#Bob Grady | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-name-is-z · 2 months ago

Text

SKELETONS | ch. 53

daryl dixon x f!oc

masterlist

a03 link

Summary: The rescue team returns to Atlanta with backup and a plan. Warnings/Information: AMC's The Walking Dead OC Insert | 18+ Advised | strangers to lovers; the slowest of slow burns; gore; angst; horror; humour; m/f; mocking religion; cop insults; kidnapping; keeping cops as hostages; hostage negotiation; premeditating the murder

Chapter 53 - Hostage

When Michonne spotted them coming out of the brush, she had grinned so wide, but it faded quickly when she realized Carol was not with them. And that they had someone else with them instead.

The kid introduced himself as Noah. He was helpful enough, did his part while they talked about their next course of action. Rick also took the time to fill them in on everything they had missed. Bob got bit, kidnapped by survivors from Terminus, eaten, and died in the back of the church. Rick, Michonne, Sasha, Abraham and a couple others finally killed Gareth and his gang of psychopaths. Abraham took Eugene, Rosita, Glenn and Maggie on their way to Washington, leaving the rest to meet Iris, Carol and Daryl when they returned and follow when they were able.

Iris and Daryl helped Sasha and Tyreese dismantle the pipe organ and a few pews in the church to use for material.

Sasha was furious. She was taking out her grief and anger on the church pew, laying her axe into the wood enough times that it was almost sawdust, and she started to dig into the floor. Daryl carried another armful of pipes outside to where Iris was starting to dig them into the ground. Rick, Carl and Michonne were nailing wood boards from the pews to the windows.

“Are you going to take the cross, too?” Gabriel asked, trying to be snarky, but Daryl just raised an eyebrow.

“If we need it.” He replied, shoving one of the pipes into the ground. The ends were points, which helped them build a little bottleneck of spikes near the porch.

“The lord provides.” Iris retorted with a smirk. Daryl shot her a grin, but Gabriel grimaced. Iris was simply itching to return to Atlanta. But Noah reasoned, the longer they wait, the better Carol will be by the time they come to get her.

Despite Rick’s apprehension about returning to Atlanta, he agreed that they all owed Carol their lives. And if Noah assured them that Beth would be alive, then they needed to go get her. They built a small task force of Rick, Iris, Daryl, Noah, Sasha and Tyreese. Michonne would stay back to reinforce the church with Gabriel, Judith and Carl, and hopefully they would return with two more members of their group. They had already lost so much.

Iris sat in the back of the truck with Noah, Tyreese and Sasha while Daryl drove, Rick sitting in the passenger seat while Daryl relayed everything they knew about these people. Most of them were actually cops from Atlanta, Noah explained, but very few of them deserved the title anymore. Iris hoped for Rick’s sake that he didn’t know any of them.

“At sundown we fire a shot into the air, get two of them out on patrol.” Rick suggested as they surrounded the poor makeshift map he’d made out of rocks and pieces of debris on the floor.

They had commandeered an old warehouse on the university campus, presumably once used as a garage for agricultural equipment, cars and trucks for campus security. They moved to the top floor where large windows looked out and down into Grady Memorial. Their small squad stood around Rick’s map, formulating a plan of action, a plan of rescue.

“Then once its dark enough that the rooftop spotter won’t see us, we go.” Rick continued. “We cut the locks on one of the stairwells and take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Iris takes the guard out—“

“How?” Tyreese interrupted.

“She slits his throat.” Rick replied. He looked up at Iris for confirmation and she nodded. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but they’d taken Beth. They’d brought it upon themselves. Besides, that ship had long sailed. If there was an afterlife, she’d be having tea parties with Satan. “This is all about doing this quiet, keeping the upper hand. They’re not expecting us. From there, we fan out. Knives and silenced weapons. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, take them.” He drew out more X’s in the dust with a stick. “Daryl, you take care of whoever’s in the kitchen, I got Dawn.”

Dawn was their leader, Noah explained. She was a formidable enemy, a police officer trying to keep peace by brutalizing and holding other survivors captive. She was not a good person. She was also apparently under a similar delusion to Abraham, one where all the armed forces and government officials would pop out with a surprise party and save everyone.

“If they’re smart, the rest of them will give up, then it’ll be six on three. Seven on three once we get a weapon to Beth.” Rick continued.

“Thirteen on three. The wards will help.” Noah assured with a nod.

“That’s best case. What’s worst case?” Tyreese asked.

“We all die in a fiery hailstorm of walkers, bullets and blood.” Iris stated, looking up at each of them.

“Sounds like a good way to spend a Friday night.” Daryl replied, cocking his crossbow onto his shoulder. Tyreese shook his head, so serious.

“All it takes is one of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it’s not quiet. All hands on deck. We’re talking about a lot of bullets flying around.” Tyreese murmured.

“If thats what it takes.” Sasha shrugged.

“It’s not.” Tyreese scowled. “If we get a couple of her cops alive, out here, we can do an even trade.” He suggested. “Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home.” Iris pondered. It wasn’t actually a bad idea, low risk, high reward. If they could pull it off.

“What about Noah? What if they demand him back?” Iris asked. The kid looked up, nodding in thanks.

“We can’t allow them to force our hand.” Rick hummed. “If they pick a fight, we’ll give ‘em one.” Iris grinned a frightening grin, and Noah shivered.

“You say this Dawn, she’s just trying to keep it together, right?” Daryl asked. Noah nodded.

“Trying and doing are two different things.” He pointed out.

“You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have?” Daryl asked. “Everybody goes home, like he says.” Iris nodded her agreement. Though this all depended on how desperate, how fragile, how manic Dawn was already. If they pushed her over the edge, it might result in a dogfight none of them wanted. But Beth and Carol had to be worth the risk. Rick eyed Daryl for disagreeing with him, but in the sort of way that conveyed respect more than frustration. Tyreese glanced warily between the two, but Rick began to nod.

“Alright.” He grunted.

They set up in the warehouse around them, and when they were ready, Rick sent Noah down to the entrance. On cue, he fired four shots into the air. It took a few minutes, but soon the sound of squealing tires replaced the thundering heartbeat in Iris’ ears. They spotted Noah as he shot of another round, limping around a walkway. They cut off his path, just barely hitting him with the driver’s side headlight as they skidded to a stop. Noah fell to the ground with a grunt, clutching his injured leg. He scrambled up, trying to run, but they pulled out their guns.

“Put the gun down, Noah.” One of the officers, a woman, called. Noah stopped, putting the pistol down on the ground. “Hands up, turn around.” The other officer stomped forward as Noah turned his back to them, pulling out a zip tie for his wrists.

“Let me know if it’s too tight, okay?” He asked quietly as he bound his wrists behind his back.

“Thought you were smart, Noah. You think we wouldn’t hear you?” The woman asked.

“Where are those rotters you were shooting at?” The man asked, looking up with a frown. It was then that they shared a glance of realization.

“No rotters here.” Iris called from an empty space where a large window used to be. She was crouched, aiming a rifle down on the pair of them. “Holy shit, Officer Shepherd.”

“Iris Bowen.” The woman growled, scowling up at her. “Why aren’t I surprised you’re still at the wrong end of my gun?”

“Seems like the right side to me.” Daryl grumbled. Shepherd and the other officer whipped around, grimacing at being quickly surrounded by the others.

“You know this woman?” The male cop asked, frowning at his partner.

“The last time I saw you, you were caught street racing in a stolen Jaguar.” Shepherd grunted up at Iris, who simply grinned at the memory.

“Aw, it’s cute that you think you caught me.” She laughed. “I seem to remember doing donuts around your little cruiser until I got bored, and I still made it home in time for dinner. Tell me, do cops still like donuts?” Iris grinned. Daryl made a face at the bad joke, looking up at her. Iris shrugged.

“You little shit.” Shepherd grimaced, adjusting her aim toward Iris instead of Noah. Every rifle pointed at the two cops immediately cocked, and Iris tutted in warning.

“Hands.” Rick advised quietly.

“What do you want?” Shepherd asked.

“Whatever this is, we can help.” The other cop added.

“You do what we say, we don’t hurt you.” Rick explained lowly. Plain and simple.

“Okay.” The male cop agreed, putting his hands up and carefully letting his pistol hang from his index finger. Shepherd followed suit, scowling.

“Good. Now turn around.” Rick instructed calmly. “Place your guns on the floor and kneel.” They followed their directions and Iris hopped down from her window seat, cutting Noah’s bindings with a flash of her knife. Daryl and Sasha picked up the guns, zip-tying their wrists together. “We need to talk. There’s water if you need some, and food.”

“Mind if I ask you something?” The male cop asked, looking up at Rick. “The way you talk, the way you carry yourself… were you a cop?” Rick said nothing. “Well, believe it or not, I was too.”

“That’s Lamson.” Noah said quietly to Rick and Iris. “He’ll be down for this. He’s one of the good ones.”

They all paused as another set of tires squealed across the asphalt. The cops dove in one direction, the survivors in another. They unloaded their weapons on the car, but whoever it was ducked around their bullets, allowing Lamson and Shepherd to climb into the back seats. It was this black car that took Beth, Iris realized. The same damn one. It peeled away in a hurry, but Sasha ran forward, firing one more bullet into the tire. It burst with a loud pop and they sprinted after it.

Around the corner the car sat empty, a smattering of burned bodies between them and a water tower and another tall building. The bodies writhed and Iris realized the walkers were still alive, though their skin and muscle melted to the ground, essentially piles of conscious melted flesh with a death grip on whatever was keeping them “alive.”

“There.” Iris said quietly, pointing across the way. Lamson and Shepherd ducked around the broken down car, running around the corner of the building.

“Two, on me.” Rick called. They tore after the two of them, but Daryl faltered. Iris paused halfway between, watching as Sasha, Tyreese, Rick and Noah caught up with Lamson and Shepherd, and Daryl got tackled to the ground by the third cop. Iris ran back toward him as Daryl stuck his fingers into the eye sockets of a nearby walker, ripping the skull and spinal chord from the ground and striking the cop across the head with it. He backed off as Iris cocked her gun, pointing it in the cop’s face.

“Okay.” He said, holding his hands up. “You win, you little bitch.” Daryl panted, glancing up at Iris as he pushed up to his feet. The cop stood up, Iris still training her rifle at the space between his particularly wide-set eyes.

“Iris…” Daryl murmured.

“Yeah, yeah.” She huffed, nodding. He stepped forward, frisking the cop before using another set of zip-ties to keep his arms back.

“Your friend. What’s his name?” Shepherd asked as Iris and Daryl escorted their hostages into the room where they’d planned this little heist. “I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed.” Iris whirled around, letting her rage peek through as her memories came flooding back.

“I seem to remember you being responsible for a lot of my friends’ deaths.” Iris hissed, Shepherd staggering to a stop as she got in her face. “Your long and painful death would be no loss to me, or any of us. We only need two.”

“We’ll make it work.” Sasha added, and Iris nodded to her, appreciating the backup even if Sasha had no idea what exactly she was backing up.

“It would work if you had different cops to trade.” Shepherd stated. “Dawn’s running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too.”

“Dawn doesn’t know that.” The third cop, Licari, denied.

“She might.” Shepherd insisted. “She’s smart. There’s a good chance you can’t make this deal work, and that’ll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we’ll take care of Dawn ourselves and then we’ll let your friends go and this is over. We’ll never have to see each other again.” She assured, pointedly looking at Iris.

“What a miracle that would be.” Iris grunted, turning away.

“No. We’re not going to do that." Lamson murmured, staring off into space.

“Do you want to die?” Shepherd hissed angrily.

“No.” Lamson replied. “I just need you to shut up right now.” He blinked, turning his attention to Iris, Daryl and the others. “You can make this work. But you’ve gotta be able to talk to her.”

“Noah told us all about her.” Sasha explained. “I’ve known her for eight years, ma’am.” Lamson replied. “I know this woman. And my only interest is peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please.”

“Hey, Rick.” Daryl called to where he was kneeling beside Noah, going over their plan by the map on the floor. “You’re gonna want to hear this.”

TAGLIST:

@heidiland05

@ryoujoking

@catlalice

@maxinehufflepuffprincess

@lowkeyhottho

@fadingpalacebonkpsychic

@hayley1998

@negansbestie

@lizey-thornberry

#thenameisz #daryl dixon #skeletons #the walking dead #the walking dead daryl dixon #twd daryl #twd daryl dixon #daryl dixon x oc #daryl dixon x original character #daryl dixon x fem! oc

15 notes · View notes

emsee22 · 8 months ago

Text

The Real Meaning of the DC Spoon from Still

In Still, Beth picked up the DC Spoon which we thought meant she was going to go with the rest of the group to DC. After her death, articles were published claiming that the DC spoon foreshadowed that she was the only member of the group that was not going to know about DC. However, DC was more an Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita thing, and the only other people involved were Glenn, Maggie, and Tara because of the deal Glenn made with Abraham back in the church. Well, for me, there is too much resurrection symbolism around Beth for the spoon to truly signify her death, AND Rick, Sasha, Carol, Daryl, Carl, Tyrese, Michonne, Gabriel nor Morgan headed to DC. Here's what I think the DC spoon signified:

The cure.

The Washington DC storyline was about the cure. But Eugene was a poison (he lied), he was not the cure. There are theories about Beth having been bitten and that Grady was looking for a cure, stemming from the walker the direction focused on with blood on his mouth outside the funeral home, to the guinea pig symbolism, etc.

I think Beth really is going to be associated with the real cure. They have been building up to it, with Laurent in Daryl Dixon, and with Alicia in Fear The Walking Dead. But if they brought a real cure up in season 5, the show would have become all about that.

Sometimes I think the show writes lines that are not only about the story but messages to the audience. Remember how Bob was viewed as a Bet proxy? When he was dying, he dropped a Beth line about there still being good in the world and staying who you are. Then Sasha asked him why he didn't tell her that he was bit and he said "because then it would have become all about the end, and I was really enjoying the middle." If the show brought up a real cure, for the audience, it would have become about the show ending, when they had so much more story to tell.

Beth will come back, and she is coming back with a cure.

#team delusional #team defiance #beth is alive

21 notes · View notes

angelthefirst1 · 1 year ago

Text

Who came back?

Well, it's likely Morgan...

Sorry to disappoint!

But it's actually good news for us, why? As I've mentioned in past posts, everything from the time of Coda is being repeated.

And that would include the return of Morgan.

We have just seen a repeat of the coda symbol in DD episode 6. It's the first time we have seen it since the episode Coda.

And we saw two of them very close together, twins.

Morgan's return back in season 5 was heavily linked to the Coda, so much so that he actually touched the Coda symbol while being in a Coda to the episode called Coda! Phew...😧 follow that if you can!

I've mentioned how the convergence of signs will proceed Beth's return, and those signs will be the same but inverted to how she left.

So when we see a combination of Grady and Terminus symbolism plus throw in Morgan possibly returning, we know her return is very close.

In other words, what happened in sequence when she left will happen in reverse when she returns.

In the past, Morgan lost his son, causing him to eventually try and track down Rick, leading him to Alexandria.

At present, Morgan in FTWD gained a daughter (Mo) and left the group, taking his daughter to head out and find Rick Grimes. He is heading back to Alexandria once again but with inverted circumstances.

In the Coda of Coda, where Morgan touches the Coda 😁 we see Morgan first on the train tracks to Terminus. He doesn't go because of Rick's sign. This detour leads him to the coda symbol on the tree and he touches it.

After touching the coda, he then goes to a school where he finds music magazines and a Beth lookalike walker, who he stabs in the head.

He then makes his way to the church, but before getting there, he sees this symbol on a tree.

The logical negation symbol basically reverses the meaning of something.

We saw another one of these symbols in episode 502 where Bob gets taken from the church and taken to the school by Gareth from Terminus.

In fact, we see the negation symbol, and then the very next scene is Carol and Daryl taking off in the car to find Beth.

Everything between the two symbols could be considered false and opposite, including Beth's death!

Beth dying between these two negation symbols: = Beth didn't die.

After seeing this negation symbol, Morgan heads into the church, and the first thing he touches is the cross ✝️.

Bob and Morgan follow the same path from church to school but reversed. After they come across the negation symbol.

Now it's very possible that Morgan came across Beth back in the day, and we just don't know about it yet.

I've talked about the White House filming spoilers from season 5 before and how Emily was seen filming at these houses, but we never saw the footage on the show. So it's believed they are holding onto for a flashback sequence when she returns.

But some may not remember, it was also speculated that Morgan was seen filming at night in the same location.

Overall, whatever happens, the fact Morgan is returning to find Rick Grimes means Beth will be coming back too, very soon. As the negation symbol suggests, she will be very much alive.

I am often talking about the use of the biblical last days themes to tell the story. Well, the negation symbol is actually another addition to this.

The prophet Isaiah talks about the negation symbol believe it or not.

Isaiah was known for prophesying about the last days.

In Isaiah 5:20-21 the prophet illuminates the heart condition of those who have become corrupt in their thinking. He states: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness: Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

He talks about a time when everything is the opposite to the truth, as in, good is bad and bad is good. AKA the logical negation symbol.

Interestingly, Isaiah says Woe to anyone who does this.

Woe is a term of judgement. Whenever a prophet or Christ uses the term woe, it's to pronounce a bad end and bad death for the object of the woe.

Bob touched the symbol of woe as he leaned against the tree to cry, and in the very next episode, he dies a very bad death.

Gareth walks past the negation symbol and also has a very bad death at the hands of Rick's red machete.

It may not bode well for poor Morgan in the end that he also walks past it. The coda symbol seems to have moved his woe further down the timeline.

In addition to all this, we first see the negation symbol in episode 5.02. The bible verse about the negation is found in Isaiah 5.20, and Bob dies a very bad death in episode 3.

Isaiah talks about those who turn bad to good and good to bad as corrupted in their thinking.

So It's no wonder that Gareth and co receive the Woe as they had obviously become corrupted. Who thinks eating other humans is ok? 😵‍💫

But what about Bob? Well, with Bob, they portrayed it in a different way. His flesh was corrupted. He was tainted meat! 🍖 🥓 🥩 🍖 🤢

Added extra...

There is a reason Daryl currently has a black eye again, just as Carol is about to be reintroduced.

It's because this all happened once before.

#team delusional #team defiance #team beth lives #bethyl #beth greene #beth is alive #beth is coming #beth greene lives #td #beth x daryl

30 notes · View notes

gayboysteve · 8 months ago

Text

Title: Both Sides, Now

Chapter Eight: The Winner Takes It All

Rating: Not Rated

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi, Other

Fandom: Marmalade (2024)

Relationship: Baron|Marmalade Lamram/Otis Huxley

Characters: Otis Huxley, Baron|Marmalade Lamram

Tags:

Drama, Mutual Obsession, Canon-Typical Behavior, Slow Burn, Identity Porn, Gender Fuckery, Crimes & Criminals, Past Sexual Abuse, Human Trafficking, Canonical Child Abuse, Nonbinary Character

Summary:

Otis sucks in his lips but can’t help the way they turn downward, the way his brows draw over his eyes so that he’s glaring. Marmalade, sharp as ever, notices the change immediately and straightens out her spine, offering an attempt at a smile. “What’s wrong, special agent?” she asks him with a shake of one of her shoulders, fingers going up to play with her hair. It’s gotten longer in the last month, now nearing the length of the bob wigs she always prefers. It should make her more noticeable but the cut is feminine enough that anyone who looks at her would never think twice about the mugshots that have shown up on the television. “Did you have any interesting conversations today?” Otis asks simply, Grady’s phone burning a hole in his pocket. Marmalade takes a step back, letting out an outraged laugh that Otis can immediately tell is put on. “No,” she says, wobbling on her feet as she takes in his outfit, her bare toes pressing into the living room rug as she moves back closer to him. Otis stays still in front of the closed door, arms crossed over his chest. “Who would I talk to anyway?” she asks, “I don’t know anyone around here.” Otis raises an eyebrow. He tilts his head. “No one?”

#marmalade #marmalade lamram #baron lamram #otis huxley #baron x otis #botis #otalade

10 notes · View notes

projazznet · 7 days ago

Text

Quincy Jones – Gula Matari

Gula Matari is a 1970 studio album by Quincy Jones.

Pepper Adams – baritone saxophone Danny Bank – bass and baritone saxophones Hubert Laws – flute solos Jerome Richardson – soprano saxophone solos Freddie Hubbard, Danny Moore, Ernie Royal, Marvin Stamm, Gene Young – trumpet/flugelhorn Wayne Andre – trombone Al Grey – trombone solos Toots Thielemans – guitar and whistle solo Herbie Hancock, Bob James, Bobby Scott – keyboards Grady Tate – drums Don Elliott – bass marimba on “Gula Matari” Jimmy Johnson, Warren Smith – percussion Ray Brown – bass Ron Carter – bass on “Gula Matari” Richard Davis – bass on “Gula Matari” Major Holley – bass and voice solo Milt Jackson – vibes Seymour Barab, Kermit Moore, Lucien Schmit, Alan Shulman – cello Valerie Simpson, Marilyn Jackson, Maretha Stewart, Barbara Massey, Hilda Harris – vocals

#quincyjones #souljazz #contemporaryjazz #fusion #crossoverjazz #projazz #projazznet

5 notes · View notes

mydarllinglover · 1 year ago

Text

Alone || Rescue Mission

"Are you going to take the cross too?" Gabriel asked.

After Daryl had introduced Noah, and explained about Grady Memorial hospital, the group devised a plan to protect the church whilst the others went into Atlanta to rescue Beth and Carol.

"What's the problem, I thought God was all around us?" Natalia asked, whilst her and Daryl planted the orchestra pipes around the stairs. "You don't need silly little symbols."

"The cross represents-"

"Talking to the wrong person, buddy." She cut him off. "My faith in God died a very, very long time ago, before the dead started walking around."

He bowed his head, walking away from the pair.

Daryl and Natalia were left alone.

"I'm glad you're back." Natalia muttered, hoping he hadn't actually heard her, but knew she was busted when he looked up at the woman, meeting her eyes. "Sully was missing you a bit, I think. But I wish Carol and Beth were here as well."

He made a gruff noise in agreement.

"We're gonna get them both back, we will, no matter what, we're not losing anybody else." She continued.

Daryl had been caught up about what he had missed whilst he was gone, Bob and the attack.

"I am glad though, that she wasn't there during- when we met... if anything happened to her because I... " Her voice broke off, but he knew where she was heading with that conversation, feeling a heavy weight drop in his stomach.

"We'll get them back." He repeated, nodding at her in some sort of understanding.

Michonne, Carl, Gabriel, Judith and Sully were staying at the church.

The rescue group were bringing Noah along, though Natalia had a bad feeling about him going with, she didn't voice it though, Rick had made the decision for a reason.

Daryl, Natalia and Rick were sat in the cab of the truck Daryl and Noah drove back from the city, Tyreese and Sasha were watching the teenager in the back.

"I've never been in the city after it fell." Natalia sighed, kicking her legs up onto the dash.

"Get your feet down." Rick pushed her legs off, as he drove. "Never?"

"Nope, stayed far from it, heard they were bombing the place, knew nothing good would come out of it, so steered clear." Though she side eyed him.

"We've been in there a few times." Rick told her. "It's dangerous, as long as you stay high and know what you're doing, you'll be fine."

"First time I met Rick, we went into the city cause he handcuffed Merle to a roof." Daryl told her.

Natalia looked towards her friend, stifling a laugh of shock at the revelation.

"Did he deserve it?" She asked.

Rick shook his head around, leaning towards a nod.

"He had to cut his own hand off."

"And you slapped that kid around the face with it."

Natalia looked between the pair as if it were a tennis match.

"Okay, why has neither of you ever told me anything about any of this, that is the funniest and grossest thing I've ever heard."

"They kidnapped Glenn, deserved it..."

"They what? Who?" Natalia asked.

"It was a group surviving in the city, called the Vato's and they were our friends."

"But they kidnapped Glenn?" Natalia repeated, confused.

"We made a deal with them, realised they were good people."

"What happened to them, are they still around?"

"No." Daryl put it bluntly. "They were taken out by another group."

"Oh. I fell off a roof once." Natalia said, not knowing what to say.

"That happened to someone else we knew, he impaled himself, Hershel had to fix him up." Rick told her.

"Oh, what happened to him?"

"Murdered." Daryl answered.

"Yep, course he was, duh." Natalia blinked. "Was it Shane, did he do it?"

Rick snapped his head at Natalia, looking at her with surprise before turning back to the road.

"How do you know about Shane?"

"I have my sources. Carl, he used to accompany me on my watches sometimes, if he was having trouble sleeping. Promised not to tell you, sorry." Natalia caved.

"It's alright, I'm glad he trusts you, and I'm glad you look out for him."

"Course, he's a good kid." She shrugged. "Beth and Carol used to gossip outside my room- cell as well, when I tried to take naps, I used to find it irritating, but now..."

"We're getting them back." Rick breathed, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"So how'd you fall off the roof?" Daryl asked, his arm was resting on the door, his left boot was on the dashboard, Rick hadn't told him to take it down.

"Doesn't matter." She shook her head, "I didn't die, though, which has been a recurring incident in your stories."

"You had dead people sitting outside your house when we met you." Rick looked at her.

"I didn't know them personally." She shrugged.

"At sundown we fire a shot into the air." Rick had begun explaining the plan drawing the map of what Noah explained on the floor, when they had got into the city, finding a place to hold up in. "Get two of them out on patrol. Then once it's dark enough that the rooftop spotter won't see us, we go. We cut the locks on one of the stairways, take it to the fifth floor. I open the door, Nat will take the guard out."

"How?" Tyreese asked.

"How do you think?" Natalia asked him. "Slit his throat."

"This is all about us doing this quietly, keeping the upper hand. They're not expecting us. From there we fan out. Knives and silenced weapons. We need to be fast. Tyreese, Sasha, take them. Daryl, you take care of whoever is in the kitchen. I got Dawn. If they're smart, the rest of them will give up. Then It'll be 6 on 3. 7 on 3 when we get a weapon to Beth."

"13 on three. The wards will help." Noah weighed in.

"That's best case. What's worst case?" Tyreese asked. "All it takes is 1 of those cops going down the hall at the wrong time. Then it's not quiet. All hands on deck. We're talking about a lot of bullets flying around."

"If that's what it takes." Sasha said.

"It's not. If we get a couple of her cops alive out here, we do an even trade. Theirs for ours. Everybody goes home."

"Yeah, I get it." Rick stood up. "And it might work. This will work."

"Nah, that'll work too." Daryl intervened. "You say this Dawn, she's just trying to keep it together, right?" He asked Noah.

"Trying and doing are two different things." Noah replied.

"You take two of her cops away, what choices does she have? Everybody goes home. Like he says."

"If even a hair is out of place on Beths head, I don't care who's going home." Natalia gave her opinion.

Rick decided to evaluate both plans, before siding with Tyreese and Daryl, assuring that if It failed, they were shooting the place up anyway.

Noah was their bait, he got in the position and fired the shots, gaining the cops attention.

Noah ran into the alley, letting the car chase him to the allocated spot.

They drove in front of him, hitting the kid with the car before hopping out raising their own guns at him.

"Put the gun down, Noah" The female cop told him.

"Put it down." The male cop repeated.

Noah did as they said, placing the gun on the ground.

"Hands up. Turn around."

The male cop walked towards him, pulling out a zip tie, and pulling his arms behind his back.

"I thought you were smart, Noah. Think we wouldn't hear you?" The female cop asked.

The group snuck towards the two cops, aiming their guns at the two's heads.

"Where are those rotters you were shooting at?" The man asked him.

Rick whistled, catching their attention.

"Hands." He said, when the cops turned around, aiming their guns at the five.

"What do you want?" The woman asked.

"Whatever this is, we can help." The man added.

"You do what we say, we don't hurt you." Rick said.

"Okay." The man put his hands up in surrender, no longer aiming his gun, the woman soon copied.

"Good. Now turn around. Put your guns on the floor and kneel."

They did as told, Natalia dealt with the woman, collecting her weapons and pulling two zip ties out, passing one to Daryl, who was dealing with the man, Tyreese helped Noah whilst Rick and Sasha continued to aim their weapons at the cops heads.

"We need to talk." Rick told them. "There's water if you need some and food"

"Mind if I ask you something?" The male cop asked, as their captors pulled them up.

Rick backtracked, looking at the man, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"The way you talk, the way you carry yourself, were you a cop? Believe it or not, I was, too." He smiled.

"Really? I thought that was just dress up." Natalia deadpanned.

"That's Lamson." Noah told Rick. "He'll be down for this. He's one of the good ones."

A car raced towards them, it's tyres squealing as it drove down the alley towards them.

The group jumped out the way, leaving the cops as they began shooting at the car. Tyreese shot one of the windows, revealing another cop shooting at them.

The cops got in the car, driving off.

Natalia shot one of the tyres, Sasha shooting the other one, air hissed out of it.

They ran after the car.

The car had stopped, Rick halted, telling the others to wait as they looked around at the burnt buildings, and the fried skeletons, that were still moving, but were melted into the tarmac.

They saw the cops running away from the car.

"Two, on me." Rick said following.

"I only saw the two." Natalia muttered to Daryl, as she looked around for the driver.

He nodded, in the direction of the RV, putting a finger to his lips.

Natalia opened the door slowly, whilst Daryl aimed his gun ahead, ready for attack.

No one was present.

Before either could realise, the cop flew out, tackling Daryl to the ground.

They wrestled each other on the ground, fighting as a burnt walker inched towards them.

The cop got his hands around Daryl's throat, forcing his head towards the jaws of the walker.

Natalia raised her hand gun, whacking it across the cops temple, knocking him off of Daryl.

Rick appeared, helping Daryl up.

"Nat." He said, as the woman took the gun off safety, aiming it at the cop, her boot on his chest, stopping him from getting up.

"You win, asshole." The cop grunted.

"We only need two, for Ty's plan." She said.

"No, three's better than two." Daryl disagreed.

"Nat, put it down." Rick told the woman.

"He tried to kill Daryl. We don't need him."

"Nat." Daryl said. "Three's better." He repeated.

She let out a sigh, putting her gun back on safety.

"You try anything again, I'll put a bullet through your skull before you even get a chance to run, I promise." She stood off of him, backing up to let Daryl make him stand, using a zip tie to restrain him.

They had gotten back to the spot, all three cops, under their watch.

"Your friend, what's his name?" The female cop asked. "I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed."

"We're going to make it work." Sasha said.

"It would work if you had different cops to trade."

This caught their attention.

"Dawns running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too." She continued.

"Dawn doesn't know that." The third cop said.

"She might. And she's smart. So there's a good chance you can't make this deal work and that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves and we'll let your friends go and this is over."

"No, we're not gonna do that." Lamson said.

"Do you want to die?" The woman asked him.

"No. I just need you to shut up right now." He told her. "You can make this work. But you've got to be able to talk to her."

"Noah told us all about her." Sasha answered.

"I've known her for 8 years, ma'am. I know this woman. And my only interest is peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please."

"And I want my friends, but your people kidnapped them." Natalia shrugged. "I don't care about your wish for world peace or your bed."

Daryl pat her shoulder, turning around to look at Rick and Noah.

"Hey, Rick. You're gonna want to hear this." He said.

They made the cops sit against the poles, separating Lamson from the other two so that he could talk to Rick.

Tyreese and Sasha raided the car with the white cross, seeing what they could use.

Daryl, Natalia and Noah watched Shepard and the other man.

"You know, we could treat that, give you some ointment, clean the cuts on your face." Shepard said, looking at Natalia's back as she paced.

She stopped, looking at the woman.

"I don't need or want anything from your people, shut up and sit still."

"She's just trying to help." Daryl muttered to her, their faces were close as he talked, not letting the three other people in on their private conversation.

"And I don't need it, we're here for Beth and Carol, not trying to make friends, besides, they don't even hurt anymore."

"You still ain't a good liar." He shook his head, stepping away, starting his own pacing.

She looked over to Sasha and Lamson, they were heading out of the room.

"Sasha!" She called after the other woman. "What are you doing?"

"Just gotta take care of something, we'll be back soon." She said, walking out of the room.

A few minutes had passed, and Sasha hadn't returned with the cop.

Natalia was getting antsy, she had a bad feeling.

"I'm gonna go see what they're doing." She said.

"Alright." Daryl nodded at her.

Natalia walked out the room, heading in the way they had went, her gun was in her hand, the safety off, just in case.

She headed into the south side of the building, not hearing or seeing anything strange.

That's when she saw her.

Sasha was on the floor, knocked out cold.

"Rick!" Natalia shouted as she raced towards the other woman. "Rick! Sasha, Sasha, hello can you hear me?" She asked her, checking her over for injurys or blood.

Rick ran into the room, Tyreese followed.

"Sasha!" Tyreese gasped, running towards his sister, who was slowly waking up.

"What happened?" Rick asked her.

"Lamson, he's gone, he must've done this." Natalia said, helping Sasha sit up as she held her head.

"Alright, I'll find him."

"I'll help." Natalia went to follow but he put his hand up, stopping her.

"No, I need you here, keep an eye on the other two, make sure they weren't in on this."

"Rick." Natalia called after. "We only need two for the plan to work."

"Only if we're forced to." He looked at her, before leaving.

Tyreese and Natalia helped Sasha stand, walking her back into the other room.

Tyreese helped his sister to sit down, giving her some water.

Natalia headed over to the cops, pulling her knife out.

"Y'know he was gonna run?" She asked.

"No, we had no idea." Shepard told her. "We didn't know what they were doing when they left."

"And we're just supposed to believe that, right?" Natalia shrugged. "I told you that if you tried anything, I'd kill you." She looked at the male cop.

"And we didn't." He answered, not seeming threatened by the woman.

"Nat." Daryl called towards her, she looked over her shoulder, at him. He was shaking his head. "They didn't know."

She turned back, assessing the pair, trying to catch their bluff, before standing up, putting her knife back in the sheath.

"We need them for the plan." Noah reminded.

"Yeah, it's cracking up to be a great one, if we did it the other way, we would of had our people back by now, not chasing cops down streets."

Tyreese and Noah had moved the cops to sit in chairs by the time Rick had got back by himself.

Daryl and Natalia headed over to talk to him.

"He wouldn't stop."

"This change things?" Daryl asked.

"It has to."

"Maybe not." He thought.

"Well, she said the plan won't work. The guy who did is dead. Maybe we gotta rethink this."

"They also said the cop in charge didn't have any love for him. Maybe you did her a favour."

"I don't know if they'll play ball."

"So we don't give them a choice. They do what we say, or they die." Natalia said.

They walked over to the others.

"He was a good man." Shepard greeted them. "He was attacked by rotters. Saw it go down."

"Huh. You're a damn good liar." Rick replied.

"We're hanging by a thread here. He was attacked by rotters. That's the story."

"You said the trade was a bad idea." Daryl brought up. "What changed."

"Lamson was our shot. So its this or you go in guns blazing, right?"

"Pretty much." Natalia nodded.

"You don't want that."

"If this is some bullshit you're spinning and things go south..."

"I know. I know the good ones from the bad. Let us help you."

"What about you?" Rick asked the male cop. "You wanna live? How much?"

"Dawn's afraid she'll look weak in front of us. Thinks it'll tip things against her. Hell, it will. She'll see this trade as a rip-off if she thinks you took out one of our guys. So its a good thing Lamson got aced by rotters."

They were on board.

The plan was simple; Natalia, Sasha, Daryl, Tyreese, Noah and the cops would wait on top of the roof, Sasha and Daryl were going to keep lookout whilst Rick went to the agreed vantage point, waiting for the two officers to show up.

Daryl snapped his fingers when he spotted the cop car.

"Rick, they're heading towards you." Natalia spoke into the radio.

They waited in silence as Rick made the offer.

They had accepted it.

The two officers had led them into the hospital, Daryl and Rick led the still restrained cops.

They reached the 5th floor, heading down a hallway, behind the door, 4 cops were stood, their weapons in their hands.

Carol, who was being pushed in a wheelchair by Beth, were behind them, with a doctor.

When they saw the group, they put their guns in the holsters.

"Holster your weapons." The voice of Dawn came through one of the cops radios.

"You too." Rick told his group.

Natalia wasn't a fan of this idea, but done as told.

One of the cops opened the door, walking towards their side.

Dawn nodded at Beth, signalling to stand forward.

Natalia reached for her gun when she saw the two stiches alone Beth's cheek and forehead, and the cast on her arm, but a hand stopped her, Daryl's.

"They haven't been harmed." Rick told Dawn.

"Where's Lamson?" She asked.

"Rotters got him." Shepard answered.

"We saw it go down."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys. One of yours for one of mine."

"Alright." Rick nodded with his head, for Daryl's captee to walk forward.

"Move." He grunted, pushing the man forward.

Another cop pushed Carols wheelchair forward, letting Daryl take her bag and push her to their side.

Dawn then grabbed a hold of Beth's arm, pulling her forward as Rick did the same to Shepard.

Rick hugged her when she reached him, before letting her walk towards Daryl and Natalia.

"You alright?" He asked her, placing an arm on her shoulder, she offered a small smile nodding.

Natalia hugged the girl.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered, kissing her hair, "I should of been out there with you."

"It's alright." She whispered back "What happened to your face?"

"What happened to yours?" Natalia copied, running a gentle finger just under the stitching on her cheek.

"Glad we could work things out." Dawn said.

"Yeah." Rick nodded, as his group started to walk back the way they came.

"Now I just need Noah." She said, making Rick stop. "And then you can leave."

"That wasn't part of the deal." Rick walked towards her.

"Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back."

"What is your problem, lady? They're kids." Natalia snapped, not able to bite her tongue.

"Ma'am, please-"

"Shepard!" Dawn hissed. "My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died."

Noah went to walk forward but Daryl stopped him, joining Rick's side.

Beth intwined her fingers with Natalia as they waited to see how this turned out.

"He's one of mine. You have no claim on him."

"The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him." Rick replied.

"Well, then we don't have a deal."

"The deal is done."

"It's okay." Noah stepped forward, trying to defuse the situation.

"No. No." Rick put his hand out to stop him.

"I got to do it." Noah assured him.

Beth let go of Natalia walking towards her new friend.

"It's not okay." She said, when Noah handed his gun back to Rick.

"It's settled." Dawn replied.

"Wait!" Beth ran forward, towards Noah, hugging him tightly.

"It's okay." He assured her, hugging her back.

"I knew you'd be back." Dawn said.

This seemed to spark something inside of Beth, as she let go of the boy, walking towards the woman.

Natalia took a few slow steps forward, seeing what the girl was about to do.

"I get it now." She said.

She then stabbed something into the woman's shoulder, than a shot ran out, blood sprayed out of Beth's head as she fell to the ground, a gun was in Dawn's hand.

"Beth!" Natalia screamed, running forward, falling to the ground as she held the dead girl, her friend.

Dawn cried out that she didn't mean to, but Daryl didn't give her the chance to finish her sentence, firing his own gun, into her head, her body fell backwards as her own blood sprayed out, splattering the crying woman as she shielded the lifeless teen.

Everyone else in the hallway pulled out their guns, aiming at the opposing sides

"No! Hold your fire!" Shepard shouted. "It's over. It was just about her. Stand down."

"Beth." Natalia's voice broke, her hands shook as she ran her fingers down the girls face. "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, either."

The cops put their guns away, but Daryl didn't still keeping his eye as he held back cries.

Carol walked towards him, sniffling as she patted his shoulder.

He bent down besides the woman, as they both cried.

"You can stay." Shepard offered

"We're surviving here." Another spoke up. "It's better than out there."

"No." Rick said, tears pooled in his own eyes. "And I'm taking anyone back there who want's to leave. If you want to come with us just step forward now."

Noah was the only person to walk back.

Daryl picked up Beth, holding her in his arms, as Rick helped Natalia to stand, as soon as she did, she went straight back to the girl, petting her hair, her whole body shook with her tears, following Daryl as they left the hospital.

To Natalia, it felt like the same pain as the night she lost her family, Beth was like the sister she never had, sure they had lost people before, but Natalia never felt close to them as she did with the teenager.

When they walked through the door, outside, Maggie dropped to the floor, sobbing loudly at the sight of her younger sisters lifeless, bloody body.

A funeral was held for the girl in the first field they had found outside the city.

Daryl and Natalia stood next to each other, their fingers were linked, just like they had done when Beth mourned her father at the morgue, the same place they had lost her.

When her body was buried, the group let Maggie have some space with her sisters grave, Noah had shared that him and Beth were planning on going to his old community, where his family were, in Richmond, Virginia.

They had taken separate vehicles, Rick, Michonne, Tyreese, Glenn and Noah rode in one car, the others in the rest.

Carol had a radio, Rick had the other one, that's how they were going to keep in touch with each other whilst Rick and his group headed towards Noah's home, perhaps their new home.

It had taken two weeks to get to Virginia.

It wasn't.

Another funeral was held, for Tyreese.

They had each taken turns of shovelling dirt onto his grave whilst Father Gabriel gave the sermon.

His beloved hat rested on the cross, just like how he had worn it everyday.

Rick had decided that they would carry onto Washington, Eugene had lied about the cure for a reason, and they were going to find out why, even as they dealt with their grief and regrets.

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon smut #the walking dead daryl #twd daryl #carl grimes #carol peletier #daryl fanfiction #glenn rhee #michonne #rick grimes #daryl dixon x reader #darylxnatalia #daryl x y/n #daryl x you #thewalkingdeadalone #beth greene #tyreese williams #sasha williams

41 notes · View notes