Chapter 119-The Graveyard
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl stops his bike by Morgan's car and steps off, heading to it. "That's Morgan's." Soon he stepped around it and looked at the ground as carefully as he could, realizing the light was starting to fade at this point.
"You see any tracks?" Troy asks.
"Over here." Daryl points to the ground. "Two sets, four heading into one side and another two heading into the other side of the woods."
"What do you think?" Shane asks, looking around, a feeling of unease settling in his stomach cause of how quiet it was.
"I think they got split up." Daryl says. "That's one head towards Oceanside. They came back, looks like they were followed by a lot of walkers."
"We go after the two heading into the woods, right?" Alden asks Daryl, who nods as they head into the woods.
Rick's P.O.V
Rick was walking with Carl along the walls when Jesus ran up to them in a hurry. "What is it?" Rick asks.
"Morgan, Rosita, Brandon, and Mark didn't come back." Jesus panted, hunched over.
"Did they send a group out?" Carl asks.
"Daryl, John, Shane, Troy, Madison, Alden, Nick, and Daniel went to find them."
"Make sure we have a car ready. If something happens, we need to get to the Kingdom," Rick ordered Jesus, who nods as he ran to the cars.
"Dammit, this is already going bad," Carl says as he hits his hand against the wall.
"Hey." Rick reassuringly put a hand on his son's back. "I know you are worried, I am too, but they are going to be fine."
"We don't know that, Dad," Carl says. "Everything we've dealt with, we have known how to deal with it, The Saviors, the herds, Richmond, the Rippers. This is something different. Whatever these things are, if their walkers or people who seem to live among the walkers, they destroyed Oceanside, someone's going to die, Dad, and we won't be able to stop it."
"Son, we're gonna win. People always die, but we are going to win. We'll save everyone we can. Don't lose hope. Daryl, they know what they are doing. We're going to get the radio call, and everyone is going to be back in the Kingdom, safe." Rick tells him. "We know how this world works, Carl. If you don't fight, you die, and we're going to fight like we always do, and we're going to live. Enid is going to live. My grandchild is going to live. You're going to live. I told you, this world needs Carl Grimes."
Carl nods as Rick grips his shoulder.
Laura's P.O.V
Laura stood on watch, staring at the road. It was all she could do besides pace in her apartment in worry, having already sent Negan to check on Coco with Jerry, faintly amused at the two almost immediately becoming fast friends "They'll be back." She looked at Carol as she stood by her.
"How can you be so sure?" Laura asks her, looking back at the road
"Because they have come back from worse, Daryl, Troy, and the others came back from Texas, and Alden came back from Oregon. Rosita traveled from Texas to Virginia. Our people are survivors, and Troy is going to do whatever he has to make sure he gets back to you and this baby," Carol says. "I know they will. Our people are very good at escaping death."
"Thanks, Carol." Laura mumbled, but her fists clenched, worry still in her gut
"Come on, let's get you something to eat." Carol says. After a final look at the road, Laura sighed and followed her.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl and John walked through the front of the group. "These bullet casings, think one of 'em dropped them?" John asks Daryl in worry as he picks another up.
"Looks like it, probably Rosita. They're from her gun. Morgan only carries a handgun." Daryl says as they get to the top of a hill and after looking at it for a few seconds, pointed. "They went down."
"The herd when that way." John looked down the road, confused.
"They must have went down to get away from it." Troy says. Daryl nods as they go down the hill. They slowly follow the tracks until they see a barn.
"John, Shane, Alden, Troy, you're with me. The rest of you stay out here. Keep an eye out for that herd, it's probably gone by now but stay sharp." Daryl tells them. They nod as they head to the door of the building and pull it open. "Morgan!" Daryl hissed through the building.
"In here." He hears his soft reply. Daryl rushes into the barn and towards the pen as Morgan and Rosita come out. Daryl comes up to the man and hugs him.
"You scared the hell out of me, man. Both of you did," Daryl says as he lets Morgan go and hugs Rosita.
"We're okay, we're here. A little banged up, but alive." Morgan says as he hugs the others.
"Where are Brandon and Mark?" Daniel asked.
"They are back at Oceanside. Maybe. But we heard shots." Rosita says.
"What do we do?" Alden looking in the direction of the ruined community.
"We get these two back to the Kingdom." Daryl says.
Nick whipped his head to Daryl "Wait, what?"
"Just leave them?" John asks in disbelief.
"They might be dead, they might not be, but that herd is out there, and it's going to be pulled towards Oceanside because of those shots. We can circle around, get to our cars, get you two home, and we'll come back."
Madison stared at Daryl "So just leave those two out here?"
"Daryl, that isn't who we are." Troy says.
"Don't matter. I'm protecting my people. It will be dark soon. By the time we get back there, it will be, and I'm not running around the woods in the dark." Daryl growls. "We'll come back. Let's get you two home to Coco and you back to Laura."
"Daryl, there is something you need to know," Morgan says.
"It can wait." Daryl stood, heading to the outside.
"No, it can't. The walkers that attacked Oceanside, they aren't evolving. They are people wearing walker's faces." Morgan says, making them all look at him in shock.
"They...what they control walkers?" Daniel said in disbelief.
Morgan shook his head "I don't think so more...more like herd them I think. Like sheep dogs herding farm animals from the looks of it."
"We need to get the hell out of these woods now," Daryl says as they quickly leave the barn.
The group ran through the woods as the sun set in the sky, casting light all over the woods in a foreboding setting.
After several minutes, Madison stopped and stared ahead "Oh you gotta be Shitting me."
In front of them was a large graveyard, ruined and dilapidated. Nick shaking his head "Nope nope this is a bad place to be." But he stopped as they heard it behind them.
Walkers.
"Inside, now!" Daryl shouts as Alden and Troy pull the door open, and the group enters the graveyard, the moon starting to rise high overhead.
"Too much damn fog." John growls, waving his hat in front of his face.
"We move slowly, find the exit." Daryl says. They move through the graveyard, the fog heavy as can be with the moonlight shining down. They freeze as they hear the growls again. "Dammit!" Daryl says as they run towards the gate. They find the exit and try to push the gate open, but it is stuck.
There was a chain locked around the gate, as Daniel stared then said "Trap."
At the looks, Daniel turned around, drawing his blade and gun "Morgan and Rosita were bait and they herded us here, This whole thing was an ambush."
"Oh shit!" Nick shouts as he pulls out his knife.
"Alden, Rosita get over this thing." Daryl says as they help the two of the climb over one of the open parts of the wall. "Get that damn dirt out of the way. We'll get the walkers. Remember what Morgan said. They might be people, keep your distance." Daryl says. The group nods as they withdraw their weapons, as Daryl aims his crossbow and shoots a walker through the head as John shoots two more, Madison swinging her axe and hitting one in the skull.
"We can get one at a time!" Rosita shouts.
"Go!" Daryl shouts at Morgan, who nods as he runs towards the gate, stabbing another walker in the head. Nick goes next, followed by Shane, Madison, and Daniel leaving John, Daryl, and Troy, John shooting another walker and holstered his revolver.
"I'm out!" John shouts.
"Go!" Troy shouts at him as John runs over to the gate. Daryl stabs a walker as they move toward the gate, stopping He watches as Troy swings his machete at a walker. But the walker then ducked, drew a knife, and stabbed Troy through the back into his heart as he gasped and fell to the ground.
"NO!" Daryl shouts as he pulls out his gun and shoots the man through the head. He hears the others behind him as more of them come out of the shadows, starting to run through the fog. Daryl shoots another one as Morgan hits and stabs one through the neck with his stick, the rest fighting as best they could, Daniel immediately shooting two and Nick stabbing another through the head. Soon they all breathed heavily as they stared at the bodies. Daryl dropped his crossbow and looked at Troy, falling to his knees by the man.
"Daryl, we gotta go." Shane says as there were more moans realizing this was nowhere near the full size. Daryl nods as tears swell up in his eyes. He pulls his knife out and stabs Troy in the back of the head. "Nick, grab my crossbow." Daryl tells the man, who nods as he grabs the bow, and Daryl picks Troy up. "We ain't leaving him."
They nod as they slowly leave the cemetery, moans of the dead filling the air.
Sunrise
Daryl put Troy in the back of the truck and leaned on it, staring at the ground with a look of stone. "Daryl, we need to go." Morgan says.
"They move with the walkers. There's a bridge about five minutes from here. We'll wait there until more show up, and try to take one prisoner." Daryl says.
"We need to get back." Shane says.
Madison nodded with her husband "Shane's right Daryl, and what about Mark and Brandon? They're still out there."
"We need more information, or more of us are going to die. I'm going. Alden, Nick, Daniel, and Madison, come with me. If they show up, get out of here." Daryl says as he walks away. Alden, Nick, Daniel, and Madison slowly follow their leader.
Shane's eyes bulged as he saw Nick and Madison with them and said "Wait just leave you guys?! Hold on-"
"Shane do what I fucking say!" Daryl stopped, snapping at Shane heatedly.
For a moment, Shane glared back then after a reassuring look from Nick, sighed and went back to Morgan.
Morgan's P.O.V.
Morgan watched the road as he sat on the tailgate. He looked at Shane as he sat down beside him, looking back at the sheet-covered body there. "How are we going to tell Laura?"
"We'll tell her the truth. He died fighting, making sure we all got out alive." Morgan says. "He died a hero."
"It won't make it better. Her husband, the father of her child, is dead. He promised her he'd get back alive and...fuck that didn't happen." Shane says "Nothing will make this better. Morgan, Daryl's out for blood. After Luciana, he was pissed, but Alicia, she was there to keep him together, heck I can count on one hand the people who could get Daryl to calm down and none of them are here. He isn't going to come back until he has one of them, you know that."
"I know." Morgan says as they hear rustling in the woods. They both raise their guns but pause as Brandon runs out of the woods, covered in blood, and with several bruises on his face, collapsing to his knees with wheezing gasps. "Brandon."
"I didn't know if you were alive." Brandon says as he looks at the back of the truck, Morgan rushing over to help him up at once "Who?"
"Troy. They came for us. Where's Mark?" Rosita asks, coming from the driver's seat.
"Dead, those things, they got him. I was barely able to escape while he held them off. Who else is with you guys?"
"Daryl, Madison, Nick, Daniel, and Alden. They went to capture one of them before we head back to Kingdom." Morgan says. "Get some rest. We'll wake you up when they get here."
Brandon looked over at where Morgan had gestured "Maybe I should-"
Shane put a hand on his arm "Kid you look like your ready to collapse and been through hell. Head inside and get some sleep."
Brandon nods with a sigh as he climbs into the car.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl watched as a group of walkers walked onto the bridge before them, his teeth gritting. After a moment, he shouted out. "Now!"
He walked in front of them on one side of the bridge and shot one in the leg, causing the human to howl in pain and clutched his leg, clearly a living person. They continued to walk as he reloaded his crossbow and shot another one in the leg, causing him to yell and fall to the ground as the walkers started to gather around him. The other two withdraw their knives and look behind them to where Nick, Alden, and Daniel are. One runs towards Alden and is shot in the head instantly. They falls to the ground as the other ones start to back up. Nick, Madison, and Daniel shoot the actual walkers as Daryl raises his crossbow at the last person. "Please, please, don't!" She pleads as she falls to the ground, throwing the knife away and on her knees, pleading.
"Take it off!" Daryl shouts at her. She pulls the mask off and throws it to the ground, revealing to Daryl's slight surprise.
It was a young teenage girl, with long stringy black hair, a small innocent face with wide doe eyes that were currently looking at him with pure terror as he kept the crossbow aimed at her face.
"Daryl, wait," Alden says behind him with concern. "She's a kid."
"Don't matter," Daryl growls. "Tie her up, blind her. We're taking her back," Daryl orders them, and after a moment they nod.
Picking her up, Daniel tied a rope around her wrists as Daryl grabbed her roughly by the arm and barked "Come on!"
The cars
The group walks up to the cars, Daryl pushes the girl to walk in front of them to ensure she didn't pull something behind their backs. "Shane ride in the back of the truck with her. She tries anything, break her arm," Daryl tells the man, who slowly nods with a long look at the young girl, puts the girl on the bed, and climbs up. They all climb into the cars and turn around, heading back to the Kingdom.
Thanks for reading. Troy is dead, and that is the official start of the WW war. The first death on the group's side. Next chapter, the group deals with the death of one of their people, Alpha learns that her daughter has been taken, and Daryl and Negan argue about how to deal with Lydia. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.