RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

knots untie

SHE PULLED both ends of the ropes in opposite directions, the fibers rubbing harshly against his wrists and ankles as it tightened. She took one final tug at it before looking over her shoulder at Rick. "He's ready."

Rick nodded, helping her drag Jesus' dead weight up.

"Daryl's not gonna like this, you know." She said as she struggled under the man's weight. "He'd rather tie him up to a tree and leave him."

Rick cocked his head as they dragged him along. "He helped him with that walker. He never pulled a weapon on him."

Willow sighed with a slight shake of her head. 

"The hell?" Daryl said loudly as they got closer. He leaned out of the car he had been hot-wiring, staring at them with slim eyes.

"He's coming back with us." Rick spoke up so Willow didn't have to.

The both of them were expecting Daryl to retaliate, but he only scoffed and ducked back into the car for a few moments before the engine came to life.

Willow and Rick stuffed Jesus into the back seat, his head and upper body falling over multiple times until they finally got him to stay upright.

"You're in the front." Daryl said as Willow was moving to the other back seat.

Before she could say anything, Daryl was already in the back seat with Jesus. 

"Yes, sir." She said between a breath as she took her spot in the front passenger seat.

Rick didn't waste anymore time sitting in the large field. The tires spun against the dirt for a few seconds before they began moving and heading back to the road. 

Willow felt a nudge against her leg, pulling her attention away from the window. She looked over at Rick, noticing the sly smirk he had on his face.

"Watch." He mouthed to her, nodding back to Daryl slightly. 

She sat up in her seat, watching in the rearview as Rick yanked the wheel to the left for a moment. Jesus' limp body fell into Daryl's shoulder, immediately slinging back into the window when Daryl shoved him off. She looked back at Rick, shaking her head and biting her lip to keep the laughter in.

Rick cleared his throat. "He took a pretty hard hit. Denise needs to look him over."

"Yeah." Daryl mumbled.

Rick glanced up at the mirror to see him every few seconds. "You wouldn't have gone through with it. You wouldn't have left him."

Daryl scoffed, looking out the window and biting his nail. "I would've, right up in a tree."

Willow glanced at Rick through the sides of her eyes in amusement at the fact she had told him that's exactly what Daryl would do.

Rick adjusted his grip on the wheel. "No. I know. Almost as soon as we got to Alexandria, you got it. You saw- you... and Willow, Michonne, Glenn, you all tried to tell me. So shut up."

He yanked the wheel again, the both of them hearing the thud of Jesus' body hitting Daryl's shoulder again, followed by another thud of him being shoved off.

"I'm finally listening." Rick said, a more serious vibe in his voice.

-

The sky was dark by the time they rolled up to the gates back home. The headlights illuminated the traps they had set up in front of the gates. Willow looked ahead at the few walkers that were stuck in them, metal beams and bars penetrating their abdomens and protruding out their backs. It was grim.