Savage World •••Daryl Dixon•••

Solo Rampage

Daryl and Merle sprint across the courtyard for the gates to the outside world. He could see the girl stepping outside the fences and that Meeko was stuck behind the inner fencing, howling and sliding her front legs through the diamond shaped holes. As they got closer to the barrier he spotted the crossbow she turned up with laying on its side, on the wrong side of the fence. Daryl threw open the first gate and ran for the second one, Merle and Meeko right behind him. Yanking on the second one, he growled angrily when he saw the thick chain and padlock holding the gate closed.

"Asher! Get back here!" The girl ignored him again and stood just out of reach if he were to try and shove his arm through the holes of the fence. In one hand she held one of her twin knives and in the other she gripped tightly to the hilt of Lostvayne, both pointed downward at the ground.

"Asher, sweetheart, this is suicide! Let us help you!" The brothers rattles the gates in rage as Meeko meowed as loud as she could. The first walker came within sword reach and she swung for the head, lobbing it off just above the jawbone to send it flying to her left. Another lurched forward from her left and she lifted her dagger to bury it deep into the throat before jerking it upwards until the tip ripped through the back of the skull. She sheathed the knife and sliced a walker in a clean diagonal. The fight brought in more from the other sides of the fence.

"She's gonna get herself killed, what the hell is she thinkin'?" Daryl yanked on the padlock a bit to see if it was weak and grumbled when it stayed like he figured it would. He pulled it again to see if it would be wide enough to at least fit Meeko through, but Asher was thorough and chained it right.

"Daryl?" He turned towards his brother, who was looking out at Asher with a slack jaw of surprise. Following his brother's eyesight, he twinned his older brother in shock. Asher stuck a walker through at the stomach and pushed it back before kicking out to shove the hilt upwards and start cleaving the corpse in two. Another pair of hands snatched at her chain and yanked her backwards with a cry of pain. Daryl's gut twisted as she turned, drew her knives, and used both blades to make an X through its skull.

"Rude." Ducking down, she kicked one walker in the shin to snap the bone before stabbing it through the head. There were only a few left of the group she attacked before. Asher twisted her knives around so the back flat edge of the blades laid along her forearms and she sliced open the stomach of one walker then the throat of another, the darkened blood splattering across her face.

Both corpses flopped to the ground and she turned to see the walker she stabbed with the sword making its way through the bodies she was dropping like flies. Turning, the blonde shoved both blades hilt deep into the eyes of the last two walkers. She let the hilts go and turned in time to catch the walker as it towered down on her, knocking both of them down to the bodies.

"Asher!" Both Merle and Daryl screamed her name, and the distant shouts of everyone else told them that the others had heard the screams and were coming for a fight. The walker body started to move, Daryl's heart racing and dropping at the idea that she was either alive underneath or the walker won and he lost his daughter.

"C'mon baby girl. C'mon." He chewed on his lower lip and locked his gaze on the walker. The sword slid beneath the rotted skin and a bloody hand pushed its way through the giant crevice running from stomach to ribcage. Another hand pushed through with it and the disgusting sound of ripping flesh and snapping muscle making everyone cringe- all but Daryl, who couldn't look away. He had to know for sure. A head pushed through the guts and blood swiftly followed by the rest of the body, hand gripping the hilt of the sword with a deadly vice grip.

The slathered crimson body stumbled around in exhaustion before finding her footing. She stuck the sword in the ground so she could retrieve and sheath her knives. Once she did, she reached for her sword, pain bringing her to a kneeling position. She huffed out a few breaths before pushing back to her feet. The others reached the fence, skidding to a stop with looks of utter shocked terror.

"Holy shit." Glenn whispered, the others nodding in silent agreement with his words. Blood dropped from everything on the girl: her hair, her fingers, her nose, even her eyelashes.

"Asher?" The girl finally reacted to her name, forcing her head up to glare at Daryl and Merle. She was silently grateful for the collar around her neck, the weight of the brace kept the walker blood out of her wounds so she wouldn't get infected.

"Dixie?" Daryl pressed against the patterned fence, grassy eyes soft and concerned.

"I'm here, Asher. Right here." She stepped up to the fence and slid the bloodied key to the padlock to Rick. The gate was flung open and she stepped inside, sliding her sword back in the sheath as she moved.

"You ever think of leaving me behind again, I'll castrate you." The entire group bust out in laughter as the gate was closed and chained. "And Merle?"

"That's my name, sweetheart." Her frown lifted into a small smile, her icy eyes turning soft.

"Missed you, ya jackass." The elder Dixon chuckled deeply and reached out with his hand to gently cup her cheek, thumb softly sliding through the walker blood and guts on her skin.

"Missed ya too, sweetheart. Don't be doin stupid shit like that again, ya hear?" She nodded and leaned down to pet Meeko gently behind the ear. Merle watched as she pet the feline, the realization dawning in his head as the pieces fell together. The stories that Zero told of the Blood Rogue, an angry girl who looked so harmless but could rip a man open with nothing but a bat and her bare hands.

"It's you. Those stories." Everyone looked to Merle as he spoke, Daryl more busying himself with helping Asher wipe the blood and intestines off herself.

"Stories?" Merle looked as Rick as he spoke.

"Yeah, there were rumors floatin 'round Woodbury bout someone called Blood Rogue. Story went that they went bat shit and ripped a man open with a bat and bare hands then threw the intestines all around the room. Right after, this person ran out into two herds of them biters like a suicide junkie." Everyone looked to Asher as Merle told his story, their eyes wide and their expressions almost hysterically shocked. Asher faded for a second, stumbling back from exhaustion. Daryl reached out and caught her around the waist, careful to slide a hand behind her neck so she wouldn't hurt herself further on the collar.

"You alright, Asher?"

"You try killin a small herd and not be a little winded. By the way, that story's missing some key pieces." Merle smirked and snorted out a chuckle.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"The bat had train spikes on it." This made the group burst out laughing again, that was apparently the biggest issue with that whole story. Icy eyes rolled back and she fell limp into Daryl's chest, the man easily scooping her thin body up.

"She alright?" Glenn leaned over and held a band over her nose and mouth to feel for flowing air.

"She's alright, passed out from exhaustion. Been awake only a few days and did just mow down a herd like a picnic in the park." Rick laughed and everyone turned to go back inside the prison.

"Guess our little Blood Rogue needs a nap."