Penance (Book One): Daryl Dixon x Sage Wilson

~

It's been a week.

Everyday has gone by in a blur, and it was all the same. No excitement, no play. I've barely seen Andrea and whenever I did she barked at me to do my job as if she ruled the ass end here.

All I ever did was work, sleep, eat, repeat. It was like the 9-5 job but without the pay. The pay, instead, was a small, dark, and damp room with a semi-comfortable bed.

I toss my shovel aside, and lean against the metal sheet wall with a thud. I kick the pile of dirt on the ground as I blow hair out of my face. I hoped everyone was okay. I wonder if Daryl wondered where I was. More importantly, I wondered how I could possibly contact them and inform them of where we were. It looked to be slightly outside of town by the farm, but not too far off to the north. I knew the Governor and Merle has access to walkie talkies- even Milton did, but he would be hard to convince. It was about sneaking around at this point. But I needed a well developed plan.

"Hey, sunshine!" I raspy voice calls out to me. I look up through my curtain of dirty and sweaty hair, seeing a familiar balding head and a hook for a hand. Aside him was a Mexican guy, holding a machine gun.

"How may I assist you, Captain Hook?" I smirk as Merle approaches me with a smirk himself. His head tilts as I see his jaw move in a grinding motion.

"You're not supposed to stop unless it's an emergency. We need these tunnels built just in case for emergency." He looks down at the eight foot hole I've dug, shaking his head and laughing.

I feel a knot start to form in my throat as Merle looks at me with intimidation. I close my eyes, waiting for the burn. It had arrived at my face seconds later, my head violently whipping to the left. I put a hand to my face, knowing the metal hand he slapped me with was definitely, without a doubt, going to bruise pretty good.

I open my eyes, refraining from telling him I now knew why his brother stopped looking for him.

"Report to the Governor, now. You're needed. When you're done, you are to report here and return to your duties." He barks at me. I look over to the Mexican who nods, laughing at the mark that felt imprinted on my face.

I snarl at him as I kick the shovel, walking towards the town hall. My cheek was pulsating it was burning that much, I felt as if maybe some sort of bone was fractured in my face.

I open the heavy doors to the building, entering inside and going up the stairs to the Governor's lair. I knock on the door, twisting the handle and revealing Andrea sitting on his desk and his back up against the window.

It didn't surprise me; seeing her here. I've seen her with him often- often enough to either think maybe she caught feelings for this psycho or it was all apart of a bigger plan she hasn't had time to inform me of. If being a bitch paired with it, then I wasn't sure what to think. Maybe she was playing a good game.

"Well, well. Nice to see you, Everie." He turns at me and walks towards me, his hand lifting. As he gains closer, a set of fingers run down my cheek. I cringe at the touch, not wanting any of his DNA on me.

"I see they got you pretty good there, starting to swell. I'll inform Milton of your injuries."

"I'm not a fucking pussy, I'll heal on my own." I snap.

He laughs, turning to Andrea then back to me. "You know your friend here, she knows how to follow orders. How to be obedient. You?" He puts a finger under my chin, his lips drawing to my neck. "Not so much. You're like the mut we found in a box on the street." His finger tightly grips my collar bone, and I lift my head up and away from him.

"Let her go, please.." Andrea softly says. Her tone was pleading.

His grip releases from my skin, feeling relief.

"You're lucky we aren't alone," he whispers into my ear. I swallow heavily, closing my eyes. I shake my head disapprovingly at Andrea as I back up against the wall, finding the door and immediately leaving without warning.

——

Later that night, I found myself making a dumb decision. I needed to get out of here before something horrible happened to me- desperate, evil men lurked these streets and it wasn't the life for me. I escaped that life from Mickey so why should I accept to go back into it without putting up a proper fight?

I slowly open the door to town hall, trying to resist the creaking sounds of the floor boards. I slowly make my way up the carpeted stairs, crouching to resist putting a ton of weight on the ancient steps.

I make my way to the top and see the door cracked open, and no shadows or silhouettes to expose a body in the room. I knew the governor slept in his corridor down the hall, but I also knew he may- or may not- have a guard inside of his office. But from the looks of it, he only bothered to post them outside on the streets- little did he know all they did was smoke and drink.

I run lightly over to the door, opening it and lightly closing it behind me. I feel my heart pound to the walls of my chest, my throat tightening. I walk over to the window, looking down and seeing guards standing with their guns at their side.

I look down at the desk, seeing a walkie talkie - probably with a long radius- staring right at me. I pick it up, clicking the side button and hearing the static. I change the channel and radius of the distance, making sure my audio message wouldn't reach the vicinity of the area where his men were so they couldn't tap on.

"This is Everie. Everie to Rick Grimes, over." I let go of the button, hearing more static. I click it again, and whisper a little louder. "Daryl Dixon?" I wait a few more moments, adjusting the channel.

"Everie?" A male voice questions over the intercom. I feel a huge sense of relief as I hear the familiar voice of Rick.

"Yes, it's me. I'm in a town- they're not good people. Woodbury. About the fifty miles north of the highway. I can't remember exactly how far, they show me- was out cold. Andrea is here too."

"We will start marking the map. Any sites near you?" Rick responds. I hear a male in the background start to yell, asking to speak to me. I knew it was Daryl.

"A small town about ten miles east, called Clintwood. I heard the guards talking about it- it's their supply drop." I look around, seeing I was still in the clear.

"Are you okay?!" I hear a different voice sound over the walkie, knowing immediately it was Daryl.

"I'm fine. For now. Just hurry your asses up, they consider me a flight risk." I wanted to tell him his brother was here and was an asshole, but as soon as my finger touched the side button, I heard a loud thud.

"Everie?" The voice calls out. "Everie!" I reach over and switch off the monitor, hiding in the closet in the corner of the room. I put my hand on my chest as I try to control my labored breathing. The thuds sounded like people wrestling.

The thuds start to approach me, and I look out of the slits to see a tall dark woman in a hood holding the Governor by his throat. She carried a long sword, and had a mysterious demeanor to her.

"You'll pay for this," she hisses at him.

I squint as I see the Governor reach behind him for his emergency contact. I had to do something. If I could put them killing me off for a bit, I could get by. The group will be on its way soon if they aren't already.

I burst out of the closet, kicking the Governor's hand away, nodding at the woman who looks at me with disbelief.

"I thought I told you to behave," the Governor says to me with a snarl.

I take my hand and reel it back, punching him in the face. Within seconds, I heard men shouting and approaching up the stairs. Shit.

I look to the woman, and she bows her head. "Just follow through. I have a plan." She nods at me and I nod back, trying to put my trust in a total stranger.

Within moments, three men burst through the door and kick the woman and I to the ground as hard as they could. I feels rib crack on my right side, but at this point all I could do was accept pain and go along with whatever method they wanted to pursue.

"Stop!" A woman's voice yells. I look up at the woman seeing a woman with blonde hair.

"Andrea?" The mysterious woman and I both say. We exchange glances, and within moments all I saw was black and all I felt was pain. How did Andrea even know this woman? I've never seen her in my life.