Alone TWD

A Friend To None

No one had slept the rest of the night, and in the morning, everyone kept to themselves, assorting their belongings and deciding what to do, holding out hope that Daryl and frost would turn up.

"Hey, I found an Ipod, and thanks to our honouree genius, I charged it." Natalia walked down the stairs, waving around her ipod as she flicked through it. "They have Beyonce?! Score!"

"Hey, Nat, shut up." Maggie told her, staring out the window, through the blinds.

"What, you don't like Bey-"

"Shh!" She snapped, alerting the others to her tense state.

"Maggie, what is it?" Gabriel asked.

"They're here. We-" She turned around, searching the room frantically. "Down there." She pointed at the crawl space, "We gotta hide down there."

No one bothered to even question her, as they hauled ass, squeezing into the below space.

Some time had passed, before a loud bang from above had reminded them of the situation they were in.

"Clear!" A booming voice shouted, a man's.

"Over here!" A woman's called. "They're still wet."

Natalia looked to the wall as she concentrated on that voice, had she heard that before?

"I guess he was telling the truth, then?"

Now she would have recognised that voice anywhere, Daryl.

Before she could even move towards the steps, Negan was grabbing a hold of her, whilst Maggie held one hand over her mouth, and the other gripping her shoulder tight, begging her to stay put, only through her eyes.

"We should clear the other rooms." The other man suggested.

Their footsteps continued into the house.

"Clear!" The man shouted, seconds before Daryl repeated him.

"I have to." Natalia whispered, almost silently, ripping Maggie's hand off her face, her eyes starting to well. "I have to get to him."

"You can't" Maggie was just as silent. "He's with them for a reason, you'll put us all at risk."

"But he's right there." Her voice cracked, as she tried to control it.

The people above continued to check over the house.

"I'm sorry."

"Nothing." They had joined together, right above the rug that was concealing the small groups hiding spot.

"Maybe they went out the back?" Daryl wondered. "I can track them."

Natalia and Maggie met eyes, instantly.

"Are you in a hurry to leave?" The man asked him.

"What?" He wasn't the smoothest liar, Natalia scrunched her eyes up at his hesitation.

"The other building, you wanted to stick around and make sure we didn't miss anything. Now you wanna run off. Which is it?" The man pressed.

"Look, man, I'm just trying to help." Daryl huffed.

"Yet you keep chirping."

"Fine. You lose 'em, it's on you, it ain't on me."

"Stop." The woman piped up.

Who the hell was she telling to stop?

"Wash, we need a perimeter check." Natalia could only assume she was saying into a radio. "Possible runners. Half a klick."