Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead
Alwaysand- I make you a promise that I won't, I completely agree with you and have never liked it.
Shadowofthebackdeat- haha. He definitely is. Maybe you'll just have to read on to find out.
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Enjoy.
Danny's POV
I suddenly sit upright in my seat, my fingers wrapping around the handle of my bat that's leaning against my legs.
"What is it?" Carol asks as she grabs my seat to pull herself forwards.
Merle stops the truck but none of us move, even Daryl stays seated on his bike with the engine running. The tree that is blocking the road is huge and there is absolutely no way we can drive around it. Abrahams truck is huge and heavy, we might be able to get him to push or drag it out of the way but what's keeping us inside the car is not knowing whether or not the storm is responsible for this, or if it's intentionally been done.
After we all sit here in silence for a couple of minutes just watching Daryl finally turns his engine off and very hesitantly climbs off his bike. He immediately loads a bolt into his crossbow as he walks backwards towards us. I look at my baby in the back seat and Judith who is sitting on Sophia's lap and I immediately have the answer we need. We shouldn't stay here.
I go to open my door but Daryl puts his body against it meaning I have to open my window instead. I know he did it on purpose to keep me in the car.
Merle leans across the centre console. "Ya think it's a trap or the storm?"
Daryl keeps his eyes scanning the woods around us. "I don't know".
There's a shout from inside the tree line and then a man comes stumbling out onto the road, blood dripping down his face from a wound on his forehead.
Daryl steps forward, crossbow aimed straight at him. "Stop!"
The man freezes for half a second but then there's movement behind him and he moves again. I shove my door open and jump out, my gun already out and safety off. Another man appears out of the trees holding a machete, he halts when he sees us but then his eyes land on the man running towards us. He pulls his lips up in a sneer and charges forward.
We don't know either of these men but there is one thing I'm certain about, we have to help this man. I rush forward and grab the terrified man's arm and then basically shove him behind me, keeping my hand wrapped around his forearm. I raise my gun at the machete wielding man causing him to come to a stop about two feet away from it.
He grins. "You know how to handle that lil' girl?"
I look at my gun and then back at him, "This is the dangerous end right?" He scoffs and goes to step forward, "Careful", I start, "I don't want to have to shoot you in the face".
He winks, "Don't worry princess, I think even at this distance you'll still miss".
Merle lets out a humourless chuckle behind me, "Wanna bet on that?"
The man swallows heavily but keeps the smug look on his face. "Whatever, just give that snivelling shit back and maybe we'll let you guys go".
We? Shit! Out of the trees comes five more guys, all heavily armed and each more scary looking than the previous.
Machete man shrugs, "Of course you'll have to give everything you own over to us before we do".
The man I still have a tight grip on is pulled away from me and then Daryl steps up beside me, His arm brushing against mine.
I shake my head "That's not happening".
A man holding a rifle strolls closer, completely at ease with having weapons pointed at him. "Why don't you let the men talk sweetheart".
I tighten my grip on my gun for a second before forcing myself to ease up as he keeps talking.
"Which one of these men is in charge, maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement".
"You ain't gettin' the guy", Daryl says, "Or anythin' we own so fuck off back into those trees before we shoot every single one of you".
The man with the rifle nods and then slides the strap on his rifle onto his shoulder. "The names Joe, I'm guessing you're the one in charge. Maybe we put our weapons down and have a calm discussion".
The breathe Merle lets out is unbelievably loud, "Man, you wanna talk to the person in charge then fuckin' talk to her".
Joe raises an eyebrow and then looks at me, a couple of his men scoff behind him. "Forgive me for the rude assumption. Do you think we can have a calm and reasonable discussion about this". Everything about his appearance screams rough, a member of an mc or something but the way he speaks, it doesn't suit him.
"I'm listening". I say, trying to keep my voice steady. I can't show that I'm scared but I also can't be abrupt and angry.
"Would you lower the gun, don't really like to talk with a gun pointed straight at my face. It's not polite".
"I can't do that."
"Alright, suit yourself." He runs his hand from his mouth to his chin and then smiles. "That man you're protecting is a liar and a thief and all we want is him back to give him the justice he deserves".
"A thief?" I ask, "But didn't your guy just tell us we had to give all of our stuff over, think that counts as theft to".
"Not really, see we can kill you and then the stuff won't belong to anyone so we'll be rightfully able to claim it as our own." He chuckles lowly to himself, "Or to protect your lives you can just give it all to us as a gift and neither of those options seem like theft to me", He turns his head to look at the men behind. "Do they to you?" They all shake their heads or say no. He looks back at me. "See. Look, we're reasonable men so what happens will be completely up to you and we'll honour the decision."
Does he fully believe that that's honourable? "Neither of those options seem fair to me".
"Fair?" He grins, "This world isn't fair darling. You have to do anything you can to survive, those are the rules now".
"Rules like that destroy whatever civilization that's left" Daryl tells him.
Joe loses any of the humour he had as he locks eyes with Daryl. "Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you. You said she was in charge so that's who I'm speaking with".
Daryl makes a noise in the back of his throat and starts to move forward but I put my arm up to stop him. "Don't, please". I whisper to him. He goes back to his original position and I know it takes absolutely everything he has to do it. "We… We don't have rules like that. We don't take things from people just because we want it, and we certainly don't kill people to get it either; And with all due respect we are all equal in this group and I don't appreciate you talking to any of my family like that".
"Family?" Joe mumbles. "You shouldn't have family in a time like this. Makes you too sentimental. You should be able to make the hard decision for the group whether they like it or not. What if one of them betrays you, huh? You wouldn't be able to give out the punishment they deserve because you'd be upset about it".
"Is this what this is?" I say, "Is he a member of your group?"
He nods, "He was and he took something that didn't belong to him and then had the nerve to lie about it, that is punishable by death".
The man we're standing in front of finally makes a noise. "No, that's, no. I needed food and nobody would share".
Joe chuckles again. "And that warrants you to steal something that these men worked hard to get. If you wanted something you should have gone out and got it yourself".
"Lying and stealing is wrong but you're punishing him because he was starving. See that's why a family works better than whatever it is you guys are. We don't let anyone go hungry, not if I can help them."
"So if you didn't have enough for everyone you would go without?" He asks. I just nod my head at him. "How does that help them huh? You starve to save them and then what, you die and leave them behind, Wow yeah that sounds like a great idea". His voice is dripping with sarcasm. "This lot, we all fend for ourselves but what you should be doing is giving your family", he says the word family like it's a bad word. "a hierarchy, starting with you and working your way down. Those should be the ones that are fed first, looked after first that way if you don't have enough for those at the bottom, the weak ones, they are weeded out allowing the strong ones to survive".
"Just because some people can't fight or protect themselves, doesn't make them weak. Everyone deserves a chance to live".
"I don't agree with you at all".
"That's okay", I say, "but that doesn't mean I'm wrong".
He shrugs, "But that doesn't solve the issue at hand though does it? I've offered you my advice and you decide what you do with it but we still need to sort out the decision on how we get our supplies".
I can't for the life of me give over this man and all of our stuff. "How about we compromise? I will willingly give you half of our supplies". Merle makes a very unhappy noise but refrains from saying anything. "I'll even give you a car to put them into but you can't have everything, and you certainly can't have this man".
"That doesn't really seem fair to me Darling. You'd get a lot more out of this deal than I would".
"Fair?" I repeat back the same words he said earlier. "This world isn't fair." The friendliness he had completely drops from his face but I push on. "These supplies are ours, all you're really able to do is bargain his life for ours and I am unwilling to give up his so I'm offering something else. Food, clothes, anything you need I will share with you. This deal makes you leave here a lot better off than when you got here".
He looks up and slowly shakes his head. "I don't get that. I just don't hear how that's better for us when we could have the traitor and everything you own. Why settle".
I let out a frustrated sigh causing him to raise an eyebrow at me. "I have been nothing but civil to you, why can't you just make this easy on everyone. We have more people than you, if this escalates you will lose".
A few of his people laugh but Joe remains emotionless. "Was that a threat? And as for being civil. I'm not the one who's pointing a gun, that's you".
"Do you honestly believe that if I wasn't pointing this at you, you would still be talking to me".
"We won't ever know will we?"
"I have something else we can offer''. Says the guy who ran out of the trees with the machete.
Joe turns to him. "Go on, Len".
Len grins "Why don't we let them keep the little weasel and we take her instead, she's too emotional to run them anyway and I'm loving the feisty attitude".
Daryl moves so much quicker than I expected, my hand only grabs at empty air as I try to reach for him. I move my gun onto the person who aims at him first and immediately pull the trigger. Before the man's body has even hit the floor other people are shooting. Joe's group scatter. Len ducks and comes charging forwards, heading straight for Daryl but before I can shoot at him an arm hooks around my waist and yanks me backwards. Merle doesn't force me in the direction of the cars, instead he moves us towards the opposite tree line. Trying to keep any gunfire away from the cars and away from those that are still hiding inside. Away from Riley and Judith.