RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

the day the world stopped turning

THE PLAN WAS SIMPLE. Daryl stayed back at the camp to keep an eye on Rick- stall him a bit to allow them time to get to Negan. With the help of a few other Oceanside people, he was able to tamper with the radio frequencies. They thought ahead- they knew someone would convey that Maggie and Willow were heading to Alexandria, and Rick would get that message back to Michonne quicker than they could get there. Daryl was able to slip back into camp that morning while Willow and Maggie copped a horse and rode back to Hilltop. If they were caught, it wasn't known yet.

Willow was excited to get back to Hilltop and see her daughter, though she felt a vast amount of guilt that Daryl couldn't. There was also a part of her that felt guilty for going behind Rick's back. She tried to keep it at bay and enjoy the little time she had with Sienna before they left for Alexandria, but Sienna's been getting good at reading people and called her out almost immediately.

"What's wrong?" She set her colored pencils down for Sibby to take.

Willow uncrossed her legs and scooted forward on the couch, looking at their drawings sprawled across the floor. "Your drawings are getting really good. Could you draw one for Daryl? I can take it back to him."

Sienna scowled at the avoidance of her question. "For a truth."

"A truth?" She raised a brow. 

She nodded and grabbed a fresh piece of paper, letting her hand and a pencil hover over it as if to taunt her. "Tell me why you're not happy, and I'll draw Dad a pretty picture."

Willow smiled at her daughter's sudden urge to bargain. "Okay... I missed you so much, but I'm sad that your dad couldn't come and see you with me."

She drew a single line and then stopped, her eyes darting back up to her. "Another truth."

Willow thought for a moment, conjuring up a kid friendly version of the truth. "Not all of us are friends at the camp, and it can be a bit stressful."

Another line with a curve. "And?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I'm all out of truths."

Sienna didn't buy it. "Tell me something."

"But then it wouldn't be a truth." She retorted.

Sienna let out a dramatic sigh and accepted defeat, her hand going to town on the drawing.

"Devious little thing, ain't she?" Bonnie said from the doorway. "She's been picking up a thing or two from Sibby."

Sibby scribbled hard on her paper- any harder and the pencil would snap in half. "She has a lot more to learn."

Willow and Bonnie shared the same humorous looks. 

"Tell your mama what I've taught you." Bonnie urged Sienna.

Still drawing, Sienna happily said "She's taught me how to find directions without a compass!"

Bonnie laughed. "I set up some scavenger hunts for the girls, and their hints were only useful if they new which direction they needed to go."

"The sun rises in the east and sets in the west." Sibby and Sienna said in unison.

Bonnie nodded. "That's how they figured it out."

"Impressive." Willow told both of them. "We've got ourselves some little adventurers."

"We aren't adventurers yet." Sibby argued. "Not until we go outside."

Willow glanced over at Bonnie, and her smile was gone. 

"They've been asking about going outside of the walls..."

"I don't get why we can't." Sibby said with an eye roll.