Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking dead.
BonnieLouDavisThompson- Hi, Thank you so much. I'm so glad you found this story.
Shadowoftheblackdeat- I'm excited for it too. I want them to grow and grow until they become unstoppable.
Alwaysand- Definitely losing it and way more dangerous than he's coming across.
Danny's POV
"Why the fuck are we stopping", Abraham comes stalking towards me as I climb out of the cab.
"Because", Daryl starts, "we've been cramped up for over ten hours. People need to get out and moving."
Abraham grunts,"we've only just got back the distance we lost yesterday. We have to get going. We don't have time for this".
"We do", Daryl argues back. "We can spare half an hour".
I grab Riley from Carol after she climbs out of the back seat. She helps me attach him to my front with my scarf as Beth appears to get Judith from Sophia with Maggie.
"Sasha, Oscar, Glenn", Merle shouts their names out, as each of them hears their names their heads snap in his direction. "You're with us, everyone else is on guard. We roll out in twenty".
"I'm comin' with ya", Abraham declares a little abruptly. Daryl looks at him with his eyebrows pulled down in a scowl, he's definitely not happy with the way Abraham said that.
"Alrigh'".
"Rosita", She looks at Abraham as he calls her name. "You watch Eugene". She nods.
Daryl and Merle split their little group of people up into two teams. Merle in charge of one and Daryl in charge of the other. Once they're sure everyone has a decent weapon they head off towards some of the buildings. They aren't gonna spend too long looking through them but if we're gonna hang around here then we might as well make the most of it.
"Hey", Rosita says to get my attention. "I need to pee, you mind watching him for a couple of minutes to make sure he doesn't do something…. Stupid".
"Of course I can". Rosita then walks off to wherever it is she thinks will give her the most privacy.
I stand here and stare at the back of Eugene as he stands about five feet in front of me staring off towards the end of the street. For a good few minutes he doesn't move and then suddenly he starts moving. Before he can take a couple of steps I call after him.
"Don't, you aren't allowed to wander off. Not until Rosita gets back". Eugene stops and then slowly turns to face me.
"I've seen what you can do and I believe you are fully capable of being able to protect me if needed." He tilts his head a fraction to the side. "Or do you not believe you can".
"I can", I say a little defensively, "but I don't want Abraham to get pissed at me if you get in trouble".
He sighs, "I only want to go over there." He then turns his back on me and starts walking down the street. I cast a quick glance behind me to see if Rosita is on her way back yet but she's not, so with a heavy sigh I reluctantly follow after him as he wanders off.
I freeze midstep, I swear I can hear something. I only have to listen for a couple of minutes to know that that sound is from Walkers, lots of them.
"Eugene!" He ignores me. "Eugene!" I whisper yell a little louder but he still ignores me. I wrap one arm around Riley to keep him from jostling around too much and then jog to catch up to him. But, I'm too late. He reaches an open doorway near the end of the street just as a Walker steps out of it.
Eugene twist and turns as he tries to knock the walker's grip off of him. I yank out my bat and as soon as I'm within arms reach I bring my bat down on the Walkers head. Blood spurts out and covers Eugene's face and his front and as the Walker hits the floor Eugene just stands there and stares down at it.
"We have to go back". The noise I heard is getting louder, so loud which means we're out of time. He still just stands there and stares down the Walker. "Eugene!" I shout. "We have to go now".
I had started moving backwards hoping that he would follow but as the first of the herd appears around the corner I cast a quick glance down at the top of Riley's head before making the reckless decision to go back to him. I can't leave him standing there.
Abraham suddenly rushes past me with a machete raised, he's very quickly followed by Daryl. Daryl doesn't stop as he rushes past me but I do hear him shout at me to go back.
I listen to him. I need to get Riley out of here. The number of Walkers coming into view is getting big and it's way more than all of us together can handle.
I reluctantly turn my back on Daryl and rush over towards Merle who is ushering everyone into the building they went into earlier. Our cars are useless as there are Walkers coming out of every alleyway on the right side.
Maggie seems to be one of the last ones to be basically shoved into the building by Glenn as she holds Judith. I stop before I reach Merle and the doorway and look back the way I came. Abraham is forcibly dragging Eugene, he has a tight grip on Eugene's upper arm causing him to stumble over his own feet.
My heart sinks as a noise slips from my mouth. Daryl is getting surrounded. He's losing. He whacks a few with the end of his crossbow but they don't stop coming. I shout his name knowing full well that it won't help him. I'm too far away to do anything and I don't have my rifle.
His name comes out as a scream as a Walker gets its arms wrapped around Daryl's neck, it drags him off balance and then another is grabbing him until he disappears from view.
Suddenly my feet are no longer on the floor and I'm being spun around, once my feet are back on the floor I'm shoved towards the open doorway. The door is closed behind me, sending us into total darkness. Merle keeps leading me down the dark hall with his hand against the back of my neck. The only reason I let him do this is because of Riley, until he is off of me I will keep myself in check. I have to, I have….to.
I have way too many emotions running through me. Part of me wants to drop to my knees and scream and cry but the other part of me wants to fight, and if anyone was to try and stop me they would end up staring up the barrel of my gun. It wouldn't matter who it was.
Merle leads me up the stairs and into the room everyone else has gathered into. The big window is allowing a lot of light in so at least we won't have to stand in total darkness. As soon as Merle lets go of my neck I untie the scarf and hand Riley to the closest person. Glenn takes him, "Don't", he whispers at me.
"What?" Sophia voices from somewhere else in the room but I ignore them both.
There's a tugging on my bat holder and then my gun is being yanked from its spot. I don't try to grab it from Merle, instead I just turn to face him.
"That won't stop me".
"I know it won't," Merle says uncharacteristically softly.
We stare at each other in silence before I finally break it. Without looking at anyone I head over to the window and open it, there's a fire escape but just as I lift me leg up to climb over the ledge Merle calls out to me.
"Danny don't". I listen but only because I can hear the pain in his voice. I'm not the only one who has lost someone, his brother is missing and he's doing just what I'm doing. Trying not to let the pain take over. I slowly lower my leg back down and turn to him.
"It's my fault", Eugene says before I can say anything.
Abraham still has a tight grip around his arm. "We have to get Eugene out of here. They saw us come in here and it won't be long before they block our exits".
Rosita comes over to me and looks out the window. "The back car is clear. If we can get out of here we should be able to get to it."
"Who has the keys?" Abraham asks.
"We can't go anywhere without Daryl". I say slowly.
"We can't go", Eugene says at the same time as me. "It's my fault he's gone". My chest tightens at the phrase `he's gone`.
"He's gone because he knew how important it was to protect you", Abraham snaps back.
Merle scoffs, "He was protectin' Danny, ain't got shit to do with what Eugene can do. He went to stop Danny goin'".
I know Merle doesn't mean for it to sound like Daryl's out there because of me but to me that's what it sounds like.
"We have to find him", I say, "We have to help him".
"You can do what you want" Abraham shoots back, "But we aren't helping you. And anyone who wants to come with us can".
The room remains quiet until Glenn answers for everyone. "We are all here because of Danny. She wants to stay so we stay".
Abraham finally lets go of Eugenes arm, I can tell it was hurting him because Eugene starts rubbing the area as soon as his arm is free. "Seriously, he's dead. We all saw it but you're willing to risk your lives looking for a dead body".
I move forward before I realise I'm doing it. I have no idea what it is I plan to do but anger is driving me.
Merle grabs my shoulder.
"He's not dead". I grit out with a clenched jaw.
Abraham shrugs, "You wanna believe that then go right ahead but I'm getting the three of us outta here while we can, Come on Rosita". He grabs Eugene again and starts forcing him towards the door. Eugene is dragging his feet but Abrahams way too strong for him.
When dragging his feet doesn't work he starts shouting. "No! We have to stay. It's my fault. We have to help them".
Abraham ignores him, but I can't. The pain and terror in his voice has me yanking my shoulder out from under Merle's hand. I lunge forwards and grab Eugene's other arm.
"Let him go. Now!"
Abraham suddenly turns, giving Eugene nowhere to go, he ends up trapped between the two of us.
"You let him go". He then just stares me down but I don't let go.
Tyreese steps closer and touches the arm Abraham has locked onto Eugene. "Move back man".
Abraham cracks his neck, "Do not touch me".
"I'm not coming", Eugene says weakly again.
"I don't care what you want. You are coming".
Rosita steps up beside Abraham. "Let him go Abraham".
He looks down at her, the betrayal written all over his face. "Why is no one else concerned about getting him to Washington? We can save the world. We can stop people like Daryl from dying". I visibly recoil at that but manage to keep my grip.
"What good is it if all the people that help you get him there end up dying". I ask him.
"They die knowing it's for the greater good".
Merle scoffs again. "If gettin' him to Washington kills the people we call family then to me that ain't worth it".
"Abraham?" Herschel calls him and then steps forward. "I understand your point but you're forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do. He wants to stay".
"I don't give a shit", Abraham grabs Eugene's collar with his other hand and starts pulling but before I can lose my grip on his arm Eugene twists his hand around and latches onto my arm. The force of the pulling causes me to have to follow them.
People are shouting over each other, trying to stop Abraham but he ignores every single one of them. The shouting also causes the walkers to start pounding on the door we came through. If they didn't know where we were before they definitely do now.
"I lied," Eugene shouts. Abraham stops but he doesn't let go. "I lied. I don't know how to stop this".
I know I should be shocked, surprised and even possibly angry but I can't find it in me to care. Because it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is finding Daryl.
Abraham drops Eugene like he's just burned him and takes a few steps back. "Wha…" With Eugene free I pull him behind me because Abraham is clearly an unhinged man and I have no idea what he'll do.
"I'm not a scientist, I cannot stop it".
"You..you are scientist." Rosita stutters. "I've seen the things you can do".
Eugene shakes his head. "I just know things".
"You just…. Know things". Glenn says.
"I know I'm smarter than most people, I know I'm a very good liar and I know I needed to get to DC because I believe that locale holds the strongest possibility for survival and I wanted to survive".
I shake my head. "We don't have time for this". This is something that needs to be sorted out later, when we have Daryl back.
"We…. Don't". Abraham mumbles. He rocks forwards and for a second I can swear it looks like he's gonna come at me, or more importantly the man I'm standing in front of but then he rocks back and stumbles. He keeps stepping backwards until his back whacks into the wall. He then slides down until he's sat on the floor.
"Tyreese", He looks at me."Watch Eugene". He nods. I don't know what Abraham will do so until I get back he needs to be looked after. Without another word I walk out of the room. When I get round the corner away from the open doorway I suddenly stumble, my hand shoots out to the wall to stop me from falling down.
"Hey", Glenn's hands grip my waist as he helps me stand back up straight.
I spin around to face him, tears welling up in my eyes. "Why does everyone think he's dead. He can't be dead. He…. He can't be". I can't do this without him.
Glenn yanks me against him and wraps his arms around me. "We will find him".