Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

72

"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live." Jesus informed us as he walked into Gregory's office.

"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked.

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled."

Rick stood up. "We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?"

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And they killed one of us-Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would have chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him." Damn, these people are screwed up.

"He made the deal."

"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors."

"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked.

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us."

"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked.

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo."

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked.

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20."

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit." Daryl shook his head.

"Well, how do you know?"

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles."

"You know, we'll do it." Daryl nodded. "If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows."

Jesus looked at Rick. He shrugged. "Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with."

Jesus nodded. "I'll take it to Gregory."

~*~

When we left with Jesus and some other guy who's name escapes me, we had plenty of food. Maggie even got Gregory to let us get ultrasounds from their doctor. I couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. Daryl didn't want me to go with them to the outpost, but I wasn't letting him say no. I had felt useless ever since we got to Alexandria, mostly because Deanna never gave me a job, but now I can do something, something I'm good at.

We all gathered in front of Rick once we had a few heads that resembled Gregory. "We're gonna take a look around, try to get a feel for how many people are in there. We like how it looks, we go in. A couple hours before dawn. The guards outside'll be tired. Everyone inside'll be sleeping. We don't like what we see, we head back, make a new plan. They don't know who we are. We'll keep Jesus in the shadows. This is how we eat. This is how we eat. We roll out at midnight."

I turned to Daryl and looked at the cigarette in his hand. "Babe, really?" He shrugged. "Maggie and I are pregnant."

He sighed and put the cigarette out, putting it back in the pack. "You're putting yourself in danger already. What's the difference?"

I sighed. "Daryl, I can handle myself. I need to do this. I feel useless just sitting at home waiting for you to come back. I feel like a housewife and I hate it. You need to understand that."

He jumped off the hood of the car and grabbed my waist. "I get it, I just don't like it. You stay with me, got it?"

I smiled and pecked his lips. "Got it."

~*~

We waited in the shadows as Eddie gave them the head, praying that they thought it was him. Thankfully they did, making a joke about Eddie breaking Gregory's nose. One man went inside to get the guy they were holding. The other one started whistling happy birthday. Daryl snuck up behind him and slit his throat and stabbed him in the head. He waved us over and we moved in, taking the body away and giving a gun to Eddie.

The other man came back out with Craig and Michonne stabbed the man in the back, while Eddie grabbed Craig to keep him from screaming. We unlocked the door and went inside quietly. We checked rooms, making sure they were empty. "Check the door. Find the arsenal. We take them out." Rick whispered. It wasn't long after we started searching that all hell broke loose. An alarm started blaring throughout the whole building. Saviors started coming out from seemingly nowhere. Bullets started flying.

Rick led us through the building, taking out as many guys as he could. We moved as fast as we could, firing off rounds left and right. The fight was over almost as fast as it started. Glenn had found the arsenal. We left the building through a sliding door, checking the field for survivors. I hugged Daryl when we knew it was clear, laughing into his shoulder. "Oh, thank God."

We searched vehicles and Tara and Heath left for their two week trip to scavenge for food and supplies. As everything was winding down, we heard a motorcycle revving it's engine. We turned to see a man riding out of a garage and through the field...on Daryl's bike. Rosita shot at him, hitting his shoulder. He fell off the bike and Daryl ran up, body slamming him. He started punching him. "Where'd you get the bike?!"

Rick drew his gun. The man was gargling his blood. "Just do it! Like you did everyone else, right?!"

"Lower your gun, prick." A voice came from the radio the man had. "You with the Colt Python. All of you lower your weapons right now."

We all held onto our guns, scanning the woods around us for whoever was on the radio. Rick picked it up. "Come on out. Let's talk."

"We're not coming out, but we will talk. We've got a Carol and a Maggie. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about." My heart sank into my stomach and my throat got tight.

This isn't over.

~*~

It wasn't long before we had figured out where Carol and Maggie were. When we got there, there was smoke billowing out of a chimney, accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh. We found the entrance and readied our guns. Rick counted down, then pulled it open. I sighed in relief when it was Maggie and Carol behind the door, a dead body at their feet. Blood was still pooling around her head. Glenn hugged Maggie and Daryl hugged Carol. He asked her if she was okay and she shook her head. It was easy to tell even without asking.

"They're dead. They're all dead, the ones that took us. They're all dead."

We turned to the man we captured. "Your friends are dead." Rick started. "No one's coming for ya. So you might as well talk."

"Let him burn." Daryl spoke.

Rick glances at Daryl, then looked back at the man. "I'm gonna ask you one last time...how'd you get the bike?"

"We found it."

"Like hell you did."

"We found it." He spoke louder.

"Was Negan in that building last night? Or was he here?"

The man looked at Rick, smirking. "Both. I'm Negan, shithead." He was standing straight now, looking directly at Rick. "There's a whole world of fun that we can talk about, so let's have a chat."

Rick backed away. "I'm sorry it had to come to this." Rick killed him with no hesitation, his body thudding to the floor.