The sound of an ambulance siren tore through the air and made everyone falter. The last time Daryl had heard the noise of an ambulance racing along a road was before the fall, Merle's truck barely slowing as it pulled towards the gravel side of the road.
"What in the hell is going on?" Abraham grouched, crossing the room and yanking back the curtains pointlessly. Anything that could have been seen was blocked by the high metal wall surrounding the community.
The afternoon was beginning to die to evening. Jagged shadows stretched across the yards. Daryl touched the hilt of his knife lightly before bending to press a kiss to the top of Ivy's head, taking plain advantage of the other two distracted by the window. "Bet that's them coming back."
Why they were ringing the metaphorical dinner bell, Daryl wasn't sure. But he wasn't sitting around waiting for the group to stagger back up the street. Abraham dropped the curtains and headed for the door. "Well, let's getting going. You watching the kid?"
"Somebody has to," Maggie said pointedly, crossing her arms. "Don't go far, Dixon. You look like a lightweight having her first beer."
He waved a finger in response before leaving the room, one last glance at Ivy's pale face before he left. The two men left and turned down the street, frowning as the noise grew louder and more people joined their walk. The ambulance was growing louder in noise and wherever it was coming from, it was creating a spectacle.
Eugene shoved the gate open hard and nearly got clipped as it flew straight through the opening, lights flashing and siren screaming. It jammed to a hard stop and Daryl flinched at the sound of brakes screeching. Glenn shoved the door open and stormed out, coming around over to the hood where he yanked it open and ripped out a handful of wires, silencing the sound.
Blood had smeared across his face and was starting to dry in tacky, dark lines.
A second car was coming in after Glenn and the man looked livid. Anger burned off of him and there was a clear tension that Daryl could feel as he drew near. "What the hell happened?" He demanded, looking Glenn over for any visible damage.
"Fuckers left me there," Glenn spat, ugly with temper. "We got cornered and they cut and ran. Didn't even take the supplies we got."
Aiden and Nicholas got out of the car with dark expressions as they took in the sight of the ambulance and Glenn standing there. Abraham came around the side of the ambulance and hauled the doors open to pull out two black duffle bags. "This the stuff?"
"Yeah," Glenn said flatly, not even looking. "Two bags. They left me with both."
However it had gone down, Glenn had been the one to haul two bags back. He had somehow fired up an ambulance that had been left sitting since the fall and managed to pass them on the road. Whatever death he had escaped, it had been close.
Aiden approached Glenn like a thundercloud waiting to break. His clothes and skin were clean from the blood that marked Glenn and the man scowled. "Don't even fucking talk. You wanna start walking away right now."
"Get a new gig. You're not ready to be out there. This? This was lucky," Aiden scoffed. He handed his gun off to Nicholas and Daryl watched the man take it, that eager step right beside his friend.
"Yeah, pretty sure you got that backwards."
"Look, we have a way of doing things around here-"
"Please, you don't know what the hell you're doing out there," Glenn seethed, jabbing a finger towards him. "I get exactly why all your friends are dead. Guy like you? You're just hoping to run a bit faster than the next person."
Aiden flushed. "Shut up," he warned, pushing him back.
"Nobody is impressed with you, man. Walk away," Glenn said, glacial cold. All the heat was leached from him and it was like looking backwards in time, Glenn after Woodbury; Glenn angry enough that he was just a hollowed out shell ready to ignite.
And Aiden didn't know that. He swung hard and Glenn ducked, neatly popping right back up with his own punch. Daryl had been reading the signs and the tension and he charged at the first open sign, catching Nicholas with his shoulder driving straight into his gut. He drove the man up into the air so he could throw him back to the ground just as hard.
Abraham was somewhere in the background and he trusted him to watch out for Glen if Aiden turned scrappy. Daryl leaned harder, driving his forearm across Nicholas' throat. He could enjoy this; someone had hurt his family so he would make sure they learned their lesson. Nicholas was a coward. His fingernails tore at Daryl's arm and the entire world was spinning around, rage teetering Daryl to the moment.
"Hey, hey!" Rick snapped, appearing from no where and hauling him back. "Let's not do this here."
His clean shaven face looked bright in the dying afternoon light. All the paranoia had been leached away and Daryl felt betrayed by the steadiness of it, the fact that Rick was picking Alexandria over Glenn. He tried to move around Rick but he matched him for every step, one hand outstretched. "We don't do this."
So said the man that had ripped someone's throat open with his teeth. Daryl could do more. He had done more. Rick had barely noticed Daryl shattering Phillip's body in the wreckage of the prison.
"Hey," Abraham suddenly said, catching space between Glenn and Aiden. "We're making a list, man. We'll check it twice. But we can't do this now. You wanna fight all day or do you wanna bring these back to the clinic?"
Tyreese was with Abraham and he grabbed Aiden by the collar of his shirt, yanking him up into the air so his feet kicked nothing. "Start walking. I've got this pair."
Glenn jammed his hands deep into his pockets and stormed off, letting Abraham and Daryl pick up the bags. He bristled with left over rage. "We'll settle this," Daryl warned him, hefting the bag over his shoulder. "Later."
"They left me. They had the guns and the bullets. They just... took off," Glenn said, hollowed out. "I had the bags. And I got lucky, running deeper into the place. They drew most of the attention when they ran off so I went in the opposite direction until I found a parking garage."
Bob had pointedly cut Daryl off from blood donation at a certain point and he suddenly felt a wave of nausea, heat burning through his skull and ground fragile beneath his feet. Abraham caught him by grabbing his elbow and holding tight.
"Are you okay?" Maggie called from the steps of the clinic, door open behind her.
He yanked a hand up and waved halfheartedly. "I got everything on the list."
"Are you hurt?" She demanded, coming down to meet Glenn on the lawn. "Your blood or someone else's?"
"Walkers," Glenn told her quietly. "But I'm back now. I'm okay."
"You've got five minutes to say your words. I'm going to prep the room," Pete called through the door. Abraham took both bags and went to meet him, freeing up Daryl to return to Ivy.
Her hand met his and Daryl felt the sun burning straight through her skin. "You're fine. You're going to be fine," Daryl told her, placing his free hand gently across her forehead.
"I just have to die now," Ivy said slowly, unaware the knife she was twisting through his chest. "That's what I gotta do."
"Shut up," Daryl snapped, temper finally lashing itself free. "You? You ain't dying. You're gonna sleep for a bit and then you're gonna wake up and you will be fine. That's not for debate."
His hand, though, stayed gentle as it brushed a stray curl back from her face.
"I'm becoming him. That's what's wrong with me. He's here, he's always here."
"That guy? He was sick in the head. I put him down the way I'd put down a dog. You're good. You don't need to worry about that. Sleep for a bit and you'll wake up feeling better. Won't be long before you're pulling dumb shit again with Beth."
Please, Daryl thought, go back to steal guns with Beth. Go back to running around town with a thousand different schemes. Climb out your window if you promise to always come back.
"I don't... I don't get to make it to the end," Ivy sighed, squeezing her eyes tight and scratching at her face before Daryl caught both wrists carefully. "I just want it to stop hurting."
"Stop talkin' like that," Daryl warned her, trying to banish all of the words from his mind. If Ivy died today, Daryl would kill Pete first. He would settle the score with Aiden and Nicholas. And then he would burn Alexandria down for all of the things it had failed to give her. Daryl would need to dig a grave somewhere untouched by decay, deep enough that the wild things couldn't disturb her. And then, he would swallow a bullet himself and let his body finally drop. "I'm taking you home after this."
"You're a good dad."
All of his words choked up at once.
"She's been a bit more coherent," Maggie told him. "Goes in and out, but a bit better."
Daryl wasn't sure if Ivy talking about dying could be summed up as better but he took the words for what they were; a pale comfort to sooth some of his nerves. "You're a good kid."
Pete would perform a surgery and Daryl could take her home afterwards. Once she was no longer a ticking time bomb Daryl would be working his way down that list with Abraham and Glenn until the world had less teeth to offer.
"We ready?" Bob asked, leaning against the frame of the door. "Better to start now before it gets any worse."
Ivy's attention was focused on Daryl, though, so he signed very carefully: 'I'll find your afterwards'. Because he always had a habit of finding her. It was the only certainty that he knew.