[Rewritten 3/16/2021]

Chapter 7 - Fleas Keep Better Company

[3rd person's POV]

"I'm going to kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl yelled, lunging at the boy.

Rick held him back.

"Easy there, woah!" Rick warned.

Daryl paced back and forth trying to get to the kid.

"That little bastard took Glenn and the broad," he yelled. "Him and his bastard friends!"

The number of walkers grew as they lunged at the fence. Their fingers and faces pressed against the chain link fence.

They knew they didn't have much time before they were overrun. The numbers weren't looking good for them.

"Get to the lab go," Rick yelled. "We're cut off!"

Rick grabbed the guns and followed T-dog, who was forcing the kid forward.

Inside the lab, the kid sat tied to the chair, face bloody from the earlier fight.

"This turd and his douchebag friend jumped me." Daryl fumed, trudging up to the kid.
"You jumped me, puto." he spat back.

Daryl continued to pace in glaring at the kid.

"He took Glenn, that broad. Hell, he could've taken Merle too!" Daryl continued to rant.

"Merle," the kid laughed. "I wouldn't even name my dog Merle, what kind of hick name is that?"

Daryl kicked his feet at the kid before Rick stopped him.

"I oughta' kick your teeth down your throat." Daryl threatened.

Instead of doing this, Daryl threw his brother's hand at the kid before grabbing his collar.

"You want to try me again," Daryl spat. "I'll start with the feet this time."

Again, Rick had to pull Daryl off of him.

The kid reluctantly led them to the outside of their facility.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in this ass." Daryl spat at the kid.
"And G will take it out of mine and shove it up yours. Just so you know." The kid quipped back.

"G?" Rick asked.
"Guillermo." Answered the kids.
"Well let's go see this Guillermo."

They stood out front of their door as they slowly creaked open.

Guillermo stepped out looking at the group.

Rick and Guillermo talked back and forth before Daryl interrupted.

"You got my brother in there?" he spat.
"Sorry, fresh out of white boy," Guillermo stated. "However, white girl and an Asian? Just in market."
"You've got ours, I have yours. Let's make a trade." Rick stated, motioning to Miguelito.
"Doesn't see fair does it," Guillermo continued, crossing his arms. "One of mine two of yours."
"It's a fair trade for his safety." Rick retorted.
"Safety? My people got attacked. More of it, where's my bag of guns?"
"Guns?"
"The guns Miguel saw, and Felipe and Jorge were going back for."
"You're mistaken."
"I don't believe so."

Things were getting tense between the two. Neither was budging. The squabbling continues.

Rick was not giving up those guns. These guns were needed to protect the camp. To protect people. To protect Lori. To protect Carl. He was not giving them up to anyone.

"What's keeping me from just unloading on your ass now," Guillermo asked. "Taking the guns from your corpse?"

Rick motioned to T-dog on the roof, their trump card.

However, Guillermo had a trump card too, rather two.

"Oye." he called out.

***

[Rebecca's POV]

I was being forced up some stairs, a bag forced over my head. It took all I could not to trip while walking. I heard the groan of a door being pushed open and light pushed through the fibers of the bag.

We're outside. I concluded to myself.

"Oye." a voice called out. I felt them push me forward and I could make out the shuffling of Glenn's feet next to mine.

Suddenly the bag was ripped from my head and I made eye contact with Glenn.

He started whimpering when he saw Rick down there.

I glared at Daryl when I saw him.

All you had to do was think! I thought bitterly to myself.

In and out, that's it.

They shoved me forward causing me to stumble back as I reached the edge.

They were trying to scare me, and it was working.

Falling from this height is a not quite a death sentence. If I live, I definitely won't walk away from it. Losing my legs in this place would be worse than death.

I could tell the leader, who I heard was Guillermo, wasn't saying what Rick wanted.

The man pulled me back and the other followed with Glenn.

The last sight I saw was of Daryl and Rick's back.

***

[3rd person's POV]

"You willing to give that up for this kid?" Daryl asked, watching Rick rifle through the gun bag.
"If I knew we'd Glenn and Rebecca back, I'd agree," T-dog agreed. "You think they're just going to hand them over?"

Daryl scoffed leaning back.
"Leave the girl, she ain't even part of our group," Daryl spat. "Then it's a fair trade."
"We are not leaving anyone behind." Rick declared, loading guns.

"What are you gonna' bet on this?" Daryl asked, pacing the floor.

Rick looked up at him.

"Could be your life," Daryl continued. "Is some broad worth that to you? Is Glenn worth that to you?"

"I owe my life to Glenn," Rick stated. "And Rebecca is just as part of this as any of us now."

"So what, you're going to give them the guns?" Daryl spat, dumbfounded.
"I didn't say that." Rick answered.

***

[Rebecca's POV]

I sat beside Glenn in the corner of the gymnasium.

I watched as the old women and men walked around, sat reading books, and chatted among themselves.

"They created a sanctuary." I said to Glenn.
"Yeah, it's crazy." Glenn whispered back to me.
"These people, they would be dead without them."

Suddenly a man started coughing and a woman started yelling.

"Help him!" she pleaded. People started to gather around him in his chair.

I stood up and the guards pulled their gun up.

"He needs help." I snapped.

I could hear him wheezing from over here.

"He's having an asthma attack. He needs medicine," I said the man. "Let me help him."

The men held their aim on me but stepped aside.

I quickly walked over to the man, kneeling down in front of him.

"Hello..." I started.
"Mr. Gilbert." called an older lady.

"Hello, Mr. Gilbert," I smiled, grabbing his hands. "Squeeze my hands and focus on my breathing okay?"

He gave me a nod, wheezing.

"Someone get him his medicine, please!" I called before turning back to him.

He clutched my hands and tried to match my breathing.
"Good, good. In, out, in, out." I sighed.

Shortly, I heard people enter the room.

"What is this?" a familiar voice asked.

I looked to see Rick standing there, visibly shocked.

"Asthma attack." Glenn answered.

Felipe returned to Mr. Gilbert's side with his medicine.

I stood up, wiping my hands on my pants.

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs!" T-dog yelled.

On cue, the dogs of Satan, yapped.

"Yes, truly deadly." I sighed.

Rick walked away with Guillermo to talk.

"All you had to do was listen." I announced, turning to Daryl.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Listen, all you had to do was listen," I repeated. "If you'd have done that, this would've been an easy trip."
"What you should be doing is thanking us for not leaving your ass." he spat back.
"The dogs give better company than your group; hell, fleas would."
"Yeah? Well why don't you go find some."

Rick returned seconds later carrying the bag.

"I gave them some guns," he said. "To protect what's theirs."

I nodded.
"That was nice of you." I smiled.

"We're leaving. We need to get back to camp." he answered.

***

We made it out of the city and followed the train tracks quietly.

"You gave away half out guns and ammo, for what," Daryl spat, breaking the silence. "Bunch of old farts who'll die off anyway?"
"Not nearly half." Rick interrupted.
"If you listened, we could've made it out will all the guns, anyways." I retorted.
"You think this is my fault?" Daryl snapped getting in my face.
"Well, let's just say, it's not mine." I spat back.

"Oh my god," Glenn uttered, shock in his voice. "Where the hell is the van?"

I broke away from Daryl to see what they were looking at.

Sure enough, the van was gone.

"Who could've taken it," I asked. "No one else should be out this way."

"Merle," Daryl answered. "He's going to take his vengeance back to camp." 

[Word Count: 1,419]