Penance (Book One): Daryl Dixon x Sage Wilson

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"Time to wake up, sweetheart!" Something like a stick hits the back of my thighs, causing me to turn around. Merle.

"You have visitors," he puts his hands on his knees, kneeling down and getting eye level with my face. I attempt not to snarl but I found myself unable to. "You really think we're stupid? We know you radioed your little group- why else were you snooping around in a place where you shouldn't be?"

Shit. I bite my lip and look around, seeing people sitting on the bleachers and walkers chained in the corners of what looked like a wrestling ring.

"What the hell is this?!" I jerk the handcuffs around my wrists, feeling the sudden panic setting into my body. "Don't," I warn as I see two handcuffed men beginning a fight. Merle looks at the ring amusingly then back to me.

"We want entertainment," He flashes a smile.

"I have a little sister- she's lost, I need to find her! I can't die!" I struggle against the cuffs but all I feel is metal rubbing my wrists raw.

"You won't die, sweetheart. As long as you can kill your opponent. Then maybe- just maybe, we will let you back into Woodbury's arms."

"I don't want back in! I want out! I'll leave you assholes alone, just please!" I beg, trying to squirm my way out.

"Bring him in," Merle turns towards his Mexican ally, the man nodding and grabbing a man from around the corner.

My eyes widen as soon as I see who is my opponent.

"Daryl!" I scream, and Daryl immediately looks at me with alarm in his eyes. He starts to fight back almost immediately, but Merle restraints him and throws his body down next to me.

"You really think sending my baby brother here and try coax me?" Merle points to his chest and laughs. "This mother fucker is as good as dead to me," I look to Daryl and mouth to him "I'm sorry," but instead all Daryl could do was stare at me almost surprised I was still alive and breathing. His hair was sweaty and matted, and his face was bruised and bloody.

"Nah, it's okay. I stopped looking for you on that rooftop ages ago." Daryl looks to Merle. "If I find out you've laid one fucking hand on this girl I'm going to bury you my fucking self," Daryl grinds.

I look to Merle who looks down, almost as if he was second guessing himself.

"Don't care, it's fighting time you two," the Mexican guy states. Merle walks over and pulls the both of us up, my legs feeling as if they're falling numb and limp from the lack of energy and sleep.

"I'm not killing him." I retort. "Kill me if that makes you happy." I look to Daryl, and sigh. "You just have to promise me to find my sister," I feel my eyes start to burn.

"Nah," Daryl says shaking his head and biting his lip. He looks up at me through his hair, as if his eyes were trying to tell me he had a plan.

The thing is- if Daryl was here, that meant more people were here. Rick, Shane... they had to be plotting something.

"Let's go, ballerinas!" Merle shoves us into the ring, and two men grab us bringing us to opposite sides. I look to Daryl, scared. My chest tightens- I knew I couldn't take a blow from Dixon. Out of all people, it couldn't be me. I look down to Daryl's legs, seeing him give me the number two with his fingers.

2 minutes?

I look at the clock.

8:34 p.m.

Stall for two minutes, Rick has something planned. I'm putting my faith in you Grimes. I close my eyes, and within seconds I hear the dinner bell. I look around at the walkers, snapping in every corner and waiting for their next full course meal. I walk towards Daryl, and he nods at me to follow his lead. We start to circle around the ring, as if we were about to brawl. I hear the crowd ringing in cheer behind us, anticipating bloodshed.

I look up at the top, seeing The Governor looking down at us with a sly smirk drawn on his face. Beside him was Andrea, who's arms were crossed as she turned to the side- away from the action. My blood no longer boiled for that girl- she was digging her own grave and she'll lie in it.

"Move it, you two!" A man exclaims. A hard piece of metal hits my back, causing me to lurch forward in pain. I feel myself unable to catch my breath, as it had hit my already broken ribs. I immediately fall side first onto the ground unable to catch myself with my handcuffed hands.

"Hey!" I hear Daryl exclaim. I see him fall next to me too, as I nod to him while wincing. I felt open cuts all over my body but unsure of where they were located.

Within seconds-

Boom. Bingo.

A huge explosion sounded, causing my ears to violently ring. I look around, seeing the crowd start to run and disperse, screaming. I look behind us and see one man posted at the ring and the others run towards the sound.

"Now!" Daryl exclaims. He rolls over and sits up, the.runs over to a walker, putting his arms around it and ripping off its head. I struggle to crawl up, but manage to do so slowly. I run over to the other and repeat, feeling the warm blood spatter onto my open skin. I watch Daryl as he runs over to a man, snatching his keys as he kicks him to the ground.

As soon as he unlocks himself, he runs over to me and unlocks mine. My wrists were bleeding, and I felt as if I was as weak as a feather.

"Cmon, we gotta go now, they're waiting for us outside the wall." Daryl guides his hand on my back, urging me forward and out of the building. I look back to the Governor, glaring and flipping him and Andrea off. But they weren't fighting back; instead, he watched us as we left. He knew this wasn't over.

Daryl and I make our way outside, immediately finding cover in the corner of an alley lodged between two brick buildings. I slide down, by butt hitting the grass and dirt.

"You okay?" Daryl kneels next to me, lifting up my arm.

I nod, lazily flipping my head to the left. My vision was swaying side to side, and the burning pain in my side felt as if I had shards of glass constantly stabbing at my skin and bone.

"The hell they do to you, Wilson?" He grunts as he touches my purple and black raw skin through my shirt.

"Too much. We need to go," I stand up, but fail to do so. He immediately braces himself against me, as I lean against his left shoulder.

"Just.. let's slow down. We don't need to get killed." I nod, sighing.

"I'm sorry about.. your brother." I say as I look up at him. His eyes meet mine, but immediately divert away.

"Nah. I'm the one that's sorry. Shoulda killed that sonofabitch when I had the chance." We both start to limp our way out. "Rick blew a hole in the west side of the wall over here, they're waiting there with a vehicle we found at a prison- raided it, took it over. Was hell but was worth it." I nod, trying to keep up with his pace.

"Well I don't mind a jail bed at this point," I wince.

"Well, well..." A man steps into our view. His arms were crossed and his hook was on full display.

"Merle, please." I say. "Don't you see this asshole of a cunt is a monster? We can take you with us."

"Either that or I kill your ass this time," Daryl snaps. Merle looks us up and down, as if he was having a sudden change of heart. "Yeah I know you ain't no saint- I bet you did half of this damage." He gestures to my limber body.

"Nah, baby brother. Im not here to fight. I'm gonna let you go." He nods. "This is the easy way out anyways. If you're gonna die go do that on your own time out there." He steps aside, letting us pass. Daryl doesn't say a word, but I look at Merle as we leave through the blown out wall.

So he did have somewhat of a soft spot for his baby brother. Why? I wasn't so sure. How could such a monster be so... I don't know. I look behind us at Merle, who is lit up by the flames behind him.

Finally, out of this hell.