Daryl's Angel (10th Anniversary Edition)

Chapter 50: The Future From Here

Daryl stares out the window, half-limp, and it takes everything in me to focus on the road. There's nothing I can say to him to make it better, nothing I can do but lend a listening ear when the time comes.

He sits with his hands in his lap, slumped against the car door like a doll at a child's tea party. His crossbow sits at his feet. His eyes are red-rimmed, cheeks stained with tears, and all I can do is drive us back home and hope that, when he's ready, he'll know I'm here for him.

For a moment, lying in the grass back there, I worried that he wouldn't move. I pictured trying to drag him to his feet and failing, begging him to come with me and getting nothing in response. There were walkers nearby, wandering around without food to keep them occupied, and I thought that Daryl would lie there and join his brother.

"We have to go," I pleaded, whispering.

He let out another weak, creaking sob and I forced myself to let him go, to sit up and look for danger. Merle's body was closest, face caved in, and behind him was another body I faintly recognized. He was the teenager with Tyreese's group, the group Rick chased out, but I couldn't recall his name.

I focused back on Daryl even as bile rose in my throat. I gripped his shoulder.

"We have to go," I repeated. "We...we can take Merle with us, bury him."

Daryl shook his head as he finally sat up, his breaths still shaking. "No time," he bit out. "Governor's gonna be there soon."

I forgot about the deal. Without Michonne on his doorstep and with the death of his men to boot, the Governor will be knocking on our door again in no time.

We left not long after we arrived, empty-handed, sitting behind the wheel of Merle's last ride.

The prison comes into view and I look towards our main watchtower just in time to see someone disappearing around the corner. I maneuver through the busted gates and through the field, and I see Rick running to open the gate as we pull up.

Rick closes the gate behind us as I put the car in park. Daryl's out before the engine's off and I take a deep breath before following. Rick approaches, brow furrowed as he looks between the two of us.

"Merle?" he asks.

Daryl turns away as his expression crumples with emotion and Rick looks to me for answers. He isn't stupid, I can see it in his eyes that he knows, but I shake my head anyway.

"No."

I catch Daryl running his hand under his nose, just a quick brush as he sniffles once, and Rick's shoulders sag. "I'm sorry, Daryl."

"Sure," Daryl mumbles.

Rick clears his throat after a moment of silence. "We're gonna fight for this place," he says. "It'll be tough, but we've got a plan. You in?" We both nod. "Good. I'll explain more inside."

----------

It's a simple plan, in theory.

We're going to make the Governor believe that we've abandoned the prison. To do so, we need to pack up all our things and stash the cars. That's the first part. The second involves hiding out in the Tombs and ambushing them when the chance comes. Rick is hoping that, using a combination of smoke bombs and alarms, we can scare them back out into the open and chase them off.

There's not a whole lot of strategy behind it and if we lose the element of surprise, we're done for.

On top of that, people have questions about what happened with Merle. Rick told everyone about the deal during their earlier meeting, so that's cleared up, but Merle's death remains a mystery to them.