𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝗼𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧

𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

narrative

"here, here." rick leads them behind a car just outside the walls. maggie sets glenn down, him gasping for air.

"come on daryl." rick mutters. a rustling from behind them makes aurora pull out her gun. a beaten and bloody michonne appears, leaning against the wall for support.

"where the hell were you." rick stands up, cocking his gun and pointing it at her. "put your hands up." she does as she's told.

"turn around. turn around." he orders her. once again, doing as she's told. rick slips the katana out of its sheath. she leans against the wall, panting.

"get what you came for?"

"where are the rest of your people?"

"they got oscar." glenn points the gun he was given at her.

"daryl is missing. you didn't see him." aurora asked her.

"if anything happens to him—"

"i brought you here to save them. not him."

"thank you." aurora smiles to her.

"you'll need help getting back to the prison, or to go back in there for daryl. either way, you need me.

"c'mon." rick motions for everyone to follow him.

"take glenn to the car." he handed michonne her katana back. she nodded, her and glenn walking away.

they get to a little open panel, gave them a clear view of the arena. "what can i say? hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. and i thought we were past it— past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front of the tv. during the early days of the outbreak. the fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. i failed you. i promised to keep you safe, hell look at me. you know, i— i should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but i— i won't, because i can't." he shook his head.

"because i'm afraid. i'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have!" aurora furrowed her brows. they were brought here at gunpoint, and the group just wanted them back. "want to destroy us! and worse... because one of those terrorists... is one of our own. merle..." the crowd started to whisper to each other. merle gave the governor questioning look. some people came up and disarmed him.

"the man i counted on, the man i trusted. he led them here and he let them in!" aurora watched as some man pointed daryls crossbow at the back of merles head. "it was you. you lied, betrayed us all. this is one of the terrorists." daryl was brought out with a bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back. he struggled and thrashed against the hands of those who dragged him.

"merles own brother!" merle and daryl looked at each other in disbelief. "what should we do with them, huh?" the crowd erupted in yells.

"kill them!"

"what!"

"kill them!"

"kill them!"

"you wanted your brother, now you got him." daryl looked around at the crowd, taking in short breaths as tears brimmed his eyes.

"let me go! let me go! philip!" andrea tried to get to daryl, but someone stopped her.

"it's not up to me." the crowd kept shouting 'kill them' "the people have spoken."