Red ~ TWD (Daryl Dixon)

A Soul for a Soul

We stopped to retrieve letters, updates, on our way to the Sanctuary. My grandfather used to say hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Judging by the look on Daryl's face the worst was upon us.

"Kingdom's gone."

Those two words made the earth shift under my feet like an earthquake.

"Carol?"

He glanced up at my tone, eyes filled with sympathy. "Alive." I exhaled harshly, shoulders sagging in relief. "Her, Ezekiel, and Jerry are the only ones left."

I tried to remember how many people they had with them, 20, 30, more? Whatever the number, it was a devastating loss.

"What about Hilltop?"

"They got prisoners."

"Prisoners?" I don't remember prisoners being a part of the plan.

"Jesus wouldn't let Morgan kill 'em." Paul. I liked the guy, I really did, but the next time I saw him I might have to punch him in his perfect, white teeth. "She's gonna use 'em as leverage."

The irony wasn't lost on me. Just this morning I delivered a heartfelt monologue on leverage and the dangers of misuse. Now here we were with prisoners of war we were going to exchange like currency or execute if needed. Apparently everybody was planning for the worst.

"Ya got a price on your head."

That peaked my interest. "Really? How much?"

Daryl ground his teeth together, crumpling the paper up and shoving it into his pocket. "He wants ya alive."

"That's it?" I crossed my arms over my chest, disgruntled at Negan's lack of...lack of...lack of something. "That's just insulting."

"If it makes ya feel better he wants Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel too, but he don't much care if they're breathin'."

It did make me feel a little better. I wasn't going through all the trouble to piss in his Wheaties just to have my name lumped in with all the other riff-raff.

"The King, The Widow, Rick and...My Spitfire." The use of the possessive pronoun set him off. I was more worried for Rick than myself. He didn't even get a nickname which was just downright laziness on Negan's part.

"Ya look like 10-miles of bad road lil' sister."

I spun around, furrowing my brow as my brother-in-law walked out of the woods with his girlfriend in tow.

"I'm assuming that's bad."

He shook his head, eyes landing on his brother. "What's got Darlina's panties in a bunch."

I pointed a warning finger in his face. "What's rule number one?"

"No talk 'bout undergarments," he huffed with an eye roll, making his girlfriend giggle.

"If y'all are done yappin', we got a war to win," Daryl snapped, walking away.

Merle put his hand on his hip, doing his best "cop eyebrow" impersonation. His cop eyebrows was way more judgmental than Rick's which was a feat in and of itself.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with that?" "That" being Daryl's current mood.

"Ain't nobody that can wind that boys watch like ya." Wait, what? I didn't wear a watch. Neither did Daryl. Merle snorted, amusement dancing in his familiar blue eyes. "Firecracker..."

"I jumped out a window." He didn't move, waiting expectedly. Maybe he already knew that. Maybe he knew there was more. Maybe he was just an asshole. "I killed the driver and the passenger, crashed the truck, only found one gun which was damaged beyond repair, I'm on Negan's hit list, and I stole the last can of ABCs and 123s from the pantry."