Living On A Prayer (Daryl Dixon/ TWD)

Chapter 34

Daryl

My gaze shifted from Merle, to this Governor, to Andrea who was standing in the crowd and then back on my brother.
"We asked you where your loyalties lie," the "Governor" said, looking directly at Merle with the one eye that he had, the other patched up. "You said here. Prove it. Brother against brother. Winner goes free."

The crowd cheered in agreement but I couldn't take my eyes off Merle.

"Fight to the death!"

Merle finally looked back my way, but only for a second before he turned to the crowd that was cheering his name. "Y'all know me! I'm gonna do whatever I got to do to prove-" He spun around quickly, landing a hard punch to my gut. I dropped to my knees, coughing as I tried to get my breath back. "That my loyalty is to this town!"

I attempted to get back on my feet and Merle kicked me again, causing me to hit the ground once more.

He continued throwing hits my way as more of this guy's men brought in walkers on tethers. They circled us and my mind somehow drifted to Adasyn. No wonder she looked so terrified earlier, these people were sick.

"You really think this asshole is gonna let you go," I choked, Merle's hands around my throat and mine around his.

"Just follow my lead, little brother. We're gettin'out of this, right now."

He snatched me to my feet and we stood back to back while I tried to figure out some way to take these things out with no weapon.

One of the guys started pushing one towards me but before I had time to fight back, a gunshot rang throughout the arena and the walker fell to the ground.

There were a few more gun shots and then a can of tear gas landed right by my foot. I couldn't help but smirk at the sight of it - the governor was about to have his ass handed to him.

"Merle," I grunted, the gas getting thicker. "C'mon."

I got out of the midst of the smoke, Merle right behind me, and managed to sneak up on the guy who had just taken it upon himself to use MY crossbow.

One blow to the back of the head and I had it back, taking off towards the exit.

"Daryl!"

I turned to my left as we got right outside the arena and saw Rick supporting Ady, making their way over to us. I should've known her stubborn ass was gonna come along.

I slung my crossbow over my back, grabbing Ady from Rick and holding her bridal style. "Y'all cover us," I mumbled. "Let's go."

**

I could see our car in the distance as we cut through the woods. Ashlynn and Michonne were leaning against the side, and Glenn was sitting on the ground.

"Glenn!" Rick shouted.

His head snapped up, along with the other two. Ashlynn caught sight of Adasyn, who was out cold in my arms, immediately rushing over towards us. "Oh God," she panicked. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, just sleepin,"I mumbled, pushing past her and making my way over to the car. Ashlynn opened the door for me, and I placed Ady inside as gently as I could. I watched her for a minute, just to make sure her breathing was even before placing a light kiss on the side of her head.

"What the hell is he doing here!?" I heard Glenn shout, drawing my attention back to the group.

I shut the car door, racing back over to the woods where Michonne and Glenn both had weapons drew on my brother. "He helped us get out of there," I spat, jumping in front of him.