The Bet

Part 8

Deja vu hit hard later that afternoon. For the second time in a matter of days, you were woken by the awful sounds of combat. This time Daryl was still next to you, both of you sitting up at the enormous explosion that shook the walls of the prison.

He flew into action and was about to slam the cell door shut on you again but you stopped him.

"No! Do not lock me in here again, Daryl Dixon!" you shouted at him. "You're not leaving me in here to worry about you. I'm going with you!" Daryl grunted and nodded once, reaching out for your hand and pulling you through the corridors until you were outside.

When you finally made it out, you saw smoke pouring from tower three. Over near the gates to the courtyard, Maggie, Beth, Rick, Carl and many of the others were gathered looking out beyond the fences to a gathering of cars, trucks and a tank.

You gasped at the site of them, Daryl squeezed your hand and pulled you behind the cover of the maintenance shed.

Daryl quietly and carefully pulled the rolltainer of weapons closer, handing you one, as well as Maggie and Beth and several others. You tried to peek around the corner and could only really make out a half moon of vehicles. Rick was slowly walking down towards the small army and you felt a sick feeling in your stomach. You were sure it was because of what was about to happen and not the baby growing in there.

"Hey," Daryl whispered and touched your arm. "Listen to me..." he took your chin between his fingers so your attention was on him. "Listen... take this, go get Glenn and get to the car that's hidden out behind the tombs. Get to the cabin, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Daryl...." you started, a panic washing over you at the thought of separating from him.

"Look, this ain't gonna end well, not with this prick. Please, I need you to not be here. Glenn needs you," Daryl pleaded with you, but you looked to Maggie and saw her face ablaze in panic. The men by the fence now had Hershel and Michonne on their knees, hands behind their back.

You heard Beth cried out, and Daryl saw it now too.

"Y/N! Please... go, sweetheart... you can't be here," Daryl begged you.

"O... okay... I'll go get Glenn. I'll get us there," you were breathing heavy, but nodded to yourself, trying to convince yourself that you could do it. Looking back to Maggie one last time, then back to Daryl, you pushed back the tears that were burning at the corners of your eyes. "I love you..."

"I love you too... now go, please," he looked beyond you down the path to where Rick was now trying to reason with the invaders. He kissed you fierce but quickly and you took off to find Glenn.

You ran as fast as you could into A block to find Glenn. You found him in a cell, sitting up on the bed, his head hanging between his knees.

"Glenn!" you said as you burst through the bars, "Glenn! Get up, please!"

He slowly lifted his head, "Y/N? What's... Where's Maggie?"

His color was returning thanks to the IV of meds Bob set him up with last night, but he was still tired and weak.

"Glenn, the prison's being attacked, we have to go... Daryl and Maggie sent me to get you," you tried lifting him up off the bed, but his knees gave way at first. Stealing himself against you, Glenn got up and start walking.

"My bunk... we gotta stop there quick," he said insistently. Getting him there as quickly as you could, Glenn fell on his bed the second you got inside the cell.

"Glenn, tell me what you need and I'll grab it, but we gotta go!"

"I got it," he said, rolling off the bunk.

That's when the second explosion happened, knocking you both back on the ground and blacking out.

The light of the day was fading by the time you came back to consciousness. Glenn was starting to stir as well, and you realized how quiet it had gotten. There were no more sounds of machine guns or shouting. You could smell smoke strongly as a sharp pain shot through your head when you tried lifting it.

"You ok?" Glenn asked, trying to stand. He reached a hand down and helped you up. "You're bleeding," he grabbed a rag from the shelf by the bed and placed it on your forehead.

"Glenn, we gotta get out of here. Daryl and Maggie are waiting for us," you pleaded with him, and saw that he seemed to get the severity of the situation now.

In a matter of fifteen minutes, you and Glenn had grabbed some essential gear and ventured out of the prison to try and get to the cabin.

There was enough light left for you to find your way to the path behind the tombs and out to the road where the car was supposed to be. When you breached the forest and made it to the road, the car was gone.

"Shit!" you looked around and saw Glenn slumped down on the ground. "Glenn... Glenn!"

"I'm okay Y/N... I just need to catch my breath," Glenn said in heavy breaths. The sounds of rustling in the woods made you both sit up and be on alert. A half-dozen walkers were oozing out of the trees. You unsheathed your knife, readying yourself to act.

Glenn was trying his best to get to his feet to help with the walkers, but the flu was still taking its toll on him. He managed to get one walker down before falling backward. You were so focused on getting the two of you out of harm's way, the sound of the truck approaching fell on deaf ears.

Just as you were removing the knife from the last walker's skull, you heard the air brakes setting and you whipped around startled.

Three people emerged from the military caravan carrying heavy artillery guns. Two men and a woman stood before you, looking back and forth between you and Glenn. The tall, red-haired, mustached man in front had a wide grin on his face and relaxed his weapon when he saw the state you were both in.

"Well, what do we have here? Seems you folks could use a bit of help," he bellowed, turning back to his companions with a grin. The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. The other man stood uncomfortably still, surveying the area nervously.

"Really? You wanna help? Where the fuck were you five minutes ago when the dead were comin' at us?" you barked, still catching your breath and trying to not vomit up the last of your crackers.

"Ah, I see we have a refined young lady here. You kiss your daddy with that mouth?" He smirked with a raised brow.

You were prepared to come back at him with another smart-ass remark, but your body finally gave in to the crashing waves of exhaustion and pain seeping into every muscle. Falling to your knees, you heard Glenn call your name before once again losing consciousness.