𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 | Daryl Dixon

37 | FUTURE IN-LAW

True to his word, Rick had taken Michonne and Carl with him on a search for weapons, heading several miles out, aiming to be back before the nightfall.

The absence of the three caused everyone else to be on high alert, needing to be ready for a sneak attack at any moment. The air around the prison was thick with an anticipation, everyone circling their watch shifts, beady eyes constantly on the treeline across the fields, which were still filled with walkers.

That's what made her plan so risky, such an effort to pull off. She couldn't leave without at least letting someone know, which she knew meant she probably couldn't leave, period. She hadn't left the prison in days, becoming tired of the low lighting and the same four walls keeping her confined.

Reminding herself that the place they'd deemed their home, was literally designed to make people feel trapped, closed in, isolated from the outside world by hiding it behind a stone wall, windows too high to peer through. A punishment rather than rehabilitation -- what prison was designed to be. Not everyone could find it, especially in this world. Some of the people she'd come across just in the last week had proved that. But not just them. The world before wasn't exactly filled with nothing but angels.

A four-walled cell behind a fence might have been better than living out on the open road, danger coming from every direction, but she needed space to move. To be free to walk around just for a couple of hours. To be outside, to hear a stream flowing by her feet, to just stand in under an open sky and listen to the natural sounds of the forest. No worries, no walls, no fences. Just free.

With her hair tied into a braid that went over her right shoulder, and her leather jacket zipped up to her chest, Tori made her way outside. Glad that everyone else was either in their cells catching up on sleep, or just elsewhere around the prison carrying out various duties.

Out in the courtyard, the only person around was Merle, keeping watch at the gates. He paced up and down, whistling some old country tune to ease his boredom. If Tori was going to get passed anyone, it was most likely to be him.

She walked up to the gates and hardly gave him a look as she said, "Open it."

Merle frowned his eyebrows. He looked at her like she had sprouted another head, his eyes darting between the brunette and the walkers on the other side of the gates. "Excuse me?" he questioned.

"Open it," she repeated. "I'm going out."

"Where, exactly?" Merle drawled slowly, leaning against the fence.

Tori rolled her eyes. "None of your business. Just let me out, Merle."

"It is my business if I think you're being suspicious," he smirked slyly, clearing enjoying the power he had, being the one with the key to what she wanted. Literally. "Which I do."

"What are you, the troll under the bridge?" Tori scoffed, adjusting the rifle strap across her chest.

"Hmm, quite the charmer, ain't ya, girlie?" Merle chuckled. "Look, your sheriff friend said everyone was to stay behind these walls."

"Well, my sheriff friend isn't here, so let me out," Tori bit back boredly. "I'll even say please."

Sighing, Merle tilted his head, glancing over to the cellblock door before looking at the brunette again. "Anyone know you're headed out?"

"Nope. It's our little secret," Tori sarcastically smiled. "Call it you making amends for the shit you pulled, taking us to Woodbury."

Merle bit the inside of his cheek, moving his jaw left to right, making it click. He went to turn the key in the padlock, and Tori stood back with a large manchette pulled from her rucksack pocket, ready to run through the walkers.