We go back inside the prison, in the main meeting area. We spread out in a half circle. Daryl and I sit down next to each other on a table.
Carol and Andrea embrace. Andrea notices Hershel and her mouth falls open.
"Hershel...oh my gosh," she says. We stay quiet. "I can't believe this place." She looks around, her eyes wide with amazement. "Where's Shane?"
Rick drops his head, and no one answers.
"Didn't make it off the farm," I say.
"And Lori?"
Rick still doesn't make eye contact.
"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive," Hershel says.
"T-dog died leading me to safety," Carol says.
"I'm so sorry," Andrea says. "Carl...I..."
Carl looks away from her.
"Rick..."
He still doesn't answer.
Andrea tries to change the subject. "So you all live here?"
"Here and in the cell block," Glenn says.
"There?" she asks, pointing. Glenn gives a small nod. "Well, can I go look-"
"I can't allow that," Rick says, cutting her off.
"I'm not an enemy, Rick."
"We had that field and that courtyard, until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." He glares at her.
"He said that you shot first," Andrea says.
"Well, that's bullshit," I say. "A lie."
"He killed an inmate that had survived," Hershel says.
"Yeah, we liked him. He was one of us," Daryl says.
"I didn't know any of that," Andrea claims. "As soon as I heard, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until the shootout."
"That was days ago," Glenn says.
"What have you told them?" Andrea asks Michonne.
"Nothing," she replies.
"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd woman out?"
"He almost killed Michonne, and he was gonna kill us," Glenn says.
"And you saw what he did to Hope and Daryl," Rick says.
I cringe and Daryl takes my hand, squeezing it lightly. I try not to think about that night.
"Wasn't he the one who kidnapped you?" Andrea asks Glenn, pointing at Merle. "Didn't he beat you?" We say nothing, and she rubs her hands over the bridge of her nose. "Look, I can not explain or excuse anything that Philip has done, but we've got to work this out."
"There's nothing to work out," Rick says. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."
"We can fix this," she says. "There's room in Woodbury for all of you."
"You're really gonna ask me to live with the guy who held a knife to my throat? Made my boyfriend and his brother fight in front of a cheering crowd?" I ask, appalled.
"What makes you think that this man even wants to negotiate?" Hershel asks. "Did he send you?"
"No."
"Then why did you come here?" Rick demands.
"Cause he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified, they see you as killers. They're training to fight."
YOU ARE READING
Daryl's Angel (Book One in the Apocalypse Angel Trilogy)
Fanfiction"Why're you bein' so nice to me?" "I would want the same if I were you." Hope Starling was alone when the dead started rising. She had always been alone, with parents that had disowned her and no friends to help her. Inside the department store in...
