𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 | Daryl Dixon

38 | GOING TO WAR

The next morning marked the day of the negotiations with the Governor. Rick was meeting with the Woodbury leader, the two men claiming they were going to try and come to an agreement about how to move forwards in the conflict without more people getting hurt.

But the group had all seen the look in Rick's eyes before he left that morning, and they knew he was more than sceptical about the meeting. Like he already knew an amicable agreement was never going to be made. Too much had happened to just sweep under the rug; he wasn't just going to shake hands and move on after one conversation.

The sheriff had left that morning, taking Daryl and Hershel with him. Part of the agreement of the meeting was that the two men would meet alone. No armies, no secret ambushes. Just themselves, and a couple of each of their men to keep watched from the outside.

It left Tori and the rest at the prison going over the large amount of weapons Rick, Carl, and Michonne had brought back from their trip the previous day. They had found themselves all the way in King County – Rick and Carl's hometown. They had come across a man there: Morgan. The man that saved Rick when he first awoke from his coma right at the start of the outbreak.

 Michonne claimed Morgan had gone crazy, living alone in King County on a street he'd filled with live traps for walkers, and deadly booby-traps for living people. He had a map drawn on the walls where he marked areas as cleared. Whether he was insane or not, he had an apartment full of weapons, many of which he'd let the trio take.

Tori picked up one of the sniper rifles on the table, checking the chamber and loading it full of ammo from the box. She put the weapon back together, the sharp click seeming louder as it echoed through the room. Setting it back down, she picked up the ammo box, the bullets inside rattling against the cardboard as she passed it to Glenn.

"More than half," she told him.

"Alright, thanks," he replied before calling Carl over, handing the box to him. "Here. Put this out on the loading dock. And Beth, take these out to the catwalk." He handed the girl an ammo box, and she took them with a nod. "If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure they've got plenty of ammo. I'll go work on the cage outside."

"What we should be doing-" Merle spoke loudly, leaning against the wall. "-is loading some a' this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor. We know where he is right now."

"You're suggesting we just go in and kill him?" Tori questioned.

"Yeah, I am," Merle shrugged.

Michonne looked at the man with a scowl. "We told Rick and Daryl we'd stay put."

"Kinda broke that rule yesterday, did I not, going after her pretty ass?" Merle sassed, pointing over to Tori. "Already took a lecture for that."

Tori gave him a blank look from across the room, though she knew he wasn't wrong. When they returned to the prison the previous day, Daryl had been beyond pissed that Tori had left without word, telling her how dangerous it was.

His tone conveyed anger, but she could see in his eyes that he was worried. And Carl had told her that ever since he heard she had left, Daryl had been pacing around, wanting to go out searching. Even if they weren't on the best terms currently, knowing her absence had scared him made her feel guilty, and she apologised before retreating to her cell for the rest of the night.

"I changed my mind anyways," Merle muttered. "Being on the sidelines with my brother out there... Ain't sitting right with me."

"The three of them are right in the middle of it," Glenn dismissed. "No idea we're coming they could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong."