Kassie watched as Hershel checked over her head, "so Merle did this?" He asked lightly as he pressed around her head to see if anything else was askew.
"Yeah, one minute we were taking down walkers and the next he knocked out Michonne and was coming towards me" Kassiopeia said lightly as she looked at the blank wall, "do you think Rick would let me paint the walls if I asked" she asked in a child like manner as she looked back to him.
Hershel smiled at her before patting her arm, "I think he wouldn't have a problem with it" the older man said with an amused smile. The two sat in silence as they smiled at each other until Glenn walked up to the door.
He gave Kassie a small smile before turning his attention to Hershel, "Look at what that bastard's done" Glenn hissed as he watched Hershel
"He's one man" Hershel said as he looked to the boy, "There'll be others like him. There always have been" Hershel explained with a sad look.
"I know. It's like the walkers. There's nothing we can do. When you gave me this" Glenn said as he pulled out a pocket watch and held it in his hands, "I didn't fully understand what it meant. Such a simple thing. I know what it means now. I know what it takes. I want to marry Maggie. And we don't have to have a wedding. Hell I don't even know if we'll last the week. But I want her to know before... who knows?" He whispered as he looked to the floor.
"You have my blessing" Hershel said as a small smile graced his face.
Glenn nodded before rising to his feet, "Thank you. Can Kass come with me?" Hershel nodded making Glenn give a small smile as he motioned for Kassiopeia to follow him. Kassie looked back to Hershel who smiled at her before giving a light shrug, she smiled before taking off after Glenn who was waiting for her by the exit.
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Kassie walked beside Glenn as they walked in between the two fences, "so what are we looking for?" She asked lightly as she adjusted her arm that was in the sling.
"We are looking for a ring for Maggie" he said with a giddy smile.
Kassiopeia gasped before nudging him slightly, "can I be the flower girl??" She asked with a smile.
Glenn chuckled at her before stopping in front of a Walker woman, he quickly snapped two of her fingers off. He pulled off the ring and passed it to Kassie, she held it up to the sun to look it over before she gave it back to him with an approving smile and a pat to his back. He smiled down at her and wrapped his arm lightly around her shoulders as they walked back to the prison in a comfortable silence.
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Michonne stood alone over a walker head before she stabbed it in the head "Hey!" Michonne looked up to she the younger two Dixon brothers walking towards her, "Where's our brother?" Daryl asked as they came to a stop before the woman.
"You k*ll him?" Jackson asked as he looked to the decapitated head on the ground.
"He let me go" Michonne said simply.
"Don't let anyone come after us" Daryl said before he and Jax took off in the direction the woman had just come from.
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Glenn and Kassiopeia shared a smile before Glenn walked over to Maggie who smiled at the girl as she walked into the gated area everyone was asked to meet at. She looked around at those who had already arrived, Carol sat on a bench holding baby Judith as Mason, Hershel, Carl and Beth all sat at the table. Mason waved her over as she gave one last look around the group, she walked over to Mason to stand behind him as Maggie and Glenn walked over to the group with giddy smiles on their faces. Rick cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention before starting, "When I met with the Governor, he offered me a deal. He said— he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne. And I was gonna do that... to keep us safe" he said taking a deep breath, "I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl and Jax went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late" he whispered as everyone looked at him in disbelief. "I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry- what I first told you that night after the farm... it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. This is life and death. How you live... how you die—it isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight or we can go" he said looking around at everybody who all looked back at him before he turned on the ball of his foot and walked away from the group, they all looked to each other in silence.
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Jackson and Daryl walked around the corner of a building to the rendezvous spot the group had met with the Governor at previously and walked out to scene of walkers eating what remained of a massacre of some degree. Daryl walked up on a few walkers before he motioned to Jackson to keep quiet as they walked past mutilated bodies that seemed a walker already picked through. Jackson covered his face slightly as he gaged at seeing the mutilated corpses as he pulled off his scythe staff before twisting the middle apart and pulling it apart so he had two Scythes, one in each hand. Daryl stoped for a moment to shoot one of the walkers, he quickly pulled out another arrow and to reload his crossbow as they stoped before the next walker. Slowly the walker looked up from the boy it was eating, letting some of the flesh and muscle fall that was hanging off the side of its face. It licked its lips as it looked at the two and their hearts dropped, it was Merle......
Daryl's steady breathing elevated as he watched his older brother look back at him, it was like he was looking at his brother but it wasn't him anymore- it was like something else was in his skin, Merle Dixon was gone and all that was left was the shell of him. They could tell it was their brother but he was different as he ate the dead boy before them. Daryl let out a strangled cry as Merle looked at him, Jackson backed away slightly not believing his eyes. His older brother who he had grown up hating, because he left him and Daryl to deal with their drunk of a dad. And here he was wishing more than anything to go back in time and take everything back, Merle slowly rose to his feet. Jackson's breath caught in his throat as he watched Merle stumble toward them, Daryl let out an audible cry this time as he watched his older brother. "NO" Daryl shouted as he pushed his older brother away from him.
"Daryl" Jackson whispered desperately to him, Daryl shuddered away from his brother as tears ran down his face. Daryl shoved him away desperate for this to all be just a dream, but it wasn't. Daryl watched Merle recover after his attempt to push him away, making his way forward again. "Daryl!" Jax said louder this time as tears slowly escaped his eyes. Daryl pushed his brother one last time before he pulled out his knife so when Merle came forward again he was ready. As Merle approached again, Daryl cried out as he stabbed his brother in the shoulder. They both went to the ground with Daryl on top and Merle below him struggling to get to Daryl in attempts to bite him. Daryl cried out again as he pulled his knife out of Merle's throat only to embed it in his forehead effectively stopping Merle from getting to him. He quickly pulled out his knife before plunging it back in over and over for a few times before he fell back crying. Jax dropped to his knees beside his older brother looking at his now caved in and bloodied face as he raised his hand slightly. He slowly reached for his pocket and pulled out his wallet, he flipped it open and looked through the contents before he settled on pulling out an old picture he had of the three of them and their mother. He also pulled out two necklaces with a dog tags, one Jackson had made for his brother when he became a single dad and the second from his time in the military. He pulled one around his head and stuffed the photo and the other dog tag into his pocket, he slowly stood and walked over to Daryl who was slowly getting back onto his feet as his face turned cold. "Let's kill this son of a bitch" Jackson murmured before he walked over to the car, he picked up the half empty bottle of alcohol and a lighter and walked back over to his brother before dousing his body in the alcohol. He took the old lighter and flicked it open, he took a second before lighting the lighter. Jackson looked back to Daryl who nodded, the boy dropped the lighter onto his brothers dead body and watched it go up in flames. Jackson turned his back to Merle and walked towards the car, Daryl followed after his baby brother and got into the driver's side. Jackson got into the passenger seat and waited for Daryl to start the car. The two remaining Dixons were off, heading back to the prison without their older brother.
Jackson's weapon