bakerstreet | YOU WANT, UH, A TISSUE? MAYBE SOME SOAP? NEW CLOTHES?

YOU WANT, UH, A TISSUE? MAYBE SOME SOAP? NEW CLOTHES?

COVERED IN BLOOD MEME

So you're a bit of a mess. Or you're stumbling upon a mess. What happened? There's blood everywhere, what the hell? Is it your blood, animal blood, the blood of someone you murdered? Hell, maybe you ran out of tampons. Anyway, no matter how it got there, you're (or someone you know is) covered in blood. Can it be explained away? If not, is someone going to prison? The hospital? Going to die of blood loss? Get in trouble for playing catch with the blood bags? Man, we don't know. The point is you have a mess to clean up. Or roll around in gleefully, you nasty fucks.

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• While this meme is bound to have a lot of potentially triggering content, content warnings for anything ott or very extreme are probably a good idea!
• Have fun!

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It's probably a weird time for Paul to smile, but c'mon makes him do it anyway. He doesn't shoot Daryl a look because he knows it's going to broadcast in his expression - he starts scavenging the bodies. One of them has a hat but it's covered in blood so he leaves it; instead he gathers up all their weapons and puts them in the back with the things Daryl collected. There are a couple other things too, but nothing substantial. That's fine.

Paul drives back steadily; it's usually time to head all the way back when one finds a person, so that's what he's doing. He's listening to the conversation but the way she tenses when Daryl asks her that tells him a lot.

There was a family a while back, she explains, probably not to begin with but they'd been one then. The men in her group had run them off the road and they'd hit a tree. None of them survived. She sounds real upset. Had a kid of her own in the beginning, maybe.

Paul's grip on the steering wheel tightens hard and then relaxes again.

Well. Shit.

"My name's Shauna," she says eventually, sounding sad.

"Daryl," he grunts in response, and tells himself to let it go. They already knew the kid was dead. Not like they could have helped anything. (Except come out here a month ago and-- not worth dwelling on. He'll tell Rick about this when they come back, and see about getting the gang together to come burn these fuckers out.)

Once Jesus is through Jesusing, Daryl explains: "M'gonna blindfold you in a bit here, for the ride back. Just in case. When we get where we're going, you're gonna talk to one of our folks in charge and do what they tell you. You know how it is out here."

She knows.

It's sad anyway. Paul rubs his thumbs over the material of the steering wheel habitually, which is probably something Daryl will notice since he does it whenever he's pensive or reeling himself in. He listens to those introductions before starting his own.

"Paul," he says, "but most people call me Jesus." It's different from how he introduced himself to Rick and Daryl - a lot of people that call him Jesus are his friends, but Gregory isn't his friend. Daryl doesn't call him Jesus. Rick calls him Paul sometimes, switching between as the situation dictates. Things are complicated when you have family, he guesses.

ANYWAY Shauna gives him an odd look that he's used to but it does make her almost-but-not-quite smile because yeah, it's absurd. He's quiet until she's blindfolded and they're rolling a little closer to home. "How long has it been since you've had any kind of group that wasn't them?" He's not going to ask the questions of course, but it fills the silence.

"About ten months. For four months it was just my sister and me, then six months with them."

A long time. He doesn't have to comment on that.

They're about fifteen minutes out still.

Time passes so much slower in the new world, Daryl thinks. It feels like it's been a decade, two, a damn ice age, but he looks at Judith and knows it's just that they've been mentally reborn. Something about days being longer for babies because their brains haven't adjusted yet; they're all new to this. Every moment is a lifetime.

Daryl touches Paul's shoulder to get his attention silently, and points at the road, drawing a pattern in the air with his index finger to indicate they double-back at a specific landmark ahead, then come back in at a different road. It'll waste some gas, but if anyone tries to track them, this is the safer bet.

Paul wonders what he was doing ten months ago. Not a whole hell of a lot, really. Doing runs to give supplies to the Saviors. Keeping everyone at arm's length. Spending most of his time out on the road. And now... this. So much has changed in so little time that it's almost overwhelming, but even that short amount of time feels more like ages. Sometimes it's a little like when he was a kid, laying on the top bunk and staring up at the ceiling eight inches from his nose for hours instead of really sleeping. It would drag on and drag on and it always felt never-ending, like he'd fallen into some timeless abyss.

He's still paying attention to the road while he thinks but Daryl's touch almost startles him. Not quite. He watches and then nods, gaze flicking back to Daryl's face. He offers him a tense little smile before looking back to what he's doing. There's not much to talk about so he doesn't really, not even in his usual chatty and diversionary way. He loops back where they'd agreed, heading out another way through some confusing little back roads they'd found. It's not too bumpy, at least. It'll also mean that if anyone's trailing them they'll have to hold off because they'll be immediately found out from the sound alone.

At one point he flips down the visor to check his beanie for blood and when, yeah, it's gross now, he scowls and flips it back up. He loses more hats that way, really. Whatever, near everyone living in a real community can get blood stains out these days. Weirdo.

For a little while, Daryl leaves his hand on Paul's shoulder, just offering a point of contact and-- something. Support or... whatever. It was a fine run and it's gone strange and unsettling, not near bad enough to be a disaster but still leaving a bad taste in his mouth. He gets it, when the younger man goes quiet. And it's fine that he does it, because Daryl gets that, too.

Still, though. It's a silent you're not alone, neither am I when Daryl gives his shoulder one last squeeze and settles back, gun remaining trained at Shauna's back the entire time.

"Holy up," Daryl says when they're in sight of Alexandria's gates, breaking long minutes of silence. There are more cars than usual hovering outside.

The hand does make him feel a little calmer, which isn't something he could have said a while back. The silent understanding is... It's something he never knew he needed. He shifts as he drives, hand coming up to brush his thumb across Daryl's knuckles before he puts his hand back on the steering wheel. That's all he needs to do. I know you're here and I'm staying is enough.

He slows almost to a stop as they approach the gates, leaning forward and squinting to see what's going on. There aren't any foreboding trucks thankfully, just the cars, but as it is he doesn't recognize all of them. His gaze sweeps across the nearby space looking for Rick or Michonne or Carl or anyone else, but there aren't really any people visible at the moment, just the cars, which is almost more unsettling.

Instead of heading in proper he pulls off, situating the car between a couple of the first-defense spiked monstrosities. They've just been cleared recently, at least. Once there he pops the gear into park and turns off the engine, knee jiggling slightly as he looks back at Daryl. "You good to hunker down here?"

You good to get the fuck out of here if it's Saviors?

It's a little Kill Bill Sirens in the backseat for a minute, but Daryl eventually grunts an affirmative and begins loading his crossbow and making sure his side-arm is ready to go.

"Take the blindfold off," he tells Shauna, who complies. She's wisely staying quiet, but isn't oblivious to the tension now filling the car. "Act natural. Y'all're friends from Hilltop 'til he says otherwise."

Fuck this fucking bullshit. Daryl slings his bow over his shoulder and exits the car, darting off the road and into cover.

Said Kill Bill Sirens are perfectly palpable to Paul and probably also Shauna, who definitely looks nervous. As well she should. He waits until Daryl is fully behind cover - when Paul can't see him at all any more - feeling strung tight and twisted up like a spring about to snap. He starts up the car again and pulls out and then back onto the main road.

There are still no people to see really - no dead either, thankfully - though when he pulls up to the gate no one comes to open it. He sits a moment, sits a moment longer, then jams the car into park again and takes the keys. "Stay put."

She doesn't move.

Instead of trying to drag the gate open from the outside (stupid) he carefully climbs the chain link so he can peek over the edge of it. Then he drops back down, letting out a shrill bird's call whistle. Trouble. But not Saviors, no.

Daryl doesn't coming running, instead approaching the wall at an angle, picking through the surrounding trees to stay hidden. The burned-out shell of what used to be the guard tower offers for decent cover, and he whistles a quiet Over here that sounds like absent bird chatter.

No Saviors, but some bullshit's still going on-- he can feel the barely-restrained violence already boiling in him. Doesn't matter if these are Saviors or not, if there's enough wrong for Paul to signal him like that, and there are strangers in his home, with his people, he's just. Going to kill them. That's that.

He waits, though, looking down towards the gate at Paul. What's the play?

Paul's about to answer when he catches movement out the corner of his eye and turns back toward the car - it's Shauna, who is pointing at her own eyes and then toward one of the cars. He realizes what she means immediately and nods, grimacing. Guess they won't have to look for that other group after all. It's not a good thing since now they're in Alexandria but it means they can finish it once and for all here.

He shifts to where Daryl can see him properly, gesturing toward the gate and making an up-and-over motion with his hand. Going over. He's going to scale the gate and open it from the inside. It has to be just him because both of them make a bigger target for someone hidden by on watch and Paul is faster and quieter. He's less likely to get shot. It also means that whatever's still happening, it's further in.

Finally he jerks his chin upward. Come over after. With that, he turns back to the gate and hoists himself up on it again. It's more difficult now that he's aiming for more than a peek but he disappears over the top of it without fanfare. There's no gunshot, no yelling.

Give him a sec, he'll open it up.

Daryl moves, the indecision only in his own head - something twigs him about the car, remembering how cowardly these assholes were. He skirts back, passing behind the car Paul parked and exchanging a look with Shauna. She directs him silently to the right car and Daryl moves in-- fortunately there's nobody in it, but the keys were left in the visor and a gun in the center compartment. Not anymore, assholes.

Daryl sees Shauna out of the car, closing the door oh-so-quietly and moving in a crouched run to join him. "Five of them," she whispers. "Four men and a woman. She and her husband are the worst."

A beat, and Daryl checks the gun he pulled out of the car, then hands it to Shauna. She gives him a grave look and nods, as if trying to silently convey... something. He hopes he hasn't made a mistake, but he doesn't think so. She reminds him of Carol. He moves, Shauna close behind, up to the gate opening.

Turns out they don't have enough people to have lookouts set up everywhere, which is good for them since Paul doesn't get shot and he can open the gate and - pause for a split-second before recovering with a nod and making sure they can slip through before he closes it just as quietly as he'd opened it, latching it so nothing else can get inside. Nothing's on fire, which is good, and there's a dead man on the ground nearby that Paul didn't kill. It's real quiet, so the body was how he knew there was trouble at all.

"That's not the husband," Shauna says softly, grip on the gun still tight. Confirmation they still have to look for the worst of them, though Paul glances at her questioningly before nodding off toward one of the groupings of houses.

"Down that way's the best bet," he murmurs, mostly for Shauna's benefit since he and Daryl rarely speak aloud during situations like this any more. "I can get through without anyone seeing me but so can you, so what'll be our play? I can see if there are any to pick off, get in close."

(That's his family too.)

"They let 'em in, gate's not damaged," Daryl muses. "Either it was a ploy and shit went south the second they were inside, or they had somebody hostage. Either way they're in the middle of it still or that body'd be moved by now."

Hm.

"Go ahead, we'll meet over where the holding cell is. It'll be there or near the infirmary." Which is on the way - they may not have a real doctor anymore, but they've got decent medics. Whether there was a ploy involved or a hostage situation, chances are high they'd pass that way, and if not, they'd try and get these people locked up. Probably. Or Rick's killed most of them already, which Daryl thinks would be fine.

He takes Shauna with him (if she ends up being a mistake, he can't stand to have her with Paul), and doesn't bother sneaking much. It'll offer a distraction and let Paul stay hidden easier. As they move further into the community, he can hear raised voices.

"Could have snatched someone that was out," he agrees, but it doesn't matter which way it happened: they're all going to die in here.

Paul nods, glancing briefly a Shauna and then a little longer at Daryl before he turns to dart off. He barely slows down to crouch and sink his knife into the skull of the dead body on the ground - it's unclear how he died so it's best to be safe. "See you in a few."

It's like he disappears into the shadows after that, melting away and practically becoming invisible. He's in his element like this, moving silent and unseen between the houses and through the yards. He hears voices too but they're a little quieter. not quite yelling, not quite normal volume. Paul darts forward at a crouch to observe and sees it's... Jake? and someone he can't see. That someone is holding onto someone else from behind and the situation is clear straight away.

Jake is trying to talk whoever it is down. Paul creeps forward silently and as soon as Jake spots him (his eyes are darting around nervously as he speaks) he puts a finger to his lips. He only straightens when he's right behind the man, hunting knife out in hand. Paul listens because guy's getting more and more impatient but he waits for his opening and the second his arm shifts so that there's any kind of distance at all between him and his hostage Paul grabs him from behind, yanking him backward. There's a small struggle but he jams the knife into the side of his neck and drags it backward to sever the brain stem.

The other guy is Tobin, who's a good guy but most people do stay still with a knife to their throat. "Clear his weapons and get inside," Paul says as he lets the body drop.

"Thank you," and a pause, "they were by the infirmary."

Paul nods and darts off. A few left maybe if no one else has managed to kill anyone, which he thinks is unlikely. None of this has taken very long and as soon as he's coming up on it, he hears raised voices too and moves faster, keeping unseen. One of them is Rick, he can tell. The other one he doesn't recognize.

Meanwhile in front of the infirmary: there's one dead man on the ground, a not-yet-dead man with a severed arm sitting on the pavement next to the body, and a very irate woman pointing a gun at Rick. Who is pointing a gun back and looking eerily calm, but also distinctly annoyed.

The crux of the argument seems to be that the intruders have tried to steal the medical supplies and run, having discovered there's no 'real' doctor in the community and things went-- well, things went they way they tend to go, when anyone tries to fuck with Rick Grimes. Eric and Aaron are behind Rick, and Daryl can see Michonne and Tara in the actual infirmary.

Rick sees Daryl but doesn't react, not until he and Shauna have gotten closer, weapons trained on the intruders.

"Well you're surrounded now, so you better put that down before you die," he says in his deceptively peaceful drawl.

Well, that'd explain it. Paul stills just outside the line of sight just in case - Rick's seen him he knows, but the woman hasn't. That's just fine by him. He takes in the situation quickly and nods to Daryl, waiting for some kind of cue from Rick.

"You say that now," she spits, "but when my husband comes back with your kid we'll have you by the short 'n curlies, won't we?"

One: who even says that anymore? Two: that explains why that fuck was off the beaten path by himself, so to speak.

Which is the direction Paul came from, covered in blood: Rick barely glances at him and Paul gives a quick thumbs-down and a shake of the head. He's dead.

"I don't think you should rely on that," he says to her once he has confirmation, sounding just as calm as before, "not when you're here and he's not."

"Just give it the fuck up before we all end up dead, Darlene!" Severed arm guy is understandably pretty peeved at the idea of dying, but she just looks more riled up at the implication that her husband is dead.

Daryl looks at Rick and their eyes meet, and that's the beginning of a very anticlimactic end. Because Daryl shoots this Darlene woman in the head with a bolt without a second's further dithering, and she drops with an artless thud.

Severed arm guy starts screaming, scrambling for the dead woman's gun, but it's too late. BAM. His head all but explodes, Rick already walking forward and holstering the Python. "Where's Carl?"

"Didn't see him," Daryl looks over his shoulder at Paul, then back at Rick. "Reckon he went for the baby?" Rick nods, touches Daryl's arm for a brief moment, and stalks off to his house-- he'll register Shauna's presence in a few minutes, he knows, but his kids are a priority. The girls are out of the infirmary now, jogging up to them.

Paul doesn't so much as flinch. Shauna does, but she also looks quietly relieved again, which is telling all over again. When Rick speaks, Paul speaks just before he disappears. "Guy was out closer to your place but he hadn't found it. He was going after Tobin and Jake, probably for which house to hit. It's taken care of." The set of Rick's shoulders doesn't relax but he nods as he goes.

By the time Michonne and Tara reach them Paul's stepped back closer to Daryl, stepping around Darlene's body to get there. "What happened?"

"They came up saying they needed help," Tara starts to explain, "they were fine until they weren't, which is obvious, I guess, with the guns and the hostages and everything. Yeah."

(Tara's rambling always makes Paul smile, but he nods anyway.)

All of this just plays into not wanting to trust anyone any more, he knows. His glance skates to Shauna - he also knows they'll probably keep giving people chances. Sometimes things like this will happen, but sometimes they'll find good people.

"Who's this?" Michonne, in Rick's temporary absence, has definitely noticed already.

Edited 2017-03-31 00:45 (UTC)

Tara's good people. Daryl mostly stares blankly at her, but they've gotten closer since... Denise. He likes her - always has, but he's also always been bad at getting closer to people. (Shut up, Jesus, you don't count.)

"Shauna," Daryl explains, nodding at the woman-- who he has to approve of, silently, because she immediately hands the gun over to Daryl, grip-fist. "Got picked up by those folks a while back, with her sister." Pause there, wondering if he should mention further, but the stricken look on Shauna's face probably says it all. "Asked for help, so." He shrugs. Don't look at him, he didn't do anything, shutupshutup. Michonne's looking at him, expression definitely like she's trying not to smile, and Daryl grunts that he's going to see if Rick found Carl and just

bails

peace

Paul isn't surprised that Daryl bails - none of them are really, save probably Shauna. He tips his head forward and shakes it, smiling slightly before he straightens up and crosses his arms over his chest, looking at Shauna in particular. Which, well, they all are, so. Calculating, observing. "Rick'll want to talk to you once he's done with what he's doing," he explains, since he's the only one present that's talked to her much.

"Shouldn't take him long," Michonne supplies, because once he categorizes Carl and Judith as safe his mind will slot a newcomer properly into place rather than as a concept that can be taken care of if necessary by the others. It's fine, they'll wait.

In the meantime, they can at least do some clean up. Paul and Eric take on one of the bodies to move it and Aaron and Tara take another - Michonne will hang out with Shauna for the time being. Anyway, dead weight sucks but it feels good to have actually brought back a potential ally. Even one person can help these days.

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YOU WANT, UH, A TISSUE? MAYBE SOME SOAP? NEW CLOTHES?

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