roots | daryl dixon

4 | tell it to the frogs

The drive into the city wasn't long, as there were no legal speed restrictions, what with the downfall of the world and all. Lou holstered her gun, knowing it was a risk to use it now. The city was infested with walkers, and noise attracted them. Shooting a gun in the city was a death wish.

Instead, Lou pulled out her butterfly knife, twisting and flipping it around nonchalantly as they walked. Rick asked Glenn if they would go for Merle or the bag of guns first, and Daryl kicked up a fuss when everyone agreed that the bag of guns was the better first option. Lou followed behind as they ran, her butterfly knife now being held still, ready to stab a dead brain at a moment's notice. 

They came across a few walkers on their way and Lou got to kill a few as they went further into the building where Merle was left. "You are one ugly skank," Daryl commented, shooting a bolt into the corpse's forehead. He pulled the bolt out as he walked past and they ascended further.

Finally, they reached the roof and T-Dog clipped the chain holding the door closed. The group walked out onto the roof, expecting to be greeted with a furious Merle, but came to see he wasn't there at all. The handcuffs hung from where Rick hooked him onto a pipe, but underneath that, there was a disembodied hand, discoloured from lack of blood. 

Daryl exploded, his emotions getting the better of him as he screamed over and over. Lou glanced at the hacksaw, still laying in a pool of old blood. She felt tears welling in her eyes, but pushed forward and did something that surprised everyone. She pulled Daryl into a hug, both of them falling to the ground as his legs gave away. She didn't let go, just held on tighter, wanting him to know he wasn't alone. 

Just when she thought he'd calmed down, he leapt from the ground and from her arms, turning on the men with his crossbow aimed. Lou stood, crossing over to come between Daryl and T-Dog, who was currently on the business end of Daryl's crossbow. "Daryl, no." She said just as Rick placed his gun to Daryl's head. 

She could see him shaking, could see the tremors as he fought the tears back. "I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick said with a grimace. 

Daryl dropped his crossbow, asking T-Dog for a handkerchief, using it to wrap Merle's hand up, then putting it in Glenn's packing. He then began to follow the trail of blood on the roof, Lou walking right behind him as the men were close behind her. They began descending a set of stairs, Daryl first, with his crossbow readied.

They went through what appeared to be an old office building and came across two dead walkers. "Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One-handed." Daryl said, leaning down to inspect one of the bodies. He pulled back the cord on his crossbow, putting a bolt in place as he said, "toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer and he'd crap out nails." 

Lou couldn't deny this statement but Merle had recently cut off his own hand and was now wandering Atlanta with no proper weapons. "Anyone can die of blood loss, no matter how tough they are." She pointed out as she continued through the room, into a small industrial kitchen. The smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed Lou, and she had to struggle to keep from vomiting there and then. 

Apparently, Merle had cauterized his arm on the stove in front of them, the evidence still there in forms of small pieces of burned skin on the metal. The flame was still lit and the blood on the floor was still bright red, leading Lou to believe he'd been here recently. She took a step back, listening to the men argue for a moment before she stepped in, "I'm not wandering these streets with just my knife. If we're looking for Merle, then we get the guns first." 

T-Dog agreed with her, and the rest of the men agreed that they'd retrieve the bag of guns Rick had dropped on the last run. 

* * *

Glenn explained the plan, and it seemed Lou was the only one on board.

"You're not doing this alone," Rick spoke.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much," Daryl commented, leaning his hands on his knees. 

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out," Glenn pleaded, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." He began explaining the plan with gestures to the small map he drew on the floor, using various items to represent each of them, along with the bag of guns. 

He wanted Daryl and Lou in one alley, and Rick and T-Dog in an alley a few blocks down. That way, if he was cut off and couldn't return to Daryl and Lou, he'd be able to keep running and get to Rick and T-Dog. 

Daryl and Lou followed Glenn into the alley, Lou's butterfly knife being quickly flipped and twisted around her hand. It was a fidget of hers, something she did when her anxiety piqued. She watched Glenn remove his button shirt, laying it across the edge of a dumpster the three were hiding behind. Lou buried her knife into the temple of a walker that was crawling closer to them. 

Daryl pulled back on the chord of his crossbow, readying it should he need to shoot, "you've got some balls for a chinaman." 

"I'm Korean." Glenn countered, before quietly running out into the street.

"Whatever," Daryl muttered, putting a bolt into place on his bow.

Lou waited anxiously for Glenn to return, flipping her knife in her hand over and over. Then, she heard footsteps, and she jumped from behind the dumpster, seeing a boy in a muscle tank much like Daryl's. "Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" He cried, hands raising in a surrender.

Daryl sneered with his crossbow aimed, "looking for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" 

Lou kept watching the gate where the alley met the street, praying Glenn would come quickly. The boy began crying for help in Spanish, and Lou turned, grabbing him roughly and shoving him into the wall. "Shut up! You're gonna bring the geeks down on us!" She hissed, her knife pointed at his throat. She kept glancing at the street, checking for Glenn. 

The boy cried out more, and Lou stepped back just in time for Daryl to swing his crossbow down across the boy's head, knocking him to the ground. He thrashed about, still yelling in the foreign language. Lou watched Daryl hold a hand to the kid's mouth, becoming alarmed when two men came racing into the alley. This was who the boy had been crying out for. The men seemed alarmed when they saw there was a woman, but Lou wasted no time. She swept forward, her knife aimed at their face. She managed to slash at his arm, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall with enough force to drop her knife. He did this again, managing to slam her head into the bricks.

Lou's sight blurred, and she tried to get up, tried to get her knife. She could see Daryl on the ground next to her, both men now slamming him wherever they could with their feet. Glenn must have arrived then because both men suddenly stopped and ran the other direction. She shakily stood to her feet, quickly lunging across the alley to retrieve her knife and flung it in the men's direction, hoping it would hit her mark, but the disorientation messed with her aim and accuracy.

She watched as the car pulled away, tires screeching, with Glenn being taken. She huffed, kicking the wall in anger, feeling a need to pull her hair out. Then, she turned on the boy as Daryl went to close the alley's gate to keep the walkers out.

"What the living fuck was that? Where are they taking him? Where are they going?" She seethed, the fury evident in her tone. She tried to attack him, but T-Dog and Rick pulled her off him. "You better pray they don't hurt him." She threatened, wiping at some blood on her lip.

"Not the time," Rick told her, gesturing to the walkers clinging to the gate, desperately trying to get to their next meal. 

She rolled her eyes with another huff, but picked up her knife from the ground and followed the small group back into the building.