Knife Edge [Daryl Dixon]

Chapter Three - Beyond Today (2/2)

     Daryl lent around the corner of the garage to sneak another look at the house where the men were hiding out. As he did so, someone fired and bullets tore along the wooden siding towards him. He drew his head back fast, turning away and closing his eyes tight to protect them from the shards of wood that flew from the corner. 

Rosita and Tara raced into Alexandria that morning with news that the man and woman with them had just seen five men heading south. It was what Daryl was waiting for, and even better, Rick was still at Oceanside. It could go the way he wanted.

They caught up with the men outside Doswell and had been in a running battle with them ever since. They were the Saviors. Daryl recognized one of them in particular, Wayne. He was one of the pathetic bastards that liked taking stuff from the workers in the Sanctuary. Not a ringleader, more a leech taking advantage of being in with the sharks.

In the last skirmish, Rosita forced them off the road in Ashland, the car the men were driving being no match for their armored Silverado. The men ran though, shooting back at them until they were forced to take cover. 

It didn't do them any good though. Once they were out of sight, Daryl picked up the trail and tracked them to this house at the end of a cul-de-sac. 

When they surrounded the house, the men resorted to shooting wildly. Trying to hold them off until enough walkers turned up to either kill them or force them to leave. It was fair enough. Daryl figured it was the only play they could make in the circumstances but it wouldn't change a thing. He had lost them once, it wouldn't happen again.

But when the group was forced to split up, some to keep the men pinned down and others to fight off the walkers, the last of Daryl's already threadbare patience vanished. 

Murray tried to sneak forward to one of the windows, getting himself shot in the leg for his pains. David was struggling to hold off a walker, trying to get his knife into position to stab it as it snapped inches from his face. Not only that, more walkers were shambling into view in the distance, all heading their way. 

To hell with this.

On the way past David, he yanked the walker off him and plunged his knife deep into its temple, calling for Rosita.

*

Wayne ran along the hall to the kitchen where Matt was patching up Grant. He still didn't know how the Alexandrians had found them, but they had. And worse, it wasn't Rick that had come after them, it was Daryl. 

Rick might talk about living in peace but whenever Daryl came to the Sanctuary since the war ended, he prowled the corridors, snarling at anyone that got too close. Peace was clearly the last thing on his mind.

Wayne kept well out of his way. He didn't want Daryl to remember he was part of the group that set upon him when he tried to escape from the Sanctuary's cells. The fact Negan told him to do it seemed scant justification now but at the time nobody said no to Negan. Not if they wanted to keep their face intact.

He ducked into the kitchen, keeping out of sight of the people taking pot shots at them from the backyard. Matt pressed a folded towel against Grant's side where he lay, panting, his skin clammy as he drifted in and out of consciousness. The bullet wound didn't look serious when they ran from the car but now his clothes were soaked in blood and some sodden towels had already been thrown aside. 

Matt caught his eye, raising an eyebrow in concern but Wayne looked away. What could he say? We should've left him. Stoppin' was a mistake. It was too late for that.

He skirted around the room to what was left of the front window and cursed when there weren't enough roamers in sight yet. He checked the road, catching Daryl poke his head out from behind a garage across the way.