RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

luckier

"JUST ONE OF 'EM." Daryl checked around the side of the old house. "I don't see it, but it's close."

Rick, Carol, Willow and Daryl snuck out early in the morning to meet. Rick had mentioned an old house about a mile out from Alexandria that he found the first day they arrived. For now, it was their secret meeting spot until they can figure out a better way of doing things.

"We won't be here long." Rick shifted on his feet. "So, what do you think?"

"We can go in when it's empty." Willow suggested. She and Carol had a quick visit to the armory a day ago to scope it out. They had ran into Olivia, but it wasn't hard to keep her side tracked. Carol talked to her about different gnocchi recipes, just long enough for Willow to get a good look at the place.

"How is that? It's locked up at night." Rick said. 

"The window." Carol said. "It's just a latch. I can leave it open."

"A latch?" Rick questioned.

They both nodded. 

Daryl scoffed. "What if one of those pricks shuts it?" 

Willow shrugged. "Wait a couple of days, leave it open again."

Daryl sighed, taking another peek around the house at the stray walker. "It's gettin' closer."

"We need to do it sooner than later." Rick stuck his hands in his pockets. "Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this. We may need the guns, we may not."

"We will." Carol nodded. "Whatever way it may go."

"They're the luckiest damn people I've ever met. And they just keep getting luckier." Rick said with a shake of his head.

"How's that?" Daryl asked. 

Rick shrugged, as if it should have been obvious. "We're here now."

"They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimeter autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone." Willow folded her arms across her chest, trying to keep her body heat to herself. 

"Someone's got one now, right?" Daryl said, gesturing to the pile of rubbish Rick had left the gun under.

Rick nodded. "Listen, the others, we want them to try."

"You too." Willow looked up at Daryl.

"So we keep it quiet. Just us." Rick eyed the three of them, they nodded in response. "Here it comes."

"I got him." Daryl already brought his crossbow up.

"Hey, wait." Carol stopped him, raising her gun with a silencer. They watched her take a few shots, nailing the walker everywhere but the head. After about three more shots, the bullet finally hit the sweet spot and the walker dropped to the ground. She turned to Rick, "We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag."

"Lucky he came by." Daryl nodded to the walker. 

"We should get back." Rick suggested as they began to walk. "You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment. Us, we don't need to be lucky."

Willow stepped over the body of the walker, but immediately stepped back to it. "What the hell is that?" She crouched down to it, tilting its head.

"Is that a 'W'?" Daryl also crouched down beside it.

A deeply engraved 'W' was carved into the walker's forehead. Rick took a look at it, but didn't have words. They stood back up and took one more look at it before heading back to Alexandria.