence gives way." Beth adds
"Or if one of them herds is passing through? Or settled?" Axel asked
"Can't handle that with just the few of us." I told Glenn
"Okay. All right, we need- we just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out what's going on."
"You're going out there?" Hershel asked him
"Take a car and make it quick."
"I'll drive." Axel says to him
"No, you stay here. Help with the fortifications. I'll take Maggie."
"You sure she's up to that?" I asked him and he sighed then walked into the cell block
I was sat on the small bleachers out in the court yard next to Beth and Carl when I saw Axel walk up to my mom and tap her on the opposite shoulder and she looked at him, I chuckled and continued loading my clip when suddenly a gun shot goes off and I see Axel fall to the ground then Carl and Beth made their way over to me, "Mom!" I yelled ducking behind the bleachers and I see her turn Axel's body to shield her, "Carl get Beth to the wall now!" I tell him and they ran to the side of the building as I covered them then moved over to some file cabinets that were in the yard
"Beth!" I hear Maggie yell and she ran outside with 2 guns and handed one to her then made her way over to me and I covered her when the guy in the tower continued shooting
"Mom go!" I yelled to her and both me and Maggie shot at him so my mom could get to cover and she ran over to Carl and Beth, "Maggie" I tell her and we switched guns then I aimed it at the tower and shot the guy killing him. Just then we hear a truck approach and we look up to see it smash through our gate then just sit there. The ramp of it drops down and walkers come out and I noticed Hershel was in the field, "Where's Glenn?" I asked Maggie and she shook her head. We all went to the gate and opened it then started killing the walkers as Glenn pulled in with the truck and headed to the field to get Hershel. I see Rick get pinned at the fence by two walkers then suddenly I see Daryl and Merle come out of the woods and Daryl shoots a walker while Merle runs to Rick getting the other one, I smiled then shot another walker. and we headed back into the courtyard as Glenn pulled in.
"Are you okay?" I asked my mom hugging her and she nodded her head then we walked over to the fence and looked out at the field that was now filled with walkers
"Daryl" I said running over to him as they came through the gate and jumped into his arms, he hugged me back and I sniffled
"Told ya I'd come back" He says and I smiled then kissed him, "Are you okay?" He asked me
"I'm better now" I tell him and we all head inside
"We're not leaving." Rick says as we all gathered in our cell block
"We can't stay here." Hershel tells him
"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie adds
"We can't even go outside." Beth pointed out
"Not in the daylight." Carol says
"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn said to us
"No, better to live like rats." Merle said from the other room on the other side of the gate that Rick locked him in
"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him
"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."
"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl tells him from next to me leaning on the railing
"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."
"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie says twisting her bandana on her wrist
"No. He's got a point." Daryl defended
"This is all you. You started this." Maggie tells him
"What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth asked
"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel tells us and Rick started to walk away, "Get back here!" Hershel yelled standing up making me jump a little, "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."
"Hey" Daryl says from outside our cell as I sat on the bed putting my clip in my gun
"Hi" I replied and he walked in, took the gun out of my hand and knelt in front of me holding my hands and he rang his thumb over the ring
"You're wearing it"
"Why did you give it to me then leave?" I asked him
"So that way you knew I would come back, I told you I ain't ever leaving you. I only went with Merle so I could lead him back here."
"So?" I asked and he let go of my right hand and put both of his on my left one
"I never thought I would be the kind of person to do this, givin' how I was raised, but Pheebs you, you opened something up in me, something I never knew I had and you make me a better person. I love you and I would anything to keep you safe. Life is to short and I want to spend every single one of my days with you by my side. Will you marry me?" He asked and I smiled at him as he wiped a tear off my cheek
"Of course" I tell him and he kissed me
"We don't have to make a big deal out of it or anything"
"Well we could do it in private but my mom needs to be there" I tell him and he nodded then grabbed my hand helping me stand up
"Come on, let's do it now"
I giggled at him, "Why the rush?"
"Like I said, life is to short to waste it on waiting" He says and we walk out of the cell and found Hershel then my mom. I looked over at the room Merle was in and grabbed Daryl's keys heading over to it then unlocked it
"Come on" I tell him and he looked at me confused but followed me as we walked back to the others and we all headed to a private spot in the prison because Rick didn't want us going outside. We kept it short and sweet, I could tell Merle was uncomfortable but I knew it meant a lot to Daryl for him to be there. After we finished and Daryl kissed me, Hershel, my mom and Merle headed inside, "You know I do believe you promised me a date in the guard tower, but since we can't go outside" I tell him wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Well then Mrs. Dixon, I am a man of my promises" He says and we walked to a part of the prison no one was at which happened to be an office. Normally it wouldn't be ideal for this but since we haven't had a moment to ourselves alone we would take what we got. Before I could do anything after shutting the door Daryl kissed me and laid me down on the couch that was in there.
He removed my shirt throwing it onto the floor, I unbuttoned his shirt taking it off of him and he kissed me sliding his tongue into my mouth, I moaned fisting my hands into his hair and he worked on taking off my pants moving his mouth from mine down my jaw to my neck kissing and biting at it then moved down to my breasts kissing the tops of them while squeezing them
"Oh Daryl" I moaned and he moved down to my stomach running his hands up my sides then moved further down, "What are you..." I started to ask but threw my head back when I felt his mouth and tongue run along my thighs before he started attacking my center with his mouth, "Oh god Daryl!" I moaned putting my fingers in his hair again biting my lip, I bucked my hips against him when I felt him insert two fingers and started pumping them while still licking and sucking my center, "Oh God!" I moaned as I orgasmed, I started panting as he kissed his way back up before wiping his mouth.
I moved my hands down and unbuckled his belt undoing his pants then slid them down and he positioned himself between my legs propping one of them on his arm and pushed into me then started moving his hips going slow at first but then picked up the pace, I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lip as he started kissing my neck. Next thing I knew he pulled out of me and turned me around so I was on my stomach and he lifted my hips and he entered me again, I couldn't believe how turned on I was right now
"Oh Phoebe" He moaned picking up the pace and I gripped my hands into the couch cushion
"Oh god! Oh...OHH!" I moaned as I hit my peak again and after a few more thrusts and grunts Daryl finished as well. I laid down and he laid down next to me, we were both panting pretty hard trying to catch our breath, "You are gonna be the death of me Mr. Dixon" I tell him and he chuckled then kissed me.
"Can't help it, you're just so amazing" He says and I kissed him, "We should head back" He tells me and I sighed
"Do we have to? I like just laying with you not having to worry about anything"
"I do too, but we need to make sure we're all safe from this guy before we can relax" He says and I pouted
"Okay" I tell him and reluctantly get up and we gathered our clothes getting dressed then headed back to our cell block
"Take watch. Eyes open, head down." Rick tells Maggie handing her the keys, "Field's filled with walkers." He adds placing a gun in the cell Glenn was in and Daryl walked down the steps, "I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch." He finished walking over to me, Hershel, Daryl and Michonne
"I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." Daryl tells him
"Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne suggested
"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets." Hershel adds and Glenn walked over
"So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." He says
"Been here before. We'll be all right." Daryl tells him
"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest."
"Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." He tells Glenn and I put my hand on his arm
"Hey"
"All y'all!" Daryl says and walked away up the stairs
"Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is really gonna fly." Glenn tells him
"I can't kick him out."
"I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you." Glenn says
"Merle has military experience. He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." Hershel told Glenn
"What if we solve both problems at once? Deliver Merle to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce."
"You do that and Daryl will leave and I would too. Look Glenn I know this makes you angry but Merle is Daryl's brother, his family, my family now too as well as you guys. Just gonna have to learn to get along sooner or later" I told him and walked up the steps to mine and Daryl's cell to see him on the bed fiddling with an arrow, "Hey you"
"Hi"
"I'm sorry" I tell him sitting down next to him
"For what?"
"Glenn and everyone being uncomfortable with Merle here" I tell him
"It's not your fault"
"Still though, Merle beat up Glenn, I don't know what he did to Maggie..." I started to say and Daryl sat up
"Did he hurt you?"
"No, no all we did was talk, the guy that came in after him was not shy on hitting a woman." I tell him and he held my hand
"I'm sorry, should've never let you go on that run"
"Hey," I put my other hand on his face, "I wanted to go, that isn't anyone's fault"
"How are you so brave?"
"I have family worth fighting for, and a husband who keeps me going." I tell him and he pulled me into a kiss
"I love you"
"I love you too" I said and kissed him again, "I'm gonna go watch Judith for Beth, give her a little break." I tell him and start to stand up
"You think about having kids?" He asked and I looked at him shocked
"Mister random," I smiled and he smirked at me, "Maybe someday, when things calm down. I would definitely like to have a baby with you." I tell him and he pulled me on top of him into a kiss and I giggled, "That doesn't mean we should start right now"
"Well later maybe we can practice" He says brushing his lips against mine
"Mmm don't tempt me" I said kissing him again then got up and headed to the lunch area to take Judith from Beth
After I laid Judith down I headed into the lunch area to see Rick and the others walk in, with Andrea, she walked down the steps and hugged my mom, "After you saved me, we thought you were dead." My mom told her and she looked at me
"Phoebe" Andrea says and went to hug me but I moved away and stood next to Daryl, she looked at me confused then Hershel walked over, "Hershel, my God. I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" She asked and I shifted then looked at Rick, "And Lori?"
"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel told her and Daryl put his hand on my back
"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie added
"I'm so sorry. Carl." She says but he moved away, "Rick, I- You all live here?" She asked us
"Here and the cell block." Glenn told her
"There? Well, can I go in?" She asked starting to walk over there but Rick stepped in front of her
"I won't allow that."
"I'm not an enemy, Rick." She tells him
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." I said to her
"He said you fired first."
"Well, he's lying." Rick says
"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel mentioned
"We liked him. He was one of us." Daryl added
"I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out." She tells us
"That was days ago." I pointed out to her
"I told you, I came as soon as I could. What have you told them?" She asked Michonne
"Nothing."
"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"
"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us.." I started to tell her
"With his finger on the trigger." She cut me off pointing at Merle, "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" She asked Glenn, "Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."
"There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will." Rick told her
"We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you."
Merle laughed, "You know better than that."
"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" Hershel asked her
"No."
"Then why did you come here?" I asked her
"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."
"I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl told her and I put my hand on his shoulder
"We're taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." Glenn said to her
"Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."
"You want to make this right, get us inside." Rick tells her
"No."
"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick says to her and walked away
"There are innocent people."
We all stand out in the court yard as Glenn drove an old prison car up to Andrea and Rick then got out and walked away, "Thanks. Can you spare it?" She asked Rick
"Yeah."
She looked around at all of us, "Well, take care."
"Andrea." Rick says after she got in the car and handed her gun back to her, "Be careful."
"You, too." She says and drives towards the gate as Merle unlocked it then she went through
That night we were all gathered in the cell block, Beth and Glenn were sitting on the floor, Maggie was sitting on the bottom of the stairs and I was sitting a few up from her while everyone else stood around, Rick came down the stairs with Judith who was getting fussy, I reached my arms out for her and he handed her to me and I rocked her trying to calm her down, I looked at my mom then back down at Judith and sighed
'They hung a sign up in our town, If you live it up, you won't live it down.' I started to sing and everyone looked at me and my mom smiled, I always sang this song to Sophia, 'So she left Monte Rio, son, Just like a bullet leaves a gun, With charcoal eyes and Monroe hips, She went and took the California trip, Well, the moon was gold and her hair like wind, Said don't look back now, Just come on, Jim, You got to hold on, Hold on, You got to hold on, Take my hand, I'm standing right here, You got to hold on, Well, he gave her a dime-store watch, And a ring made from a spoon, Everyone's looking for someone to blame, If you share my bed, you share my name' I see Daryl smile out the corner of my eye, 'When there's nothing left to keep you here, When you're falling behind in this big blue world, You got to hold on, Hold on, Got to hold on, Take my hand, I'm standing right here, Got to hold on...Down by the Riverside Motel, It's 10 below and falling, By a 99-cent store, She closed her eyes and started swaying, But it's so hard to dance that way, When it's cold and there's no music, Well, your old hometown is so far away, But inside your head there's a record, That's playing a song called, Hold on, hold on, Baby, you got to hold on, Take my hand, I'm standing right there, You got to hold on, You got to hold on, hold on, Baby, got to hold on, Take my hand, I'm standing right there, You got to hold on, You got to hold on, hold on, Baby, you got to hold on, And take my hand, I'm standing right here, You got to hold on, You got to hold on, You got to hold on, baby, You got to hold on, girl, You got to hold on, You got to hold on.'