Daryl's Girl

Chapter 105

As soon as Rick walked out of the room, Carl followed on behind. This then left the rest of us all just standing in the cell block thinking about what had just happened.

For as long as I've known Hershal, I've never seen him so angry. He's always been the peaceful one out of us all, and the one who would stop us all from fighting amongst ourselves. Never once had I seen it the other way round, until now.

"We can't leave. We've worked so hard just to get his far. Do we really want to go back out there? All we did through the winter was run. We can't do that now." Carol eventually broke the awkward silence that filled the room. It was then i notice her gaze go from all of us and over to Hershal's crutches. She wasnt wrong.

"She's right." I agreed, stepping forward. "We need to prove to ourselves, and to the Governor that we are strong and that we won't go down without a fight." I then stopped as I looked around the room. All eyes were on me. "The way I see it, is that people who survive, are those who have known defeat, struggling, loss and have found their way out of the depths and have continued to move on...Yeah, we've lost Lori, Tdog, Axel and Oscar here, but there's us and there's the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

At that, I then noticed people begin to agree and we spent a little while longer just talking through everyone's opinions. It seemed like, after my little speech, some started to see why we needed to stay. Going out there would be a death sentence for us all. Especially with the Governor out there. It's going to take all of us to fight against him and Woodbury. We needed to do it side by side.

After a while, we all finished talking and everyone went off to do their own thing. There was still a tension in the air, but it was definitely a lot easier to cope with compared to at breakfast.

An hour or two later, Rick walked back in without Carl. He looked to have cleared his head a little and had his game face back. "Take watch. Eyes open, head down." He turned to Maggie and handed her his sniper. Without any argument, she took the gun from his hand and walked out with a bag over her shoulder.

Rick then started to make his was through the cell block. "Fields filled with walkers." He told us. "I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch." He stopped as he reached Hershal, Michonne, Glenn, Daryl and I over the far side.

"I'll go up in the guard tower. Take out half of them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." Daryl suggested.

"Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne nodded in agreement.

Hershal shook his head. "We can't access the field without burning through our bullets."

"So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo." Glenn growled. Lately, I've noticed that he's changed since coming back from Woodbury. It's like he's become more angry and over protective.

"We've been here before. We'll be alright." I crossed my arms and lent up against the wall.

"That's when it was just us. Before there were snakes in the nest." Glenn snapped back at me.

"Man, we gonna go through this again? Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." Daryl spat back at him, getting all up in his face. "All y'all." He spat again and stormed of to his cell.

As he did, everyone turned to look at me. "I don't like them being here either, but they can help us. I'll go talk to him in a minute, once he's calmed down." I looked up and watched Daryl kick his feet on the ground going back to his cell.

"Seriously, Rick, I don't think them living here is really gonna fly." Glenn growled again, turning to face Rick.

Rick turned to face him straight on, a rather angry expression on his face. "I can't kick them out!"

"I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you. Or Norman." I huffed unintentionally at Glenn's comment as he turned from Rick to face me. There was no need to bring him into it. Both Shane and Norman were just as bad as each other. I didn't see why they had any benifit to this conversation.

"Merle has military experience. He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." Hershal stepped in. He was trying to keep the peace against our rising tempers, going back to his old self after his out burst.

Glenn ignored him. "What if we solved both problems at once? Deliver Merle and Tyler to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitors, maybe declare a truce."

"That may be a bit harsh, and either way how can you guarantee that the Governor would keep the truce?" I replied, defending Merle for Daryl's sake.

"He's to unpredictable." Michonne agreed.

"Fine!" Glenn snapped and stormed off.

No one else said anything as Rick went of after him, leaving Hershal and I just standing looking at each other. He then also walked away and so did Michonne. This now just left me. I figued now would be the best time to go talk to Daryl so I made my way up the stairs and over to his cell.

His cell was the furthest one along the walkway and I figured it was because he wanted to be away from the others. At the very least far enough away so that he had a little privacy.

With that thought in my mind, I hesitated as I reached the cell door. If he was still frustrated with the conversation we'd just had, there'd he no getting through to him, but we needed to talk. That beig the most important part to all of this.

Pushing all of my thoughts to the back of my mind, I stepped into the doorway. His poncho was hanging from the top bunk with his winged jacket and his crossbow was on the floor along with a bunch of his shirts. Daryl himself lay on the bed holding one of his arrows. Twisting it between his fingers. He just glanced over at me as I took another step into the cell.

"Just came to see if you were alright." I leaned up against the bars. "Are you?"

Daryl nodded and didn't say a word. It was at that moment, Carol came and stood in the gap next to me. She smiled at me and looked in at Daryl. "I haven't had a chance to say, I'm glad you both came back." She smiled.

"To what? All this?" Daryl moved the end of his arrow so that is circled his cell.

I rolled my eyes as a hit of a smile creeped onto my face. I then walked into the cell and sat down on the stool. "This is our home." Carol continued.

"This is a tomb." Daryl and I both said at the same time. We both glanced over at each other and back to Carol. She just shook her head and smiled.

"That's what Tdog called it." She looked down at the ground. It was then I could see the tears brimming her eyes. We all missed Tdog. I know I do. We miss all the people we've lost...with a few exceptions.

Carol nodded her head and walked away again. As she did I turned to Daryl and took a deep breath not knowing how he was going to react to what I'm was going to say next.

"Dont get mad." I started to say as I turned my gaze away from the cell door to look at Daryl. He just looked back at me with an emotionless face. "Merle's your brother, but he's not good for you. Don't let him bring you down. After all look how far you've come."

Daryl looked around the room and let out a small puff of a smile. "Goes for you too, with Tyler."

"Seriously." I laughed and raised my brows, matching the same sarcastic tone he had. "Yeah, we had past, but I've moved on. Found something to live for." I smiled. It was then I saw him smile back at me and I knew he knew what I meant. "I'm gonna go find Briana." I kissed his forehead and walked out of the cell.