Rio glared up at the man, standing in place as he stared back. Merle leant closer, pretending to scrutinise him and the boy took a step back.
"You're shitting me?" Merle laughed, reaching for Rio which his one hand. He squirmed under the man's touch and turned away. "God, lighten up. What's the matter with you?"
"Come on." He continued taunting, prodding him. "Daryl's back, he's missed you all so very much."
Rio just grimaced and looked the man up and down.
"What?" Merle scoffed, looking to Daryl and then back to Rio. "You not speak or something, you re—."
"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Glenn interjected, standing by the side of the boy.
The other man simply laughed in his face, an unsettling expression over him. "Long time no see, amigó."
"Not long enough." Glenn spat as he walked away, dragging Rio with him. He didn't object, clinging to Glenn's arm. Not until he saw Axel's dead body on the floor, a hole straight through his head. There were many more in his torso.
Rio's breath hitched and Glenn tore him away from the scene. He headed straight back into the cell block. Maggie caught up to them and Rio looked back once to see Carol making her way over to Daryl.
"Why is he here?" Glenn muttered to himself. "He can't seriously expect us to let him stay here. Piece of shit."
Maggie made a noise of agreement, before sitting down on her bunk. Glenn sat besides her and Rio just paced the room.
"Sweetie, come sit down."
"He's a dick." Rio shook his head back at her. "He did that to Glenn," he pointed at the boy's bruised face, "he tried to kill you both and now he wants to come back. Why did Daryl even bring him? Have you even heard the stories he tells about Merle?"
"I haven't." Maggie sighed.
"I mean, why is Daryl back? He left for days and didn't even bother to say goodbye, so why is he back?"
"I don't know."
"But i'm glad he's back. I think. I missed him. I don't know." Rio groaned, running a hand through his hair.
"Don't work yourself up, come on sit down." Maggie ushered him over and he sat on the bed between them, leaning his back against the wall.
There was a fuss outside, followed by the loud clanging of the prison bars and a lock. Shouts followed and the boy let out a sigh as he slumped further into the bed.
"What the hell, man?" Rio heard Daryl shout from the hall. Glenn and Maggie got up to see what the commotion was about, Rio slipping under their arms to see for himself.
Merle latched onto the bars he was trapped behind and Rick held the keys in his hand. He stepped back as Daryl inched forward, shouting.
"He's got to stay in there." Rick answered him.
"Come on." The man whined.
"He's a threat. We locked Michonne up." Rick defended, pointing at the woman behind him.
"Because we didn't know her. We know Merle, I know Merle." Daryl tried to justify. That was the thing, they knew Merle, knew what he was capable of.
"We know him." Rick let out a dry laugh. "He took them hostage," the man gestured to Glenn and Maggie who stood in the doorway to their cell behind Rio. "Nearly took the damn kid too."
"Fine." Daryl huffed.
"Fine?" Merle raised his voice.
"Fine." He repeated before making his way up to his perch.
***
"I let you sleep for as long as I could." Carl said as he shook Rio's shoulder. "But my dads making decisions and Glenn told me to come and wake you. It's like nine o' clock."
"You're dads making decisions?" Rio asked, rubbing his eye.
"Yeah," Carl replied. "Hershel wants us to leave the prison again."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so let's go." Carl concluded, jumping down from the steps and heading out of the room. Rio followed him out after quickly changing.
"We're not leaving." Rick finalised as he reloaded his gun, standing up whilst he pulled it from the duffel bag,
"We can't stay here." Hershel continued to argue, sounding drained from the back and forth disagreement.
"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie defended her dad and his view. Rio peered down at her from the railing up the stairs.
"We can't even go outside." Beth added to the argument,
"Not on the daylight." Carol shot back. Rio stood behind her, looking between the woman and Beth and straight at Daryl.
He stood a few feet away, arms crossed. Rio copied him, he still hadn't spoken.
"Rick says we're not running, so we're not running."
"No, better to live like rats." Merle called out from his cell. Rio had half a mind to tell him to shut his mouth.
"You got a better idea?" Rick questioned, stepping forward intimidatingly.
"Yeah," he spoke back, like he was one of them. He wasn't, not at all. "We should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."
"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl answered, turning away from Rio. He walked closer to where Merle was, shouting down at him from the perch.
"Y'all should be." He laughed. "That truck through the fence thing? That's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."
"Put him in the other cell block." Maggie scoffed. Rio agreed with her.
"No. He's got a point." Daryl said.
"Of course you'd think that!" The boy protested, pointing at him accusingly.
"This is all you. You started this." Maggie shouted to Merle at the same time Daryl tried to argue back with Rio. He shouted back at the man and then it hit him. They were arguing, actually arguing, and suddenly Rio didn't like it anymore.
"Shut up." Beth stuck her hands out. "What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" She snapped, heading down the stairs.
"I said we should leave." Hershel reiterated. "Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here!"
Rick let out a huff and turned on his heel, walking away from the older man.
Hershel stood up on his crutches, leaning on them as he tried to walk forward. "Get back here!" He yelled and everyone fell silent. His voice echoed through the empty building, making it seem louder than it was.
Rick didn't shudder or even flinch. He just slowed, not turning to face him.
"You're slipping, Rick." He hissed. "We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."
The cold room got colder as everyone awaited an answer. Rick looked down to his feet, shaking his head at himself. "Okay." He croaked out, turning to face Hershel before storming out of the room.
There was an eerie quiet where only the click of Hershel's crutches could be heard. He sat back down on the stairs and let out a long sigh.
"I'm gonna talk to him." Carl said to the older man as he pushed past. "He'll listen to me."
Hershel grabbed his arm, holding him still for a second. "He needs a break." He said. Carl nodded and followed after his father.
***
Rick didn't seem to want a break. He came back about thirty minutes later, Carl stumbling behind him. The boy just headed to his room. Rick was ready to give out orders as he walked past each cell.
Maggie slung a sniper over her shoulder as Rick approached her and Rio.
"Take watch." The man instructed as he walked past. "Eyes open, head down." He directed at Rio. The boy nodded up at him and he gave a small smile.
"The field's filled with walkers." He told everyone, setting down his own gun on the table. "I didn't see any snipers out there but we'll keep Maggie on watch."
"I'll get up in the guard tower." Daryl offered. "Take out half the walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence."
"Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne suggested.
"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets."
"So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo."
"Been here before. We'll be alright." Daryl tried to assure them. Glenn cut in suddenly.
"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest."
"Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it."
"Hey—."
"All y'all." Daryl huffed before heading upstairs.
Maggie placed a hand on Rio shoulder and he turned around to face her. "Grab a sniper then go find Carl, okay?"
Rio nodded up at her, heading over the the room they kept all the weapons in. He reached over to grab the gun from the other end of the table before emptying the ammunition into his hand.
Three, he had three bullets.
Rio weighed the box of ammo besides him, guessing it was about half full. He picked up another seemingly lighter one but put it back down, choosing the first. He slung the gun over his shoulder, the feeling reminding him of Daryl's crossbow, their 'training sessions' since they'd left the farm. He let out a load groan before heading back out.
He walked back into the cell block to find Glenn up in Rick's face, shouting at the other man.
"I wouldn't make you live with Shane after he tried to kill you!" He yelled.
Rio scrunched his face up, turning to Maggie who just mouthed 'Carl'. He nodded and hurried up the stairs, stopping before the second room. He knew it was Daryl's, he could hear him and Carol talking.
Rio argued with himself for a minute before deciding what to do. He pressed his side against the wall, listening to Carol. He felt guilty, but honestly it wasn't the biggest of his concerns right now.
"I'm glad you came back." Carol told him.
"To what? All this?"
"This is our home." He reasoned.
"This is a tomb."
"That's what T-Dog called it. Thought he was right till you found me."
There was an awkward silence and Rio considered leaving. Was that it? Were they not going to say anymore?
"He's your brother," Carol said suddenly. "But he's not good for you. Don't let him bring you down. After all... look how far you've come. You've got a kid now. A little crossbow protege." She chuckled. Rio bit the inside of his cheek.
"I don't 'have a kid'." Daryl laughed back at her. "He don't even want me back here."
"That's not true and you know it. He missed you but he won't admit it. Just try talking to him."
"I tried last night but he turned away halfway through so he couldn't understand me properly." Daryl sighed.
"He has every right to be angry." Carol told him. "You left for what? Three days? You didn't even come and say goodbye first."
"I know."
"Give him some time, that's all." And with that she left. Rio froze from where he was listening as Carol walked past, acting as if she hadn't seen him. She definitely had. Rio turned to face her and she stood at the end of the hall, waving him over, out of Daryl's view.
"Eavesdropper." She looked at him disapprovingly.
"You were talking about me." Rio tried to reason.
"What we're you up here for?"
"Getting Carl."
"He's in his room with Judith."
"Do you think I'm being too hard on him?" Rio asked before she walked away, looking back at Daryl's room. "Do you think I should just give it up and forgive him?"
"You're allowed to be angry."
"I know."
"You won't hate him forever."
"I don't hate him now." Rio admitted.
"Well, there you go. He'll probably come and find you later."
"Thanks." The boy nodded.
Rio walked past Daryl's cell, trying hard not to look inside. He did, turning away swiftly when Daryl was already looking out at him, cleaning the bolts from his crossbow.
Carl was sat on the floor of his cell, knees propped up with Judith laying against them. He held her head gently as she lay there. He'd gotten freaked when Carol told him how fragile babies heads were. Judith wrapped her small hand around his finger and he looked over to Rio smiling.
"I was right you know." He began as Rio sat of the floor besides him. Maggie was probably waiting patiently downstairs. He hoped she wouldn't mind the hold up.
"About what?"
"I told you she was gonna be a girl." Carl smiled down at her. Rio tried to see if she looked like Carl. He couldn't tell. He didn't get how adults could.
"Can I hold her?"
"Yeah." Carl replied, handing Judith to Rio. He smiled down at the baby girl.
"Hey Jude." He whispered to her as Beth walked in. She held a bottle of formula in her hand.
"Like the song." She said fondly.
"Huh?"
"Hey Jude. The song." Beth explained a look of uncertainty on her face. "By The Beatles?"
"Oh, yeah." Rio smiled, "I know that one."
He tried to recall any of the words other than 'Hey Jude' but he couldn't. He just sung those two words to her again. It made him feel kind of sad, they couldn't listen to music, maybe they never could again.
"Um, Maggie needs you two and it's around her feeding time." Beth held out the bottle awkwardly and gestured to Judith.
Rio stood up, holding the baby tight as he did. He rocked her for a second before passing her to Beth. "There you go." He said to her.
Beth headed over to her room and Rio and Carl hurried downstairs. They found Maggie where Rio had left her.
"You got your binoculars?" She asked Carl.
"Yeah." He said, pulling the string around his neck. Maggie passed him a gun too before they made their way outside.
"We're just gonna watch them. No shooting unless we absolutely have to." She explained and they climbed the stairs.
"Why did we bring guns then?" Rio asked genuinley.
"The scopes on there are real good, and just in case. You don't know what could happen."
"Carl you look for any people. Snipers, governors men anyone. Got it?"
"Got it." Carl replied.
"Rio. You listening?"
"Yeah." He turned to face her.
"Okay, you keep an eye out for anything unusual, or if there's a hoard getting a bit too close. We can diffuse them before any damage gets done." Maggie instructed, clasping her hands together.
Rio nodded, positioning his gun upon the wooden plank Rick had fixed to the fence. He tilted it down, keeping his eye on the field.
It wasn't long before Carl spotted something, just beyond the prisons circumference.
"Psst. Something weird out there." He whispered to Rio.
"What is it?" The boy asked.
Maggie looked through the scope of her gun, aiming it towards the area Carl pointed at. Rio copied.
There was a Walker with hacked of arms and a bashed in face. Blood and flesh hung from the broken jaw, shattered teeth wedged in between the clumps that remained. It stumbled forward, being pushed by something. Someone.
A blonde woman emerged from behind, holding the creature away with a leash, directing it on where to go.
"Is that..." Rio trailed off.
"Andrea." Maggie whispered. "Get your dad and the others." She told Carl. Rio hurried behind him, dropping his gun to the floor with a loud clatter.
"Dude!" Carl hissed.
"What?"
'Quiet' He signed. "There could still be people here."
'Sorry' Rio signed back
"Come on."
They ran to the cell block together, everyone's arguing diffused by the time they'd arrived. Carl explained what was happening and nobody wasted any time in grabbing their guns and heading rushing outside.
Beth handed Judith to Carol, replacing the girl with a gun of her own. Merle went along too. Rio ran back to Maggie, where she still sat with her gun in hand. He picked his up from the floor, peering through the scope at the scene.
Andrea tried to make her way towards the fences as Rick and the rest headed over to meet her. Rick wouldn't open the gate, he pressed his back against the fence, looking over his shoulder at her.
"Are you alone?"
"Open the gate!"
"Are you alone?"
"Rick." She pleaded. The man tossed the keys to Daryl who opened them as Andrea hurried towards them. She let go of the walker, pushing it away before running through by herself.
"Hands up! Turn around!" Rick shouted to her as she entered. Rio ran down from where he was watching, Maggie and Carl not far behind him.
Rick pushed Andrea up against the fence and held her down as he checked her for any more weapons. Daryl aimed his crossbow straight at her. Rio walked past Michonne who stood frozen for a minute before slowly stepping forward.
A Walker flung itself at the gate, reaching for Andrea through the gaps as she screamed. Rick pulled her away quickly before yelling at her to get on the floor.
She knelt down with her hands in the air.
"I asked if you were alone." Rick said to her as he knelt down, checking her and her bag for a final time. He pulled her bag off of her anyway, throwing it across the prison yard.
"I am." She breathed out.
"Welcome back." Rick said, grabbing her arm and trying to pull her up. She sat still. "Get up."
She did.
Rick led her inside, everyone following behind. Michonne still hadn't said anything, she just stared at Andrea with an unreadable expression.
Carol stood at the bottom of the stairs as Andrea entered. Arms out and pulling her straight into a hug. The other woman clung to her, grabbing her head.
"After you saved me, we thought you were dead." Carol whispered into her ear. Andrea looked up from her and around at the people she hadn't seen for months.
Her eyes widened as she pulled away from Carol, gently letting the other woman go.
"Hershel... oh my god." She said. She then looked around at the place. "I can't believe this."
Andrea scanned everyone's face again, smiling to them all. She looked to Rick. "Where's Shane?"
He shook his head and turned away.
"And Lori?" She asked desperately.
"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel answered for Rick.
"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie added.
"I'm so sorry." She replied genuinely.
"Carl..." she sighed, looking at the boy besides Rio. She flashed him a sad smile before turning to Rio and doing the same. He didn't know what to do. Carl stood still, not meeting her eye.
"Rick, I—."Andrea continued. "You, uh, you all live here?"
"Here and the cell block." Glenn answered.
"There?" She asked, pointing towards Cell Block C. "Well, can I go in?"
"I won't allow that."
"I'm not an enemy, Rick."
"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." Rick retaliated.
"He said you fired first." Andrea thought for a minute, looking up at the man.
"Well, he's lying."
"He killed an inmate who survived in here."
"We liked him. He was one of us." Daryl piped in.
"I didn't know anything about that." She explained to them all. "As soon as I found out, I came here. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."
"That was days ago."
"I told you, I came as soon as i could."
Michonne leant against the wall behind her. Maggie peered at her and Andrea noticed, turning to face her friend. "What have you told them?"
"Nothing."
"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"
"He almost killed Michonne and he would've killed us. Rio was on a run with us when we got taken," the boys head shot up and the mention of his name. "How would you feel if he was brought back and—."
"It was his finger on the trigger." Andrea protested, pointing towards Merle who stood upon the stairs. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" She pleaded with Glenn.
She let out a long sigh. "Look, i can not excuse or explain what Philip had done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."
"There's nothing to work out." Rick finalised. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."
"We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for— for all of you."
"You know better than that." Merle chuckled.
"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel asked. "Did he say that? Is that why you're here?"
"No."
"Then why did you come here?" Rick questioned.
"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified, they see you as killers. They're training to attack." She explained.
"I'll tell you what, next time you see Philip; you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl told her, taking a warning step forward.
"We've taken too much shit for too long." Glenn continued to protest. He was mad, the newfound anger Rio kept noticing recently coming back. "He wants a war? He's got one."
Andrea looked around everyone. "Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen." She stopped, catching her breath. "He has a whole town. Look at you, you've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."
"You want to make this right?" Rick asked. "Get us inside."
"No."
"Then we have nothing to talk about."
"There are innocent people." Andrea tried to reason with him, spinning around as he pushed past her. She let out a defeated sigh as Rick left, slamming the door behind him.
***
Rio was with Carol on the perch, watching as she held Judith. He sat upon the table, swinging his feet when he looked down, noticing Andrea wandering the cell block. He waved down to her.
"You can't leave without meeting little Ass-Kicker." Carol chuckled as the woman jogged up the stairs.
"May I hold her?" She asked, voice high with nerves.
"Of course." Carol responded.
Andrea stepped forward, holding Judith in her arms, smiling down at the baby.
"Got her?" Carol asked, her gentle hand lingering over Judith's head.
"I got her." Andrea replied. The baby let out a small fuss which quickly finished as she began to rock her. "Oh, look at you."
She cooed at the baby. "Let me guess, Daryl named her 'Ass-Kicker'."
Carol laughed. "That's not really her name."
"It's Judith." Rio said from besides her.
"Judith." She smiled. "Hi, Judith. Oh, how precious are you?" Her smiled dropped as she continued to watch the baby. "What... what happened to Lori?"
"During a C-section... Maggie. Carl had to—."
"Oh my God." Andrea cut in, grimacing at the thought. Rio bit his lip nervously. He hadn't known that until now. He'd never even asked Carl what happened. He didn't want to.
"T-Dog died leading me to safety."
"And Shane?"
"The farm." Rio murmured. Andrea looked over to him sadly.
"Rick killed him." Carol added. "The whole Randall thing was a lie. Shane tried to kill Rick."
"Shane loved Rick."
"Shane loved..." Carol stopped, looking towards Rio before mouthing something at Andrea. Lori. Shane loved Lori.
Andrea shook her head gently in disbelief, her mouth hung open and she hesitated to speak. "Rick's become cold. Unsteady."
"He has his reasons."
"The Governor, you need to do something." Carol said to her.
"I am." She replied sternly, handing Judith back to the other woman.
"No, you need to—." Carol covered Rio's ears, continuing to talk as she did. He didn't even try to lipread this time. She let him go.
"— Then when he's sleeping, you can end this."
Andrea nodded uneasily, pulling Carol in for a one armed hug, careful of the babe in her arms. She then dropped to one knee, sticking out a hand to Rio who high-fived her back.
"See you soon." She said as she got up, walking down the stairs.
Carol clasped a hand to Rio's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze.
"Can you tell me what you said?"
She shook her head at him hastily. "Nope, there's a reason you didn't need to hear that."
They headed down the stairs, following where Andrea had just walked. Glenn drove a car through the yard just as they arrived.
"Can you spare it?" Andrea asked Rick as Glenn closed the car door behind him.
"Yeah." He nodded at her.
She tapped her bag anxiously, looking around everyone. Her eyes fell on Michonne across the yard, she leant up against the wall as far away as she could've been.
"Well," she sighed. "Take care."
Andrea opened the door and got it the car, closing it behind hee quickly. Rick tried to stop her, "Andrea."
He stuck his hand through the open window, handing her keys and a gun. "Be careful." He whispered.
"You, too." She replied. The engine started and she drove off, everyone watching as she left. Merle was left in charge of closeting the gate. She was gone, again.
***
Everyone was on edge later that night, Rio sat around the lamp with Beth and Carol whilst others stood outside their cells, as if on guard. Rick walked down the stairs with Judith in his arms as Beth began to sing. Carol sat besides her, smiling as she sung. Her voice echoed through the building.
He looked around, following where Beth was looking. She looked to Maggie and to Glenn, then to Hershel who gave an approving nod. Rio realised something. Carl wasn't there.
He picked up his hoodie, throwing it on as Beth continued singing and headed out.
Rio found Carl outside, walking along the fence with a gun in his arms, his back turned to him. Walkers banged upon the gate but he didn't shoot them, he just walked past, watching as they pried through the holes.
"What are you doing?" Rio asked the other boy who hadn't noticed him yet.
Carl jumped a bit before he turned around, facing Rio. "Keeping watch."
"Everyone's inside."
"Exactly." He replied, adjusting his hat. "That's why I need to keep watch, someone has to."
"Why don't you keep watch in the day?" Rio asked him. The sky was a dark blue and the air was cold. Carl still wore his riot armour from earlier. Rio didn't give the other boy a chance to answer what he had just asked. "Just come inside, your dad is going to notice your not there soon."
Carl have one last look around, glancing at the walkers before nodding. "Okay."
***
If anyone is wondering carol actually says "no you need to sleep with him. give him the greatest night of his life. make him let his guard down. then, when he's sleeping, you can end this." But I thought that was a bit wild to say infront of a thirteen year old.
anyway this is like two and a half chapters Frankensteined together because there's was a lot I didn't like. sorry it took kinda long to upload