Broken strings---➤ Daryl Dixon

23

I stand beside her, "Rick without her we wouldn't have even known to look for Glenn and Maggie." I say calmly. He sighs heavily with uncertainty, but we still need her help to go back and get Daryl.

We make our way back into Woodbury, only to find the streets are clear, but from a distance, we can hear cheering. As we investigate further we find this Governor has pitted Daryl against Merle in some twisted fight, and of course, there are walkers involved. Maggie covers us from afar and as we get closer, I aim at one of the walkers that looks close to Daryl and let an arrow fly through the air and pierce its skull. I can't help but smile as Daryl glances around to try and find me. Maggie is taking out others and Rick provides us with more cover as we move in further. I manage to shoot multiple gunmen but it eventually becomes too difficult to see.

"Daryl!" I shout once again, my voice is starting to strain but luckily he finds us and we quickly get away from this place. Annoyingly, it is Merle who leads us out of here, but we have no choice at the moment to argue. We rush out of Woodbury and back towards the car where Glenn and Michonne are waiting for us.

The sun has risen by the time we arrive and the night's events are starting to catch up with me.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as my brother sees Merle with us he pulls out his gun and starts yelling. Rick tries to calm him down but Merle isn't one to shut up.

"He helped us out of there," Daryl argues, but I point out how he's the reason for this as he tried to kill Glenn and Maggie. My bow is raised on Merle and I almost fire an arrow as he tells me how feisty I've become. Daryl steps in my way but also tells his brother to shut up.

Merle continues as we learn that Andrea, who is still alive, is also living in Woodbury too. More than that is how she had spent the winter with Michonne.

"What now sheriff, you're surrounded by liars and thugs." Merle grins to himself. The rage I feel for Merle is starting to spill over into the way I feel about Daryl. As Merle continues to taunt us all eventually Rick has enough and hits him over the head.

"Thank god, " I mutter

With the tension settled and we've calmed down, Rick starts up the topic of Merle coming back with us. Daryl is really the only one in favor of it. From the sounds of it the people at Woodbury are killers and rapists and I don't think Merle is much different from them.

Rick points out how difficult it will become with Merle staying, but Daryl tries to argue that he could help us fight against the Governor. But each time I begin to understand his reasons, I catch a glimpse of Glenn's face and decide it's not worth the risk.

It seems like we are at a crossroads and even though we tell Daryl he is a part of our family at the prison, he decides to choose his brother.

"You don't have to do that." Maggie points out.

"You're really gonna go, just like that?" I ask and he just shrugs.

"It was me and Merle before this," he states matter-of-factly before walking away, "Say goodbye to the others for me."

Rick and I follow him and Rick tries to reason with him but Daryl stands his ground and grabs his bag from the car. As he steps towards his brother I grab a hold of his hand. I don't think I can convince him so I pull him into a hug before stepping back, still holding onto him.

"Please." I try anyway but then stop myself. It's his brother after all so I understand but I just want to yell at him. I want to be selfish and tell him how much I want him to stay. However, I can tell by the look in his eyes that he's made his decision. "I'll miss you," I say quietly.

His expression softens for a moment but his tone remains blunt, "I'm sure you'll get over it," and he pulls his hand away from mine and walks off to join Merle.

I don't think I will.

The car journey home is quiet, and I rest my head gently on Glenn's shoulder. I'm struggling to accept that I might never see Daryl again. Not to mention we may have just started a war against Woodbury. Glenn is still injured and it seems like Maggie was assaulted whilst kidnapped and with everything else going on, I just want to be back in that prison cell, sitting beside Daryl, ranting about everything and nothing, finding comfort in knowing he's there.

We arrive back at the prison, and I'm happy to see Carl standing by. We re-group with the others and inform them on the events at Woodbury, we then discover another group of strangers had found their way in.

Beth gives me a hug which I accept and I ask them how the baby is.

"I named her Judith," Carl says to me with a smile.

"How pretty," I smile back at him.

We sit around and wait for Rick to make his decision on whether the survivors can stay with us. There's a sibling duo within the group and I learn their names to be Sasha and Tyreese. They seem nice enough, and reckon they could be good additions to our diminishing group.

However Rick seems to snap at something, he starts yelling for it to go away and leave him alone. I think it freaks us all out but the survivor group remain calm and we escort them out the prison.

I'm still not used to the absence of Daryl because I almost turn to talk to him about Rick. I sigh and spot Carol instead. I think she can tell by the look on my face that I miss him. I imagine she misses him too.

"Try not to be pissed off at him." She advises

"I'm trying."