RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

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ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR. You've been through this... five, six, seven, eight, nine-

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"Three rabbits and a squirrel." Willow tossed the carcasses onto the wooden cutting board. "Courtesy of yours truly."

"Yeah, and with whose arrows?" Daryl caught up to her.

Willow's mouth watered as the scent of roasted pork wafted in her direction. She plucked a piece off the scalding grill, tossing it into her mouth. "Tastes even better than it smells, Carol."

Carol smiled, continuing to flip the pork. "I need you both to see something. Patrick, you wanna take over?"

"Yes, ma'am." The tall slim boy was more than happy to help. "Uh, Mr. Dixon? I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat sir. I'd be honored to shake your hand." The boy held out his hand, waiting for Daryl.

Daryl looked at the boy, licking his fingers clean of the pork grease before slapping it into Patrick's hand for a shake.

Carol and Willow exchanged looks, laughing lightly at Patrick's referral to 'Mr. Dixon' and Daryl's hot saliva on his hands.

Carol led them to the far side of the prison that looked out over the yard. "We had a pretty big buildup overnight."

Their eyes settled on the hundreds of walkers that held themself against the outside fence. 

"There's dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month. They don't spread out anymore." Carol crossed her arms.

"With more of us sittin' here, we're drawin' more of them out." Daryl said between bites of his food. "You get enough of those damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up." He pointed to a few of their people along the fence, jamming their weapons through each link to take out a walker. 

"Pushing against the fences again. Manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long." Carol looked at Daryl. "Sorry, Pookie."

Willow snorted at her nickname for him, watching Carol walk off before she grilled him. "Pookie?"

"Shut up." He responded, tossing another piece of meat into his mouth.

"I like it. It fits you well." She teased him again. "You going on a run today?"

"Yeah. Thinkin' about checkin' out that Big-Spot. Could have some things we can use." He tilted the bowl he had in his hand, dumping the remaining grease out onto the grass. 

"Who's tagging along?" She was curious to see who they've began to trust more.

"Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, Glenn and Zach." 

"Bob?" She questioned him. "He doesn't seem like the guy to go on runs. Doesn't really seem like the guy to step foot out of this place, really."

He shrugged. "He offered. Said he wanted to pull his weight."

"Well, it's about time." She didn't hate Bob, but she didn't like him either. "He's been free-riding for a little too long now."

"You trynna come with?" He looked at her briefly. 

Normally she'd jump right in, but lately her priorities have been to help out around the prison and spend more time with Sienna. After Andrea's death, she became more aware of how short her time could be with her family.