Daughter of the Fallen

Rock in the Road Part 5

When we got back to Alexandria, Tobin opened the gate for us and we walked in.

"Lose the car?" he asked.

"It's somewhere safe," Rick assured.

"You didn't find anything."

"No."

Knowing Rick was getting annoyed, I stepped in.

"We need to get everyone ready," I told him. "The-"

I was cut off as we heard the sound of a motorcycle and trucks approaching. It was the Saviors.

"Stand your ground," I mumbled.

Everyone listened to me, shooting glares at the trucks as they entered.

Rick and I lead the group over to where the Saviors were unloading from their vehicles.

Simon was leading the group. "Rick. Hello!" He turned to me. "Hello, Bree Ford. See? I still remember it."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, crossing my arms. "Isn't that joke getting a little old, Simon?"

"It'll be old when I say it's old," he said matter-of-factly.

"We thought you guys would be gone longer," Rick said, acting the part.

"You think we're here for a tribute?" he asked. "Do you?"

Rick shrugged. "Is there another reason?"

"There is," he confirmed, walking up to us. "We're here for Daryl."

"Negan took Daryl," I reminded, playing off of Rick.

"But then your boyfriend showed up and Daryl went missing. Might those two things be connected?"

"They're not," I assured, hiding my glare. "We didn't know he was gone until right now."

Simon smiled and nodded. "Then this should be easy. Now, everyone find a buddy. Gonna have to follow us around. If he's here, we really need you all to see him die. Rick, Bree. Why don't you come with me?"

I gave him a fake smile. "Gladly."

•••

After searching a bit, Simon led us, Carl, Michonne, Tara, and Aaron into the empty pantry.

"Wow," he exclaimed. "These are some bare shelving units. Did you guys have a barbecue or something and not invite us? Seriously, this is sad. I hope you're not trying to hide stuff from is, because generally that doesn't go over well."

"We have a lot of people," Aaron explained. "It's been getting harder to find stuff and our focus lately has been on finding things that Negan might want. We're still adjusting to the new system."

"We were gonna scavenge more today," Rick lied. "If you wait...we'll bring something back. We'll find more."

"Aww," Simon chuckled. "Relax. I'm not here for a pick-up. Good thing. But that day is coming, so you best do whatever you need to do. Dig deep. Go the extra mile. Take some risks."

"We will," Michonne forced out.

"Well, we will appreciate that."

He walked out and we slowly followed him.

•••

"Thank you for your cooperation today," Simon called to us. "My apologies for leaving this place in a bit of a mess, but we have other sh*t to attend to. So do you, I guess. Tick-tock. Chop-chop."

He got in his truck.

"Oh, and Rick!" he called. "If Daryl does turn up here two days from now, two months from now, h*ll two years from now, just know there's no statute of limitations on this. Keep that hatchet handy. You're gonna need it if he turns up with you people. And it won't turn out the way it did for your boy."

He drove off and Tobin closed the gate.

Rick turned to the rest of the group. "What happened to the pantry?"

"We don't know," Aaron promised. "And we need to talk about Gabriel."

"Yeah, where is he?" I asked, stepping forward. "I haven't seen him at all."

"He was on watch the night you all went to scavenge," Tobin explained. "I was supposed to take over for him in the morning. He wasn't at his post."

"Pantry was cleared out and a car was gone," Aaron added.

"No one's seen him since," Eric concluded.

Rosita scoffed. "That son of a b*tch. He stole our sh*t and ran."

"That's what it looks like," Tobin agreed.

"No," I denied. "That's not what happened. He wouldn't do that. That's not Gabriel."

Rick nodded. "I agree with Bree. He wouldn't do that to us."

Rosita crossed her arms. "I thought he changed too, but it can't be anything else."

I gave her a challenging look. "Yes it can." I started walking to the armory.

After a moment, everyone started following me.

•••

I stood in the empty armory with Rick, Michonne, and Tara.

"I can't believe he would just take our stuff and go," Tara said sadly. "That's not who he is."

"He saw Olivia and Spencer die right in front of him," Michonne pointed out.

"Yeah, but he found his courage. I wanna believe he held onto it."

I turned to Rick, who was looking at a book on the floor.

"Rick?" I asked in confusion.

He stood up. "Why wouldn't he have taken this with him? Why would he have left it on the floor?"

It took me a moment to realize it was his Bible.

Aaron, Eric, and Rosita walked in.

"There weren't tracks out there before," Aaron told us. We didn't find anything now. Maybe Daryl could've picked something up."

"He left," Rosita reiterated. "He didn't leave a note. He obviously doesn't want to be found."

I stared looking through our inventory notebook when I saw something on the back page.

BOAT was written in big letters in his handwriting.

"Yes, he does," I objected softly.

I showed it to Rick and Aaron and we all exchanged a glance.

"How would he know were were out there?" Aaron asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

Rick nodded. "Alright, Aaron, Michonne, Tara, and Rosita, get ready to go out."

They all walked out.

"Wait," I spoke up. "What about me?"

He sighed and put his hand on my shoulder. "I need you to stay here and protect our people just in case."

I got caught on one word and I furrowed my eyebrows. "Our?"

He smiled softly. "Our," he confirmed. "You really demonstrated today that these are your people, too. You underestimated yourself. I don't just need you on my front line. I need you by my side."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay," I whispered. "Okay."

As we walked out, I realized I that I had to start viewing myself in a way that I never did before.

A leader.