#nataliaxdaryl

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Walkers in the field

Previous

When the group got back to the Prison, Carl and Carol were stood around on Patrol.

The kid had kept his promise of keeping an eye on her dog, the Border Collie sat next to him.

Rick had stopped in the middle of the two gates, getting out with instructions for Maggie to drive it up.

Natalia got out too, being greeted by Sully excitedly jumping up at her.

"Hey, I missed you too, sweet boy." She smiled, petting her dog as he tried to lick her face.

"Where's Daryl?" Carol asked, not seeing him in the car.

"It's alright. He's alive." Rick reassured her. "We ran into his brother. They went off."

"They left?" Carol sounded surprised. "Daryl left? He's gone? Is he coming back?"

She paced away, wiping her eyes.

Natalia walked out of the fencing and towards the prison whilst the older woman continued to ask Rick questions, Carl even piping up, asking about Oscar.

When she got to the courtyard before the three, she was greeted by Hershel and Beth, who was talking to Maggie.

"You kept your promise." The teen told the Natalia, hugging her.

"I always do, that's the point." She said, although she hugged Beth back.

"Are you hurt?" Hershel asked her.

"Not even a scratch, but I could sleep for about a month." She yawned.

"Why don't you go head in, get some rest." Rick came up from behind her with Carol and Carl. "And hey, thank you for last night, and today."

"What are friends for, right?" She asked.

"I think you mean, what are family for?" Hershel corrected.

"Whatever floats your boat." She shrugged, heading for the cell block. "Hey, kid. You alright?" She asked, Carl was hot on her trail, but it didn't look like he was headed for her.

"We got people." Was all he said before walking ahead.

"Huh?" She said to herself, bringing out her handgun and picking up her pace.

She walked into the cell block, being met by four people, A man and what looked to be his son, and a man and woman both having dark skin, looking close in age. Carl was sat on top of the table.

"Kid, who are these people?" She asked. The four turned their heads to look at her.

"Found them in the tombs."

"Waiting to speak to your dad?"

"Yeah."

As if he was called on command. Rick entered the cell, followed by Hershel.

He took a look at the group before continuing to the cells.

Natalia and Carl both followed, Carl closed the door, locking the people out.

Beth was holding the baby when Rick walked up to her, taking her off the blonde, so that he could hughis daughter to him.

"She kinda has Lori's eyes. Don't you think?" Beth asked.

Eventually, everyone soon enough went about their ways to do their own thing.

"Hey, if you need anything, or something happens, I'll be in my cell, okay?" She told Rick. "With Daryl gone, I guess I'm moving up in the ranks." She teased.

"Nat, Hershel was right when he said you were family, you're important, and we all owe you a pile of thanks, for everything you've done, you're family, even if its against your will." He hugged her, it was sort of awkward, it being their first hug and all, she would much prefer if they just threw darts, but she let it slide. "Go get some sleep."

"Alright" She saluted. "Kid, you mind watching Sully for a lil bit longer? I don't wanna lock him up in the cell."

"Course" He smiled at her. "He slept in my cell last night though." He admitted. "Hope that was okay."

"That's alright, thank you for looking after him."

"Anytime, I'm your guy."

"I'll make sure to remember that" She patted the sheriffs hat on top of his head, before retreating to her cell.

As she got comfortable, she could hear Beth and Carol talking as they did the laundry, she rolled over to face the wall, blocking them out, until soon enough, she was sleeping like a rock.

It was the next day, the group was stood around the cell block as Glenn drew the prison on the floor with chalk.

Natalia had found out from Carol that Rick was being coerced by Hershel to let Tyreese and his group stay, before something had happened and he had a freak out, telling the group that they should leave.

She trusted Rick, the same way he had trusted her, but she got a nagging feeling that something was going on with him, that could potentially put him and everyone at risk.

Carol had also tried to talk to Natalia about Daryl, so had Beth, but she made excuses up for both time on why she had to leave the conversation but also mentioning that they didn't need the redneck and they could handle things.

Deep down she pondered on why that felt like a lie, but she shoved it further into the dark void of her thoughts.

"Now, you said you found Tyreese's group here?" Glenn asked Carl.

"Yeah." The young boy nodded.

"We secured this."

"He thought he came through here" Carl pointed at the map.

"Means there's another breach." Glenn sighed. "Okay, the whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."

"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth asked. "Maybe you scared him off."

"Nah, Beth. Not this guy." Natalia shook her head, looking down at the map. Her arms were crossed as she leaned against the wall beside Michonne, Sully sat by her legs.

"He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans. Trophies. He's coming." Michonne stated.

"We should hit him now." Glenn decided.

"What?"

"He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."

"We're not assassins." Carol disagreed with Glenn.

"You know where his apartment is" He said to Michonne in a hushed voice, standing up from the ground. "You and I could end this tonight."

Michonne sighed, seeming to relay what he was saying.

"I'll do it myself." Glenn assured.

Michonne nodded.

"Okay."

"He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened." Hershel stepped in. "You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. Rick and Natalia risked their lives going back for him. And you and Maggie were almost executed."

"You can't stop me." Glenn told the old man, stepping towards him.

"Rick would never allow this."

"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?"

"Think this through clearly. T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth anymore killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now."

"And go where?" Glenn asked.

"We lived on the road all winter"

"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours."

"We can't stay here." Hershel told him.

"We can't run." Glenn argued.

Maggie turned away, walking into the cells, making Glenn's face drop at this, but he didn't go after her.

"Alright. We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand. Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. We need to find out where this breach is." Glenn explained.

"You'll need some help." Michonne said, before Natalia got the chance to offer.

"No, in case anything happens, I need you out here, both of you." He looked at Natalia, nodding at her. He then looked around the room. "Who's on watch?" He demanded. "Damn it."

Glenn walked off, seemingly fed up.

Preparations had been made around the prison, and Glenn and Carl had found walkers around the tombs and near the generator room once again.

Glenn had shortly left as Natalia and Sully were in the field, she was throwing the ball for him to play fetch with as she scoped out everything, and checked fences were in order and people were safe for the moment.

She watched Hershel hobble to the bottom of the field on crutches, trying to break through to Rick, who had been wandering around on the other side, looking for something, for the entirety of the day.

For a moment, as they talked, she had thought that Hershel had seemed to get through to him, but then Rick shook his head, turning away from the prison and walking back to the trees.

She took a step back, putting all her frustration into throwing the ball wide, Sully leaping for it as soon as it left her fingers.

She wasn't the only one watching, Michonne was by the bus, the place she had spent the night before, and Carol and Axel were talking in the courtyard, Beth and Carl stood by them.

She heard a shot ring past, she followed the sound as it whizzed.

Blood shot out of Axels head as he dropped to the ground, right beside Carol.

She looked back, her head turning as quick as the bullet had gone past her.

The man with the bandaged eye was stood outside the gate, lowering the gun he had just shot.

Then repeated gunfire ran out.

A searing pain shot through her left arm, twisting her whole body around from the cause of injury, blood splattering, she looked down in horror to find she had been caught in the fire.

"Nat!" The voice of Michonne called out, she wasn't too far away from her. "Nat, come here!"

She looked around, she felt like she could hardly hear, as though a bubble was over her head, making everything fuzzy.

She was close enough that the woman could reach out from the bus, pulling her good arm and shielding her from any more harm.

"You got shot" Michonne hissed, looking at the blood seeping into her top, and spreading down her arm.

"I got shot." She repeated, her voice softer, sounding like a question.

"Okay, its okay. You're alright." Michonne told her. "I got shot a couple days ago, you're fine." She ripped the hem of Natalia's top, using it to tie around her arm to apply pressure. "Can you use your other arm?"

"Sully."

"What?" Michonne asked, picking up the gun that was beside her, aiming it from around the bus and firing it towards the enemies.

The shots continued for a bit more, Natalia couldn't really grasp anything.

"Sully. Where is he?!" Natalia raised her voice.

Most of the gunfire had stopped, except one, who didn't even seem to be aimed at anything as it was continuously shot into the sky.

Maggie came running out of the prison, shouting for Beth, than the gunfire started again.

"I need to get to Sully, what if he was shot?" Natalia was beginning to talk fast and hysterically.

"Hey, hey, look at me, he's over there, I can see him, he's fine, they haven't aimed anywhere near him, okay. He's alright, the bigger issue right now is you, we need to get you inside."

The sound of a roaring engine was getting louder as it seemed to be getting nearer to the prison.

A red and white ran was speeding along the road, and it didn't look like it was going to be slowing down anytime soon, that was until it smashed through the rolling fences and into the field.

It stayed in one spot, its engine still roaring on the grass as everyone waited to see what happened.

The large metal barrier that was attached to the van, acting as a door at the back, fell down, out coming walkers, stumbling onto the grass.

Over a dozen walked out, as someone dressed in riot gear jumped out the van, shooting ahead of him as he made his way to the gates. He shot at Michonne and Natalia as he passed them, making the two woman fall to the floor and roll to not get caught by the bullets.

The gunfire continued, but Natalia didn't care, her eyes were on her dog as he paced around the field, barking and snarling at the walkers as they got closer to him,

She took out her gun from her waistband with her good arm, even though it hurt the other to even move but she ignored it as she aimed fire at the walkers surrounding her dog.

Another car drove into the field, heading straight for Hershel, she ignored it when she had realised it was Glenn.

Michonne and Glenn helped the older man in the car.

Natalia was getting closer to her dog, but more walkers were coming in between her and him.

She fired until her gun clicked, shoving it back into her waistband, pulling out a knife and plunged it into the closest walker to her.

"Nat!" She heard her name being shouted but she ignored it, fighting more walkers off. "Nat!"

She could hear Sully whine and whimper as she got closer.

One walker went to leap on the dog when an arrow came souring through the air and into it's skull, creating a gap for the dog to run through.

"Nat, come on!" The voice of Rick shouted.

"I can't!" She cried out, fighting a walker off before eventually managing to drop her knife into its head, almost falling down with it.

"All this for a stupid dog?" Merle shouted as he used his metal arm to whack a walker down, Rick, Daryl and Merle had reached the field, helping fight off the walkers as more got drawn in by the gunfire and broken fence.

She continued to run, reaching Sully as he ran to her.

"Come on, lets go!" Daryl had got to them, grabbing her bad arm as she cried out in pain, that's when he realised she was bleeding his hand retracting from her, now crimson.

"She's been shot!" He called out to Rick.

"Get her back up there, now!"

"Here, come on." He told the woman, moving his hand to hold Natalia by her side as he guided her up, hitting down a walker with his crossbow.

"He's the only family I have left. He's all I have left." Natalia sobbed, holding Sully by the collar tightly as they ran, losing her ability to defend herself.

"It's alright, I got you both." The man grunted.

Rick and Merle attacked the walkers that got near enough, until they reached the gate, Carl pulling it open for the small group to fit through, shutting out the walkers in the field.

"Get her inside, now!" Hershel ordered, using his crutches to get back to C block.

Daryl continued to help her, blood was seeping onto him from her injured wound, but he didn't seem all too bothered.

He led her to their make shift infirmary, setting her on the bed as Carol and Hershel were right behind.

"I need to see the wound, check it hasn't hit an artery or severed any tendons, she could need surgery depending on it, and I haven't got all the capabilities for that."

Daryl stood back and against the wall, Sully was trying desperately to squeeze between the people to get to his owner.

"Daryl, why don't you get him some water, check him over." Carol told him.

He nodded, leading the dog away from the cell as Hershel undid the makeshift bandage that Michonne had tied to her arm.

He had done what he was told, pouring water into the bowl Natalia had been using as a water bowl, Sully graciously drank it up as Daryl examined him for bites or bullet holes.

Rick had locked Merle out of the cells as everyone stood around inside them.

Michonne was pacing back and forth, a stony expression on her face as she marched.

Daryl was confident that Sully was fine as he moved to sit down, leaning his back against the wall and catching his breath, the dog used him for comfort as the man fed into it, stroking and scratching the dogs fur.

Soon enough, Hershel and Carol left the cell, Carol grabbed a bottle of water before returning.

Everyone perked up at the older mans appearance, facing him and waiting on the news.

"Natalia seems to be very, very lucky, the bullet had managed to go straight through muscle and out the other side, if it was even a millimetre inwards, it could of shattered the bone." Hershel said. "She's got some muscle damage, which isn't too much of a problem, if she gets enough rest and lets it heal, though it will be sore and straining. The bleeding has stopped and I managed to stitch her back together again. She's a little disorientated which is completely normal right now. Carols giving her some painkillers with strict instructions to sleep. Michonne, it was fortunate that you were with her, and managed to apply pressure, if you weren't there, her situation could perhaps be a lot more severe."

"But she's going to be okay, right?" Rick asked.

"Yes, Natalia will make a full recovery, if you let her."

"She's tough." Glenn said.

"Damn straight." Daryl muttered as he looked at the floor.

It was the next day, Natalia was still in the infirmary cell as the group debated about what to do about the Governors little gift.

"We're not leaving." Rick said with an authoritive tone.

"We can't stay here." Hershel wiped his hands on a cloth.

"What if there's another sniper?" Maggie asked. "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds.”

"We can't even go outside." Beth added.

"Not In the daylight." Carol said, stepping out of the cell, after checking on Natalia.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn told the group.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle commented.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, we should have slid out here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl said.

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." Merle told the group.

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie said, sounding agitated as she fiddled with the bandana around her arm.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl disagreed.

"This is all you. You started this." Maggie cussed out Merle.

"What difference whose fault it is? What do we do?" Beth asked.

"I said we should leave." Hershel backed up his own idea. "Now Axels dead and Nat's been shot. We can't just sit here."

Rick turned and walked away from him, causing the old man to stand up from the stairs.

"Get back here!" He yelled, following Rick. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

Natalia had been up for only a little bit, when everyone had started an argument over Merle's stay in the prison, her arm, that was bandaged and in a sling, killed, but she was so kindly given painkillers and water, just below her, which was also a relief considering the constant fighting and Judith's cries throughout the night, she had an even worse headache.

Natalia hated being in the bed at a time like this, it brought her back to the days when she was too weak to look out for herself, left to only being an observer. She wanted to be in on the backwards and forth of what to do, instead of hiding away and catching glimpses of it. But most of all, she wanted revenge, and to fight.

Getting shot was one thing, but her dog's life being almost at risk? If she struggled to sleep even under both Carol and Hershel's strict orders, she could imagine all the long, painful and slow ways that the Governor could meet his fatal demises from.

Not only had he kidnapped, beat, and done unthinkable things to her friends, he had broken into their home, brought down their barriers, shot Axel dead, cut them off from the outside world, shot her and had her dog almost tared to pieces, for what? Because they went on a rescue mission to save their friends from the unknown person who kidnapped them? It made no sense to her, her only conclusion was that he was a crazy, delusional, psychotic, mentally challenged son of a bitch.

She had a pillow over her face, blocking all noise out and living in her fantasy's.

That was until Carl came running in to the cells, alerting that something was going on outside.

Natalia jumped from the bed, luckily the painkillers had dulled the pain in her arm, and she reached for her gun, that had been reloaded for her and left at the end of the bed, with her knifes in the sheaths around her belt.

She walked out the cell as Daryl ran past, his crossbow in hand.

"Get back into bed." He told her as he carried on.

She ignored him, following everyone else.

A blonde woman, the same blonde woman from Woodbury was walking towards the courtyard, she was holding a butchered walker on a metal grabber thing.

"What the fuck?" She hissed.

Merle made sure it was clear as they advanced closer.

"Are you alone?" Rick asked the woman.

"Open the gate!" She called back.

"Are you alone?" Rick repeated.

"Rick!"

Natalia saw how Michonne had lowered her gun.

Rick tossed Daryl the keys, who unlocked the gate.

"Open it." Rick said.

The woman threw her walker away, entering the courtyard.

"Hands up!" Rick told her, which she seemed surprised by. "Hands up! Turn around, now!" He pushed her into the fence, frisking her as an walker walked towards it, making the woman scream and Rick pulled her away, pushing her to her knees as he continued to check for weapons.

Everyone had turned their weapons away from her and into the field, except for Natalia, who had her gun aimed at the woman.

"I asked if you were alone." Rick said.

"I am." He took her bag off of her, throwing it away.

"Nat, put it down." He told her, picking up the woman's weapons.

"No."

"Nat." Michonne stepped forward, lowering the gun.

"Ain't this the chick sleeping with our sworn cyclops?" Natalia asked, feeling like the only sane person here.

"Who is she?" The woman asked.

"Natalia, take it you're Andrea." She still wasn't pleased about having her here.

Rick grabbed Andrea by the arm, pulling her up as everyone headed back into the cell block.

"I told you to stay in bed." Daryl came up, beside Natalia.

"Nice to see you, too."

"Yeah, couldn't really greet you yesterday, was too busy saving ya life, yer welcome, by the way."

"I didn't ask you to. Why the hell are we letting Blondie in here"

"Used to be part of the group, long before you, play nice." He warned.

She scoffed heading into the building, Andrea was already hugging Carol.

Daryl and Natalia moved to sit on the table, her gun was still in her hand.

"After you saved me, we thought you were dead" Carol told her.

"Hershel, my god." Andrea pulled away from Carol to look at the old man. "I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" She asked, looking around the place.

Natalia didn't know who that was, and frankly she didn't care, she heard snippets of this person before, and sounded like someone she had encountered before.

"And Lori?" Andrea carried on.

"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel replied when Rick had just looked down.

"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie added.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "Carl. Rick I-" Rick sniffed, taking a step back, Carls facial expression hadn't changed. "You all live here?"

"Here and the cell block" Glenn answered.

"There?" She pointed. "Well, can I go in?" She headed for it.

Natalia raised her gun again, Daryl went to move and Rick stepped in front of her.

"I won't allow that."

"I'm not an enemy, Rick."

"Your boyfriend sure is." Natalia sneered.

"We had that field and courtyard, until your boyfriend tore down the fence" He copied Natalia's insult. "With a truck and shot us up. Shot Nat, here." He pointed at the brunette, her gun still raised, with a stoic expression.

"He said you fired first."

"Well. he's lying." Rick told her.

"He killed an inmate who survived here." Hershel said.

"We liked him." Daryl commented. "He was one of us."

"I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."

"That was days ago." Glenn set her straight.

"I told you, I came as soon as I could."

Michonne walked closer, leaning against a metal cage, a "I told you so" look on her face.

Andrea turned around, looking at her accusingly.

"What have you told them?"

"Nothing." Michonne answered.

Natalia didn't like how this woman just strolled up into her home, after what her boyfriend done the day before and accused Michonne of causing the unsettlement towards her.

Natalia was growing very fond of Michonne.

"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne, and he would have killed us"

"With his finger on the trigger!" She pointed at Merle. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?”

"Funny how he's the one here with us and you come running over from the guy who caused all this, expecting us to throw a pity party." Natalia scoffed. "Merle was following orders, from the same guy you're still getting cosy with, he ain't anymore."

She still hated Merle, but she had a lesser liking for this woman.

The woman sighed, clearly aggravated.

"Look... I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him." Rick said. "I don't know how. Or when, but we will."

"We can settle this. There is room for Woodbury for all of you."

"You know better than that." Merle chuckled.

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel asked. "Did he say that?"

"No."

"Then why did you come here?" Rick asked her.

"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

"I'll tell you what" Daryl started from beside Natalia. "Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye."

"We've taken too much shit for too long." Glenn said. "He wants a war? He's got one."

"Rick?" Andrea tried. "If you don't sit down, and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much, already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make this right, get us inside." Rick told her.

"No."

"Then we got nothing to talk about."

"There are innocent people."

Rick walked away ignoring her.

"Let's take a look at those stitches and change the bandage" Hershel said to Natalia, heading towards the cells.

"Oh, goody, make sure you tell Philip I said thanks." Natalia got up from the table, fake smiling at the woman. "Cause he's such a great guy and all, I'm sure he'd love to know."

"Enough." Hershel told her.

Natalia scoffed, walking away from the group.

"Seriously, who is she? Was she in here?" Natalia could hear Andrea mutter behind her.

"Nat saved our lives, we'd probably all be dead without her." Glenn said.

"Gave us food and shelter when we were running out of places to go." Maggie added. "Just her and her dog, the dog, your boyfriend tried to kill."

Daryl subconsciously ran his hand over the piece of card in his front pocket, he hadn't taken it out since he grabbed it, but he hadn't found a chance to give it to her yet, either.

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