©️JRF2015-R2021
We walked all night and a good part if this morning. The sun is starting to get hot now. I fall to my knees on the ground, pulling Merle back a bit as I do. He turns, reaching out to lift me again. "No time to stop now, Lil' gal. We need to put as much distance as possible between us and Woodbury." Daryl steps up.
"We need to get them back to prison. To Hershel. He can look 'em over."
"We ain't going back there Lil brother, I can't," Merle argues. I pull away from him and stare at his rough, rugged face.
"You can," I say softly, "We're all family." I turn to Daryl, "Shouldn't we be there by now though? I don't remember it taking this long to get to Woodbury." I see Merle shift and I turn back to him. He is shaking his head, looking directly into Daryl's eyes.
"Merle is taking us in the opposite direction." Daryl blurts out. I notice his face now matching his brother's as his voice causes me to turn my attention back to him. After a minute, Daryl's words sink in. I snap my head back to Merle.
"Why, Merle," I question but don't give him time to answer. "We can't be out here exposed and vulnerable. We have no way to defend ourselves against the dead freaks out here. We're outnumbered." Merle shakes his head, running a hand across his face. He starts to speak and then stops himself. "Merle, we'll all be a lot safer inside the prison."
"No, we won't." He finally speaks, "you don't think that will be the first place the Governor goes when he finds out you and Michonne are gone? He'll destroy that place and then we'll be right where we are now. Better to just stay away, find a new place, just the four of us." Michonne steps forward, standing tall and right in Merle's face.
"I am not going anywhere with you." She sneers, turning to Daryl, "It's this way right?" Daryl nods. Michonne starts walking away, and I follow leaving Daryl to talk to his brother. Their voices trail off as I catch up to Michonne but not for long. I hear their voices raise in argument but I can't make out the words. "How far do you think Merle took us away from the prison?" Michonne shrugs, not looking at me. I continue to try and talk to her but I get no responses other than shoulder shrugs or grunts. "Are you mad at me?" I question, "if anyone has a reason to be pissed at someone I think that would be me. You ditched me." Something else hits me as I let those words fall. She may have ditched me but I killed her friend. "Is it about Andrea? I had to put her down. She wasn't your friend anymore, she would have eaten you alive."
"It's not Andrea. I understand you did what you had to do. I don't understand why you are talking to me like nothing happened, you're right, I ditched you."
I smile, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's in the past, I forgive you. We have to get along because I believe you are a part of our group whether you like it or not now." I wink at her before continuing, "now, if you do it again, I may have to kick your ass." This gets me a chuckle from the hard as a stone woman standing in front of me. "Finally! A smile. I knew there had to be one in there somewhere." We both start laughing now as we continue walking toward the prison again.
~~~~~~
(Merle's POV)
I've never seen Daryl like this before. I've seen him angry sure, but angry at me? Angry enough to scream at me, stand up for himself? He's never done this before hard as I tried to get him to his whole life. This group has changed my little brother and changed him for the better. I always knew he was a better man than I was, now he knows it too, finally.
He gets through screaming at me and starts walking away. My hand goes out, trying to get a hold of him and instead I catch the back of his shirt. It rips completely open. The flap of fabric falls out of my hand and my jaw falls open as I look at the scars on his back. "I, I didn't know."
"Yeah, ya did," Daryl says, a little calmer than a second ago but sadder. "He did it to you too. That's why you left first." He puts his bag back on his back and starts walking away again.
"I can't go back there with you." My eyes are doing that watering thing, I squeeze them shut, pushing feelings down. I can't do feelings, I can't show this raging emotion trying to leap out of me. "I damn near killed the Chinese kid!" Daryl looks over his shoulder at me and yells back.
"He's Korean!"
"Whatever!" I yell back, "It doesn't matter, I just can't go back with ya."
Daryl stops walking, head down and then he turns his head to look at me. "I may be the one walking away, but you're the one leaving....again." I watch him walk away and bite my lip. Those words hit harder than our father's fists ever did. I turn in the opposite direction and then back toward Daryl. My hands land on my hips. I can't follow, I shouldn't. But I need to, especially now, especially after these words. My feet finally move and I follow after my little brother.
~~~~~~
(Rick's POV)
I couldn't sleep when we got back. The thought of our people lost to that madman. The sight of Shane's face in the fog. His words echoing louder than they had when he said them out in that field that night. I look to the window, the sun is up and bright. I get myself up and dressed heading outside.
I shield my eyes as from the bright sunlight as I walk through the door. Our rescue mission failed miserably last night because I am not the leader everyone thinks I am. I'm not the man everyone believes me to be. I am not a hero. I've lost my best friend, I've lost one of our people, and Michonne - I am not sure where she stands in all this but she could be an asset to our group. And I lost all of them last night. Shane was right. I can't keep people safe.
I look out across the field, Hershel is out there trying to get it ready for crops. I hear a noise and look to the gate. I recognize that sound as a vehicle, running at full speed, right for us. I start running, screaming at people to get back up to the prison, to safety. My words are drowned out as the truck plows through the gate and into the field where Hershel is at. The back door of that truck falls open and walkers spill out. I draw my gun and start shooting as they head toward Hershel. Then the truck pulls between me and Hershel. It's Glenn getting Hershel to safety. I run out there to take care of the rotting dead people that were just dumped in our front yard. I catch sight of movement at the treeline outside the fence. I rush over, blaming open the gate and head of whoever that may be. I know it is the maniac Governor watching in sadistic glee and I am going to kill him this time.
~~~~~~
{Rachel's POV}
I can see the edge of an open field ahead. "Is that," I ask Michonne, squinting my eyes.
"Maybe we weren't as far away from the prison as Merle thought," Michonne replies ad I can hear her smile.
"Or my brother has lost his sense of direction and skill." Michonne and I turn to see Daryl, smile plated on his face as well. "Yeah, that's home." He walks up to me, hand landing on my arm and then slipping around my waist. "Let's get going, we have been gone way too long as it is." We stop at the edge of the forest.
"What is it that?" I ask Daryl who shrugs.
"Sounds like a truck." We watch from the tree line as a truck crashes through the gate and dead freaks stumble out of it. I gasp, hand covering my mouth.
"Daryl, what? How? Why?" I stumble over my words unable to form a complete question.
"Typical Governor move. I told you he would be coming to take your people out when he found out you were gone." We look back at Merle as he heads toward the prison, knife out, and ready to fight. "You gonna just stand there baby brother or are you gonna try to save your little friends inside?" Daryl steps forward, beside Merle. I follow suit but I am quickly stopped by Merle. "You ain't strong enough right now to be trying to fight anything. Wait here until we get these things cleared."
"You can't tell me what to do." I sneer as Michonne joins me.
"I just did. And you ain't in any better shape," Merle says reaching out and gently pushing on Michonne's shoulder, "both of y'all just wait here. I mean it." He growls, pushing both of us back now before he and Daryl take off running. I look up at the far fence and I see Rick. He is pinned against it by three walkers. I gasp again, standing up and searching for my knife, which I no longer have. Michonne growls, "you're right, Merle can't tell us what to do!" She reaches for her sword and then I hear a heavy sigh. My head turns in her direction. "Guess we don't have a choice, The Governor still has my sword. I need to get that back at some point." My eyebrows furrow at that last part. She said it so nonchalantly. Like going back to Woodbury for that sword was such a mundane thing. I shake my head and return to the danger our people are in right now. I see one of the dead freaks in front of Rick fall, one of Daryl's bolts through the back of its skull. Then Merle takes a second one and stabs it with his knife hand before grabbing the last. I see him and Daryl exchange a nod quickly before returning to dispatch the rest of the walking dead.
Once the walkers are cleared Merle turns letting out a loud whistle and waving for us to come out. I am so glad to be back, my pace quickens as I hurry toward that fence, toward home.
~~~~~~
{Rick's POV}
Merle lets out a loud whistle, right in my ear. My hand goes up, covering it as I look over my shoulder, following Merle's line of sight to see who he is waving over here. I feel the smile creep across my face as I see Rachel walking toward us. I take a few steps forward as she finally comes right in front of me. Before I can say anything to her, she collapses in my arms. I cradle her in my arms and close to my chest. I catch sight of Michonne, looking in as bad a shape as Rachel, if not worse. She stumbles as well and Merle runs out to her, just in time to catch her before she hits the ground. I carry Rachel into the cell block as Merle brings Michonne in, "Hershel, we need Hershel!" I lose sight of Merle and Michonne as I enter Rachel's cell and lay her on her bed. Hershel rushes in to check her out. "She's been through a lot but she'll make it. She just needs to rest." I nod, sitting next to her on that bed. "I'm here Rachel. I'm not leaving your side until you wake up, I promise." I look up at Hershel who has a crooked grin on his face. "Merle has Michonne, she didn't look any better than Rachel here for wear." Hershel and I exchange a nod and he disappears.