Stray // Daryl Dixon

Say the Word

I leaned against the SUV, arms crossed against my chest, waiting for this meeting to cease along with everyone else. Daryl paced back and forth, his crossbow swung over his back as he exhaled harshly.

"You're making me nervous," I said as he continued to pace.

"What are we even wastin' our time here for, you know nothing's gonna get worked out?" he said, swinging his arms up in the air in frustration. He thought the whole thing was bullshit, which he wasn't wrong about.

My eyes landed on the Governor's little butler who wasn't making it subtle that he was listening in on our conversation. As childish as it was to say, he reminded me of the character Randall from my favourite kids' cartoon show 'Recess'. The teacher's pet, the class snitch. "There's no reason not to use this time we have together to explore the issues ourselves," he joined in, walking up to Daryl, Herschel, and me. He held a little beige book in his hand that he had been doodling in the entire time.

"Boss said to sit tight and shut up," the lieutenant shot down his idea. He glared at the scrawny one, looking at him like he was less of a man.

"Don't you mean the Governor?" I scoffed.

"It's a good thing that they're sitting down, especially after what happened," the butler continued, "They're gonna work it out, nobody wants another battle." He was so naive.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a battle?" Daryl said like he was making fun of him.

"I would call it a battle and I did," he stood up from himself, "I recorded it." He held up the little beige book that he carried around.

"Why?" I asked, curious about what secrets he held in that journal.

"Somebody's gotta keep a record of what we've gone through. It'll be part of our history."

"That makes sense," Herschel spoke up for the first time since the Governor's men pulled up.

"I've got dozens of interviews--"

The growling cry of a walker cut him off, followed by a string of phlegm-filled groans drawing from others nearby. We all stood up straight, walking over to assess the situation. I grabbed my crowbar from the backseat before following behind Daryl and one of the Governor's men. He swung a steel bat in his hand as we rounded the corner of the cluster of silos, Daryl was the leading point, his crossbow resting on his shoulder at the ready. Two walkers slowly limped towards us, a withered-up woman in a rag of a dress and another man behind her.

"After you." Daryl stepped aside, motioning to the lieutenant that he was free to take the kill.

The man smiled, "No way. You first," he said, pointing his bat in the direction of the walkers.

"A bunch of children," I scoffed, shaking my head as I walked between the two of them. I threw my crowbar back behind my right shoulder and hit the woman's head with such force that it exploded against the steel silo.

"Pussy," the man called Daryl out before finally stepping forward to help. He hit the second walker with the bat, sending its head tumbling to the ground. He looked back at Daryl, proud of himself.

More walkers rounded the corner and both the lieutenant and Daryl stepped in front of me like they were racing each other to see who could kill more of them. Daryl then shot the next walker in the head before the other guy could get to it, hitting it like a bullseye in the forehead. The man seemed to flash him an approving grin before he twirled the bat in his hand and smashed the head of another walker. They were even, both approaching the last walker to see who could get to it first.

I wanted to put an end to their little game, I didn't want them to have it. Then again, I guess I was in the game too and if I learned anything from growing up with brothers, I never wanted to be in last place. I pulled out my pocket knife as they stepped in sync toward the walker. Just before Daryl could pull the trigger and the man raised his bat to swing, I whipped my knife in that direction. Satisfyingly, the knife spun in the air before lodging into the walker's skull.

They both turned to look at me once the walker fell to its knees, disappointed that I beat them to it. "You done measuring each other's dicks?" I asked, walking up to retrieve my knife.

"Where'd you find her?" the man asked Daryl and I smirked, waiting to hear his answer.

"She was a stray," he answered. I chuckled.

In some weird way, this seemed to bring us closer together, a mutual respect forming between us and the Governor's man. Yeah, we were on different sides in all of this, but we still were just people trying to survive by another man's actions.

Daryl leaned down over one of the walkers, spotting something in its pocket. "Look what he's got," he said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He took a dart out, placing it in his mouth and lighting it before offering one to the man, already knowing that I didn't smoke.

"Nah, I prefer menthols," he responded, not in a rude tone, he simply just didn't want it.

"Douchebag," Daryl mumbled, but there was still a small grin on his face.

"You army or something?" I asked the man, breaking the silence. If we were going to be out here all day waiting on Rick and the Governor like the butler said we may as well talk.

"Nah, I just-- just hate these things," he dropped his head low when thinking about it. "After what they did to my wife... kids." He looked around at anything but me, receptive enough to talk, but still uncomfortable mentioning it.

"Sucks," Daryl responded. By his tone you could tell he wasn't being mean about it, just a man that wasn't good at saying sorry.

"Thanks." It was quiet for a moment. "You know this is a joke, right?" the lieutenant finally said. I was glad to hear that even the Governor's men were smart enough to know that this whole meeting was a waste of time.

"Yeah."

"Shit, they're not gonna work anything out. Sure, they'll do their little dance and tomorrow, next day..." he said, looking up at us, "they'll give the word."

"I know," Daryl agreed. Each of us had already come to terms with the situation. The lieutenant finally asked for a cigarette.

The barn doors opening back up got our attention. They were done with their meeting. We walked around to where the cars had been parked, catching the men just as they emerged from the exit. Both of them walked in silence, parting from one another and getting into their separate vehicles. I followed, retiring back to the side door of the SUV. I looked over at the lieutenant as he reached his door at the same time as I did, he already had his eyes on me. I nodded my head to him which he returned and that was the end of it. Whenever the time came we'd be aiming to kill one another.

-----

We all stood around in a circle in the cell block, waiting to hear what Rick had to say. The car ride back there was complete silence, Rick was waiting to tell everyone at once.

He paced back and forth in front of us before speaking, "So, I met this Governor. Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you?" Merle asked. Rick nodded. "Should've gone when we had the chance, bro," he mumbled as he walked by Glenn.

"He wants the prison," Rick explained, "He wants us gone. Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury." I looked around, but this time nobody looked frightened by Rick's words. We had had enough, all of us on the same page for once. "We're going to war."