A Brother's Influence (A Daryl Dixon Story) Part Three

The Final Straw

Chapter Nine

The Final Straw

 Rick/Daryl

The look Daryl gave Rick as he drove through the gates told Rick everything he needed to know without the details. Something big happened and it wasn't good. Rick hopped out of the car and rushed back to where Daryl was walking up. "What happened?:"

Daryl looked at the bags the team brought back; at least they had better luck he thought. "The Governor sent a little team over to try to collect Maggie and Michonne. They found the group at the creek doing laundry. Patricia was pulled into the woods by Walkers and T-Dog was cracked over the head and killed. If little Beth hadn't stepped up, they might have all been killed or taken."

"How is Lori and the kids?" Rick asked while walking inside to see for himself. As soon as he walked into the common area, Carl ran up to him, needing his father after the day's events. "Dad!"

"It's okay, I'm here. Did you take care of your mom and sister and Anna?" Rick asked Carl, wanting to show him he should be the man when Rick wasn't around.

"Yes, I stayed close to protect them. They're fine, mom's feeding Judith right now in her cell and Anna is still painting." Carl walked around the table and sat next to Michonne who was sharpening her knife.

"How's Beth doing?" Rick asked Daryl. Before he could answer, Chloe walked in and said, "She's still upset, she and Patricia had grown close after her mom died. Hershel is in there with her now." Chloe bent down and gave Daryl, who was sitting next to Michonne, a kiss on the cheek.

"Let me go check in with Lori then I'll come back and tell you about the run." Rick walked away to go find Lori.

"Shit is going to go down and soon. That Governor is making some bold moves and getting our people killed. We're going to have to make a move ourselves. Take the fight to him or set a trap or something. We have enough to worry about with the damn Walkers. We can't be afraid every time we go out to search for supplies. That's what he wants." Daryl was making himself more upset the more he thought about it. Fucking Merle, how does he get caught up with people like that, His whole life he has and it always leads to problems. 

 "We can't get too crazy with this guy. He has already proven he's a killer. No matter whose hand killed Patricia and T-Dog, they were sent by him. We need to play this smart. Not go off half cocked. What do we know so far? We know that he has a lot of gun power and more people than we have. Michonne, you said there was about eighty people in that town? Is that right?" Rick had walked in and heard the last of Daryl's sentence.

"Well I'm not saying go in half cocked but I don't want us to sit here with our heads up our ass either. I want to go on offense instead of playing this defense bullshit." Daryl had had it with losing people. Before the turn, he kept people at bay, never letting anyone get close enough to hurt him. Now, since he has been with Chloe and with this group, he's learned to care and with that, hurt always comes along with it.

"I know you're mad, angry, hell, I am too. I don't want to lose anyone else. But we need to do this the right way. Have a plan. Michonne, eighty people, is that about right?" Rick restated his question.

"Yeah, that's close to what I saw. But at least fifty were women and children and old folk. So at the most, we're looking at thirty. That still leaves us undermanned." The woman told Rick.

"Thirty, with the right preparation, that could be doable. We found a pretty good stash of guns over at Morgan's place. But without knowing what this Governor has, I am going to assume that we are still under stocked in the gun situation." Rick had been taking notes with a notebook he found in one of the cells.