RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

a new journey

WILLOW BEGGED RICK long enough to let her come with him, Michonne, and Daryl to Woodbury. She could pretty much put all of her weight on her leg with very minimal pain, and she was willing to even do a physical test to prove it to Rick if need be.

Daryl rode ahead of them on his motorcycle as Rick drove them in the other car, coming to a stop when Daryl got off his bike.

"Those are their vehicles." Willow said, sticking her head between the driver and passenger seats, gesturing out the front window. 

Ahead of them were some abandoned military vehicles, the same ones the Governor brought to the prison.

They climbed out of the car with their weapons. Bodies were strewn along the road, a few walkers gnawing away at whatever remained of them. With one swing, Michonne's sword took off two heads. Willow stepped over a body and to another one, raising her knife and forcing it down on another walker's head, blood oozing around the entry point.

She jerked her head around at a bang against one of the windows of a vehicle, a woman against it with her palms pressed. Rick instantly had his gun pointed at her as Daryl swung the door open, the woman stepping out with her arms up in surrender.

"What the hell happened here?" Rick asked, not letting up on his gun.

The woman's eyes were wide looking back at him. "He just- he just started shooting. He just started killing us. I don't- I don't know-" She continued to stumble over her words, the four of them looking at each other, thinking the same thing.

They wouldn't have to sneak in this time.

"You're coming with us back to Woodbury." Rick said, holstering his gun and guiding the woman's hands behind her back. "You're getting us in there."

-

They snuck around the abandoned cars and dead corpses, getting closer to the front gates of Woodbury. They must've had better watch because the gunfire was almost immediate. A flower pot shattered next to Willow as a bullet pierced through it, the five of them jumping behind cover. The woman they brought squirmed her way out of Rick's hold, standing up and revealing herself.

"Tyreese!" She called out, the name sounding familiar to each of them. "It's me!"

"Karen!" The man called back. "Karen, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" She continued to talk to the man, keeping her hands up.

"Where's the Governor?"

"He fired on everyone. He killed them all." 

Silence.

"Why are you with them?!"

"They saved me."

More silence.

"We're coming out!" Rick warned, freeing his hands of any weapons. "We're coming out."

Willow clenched her eyes shut for a moment before following suit. She stood up slowly, following Rick's lead in putting her hands up, Michonne and Daryl doing the same. They walked slowly to the gate that swung open. Two people stepped out from behind the gate, Willow recognizing them immediately.

"What are you doing here?" Tyreese asked Rick.

"We were coming to finish this until we saw what the Governor did." Rick answered truthfully. 

"He- he killed them?" Tyreese spoke as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah."  Rick answered. "Karen told us Andrea hopped the wall going for the prison. She never made it. She might be here."

Tyreese stood beside Sasha, fighting internally with himself whether to let them in or not, but he stepped to the side, letting them slip in and following them.

They immediately went to the building that once held Maggie and Glenn, figuring if Andrea was here at all, it would be there.

"The Governor held people here?" Tyreese asked from behind them.

"He did more than hold them." Daryl answered, his crossbow drawn.

Once they got close enough to the room, they could hear something from the other side. Their eyes were immediately drawn to blood that had pooled up underneath the door. Rick's fingers fumbled over the lock that was on the outside of the door, counting down before he swung it open. They had their guns and crossbow ready for whatever was going on in the room, so far only being able to see a body laying in the center of it and a pair of feet laying just to the side of the doorway.

"Andrea!" Michonne rushed in, crouching down to Andrea laying on the floor. 

"I tried to stop them." Her voice was weak.

Michonne held the back of her hand against Andrea's forehead. "You're burning up." 

They watched as Andrea pulled at the collar of her shirt, revealing a large bite mark indented in her shoulder. Each one of their hearts stopped for a moment, looking at the bite.

"Judith, Sienna, Carl, the rest of them..." Andrea adjusted herself up against the wall.

"Us." Rick said, squeezing her knee. "The rest of us."

"Are they alive?" She asked.

Rick looked around as he found it difficult to look at her. "Yeah, they're alive." 

Willow felt her tears line her eyes. She never got close to her, never really even liked her much, but she knew she didn't deserve this.

Andrea smiled, looking up at Michonne. "It's good you found them." She turned her eyes to Daryl and Willow. "No one can make it alone now."

Daryl looked down at her. "I never could."

"I just didn't want anyone to die." Her voice was barely audible. "I can do it myself."

"No." Michonne said through tears.

"I have to. While I still can. Please?" Andrea responded. "I know how the safety works." She smiled lightly, looking at Rick.

Rick handed her his gun carefully, rubbing away the wetness in his eyes.

"Well I'm not going anywhere." Michonne said through quivering lips. 

They all offered her a longing smile as they walked out of the room, leaving Michonne and Andrea alone behind the closed door. They stood separately, listening to the silence and then the single gunshot, letting them know that she was gone. 

-

They trusted Tyreese to speak to the residents of Woodbury, suggesting that they come back with them to the prison after what their leader did to their own people. 

Almost all of them agreed.

They arrived back with a bus following closely behind, the residents filing off the bus and into the prison. 

The sun had come up again, starting another day and a new journey for them all.

-

Word count: 1,029