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

S5Pt19 - Recruit Mission

It was the next morning and I woke up to Daryl rocking Lee in his arms. He was walking around the room and looked at me when he heard me get up.
"Morning." Daryl said.
Lee stretched in his arms and babbled. I smiled and quickly got ready.
"How are my boys?" I asked.
I smiled at Daryl and he smirked at me. I kissed his cheek and pet Lee's head. He reached out towards me and Daryl handed me Lee.
"He's probably hungry." I said as he started pulling at my shirt.
Daryl rubbed my shoulder and nodded.
"Once you're done get ready to leave. We have a recruiting mission with Aaron today." He said.
"Shit. I forgot that was today." I sighed.
I looked down at Lee and kissed his cheek. I sighed and nodded my head.
"Okay. I'll see you guys at the gate." I said.
Daryl left the room and I sat down in a chair to feed Lee. I rocked back and forth as I watched Lee, and took my sweet time with him because I didn't want to leave yet. I wasn't ready to go back out there, and I sure wasn't ready to think about not coming back home to my baby.

~~~~~~~~~~

A man drove a car up to the front gates where Daryl, Aaron, and I were waiting. I finished loading my gun and holstered it on my belt.
"I have a lead on this man. Wears a red poncho. We'll follow his trail today and see where it goes from there." Aaron explained.
The guy then parked the car and Aaron sat in the driver's seat. Daryl and I entered the car and the gates opened. With no second to waste, we left Alexandria on our first recruiting mission.

~~~~~~~~~~

Aaron drove down a back road and pulled over to the side. We got out of the car and Aaron pointed into the woods.
"Eric and I last saw him heading this way." He said as he began walking away.
I took out my pistol and started following him. Everything was quiet and I could hear the birds chirping. I tried to relax but it felt impossible. "You like being back out here?" Aaron turned around and glanced at me.
"No one likes it out here." Daryl answered for me.
I nodded in agreement and Daryl looked at me and knew what I was worried about.
"Lee's with Maggie. He's okay." Daryl said. "We'll be back home tonight."
I nodded and walked next to him. I lightly grabbed his hand and he looked down at me.
"Thank you." I whispered.
Daryl nodded and walked away from me. I sighed and slowly followed him. I knew he was still upset at what I did yesterday with Rick, but I felt like I did the right thing.
"He'll get over it in a couple days... I hope." I thought to myself.
We walked in silence for awhile until Daryl found a trail of footprints. Guessing it was the poncho man, we followed the tracks to a small clearing. We hid behind some bushes and saw a man crouching down in the field and messing with the ground. He picked something up from the dirt and rubbed his face and arms
"What is he doing?" Aaron asked.
"Wild leeks. Son of a bitch knows how to keep the mosquitoes off him." Daryl said.
In just a second, the guy quickly stood up and disappeared back into the forest.
"Come on." I urged.
We followed his tracks, but we weren't quick enough and lost him again. We searched for what felt like forever but soon gave up.
"Damn it." I muttered and kicked a rock.
Daryl laid his hand on my shoulder to comfort me, but moved it when I looked at him. I sighed and just shook my head in defeat. I saw Aaron walking far ahead of us when he stopped.
"Hey guys. You'll wanna see this." He said.
We walked over to him and he pointed at a fenced in building that was filled with semi trucks. There were only a few walkers inside and a single car in the middle. I got an eerie feeling and stared at the building. Daryl took out his binoculars and scanned the perimeter, but still didn't see the red poncho man.
"People slip away. It happens." Aaron said. "But you don't come across something like this everyday."
Aaron saw we were hesitant and sighed. I looked at the sun and saw it was near to setting and then looked at Daryl.
"Home is twenty miles back. You'll be home in time." Aaron convinced.
I nodded my head and we made our way over to the building. The walkers noticed us and ran up against the fence. We quietly killed them, and once it was clear we entered through a gate. I passed by the car and saw it was empty inside, but couldn't help but wonder why it was here in the first place. We then split up and started checking in between the trucks, and I even looked under a few, but the place was empty. We met up at the first truck and Daryl was standing at its back doors. He broke the lock and grabbed the handle.
"Let's see what's behind door number one." He said.
He opened the door and we heard a clicking noise in every truck. All the doors opened and we instantly heard the moans. Walkers poured out of the trucks and came after us. We started killing them, but there were too many and we were getting surrounded. I looked around and saw a clear path to the car.
"The car!" I called out.
We ran over to the car and quickly got inside, and locked all the doors. The walkers instantly surrounded us and pounded on the windows. Aaron looked around in the back seat and Daryl and I searched for anything useful in the front.
I opened the glove box and pulled out a note that had a bad message.
"Trap. Bad people coming. Don't stay." I read aloud.
I crumbled up the paper and threw it on the ground. "Fuck." I said.
I took a deep breath and looked at the walkers outside. Their mouths were opened and they moaned with hunger.
"The glass will hold right?" Aaron asked.
"Not for long." Daryl roughly said.
I sighed and everything got silent. I got deep into my thoughts and couldn't help but think about Lee, and Judith, and Carl. I couldn't leave them, but yet here I was trapped.
"We're gonna die." I said quietly.
"No we're not. We'll get out of this." Daryl said, and he grabbed my chin so I'd look at him. "We will."
I slowly nodded and he gently let go of my chin. The pounding got louder and we heard the glass creaking. I then took out my knife and touched the blade. I felt Daryl's eyes on me and I twirled my knife.
"Okay, on the count of three, I'll rush out and lead them away. Then you guys get out and help me kill them." I said.
"You are not leading them away." Daryl said and shook his head.
I looked at Daryl and tilted my head. "What else are we going to do Daryl?" I raised my voice at him. "We're trapped in a fucking car!"
Just then, brains smashed against my window and a body slid down the side of the car. The walkers became distracted and we made that our chance to escape. All at once, we got out of the car and started killing the walkers. In the corner of my eye I saw a man with a long wooden staff defending himself against the dead. In a few minutes, all the walkers were dead and everything was silent. We all looked at this mysterious man and he looked back at us.
He was a tall, middle aged black man who was sincerely calm. He cleaned the blood off his staff with a rag and I stared at him.
I walked a little forwards and held my hand out to him. "Thank you." I said.
He shook my hand and smiled.
"I'm Kelley. This is my husband Daryl and friend Aaron." I introduced us.
"Morgan." He said and nodded.
"Why?" Daryl asked.
"Why?" Morgan said calmly. "Because all life is precious Daryl."
Aaron then cleared his throat and stepped forwards. "Whoever set those traps are bound to be back... but I have good news. We do, actually." Aaron said and gestured to us. "We have a community not far from here. Walls. Electricity. It's safe and you're welcomed--"
"I'm sorry," Morgan interrupted Aaron's proposal. "I thank you, but I'm on my way somewhere. In fact, I'm kinda lost."
He pulled out a map and unfolded it. He then handed it to us and I grabbed it.
"Can you tell me where I am?" He asked.
I looked at the map and instanly saw familiar writing in the bottom corner. It read,
"Sorry I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world is going to need Rick Grimes."
I gasped and looked up at Morgan.
"Where'd you get this?" I asked.
"I found it on the road and saw Rick's name on it, so I chose to follow it." He said.
"You know Rick?" I asked shocked.
"Since the beginning." Morgan said and told us the story of how he met Rick.
"Come back with us. We'll take you to him." Daryl said.
Without any hesitation, Morgan nodded in agreement and we headed back home. We all sat in the car quietly and kept to ourselves. Who knew what everyone else was thinking, especially Morgan who hasn't seen Rick in years, but I could only think about coming home to Lee.

~~~~~~~~~~

We got home and it was already dark. Aaron parked the car and we all got out.
"Let's find Rick, shall we." Aaron said and walked with Morgan.
We followed behind them and walked towards Deanna's house. There was a gathering behind her house, and I guessed it was the meeting that was supposed to be about Rick.
We were casually walking over there until we heard a scream. We all instanly ran towards the noise and stopped at the entrance of Deanna's backyard.
Everything was chaotic. Deanna was crying on the ground and was holding Reg, whose throat was sliced and was now dead. Michonne's sword lay bloody on the floor. Pete was beaten on the ground with Rick standing over him, pointing a gun straight at his head. Rick then looked at Deanna, who looked up at him and nodded.
"Do it." She said.
Rick then looked down at Pete who started shaking his head. He held his hands up infront of his face, but Rick didn't care. He then pulldd the trigger and Pete's lifeless body fell backwards. There was shock, gasps, and tears coming from the crowd.
"Rick." Daryl then spoke up.
He turned around and saw us, then saw Morgan, and he got really still. Morgan was speechless and so was Rick.
"Long time no see..." Morgan said quietly.
"Yeah..." Rick said. "Long time."