𝖣𝖺𝗋𝗄𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖪𝖾𝖾𝗉𝗌 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖬𝖾 | ᴅᴀʀʏʟ ᴅɪxᴏɴ ³

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ

«I Am Alpha»

AS PLANNED, a search party embarked on their mission while Daryl remained back to attend to the prisoner.

"What? What do you have?" Tara inquired as they paused, observing a group of walkers.

"Maybe the dead, maybe not," Yumiko said, peering through her binoculars. "Maintain your distance and watch their hands. They could go for knives."

"Funky walk, check," John added.

"No weapons, check. Okay," Tara said as both of their gazes swept over the walkers.

"None of the masked ones," Magna whispered.

"The horses. These are their horses," Marco spoke. The three horses they had left behind were now a gruesome feast for the walkers, unsettling Chloe.

"But no Alden, Tom, or Luke," Magna said.

"Maybe they had to bail. Check the area. Look for tracks," Tara said, studying Chloe's facial expressions.

"Stay close," Logan, who led them further into the woods, said.

"Hey, guys. Connie says the horses were cut open and skinned with knives," Kelly reported.

"She thinks they did it?" Chloe asked; Kelly nodded.

"This wasn't just the dead," she said.

"Plenty of walker tracks but nothing else," Kal reported. "Horses could've been wandering for a while."

"Well, then we split up. We break in different directions," Yumiko proposed, and Chloe was on board until Tara intervened.

"No, no, we stay here. It's not safe out here anymore. Walkers aren't just walkers," she said.

"Yeah, but we can't leave them out here," Chloe said.

"That girl told us it was just her mother, but this? She's a liar. There could be three more of them out there. There could be more of them out there. We head back, we stay behind the walls, and we make a plan. Until we find out what this is," she replied, and Chloe acknowledged she was right about it.

"And what if we don't?" Kelly asked.

"We will. Let's go."

Daryl spent hours eavesdropping on the conversation between Henry and the girl named Lydia while seated outside the cell door.

"Remember that look in his eye. Still see it. How cold it is. Was," Lydia said before letting out a sigh. "Why am I even telling you this?"

"Beats the quiet. Beats being alone," Henry told her.

"Never been alone. My people traveled in groups with the dead. I miss the sounds... the smell... Not gonna lie..."

"Walking around in dead people's skins is pretty messed up," Henry remarked.

"Thinking this place isn't gonna fall like every other place... that's messed up."

"Agree to disagree."

"Your dad's an asshole like mine," she said. "All you did was sneak out. Is it even that hard? Are there a lot of guards posted here?"

"Daryl's not my dad. He doesn't even want to be here. He's only doing it as a favor for my mom."