I should have known.
I should have fucking known.
How could I have been so stupid? Why the hell had I left him alone? I’d been angry, sure, but that was no excuse. I knew better than to leave Merle to his own devices. Knew him well enough to have known he was up to something – something stupid. But his manipulation into forcing me to make an unbreakable promise had left me seething. I’d seen red and the vibrance of the colour had taken my attention away from that look in his eye.
When Daryl came crashing into the room, where I’d been about to tell Rick that I knew the Governor had asked for me, to tell him I would go without a fight so long as he kept Michonne safe, I’d felt my heart almost stop in my chest.
The panicked look on his face when he met my gaze made my stomach clench and my breath stutter to a halt in my throat.
"
I can’t find Merle,” he said breathlessly. “Or Michonne.”
Rick and I shared a wide-eyed look before we both burst into a sprint, following behind Daryl as he led us back down to that room beneath the cellblock. One of the toolboxes had been upended and was lying on the floor. I smelt the distant scent of blood.
“Fuck,” I sighed.
“They’re gone. He was in here,” Daryl said as he began to pace through the machinery. “Said he was looking for drugs. Said… a lot of things, actually.”
Both Rick and I looked to him.
“Like what?” Rick asked.
I glanced at Daryl. Would he tell Rick that I’d been here, that I knew?
“Said that you were gonna change your mind,” he said after only slightly too long of a pause.
Something around the corner caught my eye and I stepped toward it, past Rick, and crouched down. It was a price of fabric with a bright, if somewhat faded, pattern. Gently, I picked it up.
“It’s Michonne’s,” I stated, looking over my shoulder at the two men. “He took her.”
“Damn it!” Rick spat.
I rose to my feet, turning to face him with a snarl. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Not alone, I didn’t!” Rick snapped back, taking half a step toward me. “We had a plan, damn it!”
“Right,” I snorted. “One that ended with both Michonne and I’s heads on a pike.”
Rick’s surprise was barely more than a blink before his anger overpowered it. “What would you have me do? Put all of my people’s lives on the line for the two of you?”
“They’re still on the line!” I screamed back. “Giving us over to Phil won’t make a fucking difference, Rick! He’ll still attack, and you’ll be left standing here, two men down for no fucking reason other than your own blind ignorance!”
“Then help us!” Rick yelled in return, his voice cracking slightly in the desperation. His next sentence was quieter, less aggressive but still forceful enough to echo through the room. “Give us another damn option.”
YOU ARE READING
The Monsters Among Us ➳ Daryl Dixon
Fanfiction𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯/𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 Not human. She was not human. They all knew it. Could almost feel it, but couldn't make sense of it. That was why they were afraid. Not because of what she used to be Before. But...
