in a dark meadow -- daryl dixon

this group is broken

word count: 5122

Rick and Shane returned from their drive, their journey unsuccessful. Randall was a prisoner and resumed his lockup in the barn. The young man knew Maggie - went to school with her, in fact. It was made clear that Rick and Shane weren't comfortable letting Randall go with that piece of knowledge.

The following morning, everyone convened at their camp while Daryl went to the barn to extract information from Randall about his group. Avery leaned up against one of the trees, her eyes never leaving the barn's shiplap walls. Her skin bristled in the cool morning breeze as she pulled Daryl's flannel tighter around her shoulders. She doubted Daryl was showing Randall kindness. She had walked over to intervene, twice, only to be turned away from Shane. Lori managed to distract Avery for a few minutes by offering hot tea, which Avery drank aggressively in one of the fold out chairs. She didn't like this.

The group assembled around the fire as Daryl made his way out of the barn, crossbow hitched over his shoulder in his typical fashion. Avery quickly sat up from her chair, eyes catching the splotches of red on his knuckles. Daryl caught her gaze before turning to the rest of the group.

"Boy there's got a gang. 30 men. Heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. Our women, they're gonna - they're gonna wish they were."

Carol's eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

Daryl glanced down at his knuckles, as if noticing they were bleeding for the first time. "Had a little chat."

Dale and Avery shifted uncomfortably while Carol walked away, clearly disturbed. Rick looked down at his boots briefly, absorbing Daryl's intel.

"No one goes near this guy." Rick declared.

"What're you going to do?" Lori reached for her husband, placing a hand on his back.

"We have no choice, he's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

Avery's mouth dropped open and she quickly shook herself out of her stupor. Clearly, she misheard him. "Whoa, whoa. What are you saying?"

Dale stepped forward. "You're just going to kill him?"

Their objections did not seem to sway Rick - there was resolve in his blue eyes. "It's settled. I'll do it today."

Rick walked away without hearing another word from the group. Thunder roiled and a chill prickled down Avery's arms. She and Dale stared at one another for a moment. They shared an unspoken thought before he went off after Rick, hoping to convince him otherwise. Avery looked around the fire, expecting to see other faces of defiance or disbelief - instead she saw everyone withdraw into themselves, eyes fixed on the ground as they slowly dispersed.

"What're we going to do?" Avery walked up to Dale after he finished discussing with Rick. He had gone to the farmhouse, likely looping Hershel in on what was happening.

"Rick's giving me the day to talk to everyone." Dale sighed. "See if you can speak to Glenn... Daryl'll listen to you."

"I don't know about that..." She mumbled, already predicting how that conversation might go. Dale gave her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he set off to speak to each member of the group. Before Daryl could retreat to his encampment, Avery jogged out to meet him.

"Can I talk to you?"

He stared at her for a moment before nodding,

She set her lips into a firm line. "Wait here a sec. I'll walk with you."