When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 94 - Up Up Up

Louise stared at the blade in Gabriel's hand. She knew the priest would never be so stupid as to use the weapon but she couldn't help the nagging feeling in her gut that if he didn't drop it soon, somebody was going to die. It didn't take a genius to realize he hadn't thought his plan through. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, wavering slightly as she carefully stood up.

"Away from Tamiel, now" Ann instructed, almost smirking at the clearly unorganized man. His hands shook as he moved away, eyes locked on to the strange woman. Once the knife was thrown onto the ground at her feet, she nodded. "Your words now"

"If you join us and we beat them together, you can have much of what's theirs. Fighting with us, you'll be rewarded more than you can imagine"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Want something now"

"Rick can do anything. This group? They found me here, so far from our home. What do you need? Just tell us, we'll get it for you. We'll show you what we can do"

The leader looked at the small man, intrigued by his words. A smirk formed on her face and her eyes drifted to Tamiel, who stood beside the priest. "Tamiel, Brion...show Rick, up up up"

Louise's eyes snapped towards her friend. She took a threatening step forwards, suddenly away that if he followed them, he might not come back and a breath caught in her throat. "Rick-"

"It's okay" he said genuinely, holding out his hand to stop her from moving. He offered her a small smile before following them through a small passage in the piles of rubbish and disappearing from sight. Louise huffed under her breath and moved towards Aaron, who sat nursing the wound on his face.

"Eric's gonna kill you" she sighed, taking the rag out of his hands and pressing it against the blood.

Aaron grumbled. "Oh god..."

"You feeling okay?" She asked, to which he nodded and then grabbed his head, slightly woozy. "Liar"

"Where are they taking him?" Michonne asked a random woman, who simply gestured towards the top of a huge pile, where Rick stood with Tamiel and Brion. Even from the small distance away, she could see the smile form on his lips. The two locked eyes and he nodded slowly but before he could open his mouth to speak, the ground below him gave way and his body dropped from view.

A breath caught in her throat. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and Louise took off at a run in his direction, only to be dragged backwards by an arm around her waist. She could hear her friend struggling behind the barricades. Rick yelled out continuously, following by the clanging of metal on metal.

"Let me go" Lou snapped, clawing at the hands on her stomach. The stranger didn't let go. She looked up at him, eyes dark but before she hand chance to throw her head back against his nose, Aaron took hold of her and pulled her from his grasp.

"You have to calm down" he said softly. "Rick'll be fine. You have to trust him"

She pushed him away from her, breathing heavily. The group stood for what felt like hours, awaiting his return and Lou had raked her hands through her hair that much that her scalp was burning. It wasn't until the sheriff made his way back out with a smile on his face that any of them knew he'd made some sort of deal. A large gash was visible on his right leg and his left hand had a hole all the way through it - Lou was half convinced that if it want bleeding, she could've used it as a makeshift telescope.

"You good?" She asked, as he limped towards her and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.

"Yeah" he sighed, holding his bleeding hand up so that he didn't stain her already-dirty clothes. "Worried?"

Lou patted him on the chest before helping him hobble into the passenger seat of the car. "Watch your head

"I'm fine"

She pursed her lips, nodded and held her hands up. "Alright"

The key turned in the ignition just as Michonne and Aaron clambered into the back seat and the concerned girlfriend leaned forwards slightly. "What were their terms?"

"Guns" Rick said simply as Lou slammed her foot on the accelerator and pulled out of the dump. "And lots of them"

"But they'll help us?" Lou asked, looking over at her friend briefly before returning her gaze to the road

"Yeah" he exhaled heavily and rested his head against the seat.

"Okay then...guns it is"