Chapter 134-Anger
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl woke up early the next morning when he heard knocking at the door, rubbing his eyes he walked downstairs and opens the door. Clementine stood on the other side solemnly. "Hey." Daryl says softly as he shuts the door. "How are you doing?"
"Kind of feels like a stupid question." She says dryly.
"I know," Daryl says. "You wanna come with me?"
"Where?"
"I gotta check something out."
"Sure, Tara is with A.J. right now," Clementine tells him tiredly, still processing likely what had happened. Daryl nods as he leads her to his bike.
Alicia's P.O.V
Alicia walked up to Ezekiel as he talked with Jerry at the gate, preparing the Kingdom soldier and fighters to move out. "Ezekiel," Alicia says, making the man look at her.
"Give us a minute, Jerry," Ezekiel tells his right hand and dearest friend, who nods as he walks away. "I haven't had a chance to say I'm sorry about Nick. He was a good man."
"Thank you." Alicia closed her eyes for a moment in pain over her now dead brother and the child he left behind "The Campground supplies. Is it still at the Kingdom?"
"Yes." Ezekiel nodded, clearly knowing why she was asking. "We had it stored in a separate building. It has not been touched." His eyes lit up and he looked serious. "My dear you know you are all welcome to stay at the Kingdom."
"Are we? It's not our home." Alicia asks.
Ezekiel looked baffled, seeing the firmness in her eyes "Alicia, we must stay together I admit I don't like the idea of us spreading out for that Witch to target us."
"That's not what I meant. Even if you let Negan stay there, you know some of your people would treat him differently especially after what just happened, I can tell word's starting to spread."
"You won't? After what you saw?" Looking at her in disbelief "That is what he did to not just Glenn, and Abraham, he did that to many others across the region as well."
"I know that!" Alicia growls. "He just lost the one he loved like a daughter, her child too. I don't blame him. He's still Negan to my people and me, to my husband. I thank god the kids were in the house. He's one of my best friends and my brother, and that is how he will be treated at home if you could radio the Kingdom and tell them to start packing our supplies. I would appreciate it."
"Of course, my apologies." Ezekiel sighed, holding a hand up to calm her down, clearly not wanting to fight with her. "Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?"
"No, we need to go home." She says before she walks away from the King, who just stared at her and looked out the gate again
Negan's P.O.V
Negan sat in the church in the front head bowed, trying to figure out what to say then heard footsteps behind.. "You finally came," Gabriel says as he walks up to him and sits down.
"Yeah." Negan says looking up. "I guess I just wanted to ask J.C. here to take care of her. I guess all the progress I made over these last few years has been thrown down the drain," Negan says.
Gabriel just stared at him blankly, then reaches over and grabs Negan's gun making the large man look at the priest as he removes the gun and removes the clip. "Your gun still has ammo in it. You still have your mace, there isn't a mob trying to kill you, and you're not in a cell, you have a child on the way, and most importantly, you have family who will make sure that none of that will ever happen."
"I liked it." Negan quietly confessed. "Killing that kid, I liked it. It felt good to kill him."
Gabriel stays silent for a moment before he nods. "You enjoyed killing someone who hurt you and your family. I bet some of the others could say the same. Alicia, did she ever tell you the story about the Vultures?"
"She did." Negan answered, looking up at the Priest.
"She enjoyed killing their leader Mel. I bet Michonne enjoyed killing the Governor and Rick, the man who tried to rape Carl, the men who attacked him. I'm not saying it's a good thing. I'm just saying that you're not the only one."
Negan just chuckled suddenly, Gabriel taken aback as it was likely the first time he actually laughed since the border "Jesus Christ Gabe, you get sick of always being able to say the right thing?"
"I learned a great deal. Will you join me in a prayer for our fallen loved ones?" Gabriel asks Negan as he holds his hand out to the man who takes it.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl drove his bike up to the gates of the Campgrounds and stopped it, seeing it abandoned and untouched. "Why are we here?"
"Just wanna make sure everything is okay," Daryl says as he pulls the gate open and pushes his bike inside. He looked around his home and started to walk. The two of them walked in silence until they reached the gates again. Daryl walked away, and Clementine followed as he walked into his cabin. Clementine looked around the cabin as Daryl walked into his room. She looked at the paintings that were still up and stopped when she saw the one of Alicia and Nick on the wall. She looked at Daryl's room as she heard a crash. She went to the door and pushed it open.
A lamp lay on the ground, and she could see Daryl sitting against the bed, and she realized that he was crying. She walked up to him and sat down beside him on the bed. "You once told me the best way to let out anger was to hit something." She says as her voice breaks. "You couldn't have changed what happened."
"Don't matter," Daryl says as he stands up. "Let's go."
"Daryl-"
"I said it doesn't matter! They're dead, and we can't do shit to make it right! She won!" He shouts at her. "She fucking won!" Daryl slams his fist into the wall, leaving blood on the wall. "She won! I failed! I failed them! I couldn't protect them, and now they're gone!" His fist hits the wall again, and they hear a loud crack as Daryl drops his hand to his side. The hand was bloody and bruised. "Now let's go." He ordered after a moment of silence. Clementine stared at him, and for the first time since Clementine had met him, he sounded defeated as he turned around and left the cabin. Clementine follows him outside as he leads her to one of the spare cars that they had left at the campgrounds throws her the keys before he climbs into the passenger seat.
Madison's P.O.V
Her heart was still grieving but she knew she had to be there for Sherry as they were in their house preparing to head back, Madison to the Camp and Sherry to the Kingdom, her daughter in law pacing and looked back, eyes murderous "She killed Nick, she killed John Sr, we can't let her get away with this!"
"I know. My son is dead Sherry. But Rick and Daryl made it clear, we can't cross the border."
Sherry shook her head "No no I can't accept that. Mo lost her father, she won't know him! Your telling me we just do nothing!?"
Madison closed her eyes "Sherry I don't like it either. Shane doesn't, but he's trusting that Daryl and Rick have a plan, they never steered us wrong before. Look maybe come with us-"
"Are you crazy?" Sherry whipped her head to her, eyes full of disbelief "No. Absolutely not. I don't care, I'm not being around Him."
"Your alone at the Kingdom!" Madison tightened her jaw "At the Camp your with myself, Alicia, Daryl. Mo needs her family and I need my granddaughter too! Nick's daughter!"
"Who I don't want to know him." Sherry paused and her eyes watered "Why...why are they all dead and He's still alive?"
Before Madison could ask, Sherry turned and stormed out of the house, leaving Madison standing there. Then sat down, too full of grief that her boy was dead.
Sherry's P.O.V
She rubbed her eyes as she sat on the side of the Alexandria street, trying to control herself. She had been thinking of going in there and apologizing to Madison when she heard a quiet pair of voices down the street. She looked over and saw Negan and Kate sitting on the steps of one of the houses, Negan quietly holding her round stomach and the two exchanging words. Her face hardened then stopped as she heard a voice behind her "You better not be thinking of doing anything stupid." She turns around and looks at Maggie, who is watching her.
"You're gonna defend him? You!?" Sherry stood in disbelief.
"No, but you aren't going to hurt him." Maggie says. "I know better then anyone what he's done but Nick being dead is not his fault. You don't blame him or anybody else for that. What happened to them was Alpha's fault, and only Alpha's."
"You're okay with him being a father when our children's fathers are in the fucking ground?" Sherry asks incredulously.
"No, I'm not. But revenge, it's a fool's game. Don't do anything stupid, Sherry," Maggie says before she walks away from the woman who looks at Negan again.
Alicia's P.O.V
Alicia walked into the infirmary and looked at Addy and Daryl as Addy wrapped his hand. "How badly did you damage our wall?" Alicia sighed.
"It's fine." Daryl muttered almost sheepishly.
"How's his hand?" Alicia asks as she looks at Addy.
"It will be fine, he's just gotta rest it for two or three weeks, and he'll be okay." Addy says. "I'll give you two a minute," Alicia nods as Addy leaves the infirmary.
"Clementine told me you broke my lamp." She says with a smile, making Daryl chuckle as she walks up to him and takes his other hand.
"I had to be strong, and when we got in there. The pain was worse, and so was the anger. I'm tired."
"I know, baby." Alicia says. "I can't imagine what it was like, seeing them on those spikes, seeing your brother in law's head was bad enough. You shouldn't have had to see that."
"I'll never unsee it, it was horrible." Daryl bowed his head.
"Are we going home?" Alicia asks, changing the subject.
"Yeah, the place is safe. Doesn't look like any of them are there."
"I wanna take some people." Alicia asks causing Daryl to look at her curious. "With everybody that Georgie brought with her. They're going to spread them out, give some fighters to each community. I offered Elijah and his sister Stephanie a place at the Camp."
"Good. Can you ask Clementine to come here?" Daryl asks her.
"Aright." Alicia says as she leaves.
Clementine's P.O.V
Clementine walks into the infirmary and looks at Daryl's hand then back up. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine." Daryl says. "I didn't mean to shout at you."
"It's okay. I get it. At least you used your own advice. See, punching something works."
Daryl smiles and nods. "I told you in that building that you were like a daughter to me, and that's still true. I love you like I love my own kids. I'm so sorry about Lilly, but I don't want you to be by yourself, with just A.J. I want you to come to the campgrounds and live there with us."
"A.J. has friends here." Clementine crossed her arms
"He'll have friends there. You know that."
Clementine stays silent for a moment before she nods. "Fine, we'll come. But if AJ doesnt like it we're coming back."
Daryl nods, agreeing, as she leaves.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl stood by Arya near their house as they saw Negan tossing a bag at Lydia, likely helping her pack. "When are they leaving?" Arya asks her father.
"Tomorrow." Carl says. "You know she'll be safest there."
"I know. Alpha doesn't know a lot about it, and neither did Brandon. I know that, doesn't mean I fucking like it." Arya says. Carl nods as he looks at his daughter.
"Go with them," Carl says.
"What the fuck what?" Arya turned her head to her father blankly.
"Go with them. Go with her." Carl clarified. "She needs you."
"I need to be here for Mom and the baby." Arya protested, gesturing inside the house where Enid was resting.
"You'll know when they are born. You'll be the first person I radio." Carl tells her. "You know, I was younger than you when I moved to Hilltop, and it ended up being one of the best decisions I made. I came back to Alexandria because Dad needed me. That girl, she needs you. You can ask your Mom, and she'll say the same thing I am. Go."
Arya looks at Lydia and then back at her Dad. Then she walked up and hugged him tightly, quietly saying "Thank you."
John's P.O.V
John stared in the driveway of Daryl's house as he put bags onto his bike that Reilly had gone and grabbed for him. They were preparing to leave in the morning. John stared then walked up as Daryl turned to him "John?"
"We're going home tomorrow?" John says.
"We are." Daryl said Tthe place looks untouched, and I don't think Alpha knows about it."
"What about Alpha?"
Daryl dropped his wrench and turned to John sternly "We ain't having this talk anymore. We aren't going after Alpha. We aren't crossing that fucking border. You are not endangering the lives of my wife and children. Or June and JJ, because that is what will happen if you cross that. You'll kill your family, and you'll kill mine, but I swear to god, John, that if you cross those borders, your ass will be sorry. I will not let our people, our people, John, get torn apart by walkers. Or even worse walk with that woman. Do you understand me?"
"We have four leaders. I bet Shane will agree with me." John gestured around him.
"No, he won't because he wants to keep his daughter and grandchildren alive. Someone you seem to be having problems with. Your Dad wouldn't want this."
"I wouldn't know. You failed as a leader! You failed to keep him alive."
For a long moment there was silence, then John seemed to realize what he said "Daryl I-"
"Yeah, I did, and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. Maybe you can honor your father and not fuck up everything he worked to protect, now get out," Daryl growls.
John just turned around and stormed off, clenching his fists.
Thanks for reading. John and Daryl's friendship is falling apart. Next chapter, Arya says goodbye to her father and mother, the group returns to the campgrounds, and Daryl takes control of the situation in his camp as Rick does the same in Alexandria. Thanks for reading. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.