RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

death wish

"OUCH." Spencer clenched his eyes as she dabbed away at the cut on his cheek.

"Sorry-" she winced the more she touched his face, imagining the pain. "Now for the fun part."

She set the bloody napkin aside and doused another one in rubbing alcohol. "Ready?"

He kept his eyes shut, but still nodded, grabbing both sides of the counter tightly as she dabbed the soaked napkin along his cheek.

"Jesus-" He muttered, shaking his head.

"I know, I know-" She dabbed at the cut a few more times and finally stopped, Spencer's frame finally relaxing and his eyes opening again. "All done."

He stepped away from the counter, grabbing more rubbing alcohol and napkins. "Your turn."

She bit her lip as she hopped up onto the counter. "I can do it myself."

"You helped me, I help you." He raised an eyebrow as he stood in front of her, eyeing the cut on her neck but also the smaller ones on her hands.

She looked down at her hands too, not even realizing they had been bleeding. "I beat a guy pretty badly." She watched him pour some of the alcohol onto the napkin and grabbing her hands, rubbing gently at the dried blood around the cuts before actually cleaning the split skin. The area burned like a thousand hot needles and lingered after a few seconds.

"Head back." He told her, grabbing a fresh napkin and soaking it.

She leaned her head back, feeling his hand toss aside some of her hair before the cold cloth touched her skin. The cut on her neck hurt a lot more than the smaller ones on her knuckles. She sucked in a quick breath and held it until he was done.

"There." He balled up the napkin, setting it in the pile with the others.

She brought her head back down, his own leveled with hers. Her stomach twisted the more she looked at him, seeing exactly what Daryl had been so worried about.

She looked away fast, lowering herself off the counter. "Look, Spencer, I-"

"Willow," Maggie darted through the front door of the house, glancing around until she saw them in the kitchen. "you need to come see this."

-

"You can hear it." Rick paced to the front of the group, his voice just barely louder than the hundreds of walkers that waited on the other side of the gate and walls. "Some of you saw it. They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us 20 deep. Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now."

Willow stepped down from the guard tower ladder after taking another look at just how many walkers they had at their front door, taking a spot next to Maggie and Michonne. She was relieved to see some of them back, but the question still hung in the air if everyone else was okay.

"The panel the truck hit seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold it together. Can you?"

Willow looked further along the wall line, seeing that they had already fixed it up to the best of their ability.

"The other's, they're gonna be back." Rick turned back to the group.

"They're gonna be back." Rosita repeated.

"Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead them away, just like the others."

Willow swallowed hard, hoping he was right.

"And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do."

Maggie nodded her head, forcing herself to believe what Rick was saying.