A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S3Pt10 - Woodbury

Michonne told us to pull over and Rick parked the car on the side of the road. We got out and stood in a circle.
"How far?" Rick asked.
"A mile. Maybe two." She said.
Rick nodded and led us into the forest. He took lead with Daryl and I walked by Michonne. We could over hear them talking.
"I know what you did for me. For my baby while I was... working things out.. thank you." Rick said.
"It's what we do. We're family." Daryl said. "But family doesn't hit each other."
Rick sighed and shook his head.
"Daryl?" I said.
"Yeah Kell." He said and turned around.
"Stop talking about it. It was my fault, and it's in the past now." I said, trying to shut down the conversation.
Rick was about to speak but I cut him off.
"Let it go Rick." I said. "Guilt will kill you quicker than anything."
They were quiet after that and continued walking forward. Michonne walked closer to me and leaned in.
"Rick hit you?" She asked.
I nodded at her then looked at Rick. "Lori, his wife, just died giving birth. I tried to talk to him, but I should've known better then."
She nodded at me and I walked towards Daryl. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, and we kept moving on.
The sun was setting but we were almost to Woodbury. Walkers came out of the forest and we pulled out our weapons.
"No noise. Just knives." Rick said.
We killed some and tried to hold them back, but they were adding up. Rick saw a cabin in the distance and we ran over to it. Once inside the cabin we locked the door, but walkers soon surrounded us. It was cold and dark inside.
"What's that smell?" Daryl asked in disgust.
I looked around and we saw a dead dog in the corner of the room. It reminded me of Bud and I backed up in shock.
"Oh God..." I whispered.
I gagged and ran to the opposite corner and threw up. Daryl covered the dog with a blanket and looked at me.
I held out my hand to them. "I'm okay. I'm sorry." I said.
Rick pulled out his flashlight and shined it on a lump in the bed. We carefully surrounded it and Rick gently grabbed the sheets. On three, Rick pulled off the blanket, and a man with a rifle jumped out at us.
"Get-Get out of my house. I'll call the cops." He yelled.
"I am a cop." Rick said and held up his hands.
The man kept aiming his gun but nodded at Rick.
"Then show me your badge." He said.
"Okay, it's in my pocket." Rick said and slowly moved his hand.
The man made a mistake of lowering his gun, and Rick quickly moved towards the gun. His hand was on the barrel when he shot it, and the bullet flew right passed me. He dropped the gun and the man ran towards the door.
"Don't let him open it!" Rick yelled.
Before he could even attempt to, Michonne pulled out her sword and stabbed him in the back. I picked up the man's rifle and it was full on ammo, except that one bullet he fired.
"Get his body. You, get the door." Rick said.
"Her name is Michonne, by the way. I said.
They stopped what they were doing and looked at me and then at her. Michonne nodded at me and I nodded back.
Daryl then helped Rick pick up the body and threw him outside towards the walkers.
"Check the back door." Rick said.
I did and nodded back to them. "It's clear." I said.
They grabbed anything we thought we'd need and ran back out into the forest while the walkers were distracted. Once we were in the clear we saw lights in the distance and heard voices. We hid behind a car and saw the outside of Woodbury. There were guards along the wall keeping watch. I turned around to talk to Michonne and saw her walking away, so we followed her. She led us to a back door where she killed the patrol guard and we snuck into a building. I looked out the window and saw people, like normal people and children.
"Where are they?" I asked.
"I don't know." She said.
"I thought you said you could help us." Rick said. "Have you even been here before?"
"Yes." She said.
"Then where the hell are they?" I raised my voice.
Daryl turned me around and walked me away. Rick sighed and followed us.
"This is just a revenge game to her. But our family in danger here." I ranted.
"I know." Rick said. "If this goes south, we cut her loose."
"Agreed." I said and glared at her.
Then the door to the building creaked open and we all hid behind a wall. I pulled out my knife and nodded at them.
"Come on guys. You know you can't be in here." A man laughed.
He got closer and I tackled him and held a knife to his throat.
"Where are our people?" Rick interrogated.
He smelt like liquor and couldn't manage to speak. Michonne grabbed some rope, tied him up, and taped his mouth. Rick knocked him out and we dragged him into a corner.
"Do you at least have an idea of where to go?" Rick asked.
Michonne nodded and opened the door. We walked down the streets and tried to blend in with everyone else. I looked around in amazement of this place. I've never seen this many people together in one place in a long time.
We approached a metal building at the end of the street and snuck it. We noticed there were three guards and saw Glenn and Maggie tied up. Rick pulled a smoke grenade out of my bag and threw it into the room. The guards were caught off guard and started shooting. I heard one of them start talking over a radio when Michonne stabbed him with her sword. We ran in to grab Glenn and Maggie, and I led them out, but Michonne ran in and killed the rest of the guards. We ran back out onto the streets and were met with gunfire. People were on the rooftops and I was shooting back. I killed a few of them, but we were getting overwhelmed. Rick stayed back and laid cover fire as I led us into another building. Rick came back in and we blocked the door. I looked around and noticed Michonne was missing.
"Damn it." I muttered. "Guys, Michonne's gone." I said.
"Doesn't matter. We keep moving." Rick said.
We nodded and started assessing our friends. Glenn got beat up and looked like hell. He wheezed every time he breathed. Maggie was petrified and flinched when I touched her.
"What did they do to you?" I asked quietly.
She shook her head and hugged her body. I could only imagine what they did to her.
"Daryl." Glenn said. "This was Merle. Saw him face to face. He threw a walker at me, and was going to execute us."
Daryl froze in shock and I stepped forwards.
"Glenn? Are you sure?" I asked and put my hand on Daryl's back.
"Definitely." He said.
"I have to go get him." Daryl said.
"No." I instantly said.
"We need you if anything bad happens." Rick said.
Daryl hesitated, but slowly nodded. But I could tell he wasn't going to forget this.
"Rick I'm sorry." Glenn said. "We told them where the prison was."
"You're fine. It's fine." Rick said.
He helped lift Glenn up and I looked outside the window. There were several guards patrolling the streets wondering where we went and even more on the roof.
"We need to get out of here now." I said.
We ran out into the streets and ran for the front gate. I led us forwards and Rick was laying down cover fire with Daryl.
"You guys go. I'll lay down more cover fire." Daryl called. "Go!"
Rick ran over to my side and I shot some guards that were on top the front gate. We climbed on top of a bus and jumped over the fence. Once we ran into the forest we were out of the gunfire. Glenn needed to stop and was having difficulty breathing. I looked behind me and couldn't see Daryl. My heart suddenly dropped and I got a bad feeling.
Michonne was gone. Daryl was gone. And Merle was back. None of this could mean anything good.