Chapter 118-Predator
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan, Brandon, Rosita, and Mark stared at the herd as it grew closer to their panic "Get back!" Morgan shouts as they move back, with Brandon helping Mark, an arm helping him up as the two back away. Morgan hits a walker in the head and Brandon uses his knife to stab another. "Get him back to Oceanside. We'll lead them away!" Morgan shouts to Brandon.
"Wait what about you?!" Brandon yelled back.
"Head inside one of the trailers, we'll catch up!" Morgan added, pointing to the ruined community "Go!"
Brandon nods with a grimace as he helps Mark away. He looks at Rosita, who nods determinedly.
"We don't die." Rosita says.
"We don't die." Morgan affirmed as they run away, and a part of the herd follows them, and another half follows Brandon and Mark.
Brandon's P.O.V
Brandon gets Mark inside one of the trailers and shuts the door. "Mark, sit down." Brandon tells him. Mark nods as he sits down, looking at the door warily as Brandon looks around the trailer and finds a first aid kit. He walks over to Mark. "I gotta get the arrow out."
"Do it, fast." Mark says. Brandon nods as he grabs the arrow and pulls it out. He quickly cleans the wound and starts to wrap it. "What do we do?"
"We wait and find Morgan and Rosita. If not, Daryl probably knows something's wrong by now. But-" Brandon started to say but froze as they hear the door open and two men slowly enter wearing rotten walker faces.
Mark stared in horror "What the fuck?!"
Brandon stood in front of Mark, staring at the two with a dispassionate look on his face.
"We are the end." The two intoned slowly drawing knives
"I know." Brandon nodded, as Mark looked at him in confusion, but he then withdraws his knife and stabs Mark in the throat. Mark looks at him in shock as he falls to the ground, choking on his blood, grabbing the knife.
The two stared at this, confused at the body, then up at Brandon. After a moment, one of them said lowly "Why did you do that?"
Over Mark's death rattles, Brandon said calmly "I want to talk to your leader. I want to help you end them."
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl walked around the room as Coco was drawing near a table humming happily, saying up to Daryl "Uncle Daryl, what's wrong?"
"Nothing Coco just...You're Mom, and Dad are gonna be back real soon." Daryl says as she beamed.
"Uhuh! Mommy and Daddy are super strong!" She said innocently as the five year old went back to her drawing.
Hearing the door, he saw his family walk inside with the twins in front and his wife following them, a somewhat nervous look on her face.
Seeing as his wife didn't scare easily, caused Daryl to focus on them.
"Dad." Merle asked, making Daryl look at them both.
"What is it?" Daryl asked as Alicia crossed her arms, looking at the twins with a bite of her lips.
"We saw Auntie Sherry and Negan talking." Ofelia says. Daryl and Alicia share a look, Alicia's eyes filled with worry while Daryl's were betraying nothing.
"Were you eavesdropping again?" Alicia scolded the two "We told you that it's rude to do that."
"I'm sorry, Mom, we weren't trying too! But we were playing with Ezra and saw the two arguing." Ofelia defended.
"What did you hear?" Daryl asks, his tone trying not to sound concerned.
"Why does Aunt Sherry hate Uncle Negan?" Merle asks, Ofelia nodding as they looked between their parents.
"They have a troubled past." Daryl says. "Your Aunt Sherry is just scared. She's worried about Uncle Morgan and Aunt Rosita, but she doesn't hate Uncle Negan. She's just scared. When they get back, she'll apologize." Daryl tells them. "Okay?"
The two stare at him for a moment too long before they nod. "Why don't you take Coco out for a walk? Coco go with your cousins and don't stay cooped up here." Alicia suggests.
"Okay!" Coco chirped and ran up to the twins, grabbing her stuffed giraffe with a giggle. As the twins looked at their parents for a moment before leading her out. After looking to make sure they were gone, Alicia locks the door and looks at her husband.
"It's just a matter of time before they find out," Alicia tells him.
"I know," Daryl growls in frustration. He takes a deep breath. "I know, but we can't tell the now, not now," He saw Alicia looking at him with a stunned look. "Not with Morgan and Rosita out there. Not with that herd breathing down our necks."
"We have to tell them soon, all of them. Merle, Ofelia, Andrea, Judith...Hershel." Alicia finished with a pained look.
"We'll tell them when all of this is over, I promise you." Daryl put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly
Alicia looked at the door then back "I just, I'm not sure. I don't know how their gonna take it."
"I don't know about the others. But our kids, they love that man. They'll still love him after." Daryl reassured as he takes her hand. "We'll tell them."
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan and Rosita run through the woods. "Morgan, down here," Rosita says as she motions to the bottom of a hill. Morgan nods as he follows her, sliding down the hill, both of them getting covered in mud as they press their backs against the dirt. Morgan takes Rosita's hand as they hear the growls of the walkers as they walk past them.
"Where are they? Where did they go?" They hear as the herd walks past them. Morgan reaches down for his walkie-talkie and realizes it is gone.
Morgan and Rosita look at each, fear in both of their eyes.
Shane's P.O.V
Shane walks into Daryl's house after some time had passed. "Morgan, Morgan, do you copy?" Daryl asks.
"Nothing?" Shane asks Daryl, who shakes his head, his lips drawn across his face.
"Somethings wrong," Daryl says.
"Hey, they could be busy or ran into something and lost the radio. We said we'll give them till noon, we'll give them till noon." Shane said comfortingly, trying to calm Daryl down
"Two hours. They got two hours before we head out."
"Who's we?" Shane drew back, confused.
"You, me, Troy, Madison, Nick, John, Alden, and Daniel," Daryl tells him. "We'll leave in two hours. Maybe sure they are ready."
"Daryl-"
"Make sure they are ready," Daryl growls.
"Shouldn't we tell Ezekiel?" Shane said in some resignation, knowing he was still in charge of this place.
"Telling him right now." Daryl walked out with Shane following him.
Shane walked outside the apartment building, watching Daryl head to Ezekiel's office, and saw Alicia walking towards him. "What's wrong?" She asks, seeing the look on his face.
"Daryl, Nick, John, Alden, Troy, Daniel, your Mom, and I are going out in two hours to find Rosita and Morgan. Alicia, he's worried. You need to talk to him, and help him get his head on straight. Daryl is smart, but his feelings sometimes get in the way, and Morgan is one of the most important people in the world to him. I trust him with my life, but if we go out there-"
"Don't say it," Alicia warned, but Shane carried on.
"If we go out there and Morgan is dead, hell if they are both dead, he's going to spiral. I don't want it to happen, but we know it's a possibility." Shane says as he rubs his head. "We know it."
"I'll talk to him," Alicia says. "Shane, if Morgan is dead, he won't spiral. He'll lose himself, so for all of our sakes, we better hope he's alive," She says before she walks inside.
Brandon's P.O.V.
Brandon walked with the two people through the woods. He was now wearing Mark's face, still bloody around the edges, He followed him into a camp where people walked around, many stopping to see this newcomer. All of them wore the skin of the dead, stopping eerily still as they whispered amongst themselves
They walk up to a figure who was kneeling and then looked up... Normally Brandon tried to be brave, but at the moment he felt a wave of terror hit him as he properly looked at the supposed leader of this group. The first thing he noticed was that she wasn't very tall and a bit hefty, but she had an air. An air of raw intimidation and danger as she gazed at him through a mask with long stringy blond hair. But the eyes, the eyes were like those of a predator, hungry and as if deciding to tear him limb from limb. She slowly sauntered up...gazed him up and down then spoke in a raspy hiss like a viper. "Who is this?"
Brandon stared back at the woman, and he was scared as she stared at him. "Take off the mask."
Brandon quickly nods as he takes off the mask and drops it to the ground, the low whisper of a voice sending chills through his spine. "I'm-"
"Kneel." The woman says. Brandon stares at her and falls to one knee, trying not to look away and perhaps irritating this terrifying woman.
"Why is he here?" She asks one of the two men who brought him here.
"He says he wants to help us end the other communities, the ones we've seen."
"Stand." The woman says after a moment of silence, and Brandon stands immediately. "These people are supposed to be your friends, allies. Why help us kill them?"
"These people killed my people. The Saviors, we were a good group, trying to protect people, and they killed us, killed good people, good men and women. The man that led them, they keep him on a leash now, he's their dog, and that is how he has to live. If he doesn't, they'll kill him. My group, they were amazing, they saved person after person, kept them alive and fed, and protected other communities, and those assholes Rick, Daryl, Ezekiel, Maggie, that fucking snake Eugene, took it from all of us, and they call it the New World, but it is nothing but a lie. They killed my parents, and they called it justice. They are liars and killers, and they should all die and be fed to your herd. We can do that together. We can end them and continue saving people. We can-"
The woman stared at this all stonily then pressed a finger to his lips and he stopped talking immediately.
"Silence" The woman says coldly. "How many more of your people are out there, in the woods?"
"Two." Brandon answers.
"We'll kill them first, and anybody who comes looking, you will tell me everything you know, and then, we will help me end them."
Brandon nodded "Yh yes yes I will...um...I um..." He looked around, all of these people surrounding him like predators in the wood "Wh...who are you?"
"These are my pack." She answered emotionless "and I...am The Alpha."
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan and Rosita run through the woods until they reach a barn. Morgan pushes the door open and then shuts it as she rushed behind him, the two heading into a pen and sit down. "What do we do?" Rosita asks as she lays her head on his shoulder.
"We wait." Morgan says.
"Till what? We've been gone for hours. It's only a matter of time before Daryl comes looking for us and runs into the same trap we did." Rosita says.
"Daryl's smart. We were near the cars when they heard hit us. I had to have dropped my radio along the way. Once he gets to that hill, he'll be able to track us."
"I dropped bullets." Rosita says, making Morgan look at her eyes furrowed. "The clip I had in my pocket, I took the bullets out and dropped them along the way. Maybe he'll find them. Follow the trail."
Morgan nods as he takes her hand. "Before today, I thought we had seen everything before today, but people wearing walker's faces? Skinning the bodies and wearing them? That's something I never thought we'd see."
"We have to be careful if we run into walkers now. They could be these people. We keep our distance and take them out." Rosita says.
"Okay, we will." Morgan says as he kisses her head. "Try and get some rest. I'll keep watch," Morgan says.
Rosita nods as she closes her eyes, and Morgan stares at the door, waiting to see if anything walks in and thinking of his daughter back home, They're daughter.
Troy's P.O.V
Troy loads his gun and puts it in the holster as he grabs his rifle and bag. He looks at Laura as she stares at him. "Don't give me that look." Troy sighed.
"You could die out there." She said lowly.
"I could die in here, baby." Troy says. "Everything that has happened to me, meeting you and everybody else. I owe it to Morgan and Daryl. I owe it to them to help find Morgan. I have to do this."
Laura nods with a sigh. "I know, just be safe. I need you, and so does our child."
"I'll be back in time for breakfast, I'm with Daryl and you know how tough that son of a bitch is." Troy says as he kisses her with a smile. "Make sure Troy Jr is fed. We don't want him to be as pissed off as you."
Laura smiles as she kisses him again. "We are not naming our child that."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too."
Troy walked out the door and froze on instinct seeing Negan leaning against the hallway walls.
"Oh uh hey-"
"Make sure to get back here alive." Negan just says softly then went inside their apartment.
Troy realized that was probably the nicest thing the man had ever said to him.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl puts ammo on his back and looks at Alicia as she walks into the room. "We need to talk."
"We've waited long enough. I'm going to find them." Daryl tells her. "I ain't talking about it."
"Daryl-"
"We ain't talking about it" Daryl says.
"I'm not trying to stop you." Alicia assured him. "But we need to talk. About what you might find out there."
"I'm gonna find Morgan and Rosita, and they're gonna be just fine." Daryl turned to load his crossbow with a stern look.
"Daryl-"
"They're gonna be fine!" He shouts at her. "They gotta be! They're survivors!"
"Daryl, they are but-"
"I need them to be," Daryl says softly. "I need him to be."
Alicia stares at him and realizes that he's scared. That one of his biggest fears may be coming true. One of the most important people in the world to him might be dead. Alicia grabs his hand and makes him look at her. "Morgan, he doesn't die. You're going to find him, alive and well, and you'll bring him and Rosita back, but to do that, you have to keep your head on straight, and even if he isn't...alive, you have to do that, for me, Merle, Ofelia, Coco. She's going to need us if they aren't. You have to come back."
"I will," Daryl says. "I will, and they'll be with me, I swear."
Alicia nods as she kisses him.
"I love you," Daryl says.
"I love you, too," He says as he grabs his bow and gun and leaves, saying goodbye to Merle and Ofelia with tight hugs as he walks to the gate where the others are waiting for them.
"You ready to find them?" Madison asks him.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Daryl says as he climbs on his back, and the others climb in the cars they are using. Daryl starts the bike and drives out of the Kingdom, determined to bring his brother and sister back. He was going to get them back, no matter what.
Thanks for reading. So Daryl is spiraling a little bit because he is worried. Next chapter Daryl, John, Nick, Madison, Shane, Troy, Daniel, and Alden go after Morgan and Rosita, and they come face to face with the whispers. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.