Farmer's Daughter (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Chapter 27

Melinda's POV

The realization finally took over. I would never be able to tell him that. I'm never getting out of this place.

It hurt to know that I had yet lost another person that meant so much to me. And all because people are selfish.

We could have worked something out with the governor. We could have made a deal. Or maybe I was the selfish one, thinking only about myself in the time of coming here and not that now the people I care for are safe.

"There's a reason I came down here." Merle interrupted my thoughts. His face was straight and hard, much like Daryl's. "The governor has something planned for ye, and I'm supposed to bring ye there."

I felt nauseous at the mention of that man. He made my stomach churn with his sick and demented ways of getting things done. I hadn't even known the man long, but it was long enough to know that he was bad news.

"Where are we going?" I try to keep a brave face as I think of the reason that I came in the first place.

"The yard." He answers simply. I had no idea what the yard was, and I didn't think that I wanted to find out. "I'm gonna have to get ye to stand up. I'm going to tie yer hands together and put a bag over yer head. But that's just for safety precautions."

I followed what he said. Standing on my shaky legs and placing my hands behind my back. He didn't tie the ropes extremely tight, and I was thankful for that. He then placed the cloth bag over my head like he said he would and we began walking.

We went down corridor after corridor. Door through door. Until finally I felt the cool breeze of night on my skin. The weather was changing drastically, the days were still hot but the nights cooled past comfort.

There was soon the sounds of screaming. I came to a halt and panicked at the thoughts of danger.

"It's alright. Just the people who live here. It's sorta like a big party. But the party ain't gonna be fun for ye." He lightly tapped my back to keep me going. The grip he had on my arm was firm, but not to firm.

I could see the bright lights from under the cloth on my face. The people grew louder and more rambunctious. I recognized the voice of the governor yelling to them all.

"This woman! She has betray us! She has been carrying the answers for this disease all along! Luckily we have her uncle to thank for telling us about her." There was a pause before the cloth was ripped off my head. "Now we have the answers! And we have two options!"

The crowd roared with excitement. Different pitches of screams came into my ears, woman and men, even children.

"We can either let her go, or we can fight!" He screamed, and the crowd became impossibly louder. It was sick. Everyone's hands were in the air as they chanted. The enthusiasm they had made me want to be sick with what they were screaming.

Fight.

"I knew you all would say that. So I picked out a special person to be the opponent." He turned with a sickening smirk on his face as he looked the the person next to me. "Merle!"

Merle's grip on my arm loosened as the thought sunk in. But he quickly composed himself and ran to the center of the circle cheering himself on. He chanted his name as the audience took over. His name flowed through my ears as someone cut the restraints off my arms. They pushed me forward as the governor once again yelled.

"Fight! To the death!" He backed into one of the corners as my mouth went dry. I stared in shock at the man in front of me as he took off the sharp blade from his contraption. He cracked his neck and swung his arms as he bounced my way.

"Sorry princess." He mumbled before taking a swing. My body falls to the ground with a hard thud as he raises his arms in the air and the crowd cheers.

I take this opportunity to raise to my feet and throw a punch to his nose. He stumbles back and grabs his face. Pulling his hand back and looking at it, there was bright red blood flowing out of his nose.

He looks shocked as he storms up to me and manages to lay me flat on the ground. He bends down on his knees as I wrap my hands around his neck. He grabs my shirt as he whispers to me.

"Trust me on this." His face starts to turn a light pink as a squeeze harder.

"Why should I?" I growl.

"Because I'm gonna get you back to Daryl." His hand moves to my throat as he tightly squeezes.

"I wouldn't count on it." I wheeze as I knock a punch into his cheek. He falls to the side as I manage to back away from him and breathe.

Right when he stands up a bullet goes through a ladies head in the stands. Merle looks at me and runs my way.

"Come on!" He grabs my arms and stands me to my feet, pulling me along behind him.

Smoke starts to fill the arena and it gets harder to see as we run faster.

"Merle!" I cough. "Slow down!" My legs are begging for me to stop, to just sit down and take a break. But I know that I can't.

"Come on girly. Just a little further!"

I soon feel another hand grab my arm and I panic, pulling my arm from Merle I begin to swing at the person holding me but they grab both of my arms before I can.

"Melinda!" I look at him the best I can and can see the black short hair. I can see the bright blue eyes.

"Rick." I sigh in relief.

"Yeah it's me. We have to go!" I nod my head and turn to see Merle pulling at the metal fence.

"Let's go! I don't have all day!" He barks. I ignore his rude comment and run through the fence. The others aren't far behind me so I keep going and going.

We had ran into the woods and were plenty far from Woodberry when I finally stopped. I got down on my knees and coughed. My lungs hurt, truthfully my whole body hurt. I most likely had bruises from head to toe thanks to the governor and Merle.

I felt a soft hand grab my arm and pull me up. I turned to see Rick. I was happy to see him, but he didn't look happy. He looked mad, irritated, worried.

"I know you're tired but we have to keep going. I know you can." He slung my arm over his shoulder as his arm came around my waist and we walked. We walked for hours until the sun finally started to peak over the hills.

I started to see the outline of a car up ahead. Where the forest turned to road. I sighed in relief and Rick looked over and lightly smiled.

"Yeah we're almost there. Just a little farther."

I could now make out the faint figures running our way. One looked to be Maggie, the other Glenn, and another was Daryl.

Tears made their way down my face as I unattached myself from Rick and ran the best I could to the man.

At full speed he scooped me into his arms and held me. My tears fell onto his neck as I pushed myself further into him. My arms were around his neck and I grabbed whatever I could and just held on.

One of his hands was securely around my waist while the other held my head against him. He rocked softly back and forth as he started to rub my back.

"Don't do that again."

A/N

So this one is small but I felt like you all needed a little Daryl love. You're welcome.

-Melinda