stone cold |twd|

chapter 61

Michonne glanced over at her, "If it weren't for me, Merle wouldn't have kidnapped you. You wouldn't have been beaten and tortured."

Vivian hummed, "There's no telling whether the Governor would've found us further down the road. And if he had, worse things could've happened to us."

"We don't know who she is." Daryl proclaimed, his voice getting louder as he got more frustrated, "But Merle, Merle's blood."

"No, Merle is your blood." Glenn argued, "My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison."

"And you're part of that family." Rick added, "But he's not. He's not."

They all grew silent, waiting for Daryl to respond. He glanced back at his brother before nodding,  "Man, y'all don't know. Fine. We'll fend for ourselves."

"That's not what I was saying." Glenn hissed, trying to deescalate the situation,

"No him, no me."

"Daryl, you don't have to do that." Maggie stated,

"It was always Merle and I before this." He replied,

"Don't."

"You serious?" Glenn scoffed, "You're just gonna leave like that? What about Marcie? I thought you wanted to go back for her."

Daryl shook his head, "She'd get it. She gets blood. And you don't abandon blood. That's exactly what she's doin' right now. She'd do the same thing I am."

It was a tough argument. Because he was right. She chose not to abandon her blood, leaving behind her other family.

Daryl turned to look at Rick, who was silent. He knew there was nothing they could say to convince Daryl to go back to the prison. Well, except for 'Merle can come with'. But that wasn't going to happen.

"Say good-bye to your pop for me." Daryl told Maggie as he walked past them.

Vivian sat up straight as Daryl walked past the group, "Daryl, are you serious? Daryl!"

"What's going on?" The brunette asked as Daryl and Rick came back towards the car, 

"Hey. Hey. There's got to be another way." She heard as the two men came to a stop,

"Don' ask me to leave him. I already did that once." Daryl stated before going to open the trunk of the car,

"We started something last night. You realize that, huh?" Rick asked him,

"No him, no me. Tha's all I can say."

Vivian raised an eyebrow, "You're leaving? Are you serious? After everything that's happened?" She questioned him as he went through his pack, "And leave Marcie behind again?"

Daryl paused and looked over at her, "She gave me my brother back. I ain't wastin' what she gave me." He took the strap of his pack and placed it on his shoulder, "You take care of that boy. And the rest of them, alrigh'?" Daryl gave her a grim smile, "They need ya."

"They need you, Daryl. Especially now."

He couldn't just leave. Not like that. Not with the Governor ready to attack.

Daryl paused, biting his fingernail, "If she ever shows up... tell her 'm sorry."

Vivian nodded and stood by Rick, watching Daryl walked away from them, and towards his brother. The hunter gave them one last look before disappearing off into the woods.

"Hope you're happy." Vivian commented as Rick put his rifle in the trunk of the car and put Maggie's inside as well,

He slammed the trunk shut and Vivian flinched. Rick turned to her, "It was my decision to make. If you're not happy, tell it to someone who gives a shit."