Daryl

"Who tha' hell are you?" I spat, inching closer to the five strangers in the room with us.

"Who the hell are you?" One of them retorted.

"He's bleeding out," Adasyn shouted in a shaky voice. "We have to go back! Glenn, come around here, put pressure on the knee - hard!"

"Why don't you come on out of there?" I asked the guys, my crossbow aimed and ready. "Slow and steady."

"What happened to him?" The first one to exit asked, looking over at the others.

"He got bit," I replied.

"Bit?" He asked, reaching for the pistol tucked in his waist band.

"Woah, woah , woah-" I said, stepping a bit closer to him, my crossbow still raised. "Easy now. Nobody needs ta' get hurt."

"You have medical supplies?" Glenn asked, rushing past the guys and into the room they had previously been locked in.

"Woah, where do you think you're going!?" The same guy who had pulled the gun out asked - I took it he was the leader of these 5. "Who the hell are you people anyways?"

"Don't look like no rescue team," another one added.

"If a rescue team is what you're waiting for - don't," T called out from over his shoulder.

Glenn returned from the room, pushing some type of metal cart in front of him. The others waisted no time lifting Herschel up on it.

"T- the door!"

"Woah, don't open that!" One of the guys called after him.

"We got this," Ady spat.

The door opened and a walker in riot gear slipped through as quick as it could. T slammed it against the wall - luckily we knew how to take care of these things now thanks to Maggie.

"Daryl," Rick shouted. "Daryl!"

I backed over to them keeping my eyes, and my crossbow on the new guys for as long as I could before having to turn away, leading the group through the tunnels.

**

I sat on one of the tables right in front of the doors to the cell block, waiting on those prisoners to arrive. I knew they had followed us out into the tunnels, and if they managed to make it out of there alive, then they'd come right to us.

And I wasn't gonna have them around anyone else in the group.

Sure enough, the wanna be leader round the corner first, eyes fixated on my crossbow. "That's far enough," I said as the last one came through the door way.

"Cell block C, cell 4, that's mine gringo. Let me in."

"Today's your lucky day, fellas. You've been pardoned by tha state of Georgia - you're free ta go."

"What ya got goin' on in there?" He responded.

"It ain't none of your concern."

"Don't be telling me what's my concern," he spat, reaching into his waistband for his gun yet again. I got up from the table, inching closer.

"Chill man," one of the dudes from his group said to him. "Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why we still in here?"

"Tha man's got a point," I added.

"Yeah," another one said. "And I gotta' check on my ole' lady."

"A group of civilians breaking into a prison they don't got no business being in, got me thinking there is no place else to go."

"Why don't ya go find out?" I asked.

"Maybe we'll just be goin' now," the real country one with the mustache said, rasing his hands in surrender.

"We ain't leavin!" El asshole spat, pointing his gun at me.

I heard a hammer pull back and Ady's voice rang out through the place. "You ain't coming in either."

I gritted my teeth, why couldn't she have just stayed back with the others?

"Hey, this is my house, my rules! I go where I damn well please!"

"Really?" She spat. "Cause last time I checked we cleared this place out while you pussies stayed hidden in a storage closet. This is our house now."

"Listen here bitch-"

"Hay," I growled. "I'm gettin' real tired of yer damn mouth."

"Why don't you come over here and shut it?" He asked.

"Why don't I just blow your clueless ass brains out, give these walls a bit of color?" Ady retorted.

Good lord, she looked good when she was mad. She had her gun drawn, her long dark hair falling almost to her waist now and her face scrunched in a glare as she fearlessly stepped a little closer to the men.

Now is not the time.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rick shouted, breaking my gaze away from the little spit fire, focusing back on the problem at hand. "Everyone, relax! There's no need for this!"

"How many of you in there?" El asshole asked.

"Too many for you to handle."

"You guys rob a bank or somethin'?" He asked, glancing my way. "Why don't ya' take him to a hospital?"

Ady scoffed, lowering her gun. "Wow you really are fucking clueless."

"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?" Rick asked.

"Goin' on like ten months."

"A riot broke out," one of the other guys said. "Ain't never seen nothing like it."

"Attica on speed man," mustache guy added. "Ever heard about dudes going cannibal? Dying and coming back to life? Crazy."

"One guard looked out for us - locked us up in the cafeteria," the 'leader' spoke up. "Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back. And that was 292 days ago. We were thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no Army," Rick said.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospital, no police. It's all gone."

"For real?"

"Serious."

"What about my moms?" The biggest one asked.

"My kids?" Another asked. "My old lady? Yo, you got a cellphone or something that we can call our families on?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" I asked.

"No phones," Rick said. "No computers. As far as we can see at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more."

"Ain't no way."

"See for yourself."

Adasyn

"Damn," one of the guys mumbled as we followed them out into the court yard that we cleared. "This sun feels good."

"Good lord," the super country one said, looking around at all the walkers we had took out. "They're all dead."

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences," the dangerous guy of the group said. I knew him, just by his attitude - the look in his eye. He wasn't no different than all the men or women I chased down back before this, no different than Shane.

"You never said how you got in this place," one of the other guys said.

"Cut a hole in that fence by tha' guard tower over there," Daryl answered.

"That easy huh?"

"When there's a will," he responded, "there's a way."

"Easy for you to say," the shortest of the prison group replied . "So what is this, some sort of disease?"

"Yeah," Rick responded. "And we're all infected."

"What do you mean infected?" The country one asked. "Like..AIDS or something?"

I rolled my eyes, pressing my hand over my face. This guy was a total airhead.

"If I was ta' kill ya - shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as one of these thangs." Daryl explained. "It's gonna happen ta' all of us."

"Ain't no way you Robin Hood cats or responsible for killin' all these freaks. Must be fifty bodies out here."

God, this guy was even annoying as hell just like Shane was. "We've taken out way more than this," I said. "This right here is childsplay."

"Where you all from?"

"Atlanta," Rick answered.

"Where ya headed?"

"For now? Nowhere."

He nodded, looking around the courtyard. "I guess you can take that area down there by the water. Should be comfortable."

"We're using that field for crops," Rick said.

"We'll help you move your gear out."

"That won't be necessary."

"Like I said - we took down these walkers, this prison is ours."

"You snatched the locks off our doors," the little one said, stepping next to the other guy's side.

Rick shrugged, "We'll give ya new locks if that's how ya want it."

"This is our prison. We were here first!"

"Locked in a broom closet?" Rick asked. He chuckled but he was not the slightest bit amused. "We took it, set you free. It's ours. We spilled blood."

"We're moving back into our cell block."

"You'll have to get your own."

"It is mine," leader guy spat once again going for his gun. That was like the third time in a time span of thirty minutes. "I still got personal artifacts in there - that's about as mine as it gets!"

My gun, along with T's and Daryl's crossbow was on him in a flash.

"Woah,woah,woah-" the country one said, jumping in the middle. "Maybe let's try to work this out so that everyone wins!"

"I don't see that happening."

"Neither do I," Rick spat.

"I ain't going back in that cafeteria for one more minute."

"You could leave," Daryl suggested. "Try your luck out on tha' road."

The dark haired guy looked around at his men and then back at us. "If these four pussies can do all this - 'least we can do is take another cell block."

"With what?" The big guy asked.

"Atlanta hear will spot us some real weapons. Won't ya boss?"

"How stocked is that cafeteria?" Rick asked. "Must have plenty of food - five guys lasting almost a year?"

"It sure as hell don't look like anybody's been starving," Daryl spat.

"There's only a little left," the guy answered. Rick nodded, "Good, we'll take half. In exchange, we'll help clear out a cell block."

"Didn't you hear him?" The little one spat. "There's not much left."

"Hey, vato. Why don't you put your damn chihuahua on a leash?"

"Bet you got more food than you got choices,"Rick said, stepping forward. "You pay we'll play. Help you clear out a block, then you keep too it."

"Alright," they agreed.

"But let's be clear - if we see you out here anywhere near our people, if I so much as even catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you."

"Deal."

*****

"Pantry is back here," the 'leader', who apparently goes by Tomas said, leading the way through the cafeteria.

"You guys never tried to break out of here?" T asked.

"Yeah," Big-Tiny answered. "We tried to rip the doors off. But you make one peep in here, then those freaks will be lined up outside the door, growling. Trying to get in. Windows got bars on there that He-Man couldn't get through."

"Bigger than a 5'8," Axel added.

"Won't find me complaining," Big-Tiny said. "Doing 15. My left leg can barely fit on one of those bunks."

"Yeah," Oscar laughed. "Don't call him Big Tiny for nothing."

"You done jerking each other off?" Tomas asked sarcastically, perched against the wall. "Sick of waiting back here."

"This what you call a little bit of food?" Daryl asked as we entered the pantry, getting face to face with Tomas. I peered around the place feeling like a little kid in a toy store. Sure none of this shit look any good but food was food. And hard to come by these days.

"Goes fast," Tomas replied, non-chalantly.

"Mhmm," Daryl mumbled, pushing past him.

"You guys can have a bag of corn, some tuna fish--"

Rick quickly cut him off, "We said half. That's the deal. What's in there?" He asked, pointing towards another door on the other side of the room.

"Don't open that," Oscar warned.

Rick ignored him, opening it regardless. He immediately slammed it back shut, coughing and gagging like crazy while Tomas chuckled. "He wanted to know."

"Can't wait for my own pot too piss in," Axel said sheepishly.

I groaned, growing completely disgusted and I hadn't even opened the damn door.

Daryl

"Why do I need this?" Andrew asked, sitting down the crowbar in front of him and pulling out his gun instead, "when I got this?"

"You don't fire guns. Not 'less your backs up against tha wall. Noise attracts 'em, really riles em up."

"Alright," Rick said. "Daryl and T, you'll take lead. I'll bring up the rear with Oscar.. stay tight, hold formation. No matter how close the walkers get. Anyone breaks rank, we could all go down. Anyone one runs off, they could get mistaken for a walker. End up with an axe to the head."

"And that's where you aim," I added. "These thangs only go down with a head shot."

"Ain't gotta tell us how to take out a man," Tomas spat.

"These aren't regular peopl,"Ady shot back. "They're something else. Just remember to go for the brain."

Tomas grabbed the keys from the table and we headed back to the tunnels for the second time today.

I grabbed Rick's arm once everyone else was out of ear shot, pulling him to the side. "I want Ady with me. I don't want her in the midst of them."

"Alright. Let her know."

"Ady," I called, loud enough to catch her attention.

"Yeah?" She asked, falling back so that I could catch up to her. "Change of plans. Your gonna take front with me and T."

She quirked an eyebrow at me, "You know I can handle these douche bags right?"

"Yea I know," I said, grabbing her elbow and pulling her towards me gently. "But I ain't takin' no chances."

Before either of us, especially me, could process what was happening I leaned forward, pressing a very light kiss on her lips. I didn't even give her time to try and kiss me back, pulling away almost as quickly as I leaned in. I awkwardly pulled back, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks as I cleared my throat. She had that familiar smirk on her face, gently tugging at her bottom lip before grabbing her hatchet off the table.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what made you decide to do that?" She asked, her eyes focused ahead of her rather than look at me.

"Five prisoners and your tha' only girl they've seen in awhile. Don't like tha looks you've been gettin from 'em, your off limits."

"Didn't take your for the jealous type , Dixon," she chuckled, shaking her head but still not looking me directly in the eyes. "It's kinda cute."

I glared at her, "I ain't jealous. And nothin bout me is cute. I ain't no damn puppy."

Sure, I had kissed girls before. But I was always a twelve pack in by the time anything had gotten that far, and it was never with anyone I particularly had any interest in. But man, Ady was something different. I couldn't take my eyes off her as we disappeared deeper and deeper into the tunnels, particularly her lips. I wanted to kiss her more, and a hell of a lot better than the little peck she had gotten.

I didn't know who she was turning me into but I know I sure as hell was enjoying it.

#ARYL. YASS.

This chapter is dedicated to Addison_ftw because today is her birthday , and I love her , and she's one of the biggest Aryl shippers I know! That kiss was all fa' you! XD

Hope you all enjoy the chapter!