ORDER (sequel to Trouble) [TWD]

glimmer of the past

"Now," Daryl hurries, shoving Sakiko's bag into her arms, "Get the hell out."

"Come with us!" she hisses, grabbing his wrist.

Daryl looks to where the men were beginning to surround a truck before ducking back down and shaking his head to Sakiko.

"Nah. I don't know how this will go down. Y'all gotta go."

As he lightly pushes her away again, she grips his sleeve, stepping in front of him and meeting his eyes.

"Dad," Sakiko calls, making Daryl pause.

There's a brief moment of pure silence as Daryl tries to understand the single word that left his girl's mouth. 

Dad.

Sure they'd gone with the story that he was the twins' stepdad since the beginning, but to hear it so plainly from her, so unwarranted. The woods were spinning.

"I'm not leaving you behind," Sakiko says once more, "Please."

For a second, Daryl saw the stubbornness of the little girl he'd almost hit with a door.

For a second, he saw the little girl that he'd trained.

All at once, he saw Sakiko for everything she truly was.

"Okay," he nods.

Sakiko breathes out in relief, wrapping her bag strap around her shoulder.

"Oh shit," Ryan whispers.

"What?" Sakiko asks and Daryl turns from where he was about to lead them.

"It's Rick," Ryan points through the trees.

"Rick?" Daryl repeats, stomping closer.

Sakiko follows, peering through the limbs to see that Joe was holding his gun to Rick's head.

"Son of a bitch," Daryl curses, breaking from the treeline and hurrying to the road, "Keep watch."

Sakiko pulls two of her knives out, readying them for whatever came next. She places one knee to the ground, eyes watching the men as one moves aside- Michonne and Hershel now in view.

At once, Ryan is pulling his gun out, settling his aim on the man that held a weapon to Hershel.

Sakiko watches Daryl's hands- awaiting a cue of any kind.

The sound of another gun loading makes Sakiko's blood run cold until she feels the barrel resting on the back of her neck.

"Don't move," the man warns, "Drop your weapons."

Another gun is loaded, this one set on Ryan. Defeated, the couple drop their weapons to the ground and hold their hands up in surrender. Two rough shoves knock the two out from the woods and into the middle of the road.

"Hey!" Daryl shouts, stepping forward only for a gun to be rested on his head.

"Y'all was leaving?" Joe asks, nodding between Sakiko and Ryan, "Just using us to get by?"

Sakiko grimaces as the open wound on her knee that was caused by the gravel bleeds and she places her hand over the tear in her jeans to try and stop it.

"Now, Daryl says you are good people," Joe tells Rick, You know what that is? It's a lie."

Before anyone could react, there's a punch thrown against Daryl. Sakiko gasps, lurching to her feet only to be tackled back down by another man that straddles her.

"Piece of shit!" she screams, wriggling in his grasp.

"Sakiko!" Daryl shouts between getting jumped.

Sakiko continues fighting from under the man until she hears something about 'having' her and Michonne. As if it were a cue, the man's hand trails to her belt buckle. Pure panic sweeps through her as he gets it unfastened.

"No.. No..!" she cries out, kicking her feet though he didn't budge.

He grabs her hair for a split second only to bash her head against the road- the world spinning a bit after that. She could feel his fingers now at the button of her jeans and begins to panic again.

That fear is only amplified when she hears a gunshot ring through the air.

Sakiko's throat restricts, feeling like someone was choking her from the inside.

'Atta girl,' Merle nods, 'Stay with Uncle Merle, yeah?'

Sakiko gasps out at the flash of memory in her mind, almost able to feel Merle beside her again.

The man's hands grope her a few more times until she hears more gunshots ringing out. 

Merle with the gaping hole in his chest- the bullet he'd taken for Sakiko. The bullet that showed his sacrifice for her.

Not thinking clearly, she breathes in big before spitting a wad of saliva into the man's eyes. He curses, placing one hand over her mouth and the other on her jeans. 

The feeling of the Governor's blood running down her arm as she'd stabbed him. The gunshot to her back.

Biting down on his hand, Sakiko tears into the flesh until he pulls away. Once he's let go, she draws her knee up and kicks him backward.

Writhing in pain on the ground, waking up to Merle turned and lingering over her- the Governor beginning to move again, too.

She scurries away on her elbows, searching for a weapon. As the man gets to his knees and begins after her, Sakiko becomes distressed.

Then, an arrow fires into the man's chest from behind.

Sobbing all alone as she kicked Merle's walker self away, slamming the door shut and collapsing.

He falls with a thud just a few inches away from Sakiko and she chokes out a breath before falling back onto the road with a hand over her chest.

Daryl drops his crossbow, doing a limp run toward her before dropping to his knees beside her.

"Kiko.. Kiko, you all right?" he asks, pulling her head onto his lap.

She shakily gasps in and out, trying those breaths that Glenn and Hershel had taught her years ago. But, in her mind, all she could see was Merle snapping his teeth at her as the infection had spread into him. How he sacrificed himself for her and nearly killed her as he turned.

Daryl coaxes her softly, placing a hand on her's to soothe her. There, he only sees her undone belt and feels a lump form in his throat. 

That man.. What he was trying.. Daryl was seeing red. Pure, blood, bitter- Red.

"You're okay," he forces his voice to say, "You're okay now, Kiko."

Between the gunfire, the man, and the memories- Sakiko was questioning the truth behind Daryl's words.

With a scared whimper, Sakiko curls further into Daryl's arms. She just wanted to forget any of it happened. All of it if that were possible.