I kneel next to Rick, checking the bandages and surgical tape all over his face. I sigh heavily, looking back at Michonne.
"Just when we thought it was getting better too," I mumble.
She nods. "We can't lose this place. He's gonna get us kicked out."
"Well, it's a good thing you were there to stop him." I look over at her. "What did Carl say to you?"
She sighs. "He's just worried. He'll be alright." She tilts her head, watching me. "You should get some more sleep."
"I'm fine."
"You hardly rested all night. You don't need to exhaust yourself."
I get up off the floor, moving to the vacant chair adjacent to Michonne's. I sit down, resting my head in my hands.
"Even if I went back to that house, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep knowing that he's still out there," I whisper. "I would just lie there praying."
She places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Daryl's alright, Hope. He'll come back to you."
"I hope so."
"He's the most stubborn man I've ever met. No matter what's keeping him out there, he'll come back."
I smile lightly. "Thanks Mich."
Rick groans, his eyes fluttering open slowly. He doesn't notice us as he sits up and holds his head. He lets out a breathy laugh, groaning and falling back onto the mattress.
"What's so funny?" Michonne asks, her face hard again.
"You were here the whole time?" Rick asks, sitting up against the wall again.
"All night," she replies. "What's so funny?"
"It's...it's like the train car. After the whole thing, I'm still there."
"Deanna wanted you in here, calm things down," she continues. She jerks her head towards me. "Hope patched you up. Carl came by for a while. We sent him home."
There's a pause. I lean forwards again, resting my elbows on my knees.
"Rick. What are you doing?" I ask.
He doesn't respond. He only sighs and touches his forehead with his bandaged hand again.
"We put Pete in another house," Michonne mentions, moving her chair closer to him. "You could have told me what was happening."
"It moved fast. And then Noah..." He shuts his eyes briefly. "I couldn't tell you about the gun."
"No, you couldn't," she mumbles, her voice deadpan.
I tense, thinking of the fight Daryl and I had. Him keeping that secret caused us to blow up at each other, something we rarely do.
"Oh, you wanted this place," Rick retorts.
"We had to stop being out there," she says. "Hope was getting weaker every day."
"We needed a place where we could all get our strength back," I add, not wanting to make it sound like I'm the only reason we chose to stay here.
"Well, we're here," he mumbles.
Michonne scoffs. "Well, you just said you weren't."
The door opens, letting in some light as Glenn, Carol, and Abraham walk in. We watch them, the air wrought with tension.
"Where'd you get the gun?" Michonne asks.
"You took it, right? From the armory?" Carol asks. I narrow my eyes slightly. She was in on it, and she's going to pin it on Rick? Maybe that's her plan... "That was stupid. Why did you do it?"
Rick shrugs. "Just in case."
I nod to myself. They definitely have a plan.
"Deanna's planning to have a meeting tonight. For anyone who wants to," Glenn informs him.
"To kick Rick out?" Abraham asks.
"To try," I retort softly.
"We don't know that. Maggie's with Deanna right now. She's gonna find out what it is," Glenn says, looking over at me.
"At the meeting, you say you were worried about someone being abused and no one was doing anything about it," Carol tells Rick. "You say you took a gun just to be sure that Jessie was safe from a man who wound up attacking you. You say you'll do whatever you want them to. Just tell them a story that they want to hear. It's what I've been doing since I got here."
"Why?" Michonne asks. I nod, wondering the same.
"Because these people are children and children like stories," the grey haired woman answers.
"What happens after all the nice words and they still try to kick him out?" Abraham asks.
"They're guarding the armory now," Glenn mentions.
"We still have knives," I say, touching the one still hanging in my belt. "That's all we'll need against them...should it come to that, and God, I really hope it doesn't."
"Well, tonight at the meeting, if it looks like it's going bad, I whistle. Carol grabs Deanna, I take Spencer, you grab Reg." He points to Michonne. "Glenn, Abraham, and Hope cover us, watch the crowd."
"We don't have to kill them, Rick," I say slowly, standing up. "Why do we always have to resort to violence with you?"
"We can talk to them," Michonne agrees with me.
"Yeah, we will," Rick says. "If we can't get through, we take the three of them and say we'll slit their throats."
"Like at Terminus?" I ask, my tone angrier than I expected. "Carol said that these people are like children. We don't slaughter children." I shake my head. "Killing people? Is that the only way to solve anything anymore?"
"No, we just tell 'em. They give us the armory and it's over."
"Did you want this?" Glenn asks.
"No. I hit my limit." Rick makes a small gesture with his hand. "I...I screwed up. And here we are. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna sleep some more."
I sigh, looking to everyone else. We nod, moving out the door and leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Daryl's POV
I keep a straight face as my motorcycle roars down the road. Aaron follows behind me in his car as we go down a narrow, leaf covered road. I pull to a stop, getting off and checking the surroundings.
I whip my sunglasses off my face, resting them on the seat. Aaron emerges from the car as I pull of my gloves and place them on the seat too. I pull my crossbow onto my back, heading into the woods.
"Daryl?" Aaron calls.
I slow down a little, glancing back at him. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. This run's taking a little longer than expected."
"Three days..." I grumble.
"Yeah...that's why I'm sorry. I know you wanted to get back to Hope, but we've really got to find some new people."
"I get it." I look back at him. "Hope's safe where she is. I'll see her again soon."
He smiles with relief as we keep walking. I catch sight of an old trail, pointing it out.
"Somebody came through here a while ago," I say.
"If we see them, we hang back, set up the mic, watch and listen," Aaron says.
"For how long?"
"Until we know. We have to know."
We continue through the woods, the sounds of wildlife and such the only noises around. I finally decide to break the silence.
"You've sent people away?" I ask, hopping over a log.
"Yeah."
"What happened?"
"It was early on. It was three people," he starts, still following me closely. "Two men and a woman. Davidson was their leader. Smart as hell, strong. I thought they'd work out." He pauses, waiting for a reaction from me. "They didn't. I brought them in and I had to see them out. So me, Aiden, and Nicholas, we drove them out far...gave them a day's worth of food and water and left them."
"They just went?" I wonder.
"We had their guns. We had all the guns. I can't make that kind of mistake again."
We keep moving. I'm glad Aaron's a talker. I'm more of a listener, so having a guy that likes to talk is good for me. I have to admit, I kind of like the guy. Not in a gay way, obviously, but as a friend. It's just nice having someone to hang out with.
I let out a long sigh, stepping over a log and moving between two trees. Hopefully this run will end soon and I'll be able to get back to my girl.