𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ➳ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

Chapter 6 ~ Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

"Is your family here?" Rick asked the man I now knew as Morales.

He was silent a moment before replying, "We never made it to Birmingham. They didn't,"

"Well, I'm sorry," Rick told him honestly and I could hear the sincerity in his voice when he spoke.

But Morales didn't buy it apparently as he scowled over at the former Sheriff.

"Really, Rick?" he bit out but Rick cut him off.

"I am. I lost people, too..." he started before continuing to count off names, most of which I'd never heard of before apart from the first and last, "Lori. Shane. Andrea. Glenn..."

I swallowed down a lump of bile rising up in my throat, the memory still fresh in my mind.

"Negan killed him. Forced him to his knees. Bashed his head in right in front of me. In front of his pregnant wife,"

"He had a wife?"

"He met her,"

"In this?"

"Yeah. In this. She's the Widow..." Rick trailed off before he glanced over at me, suddenly remembering my presence, "I met other people in this, too. People that mean a lot to me,"

Gunfire sounded then in the distance and I started at the sudden sound, my eyes widening a fraction.

"Dad," I mumbled to myself, frowning.

I was just about to take a step towards the door when Morales lifted his gun up again, aiming at me. Stopping dead in my tracks, I felt Rick gently rest a hand on my forearm before tugging me back to stand beside him.

"Angel, it's fine. I'm sure Daryl is alright," he assured me, his voice soft and calming as his ice-blue eyes bored into mine.

I nodded, still unsure. It's not like we had a big army-load of men with us. Not that dad couldn't handle himself - in fact, I knew he could. But still...it made me uneasy to think of him fighting Saviors off on his own.

"Wait...'dad'?" Morales asked suddenly, interrupting our conversation as his eyes locked onto mine, "You're-"

"Daryl's daughter," Rick confirmed before I could reply and I shot him a grateful smile for speaking up on my behalf before turning back to face Morales.

The Hispanic man sent me a wary glance and inwardly, I smirked. So he did know my dad, then. Good. He should be scared.

"I don't remember you from before," he said, eyeing me up and down.

I shrugged, "It's 'cause I wasn't. I met him a couple of years ago,"

He waited for me to continue my story but when I didn't say anything further, he just rolled his eyes and went back to his conversation with Rick. I mimicked his action, huffing slightly. What? It's not like he actually deserved to know more about me - I didn't even know this guy. Besides, he was one of Negan's little minions now, regardless of who he'd been to Rick, to dad, and the others. We couldn't trust him, I decided.

"Are you Negan, too?" Rick asked him suddenly, spitting out the name just like it was poison on his tongue.

"I lost my family. I lost my mind. I was in some tow trailer, sleeping myself to death. Waiting to become nothing. And the Saviors - they found me. They thought I was worth something., worth bringing back with 'em. So, yeah... Yeah, I'm Negan. To make it this far, this long? I had to be. I had to be something. Just like you," he confirmed, utterly convinced in his mind that what he was doing was justifiable.

"We're not the same," Rick shook his head in disagreement, disgusted by Morales' open display of loyalty to that scum.

"How's that?"

"Well, look at you,"

"Look at me? Look at us, Rick. Look at us. We're two men who'll do whatever we have to just to keep going. And the only difference is I'm the one holding the gun. That doesn't make me any worse than you, Rick - that just makes me luckier. 'Cause let's face it, if it wasn't me, if it was you holding the gun, I'd be brains out on the floor right now,"

"You don't know that," I bit out, the man's dark eyes turning to me at my words.

"And you do, little girl? Huh?" he spat back.

"I know I wouldn't want to," Rick interjected, effectively switching Morales' accusatory gaze off of me and onto him.

"Come on. Is that the best you can do?"

"I'd - I'd at least try to find another way,"

"Yeah? Why? 'Cause we knew each other for a few days back at the start"

"Look, I know - I-I wouldn't - I wouldn't just-" Rick started, tripping over his words as he tried to find words to stall him.

"You want to know what I think? I think you can talk all you want. You can say all the words. Lori, Shane, Andrea, Glenn - they're all dead, and somewhere along the way, Officer Friendly died right along with 'em," he said, his finger sliding over the trigger of the gun.

I arched an eyebrow at the nickname, making sure to file it away to use as teasing material later.

"Just like I did with them. That's what I know, Rick," Morales spat, rage radiating in his dark eyes.

His finger was just about to pull that trigger and I could feel words on the tip of my tongue - words of apologies, secrets, lies, and forgiveness for all the things in my life that I hadn't had the chance or courage to say. My eyes fluttered closed, preparing myself for the painful impact of the bullet when suddenly, Rick cried out, "Wait, no!" and my brown eyes flew open. Instantly, the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air filled my ears and Morales went down with one final groan. Briefly, my gaze flicked to the lifeless body on the floor before my eyes locked onto my father.

"Daddy," I breathed out, racing over to him.

Instantly, he wrapped me in a brief but tight hug before releasing me. His hand rested gently on my arm as he looked me up and down for injuries. But before he could speak, I felt a rush of thick liquid rush up my throat. Spinning around to where I was facing the corner, I emptied the contents of my stomach into a waste-basket sitting by the door. Tears pricked my eyes as I finished vomiting and I rested my hand on my knees briefly, breathing heavily from the exertion. Dad put a hand on my back, the touch warm and soothing.

"You good?" he asked me gently and I nodded slowly in response.

"Yeah... I'm fine." I said, wiping the back of my mouth off with my sleeve.

"That - T-That was-" Rick started to speak, visibly shaken by what just happened.

"I know who it was," Daryl interrupted, leaning down briefly to remove the arrow from the back of Morales' head with a loud squelch before facing Rick once more, "It don't matter. Not one little bit. You find them guns?"

Rick was silent, just staring at Daryl like he didn't recognize the man before him. You could cut the tension in the air like a knife.

"They aren't here," Rick informed him.

"What?" Daryl asked in disbelief.

"He called the Saviors back from the courtyard," Rick said, dropping down to his knees to pack up whatever he could find that we may need, "We gotta get out before-"

Just then, a loud boom sounded from somewhere outside the building. My eyes widened and Rick glanced up at the two of us standing in the doorway.

"They're here."