THE LOVELY BONES, daryl dixon

chapter 45 ; aftermath

Daryl hauled his body off the ground in an instant, prompting Ellie to follow after him sheepishly as he stormed down from the perch. He briskly darted down toward the dining area, halting ahead of the group as they gathered their belongings in the dining area for the mission ahead. Daryl simply had no interest in their mission unless it directly involved the imminent murder of the Governor. With his hands responsible. Daryl had slipped suddenly down the slippery slope of the second stage — anger.

"This ain't shit, Rick!" Daryl boomed, freezing the leader in his tracks as he had been stunned by Daryl's outburst, "We gotta end this now. We gotta get out there and kill that prick!

"We are ending this," Rick asserted, gesturing around at the members that had been assigned to leave the prison for the evening for the own safety, "That's exactly what we're doing here, brother."

Daryl scoffed bitterly, pacing back and forth irritably, as though the very moment his body stopped, it became real. He scoffed once again, "We ain't doin' enough against this guy. He's a psycho, we're barely packin' any heat!"

"Daryl..." Ellie whispered as she attempted to reach out to console the enraged man, only for him to swat her hand away as he released a shaky breath, "he will never get away with killing Merle, I promise."

A chorus of gasps encircled them as the truth had ultimately been revealed — the Governor had truly murdered Merle in cold blood. An unnecessary event in an already blistering hot feud was a step backwards, proving the Governor had never truly wanted to negotiate to begin with. Merle had been his most loyal lieutenant; single-handedly responsible for all the duties the Governor, himself, would never do himself. To keep his reputation clean, perhaps. Or simply because he knew he would never have been as strong as Merle Dixon.

"Daryl... I'm sorry. We all are to hear that," Rick muttered, his head swinging low at the revelation, "We can do this. We won't let him win." Rick shuffled slowly over in Ellie's direction, gesturing towards Glenn anxiously, "We assigned you to stay, but you can change your mind."

Ellie raised her eyebrow at his question, her eyes glowing with the desire to kill, "I'll be at your side, partner." Rick smirked at her comment, admiring her determination to exterminate the parasites of Woodbury.

"Wear this," Rick stated, gesturing over toward the riot gear provided from the prison itself. The perfect armour, "You're up with Glenn and Maggie. Ready?"

Once Ellie had been strapped into the armour with the humorous aid of Brett, she spun on her heels excitedly, cocking her gun as she grinned menacingly, "Let's kill these fuckers."

The whole group chuckled quietly at her enthusiasm, prompting Rick to ultimately place a hand on her arm to halt her as he announced, "Stay safe. All of you. This has to work."

Ellie nodded at the command, glancing down at her daughter who had been staring in admiration up at her mother. She kneeled down beside her, cupping her face with her hands as she absorbed all of the perfect details. Coda could fix absolutely anything with just one simple smile.

"I love you so much," Ellie breathed out, yanking her daughter into a difficult embrace due to the gear, which Coda merely found humorous, "I can't wait to hear all about your day later."

"Mommy..." Coda sighed with a slight shake to her head, "I know you're going out there and being the hero again, Daddy always tells me that you're a hero. But, I'm scared."

Ellie's lips twisted into a long frown as she gave her daughter a gentle squeeze of reassurance before continuing, "Your daddy is right, I am a hero. It might be scary, but I've got this. We all do. This is important for us so that we can keep being the good guys."