Left to Wander • • Daryl Dixon

Chapter Eighteen

We had come back from our watch faint singing could be heard and we came back to see Beth and Maggie singing the end of some song. Daryl and I sat side by side as Rick finally left his loop of security checks on the fence. I had shivered and he threw his arm over my shoulder and I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Thanks." I whispered to him and he gave a slight nod before Rick started to speak up.

"Got a big day tomorrow. " He stated simply and I glanced at Daryl confused and he shrugged not knowing either.

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked always being the one to ask the important questions. I glanced from the asian to Rick as I took one more small piece of meat that we had cooked up and ate it hungrily.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. Looks like this place fell pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intact. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary." Rick explained the situation and it made sense but that means we had a whole prison to clear out with little ammunition we had.

"An armory?" Daryl spoke up and I hung onto the words that passed his rough lips. An armory would be amazing. We'd finally get more ammo and be able to clean our guns properly. I was sick of ours jamming, it could get us killed one day.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine." Rick's voice growled the last sentence obviously trying to be serious about how important this was and I looked at the crackling fire, sitting a bit aways and Daryl stayed outside the circle with me a bit. I think I just made him responsible for me and I gave a sheepish expression embarrassed. I felt like I had forced him into this position. Maybe I shouldn't have told him after all.

"We're dangerously low on ammo. We'd run out before we make a dent." Hershel proved an important point I think we had all been thinking. It was dangerous and risky, not to mention there were a lot of walkers. They could easily overpower us all.

"That's why we have to go in there Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance." Rick finally stated making it the final decision and with that I pushed away from Daryl a bit. He looked confused but didn't question me. He probably thought I was in a sensitive state, but I was anything but. I wanted to clear out the prison just so we could be safe inside and so I could drink another bottle of alcohol. I just wanted to be alone with my demons for a bit. I laid on the soft cold grass. I shivered in my worn leather jacket as I felt myself drifting off. As I was nearing my dream state I felt something a little heavy and warm drop on my lower half and that's all I needed to drift away.

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When I awoke I glanced down to see a poncho awkwardly draped over my upper torso. I felt my cheeks rising with heat and I stood up, bringing it over to Daryl who threw it back on.

"Thanks." I mumbled softly like last night and he shrugged.

"It was no big deal Ram. Don't know why you moved away in the first place." He grumbled and I looked away somewhat ashamed. He probably would've been warmer too. I sighed softly and scratched the back of my head.

"I'm sorry okay?" I snapped slightly and he flinched at my harsh tone and I looked upset. What was going on with me? He just said it was fine, why was I making such a scene out of it like a toddler? I quickly walked away to Rick who was forming a small group.

"Are we ready to go in?" I asked and Rick nodded slightly as we walked to the closed gate.

"Everyone, stay close." He commanded and we all nodded slightly as we crowded into a semi circle. We opened the chained gate and immediately rushed in together. At some point Daryl had joined as we started to make our way through the yard of turned prisoners and guards. One by one they fell as we got closer and closer to the safe walls of the large prison. We got to a wall seeing a mass amount of walkers behind a gate, 4 walkers in swat uniforms wobbled out as we killed the few that spilled past the open gate. I ran out of the formation we had created.

"Naya, get back here!" Rick yelled at me and I pulled the gate close, latching it with two chains and clips, a walker had snapped at me in the process. I fell back as the rest of our small group killed off the swat members. Daryl leaned over so he was now in my gaze.

"Aren't you graceful?" He teased and I rolled my eyes, I held my arms out and his rough hands grabbed mine as he helped me get to my feet. He stood close behind me as he held onto my hands just a little longer then needed. I felt my heart pounding in my ears and when I started to pull away his hands lingered up my arms causing immense heat to rise to my cheeks.

"Well, it looks secure." Glenn stated as we came together again to discuss the next course of action before Daryl spoke up.

"Nothing will lead to that courtyard over there. And that's a civilian." He stated an observation and my eyes went to the woman laying on the ground... The thing. A chill ran up my spine and I glanced over being pulled out of my thoughts by someone speaking.

"So the interior could be over run by walkers from outside the prison." T-dog stated and I looked concerned, scratching the back of my head.

"Well, if there's walls down, then, what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn argued and nodded glancing back at the large walls. I looked to Rick for answers.

"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in." He stated and we started to the door. I took a deep breath as I stay behind following everybody's lead. We entered into the prison unknowing what awaited us.