digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Vatos Part 1

Winona and Glenn stand on the walkway, watching the scene in front of them unfold. Daryl aims his crossbow at T-Dog, causing Rick to aim his gun at Daryl. "I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it," Rick threatens. The redneck lowers his crossbow, tears filling his eyes, Rick lowers his.
Daryl looks at T-Dog, blinking away the tears, "You got a do-rag or something?" T-Dog pulls out a blue bandanna handing it to Daryl, who snatches it out of his hands. He unfolds it and squats down to his brother's dismembered hand, "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Glenn and Winona step down from the walkway going closer to the man. Daryl picks up the hand and studies it, "Ain't that a bitch." He wraps the bandanna around the hand and waves over to Glenn.
Opening the backpack, Daryl puts the severed hand in the bag. Glenn, disgusted, asks, "Why couldn't it have gone in Winona's bag? She's the nurse."
"You don't have a ton of junk in your bag, like she does."
"Hey! It's not 'junk' it's important supplies," she says crossing her arms.
The redneck huffs a laugh, "Yeah sure, anyways, he must of used a tourniquet— maybe his belt."
"I agree. If he didn't, there would be a lot more blood than what we see," Winona says, crouching down to look at the blood. Daryl begins to follow the path of blood and T-Dog picks up Dale's tool bag, that they dropped before.
The path leads to another door, which is open. Daryl goes in, then Rick, then Winona, then Glenn, and finally T-Dog. The lone Dixon scans around the building, "Merle? You in here?" he calls out. The group follows him down the stairs.
Throughout the building, Winona sees it's some sort of an office or lab. They check each of the rooms for any sign of the older Dixon, but no luck.
Walking further into the building, they come across the bodies of two walkers. Winona starts to speak, "Damn, he had enough in him to take out these two... one handed at that."
Daryl chuckles at this, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother," he says, loading his crossbow, "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."
Winona steps forward, "Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." The conversation ends and they continue the search.
The group walks through another door, Daryl calling out for his brother again. "We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick stresses to the man.
"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. Just like Winona said." T-Dog shushes. They look over to see a stove with blood and and Merle's belt. There are four of the canned fires lit and a metal plate with something burnt to it. Rick picks it up and Winona goes over to inspect it.
"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn questions.
"Skin," Rick and Winona answer at the same time. She continues, "He cauterized the stump." Glenn looks as if he's about to barf.
"Told you he was tough," Daryl recalls, "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."
"Don't take that on faith. Remember what Winona said about blood loss? He's lost a lot of blood."
"Yeah?" Daryl asks, as he walks over to point out a broken window. "Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."
"He left the building?" Glenn asks, incredulously.
"Why the hell would he do that?" Winona voices Glenn's other question.
"Why wouldn't he," Daryl responds. "He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving."
"You call that surviving?" T-Dog asks, aghast. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"
"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks," Daryl defends. He walks to Rick, "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."
"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards? Different story?" Rick responds.
"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him."
He starts to walk towards the window but Rick pushes him back, "Daryl, wait."
"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me."
"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine, just ask Winona. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head," Rick offers.
"I could do that."
"Only if we get those guns first," T-Dog comments. "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" Winona nods agreeing with him.
——
Sitting down in a different room, Glenn begins to theorize a plan, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." He moves a clip on a drawn out map on the floor, "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He moves a crumpled sticky-note beside the clip, "That's the bag of guns." Pointing to a gap between the drawn buildings, "Here's the alley I dragged you and Winona into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Winona, and I will go."
"Why us?" Daryl asks.
"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun," He answers pointing to Rick. "And Winona's axe will be good in case of a close call." Daryl gives a smile. Glenn places tabs in the alley, "While they wait here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag."
"You got us elsewhere?" Rick questions.
"You and T-Dog, right." He places an eraser a couple alleys away, "You'll be in this alley here."
"Two blocks away? Why?"
"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl and Winona. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here," he says ending this plan.
Daryl speaks up, "Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?"
"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Rick and Daryl just nod their heads and Winona chuckles.
She turns to T-Dog, "Hey T, you'll need this more than me." Reaching into the back of her waistband, she pulls out her gun.
Rick holds out his arm, stopping her, "Winona, no. You don't know if you will need it."
"Grimes, I'll be fine. I've got Daryl and my axe— all T-Dog has are bolt cutters." Rick reluctantly lowers his hand that blocked her from T-Dog, she gives it to T-Dog.
"Thanks Wi. I'll give it back when we get the guns."
She nods and turns to Glenn, "And you..." She glares, making the boy nervous, "You're my best friend so you better not die out there." She pulls him into a tight hug, "Promise me."
"I promise, Doc." Their hug ends and the group starts to prepare for the plan.
——
Back on the roof that Glenn first took Winona and Rick to, she nudges Rick, "Hey look at that, Cowboy. It's where Glenn first saved your ass."
Rick chuckles, "Shall I remind you, he saved your ass too. It's good to see you as your normal self again. I heard you had an argument with Shane, are you two okay?"
"Meh...not really. I guess I've realized we are two very different people and I don't think we're gonna work out anymore, especially now, at the end of the world. I'm guessing Glenn told you?"
"Ah I'm sorry to hear that Winona," Rick says sympathizing, he pulls her in for a tight hug. "You can always talk to me. I had asked Glenn back in the van when you seemed down, he only said you and Shane got in a fight, he was very adamant with saying that was all he knew."
"Well he wasn't wrong, that's all he knew. Thanks Rick, I really appreciate that. Now let's go get that bag of guns. I'll see you soon, Sheriff." She salutes him and starts to climb down, Glenn and Daryl already going down. T-Dog and Rick head to the other alley.
Making it down the ladder, Glenn leads the two towards the gate, hiding behind a dumpster when a walker walks past on the street. Daryl loads his crossbow, "You got some balls for a Chinaman."
"I'm Korean," Glenn corrects while taking his short-sleeved flannel off. He throws it behind him and starts to go to the gate, Winona grabs the shirt and shoves it into her bag, rolling her eyes at his heroic stunt, She stands at the wall near the gate with her axe. Glenn runs out, occasionally hiding behind cars.
——
While they're waiting, footsteps are heard in the alley. Daryl aims, expecting a walker, but instead there's a teenaged boy. Winona turns around and the boy starts to plead, "Woah, don't shoot me! What do you want?" She cringes, the boy was talking loud and could draw attention.
"I'm looking for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl questions with his crossbow still in the boy's face.
The boy starts to shout, "AYUDAME!" Winona turns her attention back at the streets to make sure no walkers are coming.
"Shut up! You're gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me." No answer. "Answer me," Daryl persists.
"AYUDAME!" The boy shouts again. "AYUDAME!" Yet again. "AYUDAME!" And again, however after this shout, Daryl hits the kid with his bow.
"Shut up. Shut up." He places his hand over the boy's mouth to muffle his yells. Winona still watching for any walkers or Glenn. She hears faster footsteps, like that of running and sees two men rush in from the gate she was at, one pushes her against the wall and the other kicks Daryl off the boy.
Glenn arrives at this time, dawning the bag of guns and Rick's hat. The two strangers start to point, "That's it. That's the bag, Vato." The one holding Winona back as she struggles against him, says. "Take it! Take it!" He demands the one who was beating up Daryl. The man knocks down Glenn, and starts beating on him. Daryl shoots him in the ass, which causing him to stop and scream. Winona chuckles at this and the man holding her against the wall hears it, "Oh you think this is funny, huh?"
She hears a car approach and Glenn start to yell, "Get off me! Get off me!" The man knocks her out, slinging her over his shoulder. "Daryl! Daryl!" The redneck isn't able to get to them in time and the strangers kidnap Winona and Glenn, driving away just as fast as they arrived.
"Come back here, you sumbitches!" Daryl shouts, drawing the attention of the nearby walkers. He pulls the gate shut, Rick and T-Dog running to the alley.
Daryl pushes the boy and Rick steps in, "Woah woah woah. Stop it."
"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" He threatens the boy as Rick holds him back.
"Let me go!" The teen tells T-Dog, who in turn tells him to chill out.
"They took Glenn and Winona. That little bastard and his little homie friends," Daryl explains, turning back to the boy, he threatens, "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"
T-Dog realizes the situation, "Guys! Guys! We're cut off!"
"Get to the lab. Go," Rick orders.
He grabs the bag of guns, and Daryl becomes impatient, "Come on. Damn, let's go." Rick notices his hat and grabs it, too. They start to run back to the lab.
They arrive and set the boy down, Daryl still fuming. Rick starts to interrogate, "Those men you were with, we need to know where they went."
"I ain't telling you nothing," the boy declares.
"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asks Daryl.
"I told you, this little turd and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me."
"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault," the boy objects.
"They took Glenn and Winona. Could have taken Merle too."
"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle." The boy laughs.
Daryl, pissed off, tries to kick him, Rick pushes him back, "Damn it, Daryl. Back off."
Daryl starts to go through Glenn's bag, pulling out Merle's hand, "Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" He unwraps the severed hand and tosses it into the boys lap, causing him to freak out. Daryl goes over to him, "Let's start with the feet this time."
Rick pulls him off, "The men you were with took our friends. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out." The boy nods.
——
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