Among The Dead

Prologue

Daryl's POV

I struggled blindly against my captors as they forced me forward. Their fingers latched securely onto my bound form, unkempt nails digging into my skin. I had no idea where these men were taking me, yet I was powerless to stop them. I had to admit, staying behind to look for Merle didn't seem like such a great idea now that I'd been caught for it. I regretted the decision, sure, but it wasn't something I could change. 

I listened intently as I stumbled on, a voice growing louder and louder with every step I took. I flinched a little when I heard the owner of that voice mention Merle, my brother; he called him a traitor, accusing him of letting some "terrorists" into the city. He must have meant us, but that definitely wasn't true. If he had done what Glenn had said he did, he never would have let us in to save them.

According to Glenn and Maggie, Merle had picked them up when they were out on a run for supplies. He hadn't had much of a reason to, but Michonne had told us what the Governor did to other groups. They never came back with the members of any civilizations they supposedly found, so the assumption was that the Governor had been killing them. Whether or not Merle had taken members of our group to find me I don't know, but I do know that my brother didn't let us in. We had to do that ourselves.

Still, the announcement of my brother's supposed betrayal was met with a flurry of gasps and whispers from whatever people had gathered to listen to this man speak. I had no idea who he was yet, but if I had guessed right, I would say that this was the Governor that Michonne had told our group about. She hadn't said much, but what she did tell us made him sound far from friendly.

It also make me want to tear him to pieces for what he was saying. How dare he call us terrorists when he had stolen and tortured two of our group members! It was hypocritical, and not something I was going to forgive. It didn't seem like that was what they were expecting, though.

I grunted as my captors pushed me forward, squirming slightly in their grasp as they directed me to where they wanted me to stand. The speaker's words fell on deaf ears as the chattering of my anxious thoughts drowned him out. They had brought me out in front of all these people...

What were they planning?

I straightened up immediately when the hood was pulled off of my head, hoping to get a better look at my surroundings as I was held there. However, the scene that met my eyes was nothing like what I'd expected.

I was being held in the center of a dirt arena, walkers set at even intervals as if to act like an undead fence. It was easy to see that there was ample room to leave when their chains were pulled tight, but once they were allowed to have a little room to move on their leashes, there would be no escape.

However, I couldn't hear myself think with the crowd shouting at me as loud as it was. There weren't many people there, but it wasn't hard to pick out the creased brows and clenched fists of the standing citizens. Whatever lies the bastard had told them had certainly done what he intended, for every single one of them, even one of the children, was shouting for him to feed me to the walkers.

I looked across to the opposite side of the arena quickly, my eyes widening when I spotted Merle standing there, head still held high despite the circumstances. His eyes looked whiter than the deep blue I was used to, though. It was as if he had seen a ghost. 

To be honest, it was almost as if I had. I'd never expected to see him again, after all.

Once both of us had finally accepted that the other was really there, Merle's pale face began to return to the brotherly look that I knew. His mouth was curled into a small, displeased frown instead of hanging open like the entrance to a dark cave that the locals thought was cursed. Still, he seemed a little too familiar with the turf as he took a few steps towards me.