my angel ➶ ➶ daryl dixon

f i f t y f i v e

Alex led us out the door, and into a small courtyard surrounded by brick buildings. It was lined with benches, and had a small square garden in the middle. "How long has this place been here?" I asked Alex.

"Pretty much since the beginning. People's camps got overrun, and they found this place. Some were headed to the coast, others up North. But they all wound up here." He stopped in front of a metal trough where a woman was standing.

"Heard you came in the back door." She said, giving us a small smile. "Smart. You'll fit right in here."

"Mary would you fix each of them a plate?" Alex asked, and Mary nodded. She began to fill a few plates with food.

"Why do you let people in?" Michonne asked. We were all clearly skeptical, and wanted some answers.

"The more people that become a part of us, the stronger we get." Alex responded. I looked around at a few of the other people who were in the courtyard. One had black armor on that looked a lot like the one Glenn was wearing when we last saw him. Another had a poncho that looked really similar to Maggie's. I tried to catch Daryl's eye, but he was focused on Alex.

"Here." Alex handed Michonne and Carl food. He reached back to grab another plate when Rick rushed towards him and slapped the food from his hands. He grabbed a watch from Alex's pocket, and pressed a gun to his head. We all raised our weapons, backing away from the food trough.

"Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick asked. Alex held his hands up, but didn't respond. "Where'd you get the watch?!" Rick yelled.

"Don't do anything! I have this!" Alex called, and I snapped my head up, seeing snipers on the roofs of the buildings around us. "There's a lot of us, and not many of you." He said to Rick shakily.

"Where did you get the watch?"

"I got it off of a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it." My heart dropped a bit. He must be lying, Glenn couldn't be dead.

"What about the riot gear? And the poncho?" Rick continued.

"I got the riot gear off a dead cop." Garret said from behind us, and we all spun to face him. "Found the poncho on a clothes line. What do you want Rick? You obviously don't trust us anymore."

"Where are our people?" Rick demanded, tightening his grip on his gun.

"You didn't answer the question." Garret responded, closing his hand into a fist. Gun fire sounded from around us, and Rick flung Alex to the ground. I shot at as many people as I could see, but more appeared every second.

"Get down! Go!" Rick yelled, running down a corridor. I shot at a few more men before Daryl forced me to follow Rick. He followed behind me, his crossbow raised. We tried to make our way around the back of the building when a sniper began to shoot in front of us. He could have easily shot us, but he didn't. He's corralling us.

We turned around, and made our way back through the courtyard. Gun shots forced us into a warehouse where we made our way through an open door. We made our way through a back alley before we were out in the open again. We tried to turn left, but more shots were fired at our feet. "This way!" Daryl yelled as we followed him through another door. Rick tried shooting at a few of the snipers, but it was no use.

We ran past a few red storage containers, and could hear calls for help coming from them. "What the hell." I muttered, but we kept going. We had almost made it to the fence when gun men appeared in the woods. At least ten men had their guns aimed at us. We were trapped.

"Drop your weapons! Now." Garret called from one of the rooftops. We all looked at one another, no one moving. "Now!" He called again. Daryl threw one of his arrows down, and set his crossbow on the ground. I set my gun down, as Carl, Michonne, and Rick did the same.

"Ringleader, go to your left!" Garret called. "The train car. Go." Rick stared at him for a moment. "You do what we say and the boy goes with you. You do anything else and the boy dies, and you end up in there anyways. Now go." Rick took another look at Carl before making his way towards the train car.

"Now the Archer." Daryl looked at me, not moving. "The same goes for the girl if you don't listen." Daryl glared at Garret, but followed behind Rick. They made their way towards the front of the train car.

"Now the Samurai." Michonne followed the men. Rick had reached the steps, where he paused. "Stand at the door! Ringleader, Archer, Samurai. In that order." Garret called. Carl and I watched our group. We were totally exposed, and could easily be shot before we had a chance to move an inch.

"My kids!" Rick yelled. Garret paused for another moment, looking down at us.

"Go kids." He finally said, and we walked towards the group. "Ringleader open the door and go in!"

"I'll go in with them." Rick responded.

"Don't make us kill them now." We were about halfway to the train car, and I nodded to Rick. We would be ok. He took the last few steps up to the train car, and opened the door. It screeched on its hinges as Rick disappeared inside. Daryl looked at me one last time before he and Michonne followed. I took Carl's hand as we closed the distance to the train car. Reaching the steps, we paused. I gave Carl's hand a reassuring squeeze, and we took the steps together.

Once inside, Carl released my hand, and Daryl wrapped me in a hug. He released me all too soon, and the door shut behind us. We were surrounded in darkness. All that could be heard for a few moments was our heavy breathing until a voice sounded from the opposite side of the train car. "Rick?"

Figures began to form from the shadows, and I was able to make out Maggie and Glenn. A small smile formed on my face. My friends were safe. "You're here." Rick responded.

A few unfamiliar people stepped up behind them, three men and three women. "They're our friends." Maggie explained. "They helped save us."

"Now they're friends of ours." Daryl said, and I reached for his hand.

"For however long that'll be." A red haired man with a large beard spoke up.

"No." Rick declared, pausing to look out a crack in the train car before turning back to us. "They're screwing with the wrong people."