Broken Arrows (Daryl Dixon)

27.

"Don't talk, think. That's a good rule of thumb for life."
               ~Rick Grimes
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Devore's POV~

I slowly wake up to myself being carried a bit roughly. I open my left eye, as my right one is practically swollen closed, and examine my surroundings. I see that the sun is finally coming up and we are quickly walking through a wooded area. Turning my head, I look to see who is carrying me as I feel something cool and smooth under my legs. Merle. As soon I see the elder Dixon and he meets eyes with me I start struggling.

"Daryl!" I croak, my throat dry. I thrash, trying to get out of Merle's arms, but he holds me tight.

"Hey, hey, hey." He says, and stops walking. Out of the corner of my eye I see Daryl jogging over to us and relax a bit. I look around real quick as Daryl approaches and see Maggie and Rick with us too.

"Put 'er down," Daryl says softly and Merle complies. He sets me on my feet, holding my arm so I can steady myself. "Ya good to walk?" Daryl asks. I nod, I don't feel lightheaded anymore, just have a head ache and I'm still really sore from the beatings. I glance at my right arm and see that the bleeding has stopped, dried trails of blood cover my arm and the cloth is crusted in blood. The group continues walking. Rick is in front, then Daryl, Merle, and Maggie and I in the back. We walk for awhile longer until the trees thin and I can see the dirt road and a car.

"Glenn!" Rick says quietly, but loud enough for him to hear from a short distance.

"Rick. Rick," I hear Glenn reply as he gets up from behind the car. "Rick," he says again, quickly making his way in our direction. A woman is not far behind him. "Oh thank God," sighs Glenn as the distance between all of us closes.

"Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up," Rick starts, raising his hand in the air. I hear a sword being unsheathed and Glenn raises his gun.

"What the hell is he doing here?" He questions, his voice is a bit raspy and he looks rough. The woman holds her sword defensively, and tries to get to Merle.

"Hey, hey, hey," Rick says, blocking the woman from Merle as Maggie rushes to Glenn.

Daryl comes forward in an attempt to help. "Hey, put it down!" He exclaims.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Merle adds, probably not helping the situation.

Rick is still dealing with the woman, who is now pointing her sword at Rick as he points his gun at her. "Put it down!" He yells.

"He tried to kill me!" The woman replies, her eyes wide and nostrils flaring.

Glenn is now pointing his gun at Daryl and I tense. "Look what he did to us, to Devore! If it wasn't for him—," Glenn yells.

"He helped us get out of there.' Daryl informs him, trying to get Glenn to lower his gun. I stay back, not wanting to intervene, especially since Maggie is pointing her gun now totaling three guns in the air.

"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you," Rick interjects.

"Hey, we both took our licks man." Merle says, still probably not helping the situation.

"Jackass," Daryl replies. The rest of the time we spent in the woods included more arguing, finding out about the woman, and Merle being an irritating dumbass. Rick ended up knocking him out with the back of his gun. We walked out to the dirt path, leaving Merle to wait in the woods and the woman to wait at the car. I stayed on the outside of the circle, not sure if I should invade the circle of adults. They start talking about a plan and I look around awkwardly. Daryl looks at me from across the circle before looking at Rick who also looks at me. I think Maggie picked up on it because she turned and reached out her hand to me, inviting me to join them.