"STAY WITH US, SKYE!" Rick loomed over Skye while Hershel held his hand on her wound. A flash of lights filled the room as tires approached, crunching gravel as they came to a halt in front of the building.
"Car! Car!" Rick whispered as he crossed the room to the window. Leaning his back up against the wall he looked over to Glenn, who did the same a few feet to his left. Men's voices could be heard from outside.
A man called out, "Dave? Tony?"
"I'm tellin' ya I heard shots," another stated.
"Dave? Tony?"
"Stop! You wanna attract 'em? Stay close to me."
From where she laid across the bar, Skye could see a silhouette appear on the glass of the door. She could see the person creating the shadow look down to the door handle.
"Dude, he said to stay close," another man said, stealing the silhouette's gaze away from the door. "Tony?" The footsteps faded away as the men walked around the street outside, but their voices could still be heard.
"Why won't they leave?" Glenn breathed.
"Would you?" Hershel looked at him pointedly.
"Listen," Rick spoke up. "We need to get her back to the farm fast. We can go around back to get her to the car—"
"Rick," she coughed. "Just go. You guys can't be riskin' your lives to save me. Just leave me here. I'll be alright."
"Ain't an option, Skye." Rick's eyes flew to look back at the window as shots rang through the air.
"What happened?" The men had came back around to the front of the bar.
"Roamers. I got 'em. Dave and Tony's vehicle is still here."
"You guys check this building?" Knowing the man was referring to the bar, Rick sat on alert with his gun drawn.
"No."
"Me either."
"We're lookin' for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar!?" the man shouted. Rick slid down the wall to a crouching position. The door handle turned and as it began to creep open Glenn bolted in front of it, pushing it closed.
"What the-?"
"What?"
"Someone pushed that shut. Someone's in there."
"Yo, is someone in there?" A man hollered at them. "Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want trouble. We're just lookin' for our friends."
"What do we do, Tom? Bum rush the door?"
"No! We don't know how many of them are in there. Just relax, okay?"
Skye's breathing was labored as she watched, worried they would force their way in, see there was only four of them in there and take them all out.
"We don't want any trouble. We're just lookin' for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you could help us not get killed, it would be much appreciated."
Skye watched as Rick sat struggling with himself trying to decide whether or not he should speak up.
"Dude, you're buggin'. There's no one in there," one of the other men attempted to get him to forget about it.
"They drew on us!" Rick yelled to the men receiving a look of disbelief from Hershel. Skye could hear the footsteps return and stop right in front of the door.
"Dave and Tony in there? Are they alive?" Skye looked to where Tony's body lied next to her, completely lifeless.
Taking a deep breath, Rick replied, "No."
The men could be heard whispering, "They killed Dave and Tony. Come on, man. Let's go."
"No, I'm not goin'. I'm not goin' back and tellin' them Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."
"Your friends drew on us," Rick repeated. "They gave us no choice. I'm sure we've all lost enough people. Done things we wish we didn't have to. But that's what it's like now. You know that. So let's chalk this up to what it was. Wrong place, wrong-" Glass shattered to the floor as bullets were fired into the window of the bar door. Rick jumped to his feet and fired out through the hole in the door. "Get back, get back!"
Glenn dove behind the wall next to Skye as Hershel slid Tony's shotgun over to him. Looking down to Skye, Hershel said, "Let's get you out of here."
"No! Just leave me! Go!" she commanded.
----------
Daryl sat poking at the fire in front of him with a tree branch, trying to sort through all the thoughts in his head. Leaves crunched behind him as someone approached his new campsite. He had moved out away from the rest of the group, not just to get some peace and quiet, but to distance himself.
"We can't find Lori," Carol announced. "And the other's aren't back yet."
"Dumb bitch must've gone off lookin' for 'em."
"What?"
"Yeah, she asked me to go. Told her I was done bein' an errand boy." His eyes never left the fire.
"And you didn't say anything? Do you even care that Skye is still out there?"
Daryl stared into the flames. He could hear the woman walk away from him, but her footsteps stopped. Soon they had returned and she stood in front of him. "Don't do this. Please. I've already lost my girl."
Daryl sprang to his feet. Getting up in her face as he walked by he said, "Yeah, that wasn't my problem neither." He left her there, alone by the fire.
----------
Rick crouched, reloading his gun. "Hey, we all know this is not gonna end well. There's nothing in it for any of us. You guys just back off and no one gets hurt." Rick nodded to Hershel for them to take their chance. Hershel and Glenn each snaked an arm under Skye, helping her to her feet. Taking her weight onto their shoulders, they helped her make her way to the back of the bar towards the back door.
Hershel looked to Glenn. "We should try for the car now..." Nodding, Glenn pushed the door open. Hershel helped Glenn get a better hold on Skye, who was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. "I'll cover you. Put her in the back."
Glenn and Skye hobbled toward the truck. Gunshots were fired at them causing Glenn to drop her to the ground. Lying on her side, she could feel the cool pavement on her cheek. It was becoming harder for her to keep her eyes open as she laid there, but she could hear Rick reach Hershel. "What happened?"
"He fired."
"Did he hit them?" Rick sounded panicked.
"I don't think he got her. But Glenn is behind the dumpster, not moving."
Skye could hear a shuffle of footsteps and then Rick was at her side. "Hold on, Skye. We'll get you out of here." He crept over to Glenn. Just as they went to make their way back over to her, two more gunshots were fired, followed by the screeching of tires and men shouting to the shooter. Skye could hear the shooter jump from the roof. He didn't seem to make it because she now heard him screaming and the truck took off, leaving him behind. From the sound of his screams, the shooter sounded as if he was younger. Maybe just a few years younger than her. Before she knew it, Rick scooped her up into his arms and they were at the back of the truck. He laid her down gently, but as he went to shut the door she grabbed onto his shirt.
"Don't leave him behind. Help him," she breathed out.
Then everything went black.
----------
Sitting in his tent alone, Daryl found himself worrying about Skye. Why hadn't they made it back yet? He felt guilty for not going out to find her himself, but then again it wasn't his job. Why should he be the one who has to go out searching for everyone? She was exactly the reason he moved out here in the first place. Lately he had been feeling things he had never felt before and distance seemed to be the best solution.
Sensing he wasn't alone, he grabbed his knife from next to his bed and exited the tent as silently as possible. Once he got his head out, he saw that it was just Carol again. He found her standing looking at his squirrels from his most recent hunt. Stopping behind her, he said, "What're you doin'?"
Startled, she answered, "Keepin' an eye on you."
He narrowed his gaze. "Ain't you a peach."
"I'm not gonna let you pull away. You've earned your place. Just because you care for someone doesn't make you weak. You don't have to play the lone wolf all the time."
"If you spent half your time mindin' your daughter's business instead of putting your nose in everyone else's she'd still be alive!"
"Go ahead."
"Go ahead and what?" He stared back at her. "Man, just go! I don't want you here! Can't you people see I want to be alone!" Still, she just stood there, looking back at him. "You're a real piece of work, lady. What're you goin' to make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Pfft. Man, you don't know jack." He stepped towards her, pointing in her face. "You're afraid. You're afraid of being alone. You got no husband. No daughter. You don't know what to do with yourself."
"That makes two of us, huh? You think you're alone? The only thing is, you're not alone, and you know that."
Daryl met her gaze, knowing she was referring to Skye. "She ain't my problem."
"So you'd let her stay out there? What if something's happened? You should go for her."
Shaking his head, he walked away. "Tell Shane to go after her."
The next morning, Daryl crossed the field to where Shane stood packing up the back of the Hyundai. Throwing his bag into the truck, he adjusted his crossbow. Shane stopped what he was doing and looked over at him. "What are you doin'?"
"Goin' with you."
"Thought this 'wasn't your problem'."
Daryl shook his head at Carol's inability to keep what he had said to herself. "Changed my mind."
"Well, I got this. You don't need to go."
Daryl glared at Shane. "I'm goin'. That's that."
"I don't need your help, man. I'll find 'em just fine without you. Better even."
"We both know that's bullshit."
Before Shane could snap back, the two men heard a truck speeding up the driveway of the farm. It was Rick. They stood waiting as the truck jerked to a halt right in front of them. Rick and Hershel burst from the seats in the front.
Running up to her father, Maggie noticed there was some blood staining his shirt. Her features reflected her worry. "Are you hurt?" The others watched Rick as he rushed to the back of the truck.
"No, Maggie. I'm fine. Patricia, get the shed ready for surgery."
"Rick?" Shane followed behind him, stopping only when he saw who was in the back of the truck.
Noticing that Skye was the only one who had not emerged from the vehicle Daryl hurried to the back as well, just in time to see Rick pull Skye into his arms and start carrying her towards the house.
"What the hell happened!?" he asked.
"We ran into two men. One grabbed her and she shot him. I shot the other." With that last statement, his eyes found Lori's as he rushed past her. Daryl stayed close by Rick, not even stopping when they heard T-Dog ask, "Who the hell is that?"
Rick continued on, leaving Glenn to do the explaining. Daryl helped Rick get her to a bedroom, where they gently laid her down. Hershel entered the room with a bowl of warm water. Setting it down, he began rolling his sleeves up.
"Now, I'm going to have to make sure all the glass is out first. Can't be having any fragments left in her. Then I'll have to stitch her up. Luckily, between Glenn and Maggie going to town and Shane goin' with Otis, we have plenty of supplies."
Daryl stepped back to give them some room, biting on his nail. He watched as they stripped her bloody shirt from her body. Seeing as how she now laid in her bra, he felt he should look away but couldn't take his eyes from the gash in her side that had been revealed. His body began to heat up with anger. Anger from thinking about the guys who had done this and from his stubbornness preventing him from going after her himself. He began to pace back and forth as Hershel worked at pulling tiny remnants of glass out. Once he was finished he stitched her up and cleaned the area. Standing, Hershel wiped his hands on a clean towel and nodded to Rick.
"We're going to have to have a discussion with the group about this Randall fella."
Rick nodded in agreement. "Well, we should probably go ahead and do it now. I'm sure they have a lot of questions."
The two men went to leave, but Rick turned back to look at Daryl who stood unmoving. "Daryl?"
"I'm, uh- going to stay here a minute," Daryl spoke softly.
"Okay," Rick said with understanding before closing the door behind him.
Daryl looked down at her and felt a pang of sadness. Their places were now switched and he still felt like he was to blame. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he grabbed a blanket from the chair nearby. Laying it over her, he carefully covered her exposed upper body. Arms crossed over his chest, he stood watching her, waiting for a sign that she was about to wake. He wished he had been there to protect her, to make the man pay himself.
Stepping into the dining room, Daryl walked into the middle of the discussion about Randall. It seemed as if they were talking about what they should do with the boy.
"He'll have a fightin' chance," Rick stated.
"Just gonna let him go?" Shane looked amazed. "He knows where we are!"
"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat," Rick defended.
"Not a threat? You killed three of their men and took one hostage. They just gonna not come lookin'? And you said yourself that a man from his group tried to assault Skye before she killed him." Shane shook his head in disbelief and Daryl clenched his fist at his side. "She is in there hurt. You know what, I'm going to go get him some flowers and candy." Shane headed for the door, clearly aggravated and for once Daryl sided with him.
Hershel stepped behind Shane. "You know we still haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all. This is my farm. Now, I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut," Hershel put his foot down and Shane stomped out of the house.
"Look, we're not doing anything today. Let's just cool off," Rick calmed.
Daryl walked out with Carol trailing behind him. "What're you going to do?"
Determination filled his voice, "Gonna talk to Shane." Trudging towards the camp, Daryl found Shane leaning on the picnic table.
Not even bothering to look up, Shane asked, "What do you want, Daryl?"
"Same thing you do."
Snorting, he looked up to Daryl. "And that is?"
"To get rid of the little bastard."
----------
Skye's breathing had become steadier as she lay resting. She had yet to wake up and Daryl was determined to be there when she did. He had pulled the chair to the side of the bed where he sat with one leg propped up on the other, picking at his nails. Occasionally, he would glance up at her only to find her eyes remained closed. He had been sitting in the room with her ever since Rick and Shane had gone off with Randall to leave him to fend for himself. They were only taking him eighteen miles out, so it shouldn't be taking as long as it was. He was hoping they hadn't run into more of the boy's group and gotten ambushed. Movement caught his eye and he lunged forward as Skye's eyes fluttered open. She bolted upright, but winced from the pain reminding her of what had happened the day before.
Daryl put his hand on her back. "Easy. You'll rip your stitches out."
Her eyes met his as he helped her lie back down. "Thanks."
"Doc, had to put quite a few stitches in ya. You're gonna take a few days to heal. Take it easy," Daryl said, his eyes meeting hers as she smiled up at him. "What?"
"Funny. Comin' from you. I don't remember you takin' it too easy," she teased.
"Yeah, well... you're more fragile."
"Whatever, Mr. Dixon." Lying back, she stared over at him. "Have you been in here long?"
Slightly embarrassed by the truth, he said, "Someone's gotta look after ya. Make sure you don't jump outta bed and go ruinin' the doctors work he did on ya." She rolled her eyes with a smirk. Remembering the incident at the bar, her smile soon fell. "What is it?"
"Everything just went so horrible so quickly."
"What happened back there?"
"Two men, that's it. They came into the bar we were at. Kept tryin' to find out about the farm. Had a bad feeling about them from the start." Skye shook her head.
"Rick said one assaulted you."
She nodded. "Talked about wanting a piece of ass. Kept tuggin' on my arm." Her nose wrinkled in disgust, and Daryl's blood began to boil. "Grabbed onto my arm to pull me towards him, and I shot him. Everything was a blur. I just remember him dragging me down with him and feeling a pain in my stomach. Probably shouldn't have shot him." She looked down at her hands. "Rick wouldn't have let him take me or anything. I just... reacted."
"You did what you had to do. Don't let a piece of shit like him make you get yourself down. He deserved much worse than what you did to him."
Her head rose to see he sat with his fist clenched on the arm of the chair and his leg bounced uncontrollably. She reached over and placed her hand on his knee, making it stop. Giving him a weak smile, she asked, "What about the boy? Did they bring him back?"
"Yes. But they took him out and away from the group. Should be coming back here soon."
"What? Why would they-"
"He was a threat to the group. They all wanted him gone." He paused and added, "I wanted him gone."
"But he's just a kid."
"Pfft, hardly."
"Daryl, that's not fair. He-" The door creaked open and Rick stood with blood and dirt covering his shirt.
"Rick?"
He smiled at her. "Good to see you awake, Skye. How you feelin'?"
"Stiff."
"Well, get some rest. Shane and I need to borrow Daryl. I'll be back in to check on you in a few." Rick left the room, and Daryl stopped at the door, giving her one last glance before leaving her alone.
----------
Steel-toed boots paced back and forth on the straw-covered wood floor, their sound echoing throughout the building. A fist full of anger came down swiftly, striking Randall in the face, knocking him to the floor. Blood spurted from his mouth as he coughed and groaned. His face was met with two more blows before he let out a cry, "I told you!"
"You ain't told me shit!" Daryl grabbed two handfuls of the boy's shirt, jerking him back up to a sitting position.
"I barely knew the group. I met 'em on the road!"
"How many in your group?"
"Uh.." Growing impatient, Daryl pulled his knife from his back belt loop. Seeing the metal gleam in the little sunlight the shone through the cracks of the building, the boy began to beg. "No, no, no, no, no... Please! Come on, man!"
Daryl lunged forward, slamming the knife into the wooden floor, scaring the boy. "How many!?"
"Uh, uh- thirty! Thirty! Thirty guys!"
"Where?"
"Uh..." Daryl ripped the duct tape from the boys cut in his leg. Crying out from the pain, Randall replied, "I don't know! We were never anywhere more than a night."
"Scoutin'? Plannin' on stayin' local?"
"I don't know! They left me behind!"
Despite the fact the boy was answering his questions, Daryl continued to torture him, poking his knife into the boys leg gash. A part of him needed to. It was, in a way, his payback for what his group did to Skye.
"They have weapons. Heavy stuff. Automatics. But I didn't do anything!"
"Bullshit! You shot at my boys. Tried to take this farm. Tried to take her! There's an innocent girl in there lyin' all stitched up and you say you're innocent!?"
"Yes! These people took me in! Men, women, kids, too. Just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, ya know?" Randall's eyes shone with desperation. Daryl went back to pacing. "But we'd go out. One night we found this little campsite. Man and his two daughters. Teenagers, ya know? Real young. Real...cute."
Daryl stopped and looked over his shoulder at the boy, not liking where this was going.
Randall shook his head. "The daddy had to watch while these guys, they-" He paused. "And they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just... they just made him watch his daughters. Just— Just left them there. No, but I – I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't –" Daryl's foot connected with his chest, cutting him off and knocking him to the floor once more.
"Please, please... you gotta believe me, man!" Randall cried. "I'm not like that. I ain't like that." Daryl didn't stop.
----------
There was a quick knock at Skye's door before it opened and Rick stepped inside. She smiled up at him as he stood over her. "Thought you would want to know what's goin' on with Randall."
"I thought you and Shane took him out already," she said, confused.
"We tried, but... we ran into walkers. Lucky we even made it out. We've been tryin' to figure out what to do with him, but in the meantime we have him chained up in the shed."
Despite the fact he was chained up in the shed, Skye felt a spark of hope for this boy. "Well, that's good news. Rick, we should give him a shot. Just like you did for me. You took a chance. Give him one. He's just a kid."
Rick hung his head. "See, that's not going to be possible."
"And why not?"
"Daryl's had been interrogatin' him and found out some information that I just can't take a risk with."
"What kind of information?"
"The kind that tells us this group isn't safe. They'll do just about anything to eliminate us if they come across this farm. Us men will be killed off and you women, well – you're going to wish you shared our fate."
Skye knew exactly what he meant and sighed. "Fine. But that just leaves the question of what to do with him now."
"I know," he shifted in place. "Any ideas?"
Thinking to herself, she looked out the window. "Nothing that will satisfy everyone in the group. No matter what you decide you're going to have someone angry with your decision." Rick looked out to the blue sky, knowing she was exactly right.
----------
The new campsite that Daryl had moved to was proving to be quite ineffective as he noticed Dale approaching him. Daryl reached down and grabbed a couple arrows that sat leaning against the old stone oven. "Ugh. Whole point of me comin' out here was to get away from you people." Dale propped his foot up on a nearby stone and watched as Daryl fiddled with an arrow. "Whaddya want, old man?"
"Want to discuss this Randall situation."
"Nothin' to discuss. Go talk to Rick 'bout it."
"We can't just kill a human being," Dale shook his head.
"He's dangerous."
"You can't honestly believe that," Dale said. Daryl stopped and looked at Dale. Reading his expression, Dale said, "You act like you don't care."
"Cause I don't."
"You don't care whether he lives or dies?"
"I prefer the second option."
"That hardly seems fair."
"Look, way I see it is Rick and Shane make the calls. Not me. But I just so happen to agree with 'em this time 'round."
"This is because of Skye, isn't it?"
Daryl shot him a look. "Why you say that?"
"You care about her. Everyone sees it."
"Everyone needs to mind their own damn business. I think we should kill him because he's a threat. Nothin' to do with Skye," Daryl lied.
"Please rethink your decision. If we had you to back us up then maybe."
"What difference would that make?"
"You're opinion means something. They look to you."
"Ain't nobody looking to me for nothin'."
"I am. Right now. And you obviously have Rick's ear."
"Rick looks to Shane. And let him," Daryl spat before walking towards the woods.
"And Skye?" Dale fired and Daryl stopped in his tracks. "What do you think she'd say if she knew of your new role in the group?"
Daryl walked back up to Dale. "What makes you think I care?"
"You're a decent man, Daryl. So is Rick. Shane is different."
"Why? Because he's planning on leaving the group?"
"What? Did he say something?"
Daryl shook his head. "No. But goin' round here trying to call the shots. Failin'. He's bound to try to create his own group."
"You think he's taking some people with him?" Dale's eyes were wide with worry.
"I have my suspicions." Daryl lowered his gaze and continued towards the woods. "This group's broken. He's bound to have some luck convincin' some of them."
"So there's no convincing you, then?"
Not receiving an answer, Dale decided to try to go about it at a different angle.
----------
"Skye?"
"Oh hey, Dale," Skye sat up in her bed.
"I assume you've heard about the boy."
"Yes." She watched him, fully aware that he would be trying to persuade her to join his fight against executing the boy.
"And you know that they plan to kill him?" She nodded. "And you're okay with it?"
"Of course not. I would never be okay with something like that," she spoke as if she was upset he would even suggest that.
"Seems there are few of us who think this way."
"I think you'll be surprised. Some probably just want it to go away. No matter the method. Fear makes people do things they normally wouldn't." Her eyes fell as she tried to get more comfortable.
"You think-" he paused. "You think you could try to talk Daryl into seeing this way?" She looked at him confused. "He is set on this execution because of Rick and Shane's belief that it's the right thing to do." He told the half-truth. "But what he doesn't see is that his word means something in this group. He likes to be the outsider, but truth of the matter is that he's less of one than he thinks. In my opinion, he's closer to being Rick's right hand man than Shane, which is a good thing." He said the last part under his breath.
"I won't be able to convince him. Daryl... well... he's Daryl. There's no changing his mind. Plus, he's been seeming kind of mad at me lately."
Dale, however, didn't believe this one bit. He had every faith in her ability to effect his decisions, even if she didn't realize it. "Just try. For me."
Glancing up at him, she thought about it before finally nodding in agreement. Now she just had to figure out how to approach Daryl.