Firecracker ➝ Daryl Dixon

Chapter 24: Partnership

“Arden, where are we going?”  Matt tried to pull his arm of Arden’s grasp but the female was latched on tightly, pulling her brother through the forest with the sun setting behind them.  “Arden?”

The female stopped walking, satisfied with their distance from the camp.  “Hear me out,” she began strong even though her insides were knotted, nerves threatening to get the better of her, “We need to go back to the prison.”

Matt’s eyes narrowed and Arden could feel his disdain for the idea.  “Look,” she breathed, “I’ve been trying to figure out how to say this for the past few days but that guy, Brian, he’s not what you think he is.”

“Then what is he?”

Her throat dried and eyes averted, staring up at tree branches and a cloudy sky.  “A bad guy.  I dunno how to explain it but what he did to the people at the prison, he attacked them.  He’s insane and just the kind of person he is, he’s bad okay?  And Michonne and Daryl have been looking-“

Matt grabbed Arden’s arm, nails digging into her flesh and eyes narrowed, “Why are you still thinking about them?”

“Because Matt,” Arden pulled her arm free, “They saved me, helped me look for you.  The least I can do is warn them, tell them where the Governor is.  It’s still you and me,” she held his hands, rubbing his skin with her thumbs, “You and me, promise but please we need to go back to warn them.”

“How do you know they didn’t lie to you huh?”  Matt whispered, his palms sweaty as he gripped tightly onto Arden’s hands, “Let’s just leave.  Forget about this group, forget about the prison, just leave.”

“They didn’t lie.  They’ve been looking for the Governor all winter and I found him.  I have to tell them so we can’t just leave.”

“Yo!  You two okay?”  Martinez’ voice boomed through the forest, scaring birds who sat perched on the trees above.  Arden shouted out her reply and gave her brother a small smile.

Walking back to the camp Arden could tell that her brother disagreed with her plan.  His eyebrows were furrowed and hands nervously tugging at the hem of his grey cotton shirt.  Throughout dinner his eyes flicked between his sister and Brian.  Arden’s eyes stayed focused on the eye patch wearing male who bounced a young girl named Meghan on his knee.  Meghan was not his daughter but Brian was dating her mother Lilly who was a sweet looking woman and obviously naïve to the devil she let sleep in her bed.  Lilly sat next to Brian, a loving gaze on her face as she listened to Meghan ramble on about chess.  On the other side of Brian sat Lilly’s sister, Tara.  Tara seemed intelligent and independent, yet she too fell for Brian’s façade.  They all did.  No one looked at him the way Arden did and it didn’t take long before Brian took notice.

“So, you two are siblings right?”  Brian nodded at Arden then at Matt.

“Yeah,” Arden’s voice was tight with anger that did not go unnoticed by the other members of the group, “You have any siblings?”

Brian chuckled, “No, unfortunately not.  So Martinez tells me you two got here just a few days before us.  How you manage to survive?”

Arden shrugged, placed her plate down and rested her elbows on her knees, “How’d you lose your eye?”

“Well, well, well aren’t you a little rude,” he chuckled, Lilly joining in in an attempt to ease the tension, “If you must know it was taken from me.”

“Someone must have been pretty angry with you.”

“I guess so.  So you two been in a group before?”