"You know," Rick began "what you two did for me, for my baby, while I was . . . working things out -- thank you"
"It's not a problem, Rick" Riley replied "you'd do it if were any one of us. You know that"
"It's what we do" Daryl added
"Rick" Oscar said, pointing ahead
"Down" Rick ordered "get in formation, no gunfire"
They all got low at the sound of a walkers groans, a slow breath emitting from her nose as she removed the knife from it's sheath, holding it close to her for her own assurance,
"There's too many" Riley said, looking at Rick
"This way" he said
Following his lead, the small group began to make their way around the small herd of walkers, knowing they were in a bit of a hurry, the others, except Daryl, tried not to make any noise. None of them are that good at being silent on their feet. There was a small shack like house a few feet from them, Rick must have seen the same thing, which caused him to head in that direction,
"Through there, come on" Rick said
They entered the shack, the first thing that Riley noticed was the smell, the kind that made her scrunch up her nose slightly but not enough to where it would cause her to gag. Oscar tried to silently shut the door, but it made a loud squeak,
"That smell" Oscar said "it's loud"
Looking around, Riley slid her knife back in the sheath, covering her nose with the back of her hand, Daryl coming up next to her with his crossbow pointed to the ground. Riley removed her bow from her shoulders, getting an arrow ready for any possible threats, Rick lifting up a blanket, only to back up a few steps as the smell got worse, even though Daryl and Riley are kind of used to smelling dead animals, it still doesn't make it any less pleasant.
"What the hell is that?" Oscar asked
"It's got to be a fox" Riley replied, her nose scrunching up slightly "or what's left of one"
"I guess Lassie went home" Daryl commented causing a small smirk to form on her lips
A sudden movement caused her smirk to drop, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she looked in the direction of what looked like a bed, a noticeable lump on top of it, causing her to slowly draw an arrow back. Rick ripped the blanket off the bed, which revealed a man holding a double barreled shotgun, pointing in their direction,
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked
"We don't mean any harm" Rick replied, holding up his hands, as if he were surrendering
"Get outta my house!" The man ordered
"Okay, okay" Rick replied "we will. But we can't right now"
"Now!" He shouted
"Shut him up!" Michonne whispered
"Get out right now!" The man shouted
"There are walkers outside" Rick tried to reason
"I'll call the cops!" He threatened
"I am a cop" Rick said "now I need you to lower your gun. Don't do anything rash, everything's fine. Let's just-- let's just take this nice and slow, okay?"
"Show me your badge" he said
"Alright" he replied with a nod "it's in my pocket. It's in my pocket. Now, I'm just reach down nice and slow" his hand slowly making it's way to his pocket, clearly lying to the man
He lowered the shotgun slightly, which game Rick the advantage to grab him, Oscar yanking the weapon from his hands,
"Let go!" The man shouted "let go of me. I'll kill you! Let go of me!"
"Shut up!" Rick whispered "shut up!"
As they were trying to get him to shut up, Riley must have seriously missed something, because next thing she know, the man is no longer with them and was now outside with the walkers, becoming their next meal, which gave them the advantage of getting away quietly.
•
The day slowly turned to night, Michonne led us through a small opening in the gates of Woodbury, now, they had been hiding out in what looked like a small pharmacy. The town was lit by scattered torches, not enough to attract attention from unwanted walkers, a slow breath emitted from Riley's nose, her bow at the ready, arrow pointed to the floor but not yet drawn back, not seeing any threat near by,
"If anyone comes in here, we're sitting ducks" Daryl said
"We gotta move" Rick added
"They could be in his apartment" Michonne said
"Yeah?" Riley asked, looking at her "what if they ain't?"
"Then we'll look somewhere else" she replied
"You said you could help us" Rick said, now getting angry
"Then where the hell are they?" Riley asked
Michonne shot her a small glare, but none of that crap phased her, watching as she walked over to a window and peered out, causing Riley to roll her eyes slightly,
"Hey" Rick said lowly, gaining Riley and Daryl's attention "if this goes south, we're cutting her loose"
"You think she's leading us into a trap?" Oscar asked
"Right now it's the blind leading the blind" Riley said, shrugging slightly, "we might have to find them on our own if we need to"
"Then we split up" Rick said
The front door suddenly began to open, which caused Riley to silently curse under her breath, Daryl grabbing her wrist and pulling her into a hiding spot, him being in front. Riley lowered the sound of her breathing, keeping her bow ready,
"I know you're there" a man said "I saw you moving from outside. All right, now. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it. Who's in here?"
"Shut up" Rick said lowly, the barrel of his gun aimed at the man's head "get on your knees" causing him to do as said with his hands raised "hands behind your back"
He put his hands behind his back, Riley slowly stood from her hiding spot to get a good view as to what was happening, Oscar to zip tying the man's hands together, Rick pressing the barrel of his gun to his head,
"Where are our people?" Rick demanded
"I don't know" the man replied
"You're holding some of our people" he replied "where are they?"
"I don't know" he said
"Open your mouth" Rick ordered, pressing the barrel of his gun into the man's mouth
•
Let's just say, all hell may or may not have broken loose.
They managed to find Glenn and Maggie, though. Glenn was beaten up pretty bad, his face badly bruised, and when they got there, Riley noticed that Maggie was wearing his shirt, which led her to believe that something happened to her that should never happen to a woman.
"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked
"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked, looking at Glenn
"I'll be alright" Glenn replied
Tough Korean
"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked
"She was right behind us" Riley replied
"Maybe she was spotted" Oscar said "want me to go look for her?"
"No" Rick replied "we gotta get them outta here. She's on her own"
"Daryl . . ." Glenn said "it was Merle"
Daryl and Riley looked at each other in disbelief, then back to Glenn
"It was" Glenn continued "he did this"
"You saw him?" Daryl asked, needing the confirmation
"Face to face" Glenn replied "he threw a walker at me, he was gonna execute us"
"So he's this Governor?" Riley asked
"No" Maggie replied "it's somebody else" looking at Daryl "your brother's his lieutenant or something"
"Does he know I'm still with you?" Daryl asked
"He does now" Maggie said, guilt filling her "Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out"
"Don't" Rick said firmly "no need to apologise. They're gonna be looking for us, we have to get back. Can you walk?" looking at Glenn "we have a car a few miles out"
"I'm good" Glenn replied with a nod
"Alright" he said with a nod
"Hey, if Merle's around, we need to see him" Daryl said, stopping Rick
"Not now" Rick replied "we're in hostile territory"
"He's my brother" he said "I ain't--"
"Look at what he did!" Rick snapped, pointing to Glenn "look, we gotta -- we gotta get out of here, now"
"Maybe we can talk to him" Riley said "maybe we can work something out"
"No, no, no" Rick replied "both of you aren't thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this Governor catches up to us? I need you. Both of you. Are you with me?"
". . . Yeah" Daryl replied after a moment, giving Rick a nod
•
Riley's breathing was slightly heavy, they had been taking on heavy fire from the Governor's men, but something was just nagging at her. With her back pressed against a brick wall, Daryl was next to her, occasionally moving to shoot his gun at the enemy, she couldn't help but think back to the time before she was in a coma. Life was much more simple then, minus Riley working two part time jobs, they didn't have to sleep with their guns underneath their pillows and they didn't have to constantly look over their shoulder for the undead. Both Dixon brothers and Riley had their own place, all of them worked, paid bills, hung out with a few other people and that was about it, occasionally going to the lake to swim when the sun was blazing. Sometimes Riley just wished this never happened, but sometimes wishes don't come true.
Daryl softly gripped her wrist, breaking her from her thoughts, causing Riley to look at him, she knew what he was planning the moment he hesitated to reply to Rick, he needed to see his brother and she needed to make sure Merle's karma was in check for what happened. She also kinda missed that bastard as well. And the thing is, Daryl knew she would be with him every step of the way, because that's how it's always been since they were kids, and she knew that's how it always will be.
Both of us or neither of us.
As much as she hated it, as soon as the group was out of the walls of Woodbury, Daryl and Riley slipped back in, wanting to find Merle. A sudden sharp pain hit the back of her head, which caused her to black out.
•
"Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed" a voice said as Riley came too
There was a black bag over her head, preventing her from seeing, her hands bound behind her back,
"And I thought we were past it-- past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front if the TV during the early days of the outbreak" he continued "the fear we felt then . . . we felt it again tonight. I failed you, I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. You know I -- I should tell you that well be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I -- I won't. Because I can't. Because I'm afraid" causing me to roll my eyes "that's right. I'm afraid of the terrorists which want what we have. Want to destroy us! And worse . . . because of those terrorists . . . Is one of our own. Merle" causing people to murmur "the man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led 'em here. He let 'em in. It was you. You lied, betrayed us all" fueling the people "these are two of those terrorists"
Riley was suddenly forced to walk forward, her hands unbound and the bag ripped off my head, a set of hands forcefully shoving her to the ground, causing her to stumble and land on her stomach, dirt fanning around her as her hair covered her face, hearing more people shout. Slowly looking up, Riley saw that she was in the center of a large crowd, which would be the people of Woodbury, slowly pushing herself to her feet and looking around, her breathing slightly heavy.
"Merle's own brother!" He said
A black bag was suddenly ripped off of Daryl's head, his hands unbound as he was forced in the center with Riley, a small cut prominent on his left cheekbone, which had fueled the crowd even more. He was looking in her direction, but not directly at her, behind her. This caused Riley to slowly turn around, seeing the familiar face of Merle, who's face had paled drastically at the sight of me, being that not much about her had changed since the start of all this.
"What should we do with them, huh?" The man asked, who Riley had assumed was the Governor
"Kill them!" Some of the people shouted
"What?" He asked "what do you want?"
"Kill them!"
"Kill them!"
"Well Merle" he said "you wanted tour brother. Now you got him"