Down by the water • TWD

Stuck In The Mud.

*Crack.*

*Crack.*

*Crack.*

3 times Daryl punched the prisoner. Wasn't the first time either.

"I told you..." Randall pleaded his case for the twentieth time.

"You ain't told me shit!" Daryl yelled grabbing him and forcing him upright in the process.

"I barely knew those guys." Randall took a breath. "I met them on the road." Daryl knew he was lying.

"How many in your group?" Daryl asked standing there. He slowly took his knife out of its holster getting a good grip on it.

"Uh... No, no, no. Come on, man." Randall begged.

Daryl slammed his knife into the floorboards in between Randall's legs giving him something to be scared about. "How many?" He asked again.

"Uh, 30. Thirty! Thirty guys." He answered rationally.

"Where?" Daryl asked prying for more information. He glanced at Randall's wound and ripped off the bandage. Randall screamed and whined from the sudden contact.

"I don't know. I swear." He screamed through his teeth. "We were never anyplace more than a night." He added quickly as Daryl pressed the tip of his knife on the stitches.

"Scouting? Planning on staying local?" Daryl pried more. He was staring coldly, voice hoarse.

"I... I don't know. They left me behind!" Randall said sincerely. Daryl knew he was left behind, but that he still knew it wasn't the full truth.

"Did you ever pick off a scab?" Daryl asked, his tone laced with venom. He started to cut the stitches from the wound slowly.

"Come on, man!" Randall begged again. "I'm trying to cooperate." He added trying to be truthful.

"Start real slow at first," Daryl said still applying harmful pressure to his wound. "Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off." Daryl pushed him to the edge.

"Okay. Okay." Randall finally submitted. "They have weapons, heavy stuff, automatics." Daryl still didn't move his knife. "But I didn't do anything." Randall cried out.

"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?" Daryl continued to question.

"Yes!" Randall slammed his head against the wall in frustration. "These... These people took me in. Not just guys, a whole group of them." Daryl stood up taking his knife away. "Men and women, kids too. Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know?" Daryl continued to shift on his fight watching him intensively. "But we go out, scavenge, just the men." Randall took a deep breath. "One night, we... We found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters... Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute." Daryl looked at him with eh coldest eyes. "Like.. like the little girl I saw you with last night." This made Daryl flip. 

"What did you just say? You leave that girl alone, ya' hear me!?" Daryl spits in his face. 

"Their daddy had to watch while these guys, they..." Randall continued cautiously. He didn't have to finish his sentence he already knew Daryl knew what he was implying. "And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just... They just made him watch as his daughters..." He took another breath. "They just left him there." Randall saw Daryl's look in his eyes and panicked.

"No, but... But I didn't touch those girls." He pleaded. "No, I swear I didn't..." Daryl kicked him in the side once more.

Daryl was blinded by the thought of these men getting ahold of Avery, all he could imagine was that he wouldn't be able to help her. Why was he thinking like this? He barely even knows the girl.

"Please. Please." Randall begged. "You gotta believe me, man. I'm not like that. I ain't like that. Please." He continued to beg. He was hurting, thirsty, and hungry. "Please, you gotta believe me." He tried once more before Daryl kicked him in the side for the 3rd time today. Daryl didn't stop at that, he continued to beat him out of rage.