A Broken World

Fifty-Six

Daryl

She walked away. Didn’t even look at me.

I barely had time to catch my breath, but that didn’t matter. I wasn’t about to let her just disappear into the prison like I didn’t exist.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath, taking off after her.

Merle called something after me, but I didn’t hear it. Didn’t care. He could run his damn mouth all he wanted—I had bigger things to deal with.

I pushed through the doors, my boots heavy against the concrete as I followed her deeper inside. The place was quieter now, but the tension from the fight still hung in the air. She was ahead of me, her pace quick, her shoulders tense.

“Hey,” I called, but she didn’t stop.

I picked up my pace. “Hey!”

She turned a corner, heading for one of the empty cells, and I caught up, grabbing her arm—not rough, just enough to make her stop. She yanked away immediately, spinning to face me.

“What do you want, Daryl?” Her voice was sharp, but her eyes—her eyes were colder than I’d ever seen them.

I swallowed hard, my chest tight. “Come on. You know I couldn’t just leave him.”

She let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. “I do know that, Daryl. I’ve always known that. I just thought—” She cut herself off, jaw clenching.

I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “Thought what?”

She looked at me for a long moment, then let out a breath. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she shot back. “Because the end result is the same. You left. You chose him. I told Glenn not to bother trying to talk sense into you because I already knew what you’d do.” She shook her head again, stepping back. “And I was right.”

I felt something twist in my gut. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like, Daryl?” she challenged, crossing her arms. “Because from where I’m standing, it was exactly like that.”

I exhaled hard, running a hand over my face. “I ain’t just gonna leave my own damn brother out there.”

She nodded slowly, like she’d expected that answer. “I know,” she said softly. “That’s the problem.”

Her words hit harder than I was ready for.

She turned away, walking toward her cell.

I wanted to stop her. Wanted to make her understand. But for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what to say.

Didn’t know if there was anything I could say.

YN

I could still feel him standing there, watching me as I walked into my cell.

I kept my back to him, bracing my hands against the small table by my cot, my fingers gripping the edge. My whole body was tense, my heart pounding—not from fear, not from anger, but from something worse.

Disappointment.

I hated that I let myself believe, even for a second, that he wouldn’t do exactly what he did. That, after everything, I was something more to him than just another person in the group.

That I wasn’t just someone who could be left behind.

He exhaled behind me, the sound heavy in the quiet. I didn’t turn around.