Live Bait

"Daddy!" Beth cried out for her father as Mark slammed open the gate to the field.

There were at least fifty walkers inside our fences, courtesy of the Governor, and due to all the gunfire, there were, even more, being drawn from the woods. I spotted Michonne down by the fallen bus already attacking walkers with her sword, trying to make her way to Herschel. There were just too many of them.

Those with me began shooting down any that approached us when they heard the fence screech open. I focused my line of sight on any that stumbled too close to where Herschel laid. He finally propped his head up from the grass, trying to get to his feet with the crutches. My eyes then landed on Rick, he was pressed against the outside fence, holding back two walkers that chomped at his face.

"Rick, get out of there!" I shouted. I knew he could barely hear me, but I yelled for him anyway.

"There's too many!" Lincoln shouted, in between his shots, "We'll never get to Herschel in time!"

I was trying to think fast, my brain couldn't come up with anything though, it was too scrambled. Between worrying about Rick alone on the outside and how to save Heschel from the herd that closed in on him I couldn't formulate a solution. I was pulled out of my anxious thoughts when I heard a truck's engine revving, Glenn sped in through the front gates, running over as many walkers as he could as he drove to Herschel's rescue.

Thank God. "We've got this!" I shouted as I continued to gun down the walkers. Michonne made it over to Herschel just behind Glenn. They loaded him up, turning the truck around and driving back towards us.

"Come one," Maggie said, calling us back towards the gates. I dropped my gun from my shoulder, running back to the prison courtyard. The walkers were hot on our heels as we stepped aside to let Glenn through. Mark shut the gate once again, the walkers throwing their weight against the fence, locking their rotted fingers in the links while groaning to get through.

Maggie and Beth immediately ran to the passenger side door, helping their father out of the truck and wrapping him in a hug. Rick was still out there though. I walked up to the fence, trying to spot him, but I couldn't see a thing. The grass was too tall along the outer fence line, all I could manage to see were more and more walkers making their way out of the trees. With those front two gates open they were free to walk straight into our field. All the ones we just killed didn't matter at all as their numbers multiplied by the minute.

The rest of the group stood next to me, all of us thinking the same thing. The Governor was toying with us, he wanted us to suffer. We were fucked.

------

"Lincoln and I should go out there and look for him," I said. I sat on the steps to our cell block rooms. We were trying to figure out what we should do next. We had to go find Rick, I was set on it, all the times he had done the same for us.

"How do you plan on getting out there?" Herschel asked like it was an unwise idea.

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

"We'll go through the tunnels, out the side that has fire damage. He'd do the same for any of us," I argued.

"What happens if that is swarmed with walkers as well?" Herschel questioned.

"We don't even know if he's alive," Glenn muttered, holding his head low like he didn't want to be the one to say it.

"We have to try," I said, growing angry with them. After everything Rick had done for us, they weren't even willing to go look. The sound of one of the metal doors creaking then silenced all of us. I immediately got up from the steps and ran out to the common area to see what it was. I grinned from ear to ear when I spotted Rick walking through the tunnels.

"Dad!" Carl exclaimed, running past me and into his father's arms.

My eyes then landed on another figure walking out from behind Rick. "You're back," I said in a state of disbelief. Daryl stared back at me with a small smirk. He nodded his head, confirming my statement. I couldn't keep myself from running into his arms, wrapping them tight around him. I no longer cared what had been said, I didn't ever want to lose him again.

"Jesus, Red. A little warning next time," he chuckled, hugging me.

"Shut up, you're back."

"Come on, we've got some things to figure out," Rick said, letting go of Carl. That's when I saw Merle walking in behind Rick and Daryl, trailing along behind his brother like a lost puppy. I kept my mouth shut this time, following Rick's lead back into our cell block. Thankfully, Rick locked Merle on the other side of the door, keeping him in the common area as we discussed our plan.

"We can't stay here," Herschel was the first to speak.

"Well we're not leaving," Rick instantly shot that down. He seemed like he was thinking more like Rick now, acting like himself again. The Governor's visit snapped him out of his stay in the crazy town.

"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds," Lincoln said.

"Again, we can't even go outside," Beth restated.

"Not in the daylight at least," said Carol.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running," Glenn backed him up.

"No, better to live like live bait?" Merle added in his two cents.

"You got a better idea?" Rick looked at Merle, questioning where he was going with this.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here as soon as he left and lived to fight another day. Missed the wind though, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now," Merle explained. Hearing him say that made me nervous. Yes, Merle was a lunatic, but he was the only one to know how the Governor works.

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

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." Merle continued to speak. I could see it on everyone's face that they were worried, Merle might actually be right.

"Let's put him in the other cell block," Maggie said, playing with her bandana as a clear nervous tick.

"No, he's got a point," Daryl agreed.

"This is all you. You started this!" Maggie shouted at Merle.

"What's the difference whose fault is it? What do we do now?" Beth squeaked.

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead," Herschel spoke sternly, "We can't just sit here." He looked at Rick, he was telling him now and him only. Rick turned away from him, going to walk away. "Get back here!" Herschel shouted at him, the last time I saw Herschel like this towards Rick was back in that bar. Rick stopped in his tracks. Herschel hobbled towards 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." Rick turned to look at Herschel. "I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

------

Not much had been solved with our talk, we still had people that wanted to leave and others that wanted to stay and fight. Glenn was adamant about handing Merle over to the Governor and squaring things once and for all. He thought that would put an end to the Governor's retaliation if he had his traitor back. Although, that would mean handing over Lincoln and Mark as well and nobody was prepared to let that happen. Glenn was only looking for ways to get rid of Merle, he was pissed that Rick let him into the prison, which only pissed off Daryl as well. It was clear to Rick and to me that we couldn't have Daryl without his brother, so I forced myself to accept it.

I walked up to Daryl's cell after seeing him retreat there once he snapped at Glenn. I wanted to see how he was doing.

"I haven't had a chance to actually say I'm glad you're back," I said as I leant my back against the wall of his cell.

"What'd you call that out there?" He questioned, cleaning off one of his arrows with a cloth.

"That was more so showing it, not saying it," I chuckled. He nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, I come back to what? All this?" He questioned, referring to the situation we were in. I sat down on the stool near his bed.

"This is our home."

"This is a tomb," he responded.

"T-Dog used to call it that. I thought he was right until I was in that room in Woodbury before you found me. Coming back here, it felt like home," I said, looking at him. His eyes peered up at me, finally breaking the intense eye contact with the bow. He gave me the smallest grin, the same old Daryl stared back at me, unable to speak his mind when it came to a heart-to-heart. I sighed, "He's your brother, but he's no good for you," I spoke honestly. He looked at me like I was just another person about to ream him out because of who his brother was. I wasn't going to be that person to him. "Don't let him bring you down. After all, look how far you've come."

He stared at me for a couple of seconds before chuckling, he was taking in the room around him like he was pointing out where it landed him. I lightly laughed, glad to have his cold exterior back.