Stray // Daryl Dixon

Staring at the End

We slowly crept up to one of the abandoned cars just on the outskirts of Woodbury, the sun had set by now, the only thing lighting up the sky was the moon and the dim glow of the lights from within the town. From a distance, I could faintly make out Tyreese and Sasha stationed up on the guard tower. Now that we saw what the Governor had done to his own people, innocent people, we were no longer after Woodbury to put an end to this. It was clear to us now that we had to get Andrea back and help those that were trapped here under the eye of the Governor. It was only a matter of time before each and every one of his residents would do something to displease him that would ultimately cost them their lives. It happened to any outsider that had crossed his path, it happened to his men, it happened to Merle, and it almost happened to us.

All of a sudden a gunshot went off, hitting the ground to our left, Tyreese wasn't a very good shot, but they had spotted us. We began firing back, covering ourselves. They had too many tires piled high along the top of their walls, making it hard to get a good shot at them. In between gunshots, while everyone was reloading, Karen stood up from behind the car.

"Tyreese!" she shouted, raising her hands and making herself known. "It's me! Don't--"

"Get down!" Rick whispered to her, angrily. He grabbed her by the arm yanking her back to the ground.

"Karen!" Tyreese called back to her worried that we had harmed her. "Karen, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" She ripped her arm out of Rick's grasp, standing up again.

"Where's the Governor?" Tyreese questioned.

"He fired on everyone. He killed them all." She explained. There was silence for a moment, a state of shock overcoming them.

Rick looked back and Daryl and I like he was unsure what he was going to do next to get us in there.

"Why are you with them?" Tyreese finally spoke up again.

"They saved me!" Karen answered. She understood us now, understood that we weren't the bad guys here.

"We're coming out!" Rick finally shouted, making the decision for us. He stood up first, raising his hands in surrender.

I looked at Daryl, he shook his head like we shouldn't be doing this, but I trusted Rick's gut. I stood up next along with Michonne, raising our hands, walking up slowly to the main gates. Daryl followed reluctantly, he was the last to drop his weapon before he raised his hands. To my surprise Tyreese met us at the door with his sister, swinging open the hatch and meeting us just outside of the entrance.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, he spoke calmer now.

Rick looked at us before meeting eyes with Tyreese again, "We were coming to finish this-- until we saw what the Governor did."

"H-he killed them?" Tyreese stuttered over his words, the realization of it finally hitting him like a ton of bricks.

Rick nodded, sighing and sinking his head to the ground, "Yeah," he murmured, "Karen told us that Andrea hopped the wall going for the prison. She never made it. She might be here."

Tyreese looked over to his sister unsure of what to do. Thankfully she nodded her head, agreeing to let us in.

"Alright," Tyreese straightened up, agreeing to help us, "Where do you think she could be?" he asked as we walked into Woodbury.

Rick glanced over at me like he was seeing if I was okay to take charge. I'd be lying if I said that being back behind these walls didn't send a silver down my spine.

"We think he could be holding her the same place they kept me," I answered him. Tyreese's eyes met mine, his mouth falling open slightly at the thought of it. They lived within these walls, but there was so much going on behind them that they didn't even know half of it.