RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

no exceptions

THE LOUD YELLING was her alarm that morning. It had jolted her awake and sent her into a panic. Daryl was gone, and whatever words were being shouted outside of her tent were less than pleasant, and the first place her mind went to was him in the middle of another fight.

She grabbed her sword and rushed out, her eyes wide at the crowd that was formed in the middle of all the tents. 

A man stood in the center of the crowd, his yelling louder than anyone else's. "Guess they're gonna execute every last one of us! Just like Justin!"

It was the Saviors against the rest of them- again. Their communities yelled and threw things at the Saviors, and the Saviors did it back.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked as she shoved through more people, but she wasn't heard over the screaming and yelling. 

She stumbled past a few people as she got to the front of their communities, facing off the vast amount of pissed off Saviors. One had already lunged at Gabriel, but he shoved him away. Another came at Rosita, but Rosita grabbed her by the shirt and slung her back.

Swarms of them joined in and rushed at their people, pushing and shoving, punching and kicking. Willow had to duck numerous times to miss oncoming punches from both sides.

"For Justin!" A man bellowed.

Willow turned and saw him barreling right towards her with nothing but his fists. She stepped to the side and lifted her arm, her elbow smacking into his throat. He gagged and held his throat as he stumbled back with wide eyes.

"Hey! Hey! Stop this shit!" Ash yelled as he pushed through to the middle, inserting himself between a few people. "We're gonna find out who did this, and we're gonna make sure it doesn't happen to us again, all right?"

Things began to settle down, and the Saviors took a few steps back- all but one.

A man with a black mustache stayed in place, right in front of Ash. "'Us'? You're not one of us anymore."

Ash turned in a big circle. "Us means all of us."

The man grabbed Ash's shoulder and spun him around, landing a hard punch to his face. He fell backwards, but was luckily caught by a few of their own.

"Go shovel that horse shit to whoever killed Justin!" The man yelled again, stepping forward to have another go at Ash.

Willow immediately raised her sword and held the point of it to the side of his neck. "Step the fuck back, prick."

Carol pushed her way forward and held her hand against his chest, her other hand on her gun- her way of saying she'd shoot him on the spot if he made another god damn move.

He looked down at her hand placement. "I thought you were supposed to be our leader."

"Enough." Carol snapped. "Turn around, all of you."

The man tilted his head, slightly leaning away from the point of Willow's blade. "No can do, Cee. Why don't you go ahead and yank that roscoe, pop me right here? It's better than worrying about getting it in the back."

"I suggest you shut the hell up if you wanna live to see another day." Willow pressed her sword into him more, his skin pushing in from where her blade touched him. 

A few others on the front lines of their communities pulled out their own guns, the safety's already off. 

Laura stepped forward. "We don't want this. We just need to protect ourselves."

"No guns!"

Willow only glanced behind her for a moment, spotting Daryl standing up on one of the tables.