Men and Monsters - A Walking Dead Love Story

The True Monsters (Chapter V)

"That's where she died." Rosita said, as they pulled onto the railroad tracks. Louis was the last one out of the car,

and joined Michonne in looking around for any recent signs of Daryl being there. Rick had been reluctant to let him

go with the search party, but he knew how much Louis cared about Daryl, amd that nothing he said would stop him from going after him.

"Alright, so he had to start from here." Glenn said, stepping beside Rosita. "Which way did Dwight run?" he asked. Rosita remained silent, stairing

at the blood stain on the tracks. "Rosita?" Glenn urged. "We should let him do this." the woman replied suddenly, causing Michonne and Louis to

turn in her direction. "But he doesn't know what he's doing." Glenn argued, shaking his head. Louis made his way over to the two, joining the conversation.

"We don't." she said flatly. "Rosita, he's hurting badly right now. He's going to be reckless." Louis said sadly. "Louis is right," Glenn agreed, turning back to the woman.

"He's not thinking straight, he could get himself killed." The younger man winced at the thought of his lover being hurt in any way. Rosita nodded. "Now," Glenn continued,

"Which way did Dwight go?"

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An arrow whizzed past, narrowly missing Rosita before embedding itself in a tree. She ripped the arrow out angrily. "Watch the hell out, asshole!" Daryl glared at her. "I did." he grumbled

"You shouldn't have come." "You shouldn't have left." Glenn retorted, marching towards the man. Louis followed closely behind, resisting the urge to throw his arms around the older man.

"When I split off from Sasha and Abraham, he was out there in the woods," Daryl said, gesturing towards the trees. "in that burned out forest with them girls, put a gun to my head, tied me up."

He began walking back off into the woods. "I even tried to help him." The others followed him, and Louis caught up to him quickly.

"Daryl, stop!" he said, grabbing the archer's hand. Daryl stopped dead in his tracks. "I know you're hurting. What happened to Denise wasn't fair, and I know you wish you could have stopped it. But it wasn't your fault! You can't blame yourself."

The older man remained silent, and Louis moved in from of him.

He looked the archer in the eyes, which he noted were glimmering with tears, and raised his hand to his face, his palm resting against the man's cheek. "Please Daryl... We need

you back at Alexandria. I need you..." The man closed his eyes, and gave a slow, hesitant nod. The sound of leaves crunching coming from behind them ended their tender moment, and they all reached for their weapons.

"Well well well..." a blond man with burns on the side of his face stepped out from the surrounding wood. He held a pistol in his hand, aimed at the small group of survivors. "What have we here?" the five Alexandrites aimed their weapons at the man, but

he simply broke out in a wide grin. "I wouldn't if I were you." Just then, several other people came out of hiding, forming a circle around the five. They were surrounded. Dwight stepped closer to Daryl, a sadistic smile

still plastered on his face. He pressed his gun to the archer's shoulder. "Hi Daryl." And then a gunshot rang out within the woods.

______

It was dark. There was almost no light, save for a few small holes on the wall of their prison. They had no idea where they were. Some sort of camp, they had guessed. Louis had done his best to stop the bleeding

from Daryl's wound in the dark, confined space. He made a makeshift tourniquet with a piece of cloth that he had ripped from his shirt, and a small but sturdy stick that he had picked as they were ushered to their

current dwelling. There were voices outside, though the walls of the prison muffled them significantly. Daryl held Louis' body against his tightly, though the younger man could not tell if the gesture was meant to be protective or just for comfort.

The younger shook with adrenaline and terror, a panic attack making itself known. The archer stroked his hair, whispering words of comfort as Louis rode out his panic attack in silence, though he was certain

that the older man was just as scared as he was.

Suddenly, the door to their prison was thrown open. They were all grabbed, and dragged out. Louis looked around, his eyes widening in horror as they fell upon Rick, Carl, Sasha, Abraham, Eugene and Maggie,

all on their knees. The five prisoners were force to do the same, Louis miraculously being placed next to Daryl. No matter their fate, at least he was there with him. The younger man reached out behind him, searching desperately

for the older man's hand, only to find that the other had been searching for his hand as well. Tears fell from his eyes as he gripped Daryl's hand as if it were the last day of his life, which it very well might be

Dwight knocked on the door of the RV parked not far from the prisoners. "I love you." Louis whispered, his voice cracked and shaky. "I love you too." Daryl replied. If they were going to die, they each wanted the last thing they heard to be the other's voice.

A tall man stepped out of the vehicle, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire resting casually on his shoulder. "Hi," he spoke, his voice like thunder in Louis' ears. "I'm Negan."

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(A/N) This is the last chapter until S7 comes on in October. Sorry this took so long to write!