11 ~ Return

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If today was not a crooked highway

If tonight was not a crooked trail

If tomorrow wasn't such a long time

Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all
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The group follows after Daryl who heads back up to the main camp. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

Shane catches up to him. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Daryl questions irritated.

"About Merle. There was a..." Shane pauses trying to think of an explanation.

Rosanna cuts in. "There was a problem in Atlanta."

He looks at her. "He dead?"

Shane answers. "We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!"

Rick takes the opportunity to speak. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Who are you?" Daryl questions.

"Rick grimes."

Daryl scoffs. "Rick grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on. Let me process this." He says waving his arm around. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!"

"Yeah." Rick says calmly.

Rosanna watches as Daryl tosses the squirrels in the air trying to distract Rick as he goes for a swing. Rick could see it coming a mile away and shoves the other man before he could get punched.

Daryl pulls out his knife and moves toward Rick.

"Watch the knife!" T-Dog shouts.

Shane comes up behind Daryl and puts him in a chokehold, taking him down to the ground.

Daryl resists and shouts. "You'd best let me go!"

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane replies.

By now the rest of the camp is surrounding the three arguing men.

"Chokehold's illegal!" Daryl says, trying to pry Shane's hands off his neck.

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

Rick bends down to come face to face with Daryl. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?"

He nods and Shane lets him go.

Rick goes on. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

T-Dog chimes in. "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it."

Daryl rolls his eyes and stands up. "You couldn't pick it up?"

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." Daryl says waving his hand dismissively.

T-Dog shifts his weight to the other foot. "Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof... so the geeks couldn't get at him... with a padlock. It's gotta count for something."

Destruction ||| Glenn Rhee (BEING REWRITTEN TO OC)Where stories live. Discover now