#The Walking Dead Season 3

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back | Daryl Dixon x reader

Chapter twenty six | I love you, I’m sorry

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Warnings - ANGST! Guns, and shooting, Death, mentions of sex, cursing, usual twd warnings

Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

(A/N) - it’s finally here! Yay I’ve been working on this chapter since may and I’m so happy I’ve finally finished it. I know progress with my fics have been moving a little slower that they usually do but I’m hoping fingers crossed 🤞that I am able to speed the process up a little in the coming months 🫶🏻 also finally introducing the governor as the readers father in this chapter, I kind of hinted at it last chapter, to play around with the idea of it being canon. And I really like the ideas and situations I’ve came up in my head to put them in.

‘The suicide king’

S3 ep 9

Daryl is unbagged and pushed forward towards the middle of the arena. Merle and Daryl stand frozen, their eyes scanning the crowd in utter disbelief. The deafening sound of boos and heckles echoes throughout the arena, drowning out any other noise. Daryl's chest is heaving, faster and faster with each shout made from the audience of people. A blonde woman is attempting to force her way through a group of people, most likely the Governor's personal bodyguards, to get closer to him.

She manages to get through the first set before a surprise second set grabs her up before she can even get to his side. The governor - or maybe I should just start calling him Philip - because I finally know who the man behind the oh-so-mysterious name 'the governor' is. It's funny, I've been looking for this man for the last, what? 20 years of my life and I'm able to find him not even a year into the apocalypse so easily. How could he avoid his kids for 20 years in the old world, but he couldn't even last a year without me finding him now?

I really want to know how my father, Philip Blake, ended up being some dictator for a survivor's refugee camp. I almost want to laugh at how 'badass' he looks right now. makeshift eyepatch over one eye, as he looked over all his people so proud to be an asshole. My father was never much of a threat, but god he tried to be, though he really tried. I didn't hear much about my dad growing up, my maternal grandpa always muttered about how he was "such an asshole of a man", but the one thing I did hear from my paternal grandmother was that he ended up skipping town got some stupid office job and started a new family. it was all some bullshit about needing to start over, without my 'slut of a mother'.

His arm raises, so it's pointing towards Merle. The people of Woodbury immediately quiet down as their leader begins to speak. "I asked where your loyalties lie. You said here." Daryl was finally let out of whatever shackles that were placed around his arms, letting them fall to his sides freely. "Well, prove it. Prove it to us all." My blood runs cold.

"Brother against brother," he says with a dry chuckle. The crowd copies their leader, letting out a small chuckle that's paired with a quiet "yeah."

"Winner goes free" the crowd cheers at that, probably hoping and praying that Merle is able to win. Even though Merle was now deemed possibly 'unloyal' in the governor's eyes, it was still the better option for them. If Daryl died, Merle would have absolutely no reason to want to help us. Merle would go back to being Philip's loyal righthand man, and we, the 'terrorists' would be dead. Glenn had already told them our location and they would be marching up to our door with pitchforks in no time. Philip walks towards Merle shouting "Fight to the death!" as he does so. The crowd cheers once again. This was a scene taken straight out of one of those shitty medieval times shows.

The blonde woman finally turns, revealing her whole face to me. Andrea, the woman I thought I had accidentally left for dead, was here? Of all places, how did she end up here? Well, she had already shown us she didn't care about being led by an asshole, and if she was as close with Philip as she seems, she should already know how much of an asshole he was. "Philip, please. Don't do this," Andrea pleads, as one of Philips's men holds her back. "Don't do this!" He doesn't even glance at her, choosing instead to keep his eye on his prey. He glares at the two men standing in front of him, a smirk on his face that shows he truly enjoys this. The torture. He doesn't even have to do it himself, he just has to sit back and watch.

Merle raises his hand in the air before shouting "Y'all know me!" the crowd cheers, and I can see the absolute look of betrayal on Daryl's face. "I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove..." He hesitates for a moment before swinging his arm back and delivering a forceful punch to Daryl's stomach. With a loud grunt, Daryl collapses to the ground, and the crowd erupts in excitement. I stand frozen, unable to believe what I'm witnessing. how could he do that? Do that to his brother? "Holy shit," Jack gasps as Daryl begins to push himself up off of the ground. "That's my loyalty to this town!" just as Daryl has gotten his head off of the ground, Merle kicks him, sending him right back onto the ground.

Daryl lies motionless on his back, his chest heaving up and down with a faint rhythm. My eyes are fixed on him, hesitant to glance away, as if by doing so I might miss the final moments of his life. Merle continues throwing blow after blow as Philip watches on the sidelines with a sick look on his face. The crowd cheers as they lead out a walker. It's practically on a leash as some man, probably another one of Philips's men, leads him toward Daryl and Merle.

Finally, Daryl throws a punch. It's towards Merle's ankles but it gets him somewhere. It gets Daryl back onto his feet. Daryl launches himself toward Merle, tackling him, or at least trying to, but Merle has a leg up in this competition. merle gets Daryl down to the ground first. Both men have their hands around each other's necks as three of Philips's men lead three walkers towards them.

I don't even know what to do to help Daryl out. I could cause some type of distraction. If something more dangerous happens, it could give Daryl the freedom to escape. My eyes fall to my bag. I open it up and grab my gun right as Daryl and Merle get back to their feet. The two are working together to defeat the walkers.

My ammunition is running dangerously low, but my determination to save Daryl is unwavering. I'm willing to take the risk and use my last bullet to help him escape. My breaths come in quick and shallow as I raise my gun, my hands trembling with apprehension. I take aim at a man standing near Philip. I let out one more shaky breath before pressing the trigger and letting the bullet fly out of the gun and toward the man. Luckily for me, my aim was amazing today. The bullet tears right through his skull. Everyone around him screams as he falls to the ground with a thud.

Suddenly, someone behind Jack and I start shooting rounds into the arena, which makes even more of a ruckus. As I turned around to glance behind me, my eyes fell on Maggie, who was casually leaning against the top of the cold metal dumpster that was situated behind us. She shoots round after round into the arena. I let out a sigh of relief and began running back towards her. rick throws one of his smoke bombs, and Maggie continues to shoot. All I can hear is the sound of the automatic rifle and screams. Everyone's scattering like flies. Rick looks up at me, his mouth is open as if he's about to ask me something before his eyes flick to Jack who's stood behind me. "Who's that?"

"Old friend... he helped me," I reply. Rick continues to stare at Jack, scrutinizing him from head to toe as if he's trying to find a reason not to like him. I already know what he's going to ask. "Is he one of the governor's men?" I quickly respond, "He was just a resident and didn't know anything about what was going on, right Jack?" Jack nods, muttering a quiet "mhm."

Daryl and Merle sprint towards us while Rick urges, "Daryl, let's go!" Without wasting any time, we all take off at full speed, our hearts pounding with fear of being spotted by Philip or his men. The only sound that can be heard is our pounding footsteps on the ground as we race towards safety.

-

We manage to escape the arena and run back into the main town area. We were cautious as we walked around, hoping everyone was in the arena, but there was no actual way to know, so we were as careful as we could.

"they're all at the arena, this way!!" Merle instructs, attempting to lead us toward an exit. Rick was quick to shoot down the idea of Merle going with us. "you're not going anywhere with us!" he growls. "You really want to do this now?!" Merle asks as he runs towards the fence, attempting to pry apart the metal, as Rick and Daryl stand guard. I pray to God Rick won't say anything about Jack going with us. I don't want him to stay here, knowing the possible doomed future of Woodbury.

Finally, Merle manages to pull apart the metal, leaving a nicely sized hole in its wake. We all slipped through without a problem, but we're only met with walkers on the opposite side. "A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE!" Merle shouts as he beats a walker to death with his prosthetic arm. Daryl was quick to pitch in, shooting a walker with his bow. I pull my gun out, shooting off my last bullet into a walker's head, "We ain't got time for this!" before beginning to sprint off.

I stand motionless next to Jack, anticipation building as we await instructions from Rick. "let's go!" Daryl shouts once it's been more than a few seconds, Rick, Maggie, and I not moving. I'm glad Daryl hasn't asked about Jack yet. Maybe it's just because he's too busy to realize. But I hope he never mentions it. I'm scared he'll get mad, or jealous. He's just a friend now, hell we were tiptoeing around a breakup when the outbreak started. But I don't know how Daryl is with exes. I know he can get jealous; he has many times before. Normally, I can predict what he'll do in certain situations, but with Jack, I just don't know how Daryl will react. rick folds, deciding to follow after Merle rather than die.

-

The walk back to the car is long. My hands are in my pockets as I trail behind a bit, with everyone else at least a few feet ahead of me. I don't mean to eavesdrop, but I can't help but overhear Merle and Daryl's conversation. "sooo, wha's up with you'n tha' bitch?" Merle asks, his head tilting back, so it points towards me. My heart stops, wondering what Daryl would say. Would he refer to me as his girlfriend? Even though we already had discussed what our relationship was, and I was confident in my role as Daryl's girlfriend, I was scared that he'd be embarrassed to admit that we were in a relationship with his older brother.

Daryl's quiet for a few seconds, giving his brother enough time to throw in another comment. "You to fuckin' around or something?" Daryl chuckles left hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Um...I guess me'n her are together," he says with a shrug. Merle almost immediately bursts out in a booming fit of laughter, which makes Rick turn around and glare. I don't understand what's so funny. Was it so farfetched that Daryl and I were dating? I can see the back of Daryl's ears turn a bright red as his hands nervously play with the hem of his shirt. "yer datin' her! ain't she fuckin' that Chinese boy?" I almost scoff at Merle's assumption. I can almost hear Daryl's eyes roll as he says, "Nah... they're just friends."

"ya sure? I remem-" Daryl's quick to shut Merle down once again "I'm sure"

-

It's about 20 minutes later when we end up back at the other side of the large acre of woods where we parked the car. As we approach the car, Rick whisper yells out Glenn's name, which makes both Glenn and Michonne get up and run to us. "Oh, thank god," Glenn sighs out as he approaches us. Rick was quick to squash the inkling of relief that Glenn had by revealing our newfound problems. "Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up." the moment Merle's face comes into Glenn's sigh, his face instantly contorted into anger "What the hell is he doing here!" Michonne pulls out her Katana in an effort to protect herself, and Daryl, he's quick to begin yelling in an effort to protect his older brother. There is a gun pointed at almost everyone in the group. "are you guys always like this?" Jack mutters quietly, "Always," I reply with an eye roll.

Everyone is yelling over each other; I can barely understand one word that's coming out of anyone's mouth. "Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you," Rick scoffs, while I cross my arms over my chest, feeling absolute annoyance simmering inside me. "Hey, we both took our licks, man," Merle chuckles as his back presses against the tree behind him. "Jackass" Daryl scoffs with an eye roll. merle pushes himself off the tree. "Hey shut up!" Merle shouts back at his brother, his voice filled with pure annoyance. The brotherly squabble is quickly shut down by Rick with a loud "Enough!" but that just turns into another fight. "Hey! hey! Relax! Put that down!" Rick shouts at Michonne, who's got her Katana pointed at him. "Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl shouts, swatting at Glenn's gun.

Merle laughs. "Man, look like you've gone native, brother." Daryl turns around, his anger now fully directed at his brother. "NO more than you hangin' out with that psycho back there." Merle just has a smirk on his face, mainly just to piss Daryl off even more. "oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that. been puttin' the wood to your girlfriend Andrea big time, baby." Merle said eye's making direct contact with Michonne. my eyebrows furrow with confusion, not because of Andrea fucking my father, that was predictable, Andrea liked a man with power, but I'm confused because Andrea and Michonne had known each other. Glenn's just as confused brows furrowed as he asks "What? Andreas in Woodbury?"

"Right next to the governor," Daryl replies. Michonne takes a few steps forward, pointing her Katana in front of her once again, with the intention of hurting someone. "I told you to drop that!" Rick shouts, lunging forward, making Michonne lower it once again. Michonne has a blank expression on her face as Rick asks, "You know Andrea?" her eyes don't make contact with Rick, instead settling for somewhere right behind him.

Rick doesn't take her silence for an answer, so he gets closer, and his voice drops to a low, sinister whisper, "Hey, do you know Andrea?" he asks once again. She doesn't answer, letting Merle answer for her. "Yep, she does," he says, a smirk displayed on his lips. "Her and blondie spent all winter cuddlin' up in the forest. Mm-mmm-mmm." Rick has a look of betrayal on his face as Merle continues to reveal more and more of Michonne's secrets. "Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains."

What. The. fuck? two pet walkers! "kinda ironic now that I think about it." Daryl is done with Merle's mouth. Daryl quickly spins around shouting "Shut up, bro!" Merle laughs, obviously finding Daryl's anger hilarious "Hey, man, we snagged them out of the woods. Andrea was close to dyin'."

"Is that why she's with him?"

Merle nods. "Yeah. Snug as two little bugs. So, what ya gonna do now, sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards." Merle says, just poking and prodding at Rick, trying to get a reaction out of him. And a reaction is what he got; Rick turns his head, commanding Merle to "shut up!" Merle, being Merle, doesn't comply and continues his antics. Merle chuckles. "Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic!" he shakes his head in faux shame. "All these guns and no bullets in them."

Merles once again got on his brother's last nerve. "Merle! shut up!" Daryl growls, leaning forward a bit, trying to intimidate his older brother. Merle doesn't take that and begins to shout, "Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies you roll-" Merle isn't even able to finish his last sentence before Rick quickly strikes him in the back of the head with his gun, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious with a thud. "Asshole."

-

We're all gathered around in the middle of the road, leaving Jack sat on the side of the road, feeling he had no place in the conversation, and Merle still in the woods. Daryl's trying to propose that Merle comes with us, but Rick's not so sure, feeling it will just cause trouble. "It won't work," Rick sighs. Daryl still tries his best to convince Rick, though "it's gotta" I'm not on either side. I know Merle is nothing but trouble. I've known that since the moment I met him. But I also know that Daryl has beaten himself up over losing his brother for the past year. I know having his brother with our group again would make him happy. I want Daryl to be happy, I really do, but Merle has already caused so much trouble for our group. Hell, he kidnapped and almost killed Glenn and Maggie.

"it'll stir things up," Rick argues. I know he's right. Having Glenn and Merle under the same roof probably won't end up well. Glenn was already so pissed off; it wouldn't be right to make Glenn and Maggie feel more unsafe than they already did. "Look, the governor is probably on the way to the prison right now. merle knows how he thinks, and we could use the muscle," Merle did already know a bunch about Phillip, but who says he's even gonna help up, all he did back at the quarry was fuck around and start unnecessary fights with Shane.

"I'm not havin' him at the prison,"

"Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol, Beth, or hell, Casey?" Glenn asks. thinking about it, I don't want Merle Dixon anywhere near Casey. I know Merle is Daryl's brother and all, but he should really think about this. I was barely comfortable being within 5 feet of Merle myself let alone my 5-year-old. he has to start thinking about the bigger picture, he has to start thinking about how this could affect Casey, Carl, and the baby. Daryl grunts before muttering, "he ain't a rapist." He wasn't a rapist, but he sure did make me more than uncomfortable on multiple occasions. Look at him, the way he talked, the men he hung out with; would he really want that kind of person around the children?

"Well, his buddy is." Daryl was still trying to plead Merle's case. "They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night," I sigh, arms crossing over my chest "C'mon D you know how Merle is, do you really want that around case?" he huffs, trying not to make eye contact as a look of betrayal spreads across his face.

"There's no way Merles gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats," Rick says. I know Rick doesn't want to piss Daryl off, but he also wants everyone in our group to feel safe. "So, yer gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" Rick shakes his head, saying "She's not coming back. " 

"she's not in a state to be on her own" Maggie argues. Maggie and Glenn continue to try and plead Michonne's case. "She did bring you guys to us" Glenn whispers, in a way he's right. Michonne had helped us, but she's already practically gone rogue pointing that damn katana at people. we just don't know what she's capable of yet. "And then ditched us" rick argues, head turning towards Glenn. "at least let my dad stitch her up" Maggie begs, we can't just leave her out for dead, we should at least let Hershel check her out, so she's has the best chance of survival out there, it just the right thing to do. "She's too unpredictable." She's a loose cannon, that's for sure. On one hand, she has proven herself to be beneficial to our group, but on the other hand, she has also shown us that she could be harmful to our group. She's helping us, but also going missing for a long period of time and pointing her damn Katana at us like we're the bad guys.

We're staring at Michonne. She is leaning against the side-view mirror, staring back at us, almost as if she knows we're talking about her. Scratch that, she probably does know because Rick is not trying to whisper at all. He wants her to know she's unwanted, hoping she'll take a hint and scurry off before Rick can boot her out. Daryl nods agreeing with Rick, "That's right, we don't know who she is" he mutters, but he's only agreeing with Rick right now to try to slip in a word about Merle staying with us.

"But merle, merles blood." Daryl says almost acting like we're all some big family. Deep down, I have a feeling he'd run if Merle asked him. We're not blood, I'm not his wife, Casey's not his daughter. I'm his girlfriend, barely even that sometimes, and Casey, she's a little girl who has accidentally grown too attached. The 'D' around my neck means nothing if Merle is asking for something, and I know that. I wouldn't expect him to choose me over his brother, and I know he wouldn't expect me to pick him over mine, even if it would be a difficult decision for me.

Glenn shakes his head in disgust. "No, merles your blood, my blood, my family is standing right here, and waiting for us back at the prison." We had no ties to Merle, no need to keep him. The only one who did was Daryl. we all know the line we're tittering on, we all know the thoughts and decisions racing through his mind. We all know he's thinking about leaving and going with Merle. that's why my eyes are burning into his with a stare begging him not to. Begging him not to make me go back without him, begging him not to make me explain why he didn't come back. "And you're part of that family, but he's not. He's not"

I can see the anger boiling in his chest, the words he's trying to fight back. "Man, ya'll don't know" We all stare at him waiting for him to say it because we know he is "Fine. we'll fend for ourselves." he finally says it, which almost sends me over the edge. I just want to scream at him. How could he just leave, leave after promising he'd come back? "that's not what I was saying," Glenn says, trying to make Daryl think about his decision. "no, him, no me." It's as simple as that. He didn't think about Casey, Carol, Beth, or hell fucking me. "Daryl, you don't have to do that"

"It was always merle an' I before this" Then he makes eye contact with me, and he sees it, the tears pooling in my eyes that I desperately try to blink back, the begging the pleading, but he doesn't care. "So, you're just gonna leave?" I ask finally breaking my silence. His eyes meet mine. "you'd do the same thing," he mutters. My brother, he wasn't like Merle. He wouldn't be booted out of the group because my brother was a good man. "What do you want me to tell Casey? you promised her you'd come back." he shrugs, almost like he doesn't care. "y/n ya gotta understand this is my brother, my blood. You'd do the same if you found yer's. I know ya would"

"My brother's dead," I say, my voice comes out bitter and harsh. Because how could he bring up my brother, who's dead? Who died trying to help me? How could he compare his racist, misogynistic, absolute scumbag brother to mine? "Then ya should understand. "my arms cross over my chest, and my face twists into a disgusted expression. I can't believe he'd just leave us like that. After everything we've been through. He said he loved me. I thought he thought more of me. I thought this was it. I thought he was going to be my husband.

Daryl starts walking, pushing past Maggie and me, muttering, "Say goodbye to yer pops for me." I spin around on my heels, facing him now rather than Glenn and Rick. I'm practically chasing after him shouting "You're seriously leaving?! After everything we've been through?!" he ignores me and just continues to walk until he gets to the trunk of the car. He opens it and begins to gather his items.

"So, this is it?" I whisper, my hands shoved in my pockets, "guess so" he mutters, my heart drops and tears begin to pool in my eyes once again. "Seriously? What about Casey?" he shrugs, not answering because he knows whatever he's going to say is just going to piss me off. "What about me D? What about us?" a tear falls down my cheek, and my hand reaches up to wipe it away. "you'll get over it," he mutters, slinging his bag over his shoulder. That hurt me. It felt like a stab to the gut. Did he really think I just get over him like that? He shakes his head, almost as if he was trying to ignore the tears that lined my waterline. he's trying not to care.

I've watched Daryl grow so much as a person in the last year. The man I knew yesterday was a scrap of the man I had met at that quarry. But somehow, with Merle's reappearance, he went back to the Douch bag he was. He no longer cared for Casey, Beth, or Carol. He no longer cared for me. He no longer cared about us. All the late-night conversation meant nothing, the necklace meant nothing, Casey meant nothing. "I-I love you," I whisper, hoping it would change his decision. Hoping the quiet admission of love would snap him back into reality.

"Then stop..." he mutters. His words are so bitter, so calloused they slice right through my heart, breaking it into a million pieces. "ya got whoever that guy is over there, ya got Glenn. know you'll be fuckin' one of them by the end of the week," he mutters. Hot, angry tears begin to fall down my cheeks. How could he say that? Was that really all he thought of me? A slut? Did he think I was only with him for the sex? The sex that was so far in between that I can't recall the last time we had it. Did he not notice how in love I was?

I rip the necklace from my neck and throw it at him. It hits his torso before falling to the ground with a soft thud. The silver metal glimmers in the sun staring up a simple reminder of what we were, and what we could have been. "Fuck you" is the last thing I mutter before wiping my tears and turning to walk back towards the group.

-

The ride back to the prison is a blur. I sit in the back, middle seat, with a shell-shocked look on my face. I don't want to cry, but my body wants me to cry. There's a lump in my throat and I'm desperately trying to hold back tears. The whole ride Glenn muttering quietly to me, "I'm so sorry" "I didn't think he was really going to leave" I don't pay attention to him. I can't listen, I can't pay attention. I just want to be in my head right now. I feel the car stop and feel people leave, but I don't pay it any mind. I don't even pay any mind when I hear the shouting outside. I just want this all to be over.

I'm zoned out until I feel the car park, and everyone gets out. I get out, hands shoved in my pockets. The only thing that knocks me out of my head is the feeling of two little arms wrapping around my leg. "you're back," Casey squeaks as I bend down and pick her up. Her arms wrap around my neck and her head buries itself into my shoulder. I know the inevitable question awaits us, and I still don't know what I'm going to say. When I feel her head leave my shoulder and begin looking around, my heart begins to slam against my chest. "where's Daryl?" she asks eyes still searching, "he...Daryl left"

"Did he die?" she asks, brows furrowing up as I shake my head. I'd rather he had died. It's easier to explain to her that he died rather than he decided to leave us. "No, baby. He found his brother and decided he needed to be with his family." Her brows furrow up even farther, if that's even possible. "I thought we were his family?"

-

When I get back inside, I tell Casey to stay with Carl and go up and find an empty cell. This is when I finally let myself break down. Sitting on the bed with my head in my hand, I just let go. I'm full-on ugly crying, with tears streaming down my face, and snot bubbling out of my nose. I just hate him so much for leaving. Broken sobs escape my lips as I try to keep myself as quiet as possible. I don't want anyone else to know how badly this hurt me.

My chest rises and falls fast with each gasp I take. The only thought that is racing through my mind is why would he do this? How could he do this? Did he really think that I was a slut all this time, or was it Merle's comments about Glenn, and I that suddenly had changed his opinion of Glenn and I's relationship? Did he seriously think I didn't love him?

"You, okay?" a knock on the wall pulls me from my thoughts. I look up to see Carol. My bottom lip wobbles as I shake my head 'no'. she lets out a sigh as she nods and slowly walks towards me. She takes a seat next to me on the bottom bunk. "You want to talk?" she asks, her arm coming to wrap around my body and pull mine close to hers. I shake my head 'no' once again. I could barely think about him without a blubbering mess, let alone talk about him to someone else.

My head buries into her chest as her left hand rubs small circles into my back. "I know, I know," she mutters as broken sobs erupt from my throat. I just hate him so much for leaving with Merle, but at the same time I want him here, and I want him to hold me. I want to hear him tell me he loves me.

-

I sat in that cell for the rest of the night, not bothering about dinner because I had already felt sick to my stomach. The only human interaction I have is with Casey at bedtime when she cuddles up next to me in the bottom bunk. I can't bring myself to touch the stuff Daryl had left behind, because I know I'll either break it or throw it at a wall.

Casey's eyes were heavy with sleep, and yawns erupted from her every few seconds. She didn't want to sleep on the top bunk. For the past few months, she only knew what it felt like to sleep between Daryl and me. There was always a warm body next to her, no matter what. I can't bring myself to think how last night was for her. Through a yawn, she whispers, "I miss Daryl" I let out a heavy sigh. In a way I miss him, I wish he hadn't made the choice he had made, I wish he would have considered how'd those decisioned would affect us. I wish I didn't have the burden of living the rest of my life wondering if he's alright, so I guess in a way I miss him.

Casey eventually drifted off to sleep, and I quietly slipped out of bed, hoping that everyone else had retired for the night. As I tiptoed down the stairs and into the dimly lit rec room, I noticed Glenn sitting at a table in the far-left corner. He was shrouded in almost complete darkness, with only his hoodie standing out in the dim light. His head faced down; one elbow propped up on the table to hold it up. "How you holdin' up?" I ask, breaking him from his thoughts. I can see him just and let out a tiny gasp. "shit" he mutters under his breath as his head snaps up to see me.

I laugh, a small smile breaking across my face. "sorry" I whisper, walking across the room to meet him at his table. "watcha doin' up so late?" I ask, sliding into the seat beside him. "can't sleep you?" he asks. I shrug, not knowing why I was still up. I felt like I could sleep for a good week if I really tried. "So...did Jack get booted out with the rest...or..." I ask referring to the commotion I had heard earlier that day involving rick. Glenn shakes his head "Nah, didn't wanna upset you anymore than you already were," he says, tiptoeing around the subject of Daryl.

I can't help but feel bad about Glenn and Maggie. Every time I see the black and blue bruises that decorated his face, I can't help but be reminded of who caused it. I hadn't thought about him in years. The only times I was reminded of the faded remembrance of his face were in old family portraits that were in boxes up in my mom's attic.

1992 or 3 maybe, I was three years old in the picture, mom was heavily pregnant, and dad looked so young. I never realized how young both my parents were when they had me until I looked at those photos. Mom looks maybe 19, dad had to be at least 21. He's got me on his hip, we're all pushed in close, one arm around a waist, Dad's face and I's squished together. We looked so happy.

When I saw his face out in the crowd, I was 12 years old again up in the attic, sorting through boxes, finding the dusty portraits. Wondering how he could leave us. I wasn't stupid. I remembered those last few months, the last year. I remembered the drinking, the fighting, the bruises. I remembered the broken potted plants I remembered my brother's broken arm. I just couldn't believe the man who wore such a bright smile could be so evil.

How could he hurt me, hurt my brother, hurt my mom? I feel like I'm sitting in my paternal grandmother's kitchen this time, maybe 15, listening to her blab on and on about his family. His wife, his daughter. His daughter he loved so dearly, the daughter who had replaced me. 'He just loves her so much,' she said 'No one can take away a father's love for their daughter'. I hadn't thought of him since that moment. After that, I gave up on having a dad. I gave up on waiting. I finally realized he just didn't love me, and I couldn't change that.

But yesterday, seeing him again was like a punch to the gut, and finding out that he was the one who hurt my friends that made me furious. I wanted to be the one to hunt him down. I wanted to be the one to kill him. I couldn't wait to see his face when he realized who I was and what I was going to do.

"Glenn, can I tell you something? But you can't get mad" his brows furrow, a sliver of a smile displaying on his lips as his mouth opens to say something. I'm quick to cut him off, finally revealing the hardest secret I've ever had to keep. "the governor is my dad" his eyes widen, and fear sets in quickly, terrified he'll hate me. "What?" he asks, it coming out as a half laugh as he stares at me. His eyes fall up and down my body, examining every single one of my facial features, finding everyone that even slightly resembled Philips. "Are you joking?" he asks, head cocking to the side in disbelief. I shake my head slowly, and he lets out a quiet "oh my god."

"I didn't even know this governor guy was him until I saw him. You're not mad, are you?" he shakes his head, letting my anxieties settle. "No..not mad, just...shocked, yo-you...wow."

Taglist

@rivversin @soul4death @silicone-bonez @nezukos-number1fan @jai-lovely @maziejay08 @oi-itse @rhaenryawhore @kimbunnysstuff @blipblopper @ramielll @ilyhannah @daryldixonnn @delicatebearpandaopera @daryldixmedown @duckybird101 @0-imjusthere-0 @tanuki-tsuki

[amazingmaeve]

ANDREW LINCOLN as Rick Grimes

THE WALKING DEAD - 3.06 | "Hounded"

[eccentricallygothic]

oh no, daryl cried for the first time

"i just want my brother back"

my heart, someone give him a hug oh my god

i hated merle but i knew something like this would break daryls heart

)))):

[littlelovingideas]

“Todays your lucky day, fellas. You been pardoned by the state of Georgia. You’re free to go.”

Bruh. Daryl kills me.

[rickgrimesdoingrickthings]

🎧

Okay I will explain, to me, why this song (and the scene it was used in) is so important in my opinion.

There is a metaphor between Lori and Jessie- he saw Lori in Jessie so he got obsessed over her, wants to give her the love he regret not giving his deceased wife Lori- act more and face the problems more, because he would keep running away from the problems when he was with Lori, what made their marriage troublesome. However, the truth is hard, he cant live in that fantasy- Jessie isn't Lori- and Lori is dead and the world outside is brutal and far gone.

The position Rick gets against the wall is almost the same he got against the prison metal grid right before walkers attacked and Lori would get killed minutes after- That moment the song goes "the sun of my life, it is dead, it is dead".

In the shot, Rick is alone- the dead walker on the other side- his wife is dead-

The last camera shot has space to fit 2 people side by side, yet Rick is alone.

This is the episode Rick snaps out of this little new fantasy he wanted to live in Alexandria.

@sxbaist

[westidia]

I am so glad that bitch Lori died (I’m rewatching the early seasons of the walking dead just finished seasons two) the way she reacted to Rick telling her he killed Shane pissed me the fuck off!!! She act like a few episodes earlier she wasn’t in this man’s ear saying and telling him “Shane said you don’t how to protect them” ect etc, telling this man “you need to put Shane down” and when he actually does it mind you giving this man multiple chances to turn this shit around, after knowingly being set up by his best friend, AFTER his best friend impregnated his WIFE (and some of y’all might not agree but I 100% believe that Lori and Shane were having an affair before the world went to shit, you can’t change my mind) he actually does it and the bitch is mad, upset, scared. And don’t even get me started on how the team reacted to the news in the season 2 finale. Daryl really was the only sane one/ride or die for Rick. He stuck beside his friend.

I’ll say it again I’m glad this bitch died and not just because of the reason up above but for plenty of other reasons, this was just bigger than all the others.

Even though Carl will never forget his mom, he also found a mother in Michonne and Judith’s only mother will ever only be Michonne and that’s all she needs.

(And we get to the premiere of s3 and the BITCH STILL MAD! what the hell.)

[devnmon]

why didnt rick and his group keep using silencers for their guns... like they did it in season three for five seconds. and it WORKED. the silencers literally worked so well so whyyy didnt they keeep using themmmmmmm.

[theapocalypseisonlythebeginning]

Bad People or Good People? - Chapter 6: We're the Good Guys, Clem (Part 1)

story summary:

“Find a group…” are one of the last words Lee says to Clementine. And so, Clementine does. Over and over and over again… until Clementine finds Daryl Dixon and his group at the prison. Whilst it’s easy to gain the affection of Daryl, a man who soon becomes like a father to her, other members of the group might have some issues with her… not to mention the looming threat of other people still out there.

Changes Clementine’s fate after telltale’s season 1 to fit in with the Walking Dead show, intertwining the stories from mid season 3 and onwards. Clementine is therefore 9 at the start!

(I will try to write with enough details that if you haven’t seen or played either of the medias, you can follow along. But I also keep in mind that some have played and seen things multiple times so if something that was canon doesn’t make sense immediately, it will in a later chapter <3 )

chapter summary:

With Clementine revealing the location of the group after her, Rick makes a risky decision to take some of the group’s fighters to go after them despite the Governor looming on their doorstep. Meanwhile, Merle finds more reasons to provoke Daryl.

read it on Ao3 too (closed to only those with AO3 accounts, send an ask if you want an invite) previous chapters:   Glenn || Find a Group || Fever || Forgiveness || An Honest Man || A Stronger Girl || word count: 4212

The following morning, instead of the warm touch of sunlight rousing her, the harsh wailing of an infant did instead.

It was not the first time Judith had awoken Clementine. So she didn’t jump as much this time around.

Rick was stood by the make-shift crib: the culprit for why the infant had suddenly begun to cry, roused from her sleep unwillingly. The box adorned with her scribbled name was becoming slightly too big for her, advocating both for how Clementine had already been with the group for a while now (as it had fit her perfectly at the start), and for how swiftly infants grew (and perhaps it also showed how well the group was handling taking care of an infant despite the world gone to hell).

“Sorry.”

That had been Rick’s voice: words directed both to Judith and the two roused group members sleeping on the catwalk.

He picked his infant daughter up, glancing briefly toward Clementine and Daryl stirring in their sleep. As she was lifted in the arms of an adult she recognized, Judith calmed a bit, but was still fussing and kicking and scrunching her face up in annoyance.

It was obvious that her reaction wasn’t just from being roused from her sleep: she was hungry.

Normally Daryl handled the morning feedings. Upon the cry from Judith, said archer had indeed moved to stand too. But upon seeing Rick, he’d fallen back onto his mattress and tossed an arm over his eyes to try and catch a minute or two more shuteye.

The sight of Clementine and Daryl seemed to amuse Rick, who barely ever came up those stairs at least in the morning. Lately, though, Rick seemed to take more of an interest in his baby - something was healing inside of him. Something Clementine hadn’t known was broken.

She had wondered why Daryl had had to have taken over the role of a father… but had been too shy to ever ask.

From the way Rick was taking more of an interest, though, maybe the crib would not be in Daryl’s presence for much longer. Merle would be thrilled, always complaining about the baby waking him up.

With just a foot between Clementine and Daryl, Rick turned an amused look toward the two. “What are you doing out here?”

Without a mattress, and with barely a pillow under her head, it was very uncomfortable sleeping out on the catwalk near Daryl. But, it was the only place she felt she could sleep.

“Didn’t Carol offer you a cell?”

Clementine paused before replying, in a groggy voice, “I can’t fall asleep there.”

“She’s fine ‘ere,” Daryl grunted out, arm still over his eyes.

Amused and slightly… proud? - Rick nodded his head and instead said: “Why don’t you at least move a mattress out here?”

With a little nod, Clementine agreed. It would be more comfortable.

Rick cocked his head, and she stood to follow him to her cell. With one hand, the other arm clutching Judith, Rick helped her move a mattress out onto the perch. Happily, Clementine plopped down onto the mattress, patting it all around her in a grateful and joyful gesture.

“You can keep your cell, for when you wanna sleep there anyway, or store yeh things.” Rick leaned down to pat her head, ruffling her for once exposed hair - the only time she took her hat off was when sleeping, so it wouldn’t get lost when she moved around. That hat was too important to her for her to ever lose it. “Carl, Michonne and I are getting ready to head off. There’s breakfast ready for whenever you’re hungry.”

“Gotta put that on hold, Rick,” Daryl muttered. With a slight grunt, Daryl sat up on his mattress and offered a look to Clementine.

The girl nodded her head confidently. 

“I know where Ylva’s group is at.”

“Then let’s gather the group,” Rick announced with a sudden urgency. He nodded his head at Daryl with a silent meaning which Clementine could not figure out before heading down the stairs.

She didn’t care about the hidden meaning for long though, because when Daryl turned his eyes to her once more, there was a gentle pride in his eyes. “You’re doin’ good, kid.” And honestly… as little as she knew about him, as little as he knew about her, that tiny bit of praise meant the world to her - that was how quickly she had attached herself to him. As unhealthy as that was, and as dangerous as it was in this new world, Clementine was there to stay beside Daryl.

Sprinting off to get ready for breakfast, Clementine left Daryl on his own. He stayed put on his mattress, not bothering to get cleaned up or dressed for anything anymore (why be clean when there’s an apocalypse happening outside?)… but waiting for Clementine to be ready so they could walk down together.

His eyes flickered to the mattress next to his.

Man… What kinda shit had he gotten himself into now? Caring for an infant whilst the dad got his shit together was one thing. It meant he wasn’t the sole person responsible of shaping the morals and identity of a little fragile human being. It meant it wasn’t his fault if the kid became screwed up because he could blame it on the dad leaving. But Clementine would look up to him and him alone. She’d need him to help guide her into becoming a semi decent person and Daryl…

Could he really do that? Was Daryl a semi decent person to begin with?

Maybe he ought to push her onto Glenn and Maggie instead.

…

Rick’s entire group was gathered in the dining area, breakfast served in bowls but fully ignored by all the second Daryl and Clementine had joined them.

Now, Rick was pouring over a map, eyes scanning it for the safest route. But it was difficult considering they had no information. If he went there, he would be leading part of his group into unknown territory to check out a place occupied by a group Clementine had run from, and which was clearly hostile toward others.

Was it worth it? If he went, he’d be making the remaining people left behind in the prison vulnerable to the Governor’s attacks - more vulnerable than they already were with so few fighters, and so few guns.

He rubbed a hand over his face, acutely aware of the pure silence almost suffocating him, and the stares of the others watching him, waiting for a decision, a plan... Making decisions was much harder as of late. He couldn’t trust himself. Half the time he thought he was doing the right thing, only to lose himself to delusions.

That, or he was making decisions based in dictatorship which were given responses of silent, blank faces from those he trusted the most.

From his family.

And such reactions… hurt.

The only right thing he had done as of late was let Clementine in… Despite the trouble she had brought them, as Hershel might have once said, Rick fully believed rescuing a child remained the best thing even in this world.

Said girl was sitting hunched up on a nearby bench, staring down at the floor with wide eyes. She wasn’t the greatest with having all attention be on her, and clearly this had been a difficult decision for her. This, too, confused Rick. If Clementine was scared of the group, why was she protecting them? Why was she still loyal to some of them? And would she be a flight risk because of it?

“We could go up through here?” Hershel suggested, pointing toward the map.

Rick didn’t answer Hershel’s suggestion, instead glancing back at Clementine. Next to her, Daryl stood with his arms crossed, eyes like a hawk awaiting its prey. Protective was an understatement when it came to Daryl. Especially when Clementine wasn’t feeling the greatest. Rick wondered if Daryl was even aware of what he was doing though.

“This group…” Rick straightened up and moved over to Clementine, crouching down in front of her. “Will they attack?”

Frowning, Clementine remained quiet but, avoiding eye contact, she nodded her head yes in reply.

“So we go in from the back,” Rick decided, glancing over his shoulder to Hershel. “It’s a day’s car ride away from here…” He sighed. Again, more questions were raised. This Ylva person had gone so far just to get to Clementine… to get her back… Why? “Clementine…” Rick took another pause as he pondered over how he should approach this. “I… We are really grateful that you’ve told us somethin’ ‘bout them. Truly we are. But we gotta know why they want you back.”

“I was a worker,” Clementine quietly admitted. “They just want me back.”

“A worker?” Rick asked. The entire group was watching intensely now, curious and worried for what more information Clementine might reveal.

A nod from the girl and an uncomfortable shift in her seat was all Rick got for a while. Then, a quiet whisper added: “They lure you in. Then threaten you. And then you work for them to stay safe. To be protected by them. But you’re not really safe. Not really…���

She shook her head and quietened down again. Her gaze, all the time as she spoke, had been glued to a spot on the floor. Rick tried to move his head so he was in her line of sight, but she only shifted her gaze away no matter what he attempted.

Rick knew what that meant. He had interviewed enough civilians to understand their body language. She was done, clammed up and not open to speaking about it anymore.

So he let her be.

But there was more to this story. From what Clementine told him, there was no reason for her to keep this information from them. She hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was she exhibiting all the telltales of a person riddled with guilt?

“What are you going to do?” Clementine quietly asked, finally looking up at him.

“We will have a chat, if we can. And make sure they leave you the hell alone.” Rick said this with confidence. If a chat couldn’t be had, there were other ways to make it clear Clementine was off limits now. That’s why he was planning on bringing Daryl, the overprotective one.

“It’s just three of them,” Clementine admitted. “Please don’t hurt the others.”

“He won’t,” Beth was quick to say, stepping forwards. Her eyes, pleadingly, glanced to Rick’s crouched form. “You won’t, right?”

A tension arose in the group. Something unsaid lurked in everyone’s minds, whether it was the same subconscious thought, the same moment of doubt, that passed through everyone’s minds was uncertain… but it was clear each and every member had experienced a moment that had made them question Rick’s ability to be calm, collected… and a good guy.

It was clear that no one knew what Rick’s intentions were anymore.

“We won’t,” Rick said with a smile, pretending the tension in the group wasn’t present. “We’re the good guys, Clem.”

A lie. Almost everyone thought it.

Except for Clementine, who smiled. Her innocence meant blind faith in people who had yet to prove their mettle in actions. It was an innocence Rick wanted to protect. He wasn’t a bad guy. But bad things had happened, and he didn’t blame anyone for doubting him.

“We take Hershel’s route, then circle around the back and find a way in. Glenn, Daryl, Merle-“ Rick paused to give Glenn a pointed look when he started complaining he didn’t want Merle on the team. “Merle, stay here.” With a roll of his eyes, Merle quietly agreed. “Glenn and Daryl’ll come with me. The rest of you… stay on your guards. Keep an eye on the forest. Don’t let no one get too close.”

Everyone nodded their heads.

Ignoring his breakfast, Rick went to collect the map and go get ready. But he was stopped by Hershel’s words: “Rick? We can’t handle two groups. We can barely handle the Governor as it is. You hear me?”

Despite most likely not being on the side of murdering the lot of them, which Rick honestly wasn’t a fan of either but leaned more toward nowadays, Hershel’s pointed look and heavy words got through to Rick. A nod passed between the two men. Hershel was asking Rick to keep his daughters safe. And Rick would do that, no matter the cost. No matter what he might have to ask of his people… no matter what he might have to lie about.

“I’m coming with.” Another thing to stop Rick from going to get ready was Clementine’s words.

Everyone in the group turned to look at her.

Carl stepped up too: “Me too.” Clem and Carl shared a look, then a little smile.

“No.” Rick pointed at Carl. That was an easy ‘no’. That was his son. A son who was also still a child. “You stay here, and you keep an eye on the group.” The smiles disappeared.

Merle scoffed at those words, but rose his hands in defeat at Daryl’s glare. A part of Carl’s attitude showed he too wanted to scoff and have a rude reaction at his father’s words, but instead all he did was glare relentlessly.

With a sigh, Rick tried not to take the glares to heart. “Keep an eye on your sister.” Those words worked better, and Carl looked away, defeated.

“You can’t let her go,” Hershel voiced once Rick hadn’t replied to Clementine’s plea. 

“I can take care of myself.” Clementine, trying to make a point of that, took out her gun and curled her lips into what she hoped to be a menacing frown.

Truthfully, she probably could take care of herself. But it was too dangerous, and there were too many things that could scare her into freezing rather than fighting… She’d had close to no practice so far…

“I have no doubt of that, but you cannot be going out there. It’s too risky. These people want you back. They might go to extremes,” Hershel reasoned.

“I agree, you shouldn’t go Clem,” Carol voiced.

There were a few more nods from others. But, Clementine stayed firm in her intentions. “I can do it.”

Her determination, and the lack of a parental figure to simply tell her no as with Rick and Carl, made the group slowly turn their gazes… to Daryl instead; awaiting his verdict, like a friend asking another friend’s parents for permission. Daryl watched the group in confusion for a while… until it clicked.

“The hell ya’ll lookin’ at me for. I ain’t her dad.” Daryl looked down at Clementine, who still remained looking back at the people with a determined face - a face he would have given himself at her age, hence his response: “If she says she can handle herself, she can.” 

“You wanna take a child with us on this mission? We…” Rick quietened down, and instead tried to voice the ‘we might kill people’ through a look.

Daryl understood. But, he was still determined just like Clementine. “They’re her people.”

“Not my people,” Clementine defended quickly, earning a soft, apologetic, look from Daryl. “But… I had friends.”

“She’s not coming,” Glenn piped up, not believing what he was hearing, Maggie nodding in agreement with him.

“No, she’s not.” Rick’s words came out harshly. It brought a pause to everyone in the group, and made Daryl lower his gaze in defeat too.

Merle and Michonne watched curiously.

When Clementine pulled at his pant leg for further help, Daryl simply shook his head.

Shoulders slumping, Clementine let the group disperse with Rick’s decision being the final one.

Clementine would stay behind. Again.

Every time Clementine stayed behind, things went wrong. She hated it.

Sensing her displeasure, Daryl crouched beside her. “There’s a lot of bad people out there. When I get back, yah show me what yeh can do with that gun, and we will have a reason you can come with next time.”

“Really?”

Daryl, the one who had been given his first gun at age seven, the one who had shot his first deer a few months later and skinned it with his own knife which he had gotten a few birthdays earlier…? Yeah, he was bound to agree children could do more than Rick thought.

Clementine beamed at the trust Daryl was showing her, lighting up like a little sun in front of him.

“Thank you!”

Daryl nodded his head awkwardly, not sure how to handle such happy emotions from another. Instead, he patted her head. “Don’t do nothin’ stupid while I’m gone.”

“Never.”

…

Daryl had learned a long time ago, before the apocalypse even happened, that it was important to always have a backpack ready for when you needed to get away quickly. So, he had a backpack all ready with clothes, weapons, food and water. It was easy for him to be ready ASAP for this mission.

He stored it in his assigned cell. That cell was only really used it to get away from people, storing stuff, and sometimes for exercising. He slept out on the catwalk to keep an eye on the others, and to make sure that he wasn’t attached to any one place.

If he got attached to a place, he would make it his home. And if he made something his home… he could get hurt when he inevitably lost it. That was, unfortunately, not something the apocalypse had taught him, but his past life.

Despite being prepared with a bag, he still fumbled around a bit trying to find the last of his arrows. Lifting his mattress, Daryl realised that it was missing - there was no way that arrow had managed to get under his bed. He kept his arrows all neatly stacked and ready if something were to happen…

Strange…

In his momentary distracted state, Merle had managed to sneak up on him, placing himself leaned against the cell’s frame. “You really goin’?”

Daryl turned to glance at Merle. “Rick needs me to.”

“So?”

Merle truly enjoyed prodding at the friendships that had stirred between Daryl and the man who had left Merle on a roof to die. There was amusement present each time he poked around, prodded or made fun of it. There was also mocking. And potentially a bit of harmful protectiveness…

“It’s for the girl.” The words slipped out before Daryl could stop them. They were truthful, and perhaps the only motivation outside of helping Rick that Daryl had as of late (or rather, a better motivation than doing something for Rick… since Rick’s mental break, it was harder and harder to support their leader’s choices), but… they were not the right words to say to Merle.

Yet, his older brother stayed quiet for longer than Daryl had thought. There was a look of disbelief in the man’s eyes, but Daryl could have sworn it was not disgust toward Daryl’s strange parental nature, but… something else.

And then the depth of emotions in Merle’s eyes were all gone again when he scoffed and spat on the floor. “Man, what a wheepy bunch of losers ya’ll are. It’s a girl. She gotta learn to fend for ‘erself and go out there on her own! Why’d you all gotta get dragged into this? The Governor is out there, and our best fighters are leaving on a girl’s quest! Trust me, the Governor is more harmful than some bitches out in the forest!” Merle scoffed again. “Sit it out, brother. Stay here, defend the place from the Governor and you’ll probably do more good for her than anything else yeh do.”

“Those people could be a threat too. Like that woman out in the forest.”

“That was one woman. If that’s the best they can throw at us, we’re fine.”

“We gotta check it out ‘n make sure,” Daryl pointed out.

Merle rolled his eyes. “That’s not why you’re going. You’re going because you think letting some kid run all over you is parenting.” Part of what Merle said surprised Daryl. It sounded almost, although it was impossible Merle would, like Merle had accepted Clementine was slowly weaving a braid of parental protection within Daryl’s chest. “If ya let yerself be affected by the kid, yeh let yer guard down. Kids don’t do nothin’ but take and steal yo’ money, and leave yah without yeh freedom. Screw her. Stay here with me, brother.”

“Man to hell with all that crap! That’s dad speaking, not you!” Daryl had no idea where the emotions were coming from. Maybe it was partly the entire group looking to Daryl to stop Clementine from making bad choices, like he was her dad or something. Maybe it was partly because Daryl knew he’d be a shit father. And maybe it was partly… because he wanted to be a father, but never thought he’d be allowed to.

Or maybe it was just the stress of not finding that one arrow - who knew? Daryl surely didn’t.

“She might not have been with us for long, but that don’t make her any less part of the group. Part of the family.” Merle bit down a reply at that, and glared at Daryl. That was enough for Daryl to understand what his brother meant though. “Family don’t end in blood. This group is a family. We help. We protect. That’s what families do. They don’t screw each other over at every turn they get, and then expect forgiveness and loyalty just cause some jackass came in a woman and created both o’ us.”

“Watch your tongue, boy,” Merle attempted, but Daryl didn’t back off.

Instead, he moved in closer to breach his brother’s personal space, turning his head threateningly before continuing: “Kids are meant to be ungrateful, take yer food and money and leave yeh heartbroken. That’s when yeh know you’ve done a good job in preparing them for a world on their own, ‘cause they’ll have left yah and become people.” He paused to breathe and take in his brother’s reactions. Merle was staring with eyes that held emotions but a face that was as emotionless and strong as steel as possible; contorting everything into anger had been taught to him instead of learning to cope. Daryl wasn’t sure if he was getting through to his brother… or if that was even possible, so he tried one more time: “Punching kids just cause they grow to be someone independent… just cause they got needs, want some food, some attention… That what you’d call fatherhood?”

“Nah man I just-“

“You just nothin’. I don’t care if this hurts me. This is for a kid. For the group. And I ain’t need no thanks.”

With that, Daryl shut up and moved away from his brother.

“You’ve changed, little brother. And I don’t mean since I left, I mean in the past week or so.” Merle’s voice was not angry, it was not provocative. It was strangely quiet too. “You’re gonna get yourself killed if you keep going this way.”

“I won’t. ‘Cause I’ll have ‘em.”

“Will you?” Merle’s anger flared up again. It wasn’t at Daryl though. “Will you!? You think they will keep accepting you? Them kinds of people never accept us. Ever. Relying on ‘em ain’t good. You gotta be with me. Be with blood. It’s always been like this. People will never accept us, man!” Toward the end, Merle had begun to scream. But for some reason, he stopped himself there… and with a little sigh, he lowered his voice to continue. “She’s fucking great, alrigh’?” To say that those words shocked Daryl would be an understatement. “She’s a damn good kid and a good shot. But you gotta be smart ‘bout this. Second that girl stops wanting yeh as someone to take over after that Lee fellah, yer expandable again.”

“Nah…” Daryl said, trying to shake the words off by shaking his head, and turning away from Merle to grab his bag.

Maybe he ought to push her onto Glenn and Maggie instead.

“Ain’t that what always happened, little brother? Yeh got used and then when someone better came along, yeh were nothing.”

There was no answer. The words had clearly gotten through to Daryl, touching upon the anxiety of loving only to be let down: a vicious cycle that occurred in their childhood home, and a cycle Merle was well aware of had left Daryl emotionally broken. And so Merle victoriously stepped back and let his baby brother pass him by.

Trying to stand by what he had said earlier, Daryl opted for some last words before passing him by: “Kids are meant to leave yah.”

Despite having clearly won that argument, Merle felt his victory didn’t last long, a strange sensation creeping up his spine instead.

His smirk faded.

“So you her dad now?” Merle called after Daryl, who did not stop walking… but who definitely tensed up at the question.

Making Daryl feel worse didn’t make Merle feel better. Annoyed, he punched the wall and walked off in search of something to get high on…

if you enjoy my writing, please also consider supporting by reblogging or leaving a comment <;3

my carrd

[unhelpfulalienwholovesyou]

My thoughts on Rick Grimes after the Prison episode of TWD S3

[jaynosurname]

(89) The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

Javi, Kate, and David need to go to group therapy because holy shit, they are a mess.

Oh yeah, the game is good btw. No idea why it gets so much hate. I guess some of the choices didn't matter, but that's been an issue since the start of the series. It was worse in season 2. Although there are still some atrociously bad moments here, don't get me wrong. There's one choice at the end of episode 4 that I thought was fantastic initially, only for ep 5 to make that decision meaningless in the lamest way possible. If you know, you know. It's such a stupid moment.

But besides some awful moments here and there, I think this season is underrated. I mean, it has fucking Jesus in it! He's easily the highlight of the season.

(4/5)

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back | Daryl Dixon x reader

Chapter twenty four - is it over now?

Previous >> next

Masterlist

Taglist

Warnings - normal twd, kidnapping, sacrificing a person

Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

'When the dead comes knocking'

S3 ep7

We all slowly follow after Rick, getting close enough to the fence to catch a glimpse of who the person is. It was a woman with dark skin and brown locks that fell just around her breasts. She looked tough, tougher than I'd ever be. She had a large Katana strapped to her back and a small handheld grocery basket in her hand.

She has what appears to be blood smeared all over her torso and blood oozing out of a wound in her thigh. The woman brings her hand up and slams it against the fence as she grips the metal between her blood-soaked fingers. Carl passes his sister to Beth before he rushes over to his father. I see the woman wince before quickly bringing her hand down to grasp at her thigh. The walker standing next to her banging on the fence must've overheard her wince, so it pivoted its head slowly toward her before snarling. She steps back before grabbing her Katana and slashing right through the walker's head. She delivers a powerful kick to the walker's chest, sending it tumbling off her Katana and onto the ground.

"Should we help her!?" I hear Carl shout to his father as Rick walks towards the gate that leads out of the prison. The woman disappears behind a guard tower as a group of walkers follows her.

The only thing we can hear are the snarls and groans of the walkers and her grunts. She stumbles from behind the guard tower, the walkers still following her. She struggles a bit, her body woozily swaying back and forth before she falls to the ground with a loud yelp. I inhale sharply as the walkers close in on her. Carl tosses the keys that were in his hand to Rick. Rick unlocks the gate, and he and Carl run out, shooting walkers as Rick approaches the woman. Carl runs towards the red basket the woman had dropped earlier, and Hershel walks towards the gate, probably inferring that his medical assistance would be needed. Rick kneels beside the woman's limp body. "Is she bit?" Hershel shouts. Rick begins to search her body, lifting her shirt and checking each arm before concluding that she was not bitten. "Gunshot," Rick replies as Hershel starts to walk toward the two. Rick hoists her arm over his shoulder and carries her toward the prison.

-

Carl opens the doors to the prison, and we all follow him and his father inside. "Carl, get a blanket," Rick commands as Carl enters the prison. "Beth, water and a towel," Beth nods as we all file into the prison. "Here?" Carl asks as he lays down the blanket he had grabbed onto the ground. "she's not coming in the cell block," Rick says as he lays the woman down on the floor. "Go in the cell block. stay there." I tell Casey, my voice in a low whisper, as I let go of her hand. I didn't want her in here in case the woman was dangerous. Rick was just as cautious about her as I was. Hell, she had an entire Katana with her and could take out walkers while losing blood. She was an absolute badass, but we didn't know where she came from, who she was, or even how she found the prison and why she had baby formula in that grocery basket. Casey nods before scurrying off and out of my sight.

"Woah, woah, woah, steady," Rick says as he helps the woman onto the ground. Beth hands Rick a water bottle, and he quickly takes it and unscrews the lid before pouring the water onto the woman's chest. "shhhhh, it's alright, it's alright," Rick coos as she begins to breathe heavily. "Hey, hey look at me. Look at me." a look of confusion fills her face as she looks up at Rick, who is hovering over her. "Who are you?" she takes a sharp breath before not answering his question. She was probably dealing with a lot in her head right now to even know what Rick was talking about.

"Hey, it's alright. Hey. Hey," Rick whispers, trying to calm her down. But instead of calming down, she reaches for her Katana, which luckily is quickly kicked away by Rick. In an act of contradiction, he grabs her shoulder and forcefully pins her to the ground, stating, "We don't want to hurt you," despite clearly causing pain at that moment. But it was okay because it was self-defense; well, I could probably say the same thing for her. We're just as unknown to her as she is to us. We just brought her into this random ass prison, and for all I know, she could be thinking we were some maniacs who kidnap people and kill them. But it was definitely safer to keep the Katana away from her, at least for right now.

"Unless you try something stupid first. Alright?" Rick asks her, his voice low but also in a softer manner than he was when talking to the prisoners when they wanted to join our group. "Rick," I hear Daryl call out as I hear his heavy footsteps walking through the cell block and into the rec area. We all look back to see Daryl walking through the doorway. "Who the hell's this?" he asks as his face contorts into a confused expression. Rick turns to the woman. "You wanna tell us your name?" Rick asks as she props herself up with her arm. "You wanna tell us your name?" he repeats, his voice dropping to a sinister whisper.

It looked like she was about to say her name before Daryl cut through the silence, saying, "Y'all, come on in here." Rick rises to his feet as he says, "Everything alright?" his head turns a bit so he can see Daryl. "you're gonna wanna see this."

Rick turns back toward the group, "Go ahead, Carl, get the bag." Carl walks over and grabs the woman's bag that she had been carrying with her and the grocery basket as Beth and Hershel walk away. Rick lifts the woman's Katana, showing it to her. "we'll keep this safe and sound...The doors are all locked. You'll be safe here, and we can treat that." Rick says as I turn around and walk towards the door where Daryl is still standing. once I'm standing in front of him, I press my lips to his cheek. "What'd you find?" I whisper as I take his hand into mine, caressing the top of it. "Tell ya all in a secon'," he mutters. I let go of his hand and walked into the cell block. After Rick and Daryl slam the door shut and lock it behind them.

I didn't understand why she didn't just want to tell us her name; it could not only help her but us as well. If she told us her name and why she was here, we could at least trust her. Maybe even unlock that door and let her have her stuff back.

we all follow after Rick and Daryl, anticipating what Daryl will show us. Rick turns the corner into a cell to be met with Carol, all dirtied up but alive and well. He lets out a little gasp as she pushes herself up off of the bed and towards him. He wraps his arms around her in a tight hug. "Thank god, thank god," Rick repeats as he nuzzles his head into her neck. He lets go of Carol, letting her go on to the next person, Hershel, who limps towards her. "How?" he asks. It was a miracle that she had survived. We were sure she had been gone; all anyone had found of her was her scarf. We never did find a body, though, and Carol isn't the type of person to be taken out by walkers, not anymore.

"Solitary," she giggles as she wraps her arms around him. "Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must've passed out. Dehydrated." Daryl says. Hershel lets go of Carol and moves out of the way, letting Beth step forward, showing the infant now cradled in her arms. "Oh," Carol gasped before shifting her attention back to Rick. Not wanting to relive the heartbreak, he hung his head low. Her eyes fill with tears as she grabs his face, whispering a quiet but heartbreaking "I'm sorry." My arms cross over my chest as if I'm trying to shield my heart from the absolute devastation everyone is reliving right now. I try to stay strong not only for myself but for the others around me, too.

I don't want to seem like a wimp, someone who can't get over things fast. You need to now. You can't stop to grieve. You have to move forward with life because if you don't, you're at risk. I didn't want to cry not again; I had only cried in that room and out in Daryl's arms afterward. I didn't need to cry again; I got it all out there. Didn't I? But tears form in my eyes before I can tell myself to stop. Stop, stay calm, stay strong. I am strong; it wasn't like she was my mom, but she was like my mom. She reminded me of her in every way that it felt like I had lost her again.

I didn't cry at first when the realization that my mother was probably dead hit, because I still had that little grain of hope that she was out there. surviving like I was. but now losing Lori made me realize that she was gone. it was like it hit all at once, not just Lori, and t, but Amy, Jack, Matt, Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma. Jim, Jaqui, Sophia, and Dale they were all gone.

Even Shane, although I had nothing but hatred for him in those last few weeks, I had spent months before that worshiping him as if he was a god. He was like a brother to me before he touched me. That's why it hit so hard. That's why I felt so betrayed. I had seen him as a brother when he had seen me as an object. He saw me as an object he could beat around when he was frustrated. An object he could touch whenever he desired and face zero consequences.

I had only really stopped to mourn Sophia and Dale none of the others, but now it's all hitting like a big yellow school bus. all the feelings I should have felt months ago are rushing in as more and more tears form in my eyes until they overflow and stream down my cheeks. I wipe at my cheeks and try to blink the tears away, but they just won't stop. they just keep coming. it's embarrassing, being so vulnerable in front of everyone. I have cried several times in front of all these people, but this is different. I've cried because I was hurt, or when I was talking about what Shane had done to me, but I've never cried this much. I'm crying so much that the attention is brought onto me which wasn't my intention. I expected to cry silently, but this wasn't it. "Oh, y/n" It's like in an instance Carol knows what happened and pushes through everyone to me before wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "I fuck up" I whisper into her shoulder as her left hand rubs tiny comforting circles into my back.

-

Once I'm calmed down, I'm informed by Hershel that he wants me to help him patch the woman up, only if she wants us to, of course. I understood that under any other circumstance, he wouldn't need my help, but I think he knew I was cautious around everyone now, especially with the medical stuff. I refused almost everyone who asked me for help, almost immediately saying they should go to Hershel instead. It scared me that I might fuck up again, and he knew that.

Daryl, Hershel, Rick, and I walked into the rec area where we had locked the woman up. She was now sitting at one table with an angry scowl on her face. "We can tend to that wound for ya," Rick says as the metal door creaks open and then enviably slams back shut as we all file into the room. "Give ya a little food and water and then send ya on your way." She stares up at Rick as he speaks "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us, and why you were carrying formula," he whispers. There was no way she could've known we had a baby who desperately needed that formula unless she came across someone who knew about the baby. She could've come across Andrea if she was even still alive, but Andrea wouldn't even know if Lori had the baby, let alone if it survived the 9 months at all. Glenn and Maggie were too cautious to even tell anyone where we were, let alone who was a part of our group. They knew better than to do that.

She finally breaks her silence by saying, "The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl." My heart drops instantly. Who would've made them drop all that formula? Why would they drop all that formula? "What happened?" Rick asks. Hershel stands up from where he was sitting and adds "Were they attacked?" the only reason they'd drop that formula is if another person attacked or forced them. "They were taken," the woman whispers. My heart drops again, right into my stomach. It seems like my thoughts are just racing with all different types of questions. Who took them? Where did they take them? Why did they take them? Were they still alive?

"Taken?! By who?!" I ask as I take a few steps forward toward the woman." by the same son of a bitch who shot me," she replies, her hand still clutched against her wound. The person who had taken them was dangerous. "Oh god," I murmur as I slapped my hand over my mouth. Tears stung in my eyes as I spun on my heels and began to walk out of the rec area. "Hey, hey where ya goin'?" I push the door open that leads outside as I whisper, "I-I need some air," as I gasp for air. It felt like my lungs were collapsing and my throat was closing up. My chest heaved as I placed one hand against it, trying to catch my breath.

How could this happen? Glenn and Maggie getting kidnapped was practically impossible. Both were amazing with speed and stamina; they were both great shots, but together they were invincible. But then again, Maggie is Glenn's greatest weakness. If anyone threatened her, he's complainant straight away. She was his girl and if you even dared to point a gun at her; he was doing anything to save her. He'd shoot himself in the head if it meant Maggie would be alright, he'd shoot himself in the head to make sure everyone was alright. That was just how Glenn was so selfless and brave. He'd throw himself in front of a moving train if it meant our group would be safe.

"Are ya alrigh'?" Daryl asks as he chases after me. Glenn had been taken, taken by a dangerous person who obviously meant to shoot that woman. What if they killed Glenn and Maggie? What if they killed the man? I had spent the last 13 or so months saying I couldn't live without. "He-he's gone," I cry out. I feel a hand press against my shoulder as I spin around so I'm facing Daryl. "We don' know that yet," he mutters. Yeah, we didn't know if he was gone yet, but he might as well be. He's with some unknown, dangerous person. We don't even know where this person took them. For all we know, they could be back in Atlanta by now. I look up at Daryl. My eyes are red and puffy now, tears still streaming down my face. I collapse into his arms, wrapping my arms around his torso. "I-I," he stutters out as he freezes up. Despite our relationship being more than 9 months long, I have only cried like this to him a handful of times. He still didn't know how to comfort anyone really; it wasn't his forte that was Glenn's job.

It wasn't that Daryl wasn't an amazing boyfriend, because he was. He was great. He just wasn't in tune with his own emotions, let alone mine. He barely showed two, maybe three, if we were lucky. Daryl kept everything locked up tight in a place where no one could see, and he only ever let what was locked inside out when not even a soul was present to hear or see. He felt as if those emotions were something to be ashamed of, and if we found out he had those emotions, we'd see him as lesser. As if he wasn't strong enough to be in power, to be second in command. Even if all those feelings were contrary to what we believed, it was something that had been burrowed so deep into his head from such a young age he had never known a time when he hadn't felt like that. He never knew anything different.

Feelings were for boys, not men, and he was a man, so why would he feel those feelings? Feelings that made him feel so vulnerable. Emotions that made him feel like a boy, a young child who needed their mother to cradle them and wipe their tears, and he didn't need that he didn't need someone to coddle him he wasn't a baby.

I only knew bits and pieces about Daryl's life before this. I knew his mother died; his father was abusive. Merle was in juvie a lot and Daryl had gone missing in the woods one time. I knew his father told him boys didn't need emotions and crying was for Sissy's he had told me once when we were on the road, just him and I.

We’d be alone just him and I out in the woods or scavenging for food and when I got bored I’d ask questions. I found out a lot about him that way. Like how I was his first back at the CDC, and that I was his first real girlfriend (despite being well over the age of thirty when we had first started our relationship) he had situationships with girls he had kissed or gotten handsy with but he had never gone all the way, not till me.

I'd cried like this to Glenn several times, at the quarry, the farm, and on the road. If I ever got too overwhelmed with anything in my life, I'd go to him, and he'd know what to do. But now he's not here and I don't know what to do.

-

Once I had dried up all my tears and became calm or calmer, I walked back into the prison. Daryl's hand splayed across my lower back as if he was escorting me back inside. I just had to keep repeating in my head that Glenn was alright, pretend he wasn't being held hostage, that he might not be dead or dying in the current moment.

I kneeled on the ground in front of the woman that we still didn't know the name of. I have a needle in a shaky hand as I sewed up her wound. Hershel softly murmurs, "Good job, yer doin' great." the woman gasps as I stab the needle back through her skin "I'm sorry I'm sorry" I mutter as I pull the needle through her skin and tighten the thread, so it pulled her skin together. Everyone else is in the cellblock talking about what we should do. The woman had volunteered to take us to the town where the man supposedly lived. Some people were hesitant because what if someone dies out there, but this is Glenn and Maggie we're talking about. We can't just leave them because we're scared of dying.

"I'm y/n, by the way," I say with a friendly smile tugging at my lips. Maybe if she knew our names, it would coerce her into telling us hers. "And this is Hershel," I say as I stab the needle back into her skin. She gasps again, which I immediately meet with a quiet "sorry again." Rick couldn't get anything but that she knew where the man took Glenn and Maggie out of her. not her name, age, or even where she had come from. We just had to assume that she might be from the place where Glenn and Maggie were taken. So, Rick decided to be cautious with her. If she was indeed from the town that took Glenn and Maggie, this could be some elaborate plan to get our toughest men out of the prison, so they can attack when only the women and children are left.

"And the two who helped you in are Rick and his son Carl." she nods slightly as she lets out another hiss-like groan. "And um, the man with the crossbow, he's my boyfriend, and the little girl that was with me, she's our...daughter." Saying Casey is our daughter was simpler than explaining that we basically adopted her due to her parents getting bitten. If you didn't have any prior knowledge about Daryl, Casey, or me, you would think she was our daughter. A nice happy family, a mother, father, and daughter.

I tie a knot in the thread before cutting the needle loose from her skin. "There you go," I say as I push myself back up onto my feet. "Thank you," she murmured as she sat up straight. At the same time as I stood up, Daryl walked back into the rec area, two bags slung over his back. He throws them down onto a table before he begins to rifle through the items inside. "Hey, Rick, decide if we're goin' to find that town?" I ask, walking over to him as I wipe the almost dried blood off my hands. "yup" he mutters as he pulls a few garments out of one of the bags. "Alright then, I'm going too." Daryl looks up, brows curling into a furrow before he shakes his head. Glenn was my best friend, and if Daryl thought I wasn't going to save him, he was stupid. "Nope, yer stayin' here. Ya need to stay with Case," he mutters. My hands press against my hips as my facial expression morphs into anger.

"Glenn's my best friend D. If you think I'm not going to be the first one going out there to save him, you're stupid," I say standing my ground, just because he was my boyfriend and so many years older than me doesn't mean he gets to boss me around. I understood that maybe he wanted to protect me and stay here to protect Casey, but Glenn has saved my life so many times that I think I owe this to him. I need to be there too, just in case he is dead or dying. I don't want to hear it from Rick or Daryl when they come back. I need to be able to say goodbye if he's really gone forever. He let out a disgruntled sigh as he muttered, "Fine," with an eye roll before he slung the two bags back over his shoulders.

-

"Hey, don't look so sad we're gonna be right back" I whisper as I pinch Casey's cheek lightly trying to coax a smile out of her. I'm kneeled in front of the young girl trying to make her understand why we had to leave again. but it just didn't quite process in her head correctly, in her head we were just leaving to leave, that us leaving was some fun activity but in fact, it was quite the opposite. "I heard Daryl say that Uncle Glenn and Aunt Maggie got taken, is that true?" she asks her head cocking to the side. I let out a sigh, I don't want her to know the true severity of this situation. I didn't want to frighten her let alone think that Glenn might die. "No honey he and Maggie...they just got stuck somewhere, and we need to help them alright?" she nods a little pout still present on her face. "Now..." I grab her hand "You're gonna stay here with Beth, Carl, and Carol kay?" she nods "And you're going to have such a fun time you won't even notice Daryl and I are gone" She nods again before she wraps her arms around my neck in a tight hug. "Please come back" she murmurs into the crook of my neck. I rub circles into her back before whispering "We will" She pulls away before shoving her pink finger towards my hand "Pinky promise?" I interlock mine with hers with a smile as I say, "I promise", we both press our lips to our thumbs before locking it.

I hand Casey off to Beth and it's probably the easiest it's ever been, most of the time she's holding on tightly to my leg with tears in her eyes, begging me not to go. but this time she skips off to Beth and Carl with no problem. I should be proud that she's letting go a bit, but it hurts because she doesn't need me as much anymore. I felt as if I had raised her like I gave birth to her. I felt like I'd known her, her whole life when in fact I didn't. I was only in a blip of her memories a tiny portion of millions and millions that lived in her tiny head. if I died right now she probably wouldn't even remember me once she got to her early teen years, I'd be a fuzzy face that she could barely recognize, a body with a blurry face she couldn't find the match to.

I sat in the back seat of the car while everyone else was outside bidding goodbyes and packing up the car. I could hear Daryl outside talking, his voice was muffled but I could still understand what he was saying. eventually after a few heartfelt goodbyes we all settle into the car and begin our drive to possibly our deaths.

-

We have to park and then walk the rest of the way towards the town because of the risk of getting caught. rick pulls off to the side of a long highway before parking the car. It was a bit of a risk parking our car on the side of the road for any survivors to see, but we had no other choice. I push the door open before stepping out onto the leaf-covered ground. "They have patrols. we're better off on foot" the woman who we know has learned is named Michonne says as she stumbles away from the car. "How far? nights comin'." Rick asks, hands shoving into his pockets as he too begins to walk away from the car. "it's a mile, maybe two," Michonne replies as Daryl opens up the trunk of the car and both he and Rick begin to unload it.

The walk is longer than expected a mile or two seems easy, but once you're halfway in your thighs and calves ache, and you regret all your life choices, it's a Hassel. I'm walking in the back behind Rick and Daryl while Michonne and Oscar lead the group. My hands shove into my coat pockets as I let out a soft sigh. Sometimes I felt left out when our group was in an odd number, especially when Glenn wasn't there with me. Rick and Daryl would always be leading the group talking, and if Maggie was there, she grouped with Carol or Beth if she tagged along, which always left Glenn and me. So, on days like this when Glenn wasn't present, I was the one lone wolf with no one to chat with. It wasn't as depressing as it seemed because sometimes it was nice to just shut up.

I can't say that I liked to sit with my emotions either, though. Because, with no one to distract me, my thoughts are running a mile a minute. Thinking about every possible situation we could find Glenn and Maggie in. "I know what you did for me, for my baby while I was...working things out. Thank you," Rick's words were hushed as he said them not in an exact whisper, but close enough that I knew he didn't want anyone but Daryl to hear them. "It's what we do." Daryl simply replies. we're family. We stepped up when anyone else was in need. Daryl knew Rick's children needed someone to look after them while he was recovering from the loss of his wife, so Daryl stepped up. He treated both Carl and the newly named Judith as if they were his own, and that was what we did. I've done it, Rick's done it, we've all done it.

Everything is silent for a good few seconds before it's rudely interrupted by the loud groans of a walker. Daryl crouches down as he whispers, "Rick. "Rick is immediately crouched down as he whispers "Down!" everyone stops as we crouch down. We're peaking through overgrown grass and weeds when we see an entire group of walkers stumble into our view. Fuck. "Get in formation. No gunfire," Rick orders. we all take out our silent weapons before we begin taking down walkers. we're only a few walkers in when Daryl whispers "There's too many of'em". There are at least 50, maybe more. This would be easy for our group if we had everyone, but there are only 5 of us. There are only so many we can take down at a time.

Rick leads us away from the walkers and towards a small cabin in the woods. It looked like it had been abandoned far before the apocalypse. With weeds growing into the structure and wooden boards covering the doors and windows. The door is surprisingly unlocked, so we walk right in. It's creepily dark inside once the door is closed. Too dark to see if anyone or anything was lurking inside. "Keep it down, keep it down," Rick whisper-shouts as he crouches down on the floor. The first distinct observation I make is the absolute pungent smell that lingered inside. It wasn't anything I hadn't smelled before, but the smell of death always hits like a truck at first. "The smell, it's loud," Daryl mutters as he covers his nose and mouth with his hand. Daryl begins to make his way through the cabin searching for where the smell was exactly coming from. "What the hell is that?" asks Oscar. I guess the smell is unfamiliar to Oscar unless he had seen or smelled a dead body before he was locked up. We'd smelled the dead for months, so it wasn't totally nauseating anymore. yeah, it was disgusting and made me feel like puking, but I didn't actually puke anymore.

"it's got to be a fox or wha's left of one." Rick flashes his flashlight over something I wish I'd never seen. I medium-sized matt of fur with a collar around its neck. It must have starved to death, which was the best way for it to die. I'd rather see an uneaten dead dog than one that had been chewed through. "Guess lassie wen' home," Daryl mutters nonchalantly before he walks away. Things like this didn't hurt Daryl as much as it did me. Seeing a dead dog will always ruin my day, but Daryl not so much. The sound of pounding makes us all stop for a second and turn towards the door. I could see the door trying to break off its hinges. It wasn't going to stay for much longer. We had to find a way out of here fast.

Rick whistles quietly, getting Daryl's attention before motioning toward a bed that was in front of us. There was a human-sized lump in the covers. I just hoped that the body was taken care of before we had gotten here. Rick's hand hovers over the covers before he quickly rips them off the bed, uncovering a man who jumps up out of his sleep, wide-eyed and confused.

"Ah! Who the hell are you?" the man screams as his eyes flick between each of us. "We don't mean any harm," Rick says as he points his manchette at the man. "Get out of my house!" the man shouts, an equal amount of fear and confusion on his face. "Okay, okay, okay. We will, but we can't right now," Rick whispers as he backs away from the man. "NOW!" the walkers outside of the door get more persistent with how loud the man is getting. "Shut him up" Michonne hisses.

"Get out! Right now!" the man shouts again. "There are walkers outside!" the man's face contorted with confusion as if he didn't know what walkers were. "I-I'll call the cops!" calling the cops was a threat I hadn't heard in what felt like years, a threat a person who lived in the old world would use, not now. I'll shoot you, kill you, throw you out to the walkers, all very acceptable threats, but calling the cops is outdated now. "I am a cop...now I need you to lower the gun," Rick says as he lowers it to the ground. "don't do anything rash," Rick drops his machete to the ground before standing back up. "Now let's just take this nice and slow, look at me." the man's eyes quickly flick back to Rick's before he cocks his rifle. "Show me your badge" he demands. Rick quickly puts his hands up before saying, "Alright. it's in my pocket, it's in my pocket" he slowly begins to reach down towards his pockets "Now, I'm just gonna reach down nice'n'slow." Rick explains. the man nods before Rick quickly swings, trying to knock the gun out of his hands. The man shoots. luckily Rick is quick to move out of the way, sending the bullet right through a door. rick lungs forward, grabbing the man.

"Let go of me! I'll kill you! Let go of me!" he cries. Rick's arms are placed against the man's mouth as he hisses, "Shut up!" the man is quick to bite down on Rick's hands, sending Rick hurling backwards letting the man go. "Ah! help they found me!" the man cries as he sprints away from Rick and towards the door with walks pounding at it. "don't open that door!" Rick warns as Michonne pulls out her Katana and chases after the man. Right as the man tries to open the door, Michonne's Katana plunges right into his back and out of his chest. The man yelps out in pain as he falls back onto the ground with a loud thud.

Daryl quickly walks over to the door peeking through the wooden slats. "Remember the Alamo?" Daryl asks as he turns back towards us. It seems like the same idea races through Rick's mind. "Help me with the door."

Oscar is hesitant as he grimaces and mutters, "You got to be kidding me." Rick is crouched down by the man's body as he says "he's dead. Check the back" Rick had said we don't kill the living several times, but maybe this was the one exception. If Michonne hadn't stabbed him, we'd all be dead. And there's no pulse, so we can use his body as a distraction without feeling horrible.

Daryl and Rick lift the body as Oscar runs to check the back door for walkers. "it's clear." Daryl and Rick lift the man before Rick begins to count down. "One, two, three," then they shove his body outside and close the door as quickly as possible. Daryl locks the door before we race out the back.

I can't say that once I hear the sounds of the walkers munching on that man's body, I don't feel bad because I do. He was confused and scared. He was just trying to protect himself. It seemed like he had no idea that the world ended. There was no way that man had slept through the world ending, had he?

Taglist

@rivversin @soul4death @furiousheartpoetry @silicone-bonez @nezukos-number1fan @your-shifting-gurl @maziejay08 @oi-itse @rhaenryawhore @kimbunnysstuff @blipblopper @ramielll @ilyhannah @daryldixonnn @delicatebearpandaopera @crypticmushroom @daryldixmedown @duckybird101

[amazingmaeve]

ANDREW LINCOLN as Rick Grimes

THE WALKING DEAD - 3.09 | "The Suicide King"

[eccentricallygothic]

NOOOO OMG NOT DARYL THEY'VE GOT DARYL WHY CANT THEY LEAVE MY MAN ALONE OMG FUCK YOU GOVERNOR

[littlelovingideas]

Rick and Daryl: “Make sure you go for the brain, it has the be the brain.”

Prisoners: Uh huh yeah can do no problemo

Also Prisoners: Going for every other body part ✨but the head✨

Rick, Daryl & T-Dog: 👁️👄👁️

[figtreegif]

Wardrobe // Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) // Doctor Who Seasons 3 & 4 (2007-2008) + Torchwood Season 2 (2008) + specials

[ftdeerborne]

AHHH KENNY AND CLEM ppl always say season 2 is trash but it holds a special place in my heart, mostly bc of this duo 🥺