My Hunter || D. Dixon (On Hold)

Forty-Three - Torn Apart

I shake my head, gripping my rifle in my hands. "This is barbaric," I mutter from my spot next to Rick, watching the Governor and his people at some form of the fighting pit. The people were sitting on the bleachers, surrounding the field in a circle. There were guards holding guns in front of them. Just standing around, waiting. I spotted Merle and Andrea among the crowd.

The Governor walked into the middle of the circle. Gauze covered his eye, I'm guessing from whatever that woman, Michonne did to him. The crowd went silent as he started to talk. "What can I say? Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed." He points out, making me narrow my eyes. "And I thought we were past it-- past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak."

The crowd begins to talk amongst themselves as he starts to walk around. I line up my gun, finger hovering over the trigger just in case. Rick places his hand on my shoulder. "Not until we know where they put Daryl." I take my finger away from the trigger in an instant.

The Governor looks around at his people. "The fear we all felt then. . .we felt it again tonight. I failed you, I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me." He holds out his arms, appealing to the people. "You know, I-- I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I-- I won't, because I can't. Because I'm afraid." The crowd gasps at his words. "That's right. I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have. Want to destroy us! And worse. . .because one of those terrorists. . .is one of our own. . ." His loud voice echoed through the buildings.

The crowd gasped at his words. He raised his hand and pointed at him. "Merle. . ." The crowd reacted again in shock and began to talk amongst themselves. The next person in charge under the Governor was the traitor. I shot a glare to him, our session flashing in my mind. "The man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led 'em here. And he let 'em in." He says and guards around Merle pat him down and disarm him. "It was you. You lied, betrayed us all!" He yelled.

They pushed Merle into the center of the ring. Out of the side of the buildings, four big guards held a person by the arms and made them walk, they were brought to the middle of the circle. They had their arms tied behind them, being forced to kneel on the ground. "This is one of the terrorists!" He yelled, pointing to the tied up figure. "Merle's own brother." He says, ripping off the hood to show Daryl.

I nearly jumped at the sight of him beaten up had it not been for my own wounds. "What should we do with them, huh?" The crowd cheered to kill them, feed them to the walkers. These people are not civil in the slightest as Daryl stared at his brother in shock. "You wanted your brother, now you got 'em." The Governor turns his attention to Merle. "I asked you where your loyalties lie, you said here. Now prove it, prove it to us all! Brother against brother. Winner goes free." The Governor announced and I look to Rick.

Merle holds up his metal arm, looking around at the crowd. "You know me! I'm gonna do whatever I've got to do to prove that my loyalty is to this town." He said, turning and punching Daryl in the stomach. I flinch back, Rick gripping my shoulder in comfort.

The two of them fought, the crowd was going wild. "We have to do something. We can't just sit here and watch." I whisper to Rick, turning my attention away from the fight.

Rick nods his head, raising an eyebrow. "What's the plan?" I look down at the crowd before looking back at Rick.

"You sneak down there and throw smoke. I'll stay up here with the sniper and shoot the walkers and guards. Then, once you throw the smoke I'll shoot out the lights. Get Daryl and get out of here, I'll catch up with you! Go!" I said and Rick nodded to me, heading down the stairs of the building.

The moment the smoke went out I started firing, killing off the walkers one by one. Next was the guards as the crowd started to scatter. Rick threw a second grenade and I watched as he moved flashed his light to get Daryl's attention, who was now holding his gear. "Dare!" I called, catching his attention, making him and Merle run in our direction.

They reach us and the four of us took off towards where we came in the community from. Daryl's at my side, holding me up when I nearly collapse to the ground, rifle skidding across the street. Merle takes the rifle as we run past it. "Come on soldier," Merle says and I would have laughed had it not been for the pain.

We get outside the community and back to the group by the time the sun comes up. Glenn, Michonne, and Maggie are where we left them waiting. "Now, we've got a problem here, I need you to back up." He says and I know he's referring to Merle, who has this shit-eating look on his face about the whole situation.

The pair raise their weapons the moment that they see him. "What the Hell is he doing here?" Glenn shouts, ready to charge at Merle, gun aimed at him. Daryl steps away from me, letting me lean against a tree and steps in front of his brother. Rick raises his arms, stepping in front of Michonne's raised sword.

Everyone started yelling at each other to lower weapons and eventually Merle's knocked out cold on the ground for running his mouth. We return to the car, Daryl helping me sit in the back seat, though he leaves the door open to keep an eye on me. "So you're cutting Merle loose and bringing the Samurai home?" Daryl questions, pointing to Michonne who was watching from afar

"We can trust them. They helped us." Glenn called, defending her. "She did bring you guys to us," He adds, agreeing with

Rick takes a moment, "And then she ditched us." Rick countered.

Daryl looks at Rick and then to his brother who had gotten back up. "She's too unpredictable. We don't know who she is. Merle is blood." Daryl snapped, and Glenn shook his head.

"No, he's your blood." I look up at the Korean in shock. "My blood, my family, is right here and back at the prison."

Daryl nods his head before turning away from us. "We'll fend for ourselves," Daryl says, making me jolt out of the car and stumble towards him as he rounds to the back.

I place my hand on the side of the car, watching him open the trunk. "What?" Rick asked as Daryl put my stuff in the trunk of the car, replacing it for his own stuff.

"No him, no me." He says as I stumble over to him. A look crosses his face at seeing me. "You're not coming. You need to go back, have Herschel look at you." Daryl says and I shake my head, pulling my backpack from the back, only to drop it in pain.

"Daryl don't. You can't." Glenn fought, watching me try and convince Daryl to stay with us. I was trying to convince the love of my life to not leave me.

"No," I say, grabbing Daryl's arm. "You're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to leave after all this shit. You don't get to do that Dare. You promised." I say and he pauses, looking at me before pulling me into a hug, pressing a kiss to my lips.

I shake my head, tears filling my eyes. "Take care Lune," Daryl says before letting go and walking towards Merle.

"Daryl!" I yell, watching the two walk away. "Merle!" I yell again as Rick made his way to me. "Please!" I scream, crying as Rick wrapped his arms around my waist. Rick got me back into the car, sitting in the back with Glenn and Maggie. "Please. . ."