Living On A Prayer (Daryl Dixon/ TWD)

Chapter 36

Adasyn

"We aren't leaving!" Rick spat.

"We can't stay here," Maggie argued. "What if there's another sniper? A wooden pallet won't stop one of those rounds!"

"We can't even go outside," Beth added.

"Not in the daylight."

"Rick says we're not running, then we're not running," I shrugged. "It's as simple as that."

"No," Merle grunted, hanging his arms from in between the cell we had him locked up in. "Better ta' live like rats."

"You got a better idea?" Rick snapped.

"Yeah. We should've slid out of here last night and lived ta' fight another day. But we lost that window didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick," Daryl spat.

The sound of his voice made me want to both punch him in the face and run into his arms at the same time. I could feel his sad eyes on me from across the room, making it that much harder to resist him. But he had betrayed me, I couldn't get past that.

"Y'all should be," Merle retorted. "That truck through tha' fence thang? That's just him ringin tha doorbell. We might have some thick walls ta hide behind, but he's got tha guns and tha numbers. And if he takes tha high ground out around this place? Shoot. He could just starve us out if he wanted too."

"Let's put him in another cell block," I spat. "I'm tired of hearing his damn mouth."

"No," Daryl sighed. "He's got a point."

I scoffed, crossing my arms across my check. "No surprise you're siding with him, Dixon."

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here," Herschel called out, preventing another argument. Rick started for the cell block exit, and Herschel grabbed his crutches, standing up and going after him. "Get back here!"

Rick came to a halt, and Herschel limped forward until he was face to face with him.

"You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy, now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands! So get your head clear and do something."

••

"The field is full of walkers but we'll keep Maggie on watch," Rick said, walking through the cell block. Daryl descended down the stairs and I wanted nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible.

"I'll get up in the guard tower, take down half them walkers, give these guys a chance ta fix the fence."

"Or use the cars to put the bus in place," Michonne suggested.

Herschel shook his head, "we can't access the field without burning through our bullets."

"So we're trapped in here?" I asked. "We barely have any food or ammo."

"Been here before," Daryl assured. "We'll be alright."

"That's when it was just us," Glenn said. "Before there was a snake in our walls."

"Man we gone go through this again?" Daryl asked. "Merle's stayin' here. He's with us now. Get used to it, all y'all. Like I said before no him, no me."

"Then why the hell did you even bother coming back, Daryl? You can't expect us, Glenn and I especially, to just be okay with him being here. You have no idea the shit he did, the shit he planned on doing while he helped hold us captive."