RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

radio silence

WAKING UP TO multiple loud knocks on the doors and windows was unpleasant, but not a surprise to Willow. She knew they'd be looking around, trying to figure out why the prison cell was empty. Why Negan was missing.

She was halfway to the front door with Hayes on her hip when it swung open. She stopped in her tracks, wide-eyed, as Gabriel, Aaron, Daryl, and even Dog stormed in.

"What's going on?" She took a short step aside to prevent Aaron from bulldozing her. He paced quickly along the floorboards, peering around corners before returning and shaking his head.

"You good?" Daryl's hand loosened around the handle of his knife, she hadn't even realized he was holding it.

"Uh, yeah I am. What the hell is going on?" She continued to press them, though she already knew who they were looking for.

With perfect timing, Bonnie, Sibby, and Sienna came trotting down the hallway, still half asleep, but alert to the recent poundings on the door.

Bonnie took a sleepy glance at all of them and stiffened a bit. "Girls, maybe y'all should go clean yourselves up real quick."

Sibby and Sienna reluctantly trailed back to their rooms, and no one spoke until they heard the doors shut.

Gabriel was the first to announce, "Negan's gone."

Bonnie shook her head as if to shake away her drowsiness. "I'm sorry... what?"

Aaron nodded in confirmation, as did Daryl.

Willow swallowed back the guilt before it could hit her voice. "He escaped?"

"Someone let him out." Gabriel corrected her. "The guards say the keys are missing. Whoever stole them must've let him out."

She could feel her hands begin to shake, but thankfully Dog was already up against her leg sniffing at Hayes. She buried her hand in his fur, trying to hide it.

"Who was on watch last night?" Bonnie asked, picking at her fingers with anxiety.

Gabriel sighed. "Laura was, but she said she didn't do it, and I believe her."

Bonnie crossed her arms, tilting her head a bit. "So that's what all that poundin' was this morning- y'all wanted to interrogate us?"

Aaron shook his head. "We just needed to ask if you guys saw anything last night."

"Not me." Bonnie answered casually. "I was out cold."

Suddenly all eyes were on Willow, and she thought she was about to vomit.

To ease her discomfort, she adjusted Hayes on her hip and rubbed at Dog's head a little more. "I didn't see anything, I'm sorry."

Gabriel and Aaron both nodded, but Daryl kept still with a stoic expression- the expression that she always hated on him. He was already a hard person to read, but that face always managed to completely seal him off.

There was a dreadful silence that followed Willow's statement, but thankfully it was cut short by light footsteps coming up the front porch. The door was still wide open, allowing them all to see Lydia slowly stepping up a few stairs before stopping short of the door.

"I did it." Lydia announced to them. "I let Negan out."

Willow's hand fell from Dog's head. "Lydia-"

The girl looked at Willow through a few knots in her hair with solemn eyes before turning and walking back down the stairs. They followed her along the street as she took herself down to the cellar with the empty cell.