Bleeding Souls (Daryl Dixon)

24. Cell Block C

          "June, wake up." I hear someone wake me from my dreamless sleep. I open my eyes and see the morning sun coming over the trees. I sit up and see Carol in front of me. "Rick and a few others are getting ready to go in." my eyes widen at her statement. "Without me?" I ask her. She gives me a look that tells me that I am right. I throw my covers off me and stand up and walk over to Rick and the others who I assume are going with him.

          As I get closer, I hear Rick telling the group the plan. I push past Glenn and T and Rick sees me. "June, listen-" Rick doesn't get to finish before I grab him by his bicep and force him away from the group.

          Once we were a good 20 feet away from the group, I let go of his arm and turned to face him. "I know you want to go, but I need you out here. I need you to protect the ones that aren't going to be with me. I need you to." Rick said to me. I took in all his words and I rolled my eyes. "You're an asshole. You know that?" I ask him. He gives me a heartfelt smile. "You're a Grimes. We can protect people better than most." Rick tells me. I nod my head at him. "I'll take care of them. Just... just promise me you'll take care of Daryl for me?" I say to Rick with concern in my eyes. Rick gives me a half smile. "Daryl can take care of himself, but I'll give him a little extra care." Rick tells me. I mouth a "thank you" to Rick before walking away.

           The meeting Rick was having with the group was now over and I ran up to Daryl. He looked at me and chuckled. "You fixin' to drag me someplace and scold me?" Daryl asked me. I playfully pushed him. "No... just comin' to tell you to be careful." I say to Daryl. He nods his head at me and chews on his bottom lip. "You too." I nod my head at him and walk away back to the group.

          Once we all get our weapons ready, we get to the gate. Rick and his group ready and armed at the gate. Rick looked back at me and nodded his head at me, which I returned. "Ready?" Rick asked Daryl, Maggie, Glenn and T. Rick pulled the gate back and the group quickly started killing walkers. I closed the gate and locked it back up with the locks. "All right! The rest of us are going to rattle the fences. Get some walkers attention. Lets go!" I shout to the group I was protecting.

           We all separate at the fences and stab a few walkers through the head while the others continue to go with the plan. Once all the walkers were cleared near us, all we could do was watch the others continue to fight.

          I see Glenn running towards us, but he stops when I assume Rick tells him to. They all start to walk into the prison, which wasn't the plan for today. "Hey! What are you doing? Rick! Daryl!" I holler at them Rick and Daryl just ignore me. I let out a irritated sigh. "Calm down, June. They'll be okay." I hear Carol say to me. I look over at her and scoff. "You and Daryl seem to be close. Why aren't you freaking out a little bit?" I ask her with anger clear in my voice. "June." Lori says to me. "Daryl and I are friends, June." Carol says to me. I scoff at her. "Seems to me maybe it's just a bit more than just friends." I say to her. "Listen... stop this. Right now we need to be more worried about them being in there. Not about who is sleeping with who. So... stop this. Just for right now, all right?" Lori said to Carol and I. I nodded my head at her.

          After what felt like an eternity, Glenn finally came outside and told us we could come in. "All right, lets grab our bags." I tell the group. We all grab our stuff and start walking inside the prison. "I guess cell block c is our new home." I say to everyone. I hear a few chuckles behind me. When I step into the cell block, it looks like what a normal prison looks like. Bare, metal and concrete.

          "What do you think?" Rick asks us coming down the stairs from the top. "Home sweet home." I tell him with a smile on my face. "For the time being." Rick says. We all continue to look around the cell block. "It's secure?" Lori asks Rick. Rick nods his head. "This cell block is." Rick says to Lori. I look at Rick and see him looking Lori up and down. It's obvious how worried he really is about her and the baby.